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November 6, 2009 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

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Obama signs Shepard-Byrd hate crime bill into law

Measure is the first pro-LGBT federal act in two decades

by Anthony Glassman

Washington, D.C.-President Barack Obama on October 28 signed into law the first federal protections ever passed for LGBT people.

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was an amendment to a defense appropriations bill, a tactic used during the Bush administration in an attempt to get it through a Republicandominated Congress and White House.

The legislation adds sexual orientation, disability and gender to the existing federal definition of a hate crime, and removed requirements that the victim be engaged in a federally-protected activity at the time of the attack, like voting, before the government can step in.

While the bill does not mandate federal charges for a hate crime, it does allow the Justice Department to step in if local and state officials cannot or will not prosecute a

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""

"I regret my actions. The words were used by me in frustration, and they were not appropriate," he said. "I did not intend to offend anyone, but that is no excuse for what I said."

Johnson posted the slur, "faggot," on his Twitter account on October 25 in a response to another tweet. On October 26, he said it again in refusing to talk with reporters, according to a recording made by the Kansas City Star.

The Chiefs and the NFL are investigating.

Brazilian husband is denied asylum

Boston-A gay Brazilian man was denied asylum by the Obama administration and won't be reunited with his Massachusetts husband in the U.S., the husband said October 26. Tim Coco said Attorney General Eric Holder did not act on an October 23 deadline in the case of Genesio "Junior" Oliveira, effectively denying the 30-year-old Brazilian man's request for asylum in the U.S. on humanitarian grounds.

In 2002, Oliveira had sought asylum in the U.S. because he said he was raped as a teenager in Brazil. But an immigration judge denied his request, and Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich said in a letter that Oliveira repeatedly remarked at his hearing that he "was never physically harmed" by anyone in Brazil. Coco, however, said Oliveira was referring to street

bias-motivated crime. it also allows for federal resources, both financial and legal, for local and state prosecutors and law enforcement officials in dealing with hate crimes.

"You know, as a nation we've come far on the journey towards a more perfect union," Obama said during a reception held in the East Room of the White House for the signing. "This is the culmination of a struggle that has lasted more than a decade."

"Time and again, we faced opposition. Time and again, the measure was defeated or delayed. Time and again we've been reminded of the difficulty of building a nation in which we're all free to live and love as we see fit," he continued. "But the cause endured and the struggle continued, waged by the family of Matthew Shepard, by the family of James Byrd, by folks who held vigils and led marches, by those who rallied and organized and refused to give up, by the late Senator Ted Kennedy who fought so hard

beatings and wasn't clear during his hearing about the harm he faced because of the rape. Oliveira returned to Brazil in 2007 after losing an appeal. Before he left, he and Coco married in Massachusetts in 2005 and bought a house together.

According to federal immigration law, immigrants also can apply for residency if they marry U.S. citizens. But the federal government does not recognize gay marriages under the Defense of Marriage Act, and Oliveira's request to remain in the United States based on his relationship with Coco was denied this year.

In March, Sen. John Kerry asked Attorney General Eric Holder to grant Oliveira asylum on humanitarian grounds.

Oliveira was denied a visa to return to Massachusetts last year for the funeral of Coco's mother.

Oliveira now lives with his mother, helping her run a boarding house for students.

Coco said the couple plans to launch a legal challenge against the federal Defense of Marriage Act as a violation of immigration laws.

Justice Department defends DOMA

Washington, D.C.—States that allow samesex marriage can't force the federal government to provide benefits to those couples, the Obama administration argued October 30 in court pa-

for this legislation, and all who toiled for years to reach this day."

"You understood that we must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits, not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear," Obama noted. "You understand that the rights afforded every citizen under our Constitution mean nothing if we do not protect those rights, both from unjust laws and violent acts. And you understand how necessary this law continues to be."

Matthew Shepard was a gay college student in Wyoming who was brutally beaten, tied to a fence and left for dead in 1998. James Byrd, Jr. was a black man who, the same year, was chained to the bumper of a pickup truck and dragged for three miles, killing him.

The hate crime measure is the first piece of pro-gay federal legislation to come up this year and only the second significant

pers defending the so-called Defense of Marriage Act.

The Justice Department is at odds with Massachusetts the first state to allow same-sex marriage over the 1996 federal law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Massachusetts sued in July, saying that law is discriminatory and deprives gay and lesbian couples in the state of federal spousal benefits such as Social Security and immigration prefer-

ence.

The Obama administration agrees that DOMA is discriminatory and wants it repealed, but says it has an obligation to defend laws enacted by Congress while they are on the books and can be reasonably defended.

The law "does not prohibit gay and lesbian couples from marrying, nor does it prohibit the

one ever enacted. The Hate Crime Statistics Act, passed almost two decades ago in 1990, required the FBI to collect statistics on antigay hate crime.

Other bills are in the pipeline. On November 5, the Senate was set to hold hearings on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which could see passage by the end of the year. It bars job discrimination by sexual orientation or gender identity.

Other issues on the legislative agenda that affect LGBT Americans include repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" ban on openly gay personnel and the so-called "defense of marriage act," which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages, even in states where they are legal.

The Obama administration has already ended a ban on entry into the United States for people with HIV last month, and introduced a resource center for LGBT elderly at the Department of Health and Human Services.

states from acknowledging same-sex marriages,” according to the court filing by Assistant Attor-· ney General Tony West.

Massachusetts, the filing continues, is trying to claim individuals have a right to federal benefits based on marital status.

"There is, however, no fundamental right to marriage-based federal benefits," according to the 36-page filing.

Massachusetts is the first state to sue the government over the DOMA law. Some lesbian and gay couples have filed their own lawsuits against the law, but this case is unique in pitting a state against the federal government over the issue.

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

DAVE KOZ&FRIENDS A SMOOTH JAZZ CHRISTMAS 2009

1

Welcome

to the ATGC

MR. OHIO LEA

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

RICK BRAUN, DAVID BENQIT, BRENDA RUSSELL & PETER WHITE

He has the biggest load

Jim DeLong, the newly-minted Mr. Ohio Leather 2010 and challenge master for the Biggest Load food donation contest, stands in front of over 5,220 lbs. of food-the total haul from the competition.

The 22-ton pile at AIDS Taskforce of Cleveland will help the taskforce's Jon Brittain Food Pantry feed people infected with HIV and their families. It supplements the annual holiday food drive that sees large gift-wrapped donation boxes sprouting like massive portabella mushrooms all over Cleveland's LGBT community.

Teams participating in the contest included two from New Age in Leather, the Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend, the Cleveland LGBT Center, the AIDS Taskforce, Cleveland Pride, Man's World, AMW Complex and Muggs.

The contest results were sealed by Jon Brittain and Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Michelle Denise Earley, bedecked in full jurist's garb, and won't be opened until the Claw Nation Leather Dance on November 7, when the first place winner and the runners-up will be announced.

The Leather Dance will be at the View, 618 East Prospect in downtown Cleveland.

-Anthony Glassman

P

December 4 7:30 PM

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