Lambda warns school officials : hands off South Medford High School student and Gay Straight Alliance
(Medford, Oregon, April 17, 2009) — Lambda Legal has sent a letter of support to South Medford High School Principal Kevin Campbell, Medford School District Superintendent Phil Long, and the School Board on behalf of South Medford High School student and Gay Straight Alliance member Connie McNair.
The letter objects that school officials have been imposing restrictions on the Medford High GSA to which no other on-campus group is subject and that seriously burden club members’ free speech and associational rights. These include requiring GSA members to get prior approval for their announcements and activities from an assistant principal, deeming the club’s legitimate educational activities illicit “proselytizing,” and even prohibiting the club from formally announcing today’s “Day of Silence.” The Day of Silence is a national event calling attention to anti-gay bullying and harassment in schools.
In the letter, Lambda Legal Staff Attorney Tara Borelli writes “While we hope that the school’s actions to deter the GSA’s activities are simply the result of confusion about its obligations, the law in this area is well-established and school’s unequal treatment of the GSA is difficult to understand and should be remedied swiftly.”
In addition to the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution, public school students are also protected by the federal Equal Access Act. The EAA says that if a school receives federal funds and allows extracurricular student groups to meet, it cannot discriminate against any of the groups based on the content of its speech. GSA groups across the country have used the EAA in court to protect their right to free speech.
“It’s simply unlawful for South Medford High School to create unequal obstacles for Connie or the GSA, or to stifle the GSA’s announcements about the Day of Silence,” said Borelli. “We want to remind South Medford school officials that they have a responsibility to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, and we’re asking them to lift any restriction applying to the GSA but not to other groups.
“All we want is safety and equality within our school,” said McNair. “Our GSA members want
students, school officials, and the community to know that we can’t be discriminated against based on our speech or activities.” * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
 |
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/lambda-warns-…
Lambda slams school officals re: South Medford High School student and Gay Straight Alliance
(Medford, Oregon, April 17, 2009) — Lambda Legal has sent a letter of support to South Medford High School Principal Kevin Campbell, Medford School District Superintendent Phil Long, and the School Board on behalf of South Medford High School student and Gay Straight Alliance member Connie McNair.
The letter objects that school officials have been imposing restrictions on the Medford High GSA to which no other on-campus group is subject and that seriously burden club members’ free speech and associational rights. These include requiring GSA members to get prior approval for their announcements and activities from an assistant principal, deeming the club’s legitimate educational activities illicit “proselytizing,” and even prohibiting the club from formally announcing today’s “Day of Silence.” The Day of Silence is a national event calling attention to anti-gay bullying and harassment in schools.
In the letter, Lambda Legal Staff Attorney Tara Borelli writes “While we hope that the school’s actions to deter the GSA’s activities are simply the result of confusion about its obligations, the law in this area is well-established and school’s unequal treatment of the GSA is difficult to understand and should be remedied swiftly.”
In addition to the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution, public school students are also protected by the federal Equal Access Act. The EAA says that if a school receives federal funds and allows extracurricular student groups to meet, it cannot discriminate against any of the groups based on the content of its speech. GSA groups across the country have used the EAA in court to protect their right to free speech.
“It’s simply unlawful for South Medford High School to create unequal obstacles for Connie or the GSA, or to stifle the GSA’s announcements about the Day of Silence,” said Borelli. “We want to remind South Medford school officials that they have a responsibility to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, and we’re asking them to lift any restriction applying to the GSA but not to other groups.
“All we want is safety and equality within our school,” said McNair. “Our GSA members want
students, school officials, and the community to know that we can’t be discriminated against based on our speech or activities.”
Lambda Legal has given school officials until May 1 to respond to the letter.
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/lambda-slams-…
CALIFORNIA FAITH LEADERS PROTEST INJUSTICE FOR GAY & LESBIAN FAMILIES ON TAX DAY, APRIL 15th.
“As we rush to the post office to send in our tax dollars today, let us remember those gay and lesbian families who pay their taxes lawfully and faithfully, yet have been denied equality under the law by a majority of voters in California,” said Samuel M. Chu, Interim Executive Director of California Faith for Equality and a Presbyterian pastor. “Our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters have equal responsibility under the law, but not equal rights. I speak on behalf of a diversity of faith leaders committed to equality and our respective faiths all agree that to take away the rights of any minority group, as did Proposition 8 here in California, is wrong.”
Rabbi Denise Eger, of Congregation Kol-Ami in West Hollywood and one of the founding members of California Faith for Equality said, “Gay and lesbian married couples face continued discrimination at both federal and state levels. While some couples can file in their states as ‘married,’ they are required to file on the federal level as ’single’.
Eger, President of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis added, “Federal law treats same-sex couples as strangers, thereby denying them the 1,138 federal rights, benefits and protections available to heterosexual married couples. This is not only an affront to the dignity of their families, but to those couples who want to pay their fair share. They continue to be penalized and discriminated by this unequal treatment”.
“California Faith for Equality will continue to be a powerful and uniting force for equality for all LGBT persons,” said Chu.
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/california-fa…
In New Jersey, a Blue-Ribbon State Government Commission Tells Governor Corzine and the Legislature: It’s Time to Enact Marriage Equality
To Read the Complete Report Online, visit http://www.nj.gov/oag/dcr/ curc.html
Making its final recommendation, the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission says the civil union law ‘invites and encourages’ harm to same-sex couples and their children
The commission cites ‘overwhelming evidence’ the civil union law will never provide equality with the passage of time
The 13 Commissioners include not only LGBT leaders, but also a right-to-life Republican, plus two clergy, plus six government officials representing an Administration that had opposed marriage equality in the courts
To watch video of same-sex couples testifying before the Commission, visit www.CivilUnionsDontWork.com
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey state government commission today unanimously recommended to Governor Corzine and the New Jersey legislature that they enact a law to allow same-sex couples to marry “expeditiously because any delay in marriage equality will harm all the people of New Jersey.”
The recommendation is part of the 79-page final report just released by the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission, a 13-member body created by the civil union law enacted in December 2006. The 13 Commissioners include not only LGBT leaders, but also a right-to-life Republican, plus two clergy, plus six government officials representing an Administration that had opposed marriage equality in the courts. Their report, passed on a 13 to 0 vote with no abstentions, is based on testimony from more than 150 witnesses over 26 hours spanning 18 public meetings in 2007 and 2008.
The civil union law “invites and encourages unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children,” concludes the final report, titled The Economic, Legal, Medical and Social Consequences of New Jersey’s Civil Union Act. “In a number of cases, the negative effect of the Civil Union Act on the physical and mental health of same-sex couples and their children is striking, largely because a number of employers and hospitals do not recognize the rights and benefits of marriage for civil union couples.”
“The Commission is compelled to issue its final report now because of the overwhelming evidence that civil unions will not be recognized by the general public as the equivalent of marriage in New Jersey with the passage of time. Nearly a decade later, civil union couples in Vermont report the same obstacles to equality that New Jersey civil union couples face today,” the report states, citing the recent study of a panel in Vermont.
Besides assessing the civil union law’s impact on same-sex couples, today’s final report describes how the absence of a marriage equality statute deprives New Jersey’s entire economy of considerable revenue. “Spending on weddings and tourism could boost the New Jersey economy by approximately $248 million over three years,” the report states. One expert testifying before the Commission estimates the figure could be $500 million or more.
But the heart of today’s report is its delineation of the harm that New Jersey’s civil union law has pro-actively inflicted upon same-sex couples.
“I’m a pro-life Republican and past Director of Gloucester County Right-to-Life,” said Commission member AnnLynne Benson on the release of today’s report, “so I know the diversity of this Commission. Our report demonstrates in exquisite detail why amending New Jersey’s law to extend marriage to same-sex couples is a necessity. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that ‘denying rights and benefits to committed same-sex couples violates the equal protection guarantee and can no longer be tolerated under our State constitution.’ Implementation of that ruling by the invention of a parallel status failed to deliver equality. It was like planting a toothpick and hoping a tree would grow.”
According to the final report, the civil union law’s harm to same-sex couples includes:
– The inability of a number of same-sex partners to visit one another in
the hospital, and to make medical decisions for one another, because
hospitals don’t accept civil unions as equal to marriage. The
Commission’s final report begins with the story of Naomi and Gina, a
couple in Montclair, New Jersey who had a humiliating and
life-threatening experience at a hospital. Gina was admitted to the
emergency room with cardiac arrhythmia, unable to give consent for
treatment. When Naomi arrived and said she was Gina’s partner, the
doctor interrogated Naomi about the nature of the relationship and
initially kept Naomi away from Gina and refused to let her give
consent for Gina. The report has other stories like this.
– “Significant psychological damage” to the children raised same-sex
couples because their families are given the stigmatizing label of
civil union; and to LGBT youth who view themselves as inferior because
they cannot marry. “Their heartbreaking testimony,” the report
states, “brings to life their struggle in a way that no numbers –
whether complaints filed with government agencies or advocacy
organizations — can encapsulate on their own.” As Dr. Marshall
Forstein, a Harvard Medical School professor, testified:
“Second-class citizenship, now institutionalized in some states in the
form of civil unions, contributes to increased rates of anxiety,
depression and substance use disorders in marginalized populations.”
– The denial of health insurance by employers to same-sex partners,
especially harmful during the current economic crisis. Today’s final
report underscores what the Commission’s interim report of February
2008 found, that the federal Employment Retirement Insurance Security
Act (ERISA) preempts the New Jersey Civil Union law for approximately
50 percent of all employers in the state. For that 50 percent,
providing equal rights and benefits for same-sex couples under the
civil union law is an option rather than a requirement.
The Commission’s final report refutes the notion — as the interim
report did — that a change in state law from civil unions to
marriage equality would have minimal impact because Federal law does
not recognize same-sex relationships. The final report provides
ample evidence to the contrary, based on the dramatically lower
invocation of ERISA by companies in Massachusetts, which has a
marriage equality law. “The term ‘marriage,’ the report concludes,
“would make a significant difference in providing equality even with
no change in federal law.”
– Compounded harm to women, African-Americans and Latino-Americans, all
of whom face discrimination because of their gender, race or
ethnicity, and who now suffer double discrimination when denied equal
rights and benefits under the civil union law. The state Public
Advocate told the Commission about “the particular difficulty for
lower-income same-sex couples who encounter discrimination because
they have fewer resources with which to seek legal counsel and
redress, and who have difficulty meeting expenses if faced with
reduced healthcare benefits.”
– Harm to the marriages of couples where one partner is transgender.
The final report reaffirms the finding in the Commission’s interim
report that the classification of civil union places marital status in
question for these couples, who had gotten married legally when they
were opposite-sex couples. * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/in-new-jersey…
No timeline to permit gay marriage in NJ
TRENTON — Legislative leaders reiterated their long-term support for allowing same-sex couples to marry in New Jersey but didn’t promise immediate action on a call today by a state review commission to scrap civil unions in favor of gay marriage. The Civil Union Review Commission said in a 79-page report issued today that state law should be amended to allow gay marriage — and quickly, saying “any delay in marriage equality will harm all the people of New Jersey.”
The commission said current New Jersey law, drafted in response to a state Supreme Court order, allowing gay couples to enter civil unions “encourages unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children” and that some employers and hospitals don’t afford civil union couples the same rights as married ones.
“Even if, given enough time, civil unions are understood to provide rights and responsibilities equivalent to those provided in marriage, they send a message to the public: same-sex couples are not equal to opposite-sex married couples in the eyes of the law, that they are ‘not good enough’ to warrant true equality,” says the report. See No timeline to permit gay marriage in NJ
Dailyrecord.com - Parsippany,NJ,USA
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/no-timeline-t…
