School district failed to stop harassment, federal government says

By EMERSON CLARRIDGE
Observer-Dispatch
MOHAWK —

The U.S. Justice Department intervention in the civil case of a former Mohawk Central School District student could lead to a broader interpretation of a federal law that prohibits gender discrimination by applying it to the harassment of a gay male, an attorney in the case said Friday night.

The 14-year-old openly gay student, Jacob, who once attended Gregory B. Jarvis Junior/Senior High School, alleges the district failed to stop other students and a teacher from bullying him because of his sexual orientation.

The federal involvement represents a significant shift for the Justice Department under the Obama administration, the New York Civil Liberties Union lawyer said.

The government cites Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was passed to prevent gender discrimination, as the basis for joining the lawsuit filed last summer in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York.

The teenager’s lawyers Friday night cast the case as a fight for basic human rights.

“This is a very significant development and great news for the children who go to school in the Mohawk district,” said Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the NYCLU, which filed the suit on Jacob’s behalf.

To read more, please go to www.uticaod.com

School district failed to stop harassment, federal government says By EMERSON CLARRIDGE Observer-Dispatch MOHAWK — The U.S. Justice Department intervention in the civil case of a former Mohawk Central School District student could lead to a broader interpretation of a federal law that prohibits gender discrimination by applying it to the harassment of a gay [...]

The new year brought a new era in New Hampshire.

Some of us ushered in 2010 — the start of a new year and a new decade — with noisemakers, bubbly champagne and hearty attempts to remember the lyrics to “Auld Lang Syne.”

Some of us ushered in 2010 lounging on the couch watching the live coverage from Times Square and, later, LSU take on Penn State.

But some New Hampshire same-sex couples did not mark the start of the new year in typical fashion. With the arrival of the new year, the first same-sex couples legally married in the Granite State.

New Hampshire lawmakers passed marriage equality legislation in 2009, expanding upon rights already extended to same-sex couples through civil unions legislation in 2008. The marriage law took effect Jan. 1, making New Hampshire the fifth state to issue marriage licenses — legal marriage licenses — to same-sex couples.

By late December, about 40 couples had applied to their town clerks for licenses. Many more couples are expected to apply for licenses this year, and, in 2011, the more than 700 civil unions in the state will automatically be updated to marriages.

By Lisa Neff, columnist, 365gay.com
01.04.2010 8:31am EST

Images by Getty Images

The new year brought a new era in New Hampshire. Some of us ushered in 2010 — the start of a new year and a new decade — with noisemakers, bubbly champagne and hearty attempts to remember the lyrics to “Auld Lang Syne.” Some of us ushered in 2010 lounging on the couch watching the [...]

Long-awaited passage of bill tops a week of new LGBT gains at federal level

By Lisa Keen
Keen News Service

Suddenly, with little fanfare or notice, the signs of ”change” for the LGBT community are beginning to appear in Washington. The Obama administration this week unveiled several new initiatives aimed at eliminating discrimination against LGBT people. The Ryan White AIDS assistance program was re-authorized for another four years. And Congress on Thursday gave final approval to a long-sought measure to help fight hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Senate voted 68 to 29 on Thursday evening, October 22, to approve the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010, a defense funding bill to which the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act had been attached in July. The House had given its final approval earlier this month.

There was some hostility expressed, even at this late point, for including the hate crimes provision in the funding bill. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said during floor debate Thursday that he ”strongly disagrees” with the measure in the bill because it is ”non-germane, non-relevant.”

”What we are doing here is an abuse of the senate process,” said McCain. The statement, of course, ignored years of non-germane amendments offered by Republican senators seeking anti-gay measures. But McCain insisted those past non-germane amendments were ”nothing of the magnitude” of the hate crimes measure.

McCain said he was also opposed to the hate crimes measure itself because ”I do not believe an expansion of the federal criminal code is necessary to cover a certain class of citizens from – quote – perceived injustices,” he said, gesturing the sign for quotation marks around his use of the words ‘perceived injustices.’

McCain and Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) suggested the attachment of hate crimes to the DOD funding bill was an effort to avoid debate on the controversial measure. Sessions said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) ”insisted” the hate crimes measure be attached to the DOD authorization bill.

Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, refuted the arguments, noting that the Senate has adopted hate crimes legislation on a DOD funding bill three times before and that it voted specifically on the current hate crimes measure during consideration of the proposal to attach it to the DOD funding bill.

The Senate first voted 64 to 35 on Thursday on a procedural motion allowing the Senate to proceed to consideration of the bill. Republicans voting for ”cloture” included Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, Ohio Senator George Voinovich, and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski. The lone Democrat voting against cloture was Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) did not vote.

The hate crimes provision accounts for about $5 million worth of funding inside the $681 billion defense bill.

The bill now goes to the president’s desk, where President Obama is expected to sign it next week. Efforts to pass the measure in the past had been hampered by promises that then President George W. Bush would veto it.

www.metroweekly.com

Long-awaited passage of bill tops a week of new LGBT gains at federal level By Lisa Keen Keen News Service Suddenly, with little fanfare or notice, the signs of ”change” for the LGBT community are beginning to appear in Washington. The Obama administration this week unveiled several new initiatives aimed at eliminating discrimination against LGBT [...]