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April 23, 2010

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

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Nadler wants partner bill added to immigration reform

by Eric Resnick

Washington, D.C.-The best chance to get the Uniting American Families Act passed will be to attach it to comprehensive immigration reform, according to its spon-

sor.

The bill would allow partners of gays and lesbians to immigrate to the United States in the same way married couples can.

Currently, only legally married opposite-sex spouses are permitted to sponsor their wives or husbands for immigration." This often makes it impossible for bi-na-

tional same-sex couples to stay together in the United States.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat representing Manhattan, introduced H.R. 1024 in the House on February 12, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, introduced the nearly identical S. 424 the same day. Both measures are known as the Uniting American Families Act of 2009.

They will add the phrase "or permanent partner" after "spouse" to every section of the Immigration and Naturalization Act that applies to legally married couples. The

change would apply only to same-sex couples.

"Permanent partner" is defined as a person age 18 or older, who can prove a domestic partner relationship and is unable to marry their partner because they are the

same sex.

California Democrat Mike Honda later expanded the measure's language to also include rights for the children and stepchildren of the foreign born partner.

Nadler said earlier this month that UAFA is not likely to move on its own, and that the best way to get it passed is to get it attached

to the comprehensive immigration reform bill that Congress will consider this sum-

mer.

"The leadership has made it clear that UAFA will only be passed if it is in the form of an attachment to comprehensive immigration reform and that it will not be pursued as stand-alone by the congressional leadership," Nadler said.

Nadler wants calls made to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers of Michigan and to Zoe Lofgren of California, who chairs the subcommittee on Continued on page 11

Fusion opens football season with a pair of wins

by Anthony Glassman

Louisville, Ky.-The Cleveland Fusion women's football team started out their second season in the Women's Football Association with a duo of victories on the road. In the first week of the season, the Fusion handed the Toledo Reign an 18-7 defeat

despite the lack of home-field advantage. The April 10 game was an auspicious beginning for the season.

The following Saturday, they continued their winning ways with a 54-6 rout of the Kentucky Karma, giving them a powerful head of steam going into their April 24

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home opener against the Pittsburgh Force at Byers Field, 7600 Day Drive in Parma.

Team owner Barb Soggs is understandably pleased with the Fusion's record so far

this season.

"I think the ladies did a tremendous job," she said. "We're very excited about having

a successful season. We think we can make it to the playoffs this year and the ladies were very enthused with the last two victories."

For more information about the Cleveland Fusion women's tackle football team, to buy tickets or team merchandise, go to www.clevelandfusion.com.

Hecklers chide president for slow action on DADT

Los Angeles-President Barack Obama found himself the target of protesters at a fundraiser for Sen. Barbara Boxer on April 19, who repeatedly interrupted his halfhour speech to urge action on the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell."

Boxer is facing a trio of Republican opponents this year, and her seat is vital to maintaining Democratic control of the Sen-

ate.

Instead of silencing his detractors, Obama addressed the issue directly.

"What the young man was talking about was we need to . . . repeal "don't ask, don't tell," which I agree with and which we have begun to do," the president said. "But let me say this: When you've got an ally like Barbara Boxer and you've got an ally like me who are standing for the same thing, then you don't know exactly why you've got to holler, because we already hear you, all right?"

"I mean, it would make more sense to holler that at the people who oppose it," he continued.

The next day, Lt. Dan Choi and five other discharged LGBT veterans handcuffed themselves to the gates of the White House to demand the repeal of DADT, the policy that prevents gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

A month ago, Choi was one of three people arrested at the White House for an almost identical protest.

Meanwhile, Senate and House staffers have indicated that the Pentagon is trying to delay the repeal of the policy, while some LGBT organizations are asserting that it is the White House making the request. Top court to hear secret-signature case

Washington, D.C.-The Supreme Court on April 19 heard arguments in the case of a Christian student group that bars LGBT members.

The Christian Legal Society, which has a chapter at the Hastings College of the Law, part of the University of California-San Francisco, refused to follow policies at the public university which bar discrimination by

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sexual orientation. So, the university refuses to recognize them, a step that would give them access to campus facilities and funding.

The society, according to the New York Times, bans "unrepentant participation in or advocacy of a sexually immoral lifestyle," including "acts of sexual conduct outside of God's design for marriage between one man and one woman."

The group claims their rights to free speech and free association are being abridged because they are proponents of an unpopular legal stance.

Next week, the court is set to hear arguments to determine whether a Washington state law making petition signatures public records violates the free speech of the people who signed the petitions.

Backers of an anti-marriage constitutional amendment say that releasing the names would open the signatories to harassment and threats from same-sex marriage proponents. The website Know Thy Neighbor.org is prepared to put the names online if they are released, as they have in Massachusetts and Florida.

News organizations have filed briefs in the case, arguing that the petitions are public records and should be released.

Four political scientists also did a study of Proposition 8, the California constitutional amendment that barred same-sex marriage, and said that while financial supporters of the measure may have faced boycotts of their businesses, there was no indication that the rank-and-file citizens who signed petitions faced any harassment what-

soever.

ENDA to have committee vote soon

Washington, D.C.-The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, federal LGBT antibias legislation, will move out of committee in the next couple of weeks, according to Rep. Barney Frank.

Frank spoke to Metro Weekly, a Washington, D.C. LGBT newspaper, after a Victory Fund event on the weekend of April 17. He told the paper that Speaker Nancy

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Pelosi had promised him a quick vote in the full House of Representatives after it leaves committee. Frank said that he is in contact with House Education and Labor Committee chair Rep. George Miller "constantly," and the committee was going to act on the bill this week or next.

"Here's my radical homosexual agenda," said Frank. "Let us get married, join the military and hold down a job. Very few radicals in history would have thought much of that."

Judge strikes Arkansas adoption ban

Little Rock, Ark.-A county judge overturned a state ban on gay and lesbian couples adopting or having foster children on April 16.

Voters in the state passed a law in 2008 barring unmarried couples living together from adopting or being foster parents for children, which bars same-sex couples from the adoption and foster process.

Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Chris Piazza expressed concern over the choice unmarried people were given: abandon the thought of adoption, or abandon their relationship.

He also said that the law presented an invasion of privacy that singled out a politically disenfranchised minority.

Piazza rejected federal constitutional claims in the case, instead focusing on the Arkansas constitution.

"The parties do not dispute the state's interest in this matter-protecting our chil-

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dren," wrote Piazza. "However... Initiated Act I is facially invalid because it casts an unreasonably broad net over more people than is needed to serve the state's compelling interest. It is not narrowly tailored to the least restrictive means necessary to serve the state's interest in determining what is in the best interest of the child."

"Heterosexual cohabiting couples can marry and, therefore, adopt or serve as a foster parent. Homosexual couples cannot," he continued. "It is especially troubling that one politically unpopular group has been specifically targeted for exclusion by the act."

"Due Process and Equal Protection are not hollow words without substance," he concludes. "They are rights enumerated in our constitution that must not be construed in such a way as to deny or disparage other rights retained by the people."

The Arkansas Supreme Court in 2006 ruled that the state's Child Welfare Agency Review Board overstepped its powers in barring gay men and lesbians from serving as foster parents because the regulation was "based on morality and bias."

Gay man wins mayoral election

Gainesville, Fla.-Craig Lowe, an openly gay man, was elected mayor on April 13.

Lowe won with a 35-vote margin, triggering an automatic recount. After the recount, his lead extended to 42 votes. Continued on page 4

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