Wedding bells finally ring for gay couples
By Finn Finneran
Asheville, North Carolina, May 19 (AGR) — The Commonwealth
of Massachusetts became the first State of the Union to officially
issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples on May 17.
Gay rights advocates and attorneys in Massachusetts are still
working, however, for this decision to include out-of-state same-sex
couples.
Benefits of civil marriage include access to health insurance
and medical decision-making for a partner and children; parenting
rights; Social Security; tax deductions and exemptions, inheritance
rights and other government benefits; as well as the ability to
pool resources to buy or transfer property without adverse tax
treatment.
“By ending the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage,
Massachusetts has begun a new chapter in civil rights history,”
said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU.
These same-sex marriages were made possible because the Massachusetts
Supreme Judicial Court ruled that gay and lesbian couples can
no longer be excluded from obtaining civil marriages in Massachusetts
on Nov. 18, 2003 in the Goodridge v. Department of Public Health
case. The 4-3 ruling was filed by New England’s Gay &
Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) in April 2001 on behalf
of seven gay and lesbian couples living in Massachusetts communities
from Orleans to Boston to Northampton.
The Court’s ruling was based on the due process and equality
provisions of the state constitution. Under the “free and
equal” clause in the Constitution, it held that there is
no rational reason for discrimination. As the court put it, “The
marriage ban works deep and scarring hardship on a very real segment
of the community for no rational reason.” Because this ruling
is based on the Massachusetts Constitution, there could not be
an appeal to the US Supreme Court.
In response to the decision, leaders in San Francisco, CA; Portland,
OR; New Paltz, NY; and elsewhere began issuing marriage licenses
to same-sex couples, despite that gay marriage was not recognized
at their state levels.
When the November 2003 ruling was made the court decided to stay
its decision for 180 days so the legislature could act to conform
the marriage laws with the court decision. The wait, however,
lasted much longer than 180 days. “The marriages [that took
place on May 17] mark a happy ending to the six-month waiting
period imposed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court,”
said Romero.
Most town and city offices opened for regular business hours on
May 17, but Cambridge City Hall took the opportunity to open the
Clerk’s office at 12 midnight to start issuing marriage licenses
to same-sex couples. The grounds of Cambridge City Hall were packed
with gay rights advocates, friends and families of gays and lesbians
and couples waiting to be married singing songs such as “I’m
going to the chapel, gonna get married” and protester signs
with messages like: “The sky hasn’t fallen.” The
crowd was estimated at 5,000-10,000 people at the stroke of midnight.
In a press conference held at Boston’s City Hall on May 17
shortly before the city issued the first same-sex marriages their
mayor, Thomas Menino, congratulated the soon-to-be newly-weds
and reassured the public that “we’re not going to discriminate
against anyone that comes into our city.”
But there are still road blocks up ahead for many gay couples
wishing to marry. According to James Zingleton, the Communications
Director of GLAD, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, an opponent
of gay marriage, began gathering and putting on hold same-sex,
out-of-state marriage licenses from Springfield, Provincetown,
Worchester, and Somerville on May 19. Romney’s reasoning
is based upon a 1913 Massachusetts law which prohibits the granting
of marriage licenses from couples whose home states would not
allow their marriage. The towns of Springfield, Provincetown,
Worchester, and Somerville who had never refused marriage licenses
to out-of-state heterosexual couples decided to accept out-of-state
same-sex couples requests for marriage licenses on May 17 along
with in-state couples despite Romney’s stated intention to
bring the issue to court. The law was initially created partially
to prevent interracial marriages.
In a quote given to the New York Times by the executive director
of Lambda Legal -- an organization working on civil rights issues
for gay and transgendered people, and people with AIDS or HIV
-- Kevin Cathcart commented on the newly enforced 1913 law. “Given
that this is a statute that appears to have been put in place
to prevent people of different races from getting married in Massachusetts,
it has a shameful history, and it is appalling if the state tries
to use that today to prevent people from getting married in Massachusetts.
If they do that, I have to say they are inviting a challenge to
a statute whose constitutionality seems doubtful.”
“There’s certainly some unfinished battles up ahead,
but we will get there,” said Mary Bonauto, the attorney for
GLAD who represented the seven couples who won the Goodridge v.
Department of Public Health case in reference to the 1913 law
Romney is pushing. GLAD announced on May 19 that it will be taking
responsive action.
But that is only the beginning of the battles that lie ahead for
gay rights groups across the nation. Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave
(R-CO), and Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO) are sponsoring a Federal
Marriage Amendment that work a ban on same-sex marriages into
the Constitution that President Bush fully supports. Many gay
rights and civil rights activists and organizations see this motion
as “writing discrimination into the Constitution” and
blatant homophobia.
Some supporters of the proposed amendment, such as The Family
Research Council, are concerned that “the so-called ‘gay
agenda’ is far-reaching, and it encompasses much more than
the fight for marriage rights,” says the organization’s
President, Tony Perkins. “If we do not immediately pass a
Constitutional amendment protecting marriage, we will not only
lose the institution of marriage in our nation, but eventually
all critics of the homosexual lifestyle will be silenced. Churches
will be muted, schools will be forced to promote homosexuality
as a consequence-free alternative lifestyle, and our nation will
find itself embroiled in a cultural, legal and moral quagmire.”
Coincidentally, May 17 was the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board
of Education, the landmark Supreme Court decision rejecting the
“separate but equal” doctrine for black children in
public schools.
“It is important not to forget the lessons of history,”
says Romero of the ACLU. “Our civil rights history shows
us that the opponents of freedom frequently try to enshrine discrimination
in the law, usually insisting that the group they want to fence
out is less worthy because its members are morally inferior. That
indeed was the justification for laws that kept women out of the
voting booth and out of the workplace. That indeed was the justification
for jailing dissidents. And that indeed was the justification
for racial segregation.”
No information could be found regarding the inclusion or exclusion
of transgender people from the new marriage law in Massachusetts
nor were any Massachusetts attorneys available to comment on exactly
how prospective couples “sex” was determined when applying
for marriage licenses.
Massachusets senate votes to repeal out-of-state
gay marriage ban
The Massachusetts Senate voted May 19 to repeal the 1913 law
that Gov. Mitt Romney is using to stop same-sex couples from outside
the state from marrying.
The overwhelming vote by the Democratic controlled Senate is a
slap in the face to the Republican governor, but it may not make
it through the House, and even if it does, Romney has vowed he
will veto it. (365Gay.com)
UNCA: Paving paradise to put up a
parking lot?
By Willy Rosencrans
May 19 (AGR) — Across Weaver Boulevard from UNCA is
a secluded patch of woods owned by the university – the last
significant green space left in Asheville. Roots and vines are steadily
dismantling the well and foundation stones of an old sanatorium
and dairy farm hidden in one overgrown stretch. Students flesh out
their book learning here; many come simply to enjoy the special
quiet only found among trees.
In mid-April, flyers appeared advising campus and area residents
that the university was going to cut trees for a parking lot. Word
spread quickly.
Some professors were “frustrated that… they first heard
about the parking lot from flyers that were distributed by an anonymous
party, or from irate students who had seen these flyers,” according
to the minutes of an Institutional Development Committee meeting.
Community members were outraged. After a series of calls directed
to the office of Steve Baxley, Director of Facilities Management
and Planning at UNCA and the man who makes the final decision, Baxley
called an open meeting on Apr. 20.
He insists that the parking lot is not a done deal and says someone
at the Southern Research Station, a Forest Service branch adjoining
the area with whose staff he had discussed the potential lot, had
posted the flyers in a misunderstanding.
He points to a series of renovation projects requiring the use of
some currently existing lots for heavy machinery and trucks. “And
our student body is growing rapidly. We’re going to have 745
incoming freshmen this fall, and 68 percent of them drive cars.
Half our students work; they can’t rely on shuttle service
which ends at 11pm if they have to work until 2am.
“We’re researching options about how to deal with this.
It’s a slow and deliberate process, based on facts; we’re
not making decisions based on emotions.”
The proposed lot would clear 2.5 acres from the northwestern part
of the forest to make room for 300 cars on a gravel bed.
Almost 200 people showed up for the Apr. 20 meeting, most on a day
or two’s notice and not one of them in favor of a parking lot.
Baxley said the parking issue required a “fast-track”
solution, and he defined the area in question as consisting of pines
and non-native plants, “unspectacular” compared to the
rest of the forest.
“Sometimes,” he said, “you have to choose the plan
you hate the least.”
But this seemed to be the plan people hated most. Neighbors of the
forest, students and alumni, teachers, community members, even two
members of the Asheville Transit Commission denounced the proposed
lot. They argued for alternative parking and transportation solutions
and against stopgap measures.
Someone in a climbing harness warned that if one inch of the forest
was touched, there would be a swift and tactically sophisticated
resistance. People attested to the forest’s beauty; they also
expressed anger at lack of communication from the university’s
physical plant.
“They ask, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’” remarks
Baxley. “Well, I didn’t know you existed.”
At a subsequent meeting Baxley said his bottom line was to find
parking for 300 cars. More efficient use of campus space was discussed,
but the “bottom line” was flatly rejected. Ideas centered
on discouraging casual use of cars, e.g. through parking fees, and
encouraging alternative modes of transportation, such as bikes,
carpooling, and shuttle service like a successful arrangement between
Asheville Transit and Warren Wilson College.
Several student groups already focus on environmental issues; local
Earth First! and other “green” groups are also well aware
of the proposed lot. Now a new group, Friends of the UNCA Urban
Forest, has been dedicated to its protection.
“We’re not going to solve our problems with the thinking
that got us into them in the first place,” says member Heather
Rayburn. “A university is a place where we teach kids new ways
of thinking.”
She and others say that the university has earned a good environmental
reputation through its recycling efforts, efficient water and energy
use programs, conservation of campus green space, and most recently
a plan to create a “craft campus” to be powered by methane
from the Woodfin landfill’s decomposing trash. The lot proposal,
they say, violates UNCA’s principles.
Ironically, a 2001 report on UNCA from NC Project Green, a state
program assessing the environmental practices of state institutions,
lists “Building a parking structure around an existing tree”
among strategies for reduced site disturbance.
The new group has focused on media outreach and an ongoing petition,
though a protest was held on campus the day of graduation.
“Several people on campus had said that the sense was, ‘They’re
gonna do this,’” recalls Rayburn. “They only found
out near the end of the semester; in a little while everyone would
be gone for summer... Mr. Baxley said he’d post material from
the two meetings on a website and include a discussion board; there’s
been nothing. It made people feel like the dialogue was just a pacification
tactic. We had a sense of urgency about this.
“So we lined up on the road at 8am. It was a very positive
experience. People were honking and waving, joggers clapped.”
Baxley is uninterested in opening up the decision-making process.
“I’m not going to give up management authority over how
we manage the campus,” he says, and adds that people are overly
possessive of the forest. “They say, ‘You can’t cut
these trees because I walk my dogs through this area,’ or ‘I
walk my kids through this area.’ … The emails and calls
by and large say ‘It’s my private park and you can’t
touch it.’”
Rayburn denies this. “There are deeper issues for us; it’s
not about a personal park. We’re looking at the bigger picture:
the transportation issues, the preservation of city green space,
air and water pollution, unsustainable growth and development, traffic
congestion.
“We don’t want to see green space squandered on a freshman
parking lot,” she says.
The forest has weathered cutting before.
“Ecologically, the forest is bent, but not broken,” writes
David Clarke, an assistant professor at UNCA’s Biology Department.
He describes the area’s slow recovery from extensive logging
and replanting with white pines to a mature forest of white and
southern red oak.
“Deforestation in the area, particularly at the level of clearing
enough area for a 300-car lot, would end any hope for ecological
restoration… [The forest] will only become more important over
the years as an urban oasis of natural forest as development pressures
continue.”
G8 to meet amid toxic waste sites
By Michael Williams and Geoffrey Lean
May 16 — President George W. Bush is to bring leaders
of the world’s richest to Sea Island next month to showcase
his “environmental stewardship.”
But the island -- the most beautiful of the sub-tropical Golden
Isles off the Georgia coast -- is in one of the most polluted
areas of the American South. Glynn County, which contains Sea
Island -- the site of next month’s G8 summit -- is home to
16 hazardous waste sites.
A nearby polluting paper mill is being closed down while the leaders
of the world’s richest countries, including Tony Blair, are
in the neighborhood.
The locals describe the island as “somewhere between Venice
and heaven.”
The 18th-century colonists from England thought it was the Garden
of Eden, and it certainly must have seemed like paradise to the
P=president’s parents, George Sr and Barbara Bush, when they
honey-mooned here 50 years ago.
Bush family sentiment is thought to be one of the reasons President
Bush is bringing the world’s leaders here for the summit
on June 8. The salt marshes and lazy creeks are also host to a
proliferation of vegetation and wildlife, making the area possibly
the most environmentally important on America’s East Coast.
There are more than 200 species of birds here, including the yellow-bellied
sapsucker, the boat-tailed grackle and the northern cardinal.
Deer and wild turkeys inhabit interior forests of pine, magnolia
and ancient moss veiled oaks. Egrets, pelicans and herons skim
the surf. On moonlit summer nights, endangered loggerhead turtles
creep on to the beaches to lay thousands of eggs.
The summit’s web site says that the president wants to “showcase
the complementary benefits of environmental stewardship and a
strong economy”.
But critics will point out this is another case where the environmental
facts belie the president’s words. For there is an unhappy
parallel with Venice, in that ecological danger lurks over the
horizon.
Of the 16 hazardous waste sites within 10 miles of the island,
four are so contaminated they have been designated for government
treatment programs. They include a tidal creek and landfill dump
full of a banned pesticide; a former chemical factory that dumped
toxic mercury in local creeks; and a defunct wood preservatives
factory.
Before the clean-up began, shrimpers used to dock their boats
in one of the creeks so the pollution would kill the barnacles
on their hulls.
The most visible sign of pollution is the Hercules factory, emblemized
by its two tall stainless steel chimneys gorging large clouds
of vapor over the causeway leading to Sea Island. Its smell --
a cocktail of glue and stewed cabbage -- hangs like a pall.
The factory makes a variety of things, including paper and resin
products, but the G8 leaders won’t smell it, since it will
be closed down during their stay for “holidays.”
The locals are resigned to it. Emerson Gay, a retired policeman,
says: “Some folks say the smell is the smell of money, which
is why it’s lasted so long. At least the stuff they’re
burning in it now is not as nasty as it was.”
But the summit -- and George Bush’s boasts -- are unlikely
to make things much better. Virtually none of the millions spent
on the G8 will find its way into environmental projects. On the
road approach to Sea Island last week they were busy stuffing
in mature palm trees and erecting quaint lighting. But there isn’t
much else.
Gone are the dreams of a large pot of money to clean up the environment.
“I’d say stuff hasn’t gone much faster than the
path we were already on,” says the Glynn County Commissioner,
Cap Fendig. “No monies have hit here. Most of our stuff was
for the police department.”
The only substantial benefit has come from the telephone company
Bell South, which has just completed a $7 million upgrade for
fear of embarrassing world leaders phoning home with their previous
creaking system.
Indeed many are concerned about serious further damage to the
coast when so many security personnel are crammed into such an
ecologically sensitive area. So far, the only major concession
is that those guarding the beach in front of where the world leaders
will stay have been told not to trample on turtle nests.
“I have no concept of why in the world we do this event whatsoever,”
said Judy Jennings, a Savannah-based environmental campaigner.
“I see no reason why we invite thousands of people to trample
over the beach so eight men can get together and talk. It’s
an atrocious use of our environmental assets.”
Source: Independent (UK)
British accused in coup plot
By Paul Lashmar and Adrian Gatton
May 16— A management consultant from west London
has been accused of being one of the masterminds behind a plot
to overthrow the government of the oil-rich African state of
Equatorial Guinea.
The failed coup — strikingly reminiscent of Frederick Forsyth’s
mercenary tale The Dogs of War — came to light in March
with the dramatic arrests of 67 soldiers of fortune at Harare
airport in Zimbabwe. Now a witness statement seen by The Independent
on May 16 names Greg Wales, 53, an accountant and management
consultant, as a key organizer behind the plot.
He vehemently denies any involvement. But the government of
Equatorial Guinea has confirmed to the IoS that it now wishes
to interview Wales, who has homes in Chiswick and Wiltshire
and a history of business in Africa.
A statement on behalf of the state and President of Equatorial
Guinea said May 15: “The appropriate authorities are anxious
to interview Wales in view of his apparent involvement in the
attempted coup d’état.”
British lawyers acting for the government have asked Scotland
Yard’s Anti-Terrorist Branch to investigate Wales’s
role. “We believe attempting a coup against an elected
government by the use of force is an act of international terrorism
and should be investigated as such,” one lawyer said.
Equatorial Guinea is a recently oil-rich but still impoverished
country in west Africa whose President, Teodore Obiang, has
ruled for 30 years. At Harare Airport on Mar. 7, Zimbabwean
police arrested a former SAS officer, Simon Mann, and 66 South
African former special forces personnel on a chartered Boeing
727. They have been charged with plotting a coup in Equatorial
Guinea. In a series of morning swoops on Mar. 8, a South African
former special forces officer, Nick duToit, and 14 other men
in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, were arrested by
local police.
Wales denies involvement in the coup. While he says he knows
most of the key figures said to be involved in the failed plot,
he stressed: “I was not involved in a coup. I do not even
believe that there was a coup plot. This is all a deal between
[Robert] Mugabe [President of Zimbabwe] and Obiang. If the government
of Equatorial Guinea is saying I was involved then it is a joke.”
But duToit identifies Wales as a key organizer, in a statement
seen by the IoS. It was signed in the presence of a British
lawyer working for the government. In the statement he says:
“The first person who I spoke to about the coup was Greg.
I had not met him before. I do not know how he got my telephone
number but this was probably through Simon Mann. I do not know
his family name.”
The IoS has confirmed that duToit had Greg Wales’s personal
mobile number in his notebook. Wales is an old Africa hand and
has been involved with Mann over many years; duToit claims that
Wales arranged much of the finance for the coup.
At the time, duToit was based in Equatorial Guinea starting
up businesses, including a deep-sea fishing project and an airfreight
operation in partnership with ministers. In his statement he
says: “He called me and asked me to meet him on 4 January
2004 in Sandton, South Africa. He said he had a business proposition
for me ... I decided to see what he proposed.”
Of the meeting with Wales, duToit says: “He explained that
he had in mind a coup d’état ... and asked if I
would help. I said that I had business that I was developing
in EG and refused to assist.”
However it did not stop duToit attending another meeting: “On
7 January I saw Greg again. This time he was with Simon Mann
who I know since 1998.” During the meeting duToit apparently
changed his mind. “I agreed to help with the provision
of vehicles and guides. Simon asked me to provide assistance
to obtain arms. I said I knew people of Zimbabwe Defense Industries
in Harare.”
Wales says he met duToit around Christmas. But he says they
discussed rugby and not a coup: “I do not know why Nick
duToit has named me as being involved in the coup. He obviously
has an agenda. He is an Afrikaner and he will be trying not
to name friends and associates.”
Simon Mann’s statement to the Zimbabwe police, also seen
by the IoS, says that after a trip to Gabon with Wales in January
2003, he met the exiled opposition leader, Severo Moto, and
several supporters: “At this stage, they asked me if I
could help support Severo Moto home at a given moment when simultaneously
there would be an uprising of both military and civilians against
Obiang.”
According to duToit, by the time he was recruited it had developed
into a full-scale mercenary operation. “I was informed
by Simon Mann that when the existing President was deposed,
Severo Moto would be in the new government. Simon Mann and Greg
said that he was coming from Spain and knew all about the intended
coup.” Had the coup been successful, he says, the rewards
would have been great. “I was promised $1 million to be
deposited in my Malabo account at CCEI Bank and a guarantee
that my business would continue as usual.”
Over the next few weeks, duToit claims, he helped to recruit
mercenaries from South Africa, Angola and Mozambique. He also
flew with Mann to Harare to arrange the purchase of weapons.
It was then his job to seize the control tower of Malabo airport
and provide guides for the mercenaries as they landed.
Wales said yesterday that he first met Severo Moto 18 months
ago and most recently a month ago. “I think he would be
a far better president that Obiang. He’s quite an interesting
man ... he and Obiang don’t get on too well.”
Denying any personal knowledge of the coup, he said Mann had
got himself in a terrible situation: “I think he was nuts
to be in Zimbabwe frankly, because it’s a dreadful place.
I can’t imagine that you could persuade me to go there
myself, not as things are now.”
Wales said he had an interest in Equatorial Guinea because he
was going to tender for a US State Department contract to conduct
anti-poaching and illegal fishing surveillance for the country.
Source: Independent (UK)
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