Pride Week sweet deal Open the box, dump the powder in a bowl, add milk and stir. It’s a simple recipe, but there’s always that moment when you think it may not blend properly. Then, voila! You’re serving dessert after all. Spokane’s Pride Week committee is still in the kitchen and, with help from some other cooks, appears that it will be serving a table loaded with tempting and creative confections. And the menu is still open for additional treats. For a quick lick of the spatula, see stories beginning on page 6.
Vol. XIV, No. 4
Serving the Gay and Lesbian Community of the Inland Northwest
Equality now in hands of Olympia Gay marker approved for lawgivers Independence
April 2005
Rodee-no-no
Historical commission:
Hall grounds PHILADELPHIA – The birthplace of America’s fight for liberty will soon be the site of a new monument. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has announced approval of an historical marker that will recognize the area around Independence Hall as the site of the first organized gay and lesbian civil rights demonstration. Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell is expected to unveil the marker at a national celebration at Independence Hall on May 1. The event will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the gay civil rights movement, marked by the demonstration at Independence Hall on July 4, 1965. “We are thrilled that this important landmark has been approved unanimously by the (state historical c o m m i s - Pennsylvania Gov. sion),” said Edward G. Rendell Malcolm Lazin, executive director of the sponsoring Equality Forum. “We commend Equality Forum for a well presented historical marker nomination form,” Wayne Spilove, chairman of PHMC, said March 23. “Pennsylvania is proud to be both the birthplace of our nation and the birthplace of so many historic events that have advanced civil rights in America,” Spilove added. The 16-hour national celebration on May 1 is part of Equality Forum 2005, Continued on page 18
Supreme Court, Senate to decide marriage, anti-discrimination compiled from various reports
OLYMPIA – A Senate committee was to consider H.B. 1515, the Anderson-Murray Anti-Discrimination Bill, that would provide state residents civil rights protections in employment, housing and public accommodation based on sexual orientation. The House of Representative overwhelming passed the bill on a vote of 61-37, and Gov. Christine Gregoire has indicated that she will sign it. Presently, however, the bill must be approved at the committee level before it can be forwarded for a vote by the full chamber. Insiders indicate a Senate vote would be close. Meanwhile, in the state Supreme Court, justices are considering the constitutionality of extending the full rights of marriage to same-sex couples in Washington state. The justices heard arguments March 8 in lawsuit enjoined by the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the Northwest Women’s Law Center. Plaintiffs in the case – 29 gay and lesbian couples seeking to marry, including Marge Ballack and Diane Lantz of Spokane – are challenging the legality of the state’s 1998 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which limits marriage to heterosexual couples. The court did not indicate when it would issue a ruling in the case, but those close to the matter feel an announcement may be forthcoming in three to four months. In another related development last month, a California judge ruled that the
photo courtesy John Tomes
Bull riding is one capital event at rodeos, but Coeur d’Alene’s John Tomes, above, was about to rack up frequent flyer miles from the back of Taylormade at last year’s Comstock Gay Rodeo in Reno, Nev. Tomes and other gay cowboys and cowgirls are planning a rodeo event sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Gay Rodeo Association in the Spokane area for late May or early June. Related story on page 8.
state no longer can justify limiting marriage to a man and a woman. The decision was hailed as a legal landmark that, if upheld on appeal, would pave the way for the nation’s most populous state to follow Massachusetts in allowing same-sex couples to wed. “It appears that no rational purpose exists for limiting marriage in this state to opposite-sex partners,” San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer wrote. Kramer stated that the state’s historical definition of marriage, by itself, cannot justify the unconstitutional denial of equal protection for gay men and lesbians and their right to marry. Plaintiffs and their lawyers said Kramer’s ruling was a milestone for California, akin to the 1948 state Supreme Court decision that made California the first state in the nation to legalize interracial marriage. The California lawsuits have been closely watched. The state has the highest percentage of same-sex partners in the nation, and its Legislature has gone further than any other in voluntarily providing gay couples the perks of marriage without a court order.
Prime Minister: Britain ready for a gay leader LONDON – British Prime Minister Tony Blair publicly announced last month that the United Kingdom is ready for an openly-gay prime minister. “I don’t think people would reject a prime minister simply on the basis that he was gay,” Blair said in an interview with a local magazine, according to The (Edinburgh) Scotsman, as Stonewall News Northwest prepared for press.
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