March 13, 2009 www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com
•
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
3
Story of hallway dilemma wins museum's honors
by Anthony Glassman
Beachwood, Ohio-The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage on March 8 gave out awards in its inaugural Stop the Hate! Essay Contest during a gala ceremony featuring lieutenant governor Lee Fisher and museum co-founder Milton Maltz.
While the grand prize of a $100,000 college scholarship went to Solon High School senior Matt Sobol, writing about bias against people on the autism spectrum, Lauren M. McCafferty of Olmsted Falls took the High School Overall Winner position and a $1,000 savings bond.
McCafferty's essay, one of 1,200 submitted for the competition, is an eloquent missive on the precarious position LGBT students can find themselves in at school.
She writes about being surrounded by displays of heterosexual sexuality, noting, "At least a hundred 'traditional' couples may stand in the hallway with their tongues down each others' throats and go unnoticed, but as soon as two
Lauren M. McCafferty
girls make a display of affection as innocent as hand-holding, the hatred in the hearts of onlookers-be they boys, girls, students, or teachers-is stirred, awakened."
In the middle of a group of boys haranguing the pair is one who stands silent, neither joining in the verbal barrage nor standing against it.
"His stare is not of disgust, but of curiosity mingled with fear," McCafferty continues. "I know that look. He does not hate me, yet he won't stand up for me."
"He's afraid of being rejected by his friends, who snicker as my girlfriend and I pass," she posits. "It may, in fact, be he who most frustrates me. I want to shake him, scream at him, do anything to make him understand: his silence does not harm me as much as his friends do, but it certainly
does not help me."
"I want him to stand up for me, but, more importantly, I want him to stand up for himself. He cannot help me until he helps himself," she concludes.
Eventually, she resolves her conflicting emotions about this young man by doing what she can: she smiles at him. He smiles back after a moment of confusion. The connection, she believes, is made, and that connection may later be used to bring him to safe space.
"I keep swimming for now, but I am satisfied; although he does not stick up for me, I know that his journey to stop the hate has just begun," the piece ends.
The 20 winning essays from middle and high school students are available on the museum's website, www.MaltzJewishMuseum.org. Only high school juniors and seniors were eligible for the $100,000 scholarship, and $4,300 in savings bonds were given out to the other top-ranking essays from students in grades six to 12.
Federal 'defense of marriage' act faces court challenge
by Eric Resnick
Boston-A federal court in Massachusetts has been asked to declare the federal "defense of marriage act" unconstitutional.
Eight same-sex couples and three surviving spouses, all married in Massachusetts but unable to access federal rights and benefits due to the 1996 law, are asking the court to grant them equality with opposite-sex spouses.
The plaintiffs are represented by the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, the Boston legal advocacy organization that won the right to marry in Massachusetts in 2004. The suit was filed March 3.
"As United States citizens, each of the plaintiffs is entitled to equal consideration and treatment from the federal government, and with respect to each and every program operated by the federal government, including employment and retirement benefit programs arising from employment with the federal government, Social Security, taxation, and passport services," according to the complaint.
"If not for the application of DOMA to all federal programs, the plaintiffs, as persons married under Massachusetts law, would receive the same status, responsibilities and protections under federal law as other married persons," the complaint continues.
DOMA states: “In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word 'marriage' means
only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word 'spouse' refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife."
The plaintiffs claim they are being discriminated against as federal employees unable to cover their spouse with federal health and retirement benefits, as taxpayers unable to file federal returns as a married couple, as having difficulty obtaining passports, and the inability to access their spouse's Social Security benefits in the case of survivorship.
One of the plaintiffs, Dean Hara, is the widowed spouse of former Rep. Gerry Studds.
At the time of Studds' death in 2006, Hara was denied the $255 death benefit surviving spouses are entitled to under Social Security.
Hara has also been unable to receive Studds' congressional pension due to DOMA. He instead received a small lump sum payment as would a non-spousal designee.
"It's time for the federal government to end its blatant double standard of providing rights and protections to all married couples except gay and lesbian married couples," said Mary Bonauto, Civil Rights Project director for GLAD. "Same-sex married couples have taken on the commitment of marriage, play by the rules, and pay into the system. But they are denied critical federal legal protections that form a safety net to support other married couples and their children."
The plaintiffs argue that the third section of DOMA, the part that defines marriage for federal purposes, violates the federal consti-
Chiropractic Health Services, Inc.
DAVID A. BUDNY, D.C.
16900 DETROIT AVE
LAKEWOOD, OHIO 44107
216-228-6622
Dedicated to your wellness
tutional guarantee of equal protection as applied to federal income tax, Social Security, federal employees and retirees, and in the issuance of passports.
They also contend that section is an unprecedented intrusion by the federal government into marriage law, always considered the province of the states.
The suit does not ask the Court to invalidate DOMA in its entirety. It does not challenge Section 2, which gives the states the
right to decide if they will recognize samesex marriages from other states.
Since the suit is expected to ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, it is strategically advantageous to limit the scope of the suit to one issue the court can focus on.
The case has been assigned to Judge Joseph Tauro, a Nixon nominee, who in 2004 also rejected a federal challenge to Massachusetts' recognition of same-sex marriage, allowing them to take effect.
(North colts man's chorus
PRESENTS
richard cole, music director
ON WITH THE SHOW!
Saturday, April 4, 2009 8 p.m. Sunday, April 5, 2008 · 3 p.m.
Waetjen Auditorium Cleveland State University
Music and Communications Building 2001 Euclid Avenue
Contact Information: 216.556.0590
tickets@ncmchorus.org and www.ncmchorus.org
Advance Sales $10-$35
Door Sales $15-$40
St. Patrick's Day Special
Our famous corned beef & cabbage dinner -$11.50!
Corned beef sandwich -$9.50!
Rueben sandwich -$10.50!
Saturday March 21st
ZEL
THE JANE DEANS
LA
9pm $5 cover
4002 Jennings Rd Cleveland, Oh 44109 216 741-0010
Tickets available at www.ncmchorus.org and the following locations:
Borders
DJ ALL DAY!
Promenade of Westlake
Westlake, Ohio
Z's
Ohio Arts Council
,104.9
WCLV
classical FM
Big Fun
1827 Coventry Road Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland
Magazine
The Personal Advisors of
Ameriprise
Financial
THE WAVE
CAC
107.3
Diverse Universe 12011 Detroit Road Lakewood, Ohio
SCENE
203
ари
CUYAHOGA ARTS
ideastream
AND CULTURE
www.myspace.com/ladyz_s
Spring NCMC 4.5x 7.5 Ad.indd
1
2/14/09 3:33:37 PM