REPORT: CENSUS UNDERCOUNTS GAY UNIONS
A report from the Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies indicates that despite increases in the number of same-sex couples reporting their partnerships, the U.S. Census is still undercounting gay/lesbian unions.
This week, the U.S. Bureau of the Census starting releasing its count of "unmarried partners" who live together, starting with Vermont and Delaware. In 2000, there were 1,933 Vermont households that included two people of the same sex who identified themselves as unmarried partners, up from 370 in 1990. In Delaware, the number of same-sex partners reported rose from 212 in 1990 to 1,868 in 2000.
To find out who might have been excluded from the count, researchers collected data from the Millennium March on Washington in April 2000 and from an online panel surveyed by Witeck-Combs Communications and Harris Interactive.
Data from the Witeck-Combs Communications online survey conducted with Harris Interactive of GLBTs showed that 19% of people living with a same-sex partner used some other census category besides unmarried partner. Together, the two surveys suggest that at least 15% to 23% of same-sex unmarried partners did not label themselves as unmarried partners, casting doubt on the census count. Preliminary results show confidentiality was the top reason for using a different label.
Secret gay life gets
mobster killed, FBI says
The secret gay life of New York mobster John D'Amato cost him his life, the New York Daily News reports.
D'Amato was reportedly a top official in a leading New Jersey crime family and close friends with John Gotti.
According to an FBI informant, however, that all changed when D'Amato's secret life was uncovered. The informant claimed that in 1990, he carried out the mob-ordered murder of D'Amato, whose body has not been found.
Hawaii passes crimes bill
Hawaii has adopted a hate-crimes law that includes penalty enhancers for bias-motivated crimes, the Associated Press reports.
Hawaii's law, signed by Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono last week, imposes longer sentences for crimes motivated by race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity or national origin.
The signing came on the heels of an incident in which 20 gay campers were attacked at a campground last month. Two teenagers have been charged with attempted murder in the incident. They are accused of trying to set campers' tents on fire and shouting anti-gay slurs.
Senate backs anti-gay Scouts amendment
The U.S. Senate voted 51-49 last week in favor of a bill that would withhold federal money from schools that refuse use of their facilities to the Boy Scouts over the group's ban on gays, AP reports.
Jesse Helms ( R-N.C. ) authored the amendment to President Bush's education bill. Helms said the measure was meant to fight "the organized lesbians and homosexuals in this country of ours."
Senate Democrats said the amendment could end up benefiting white supremacist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan. "Senator Helms, in trying to pay a tribute to the Boy Scouts, has opened the door wide for mischief from every crazy group in America," said Illinois Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin, "I have to tell you: As I consider this amendment, it is a complete disaster."
Similar legislation passed the House on May 23.
The Senate also passed, 52-47, an amendment sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer ( D-Calif. ) meant to temper the Helms plan. Under Boxer's amendment, all federally chartered groups would have access to school facilities regardless of their position on sexual orientation. The plan would open schools to groups such as the Boy Scouts and Gay Straight Alliances.
The Helms and Boxer measures are expected to go to conference committee.
NGLTF opposes Horn nomination for HHS post
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has joined a coalition of groups who oppose President Bush's nomination of Wade Horn as assistant secretary for family support in the Dept. of Health and Human Services.
NGLTF said, "Horn's reactionary views are out of touch with the changing demographics of families in the United States and pose a particular threat to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender families."
Horn, head of the National Fatherhood Initiative, has pushed for closing federal programs—including Head Start, public housing and financial aid—to families that aren't headed by a married man and woman.
Horn has written, "If we are serious about encouraging marriage, and by extension, fatherhood, we should make these limited-supply benefits available first to married, two-parent families."
See www.nowldef.org .
Southern Baptists offer Disney a compromise
The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, has offered the Walt Disney Co. a compromise that the group says would end its four-year boycott of the company, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
The Rev. Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said that under the compromise, Disney would have to stop cooperating with gay activities and causes in its theme parks, TV shows and publications.
And, Land said, Disney would have to "establish an advisory committee of Southern Baptists and other evangelicals" to provide "advice and counsel" on entertainment projects. "The first thing is, stop offending us," Land said.
There has been no indication by financial analysts that the Southern Baptist boycott has affected Disney's assets.
A Disney spokesman said, "While we seek advice from various groups as we pursue projects, we need to maintain our creative independence ... . We cannot have ... committees of any of the 5,000 to 10,000 special-interest groups we have in this country."
Charges dropped against Soulforce protesters
Charges have been dropped against 34 people arrested at a Soulforce protest in New Orleans last week. Soulforce was protesting at the Southern Baptist Convention to oppose the denomination's stance on GLBTs.
Members of the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church protested Soulforce, whose members asked for pledges based on the number of hours that Westboro was there. Soulforce raised over $10,000.
Soulforce protesters lead a Jazz Funeral, carrying a coffin filed with letters from and about those who have been hurt by Southern Baptist teaching. They were arrested as they tried to take the coffin into the Convention at the Superdome.
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Gay anti-Bush protesters arrested at Tampa rally
Three protesters at a rally for President Bush in Tampa, Fla., are claiming that their First Amendment rights were violated as a result of their opposition to the president, Gay Today reports.
The Tampa Three were arrested for trespassing after refusing to relinquish anti-Bush signs. As police escorted them away, telling them to put down their signs or leave, they noted that pro-Bush signs were allowed.
According to the St. Pete Times, video footage indicates that the sign policy was "selectively enforced."
One protesters' sign declared June as Gay Pride Month and all three chanted "Hail to the Thief."
Appeals court upholds S.F. partnership law
A federal appeals court last week upheld sections of San Francisco's Equal Benefits Ordinance, which requires city contractors to offer domestic partner benefits.
Ohio-based S.D. Meyers had sued the city, saying it shouldn't have to obey laws that conflict with its owners' religious beliefs. The court found that cities have a "have a legitimate interest in enacting these laws," and that the policy doesn't put an undue burden on contractors, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund repots.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project and Lambda filed amicus briefs in the case.
