www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com May 22, 2009
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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
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newsbriefs
Olympic athletes to have a Pride House for the first time
Vancouver, B.C.-The 2010 Winter Olympics will see a first, as LGBT athletes will have their own safe space.
Currently, athletes from various countries have clubhouses where they can hang out and relax. Next year, a group called GayWhistler is creating Pride House, mirroring others like Russia House, Netherlands House, and others.
"It is really important to have a safe space for out athletes, coaches, fans and allies to come and hang out, share their stories, trade pins and have fun," Dean Nelson, one of the organizers, told the Vancouver Sun's Jeff Lee.
It will be open to gay and lesbian athletes, their families and fans.
"There is a huge contingent of athletes out there, some of them are Olympic calibre. The Olympics are generally a pretty homophobic structure where being out is not really encouraged," he said. "We're hoping we can be a catalyst and change that perception, that you can be your authentic self." The Pride House is not officially recognized by either the International Olympic Committee or the Vancouver Organizing Committee, but Nelson said that several VOC members had expressed their support. Top court to decide ban amendment
Madison, Wis.-The Wisconsin Supreme Court will decide whether the state's 2006 ban on gay marriage was properly put to voters.
The court will review a challenge by political science instructor William McConkey, who claims the referendum on the constitutional amendment illegally put two questions to voters: whether to ban gay marriage and whether to outlaw civil unions. The state constitution limits referendums to a single subject.
A Dane County judge upheld the referendum last year, and the Baileys Harbor man appealed that ruling. Last month, the Madison-based District 4 Court of Appeals asked the high court to take the case immediately because of its statewide significance.
Justices announced May 14 they decided to take the case and gave lawyers 30 days to file initial briefs. Oral arguments are not yet scheduled but are expected this fall, with a decision potentially before the end of the year.
A ruling striking down the amendment would not legalize same-sex marriage because state law still defines marriage as a union between husband and wife. However, it could pave the way for lawmakers to eventually allow it, or for advocates to file lawsuits seeking that right.
Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle has already tried to chip away at the amendment's impact. Lawmakers are considering his plan to create a statewide domestic partner registry and give same-sex couples 43 benefits enjoyed by married couples, including the right to visit one another in the hospital and inherit each other's property.
The 2006 referendum asked whether to rewrite the state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman and outlaw the state from granting a similar legal status to unmarried individuals.
Uruguay lifts military gay ban
Montevideo, Uruguay Uruguay has lifted a ban on gay men and lesbians joining the armed forces.
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The decree signed by President Tabaré Vázquez and Defense Minister José Bayardi lifts the ban imposed by the 1973-85 military dictatorship.
The decree was published May 15 on the presidential web site and states that sexual orientation will no longer be considered a reason to prevent people from entering the military.
Vázquez said the "state does not discriminate against citizens for their political view or for their sexual choice" during a visit on May 14 to the Paraguayan capital of Asunción.
The law had included homosexuality among the "mental illnesses and disorders" that make a person unsuitable to join the armed forces.
Tennessee voids TG woman's marriage
Clarksville, Tenn.-Tennessee authorities have invalidated the 18-month marriage of a transgender woman and a man, saying the state considers them both men.
Jo T. Rittenberry, 46, was born a man and says she had sex reassignment surgery in Canada. The Clarksville Leaf Chronicle reported that she had officials legally change the gender on her Kentucky birth certificate and Tennessee driver's license.
that we've had not one negative comment, and I don't expect any."
"The bottom line is, Susan Stanton is a city manager with a ton of great ideas, and in the end that's all that matters."
Pennsylvania ban amendment is back
Harrisburg, Pa.-A state senator from Blair County says he plans to introduce a measure to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
Republican Sen. John Eichelberger held a news conference on May 19 to announce the bill's introduction.
Similar measures in the last two sessions of the legislature have failed.
Pennsylvania law defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
But Eichelberger and other proponents of the amendment say writing the ban into the constitution would prevent a judge from overturning the law.
Opponents say the measure would enshrine discrimination into the constitution.
Amending the constitution requires approval from both the House and Senate in two consecutive two-year sessions before the measure goes to voters for final approval in a statewide referendum.
Rittenberry married Jeffery Scott Phillips, School settles over staff harassing girl 36, in November 2007.
Kelly Farmer, director of communications at the Davidson County clerk's office, said Tennessee authorities will not honor the marriage because Rittenberry was not born a woman.
Tennessee does not permit same-sex marriage and does not recognize gender change even after sex reassignment surgery.
The Canadian clinic where Rittenberry says she had gender reassignment surgery says she was a patient there but no operation was performed.
Authorities began raising questions of gender after Rittenberry was booked into jail in March, charged with domestic assault against a relative and criminal impersonation stemming from allegations of credit card fraud.
Montgomery Sheriff's Department spokesman Ted Denny said that Rittenberry is being housed with men and was patted down by both male and female officers because Rittenberry has breasts and male genitalia.
Fired TG city manager gats a new job
Lake Worth, Fla.-Susan Stanton, the transgendered city manager that was fired from the city of Largo when she came out two years ago, has found a new position as city manager of Lake Worth.
According to sources in her new town, Stanton's gender won't be a problem. Her longevity in the position, however, might be.
"We're not famous for keeping 'em too long," city historian Beverly Mustaine told the Palm Beach Post. "People say she's smart as a whip and that's what they care about."
The city's mayor, Jeff Clemens, echoes the sentiment.
"Everybody asks if Ms. Stanton's gender change was an issue for us," he said. "It wasn't. It was a non-issue. People want good, professional management. That's what' they're concerned about. It's interesting
San Francisco-The Vallejo public school district has agreed to pay $25,000 and institute mandatory awareness training to settle a lesbian high school student's claims that she was tormented by teachers and other staff members.
Rochelle Hamilton, 16, alleged that during her sophomore year at Jesse Bethel High School she was required to attend a group run by a counselor who asked gay students if they had chosen their sexual orientations and told them they would have a hard time finding jobs.
The teenager, who now is a junior at another Vallejo high school, also claimed that different teachers repeatedly commented on her masculine appearance, chastised her for hugging her girlfriend and refused to let her into the girl's locker room.
Jason Hodge, a spokesman for the Vallejo Unified School District, said the district's investigation did not support Rochelle's allegations and that no one at the high school was disciplined. Officials nonetheless agreed to settle the teen's claim without acknowledging liability, agreeing their policies on preventing anti-gay discrimination could be strengthened, Hodge said.
The girl's mother, Cheri Hamilton, said she became aware of the problems her daughter was having at Bethel High when the girl was suspended for two weeks for getting into an argument with a teacher who ridiculed her by saying she did not know whether she was a boy or a girl. Hamilton said she repeatedly went to school administrators with her complaints and transferred her daughter out in the middle of her sophomore year because her grades and attendance were slipping.
Florida must recognize adoptions
Lakeland, Fla. Florida must recognize same-sex couples' adoptions that were granted in other states even though its laws bar granting such adoptions, a state appeals court ruled May 13.
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A trial court erred when it wouldn't recognize a former lesbian couple's adoptions that had been completed when the women lived in Washington state, the Second District Court of Appeal ruled unanimously. The judges said the U.S. Constitution requires it to give "full faith and credit" to the actions of other states, despite Florida's own ban on gay adoption.
While living as a couple in Seattle, Kimberly Ryan and Lara Embry each gave birth to one child. Each then adopted the other's child as the second parent. They moved to Sarasota and then split up, originally agreeing to share custody.
Ryan then became engaged to a man and cut off contact between her biological child and Embry, saying that under her new Christian beliefs she didn't think the relationship was good for the child. Embry sued for custody.
The lower court sided with Ryan, ruling that the Washington adoption had no legal standing in Florida because of its bans on gay adoption and marriage.
Ryan's attorney, Mathew Staver of the anti-gay Liberty Counsel, said he plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
The state is already challenging a Miami-Dade circuit judge's ruling last year that its ban on gay adoption violates the equal protection rights for the children and their prospective gay parents.
Compiled from wire reports by Brian DeWitt, Anthony Glassman and Patti Harris.
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