Legal Issues

Transgender Legal Resources
Legal Issues

Illinois Update

1. On Monday, March 26, 2001, the Illinois Supreme Court amended the Canons of Judicial Conduct and the Rules of proefessional Conduct to add "sexual orientation" and three other categories to the nondiscrimination rules for lawyers and judges. The amendments are effective March 26, 2001. The amendments bring Illinois into compliance with the ABA Model Rules.

2. On Tuesday, March 27, 2001 the Illinois House of Representatives voted 60-55 to pass HB101, the bill that would add "sexual orientation" to the Illinois Human Rights Act.

3. Today, Wednesday, is the Equality Illinois Lobby Day for the Illinois Senate. If you live in Illinois, please call your State Senator.

Bay Windows, March 29, 2001

Rhode Island Legislature moves ahead on pro-gay measures;
Civil unions, marriage and transgender rights bills are subject to hearings in RI Legislature

By Peter Cassels
Bay Windows staff

An overflow crowd packed a hearing room at the Rhode Island State House in Providence March 21 to testify about two bills the Legislature is considering that would affect gay and lesbian relationships. Similar to the law now on the books in Vermont, one would legalize civil unions; the ther would allow same-gender couples to legally marry.

The next day, in another crowded conference room, lawmakers heard testimony on a bill that would extend the same legal protections in credit, housing, public accommodations and employment to transgender people that the Equal Rights Act of 1995 provided to gays, lesbians and bisexuals.

Perhaps what was most remarkable about both events, aside from the large number of people expressing their support for the legislation, was that no one testified in pposition.

``Maybe it occurred to them that there's nothing to say," House Judiciary Committee member David Cicilline, D-Providence, one of the state's three openly gay legislators, replied when asked during an interview why no one opposed the marriage and civil-unions bills. ``There's really no cogent argument against it. As [local activist] Wendy Becker noted in her testimony about the fact that no one testified against this bill: `Think of the message you'll send if you vote against it.'"

Another factor that may have contributed to the lack of opposition may have been confusion over the Judiciary Committee's scheduling of the hearing. With little notice, the hearing was originally set for March 22, and then moved up a day at the last minute. That may have given the radical Right insufficient time to marshal its forces. However, with little time, gay and lesbian advocates and their straight allies, led by the Rhode Island Alliance for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights, were successful in getting a greater-than-hoped-for turnout.

Support for the measures was so successful that the Alliance at the last minute cancelled a late afternoon March 22 rally in the State House rotunda and instead encouraged attendees to individually lobby their legislators.

Most of those who testified, including many heterosexuals, did not differentiate between the two bills, emphasizing that the time had come for some kind of legal recognition of same-gender relationships.

The marriage bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Pisaturo, D-Cranston, would extend nearly 1,000 state and federal rights to such couples, including child custody and the right to share IRAs, Social Security and other benefits. The civil-unions bill, sponsored by Rep. Nancy Hetherington, D-Cranston, would only cover state rights granted to married heterosexual couples and may not be recognized in other states. Pisaturo and Hetherington are Rhode Island's other openly gay legislators. ``We are everywhere, we are your brothers and sisters, lawyers, doctors, grocers and your legislators,'' Pisaturo told his fellow lawmakers at the hearing. Arthur Richter of Barrington, R.I., who has been with his partner, Jeffrey Sock, for 12 years, led off the testimony, which lasted nearly three-and-a-half hours. ``We pay our taxes, we vote, we are responsible people," he told the committee. ``All we want is the recognition that I would assume most of you people at this table have."

``Marriage is a badge of citizenship in this country," Mary Bonauto, civil-rights director of the Boston-based Gay and Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, testified. ``It's the gateway to hundreds of rights and benefits. We deserve marriage -- not some separate institution."

``We share the same joys and suffer the same heartaches as any other couple,'' Alliance President Kate Monteiro told the legislators. ``We deserve to have our government treat our relationships with equality.''

``This is the right of an individual to have a relationship the government recognizes as legitimate,'' Cicilline told committee colleagues. ``This is the right thing to do.'' A co-sponsor of the civil-unions statute, he testified that both bills address the issue of fairness. ``Anyone who enjoys these rights as married people need to be leaders get back to their constituents and encourage them that this is the right things to do." He said during the interview that ``there's no way one could have seen the testimony
and the support and not approve the bill."

Brown University senior Lam Ho quoted from a dissertation he wrote that reported on the success of legalized same-gender relationships in other countries. Since Denmark recognized such unions in the late 1980s, he reported, the record of separations and divorces among homosexuals has been lower than that of heterosexuals.

Married straight allies testified that they appreciated the benefits they receive from recognition of their relationships and believed their gay and lesbian relatives and friends should have them as well.

``You can give [equal rights] to all without taking anything away from anyone else,'' said Beth Olivieri, a mother of two who lives in West Warwick. She told the committee about a friend who was denied custody and visitation rights to see her son, whom she raised with her female partner. ``As a married person, I enjoy many rights and privileges that my friend is not currently entitled to," Olivieri said. Through marriage, ``her right as a spouse and a parent would have been protected."

In an interview, Richter discussed the testimony of others and reaction he received after the hearing: ``Julie Pell [a lesbian activist and daughter of retired Rhode Island Democratic U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell] told the committee, `You know, guys, it's about time. We've been asking for this for so long.'" He reported that David Abbott, a staff member at AIDS Project Rhode Island, described how, when his partner was dying from the virus in a Boston hospital in the early stages of the epidemic, security people prevented Abbott from holding him.

On March 22, Richter appeared on a local morning talk show to discuss the legislation. With the exception of a couple of callers who quoted from the Bible about homosexuality being ``an abomination," reaction was positive, he reported. ``There were so many people who phoned in stating their support. When gay rights was the subject of talk shows years ago, there would be all those hate calls."

Neither Cicilline nor Pisaturo would predict how the Judiciary Committee would act on whether to send the bills to the floor. Its decision is expected in mid-April. Cicilline described the hearing testimony as ``incredibly powerful. The hearing likely changed some minds." Pisaturo, who reported he was ``blown away" by the testimony, said he was more optimistic now than he was when he introduced the marriage bill. He said legislators ``will be amazed by the closeness of the vote." He reported that of the 20 members, five or six are solidly for and the same number against the legislation. ``The rest are up for grabs." He said that Hetherington and he have decided that they will not compromise if they don't have to and will continue to press for the marriage bill. ``But even if we lose, colleagues are going to take [such measures] a lot more seriously in the future."

Monteiro said she thought it was too early to predict how the committee will act: ``We're in the lobbying phase. People need to talk to their legislators and they need to ask them to vote in favor." Of the fact that no one testified in opposition, she said, ``Let's hope the legislators are smart enough to hear the silence."

She was less uncertain on the outcome of a bill, introduced by Rep. Edith Ajello, D-Providence, to extend equal rights protections on the basis of gender and gender identity, which was heard before the House Health, Education and Welfare Committee March 22. ``This bill does exactly what the sexual orientation civil-rights bill did six years ago," she pointed out. ``The legislators have been through all of the questions and all of the issues before and they eventually came to the right conclusion. It is our hope and belief that they will reach the same conclusion much more quickly this time around."

Among those testifying in favor of the bill, in addition to Monteiro, were representatives of AIDS Project Rhode Island and Youth Pride, Inc., a local advocacy group, and the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, who said it supports the legislation, but wishes to see a clearer definition of sexual identity included.

Gwendolyn Howard of Providence, a transgender member of the Alliance board, told the committee about the difficulties of changing sexual identity. Now completing a master's degree in social work in Boston, she said she hopes to start looking for a job in Rhode Island, but is apprehensive. In an e-mail message to Bay Windows, she said, ``If you've ever filled out a job application, you've probably encountered a question something like, `Have
you ever worked under another name?' I dread that because, to be truthful, I have. I used to have a male first name. By admitting what my name used to be, I might not get the job, or if I do, I could always be fired later on for simply being who I am and there isn't much I could do about it."

Howard also testified about her experiences with renting an apartment with her partner: ``I was on hormone replacement therapy and I was known as `Gwendolyn' everywhere and by everyone -- except at work. I couldn't afford for our landlord to find out, so I would get in the car in the morning and somewhere along the way change clothes and appearance so that I could get by at work, and then every night on the way home, I would have to find a place to `turn back into' Gwendolyn."

At Ajello's request, Howard described problems she had in attempting to change her sexual identity on her driver's license. She had already legally changed her name and was undergoing hormone replacement therapy, but the state Registry of Motor Vehicles refused to change her sexual identity from male to female. ``They said it was needed for `proper identification.' How exactly are they doing that anyway? So I had to go through my day with a driver's license that says `Gwendolyn Howard -- male.' With that license, can you imagine what kind of cell I would be put in if, God forbid, I were arrested for anything? I don't even want to think about it." She also told the legislators that if she had a choice, she would not have testified: ``Having to `out' myself and open up intimate details of my life is a very unpleasant thing. But, I realize just how high the price is sometimes simply for being yourself. I lost my career in the parish ministry. People I know have lost jobs, work, family, friends. Too many have lost their lives. If it takes being open to keep this from happening to others, then that's what I need to do."

Please be careful
please

The Dallas Morning News: Latest News
http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/334955_deadweb.html

Man found dead in South Dallas
04/10/2001
By Jennifer Emily / The Dallas Morning News

A man wearing a dress was found dead, hanging out of a car this morning in South Dallas, police said.

Antonio Johnson, 21, and a male friend, also dressed as a woman, were driving two men home when the shooting occurred near the intersection of Poplar and Holmes streets, said Dallas police Sgt. Larry Lewis, a Dallas homicide unit supervisor.

No arrests have been made.

"En route to where they were going, one of the guys produced a gun and shot him and tried to shoot the witness," Sgt. Lewis said. The friend, who was not identified because he is a witness, was not injured. He ran away from the car and called for help.

The four men were at the apartment belonging to one of the victims' relatives prior to the shooting. Police do not believe the victims knew the men long. Police believe the men knew the transvestites were not women, Sgt. Lewis said. Police are unsure of the motive.

"In a situation like this, you can only speculate that it's a robbery," Sgt. Lewis said. "They probably planned to shoot them and take the car. But that's only speculation." Sgt. Lewis said Mr. Johnson, who was shot in the head, most likely did not try to get out of the maroon Nissan. Police believe fell out when one of the men opened the door.

The car had recently been reported stolen, police said.

A9 2001
The Dallas Morning News