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In Lieu of Equal Rights, Defense of Marriage Offers Some Poetic Justice

Gay marriage advocates may have an uphill battle when it comes to passing laws to protect LGBT rights, but at least in a few isolated cases, there are higher laws at play. These universal laws supersede state and even federal code: The Law of Unintended Consequences and The Law of Karma. Opponents of gay marriage are quick to rise to the “defense” of their sacred institution, determined to use the law to further an agenda of hate and discrimination. But when their own marriages are broken, as 50 percent of them ultimately are, they aren’t’ so concerned about God’s disapproval of their divorces.

Here’s where the universal laws kick in. The Washington Post’s Emil Steiner blogged a story this week about an Orange County, California man who has been ordered to continue to pay alimony to his ex-wife, even though she is now in a state-registered domestic partnership with another woman. Apparently the law requires the ex-husband, Ron Garber, to pay alimony until his ex-wife marries a man or dies. A similar story was reported back in March about a Florida man whose ex-wife underwent sexual reassignment and is now a man whom the ex-husband could not legally marry if he wanted to. Still, the courts say he must pay until his transgendered ex remarries or dies.

Admittedly these isolated cases do little to advance gay rights in the bigger picture. But they do offer a bit of poetic justice in a society so determined to discriminate that they will occasionally cut off their own noses to spite the face of reason.

Straight in Seattle: Lawsuit Mocks Progress for Washington’s Gay and Lesbian Couples

Washington State’s new domestic partnership law took affect yesterday, and already a heterosexual woman has filed suit because her live-in boyfriend was denied healthcare benefits by Honeywell, The Seattle Times reported. Sandi Scott-Moore’s lawsuit is one of the first of several filed because of the new law.  According to the newspaper, Washington has more than 600 employers offering some kind of domestic-partner benefit. Many prominent Washington companies offer benefit packages to married heterosexual couples as well as gay and lesbian couples, including Honeywell.  Few go the step further to define unmarried heterosexuals as domestic partners.

Citing census numbers, The Seattle Times estimated that nearly 36,000 heterosexual Washington couples live together outside of marriage, compared to an estimated 17,000 gay and lesbian couples. The state of Washington’s new law provides rights and responsibilities to registered domestic partners, which is defined as same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples with one partner age 62 or older. The specific reference to older opposite-sex couples was designed to include those who would lose pensions or similar benefits should they remarry.

Effective as of July 22, 2007, the Washington law establishes a statewide domestic partner registry and granted some specific rights, including hospital visitation, the right to make medical decisions when one partner is not competent, the right to inherit when a partner dies without a will, the right to be appointed administrator of a partner’s estate, the right to make funeral arrangements, and the right to bring a wrongful death lawsuit with regard to a deceased partner. (See the Human Rights Campaign’s Website for more specifics on marriage rights in Washington.)

There is an obvious lack of logic and fairness, though, in Sandi Scott-Moore’s lawsuit. How can a now former employee of Honeywell’s Redmond, Washington office sue because her relationship is not recognized? All she has to do is get married– a privilege that has always been available to her but is still denied to the state’s gay and lesbian couples.  A quick trip to the courthouse, and Scott-Moore instantly enjoy much more than the limited benefits of her state’s first attempt to treat LGBT persons as equals.  She could benefit from federal defense of her marriage nationwide.

Perhaps Scott-Moore is just a disgruntled former employee out to embarrass and harass a company that is considered one of the better guys in extending benefits and protections to its queer employees.  Or perhaps her case is a case-in-point that LGBT couples and the few freedom-minded legislators who seek to protect them face more and more barriers to basic government recognition of their relationships.

Kroger: Right (Wing?) Store’s Wrongs Are No Victory for Gay Rights

When Kroger banned Out & About newspaper from 34 Nashville-area Kroger stores and three Harris Teeter stores on May 31, they may have been just getting started. In June, Kroger expanded its effort to cleanse its stores of all things homosexual when music by openly gay performers was banned from its stores, a confidential source told the Nashville Scene. According to the source inside Kroger headquarters in Cincinatti, Ohio, all of the chain’s stores nationwide will be silent when it comes to piping in Elton John, Melissa Etheridge and other openly gay recording artists.

In the newspaper flap, a Kroger spokeswoman first claimed it had removed the LGBT-oriented Out and About because the paper promoted a political, religious or other specific agenda, a violation of company policy. Then on July 2, Kroger Group Vice President of Corporate Affairs Lynn Marmer issued a written statement explaining that the original ban on Out & About was because “standard procedures” for approving distribution had not been followed by DistribuTech, the company contracted to fill the free publication bins at the grocery stores. Perhaps Kroger took a page from Karl Rove’s war spin: if your initial excuse backfires, just pick a new reason to justify your actions and spin again.

The “distribution procedure” spin came on the same day the grocer agreed to return Out & About to eight Nashville-area stores. Even though the paper’s return results in a net loss of distribution in 26 stores, or more than 75 percent, gay groups were quick to declare a victory. Christopher Sanders, president of the Tennessee Equality Project, was quoted on Out & About’s Website describing the “compromise” as “a victory for good business, dialogue and cooperation.”

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UPS Delivers Reality Check on Same-Sex Civil Unions

When United Parcel Service (UPS) denied health care coverage to a New Jersey lesbian couple, what brown did for the queer community was deliver a reality check on civil unions. In a July 8 article in The Star-Ledger of Newark, NJ reported that UPS sent a letter to employee Gabriael “Nickie” Brazier denying health care coverage to her domestic partner Heather Aurand. The reason? The letter reportedly explained that New Jersey’s decision to recognize same-sex relationships as civil unions, not marriage, tied the company’s hands.

The Star-Ledger article quoted several New Jersey state legislators and lawyers as surprised by the company’s actions, indicating that the issue may come back up in the 2008 legislative session. In fact, it is their surprise that is surprising.

Whether an excuse or a reason, the UPS decision points to the crux of the problem for those tempted to veer onto a path of compromise to accept the term “civil union” rather than “marriage.” The benefits UPS and others offer are governed by federal law. Thanks to the Defense of Marriage Act, federal law specifically defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

According to a report issued by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) in January of 1997 (shortly after the Defense of Marriage Act became law in 1996), there were 1,049 federal laws classified to the United States Code in which marital status is a factor. And that’s not even the whole story. In explaining their findings to Rep. Henry Hyde (who had requested the report), the GAO noted that “the Code is a compendium of “general and permanent” laws. Although appropriations and annual authorizations, for example, might contain references to marital status, they are typically in effect for a single year, and therefore do not appear in the Code.”

Seven years later, the GAO found 120 new references to marriage rights in an updated report in January 2004, bringing the number to 1,138.

What that creates is an on-going shell game for queers: find the discrimination under the moving shells of rules and regulations that move around regularly. When states like New Jersey enact legislation allowing civil unions, the effort is moot in any situation where federal law may apply.

State-by-state hate

And yes, it is even worse than that seems. According to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), individual states pile on more discrimination in their varying interpretation of the rights and responsibilities of marriage. GLAAD lists the state rights denied to same-sex couples as including:

• automatic inheritance
• child custody/parenting/adoption rights
• hospital visitation
• medical decision-making power
• standing to sue for wrongful death of a spouse
• divorce protections
• spousal/child support
• access to family insurance policies
• exemption from property tax upon death of a spouse
• immunity from being forced to testify against one’s spouse
• domestic violence protections and more.

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MondoHomo a Big Hit

Performers and spectators alike raved about the MondoHomo Dirty South 2007 festival, wrapping up today with a Mondo Mondo Revolution at the Eyedrum Gallery in Grant Park. Progressive queer artists and musicians from as far away as Seattle, New York City and Tampa descended on Atlanta for performances stretched over four nights and more than eight venues.  (Check out Life on Q’s photo album, chock full of MondoHomo candids.)

Team Gina helped kick off the event last Wednesday at The Earl in East Atlanta, with crowd-pleasing 80’s retro/rap/electro songs like “I Like Butch Dykes” and “Straight Boys love us (but we like the girls).” Gina Bling celebrated her birthday at the festival on Friday night, serenaded with that birthday song at The Drunken Unicorn. Gina Bling and Gina Genius then rounded out their Atlanta appearance with a final set in the oppressive Hotlanta weather in the parking lot at Lenny’s on Saturday afternoon. Both Gina’s reactions to MondoHomo was “awesome,” which you can hear for yourself in a Life on Q podcast coming soon. (Stay tuned for our exclusive interview.)

An art show at My Sister’s Room on Wednesday showcased a diverse mix of photography, sculpture, the abstract and the avante garde. On Thursday, driving rain couldn’t stop progressive queer poets at the Tower II, where local favorites from Cliterati, Theresa Davis and Athens, Ga.-based MC Bad Kat rhymed with acts from Florida to Canada.

Can Can gave MondoHomo an early gift of a pre-album-release-party album release, fast-forwarding their CD debut just for the Dirty South crowd. How to get the crowd on their feet and at the stage quickly? Try Can Can’s trick: Rolling out duct tape on the floor, the band invited all who support President Bush to stand behind the duct tape line and all opposed to get in front.

Saturday’s Mondo Circus in and outside Lenny’s bar was hot, both in terms of weather, arts & crafts, music and half-pipe skateboard action by Skate Like a Girl. Even Gina Genius got on a board for a spin. As the sun mercifully set, the circus moved indoors and got even hotter.

Asheville, North Carolina’s Rishing Appalachia started some knee-slapping with their unique homo-hillbilly-rock sound, featuring banjo, fiddle and washboard. Katz of Athens Boys Choir continued the country kitsch with her popular “Waffle House” performance. The evening then turned hip-hop with rousing performances by Katastrophe, Big Nugg and others. The Shondes got political with a punk pleaser about freeing Palestine.

The Mondo finale at Lenny’s came from the Ex-Members, the Durham, North Carolina trio of former members of the Butchies, Gerty!, Liquor Bike and Womyn of Destruction.

MondoHomo Dirty South 2007 will wind down this afternoon and evening with films screened at the Eyedrum, followed by a dance revolution by DJ Dr. Katz, DJ Duck and others. For those still hungering for more MondoHomo, local dining Diva Ria of Ria’s Bluebird will cater at the Eyedrum. Ria and her partner are among the visionaries behind the festival, and deserving of accolades for this first festival effort.

Overall, the event was well-organized, varied in the art and music presented, and a celebration of all things progressive and queer.