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July 31, 2009

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

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newsbriefs

Sailor charged in death of Camp Pendleton seaman

San Diego-The U.S. Navy says a sailor has been charged in military court with murder and other offenses in the shooting death of a bisexual San Diego

seaman.

Petty Officer Jonathan Campos of Lancaster, Calif., was charged July 23 in connection to last month's fatal shooting of Seaman August Provost of Houston. He faces 16 charges, including murder, arson and theft of military property. Naval officials say that Provost was killed by Campos during an arson attack on the base.

Provost was shot multiple times as he stood guard at Camp Pendleton on June 30. The 29-year-old's family believes the shooting may have been a hate crime. The family says Provost complained of being harassed about his sexuality in the days before his death.

Navy officials have rejected those claims and say there is no record of Provost filing a harassment report.

They say Campos, a 32-year-old gas system technician, is being held at the brig and is cooperating with investigators.

Campos was also accused of breaking into the home of a fellow service member on June 13, where he stole a pistol and an X-box video game system. The pistol was later used to kill Provost.

Provost's aunt, Rose Roy, told the LGBT newspaper Dallas Voice on July 14 that a source she could not publicly identify indicated that her nephew was killed by a closeted sailor who silenced Provost to keep his own sexual orientation from coming to light.

Air Force Academy gets gay supervisor

Colorado Springs, Colo.-A Colorado Democrat who last year became the first out, non-incumbent gay man elected to Congress took his place July 24 on the U.S. Air Force Academy's supervisory board.

Rep. Jared Polis was appointed earlier this month to the academy's Board of Visitors. He is thought to be the first openly gay member serving on an oversight board at any service academy.

The boards report to Congress and the Pentagon on how the academies are doing, including recommendations for change.

Polis opposes the military's ban on gay and lesbian servicemembers and has twice proposed, then withdrawn, amendments to undo "don't ask, don't tell." Polis' appointment, made by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has veterans on both sides of the "don't ask, don't tell" debate wondering if it's a signal change is coming. Polis says he doesn't plan to push for change through the Board of Visitors but did repeat his opposition to the ban on openly gay and lesbian.

Polis' appointment has sparked a sometimes-fiery debate on military blogs, and even some fellow board members say they're perplexed by his appointment.

If he were a student at the Academy, Polis would be kicked out.

Partnership foes turn in signatures

Olympia, Wash.-Sponsors of a campaign to overturn Washington state's domestic partnership law turned in their petition signatures on July 25 and said they believe they have enough to force a public vote.

The expanded "everything but marriage" domestic partnership law was scheduled to take effect the following day, but is now delayed until the signatures can be counted, a process that could take up to a month.

To qualify for the November ballot, supporters of Referendum 71 must have 120,577 voter signatures. Election of-

ficials recommended they turn in about 150,000 to allow for a typical amount of invalid ones.

Supporters say they have about 138,000 signatures.

If they have enough, the law will be delayed until the outcome of the election. If they fall short, the domestic partnership expansion will immediately take effect.

Hate crime verdict for killing TG woman

Syracuse, N.Y.-A jury on July 17 convicted a man of manslaughter as a hate crime for killing a transgender woman he shot outside a house party last year.

Dwight DeLee was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter for the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Lateisha Green outside the Syracuse party in November because of anti-gay bias. He becomes just the second person in the U.S. convicted of a hate crime that involved the death of a transgender victim.

The Onondaga County Court jury delivered its verdict after deliberating for about six hours over two days.

"We've spent months waiting for this day to come," said Elliot Green, an uncle who spoke on behalf of the victim's family. "The jury made it clear that any loss of life in this country because of transgender or anti-gay bias is unacceptable and will not be tolerated."

DeLee will be sentenced August 18. He faces 10 to 25 years in state prison. The jury acquitted DeLee, 20, of a more serious second-degree murder as a hate crime charge.

The manslaughter verdict means that DeLee was only intending to seriously injure, not kill, someone when he fired one shot from a .22-caliber rifle into the car in which the victim was sitting with her brother and a friend.

The only other hate crime conviction in the slaying of a transgendered person occurred in May when a jury in Colorado convicted Allen Andrade of beating 18-year-old Angie Zapata to death with a fire extinguisher after discovering she was biologically male.

Court restores IBM heir's adoption

Portland, Maine-Maine's highest court gave a legal victory on July 23 to a woman who stands to stake a claim to part of one of America's premier business fortunes thanks to her adoption by her former partner.

In a unanimous decision, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court overturned a 2008 lower court decision that annulled the adoption.

At issue was whether it was legal for Olive Watson to adopt Patricia Spado in 1991 in Maine, where the longtime partners spent several weeks each summer on the island town of North Haven. Watson was a granddaughter of the late Thomas Watson Jr., who built International Business Machines Inc. into a computer giant.

The relationship ended a year after the adoption. Thomas Watson's heirs challenged the adoption in court in 2005.

The case now will now move to a Connecticut superior court to determine if Spado is entitled to any of the Watson riches, said Michael Koskoff, her lead attorney in the Connecticut

case.

Olive Watson was 43 when she adopted Spado, who was a year older, as a way to protect her financially.

Watson's father was unaware of the adoption when he died in 1993, and the adoption wasn't an issue until after his wife died in 2004. With the death of both parents, the Watson grandchildren became eligible for cash payouts at age 35.

Ruling upheld in public pavilion case

Mount Laurel, N.J.-A federal appeals court has affirmed key parts of a ruling in a New Jersey case about gay equal rights and religious freedom.

The legal battle over the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association's Boardwalk Pavilion has become a symbol for social conservatives who say allowing gays more rights can interfere with their religious beliefs. They've used the case in advertisements in campaigns nationwide against allowing same-sex marriage.

The case goes back to 2007 when two lesbian couples asked to hold civil union ceremonies at the oceanfront pavilion, which is owned by the church but is used by the public-including for weddings-when worship is not being held there.

The Methodist group denied the applications because its leaders objected to civil unions, which offer the legal protections, but not the title, of marriage.

The state Division on Civil Rights launched an investigation and found last year that the church group was violating the state's public accommodation anti-discrimination laws.

When the state investigation began, the Camp Meeting Association sued the state, claiming the probe violated the group's freedom of speech and religion.

Later in 2007, a district judge dismissed that suit on the grounds that federal courts should not interfere with state judicial or administrative actions

in most cases.

In a ruling released July 15, a threejudge panel of 3rd Circuit,U.S. Court of Appeals found the complaint was rightfully dismissed.

But the panel said a judge should still consider whether an additional ruling is needed to address whether the association, which owns all the land in the seaside village, can bar civil union ceremonies from the rest of its property.

HBO most LGBT-inclusive, says GLAAD

New York City-HBO scored highest among 15 networks for its representation of LGBT characters last season, according to a report released July 27. In its third annual Network Responsibility Index, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation found that of HBO's 14 original prime-time series, ten included content reflecting the lives of gay, bisexual and transgender people. That totaled 42 percent of the network's programming hours, in series such as True Blood, Entourage and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

By contrast, on NBC and CBS only eight percent and five percent, respectively, of prime-time hours included them, the report said.

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For the report, GLAAD reviewed all prime-time programming totaling 4,901 hours for inclusion of such characters or issues on the five major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CW) from June 1, 2008, to May 31, 2009. The study also examined all original prime-time programming-1,213

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hours-on ten prominent cable networks. The programming included dramas, comedies, unscripted fare and newsmagazines.

Cable's Showtime ranked second, with 26 percent of its programming hours featuring gay characters or themes. Series included The L Word, Weeds and The United States of Tara, a new comedy about a family whose teenage son is gay.

ABC got the highest ranking of the five broadcast networks, with 24 percent. It was the second year in a row that ABC led the broadcasters.

Among ABC series, the report cited newlyweds Kevin and Scotty on Brothers & Sisters, the engagement of Andrew to Dr. Alex Cominis on Desperate Housewives and bisexual Dr. Callie Torres on Grey's Anatomy.

CW logged 20 percent, and the Fox network 11 percent, the report said.

Among the sampling of cable networks evaluated, TNT showed the largest growth, jumping to 19 percent last season from 1 percent the year before. This was largely thanks to its new drama series, Raising the Bar, which features gay law clerk Charlie Sagansky as a regular character, GLAAD said.

In September, GLAAD will release its annual report evaluating gay, bisexual and transgender inclusion, and other diversity, among scripted characters scheduled to appear during the 2009-10 season. Monday's report said TV characters in general are predominantly white, regardless of sexual orientation.

Compiled from wire reports by Brian DeWitt, Anthony Glassman and Patti Harris.

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