Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 15:26:55 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAADLines - September 20, 1999 GLAADLINES - September 20, 1999 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Wonbo Woo GLAAD Communications Associate (212) 807-1700 x24 woo@glaad.org http://www.glaad.org News and Breaking Stories about the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community 1) BRADLEY AND GORE DENOUNCE KNIGHT INITIATIVE 2) TRANSGENDER MARRIAGE CASE UNDER CONSIDERATION 3) GLSEN TO HOLD CONFERENCE ON SCHOOL SAFETY AND EDUCATION IN ATLANTA 1) BRADLEY AND GORE DENOUNCE KNIGHT INITIATIVE: Last week, U.S. Presidential candidates Bill Bradley and Vice President Al Gore each denounced California's anti-gay Knight Initiative, which would ban recognition of same-sex marriages. Portions of an Advocate interview with Bradley were released Thursday, Sept. 16, including his comment: "While I'm against gay marriage, if I was a voter in California, I would not support the Knight initiative. I would not support the Knight initiative because I don't think a referendum is the place for this kind of an initiative." In a separate interview with the Advocate, published last month, Al Gore refused to take a stance on the Knight issue, but his office followed Bradley's lead on Friday morning, telling the San Francisco Examiner that "(Gore) has a record and a history of opposing same-sex marriage, but in the case of the Knight initiative, if he lived in California, he would not support it given the divisive nature of that initiative." Opponents of the initiative describe the measure as a wedge issue that is unfair for its inherent discrimination against people on the basis of their sexual orientation. Among the other positions voiced by Bradley in the Advocate piece - which will appear on newsstands Sept. 28 - are his personal support for the inclusion of lesbians and gay men in the military and his belief that lesbians and gay men should be added to the groups protected by the 1964 Civil Rights Act. For more information on the Knight Initiative, contact Tracey Conaty, press secretary for the No on Knight Campaign, at (415) 227-1020. For more information about the candidates' positions on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, contact David Elliot of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force at (202) 332-6483 x 3303. Finally, for further information about the Advocate interviews, contact Gretchen Griffin with Michael Kaminer Public Relations at (212) 627-8098. 2) TRANSGENDER MARRIAGE CASE UNDER CONSIDERATION: San Antonio's 4th Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Sept. 2 in Littleton v. Prange, a case questioning transgender indivduals' right to marry. Male-to-female transsexual Christie Lee Littleton, who underwent sex reassignment surgery in 1979 and 1980 at the University of Texas Health Science Center, was married in 1989, having been issued a marriage license in the state of Kentucky. Following the death of her husband in 1996, she filed a suit against his doctor, Mark Prange, charging that her husband's death was partly caused by Prange's negligence. According to a Sept. 15 report from the Legal Intelligencer, "Prange moved for summary judgment on the ground that Littleton was not entitled to survival spouse benefits because she is a man and her marriage is therefore void." When the summary judgment was granted, Littleton appealed. The Legal Intelligencer further referenced Littleton's attorney's suggestion that "[t]he central issue Š was whether Littleton had offered enough evidence that she had legally altered her sex to allow a jury to decide whether she was a woman when she got married," and his claim that the University of Texas' performance of the reassignment surgery should be "proof positive" of the state's knowledge of the facts. While cases concerning same-sex marriage rights have been tried in a number of states (including the State Supreme Court cases currently under consideration in Hawaii and Vermont), the only precedent on transgender persons' marriage rights known to the parties involved in Littleton v. Prange is the 1976 New Jersey Superior Court ruling in M.T. v. J.T.. In the New Jersey case, the court upheld a marriage between a male and male-to-female transsexual who, like Littleton, had also undergone sex reassignment. For more information, contact Houston-based transgender law specialist Phyllis Frye at (713) 723-8368. 3) GLSEN TO HOLD CONFERENCE ON SCHOOL SAFETY AND EDUCATION IN ATLANTA: The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) will hold its third annual national conference from October 1-3 in Atlanta. The theme of this year's conference is "Teaching Respect for All" and more than 65 skillsbuilding workshops, trainings and panels will address a multitude of topics of concern to students, educators and administrators from schools across the country. U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) will give the keynote address and actor-comedian Margaret Cho will give a special performance as part of the programming for the event. Since the 1960s, when Lewis organized historic sit-in demonstrations in the deep South and chaired the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Lewis has maintained a prominent role in the civil rights arena. Cho is currently touring her one-woman show, "I'm the One That I Want," which played to sold-out crowds in New York earlier this year. For more information, contact GLSEN Communications Director Jim Anderson at (212) 727-0135 x136 or by e-mail at janderson@glsen.org . Registration forms are also available online at http://www.glsen.org . ERRATUM: In the September 13, 1999 edition of GLAADLines, GLAAD stated that California's AB 26 entitled same-sex partners of state and local government employees to health insurance benefits. In fact, AB 26 authorizes - but does not require - those employers to offer such benefits. GLAAD apologizes for any confusion that may have been caused. GLAAD is the nation's lesbian & gay multimedia advocacy organization. GLAAD promotes fair, accurate, and inclusive representation as a means of challenging discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. To subscribe contact Wonbo Woo at (212) 807-1700 or at woo@glaad.org. 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