By Ramy Eletreby

House Passes Historic Hate Crimes Bill

On Sept. 14 the U.S. House of Representatives passed the long-awaited hate crimes bill, Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, by an overwhelming 223 to 199 bipartisan vote. The bill was attached as an amendment to the Children's Safety Act, and includes protection for transgender people.

"Hate crimes send a message of fear and Congress answered with a powerful law enforcement tool," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign. "We must ensure that some of the most heinous crimes are fully prosecuted and enforced. Members of the House, Democrats and Republicans alike, historically signaled today that local law enforcement officials deserve the tools this bill would provide toward fighting the scourge of hate crimes."

"Every American child deserves the strongest protections from some of this country's most horrifying crimes," said Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard and HRC board member. "The House of Representatives answered our call today by passing a bill that would give law enforcement officials important crime-fighting tools. This makes families stronger. It makes America stronger."

Under the e-mail subject head, "The Homosexual Agenda is Winning in the U.S. House," Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, reacted strongly. "This bill also falsely equates homosexual behavior with race, and encourages a huge federal power grab over local law enforcement. Worst of all, such laws could eventually lead to criminal charges for preaching or teaching against homosexual conduct," he wrote, urging his members to call their representatives.

The measure, which has strong bipartisan support and is endorsed by more than 175 law enforcement, civil rights, civic and religious organizations, now goes to the Senate.

Universities Take a Stand Against Military Recruitment-Harvard Opts Out

On Dec. 6, a group of U.S. law schools in an alliance called the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR) will appear before the U.S. Supreme Court in a lawsuit against the Defense Department regarding military recruitment on college campuses. Rumsfeld v. FAIR states that the presence of military recruiters and their anti-gay "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy compromises students' freedom of speech and discriminates based on sexual orientation. The University of Pennsylvania and five other universities -- Columbia, Cornell, NYU, University of Chicago and Yale -- filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of FAIR against the Solomon Amendment, a law that would withhold millions of dollars in federal grants if campuses refuse to offer access to military recruiters. The universities claim that the amendment is unconstitutional and violates their academic freedom of speech by not allowing them to determine their own anti-discrimination policies.

Harvard University, which originally joined the amicus curiae brief, subsequently withdrew and lifted its ban on military recruiters using its campus for recruitment purposes. While Harvard maintains that the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy contradicts the university's non-discrimination guidelines, the university bowed to Pentagon threats to enforce the Solomon Amendment.

Several other groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Christian Legal Society, have also filed amicus briefs in the case.

Nearly 50 Percent of Black Gay Men Are HIV Positive-But Who Gives a Damn!

In a recent open letter to the LGBT community, Phill Wilson, executive director of the Black AIDS Institute and 56 other national black gay leaders pointed out that last June the Centers for Disease Control reported that 46 percent of black homosexual and bisexual men surveyed in five major cities were HIV-positive, more than double the infection rate among men of other races. Additionally, over two thirds of those were unaware of their infection.

"Forty-six percent isn't a catastrophe. It's genocide! But, where is the outrage?" the letter asks. "As far as we can tell, following the CDC's announcement no black or gay media organizations ran front-page stories. No civil rights organization marched in the streets or called on policy makers to take action. No black celebrities sponsored relief concerts. There wasn't even a call to action issued by a black gay and lesbian organization! É Nearly 50 percent of black gay men in America may already be infected with HIV, and AIDS is not on our agenda? How can that be? While equal rights, including the right to marry, are certainly worthwhile goals, they are not very useful to us, if we are dead. Keeping us alive long enough to enjoy the rights we deserve should at least be on the list.

"What will it take?" the letter asks. "How many black gay men have to get infected, get sick and die before we -- not CDC, not the Congressional Black Caucus, not the large AIDS organizations, but black gay/ bisexual/ same gender loving/etc. -- mobilize and take action? ... We have to start a national public discourse among ourselves about this new AIDS reality É Most importantly; we must increase our visibility and demand our rightful places in our communities. There is a role for all parties to play -- government, the larger black community, the white LGBT community, our society as a whole -- but we must be willing to hold ourselves accountable and responsible for our own survival. How can Black gay and bisexual or same gender loving men ask others to respond if we continue to be so complacent in the face of our own genocide?"

(In addition to Wilson, the SoCal-area signatories include: director/producer Paris Barclay, Alan Bell, Ron Buckmire, Dr. Thomas Brown, Leonardo Colemon, MA, TV host Herndon Davis, Dennis Holmes, MD, Jeffrey King (In the Mean Time), The Honorable Ron Oden (Mayor of Palms Springs), Patrik-Ian Polk (Executive Producer/Creator, Noah's Arc TV series) Kenneth R. Reynolds, and Ken Riley, MD, MPH of Ebony Pride, San Diego). For more information, visit www.blackaids.org. -- Karen Ocamb

Gay Bishop Sees Breakup in Worldwide Anglican Church

New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, is no longer optimistic about the future of the worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is a part. Robinson spent the first year and a half since he was elected as bishop feeling confident that the Anglican Communion would find a way to get over their fury over his election. But at a meeting with American bishops in Los Angeles six months ago, he saw the tides change and a division looming on the horizon, he told the Associated Press.

Robinson wanted to discuss reconciliation at the meeting but was immediately shot down by several of his colleagues. "I said, 'I'm here to talk about how we can live together.' And three or four of them said, 'I'm not here for reconciliation. I'm here to divvy up the property from this divorce,'" Robinson told the AP. Three Southern California Episcopal churches have severed ties with the Diocese of Los Angeles over the issue of same-sex unions but want to retain church property.

Meanwhile, another sign of a possible split came when Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola changed the Nigerian church's constitution by deleting language tying it to the Church of England and adding language calling for communion with churches that "hold and maintain the historic faith."

DeLay Out as House Majority Leader

The news was stunning. On Sept.28 Tom "the Hammer" DeLay, the powerful majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, was forced by House rules to step aside after a Texas grand jury indicted him for conspiring to violate state election laws. DeLay immediately proclaimed his innocence and blasted the local district attorney as a "partisan fanatic."

Speaker Dennis Hastert picked Missouri Bible Belt Republican Roy Blunt, the House majority whip, to temporarily succeed Delay, with assistance from California's David Dreier, chair of the Rules Committee.

For about two hours after the DeLay indictment was made public, it appeared that Hastert would appoint Dreier, an amiable, telegenic conservative friend of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, as DeLay's replacement. But the assignment was hastily pulled, with speculation now rampant among pundits and bloggers as to the reason why. Some say that Blunt organized his right-wing conservative followers to bombard Hastert and GOP leaders with phone calls complaining that Dreier was too soft on social conservative issues such as stem cell research, abortion rights, immigration, and he opposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitutional to ban same sex marriages. Several gay bloggers said Dreier was pulled because he was outed as possibly being gay by the L.A. Weekly last year and grassroots activists would not tolerate such a promotion.

Whatever the reason, both Democrats and Republicans are now speculating if DeLay's fall, coupled with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's troubles with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the war in Iraq, the slow response to Hurricane Katrina, and the economic deficit might signal the end of GOP domination of Congress. -- Karen Ocamb

Same-Sex Marriage Activity in Oregon, Florida, Massachusetts, Arizona

In Oregon, both pro and anti-gay marriage supporters appeared before Marion County Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond on Sept. 26 regarding a lawsuit challenging Measure 36, a state constitutional amendment passed last November stating that the only valid marriage recognized by state or local governments in Oregon is one between a man and a woman. Basic Rights Oregon claims the measure makes several different constitutional changes, affecting provisions on equal protection, religious freedom and local governments' home-rule powers and thus, should have been voted on as separate amendments. The Oregon Constitution includes a multiple-amendment restriction and recently, the state Supreme Court has used the restriction as a way to overturn voter-passed initiatives.

In Florida, legal action is being taken against a proposed measure on the 2006 ballot blocking recognition of same-sex marriage as well as permanently blocking civil union protections and threatening existing domestic-partnership protections. The challenge came from the Fairness for All Families Campaign and the brief was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Equality Florida, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. As in the case with Oregon, the brief states that the initiative is unconstitutional because it asks people to vote on more than one issue. The measure would ask voters to decide on allowing same-sex couples to marry as well as allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions or some other type of legal recognition. Recent polls show that while the majority of Florida residents oppose gay marriage, the majority favors civil unions or other legal protection for same-sex pairs.

In Massachusetts, a recent State House News opinion poll of 400 residents regarding a proposed measure to be included on the 2008 ballot banning gay marriage, showed a surprising 51.9 percent saying that they would oppose such an anti-gay measure. Nearly 43 percent said that they would support the ban. Anti-gay marriage supporters must gather 65,825 signatures statewide within 60 days in order to keep the measure alive until the 2008 ballot. Gerry Chervinsky, a State House News pollster, warns that the anti-gay marriage campaign signature drive will spark a highly volatile and emotional battle between the right and left wing groups for the next three years.

In Arizona, a poll taken by KAET-TV/Channel 8 and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University Sept. 22-25 indicates the proposed Protect Marriage Arizona initiative is in trouble. In a statewide telephone poll of 390 registered voters, 33 percent said they would vote for the initiative, but a whopping 60 percent said they would vote against it; 7 percent were undecided. Pollsters suggest that one reason for the response is because the initiative would ban any legal recognition of unmarried couples.

National Black LGBT Summit Draws and Trains Leaders

The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), the nation's only black LGBT civil rights group, held its first national summit of black LGBT leaders Sept. 21-24 in Washington, D.C., during Congressional Black Caucus Week.

The ultimate goal of the summit was to develop a national network "to educate our communities about the negative impact of anti-gay ballot initiatives and the economic and health challenges facing black LGBT Americans. The goal was to allow our black leaders from around the country to come together to strategize, educate, and empower each other." To that end, the attendees participated in skills building workshops, public, and political policy discussions, a seminar on how to respond to the nation's 65,000 and 25 million-member black churches, and sessions to strategize about the community's future. NBJC is also helping coordinate National Black LGBT Rally and participation in the Oct. 15 Millions More Movement March.

Subsequent to the summit, former presidential candidate Rev. Al Sharpton announced his intention to help stamp out homophobia in the black community after announcing his sister is a lesbian.

Interestingly, the summit follows the release of a Williams Project report, Black Same-Sex Couples in California: Data from Census 2000. The study, similar to one released by NBJC last December, shows that over 9,500 black men and women in California identified themselves as living with a same-sex partner and that more than half of California's black same-sex couples are raising children.

In the summit's aftermath, this reporter and author Keith Boykin launched a national online campaign geared to expose the hypocrisy of homophobic mega-church black ministers for one week. Profiles included Los Angeles' Bishop Noel Jones of City of Refuge and Bishop Charles Blake of West Angelus Church of God in Christ. -- Jasmyne Cannick

Roberts Confirmed as Chief Justice

On Sept. 29, 50-year-old conservative Appellate Court Judge John Roberts Jr. was confirmed as the 17th chief justice of the United States. The Senate voted 78-22, with all of the Republicans and about half the Democrats voting to confirm, according to the Associated Press. President Bush immediately swore in Roberts so he would be seated before the new session started on Oct. 3. Attention now turns to White House counsel Harriet Miers, nominated to succeed retiring moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

"We firmly believe that a clear commitment to fairness and equality for all Americans is one important qualification for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, and we are disappointed that John Roberts was confirmed as chief justice without being required to demonstrate that he has that commitment," Lambda Legal Executive Director Kevin Cathcart said in a statement. "Nonetheless, looking to the future, we sincerely hope that lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and people with HIV will have a fair hearing before the court that he now leads. What was remarkable about the Roberts hearing was how prominently LGBT civil rights questions figured into the proceedings overall -- it was unprecedented and it sets a great standard looking forward to the next nominee."

Eleanor D. Acheson, director of public policy and government affairs for the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, called the confirmation without a full review of materials and "meaningful answers" about Roberts' views "beyond disappointing -- it is outrageous É Now is the time for the Senate to do its duty by insisting on all relevant documents and full answers to questions. To do anything less -- to have a repeat of the Roberts charade -- would be a total sell-out of the American people."

- Karen Ocamb