House OKs death tax repeal
The House of Representatives voted, 274-154, last week to repeal the federal estate tax, known as the death tax, a move that will reportedly help gay and lesbian families, the Log Cabin Republicans report.
House Bill 8 would repeal the tax over 10 years. Under current federal law, when a gay or lesbian spouse dies, his or her estate is taxed at a rate of up to 55% before the survivor has access to it. LCR notes that the tax is an additional burden on same-sex couples who have to establish expensive wills and estate plans to make sure their partners are protected in case of death.
Florida's high court upholds DP law
The Florida Supreme Court has upheld Broward County's domestic-partnership law, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund reports.
Broward County adopted the Domestic Partner Act in April 1999, creating a partner registry and providing health and other benefits and protections for county employees' partners and their children.
The conservative Northstar Legal Center sued the county claiming that the DPA was in conflict with Florida law by creating a "marriage-like" relationship, and that the county overstepped its bounds by enacting the ordinance.
Maryland Assembly
passes bias ban act
Maryland has become the 12th state to enact legislation protecting gays and lesbians from anti-gay discrimination.
On April 6, the Maryland General Assembly approved, 90 to 47, the 2001 Anti-Discrimination Act. The Senate had approved the measure, 32-14, the week before, as had the House, 88-50.
Governor Parris N. Glendening has said he will sign the bill into law.
ILLINOIS NEWS
Hicks leaves GCC
AIDS service pioneer Derrick Hicks has stepped down from the day-to-day operations of the Greater Chicago Committee, the organization he founded six years ago.
"I have put my heart and soul into the development of GCC, but I realize that GCC has to move onto the next level. And maybe I'm not the individual to accomplish that," Hicks said.
HIcks is credited with raising almost $500,000 for GCC's prevention programs, which primarily serve African-American GLBTs on the West Side.
GCC's board has given Hicks the title of Founder and Executive Director Emeritus. Hicks will also be given a special tribute at GCC's 2001 Bayard Rustin awards June 29 at the DuSable Museum. Cook County Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown will be the keynote speaker at the ceremony, and she will receive the GCC Founders Award.
Call ( 773 ) 287-3263.
Syringe access bill pulled from consideration
After falling just one vote short of passage in the Illinois Senate, the syringe access bill has been pulled from the floor and will brought again sometime in the future.
Senate Bill 155 would amend current law to allow adults to buy sterile syringes at pharmacies without a prescription. Its unofficial vote tally was 29-25, and 30 votes are needed for passage.
For more information, visit the AIDS Foundation of Chicago's Web site at www.aidschicago.org .
Gay Former Official Under Investigation?
Claude Earl Fox was one of the most senior openly gay federal government officials when he resigned March 23 as administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Rumors that Fox's departure was more than just another change in administration resignation hit the press April 4 with a four-paragraph mention in the "In the Loop" column by Al Kamen in the Washington Post. A Capitol Hill source told Kamen of "a pending inspector general's inquiry into alleged misuse of funds at HRSA." Fox resigned after being informed of the inquiry. Kamen wrote, "Fox did not return calls to his home."
HRSA is a section of the Department of Health and Human Services that administers more than $4.6 billion in federal programs. The Ryan White programs serving people with AIDS are among that portfolio.
President Clinton appointed Fox, a 54-year-old pediatrician, as HRSA administrator in 1998. He was a member of the senior executive service, the top level of federal career employees, even though the position is nominally a political appointment.
Gays and lesbians who dealt with that agency praised Fox for his leadership on LGBT issues. A $50,000 grant from HRSA supported a 480-page "companion document" to Healthy People 2010, the federal blueprint for healthcare over the next decade. That report was just released by the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association.
Some in the community have suggested that the investigation of Fox is motivated by antigay bias, in part because Fox is gay and he aggressively funded LGBT programs. Also, a staff member of former conservative congressman Tom Coburn ( R-Oklahoma ) is believed to be involved with the investigation.
One community member working in the area of AIDS, who asked not to be identified, said the rumors were that Fox "was using grants almost as a personal slush fund" to support GLBT and AIDS programs outside of normal review and disbursement procedures. That source had no direct knowledge of the veracity of the rumors or the investigation.
Others have pointed out that there is little direct opportunity for personal enrichment by Fox beyond modest padding of travel expenses.
Meanwhile, the April issue of Washington Monthly, an established muck-raking scourge of the federal bureaucracy, carried a cover story entitled: "AIDS Incorporated: How federal AIDS money ended up funding psychic hotlines, Neiman Marcus, and flirting classes."
The article by Wayne Turner, of ACT UP Washington, recounted examples of "junkets" to resorts for AIDS training and misuse of funds by local program administrators. All of the incidents cited had been reported previously.
Terje Anderson, executive director of the National Association of People With AIDS, acknowledged that AIDS programs have not been administered perfectly. But he thought that waste and fraud was not more than and possibly less than in other federal programs. That seemed to be confirmed during congressional hearings last year over reauthorization of the Ryan White program.
-Bob Roehr
