Good news in hard times
Lesbian, gay, bi, trans movement wins
By Leslie Feinberg
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans movement, through its
dynamism and tenacity, is continuing to score gains in the U.S.
and around the globe. And these hard-won victories taste even
sweeter and inspire greater valor at a time when capitalist
democracy is slipping the velvet glove off its iron fist.
In the early 1960s in this country, less than a decade
before the birth of the modern l/g/b/t mass movement in the
heat of a 1969 rebellion against police repression, all 50
states had some form of "sodomy" legislation--anti-gay laws
that criminalize oral and anal sex.
Since a recent legal victory in Arkansas struck down that
state's statute, only three remaining states now have anti-gay
laws on their books targeting sexual relations between
consenting same-sex adults. Nine others technically criminalize
anal and oral sex for both gay or straight consenting adults:
Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia.
Although police seldom break down people's bedroom doors to
enforce these bigoted decrees, they are sometimes used to back
up police sting operations in "solicitation" arrests of gay
men. In Texas, Georgia and Florida the laws have been used to
bar gay applicants from state jobs. And they have bolstered the
denial of custody and visitation rights to lesbian and gay
parents in North Carolina and Virginia.
The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund won the Arkansas
decision on July 5 after a court fight. Lambda had filed a
lawsuit in 1998 on behalf of seven gay residents of the state.
None of them had been prosecuted under the law. But each of
them courageously declared in public that they have engaged in
"illegal" sexual activity in private and will continue to do
so.
On that basis, they argued, the sword of prosecution hung
over their heads and left them in danger of stigmatization and
discrimination as well.
Justice Annabelle Clinton Imber agreed, saying that as long
as the law remained on the books the defendants were
stigmatized as criminals and could suffer discrimination by the
state in such areas as employment and parental rights.
The 5 to 2 ruling by the Arkansas State Supreme Court threw
out the draconian law based on two provisions of the state's
constitution: protection of individual privacy and the
guarantee of equal protection of the laws.
Now all attention turns to the last states to retain these
reactionary statutes. The last three with spelled out anti-gay
laws are Kansas, Oklahoma and--surprise, surprise--Bush's
home-on-the-range state of Texas.
Lambda is vowing to take the Lone Star state's "Homosexual
Conduct Law" to the U.S. Supreme Court. After a widely
publicized case of two Houston men who were arrested for having
sex in one of their homes, the state's "sodomy" law was upheld
by a state court of appeals in a ruling that the State Supreme
Court declined to reverse.
Lest anyone put their faith in the nine robed justices that
make up the Court of Last Resort, it's worth recalling that in
1986, the Supremes upheld Georgia's sodomy law in the notorious
Bowers v. Hardwick decision.
However, the l/g/b/t movement has defeated the Georgia law
since then. And the Supreme Court would do well to remember
that the rotten 1986 ruling sparked militant street protests
and mass civil disobedience.
CANADA: Same-sex marriage clears another hurdle
Denial of the right of same-sex couples to marry violates
the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a three-judge
panel of the Ontario Superior Court ruled unanimously on July
12.
The Supreme Court of Canada had already interpreted the
Charter to mean that anti-gay discrimination by the government
violated the letter of that law. The Canadian Charter spells
out the rights to equal protection and benefits, barring
discrimination on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin,
religion, sex, age and disability.
Several years ago the Supreme Court ruled that
discrimination based on "sexual orientation" violates the
spirit of the Charter.
The July 12 decision is a victory for the plaintiffs, who
took their case to the Ontario Supreme Court, and for the
national l/g/b/t organization EGALE, which backed them with an
amicus brief.
Several of the plaintiffs immediately turned up at Toronto
City Hall demanding marriage licenses, but were told the
documents wouldn't be issued until officials could be apprised
by their legal counsel.
The Ontario ruling flew in the face of a decision by a
single justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court last
October, now on appeal in that province's court of appeals.
And a decision on same-sex marriage is also anticipated in
the near future from a Quebec court. Quebec officials, awaiting
the ruling, agreed to a new law in June that recognizes
same-sex unions and bestows equal parental rights on same-sex
couples.
These three cases, spanning three provinces, make it likely
that the question will soon make its way up to the Supreme
Court of Canada.
BRITAIN: Transsexual wins right to marry
In a momentous victory for the legal rights of transsexual
women and men, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on July
11 that Britain violates two articles of the European
Convention on Human Rights in its treatment of transsexuals.
The Court ordered the British government to issue new birth
certificates to transsexuals and to allow them to marry.
The decision resulted from two cases filed by transsexual
women with the court in 1994 and 1995. Christine Goodwin, a
65-year-old bus driver, filed one; the other was anonymous.
Britain is one of four countries in the Council of Europe
that refuses to recognize the legal validity of sex change.
While the decision does not automatically supersede British
law, it sets a stunning legal precedent. Goodwin's attorney,
Robin Lewis, said the ruling would mean that the British
government would eventually be forced to change its laws.
Lewis concluded, "Christine Goodwin's victory will be seen
as a milestone on the road to change."
Reprinted from the Aug. 1, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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