11-May-2000 07:49 AM
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In this issue
Survey Results
Based on the poor return rate for the surveys, which was dismal and statistically insignificant, I would say that the membership does not particularly care one way or the other about what we do. Only 10 people even responded to the survey. Of those, only a few actually answered the questions. Most answered only some of the top part and left it at that.
But from the meager scrapings here is what we have determined:
Domestic Partnership benefits: Only about half the surveys returned even mentioned domestic partnership benefits, but those that did were all in favor of pursuing DP benefits. So, we will continue working on this issue.
Social Gatherings (all locations): Meeting at bars was somewhat questionable, however everyone was in favor of meeting socially.
Community Events (AIDS walk, Habitat for Humanity): Almost all were in favor of continuing these types of events. However, we will not endorse events/groups that exclude gays and lesbians (e.g. Big Brothers/Big Sisters) as a rule. Political Events: Most respondents were in favor of supporting general political events (voter registration drives and the like) but were against assisting any specific candidates (fundraising for a candidate).
Pride
June 23-25
If you are interested in helping out at Pride. Possibly setting up a tent for KOLAGE, providing information about KOLAGE to employees who are not members, or anything else you can come up with, please contact John Lane at 6-3914.
The Progressive Voter Coalition is seeking out volunteers to canvas the crowd during Pride weekend with flyers. They need folks for 2 hour shift especially on Sunday, 6/25, 10:00am - noon and noon - 2:00 pm. If you are interested in assisting, please contact Bob Wood at bobwoodatl@aol.com or you can reach him at 404.872.4574 (email is preferred).
Letter From A Mother
This editorial is from Sunday's Concord Monitor.
Sunday, April 30, 2000
By SHARON UNDERWOOD
For the Valley News (White River Junction, VT/Hanover, NH)
As the mother of a gay son, I've seen firsthand how cruel and misguided people can be.
Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I've taken enough from you good people.
I'm tired of your foolish rhetoric about the "homosexual agenda" and your allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as advocating sex with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been robbing me of the joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny.
My firstborn son started suffering at the hands of the moral little thugs from your moral, upright families from the time he was in the first grade. He was physically and verbally abused from first grade straight through high school because he was perceived to be gay.
He never professed to be gay or had any association with anything gay, but he had the misfortune not to walk or have gestures like the other boys. He was called "fag" incessantly, starting when he was 6.
In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should be doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it to be sure his family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he choked out that he just couldn't bear to continue living any longer, that he didn't want to be gay and that he couldn't face a life without dignity.
You have the audacity to talk about protecting families and children from the homosexual menace, while you yourselves tear apart families and drive children to despair. I don't know why my son is gay, but I do know that God didn't put him, and millions like him, on this Earth to give you someone to abuse. God gave you brains so that you could think, and it's about time you started doing that.
At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the belief that this could never happen to you, that there is some kind of subculture out there that people have chosen to join. The fact is that if it can happen to my family, it can happen to yours, and you won't get to choose. Whether it is genetic or whether something occurs during a critical time of fetal development, I don't know. I can only tell you with an absolute certainty that it is inborn.
If you want to tout your own morality, you'd best come up with something more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing your story, because my own heterosexuality was a blessing I received with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so woven into the very soul of me that nothing could ever change it. For those of you who reduce sexual orientation to a simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or something that can be changed by a 10-step program, I'm puzzled. Are you saying that your own sexual orientation is nothing more than something you have chosen, that you could change it at will? If that's not the case, then why would you suggest that someone else can?
A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont has been infiltrated by outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in Vermont for generations. I am heart and soul a Vermonter, so I'll thank you to stop saying that you are speaking for "true Vermonters."
You invoke the memory of the brave people who have fought on the battlefield for this great country, saying that they didn't give their lives so that the "homosexual agenda" could tear down the principles they died defending. My 83-year-old father fought in some of the most horrific battles of World War II, was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart.
He shakes his head in sadness at the life his grandson has had to live. He says he fought alongside homosexuals in those battles, that they did their part and bothered no one. One of his best friends in the service was gay, and he never knew it until the end, and when he did find out, it mattered not at all. That wasn't the measure of the man.
You religious folk just can't bear the thought that as my son emerges from the hell that was his childhood he might like to find a lifelong companion and have a measure of happiness. It offends your sensibilities that he should request the right to visit that companion in the hospital, to make medical decisions for him or to benefit from tax laws governing inheritance.
How dare he? you say. These outrageous requests would threaten the very existence of your family, would undermine the sanctity of marriage.
You use religion to abdicate your responsibility to be thinking human beings. There are vast numbers of religious people who find your attitudes repugnant. God is not for the privileged majority, and God knows my son has committed no sin.
The deep-thinking author of a letter to the April 12 Valley News who lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about "those of us who have been blessed with the benefits of a religious upbringing" asks: "What ever happened to the idea of striving . . . to be better human beings than we are?"
Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that?
Sharon Underwood lives in White River Junction, Vermont
HRC WorkAlert
May 2000 -- Vol. 3, No. 5
News and developments concerning the struggle for workplace equality for GLBT Americans
Kim I. Mills, Education Director
Daryl Herrschaft, Research Coordinator
- Maine Governor Signs Civil Rights Measure
- Effort Falls Short to Repeal Miami-Dade Non-Discrimination Law
- Salt Lake City Mayor Bars Anti-Gay Discrimination Against City Workers
- Iowa Governor Vetoes Attempt to Dump Sexual Orientation Protections
- Cummins Maintains its Support of Domestic Partner Benefits
- ExxonMobil To Face Shareholder Action in May
- Virginia High Court Rules Against County Law Offering Domestic Benefits
- Judge Halts Probe of Case Against School's Benefits Policy
- Hawaii Legislature Fails to Restore Benefits for State Employees
- Employers that have recently announced domestic partner benefits:
Maine Governor Signs Civil Rights Measure
AUGUSTA, Maine - Gov. Angus King signed a bill April 7 that allows voters to decide in November whether to authorize a law to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
This will be the third time that Maine voters will consider the issue of discrimination against lesbians and gays. In 1995, voters rejected a proposal to keep municipalities from passing equal rights measures. In 1998, voters repealed a statewide civil rights bill that had been signed into law a year earlier. The current bill enjoys support from a broad range of groups, including the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. However, critics complained that the bill doesn't go far enough. It includes an exemption for religious groups and says that schools do not have to include sexual orientation issues in their curriculum. It also says that employers are not required to implement affirmative action programs based on sexual orientation or provide domestic partner benefits. While the measure won't end discrimination in Maine, it will send a "strong and powerful message" that the state will not condone such practices, Democratic Rep. Thomas Bull told The Associated Press.
Effort Falls Short to Repeal Miami-Dade Non-Discrimination Law
MIAMI - Organizers of a petition drive to repeal a Miami-Dade County law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation failed to meet an April 7 deadline to gather enough signatures to qualify for the September ballot. Gay rights supporters lauded the victory, but cautioned that it may be short-lived. "There is no limit to the number of times they can try this," said Jorge Mursuli, chairman of SAVE Dade, a lesbian and gay rights group. "So it is a victory, but we see it as a temporary victory."
Take Back Miami-Dade - a coalition of anti-gay groups including the Florida Family Association and the Christian Coalition - has indicated that it will begin gathering signatures to put the issue to a vote on the November ballot.
Miami-Dade commissioners passed the ordinance, which outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing and employment, in December 1998. Former beauty queen Anita Bryant led a successful crusade in 1977 to overturn Miami-Dade's original non-discrimination ordinance.
Salt Lake City Mayor Bars Anti-Gay Discrimination Against City Workers
SALT LAKE CITY - Mayor Rocky Anderson signed an executive order April 4 prohibiting anti-gay discrimination against Salt Lake City employees. The move reinstates language that the City Council adopted, and then rescinded, two years ago.
"This is something I feel very strongly that we need to do," Anderson told The Deseret News. "It carries a more general and, I think in this instance, a very important message about what our values are."
Iowa Governor Vetoes Attempt to Dump Sexual Orientation Protections
DES MOINES, Iowa - Gov. Tom Vilsack vetoed a bill April 14 that would have reversed an executive order prohibiting sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination against state employees. Vilsack, a Democrat, delivered his veto message immediately after the vote count, saying he was "profoundly disappointed" that lawmakers had wasted their time on the issue, according to The Associated Press. Supporters of the bill said they were guarding rights of the Legislature to set state policy. Opponents claimed the move was an election-year tactic to draw more attention to gay rights issues on the campaign trail.
Cummins Maintains its Support of Domestic Partner Benefits
COLUMBUS, Ind. - When Cummins Engine Co Inc. announced it would offer domestic partner health insurance to its employees, the firm may not have anticipated what would happen next. A debate ensued in the local newspaper between religious conservatives opposed to giving benefits to unmarried partners and local gay groups intent on equal treatment in the workplace. A conservative employee formed an ad hoc group opposed to the policy. Hundreds gathered at a rally outside corporate headquarters on March 26 to protest the policy. "We need to have the courage to say this needs to be reversed because it is wrong," said Mark Jones, a local minister. "I believe what I believe because it is the word of God," said Ben Manring, a Cummins employee.
Supporters of the policy organized a counter-demonstration. Some held signs that read "The Christian Right Is Wrong" and "Thank God I'm Gay." "It's very important that ... the general public understand that people of faith are not all negative," said Jeff Minor, a pastor from another local church. Some might have expected a strong response from conservatives. After all, Cummins is not a new high-tech company based in Silicon Valley. The main business of Cummins, based in Columbus, Ind., is making large diesel engines for agricultural production, school buses and tanks.
But Cummins is a large multinational corporation. With plants scattered throughout the country, it competes for talent nationally. Its annual revenues exceed $6 billion and it ranks No. 266 on the Fortune 500 list. Company officials said the decision to offer the benefits was a business imperative. "This is not a comfortable position for a company to be in," said Kim I. Mills, education director for the Human Rights Campaign. "But with new Labor Department figures showing jobless claims at a 27-year low, companies have to offer cutting-edge benefits if they want to stay competitive." Cummins was prepared to follow through. It informed its employees that it had no intention of reversing the policy and set out to educate the community on why the policy was necessary. "We are moving forward with our plan to provide domestic partner benefits because it makes good business sense," Cummins CEO Tim Solso wrote to the local newspaper, The Columbus Republic. "To be the employer of choice, we must provide flexible benefits plans and programs to all employees." Solso also consulted former Cummins leaders for support. Former CEO and Chairman J. Irwin Miller tackled the difficult questions of sexual orientation and religion in a separate letter published by the Republic. "As for myself, I have read and studied all the frequently quoted passages from the Bible about this subject ... and considered them in their time and place," Miller wrote. "The subject of this policy is in harmony with my own understanding of the Gospel. ... This policy, in my opinion, does not judge any individual in the company but tries to see that all are treated equally and fairly."
"The leadership of Cummins for the last 66 years all believe that we are doing the right thing. ... We must rid ourselves of our inherited, even cherished, biases and prejudices," Solso concluded.
While the Cummins experience is rare, a little planning can go a long way to defuse bad publicity, according to Mills. "The vast majority of companies that implement these benefits do so completely out of public view," she said. "The lesson here is that Cummins was prepared to handle complaints and did a good job of articulating their position. And that can make all the difference," Mills added.
ExxonMobil To Face Shareholder Action in May
IRVING, Texas -- Exxon Mobil shareholders will vote on a resolution to add sexual orientation to the company's non-discrimination policy at its annual shareholder meeting May 31 in Dallas.
The former Exxon Corp. had been in the sights of shareholder activists because the company's non-discrimination policy did not specifically include sexual orientation. Last December, before Exxon merged with Mobil, the Human Rights Campaign learned Exxon planned to eliminate Mobil's non-discrimination policy, which specifically prohibited discrimination and on-the-job harassment against gays and lesbians. Exxon also refused to extend Mobil's policy of granting domestic partner benefits to its employees. (Mobil employees using the benefits could continue but no new employees would be added.)
At Exxon's 1999 shareholder meeting, Chief Executive Officer Lee Raymond took a hard line against a proposal that the anti-discrimination policy be changed to include gays. Raymond argued that Exxon's current policies were worded broadly enough to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and that there was no need to mention sexual orientation specifically. The 1999 resolution garnered 6 percent - twice what it needed to allow the measure to be introduced again this year.
The New York-based Equality Project is working with the New York City Employee Retirement System and other ExxonMobil shareholders to get out the vote for the new resolution. The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian and gay political organization, is supporting this year's resolution.
For more information, or if you own ExxonMobil stock, contact the Equality Project at www.equalityproject.org.
Virginia High Court Rules Against County Law Offering Domestic Benefits
RICHMOND, Va. - The Virginia Supreme Court unanimously ruled April 21 that a county law that offers health insurance benefits to its employees' unmarried domestic partners violates state law.
The court made its decision based on Virginia's "Dillon Rule," which allows municipalities to exercise only those powers granted by the state. There are no provisions in state law defining a domestic partnership. At issue was a law in Arlington County, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Opponents of the benefits hailed the decision as a victory. Jordan Lorence, a lawyer who led the fight against the policy, said he plans to ensure that the partners of approximately 25 county employees that are taking advantage of the benefits lose their health insurance. "We are in this for the long haul," he told The Washington Post.
Arlington County Board Chairman Barbara A. Favola said the decision was unfortunate. "Virginia has not been in the forefront of sensible, progressive and humane policies," she said.
Board members said the county has little recourse. The county cannot appeal the decision because no federal issue exists for a U.S. court to review, they said. Moreover, they were pessimistic about the possibility of getting the Republican-dominated Legislature to press for the necessary authorizing legislation.
Judge Halts Probe of Case Against School's Benefits Policy
PITTSBURGH - A judge issued a preliminary injunction halting the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations' probe of a discrimination complaint against the University of Pittsburgh over domestic partner benefits, saying a state law passed in November removed the panel's jurisdiction. The university is expected to ask for a permanent injunction.
The ruling was a major setback for the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit that contends the university violated the city's civil rights law ? which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation - by not offering health insurance to partners of lesbian and gay employees.
Gay rights advocates in Pennsylvania are closely watching the 4-year-old case as it may affect how Pittsburgh and other cities statewide enforce similar anti-discrimination laws that cover sexual orientation. The university has insisted that the law itself should be invalidated because no precedent exists at the state level. In his 16-page ruling, Common Pleas Judge Robert Gallo said the university's policy is not discriminatory because it precludes partners of all unmarried employees, gay or heterosexual.
Gallo said a state law approved last November would pre-empt any move by the human relations commission - even if it found that the university's policy violated the law. The law barred municipalities from passing laws requiring employers to offer domestic partner benefits.
"It is repugnant to this court for any entity to deny health benefits to employees based on their sexual orientation," Gallo added. "However, this court is precluded from construing [state law] in accordance with its own beliefs when the clear intent of the [law] provides otherwise."
Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union did not rule out an appeal. "The fight for equal treatment of all employees is far from over," Witold Walczak, an ACLU attorney, told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Hawaii Legislature Fails to Restore Benefits for State Employees
HONOLULU - The Hawaii House of Representative has killed a bill that would have restored health insurance benefits to about 60 public employees and retirees. Lesbian and gay state employees had received benefits for their domestic partners under a 1997 law, but lost them in June 1999 after the Legislature failed to extend the measure.
The move left gay rights supporters looking to the fall elections to increase the number of supportive legislators. "We could have a completely different Legislature," Matt Matsunaga, co-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told The Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Matsunaga said he was surprised the House failed to approve the bills which had sailed through the Senate despite being watered down from versions that were considered last year. Lawmakers were confused about the intent of the laws, he said.
Employers that have recently announced domestic partner benefits:
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Connecticut; Baldwin-Wallace College -- Berea, Ohio; Dickinson Wright and Freeman -- Detroit; Gray Cary Ware & Friedenrich - San Diego
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WorkAlert is a publication of the Human Rights Campaign's WorkNet, a resource project with up-to-date information on corporate policies, cutting-edge research and how-to tools for workplace advocates. Visit WorkNet at www.hrc.org/worknet. For questions or comments about WorkAlert, or to subscribe, contact Daryl Herrschaft at daryl.herrschaft@hrc.org
The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian and gay political organization, with members throughout the country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to ensure that lesbian and gay Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.
Miscellaneous
Distribution List Changes
Only two members of the ESC maintain the distibution list for the KOLAGE update: Robert C. Marshall and John Lane. For any changes to the distribution list (e.g. moving your name from blind copy to carbon copy, vice versa, or changing your email address) please contact either Robert or John.
If you know someone who would like to be added to the distribution list please have them contact either Robert or John.
Clearing House
If you would like to host or organize an event for KOLAGE members, let the ESC know. We will publish it in the next bulletin. If you do not want your name included in the bulletin, one of the ESC members will act as the contact, and pass the information on to you.