Compiled and with commentary by Dennis McMillan
Des Moines, IA – Supreme Court Tosses Wrongful Conviction in HIV Case – 6.13
The Iowa Supreme Court has thrown out the conviction of a man who pleaded guilty to criminal transmission of HIV, a victory to activists who say laws in many states are outdated and based on fear instead of medical science.
Nick Rhoades, 39, of Plainfield, had appealed his 2009 conviction, claiming his attorney was ineffective by letting him plead guilty when there was an inadequate factual basis to support the plea. The court’s ruling overturns the Iowa Court of Appeals, which had affirmed a Black Hawk County judge’s conviction based on Rhoades’ plea.
“This is a step away from fear and a step toward embracing reason and science and medicine, and we’re just thrilled about it,” said Christopher Clark, one of Rhoades’ attorneys who works for gay rights organization Lambda Legal.
The ruling followed a decision by the Legislature in May to revise Iowa’s infectious disease transmission law, making people eligible for 25-year sentences only if they intend to transmit a disease without someone’s knowledge. That change was prompted largely by the Rhoades case.
Rhoades had been sentenced to 25 years in prison for oral sex, and was required to register as a sex offender for life—since Iowa’s law made HIV transmission a felony. After he appealed the sentence, the district court judge suspended it and placed him on probation for five years.
In the ruling, six of seven justices found there was insufficient factual basis to support Rhoades’ plea and returned the case to district court. Prosecutors must prove a factual basis existed for the plea. If they cannot, Rhoades must be allowed to withdraw his plea.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Black Hawk County Attorney Thomas J. Ferguson would pursue prosecution further. A spokesman for the Iowa Attorney General’s office, which handled the appeals, said that decision is up to Ferguson.
Thirty-nine states have HIV-specific criminal statutes or have brought HIV-related criminal charges resulting in more than 160 prosecutions in the United States in the past four years. It’s time to change this absurd law!
Source: edgeonthenet.com
Washington D.C. – President Obama Extends Workplace Protections – 6.16
In a huge victory for equality, the White House announced it intends to protect 16 million more Americans from discrimination in the workplace. The President plans to sign an executive order that will provide protections to people working for federal contractors nationwide who could face everyday job discrimination.
The news also provides huge momentum to efforts to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the US House of Representatives. Civil rights activists are urged to ask President Obama to issue a strong executive order right away to provide badly-needed workplace protections to millions more people. (Editor’s Note: Other LGBT activists are unhappy with the way ENDA is worded, saying that it would hurt more than help.)
President Obama is taking this bold step thanks to activists pushing for what’s right. The news is the culmination of six years of advocacy by the members and supporters of the Human Rights Campaign and others. After millions of emails, principled advocacy by our allies in the civil rights community and on Capitol Hill and a mountain of compelling evidence, our efforts paid off. We won!
The number of people affected by this historic decision is staggering. Federal contractors employ more than 20 percent of the American workforce. According to the Williams Institute, an executive order would protect 11 million more American workers from discrimination based on sexual orientation and up to 16.5 million more American workers from discrimination based on gender identity.
The executive order will also require companies that have historically turned a blind eye to workplace discrimination to change their policies. Not only will this order protect LGBTQ workers in companies like these, it will also speed up the pace of change by declaring that our government will only award taxpayer dollars to companies with pro-equality workplace policies.
Of course, this is not the end of the fight for comprehensive workplace protection nationwide. We still need activists and supporters to speak out and push for a vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the House to make workplace equality the law of the land. But this victory is proof that the momentum from ENDA’s strong, bipartisan passage in the Senate last fall is unyielding.
Source: hrc.org
San Francisco, CA – Texas Gov. Rick Perry Compares Homosexuality to Alcoholism in Gay San Francisco – 6.13
Texas Gov. Rick Perry was invited to the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco to speak about biofuel, solar and wind energy. So it was an unwelcome surprise to many in the liberal-leaning city when Perry ended up comparing homosexuality to alcoholism.
For example, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted that Perry “must apologize for (his) ignorant and hateful remarks,” noting also that it is Gay Pride month. Perry was asked about the Texas Republican Party’s adoption this month of supporting access to “reparative therapy” for gays and lesbians—a disproven process intended to change sexual orientation. Perry’s answer: “I don’t know. I’m not a psychologist. I’m not a doctor.”
Commonwealth Club interviewer Greg Dalton asked him whether he believed homosexuality is a disorder. “Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that,” Perry said. “I may have the genetic coding that I’m inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way.”
Later Perry’s office sent out a standard email rehashing the trite one-man one-woman marriage stance. Perry’s views include his 2005 support for the Texas Marriage Amendment, defining marriage as the “union of one man and one woman.” And when the Boy Scouts admitted openly gay Boy Scouts in May 2013, Perry stated: “I am greatly disappointed” with the decision.
Though the crowd at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins hotel on Nob Hill was full of Perry supporters, Perry’s response drew a murmur of disbelief. Members of the audience actually hissed. Robbie Sherwood, a former political reporter for the Arizona Republic and the executive director of Progressive Now in Arizona tweeted, “Dumbassery is a choice, Rick; homosexuality is not.”
Much later, Perry sort of apologized, saying, “I stepped right in it,” referring to the bull crap he had embraced.
Source: nbcbayarea.com
Dallas, TX – US Conference of Mayors Calls on Supreme Court to Promptly Rule in Favor of the Freedom to Marry – 6.23
At its annual meeting on June 23 in Dallas, the US Conference of Mayors overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on federal courts, including the Supreme Court, to expeditiously bring an end to marriage discrimination against gay couples nationwide.
Mayors from states that still ban marriage for same-sex couples—including Arizona, Texas, Ohio, Colorado, Missouri and Georgia—were among those who led passage of the resolution. Mayor Greg Stanton of Phoenix, a co-chair of Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, was a leader in introducing the resolution.
“From small towns to big cities, America’s mayors know that including gay couples in the freedom to marry does nothing but strengthen families and communities for all,” said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry. “The US Conference of Mayors has made it clear that it’s time for the federal appellate courts and the US Supreme Court to follow the lead of numerous states and a wave of over 20 federal and state courts and bring an end to marriage discrimination nationwide. A year after the Supreme Court demolished the arguments propping up marriage discrimination, it’s time for the Court to finish the job and rule in favor of the freedom to marry once and for all.”
Gay couples can marry in 19 states and the District of Columbia, meaning that 44% of Americans live in a freedom to marry state—up from zero, a little more than a decade ago. Nearly 60% of Americans support the freedom to marry, and in the past year, 15 federal judges, appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents, have found marriage discrimination unconstitutional, with zero ruling to the contrary.
This resolution, which passed by voice vote, states, “The United States Conference of Mayors reaffirms its support of the freedom to marry for same-sex couples and urges the federal courts, including the US Supreme Court, to speedily bring national resolution by ruling in favor of the freedom to marry nationwide.”
Freedom to Marry has worked with almost 450 mayors, most recently Greg Fischer of Louisville, KY, in making the case for ending marriage discrimination.
Source: freedomtomarry.org
Anderson, SC – South Carolina Teen Fights to Wear Makeup in His DMV License Photo – 6.18
A national transgender advocacy group has asked South Carolina officials to retake the driver’s license photo of a teenager who says his free speech rights were violated when he was not allowed to wear makeup for his original picture.
Chase Culpepper, 16, a self-described gender non-conformist, often wears androgynous or girls’ clothing. When he went to get his license, workers at the Department of Motor Vehicles office in Anderson, South Carolina, permitted him to wear pearl earrings, but told him he had to remove his mascara and eye shadow before they would take his photo, he said.
“I was told that I did not look like a boy should, and I could not wear a disguise to have my license photo taken,” Culpepper said. “I felt degraded.”
In a letter to the state, the New York-based Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund said officials were wrong to restrict how Culpepper expressed his gender and requested that the agency reconsider its position. But a department spokeswoman stood by its actions, citing a 2009 agency rule that forbids license photographs to be taken when an applicant seems to be “purposely altering his or her appearance so that the photo would misrepresent his or her identity.”
Spokeswoman Beth Parks said the policy helped ensure that law enforcement officers knew whether they were dealing with a male or female. The department has no plans to retake Culpepper’s photo with him wearing makeup, she said.
“His driver’s license has a male name,” Parks said. “It says he’s male. The picture that is on the driver’s license needs to reflect a male.”
A spokeswoman for the transgender group said it had not decided whether to pursue legal action. Culpepper said he regretted agreeing to wipe off his makeup. “This is who I am,” he said. “This is how I am every day. If anything, making me take off my makeup would be the disguise.”
So, when going to your Department of Motor vehicles, just remember: pearl earrings—yes; mascara—no.
Source: reuters.com
Local News Briefs
Ellis Act Reform Bill Defeated by Both Republicans and Democrats
Democratic Assembly Members Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton) and Cheryl Brown (D-San Bernardino) teamed up with Republicans Brian Maienschein (R-San Diego) and Beth Gaines (R-Roseville) to defeat SB 1439 (Leno), a modest bill to stop speculators from misusing California’s Ellis Act to evict long-term tenants. The bill, co-sponsored by Tenants Together and San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee, failed on a 3-4 vote, with Assembly Members Ed Chau (D-Monterey Park), Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) and Mariko Yamada (D-Davis) voting to support the bill.
The bill would have plugged a loophole that has allowed speculators to purchase apartment buildings and immediately evict long-term San Francisco tenants who are disproportionately elderly and disabled. With no solid arguments against the bill, the real estate lobby relied on a strategy of misrepresentations and campaign donations to prevail.
The defeat of SB 1439 highlights a growing problem in Sacramento. The real estate industry’s control of Democrats through campaign donations corrupts the lawmaking process, undermining the ability of California’s 15 million tenants to have their needs addressed by legislators.
Tenants saw the same dynamic when Democrats heavily funded by real estate money joined with Republicans to defeat SB 603, the bill last session for fair treatment of security deposits. That bill would have simply imposed a penalty on landlords who illegally withhold security deposit funds—something that is already the law in Alabama. The bill was unacceptable to realtor-funded Democrats for reasons they refused to articulate.
With rents, evictions and habitability problems escalating across the state, tenant discontent is on the rise. The Ellis Act reform bill was backed by an incredibly broad coalition of labor unions, senior groups, tech companies and social justice groups.
California’s 15 million tenants need representation and leadership in Sacramento. Too often, lawmakers claim to be affordable housing champions while refusing to stop unfair displacement, exorbitant rent hikes, security deposit theft, and other abuses of current tenants.
Story by Dennis McMillan
Phase I of Castro Streetscape Improvement Project Team Is Complete
The Castro Streetscape Improvement Project team has wrapped up work on Phase I, and they have reached the June construction moratorium (June 19 through June 29) in order to accommodate Pride festivities, including the Frameline Film Festival and Pink Saturday events.
The new extended curb lines have been installed in their final location, and the majority of sidewalks have been poured, giving us all a taste of what is to come in October, when construction on Phase II is expected to be completed.
Work on Phase I includes extended sidewalks, a re-graded street and underground utilities that include new water services. What remains to be done is the installation of new street lights, celebratory lights, street tree planting, Rainbow Honor Walk plaques, sidewalk etching of historic facts, bike racks and leaning rails, installation of a 16” transmission water line and permanent paving of the roadway on Castro and 18th Streets—including a repaving Jane Warner Plaza and installation of rainbow crosswalks at the intersection of 18th Street.
Unfortunately, my request for a yellow brick road leading to my Castro Street apartment was not taken seriously. The goal is to have all of this work be completed by the Castro Street Fair, which is always the first Sunday in October, making the date of completion October 5, 2014.
The Castro Streetscape Improvement Project team say they would like to thank all the residents, business owners, and community members for their generous patience during the project, and they hope everyone will get a chance to enjoy the break in activities during the Pride festivities. They add, “But we know you’re all as anxious and excited as we are to see the finished street—which will be safer, greener, more beautiful and a complete street we can all be proud of!”
The next report will be after June 30, when construction resumes.
Story by Dennis McMillan
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