RA-news Newsletter of the Rainbow Alliance at the University of Florida August 2006, Vol. 4, No. 11

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Please contribute to the Rainbow Alliance Fund. Next Rainbow Alliance Dinner: Wednesday August 9 at "Emiliano's" in Downtown Gainesville. 6 PM for a glass of wine or beer, and 6:30 for dinner. Please RSVP. Upcoming Local Events 10/7  Second Annual LGBT Homecoming 10/6-15 Pride Days (Pride Celebration of Gainesville) 10/6 - Awards Banquet 10/14 - Parade and Festival 10/11 National Coming Out Day Other Events  8/4-6 Jacksonville Black Pride  8/13-18 International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2006) (biennial) Toronto, Canada Theme: "Time to Deliver"  9/5-10 20th Annual Womenfest Key West, Florida 9/14-16 Out & Equal Workplace Summit Pride Events -- Worldwide Calendar Black Gay Pride Events The Rainbow Alliance is the organization for University of Florida faculty, staff, and alumni concerned with matters related to sexual orientation and gender identity. RA welcomes all members of the University community who share its goals.

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Contents Features Local . . . . . . . . . Student Senate Adds Gender Identity and Expression State . . . . . . . . . Orlando Adds Sexual Orientation to Fair Housing Regs Florida Governor Candidates On Gay Rights Issues National . . . . . . . . . Indiana High Court Lets Gay Adoption Stand Senate Rejects Marriage Amendment Senators Seek Co-sponsors for Partner Benefits Bill "Liberation" Brings Less Freedom for Iraq's LGBT Community Departments Help us Build the Rainbow Alliance Contributing to the Rainbow Alliance Fund Resources How to Join the Rainbow Alliance Contributors to This Issue of RA-News

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Features

Student senate adds gender identity and expression At the Student Senate meeting on July 27, 2006, senators passed a bill that proposes to add "gender identity" to the Student Body Constitution anti-discrimination clause. The amendment will be presented to the entire Student Body during fall election. It must receive at least 60% approval to pass. The Gainesville Sun reported that Adelle Fontanet, the president of Pride Student Union, narrated a PowerPoint presentation and told multiple stories of harassment based on gender identity, including one of a man who was shot while holding his wife's purse when she was in the bathroom. "Almost every American has at some time faced ostracism or harassment," she said. "But it doesn't affect everyone equally." Fontanet added that the clause might prevent lawsuits against UF, and listed a number of other universities that have been sued for discriminating on the basis of gender identity. Groups at many universities are beginning to consider the issues of gender identity and expression. In April of this year, a student group at Yale gathered over 1000 signatures on a petition urging the administration to add the terms to the school's non-discrimination clause. Students at the University of Michigan took similar action in June. Cornell, a public land-grant university like the University of Florida, added the protections in 2005. Ohio State University also has "gender identity and expression" in its administrative code. [top]

Florida Governor Candidates On Gay Rights Issues Term limits will force Florida governor Jeb Bush to leave office in January 2007. The race to become his replacement has begun in earnest. Leading Republican hopefuls are Tom Gallagher and Charlie Crist. For the Democrats, the battle is between Rod Smith and Jim Davis. Ranking the candidates according to their public statements from most LGBT-positive to most LGBT-negative: Rod Smith (D) > Jim Davis (D) > Charlie Crist (R) > Tom Gallagher (R) Rod Smith is currently a state senator representing the 14th Senate district (Alachua and parts of Columbia, Union, Bradford, Putnam, Marion, Levy and Gilchrist). Jim Davis is currently in the U.S. House representing the 11th Congressional District (Parts of Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties) Charlie Crist is currently Florida's Attorney General. Tom Gallagher is currently Florida's Chief Financial Officer>. A summary of their positions on issues of interest to the LGBT community in Florida follows. From Tom Gallagher's Web site: Strengthening families first requires a strong defense of the family itself. Without constitutional protection for traditional marriage, it could be merely a matter of time before a judge here in Florida redefines marriage and makes a ruling that creates a "right" to same-sex "marriage." There is an effort to place a Marriage Protection Amendment on the Florida ballot for the election next fall. The Gallagher Campaign will support this effort and encourage every leader in the state of Florida to do so as well. From Charlie Crist's Web site: Charlie strongly supports Second Amendment rights and advocates policies that strengthen Florida families, including fighting to uphold Florida's Defense of Marriage Act. He was victorious in defending parental notification rights before the Florida Supreme Court. [Crist was recently quoted as saying that he thought civil unions would be "fine, but I support marriage between a man and a woman." He stated that he had not yet reached a decision about Florida's ban on gay adoption, but that he felt "the traditional family was best to adopt.".] Jim Davis: Davis takes no position on his Web site regarding gay and lesbian issues, but his opposition to LGBT rights of the 1990s has reversed to support. He recently voted to defeat the Federal Marriage Amendment. He has said that if he became governor he would sign a bill lifting the adoption ban. From Rod Smith's Web site: Rod Smith strongly opposes discrimination and bigotry. He strongly opposes the senseless ideological effort to amend the constitution to prohibit gay marriage - a matter that is already settled by law. He recognizes that such an amendment would promote discrimination against gay and lesbian couples. In Rod's view, civil unions should be recognized and that the gay and lesbian community should have equal protection of rights to education, housing, health care, and public accommodation and fair employment. Senator Smith was the co-sponsor of a bill that would change Florida's unusually restrictive policy on the adoption of foster children. Under his proposal, any couple qualified to be foster parents would be permitted to adopt their foster child if that adoption is determined to be in the best interest of the child. What's next for Jeb Bush? Hard to tell. A recent poll indicated that a majority of Republicans would not accept him as a nominee for president in 2008. But it's a long time til 2008... [top]

Indiana High Court Lets Gay Adoption Stand Indiana's Supreme Court let stand a ruling that allows unmarried couples, including those of the same sex, to adopt children through a joint petition that gives both partners equal custody. In a 4-1 decision posted Friday (Aug 4), the high court refused to hear arguments in the case. That left intact the April ruling by the Indiana Court of Appeals, which had overturned a lower court's ruling that state law limits adoption to married couples and individuals. "The court acknowledged that two people can create a caring, stable, loving home for children without being married," said Patricia Logue, senior counsel for Lambda Legal's Midwest office in Chicago. "Not only is this a decision that will keep our clients' family intact, but this is a victory for the thousands of children in Indiana desperately in need of a caring home." Logue represented a lesbian couple from Morgan County whose 2004 attempt to adopt a baby girl was approved by a judge in one county but denied by a judge in another. Attorney General Steve Carter had hoped the state's highest court would overturn the 2-1 appeals ruling. Carter's aides did not return messages left Friday by the Associated Press. [top]

Senate Rejects Marriage Amendment The Senate defeated a proposed amendment that would limit marriage in the United States to a union between a man and a woman. The procedural vote required 60 votes for passage; only 48 senator voted in favor. Nevertheless, Republicans saw the vote as an expression of increasing, if not sufficient, support. They will try again next month during the lead-up to the mid-term elections in November. The proposal was defeated in spite of daily appeals for passage from President Bush. Bush's approval ratings have not topped 40% in many months. His approval is also weakening among conservative voters. The Vatican also weighed in, describing gay marriage as a threat to traditional marriage. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) voted against the amendment but issued a statement that seemed to emphasize his support for the anti-gay marriage laws already on the books. The statement said, "Senator Nelson firmly believes marriage should be between one man and one woman, but that the states and not the federal government should regulate marriage.... He supports the Florida law that already bans same-sex marriage, and the federal law that says Florida doesn't have to honor a gay marriage from another state. He didn't vote for the proposed federal amendment for these reasons, and also because it would have allowed the federal government to regulate other relationships besides marriage." [top]

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Senators Seek Co-sponsors for Partner Benefits Bill Senators Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Gordon Smith of Oregon said they plan to introduce a bill in September that would give federal employees domestic partner benefits. The Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act of 2006 would allow federal employees living in a committed and intimate relationship with (unrelated) same-sex partners to participate in federal retirement benefits, life insurance, health benefits, workers compensation and family and medical leave. The two senators are currently looking for co-sponsors. In a letter to fellow senators, they stated that such benefits are provided by a majority of Fortune 500 companies, more than 8,000 private sector companies overall, and several hundred state and local governments and colleges and universities. Smith said the benefits are ""a matter of fairness, and I think the government should be leading the way rather than following."" The Congressional Budget Office has estimated, based on the experience of private companies and state and local governments, that offering domestic partner benefits to federal employees should increase the cost of those programs by less than one-half of one percent, according to a statement released this week by the two senators. Surveys have shown, the statement added, that corporations provide partner benefits in part to recruit and retain top employees. Among the companies that offer such benefits are GE, Chevron, Boeing, Texas Instruments, Hospital Corporation of America, Lockheed Martin, Duke Energy Corp. and BellSouth. The governments in 13 states — including Connecticut and Oregon —139 cities and towns — including Atlanta, Ga., and Albuquerque, N.M. — offer partner benefits. [top]

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"Liberation" Brings Less Freedom for Iraq's LGBT Community There is growing evidence that Shia militias in Iraq are targeting what they refer to as ‘immorals,' which includes homosexual men and amel children who have been forced into prostitution. The number of Iraqis seeking asylum in the United Kingdom on this basis has significantly increased in recent weeks. Iraqi LGBT is an organization in London with the goal of supporting the LGBT community in Iraq. However, the group sites a deteriorating human rights situation in Iraq as the new Iraqi government turns a blind eye to private militias and illegal detention centers. According Iraqi LGBT, gay and lesbian Iraqis are being detained, tortured and killed. Iraqi LGBT sites a fatwa, or holy order, from the highest Shia leader in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, that calls on Shias to kill homosexuals as the best way of removing them from the society. Ali Hili, who runs Iraqi LGBT in London, stated that he used to have 40 volunteers in Iraq but says after recent raids by militia in Najaf, Karbala and Basra he has lost contact with half of them. The campaign extends beyond gay and lesbian adults to children who have been used as prostitutes. It is not uncommon in areas of conflict for children to be kidnapped and used as sex slaves or forced into prostitution. Under the Shia interpretation of Islamic law, children used in this way by people of the same-sex are utterly defiled and may be killed. Further, because the murderers of such children are acting in behalf of Islam, they are protected from prosecution by Iraq's penal code. Photographs and other reports from Iraq confirm the killings. According to one gay man in Iraq, he had more freedom under Saddam's regime. [top]

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Departments

Help Us Build the Rainbow Alliance 1) UF Faculty and Staff: We want every LGBT staff or faculty member and ally to be a Rainbow Alliance member. Tell interested friends and colleagues about Rainbow Alliance. They can check out the Web site at <www.ra-online.org>, or bring them along to a monthly dinner. They can join by sending an e-mail to <info@ra-online.org>. 2) Alumni: Our mailing list of UF alumni is growing. Alumni are a vital part of the University community. Anyone with an interest in improving the LGBT envrionment at the University of Florida should look into Rainbow Alliance. Working together with Pride Student Union and the Director of LGBT Affairs, we are working to keep alumni informed, to help them connect, and to draw on their expertise. 3) Contribute: The Rainbow Alliance Fund at the University of Florida Foundation (established March 2003) is the only one of its kind at the UF Foundation specifically dedicated to the support of the LGBT community at UF. The Fund needs continuing support if we are to realize our goals. As always, details about contributing to the Rainbow Alliance Fund can be found at the end of the newsletter. Details about payroll deduction will be e-mailed to RA members soon. A word to out contributions: Your donation is fully tax-deductible, and the RA Fund is not used to support operations of the Rainbow Alliance. Learn more below. 2) Statewide: Help us connect with staff and faculty on other Florida/Deep South campuses working on LGBT issues. We have some unique challenges in the South. Maybe we can support each other and collaborate on progress. [top]