Randi Shade, a lesbian, defeated an incumbent to win a seat on the Austin City Council. (Photo courtesy of www.randishade.com/Sanford Schulwolf)
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Friday, May 16, 2008
AUSTIN, Texas — Lesbian Randi Shade won a seat on Austin City Council Saturday, defeating incumbent Jennifer Kim with 64 percent of the vote to Kim’s 27 percent. A third candidate, Ken Weiss, earned 9 percent, according to media reports. First-time candidate Shade, an 18-year resident of Austin, will be Council’s first openly gay member. “I’m thrilled,” Shade told Texas media outlets. “I knew it would be an uphill battle to run against an incumbent. But we built a broad coalition of support, and I think people are ready for a change.” The campaign between Victory Fund-endorsed Shade and Kim became increasingly heated in the weeks leading up to the election, with both candidates launching strong offensives. Shade accused Kim of being ineffective and inaccessible. She also criticized the incumbent for spending money on things like velvet Christmas stockings and for sending misleading automated calls.
PHOENIX — The Arizona House of Representatives Tuesday voted 33 to 25 (with two absent), to pass a resolution that, if adopted by the Senate, would bring another constitutional amendment to define marriage before voters in November, according to reports. If adopted, gay rights activists fear the amendment would spark lawsuits from anti-domestic partnership activists challenging domestic benefits for unmarried couples, a threat that has played out in states that have enacted similar marriage amendments. “With their yes votes … today, 33 members of the Arizona House of Representatives said they want more litigation that threatens to take away domestic benefits from unmarried couples,” said Barbara McCullough-Jones, director of Equality Arizona. “Thirty-three members want to force Arizona voters to vote again on an issue that has already been decided — by the legislature, by the courts and by the voters.” Members of the anti-gay Center for Arizona Policy were joyous about the outcome. On the Policy web site, conservative activists thanked their supporters for the outcome and said, “Pray for our legislative efforts to be successful.”
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — The University of Southern Indiana board of trustees opted not to vote on a proposed resolution that would have granted employment benefits to same-sex domestic partners. Trustees were slated to vote on the issue May 10, but trustee Ted Ziemer Jr. asked that the item be removed from consideration to give administrators more time to look into the issue. “I would object to voting on this resolution at this time so that all relevant information can be gathered,” Ziemer said.
NEW YORK (AP) — Just more than half of 88 hospitals got top marks under a new rating system created by two national gay-rights organizations, which hope the standards will result in more compassionate treatment of gay and lesbian patients. Policies addressed in the ratings include patient nondiscrimination, visitation and decision-making rights for partners, diversity training for staff and nondiscriminatory employment practices. The hospitals participated voluntarily, and the groups behind the report said there will be no effort to rate hospitals that don’t want to respond. Instead, they hope many hospitals will strive for high ratings as the survey recurs annually. Called the Healthcare Equality Index, the ratings were designed by Human Rights Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. Some responses to the new survey came from hospital networks. Kaiser Permanente, answering on behalf of 31 hospitals in California and Hawaii, said all met the survey’s 10 criteria. They were among 45 hospitals in all with top marks. University Hospitals of Cleveland, representing 10 Ohio hospitals, said they fully met only two criteria — domestic partner benefits for employees and a patient nondiscrimination policy that includes sexual orientation.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A lawyer for a lesbian married in Massachusetts has asked Rhode Island’s Superior Court for a divorce after an earlier attempt to dissolve the marriage failed. An attorney for Margaret Chambers asked the Superior Court Tuesday to dissolve his client’s marriage after Rhode Island’s top court blocked a divorce court from handling it. The judge did not immediately rule and scheduled another hearing for June 12. Chambers wed Cassandra Ormiston four years ago in Massachusetts, the only state where gay marriage is legal. Rhode Island does not recognize same-sex unions. In 2006, they filed for divorce in Rhode Island, where they live. Rhode Island’s Supreme Court ruled in December that the state’s divorce court cannot end the marriages of same-sex couples.
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