GLAAD: Supreme Court Grants Child-Visitation Rights to Lesbian Parent

FROM THE GLAAD MEDIA CENTER:

December 9, 2008

The four-and-a-half year legal battle between former partners Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins over child-visitation rights came to a close on Monday, December 8 when Jenkins was granted the right to visit their daughter due to a ruling by the United States Supreme Court. The women were joined in a civil union in Vermont in 2000 and raised Miller’s biological daughter together. Following the dissolution of their civil union, a lengthy custody battle began. Miller, who moved to Virginia with their daughter, sought sole custody and Jenkins, who remained in Vermont, sought parental and visitation rights. On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that Virginia must enforce a Vermont court order that awarded child-visitation rights to Jenkins. The decision signifies a landmark ruling as one of the most high-profile cases on the rights of gay and lesbian parents across state lines.

Related Media Coverage:

The Associated Press – December 9, 2008
“Va. Must Enforce Gay Visitation Rights”
http://www.wric.com/Global/story.asp?S=9479398

Newsweek – December 6, 2008
“Mrs. Kramer Vs. Mrs. Kramer”
http://www.newsweek.com/id/172554

Media Contact:

Richard Ferraro
Director of Public Relations
(646) 871-8011
ferraro@glaad.org

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HRC: Comments Comparing Prop 8 Protestors with Mumbai Terrorists Shows True Colors of Anti-Gay Movement

FROM THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN:

Pat Boone’s Bizarre Rant Claims “Awful Similarity” Between “Jihadists” in Mumbai and Prop 8 Protestors; Attacks CA Gov Schwarzenegger for Encouraging Protests

12/9/2008

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization, responded today to the exclusive commentary posted on the extremist, right-wing website World Net Daily by anti-gay activist and former singer Pat Boone. Boone published a bizarre and disturbing commentary comparing the horrific tragedy in Mumbai, which took the lives of over 170 people, to the protests against Proposition 8 here in the U.S. In essence, equating the Mumbai tragedy with those protesting the passage of the discriminatory amendment in California that took marriage rights away from gay and lesbian couples to terrorists.

In the commentary titled “Hate is hate, in India or America,” which can be viewed at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82830, Boone writes, “let me ask you: Have you not seen the awful similarity between what happened in Mumbai and what’s happening right now in our cities?” Boone went on to state, “What troubles me so deeply, and should trouble all thinking Americans, is that there is a real, unbroken line between the jihadist savagery in Mumbai and the hedonistic, irresponsible, blindly selfish goals and tactics of our homegrown sexual jihadists.”

“Pat Boone wouldn’t normally warrant a second thought, even if his only claim to fame these days is his unabashed homophobia, but his disturbing commentary on this right-wing site can’t go unanswered,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “His commentary marks a new low in anti-gay rhetoric. And yet it also demonstrates the depths of hatred from these demagogues toward the LGBT community. Most Americans would be shocked to see this level of vitriol coming from someone who presented himself as America’s sweetheart.”

Boone even lodged an attack on Governor Schwarzenegger for encouraging gay Americans to “never give up” in the quest for equality. Boone wrote, “You haven’t seen, on the evening news, prominent entertainers and even California Gov. Schwarzenegger, urging the demonstrators on, telling them they should “never give up” until they get their way?” Boone added, “Hate is hate, no matter where it erupts. And hate, unbridled, will eventually and inevitably boil into violence.”

“Bigots like Boone will never see how absurd their arguments are, but just like that other anti-gay icon from the 70s, Anita Bryant, Pat Boone’s screed actually helps our efforts for equality,” continued Solmonese. “In most places in America today it isn’t acceptable to be an outright bigot. Obviously, Pat Boone hasn’t got that memo.”

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The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

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Bay Area Reporter: Milk march attracts huge crowd

FROM THE BAY AREA REPORTER:

By Matthew S. Bajko

Gyl Rosenblum vividly remembers meeting Harvey Milk as a teenager in the mid-1970s when she lived on Castro Street in the heart of the city’s then burgeoning gayborhood. Living mere doors down from Milk’s Castro Camera store, Rosenblum would frequent the business.

Milk went on to become the first out gay man elected to political office in a major U.S. city when he won a seat on the Board of Supervisors in 1977. A year later Milk, along with then-Mayor George Moscone, was assassinated in his City Hall office on November 27, 1978 by former board colleague Dan White.

The night of their deaths Rosenblum joined the crowd in front of City Hall mourning the slain leaders. Now living across the bay in El Cerrito, Rosenblum returned to the city last week to once again remember her former neighbor.

“It felt like it was time to commemorate it,” said the 50-year-old Rosenblum, who was joined by her partner of three years, Ann Williams.

Williams, 59, was an out lesbian living in Oakland at the time. Pregnant and near her due date, she was unable to attend the candlelight vigil that night in 1978.

“It was just stunning. It was just an awful thing, to have a powerful gay leader just eliminated so quickly,” said Williams. “I remember seeing him walking by once. You could see he could have gone far. He really did have charisma.”

The couple joined close to 1,000 people who had gathered in front of City Hall and then marched to the location of Milk’s old camera shop on Castro Street Friday, November 28 to mark the 30th year since the assassinations. [The annual ceremony had been pushed back a day due to the actual anniversary falling on Thanksgiving this year.]

The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, whose first public performance was the night of the deaths, returned to the steps of City Hall to sing once again. Friends, relatives, and colleagues of both Milk and Moscone eulogized the men many credit with opening the doors of the city’s political power to gays and people of color.

“Tonight is very bittersweet for many. Every time we gather our hearts are heavy with what happened,” said recently sworn-in state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a friend of Milk’s who followed him into politics. “Harvey Milk would be very bemused today to see where history has placed not only him, but us, the community and his legacy.”

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Windy City Times: Plans for LGBTA school postponed

FROM THE WINDY CITY TIMES:

By Yasmin Nair
2008-11-26

A proposal for a Chicago gay high school was abruptly taken off the agenda of the Chicago Public Schools Nov. 19 board meeting. Supporters and opponents of the proposal came to the downtown office of CPS, only to be handed a memo from The Office of New Schools informing them, “The Social Justice Solidarity High School proposal has been withdrawn from consideration during today’s Board meeting.”

Paula Gilovich, a member of the Design Team for the high school and the Education Director of About Face Theatre said that “community input after our October 8 public hearing created changes in our proposal that we were not comfortable with” and the team unanimously decided to withdraw the proposal. One of the changes was in the name of the school, which had originally been titled the Pride Campus of the Social Justice High School.

In addition, according to Gilovich, there were curriculum changes; About Face Theatre was taken out of the proposal; and language was watered down. According to her, “sexual orientation” became “orientation;” the word “identity” could not be included; and neither could “transgender,” which was changed to “appearance.”

News of the withdrawal of the proposal had gone out on e-mail the night before, according to Sam Finkelstein, a member of Gender JUST (Gender Justice United for Societal Transformation) . Finkelstein and other supporters decided to attend the meeting regardless “because we’d already done a lot of mobilizing. We don’t want CPS to define our agenda, and we needed to hold the Board of Education accountable.”

Some of the supporters who spoke out in support of the proposal felt that the design team had been forced to cave in. Roger Fraser said “I feel that there was political pressure on this design team from the mayor’s team on down to shelve it.” Andy Thayer, of Gay Liberation Network, said that “a handful of far-right anti-gay preachers worked with CPS hierarchy [ to withdraw the proposal ] . He added that “We’ve learned that some of the proponents of the Pride campus have had their jobs threatened.” According to CPS, the matter of whether or not people were threatened is under investigation.

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