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October 9, 2009

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 3

Ohio makes it easier to change gender on licenses

by Eric Resnick

Columbus-Since mid-September it has been easier for transgender Ohioans to correct the sex marker on their driver license and photo identification cards.

A regulatory change at the state Department of Public Safety creates uniform procedures and a new form for making the corrections.

Ohio has always allowed transgender people to correct the marker, but there were no set procedures to do it. So, a person living in a large or politically liberal county might have a relatively easy time compared to someone in a rural or conservative one.

The change does not affect the prohibition on correcting Ohio birth certificates. Ohio remains one of only three states, with Florida and Idaho, that will not change a birth certificate or issue an amended one,

even for post-surgical transsexuals. To do that would require an act of the state legislature.

Ironically, the state's refusal to correct birth certificates leads to same-sex marriages that would otherwise be prohibited.

But, said TransOhio board chair Shane Morgan, the ability to correct the photo identification and driver license allows people to live easier.

"State-issued identification cards are required for employment, to drive, to open a bank account, to cash a check, to get a post office box, and to travel,” Morgan said. “An identification card with the correct name and gender marker is an issue of safety."

The Ohio Department of Public Safety responded to interview requests for this report, but did not provide a spokesperson with knowledge by press time.

Morgan said the drive to create the new

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rule started in 2007 when a northwest Ohio woman, who does not want to be identified, had a difficult time with the process and began working on the Department of Public Safety.

Morgan said TransOhio and Equality Ohio served as resources to the department, providing model language, information about how other states handled their policies, and other information.

With the new form, which will be online, the changes will be approved at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles' main office in Columbus, not by each local registrar.

The form, called the "Declaration of Gender Change," is filled out and signed by licensed physicians, psychologists and therapists treating the applicant in accordance with the standards of care under the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, formerly known as the Harry

Benjamin standards.

After the form is submitted, the BMV issues a letter that is taken to the local registrar who issues a new license or identification. The old license must be surrendered.

Morgan said the Department of Public Safety had their greatest concerns with identity theft and homeland security. Once these issues were worked out, resistance to the new procedures subsided.

Morgan said the biggest benefit to the change is for people who do not have surgery, but who live full time as their correct gender, as they had the most difficulty with identification documents.

"The word is that the new policy is working," Morgan said of reports from people who have used the new form so far.

Until they are online, forms can be obtained by calling the BMV at 614-752-7500.

Reid questions Obama on how to repeal 'don't ask'

Washington, D.C.-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to hear from the Obama administration on how to overturn the "don't ask, don't tell" ban on gays serving openly in the military.

The Democratic-led Congress is considering repealing the 1993 law but isn't expected to act on the issue until early next year.

In the meantime, the Nevada Democrat is asking President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to share their views and recommendations on the controversial policy.

In September 24 letters to Obama and Gates, Reid also asked for a review of the cases of two U.S. officers who were discharged from the military because of their sexual orientation..

"At a time when we are fighting two wars, I do not believe we can afford to discharge any qualified individual who is willing to serve our country," Reid wrote in identical letters to Obama and Gates.

Obama signaled during last year's election campaign that he supported repealing the law. But to the chagrin of his gay civil rights supporters, he has made no move to do so since taking office in January. The White House has said it will not stop the military from dismissing gays and lesbians who acknowledge their orientation.

The House is considering legislation to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" and allow people who have been discharged under the policy to rejoin the military. The law is being pushed chiefly by Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., a former captain in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division who served in Bosnia and Iraq.

Murphy has said he does not expect congressional hearings on the policy until next year.

Prop. 8 backers must show their papers

San Francisco-The sponsors of California's same-sex marriage ban must hand over some internal campaign records to lawyers seeking to overturn the voterenacted initiative, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled October 1.

Denying a request to shield the information, U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker said the Protect Marriage campaign had failed to show that providing private emails, memos and reports would inhibit the political activities of gay marriage opponents or subject them to unbridled harassment.

"The First Amendment qualified privilege proponents seek to invoke, unlike the attorney-client privilege, for example, is not an absolute bar against disclosure," Walker wrote in an 18-page order. "Rather, the First Amendment qualified privilege requires a balancing of the plaintiffs' need for the information sought against proponents' constitutional interests in claiming the privilege."

The judge agreed with lawyers for two unmarried same-sex couples who have sued to strike down the ban, known as Proposition 8, that confidential communications between the campaign's leaders and professional consultants could reveal a rationale for denying gays the right to wed that is relevant to the case.

The lawsuit argues that the measure was motivated by hostility toward gays and as such must be struck down as inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of équality.

An example of the kind of information the plaintiffs are seeking is discussions showing that the campaign decided against running ads stating that marriage must be reserved to a man and a woman to foster responsible parenting since that is an argument Protect Marriage's lawyers are making now to uphold Proposition 8, Dusseault said.

Texas judge allows men to divorce

Dallas-A Texas judge cleared the way for two Dallas men to get a divorce, ruling October 1 that Texas' ban on same-sex marriage violates the constitutional guarantee to equal protection under the law.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said he'd appeal the ruling, which he labeled an attempt to strike down the ban approved by voters in 2005.

Abbott has argued that because the state doesn't recognize gay marriage, its courts can't dissolve one through divorce.

District Judge Tena Callahan ruled, however, that the court "has jurisdiction to hear a suit for divorce filed by persons legally married in another jurisdiction."

Jennifer Pizer, marriage project director for Lambda Legal, said it is too early to predict the ultimate implications of the lawsuit, in which neither man is identified.

Peter Schulte, an attorney for the man who filed for divorce, said that he and his client are "ecstatic" over the court's ruling. Schulte said the decision was a surprise, and that he hoped to have the judge sign a divorce order in a few weeks.

First Nevada couples get partnerships

Carson City, Nev.-Nevada's secretary of state issued domestic partnership certificate No. 1 at the state capitol on October 1 as a state law providing some of the same legal rights as marriage to gay and straight partners went into effect.

The first couple to be issued the certificate-Lee Cagley and Larry Davis-shared tears and laughter and were congratulated by Secretary of State Ross Miller.

"This gives us the legal rights to act for each other's benefit," said Davis, a funeral home director. "It's a wonderful privilege and we're grateful."

While Nevada's constitution bans samesex marriage, the domestic partnership law extends rights similar to those held by

married couples-including community property and the right to seek financial support after a breakup to cohabitating couples.

Nevada's law permits, but doesn't require, employers to extend insurance benefits to domestic partners.

The measure was vetoed by Gov. Jim Gibbons, but he was overridden by lawmakers in May. Couples, both gay and straight, were allowed to pre-register between August 24 and September 24 to receive their certificates on October 1. Registration is ongoing, and about 750 couples had applied as of midday on October 1.

Maine anti-marriage money probed

Augusta, Maine-Maine's campaign oversight board overruled a staff recommendation on October 1 and authorized an investigation into fundraising by groups supporting the campaign to repeal the state's gay marriage law in a November 3 referendum.

The Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices voted 3-2 after some members said there was sufficient evidence to warrant a closer look at finance reporting by the National Organization for Marriage, a major contributor to Stand for Marriage Maine.

The latter group is leading the people's veto campaign to repeal Maine's legislatively-enacted law recognizing same-sex marriages.

In the case before the ethics commission, Californians Against Hate founder Fred Karger complained that the Princeton, N.J.based National Organization for Marriage is circumventing Maine law by not reporting the names of donors. whose money is spent by the Maine campaign.

Karger's whose group was formed to identify major donors in last year's Proposition 8 campaign in California, in which voters overturned that state's same-sex marriage law. Karger said NOM's finances "have always been clouded in mystery."

"They're trying to shield their donors," Karger said Thursday. "An investigation is the only way to the truth."

While the state ethics commission has authorized an investigation into whether violations of Maine's finance reporting law occurred, it did not issue a deadline for a finding, either before the election or after it. The commission staff had concluded there was not enough evidence to justify an investigation.

Breakaway parish can't keep building

Los Angeles-A judge has ordered a parish that separated from the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese over the consecration of an openly gay bishop to relinquish church property by October 12.

Superior Court Judge John Shepard Wiley Jr. issued his order on September 30 after the state supreme court declined to hear the case

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concerning what is now St. Luke's Anglican Church in La Crescenta.

St. Luke's leaders had appealed to the Supreme Court after a state appellate court affirmed Wiley's earlier judgment that the parish should turn the church property over to the diocese.

St. Luke's current rector, the Rev. Rob Holman, says the matter remains unresolved while the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to hear a similar property case concerning another breakaway church.

The parish broke off from the diocese in 2006, part of a wave of defections of antigay churches from the relatively pro-gay Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church is the American branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which tends to be leftleaning in Europe, the United States and Canada, but more conservative in Africa, South America and parts of Asia.

Woman settles with docs who refused

San Diego-A California woman has settled a lawsuit against her former doctors who denied her artificial insemination based on her sexual orientation, attorneys for both sides said September 29.

Guadalupe Benitez, 36, of Oceanside, and her spouse sued doctors at North Coast Women's Medical Group in Vista for discrimination in 2001. California's highest court last year barred the Christian doctors from invoking religious beliefs, ruling state law prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination extends to the medical profession.

Attorneys for the doctors and Benitez said that they settled the case for an undisclosed sum of money.

The doctors said in a statement that they want all of their patients, including those who are lesbian and gay, to feel welcome in their medical practice.

Benitez has said the doctors treated her with fertility drugs and instructed her how to inseminate herself at home, but told her their beliefs prevented them from inseminating her.

One of the doctors referred her to another fertility specialist who didn't have moral objections. Benitez has since given birth to three children.

"It's been a long, hard fight to get to this point," Benitez said following the settlement announcement. "But we know we've made a difference in the law that will help people in California and across the country."

The statement issued by North Coast was encouraging, said Jennifer Pizer, Benitez's attorney.

"It shows a journey that our whole society is taking together, away from intolerance and towards inclusion," she said.

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