By Ove Overmyer
Staff Writer for the Empty Closet Newspaper

December 27, 2008

Lance Neve and his partner Ozzie Maldonado are glad their nightmare is finally coming to an end. Neve was the victim of a beating and now the Rochester couple is expressing a sense of relief that the man who did it is spending more time in prison because the judge says he didn’t show any remorse. This is not the defendant’s first run in with the law. Back in 2002, Jesse Parsons of Spencerport was sentenced to three years in prison on a felony burglary charge.

On December 23 in Monroe County Court, Parsons opted to stand by his plea of second degree assault not as a hate crime and accepted a longer prison sentence. He will also pay Neve’s medical expenses — more than $24,000 — and be subject to post-release supervision.

Back in March of 2008, Neve spent days in the hospital with fractures to his face and skull in what authorities described as an anti-gay attack. Two days before Christmas, Jesse Parsons was sentenced for the brutal beating of Neve. He will spend five and a half years in prison.

The defendant’s sentence would have been less had it not been for his comments to Judge Keenan on November 20. “I didn’t mean to hurt Lance as bad as I did, but he did deserve what he got,” said Parsons. At his final sentencing, Parsons told the judge, “It wasn’t my smartest decision.”

Monroe County ADA Perry Duckles said, “To me it sounded like he was apologizing for making comments in the first place and not necessarily apologizing for what happened to Mr. Neve.”

“The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do is forgive someone who almost killed me,” Neve told The Empty Closet. He added that he is still traumatized by the attack and is more cautious of his surroundings.

Neve said after the sentencing, “The Gay Alliance was a huge support system for us. We found it amazing how they welcomed us and truly opened there hearts and made us realize we did not have to go through this alone.”

Neve added, “I also would like the LGBT community to know we do not have to stay silent when hate crimes occur. The Ogden Police Department and the Monroe County DA’s office were respectful and showed a lot of integrity handling our case.”

For Neve and Maldonado, Parsons latest attempt at an apology isn’t enough and neither is the time he’ll spend in prison. He hopes Parsons learned a hard lesson. Neve added, “Hopefully, he’ll take the next five and a half years and really think about what he did and show some kind of remorse.”

According to other news sources, Parsons’ attorney said they are happy this is now behind them and regrets the decisions that were made that night but they do plan to appeal the sentence.

The judge added on an extra year and a half from the original plea deal after the courtroom outburst. Parsons attorney told the media that he also plans to appeal the additional year and a half.
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Rochester Labor Council honors Pride At Work

By Ove Overmyer
Staff Writer for the Empty Closet Newspaper
Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley
December 14, 2008

The local Rochester and Finger Lakes chapter of Pride At Work was well represented at the Rochester Labor Council, AFL-CIO Annual Delegates Awards Dinner that was held at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center on December 11. Investigative journalist and author David Cay Johnston was the keynote speaker.

Monroe Community College library employee Bess Watts, the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) vice-president of Unit 7402 and the first officer of the local chapter of Pride At Work, won the Community Solidarity Award. Additionally, Pride At Work won three Labor Day parade awards, including best newcomer, most creative float and the Grand Prize Award.

The mission of Pride at Work is to mobilize mutual support between the organized labor movement and the LGBT community to achieve social and economic justice. Pride At Work became an official constituency group of the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations) in 1999.

Watts and Tom Privitere, the WNY Field Organizer for the Public Employees Federation (PEF), were the first elected officials for the local chapter which began in October of 2007. They serve as president and vice-president respectively.

Watts sees great need for this organization in the Rochester, N.Y. and Monroe County area. She said, “Despite the full inclusion of LGBT employees by our biggest local companies, like Kodak, Xerox, Bausch and Lomb and Corning, smaller institutions are often oblivious to the concerns of their LGBT workers. Even the County of Monroe public employees find themselves without access to Domestic Partner benefits that would make health insurance available to their families.”

Watts would also tell you full equality for LGBT workers is inevitable. “It is a win-win situation for both employers and employees when an environment of inclusion exists, attracting and retaining talent in an organization by assuring that each employee feels recognized, valued and treated equally,” she said. “We are getting our message out and we are very proud of the work we do,” Watts added.

Jim Bertolone, President of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, said Watts was an easy choice for the Community Solidarity Award. He said, “Bess Watts’ involvement and activism to the cause of all union members– to all unions at their picket lines– to political mobilization and to her dedication and commitment to the civil rights of our gay, lesbian and transgender brothers and sisters– the passion that she brings is second to no one.”

There are over 32 participating construction, private and public sector member organizations that are listed with the Rochester & Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation. The federation represents over 100,000 working men and women in an 11-county area of mid-western New York State.

A Florida circuit court on Nov. 25 struck down a Florida law that bars lesbians and gay men from adopting. The court granted adoptions to a gay man, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, who has been raising two foster children since 2004.

“Our family just got a lot more to be thankful for this Thanksgiving,” said Martin Gill, a North Miami resident who is raising two brothers, four and eight, with his partner. “We are extremely relieved that the court has recognized that it is wrong to deny our boys the legal protections and security that only come with adoption.”

The court ruled that the ban violated the equal protection guarantees of the state constitution because it singles out for different treatment gay people and the children they raise for no rational reason. The court also found that the ban denies children the right to permanency provided by federal and state law under the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.

“While the decision will be welcome news to many lesbian and gay Floridians, the children in Florida foster care are the real winners today,” said Leslie Cooper, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project and a member of the legal team that tried the case. “The court put the interest of the children first, recognizing that the gay ban served no legitimate purpose and only made it more difficult for the state to find homes for the many children in foster care.”

The court’s decision comes after a four-day trial in October where the court heard from experts on children’s health and development and listened to the justifications offered by the state for the ban.

In reaching its decision, the court rejected the false assumptions and stereotypes about gay people presented by the state, holding that many “reports and studies find that there are no differences in the parenting of homosexuals or the adjustment of their children. These conclusions have been accepted, adopted and ratified by the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatry Association, the American Pediatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Child Welfare League of America and the National Association of Social Workers. As a result, based on the robust nature of the evidence available in the field, this Court is satisfied that the issue is so far beyond dispute that it would be irrational to hold otherwise; the best interests of children are not preserved by prohibiting homosexual adoption.”

The court also rejected claims by the state that children do better when raised in homes with a mother and a father and that children raised by gay parents face social stigma. The court found, “… the professionals and the major associations now agree there is well established and accepted consensus in the field that there is no optimal gender combination of parents.”

“Judge Lederman made clear today that it violates every rule of decency and fairness to threaten to tear a four-year-old boy from the only home he has ever known, and to send him to strangers who don’t even know him simply because his beloved Papi is gay,” said Robert Rosenwald, Director of the LGBT Project of the ACLU of Florida and one of the attorneys who tried the case.

Martin Gill and his partner of more than eight years became foster parents to the two boys on December 11, 2004. The couple, who had been parents to seven other foster children over the years, was initially told that the placement would be temporary, but a plan to place the children with their grandmother fell through. Both boys had significant health problems when they arrived in the home. The older boy, who was four at the time, was withdrawn and didn’t speak. Today both boys are healthy, have lots of friends and are doing well in school. The older boy started out behind educationally and had to repeat the first grade, but with the couple’s help, he has progressed significantly.

The Florida law barring lesbians and gay men from adopting is the most expansive anti-gay parenting law in the country. It was passed in 1977 in response to an anti-gay crusade led by former Miss America and Florida orange juice spokesperson Anita Bryant.

In addition to Cooper and Rosenwald, Gill is represented by James Esseks, Litigation Director of the ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project and Shelbi Day, a Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Florida. The children are represented by Hilarie Bass and Ricardo Gonzalez of Greenberg Traurig, and Charles Auslander, an attorney and former District Administrator for Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF).

For additional information about the case, including a video and podcast of Martin Gill talking about his experiences as a foster parent as well as a copy of today’s decision and a copy of the trial transcript, visit www.aclu.org/gill.

By Ove Overmeyer:

In a stunning turn of events, defendant Jesse Parsons, who was in court on Nov. 20 to plea guilty to a charge of second degree assault in the beating of Lance Neve in a Spencerport bar last March, will now face a trial and a hate crime charge after all.

Neve spent several days in Strong Hospital with a fractured skull, nose, upper jaw and eye socket after the attack.

Under the advice of Monroe County ADA Perry Duckles, Neve agreed to let Parsons plea bargain to a lesser charge at his sentencing in Monroe County Court, only to witness more verbal abuse from his attacker.

Parsons said to Monroe County Court Judge Richard Keenan, ““I didn’t mean to hurt Lance as bad as I did, but he did deserve what he got.”

After Parsons’ comment, Judge Keenan could not proceed with a sentence. He immediately told court officers to place the defendant in custody and told Parsons that he will see him in court at a later date to face the hate crime charge.

Parsons was expecting to be sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to only second-degree assault, not as a hate crime; Parsons has never admitted it was a hate crime. Now, as a result of his outburst in the courtroom, Parsons is facing up to five to 15 years in state prison on the hate crime charge. This will be the first time that a hate crime has gone to trial in New York State.
At the sentencing, Neve told Parsons that he has hurt him physically, emotionally and financially. Neve has racked up over $22,000 in medical bills since his initial hospitalization.

The sentence also called for restitution, but Neve seemed more concerned about putting this tragedy behind him. He also knows his attacker has family and they were concerned about Parsons welfare.
Facing Parsons for the first time since the attack, Neve said, “This is my closure here, this is yours. Let this rest on your shoulders for the rest of your life, ‘cause I don’t want it no more.”
Neve says he didn’t want to hear Parsons say he’s sorry; he just wanted to know why he did what he did. Parsons’ demeanor and verbal response in court shocked the judge and court officials, witnesses say. Parsons’ attorney, Mark Young, tried to appease the court, but the judge dismissed him. ADA Duckles said the defendant’s comment obviously showed he had no remorse for what he did.

Ozzie Maldonado, Lance’s partner, initially wanted Parsons prosecuted and convicted of a hate crime to the fullest extent and told News 10 NBC’s Nikki Rudd on Nov. 19, “I wish we went full force all the way through no matter what — but this is ultimately Lance’s decision.”

The nightmare is not over yet for the couple. Back in late August, when a grand jury indicted Parsons with the hate crime, Neve said it was a victory for the gay community and it proves the Rochester community will not tolerate hate crimes. Lance and Ozzie now seem to think that the Nov. 20 outcome is probably an even more fitting result.

“The guy is just filled with hate — Judge Keenan saw that today,” Neve told The Empty Closet.
Neve’s partner is hoping for the maximum penalty. Maldonado said, “This guy is really dangerous.”
Parson’s bail was set at $5,000. He is due back in court on Dec. 5.

By Ove Overmyer
Thousands of marriage rights supporters waved rainbow colors, chanted and danced in cities coast to coast on Nov. 15 to protest the vote that banned gay marriage in California and to urge supporters not to quit the fight for the right to wed.

Massive crowds gathered near public buildings in cities across the nation, including Boston, San Francisco, Chicago and Rochester, to vent their frustrations, celebrate gay relationships and renew calls for change.

Local organizers say over 300 protesters took part in the rain-soaked demonstration in front of the Monroe County Office Building in downtown Rochester. The program included speeches from local government leaders, activists, labor unionists and clergymen. The Raging Grannies, a group of local feminist activists who sing songs of social significance, also entertained.

This rally, like the others, grew out of a grassroots, online effort, mainly using the social-networking site Facebook. Perinton resident Neil Houghton, the local organizer for the Rochester rally, said he was totally surprised by how quickly the word spread online.

Join the Impact, the grassroots organization which initiated the simultaneous 50-state demonstrations, asked supporters to be respectful and refrain from attacking other groups during the rallies. Their mission stated that education and persuasion are impossible without civility.

“If we can move anybody past anger and have a respectful conversation — then you can plant the seed of change,” said Seattle blogger Amy Balliett, who started the website three days after Election Day. “We need to show the world when one thing happens to one of us, it happens to all of us,” she said.
Houghton said the Rochester protest brought together a broad range of people who were outraged by the stripping of civil rights in California. He told the Empty Closet, “This wave of righteous indignation swept the country in over 300 cities. It can and should become a catalyst for real change.”

He called this action a Stonewall moment for the new millennium.

The protests nationwide were widely reported to be peaceful, and the mood in Rochester was spirited. Protesters carried signs and marched along West Main Street, to the delight of passing motorists. Signs cast the fight for gay marriage as the new civil rights movement of the 21st century, including one placard that read “it just 8nt right!”

Anne Tischer, activist and community organizer, said she was so impressed by the number of people who were willing to come downtown and stand in the rain to fight for equality. She said, “It renews my faith in grassroots democracy to see all these new faces that are committed to the cause.”
“This narrow loss in California has awakened us,” said a wheelchair-bound protester who did not want to be identified.

Proponents of same-sex marriage say passage of the anti-gay amendment has only energized the gay rights movement. Activists are now using a grassroots network of new websites, e-mails and text messages to coordinate future protests and organize structured events. Tischer says meeting these new contacts and following up with them is a critical aspect of any organizing effort, if it is going be successful.

“After this rally, I am very optimistic now,” she says.

Connecticut, which ironically began performing same-sex weddings on Nov. 12, and Massachusetts are the only two states that allow gay marriage. National groups are attempting to overthrow the Prop 8 amendment; for more information, see Newsfronts, pages A 4-5.

A Winter Social, sponsored by the Out & Equal NY Finger Lakes Regional Affiliate (formerly the Finger Lakes LGBT Workplace Alliance (FLLWA), will take place Wednesday, Dec. 3, at Geva Theater, 75 Woodbury Blvd., Rochester.

Social begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Geva Theatre Café. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and cash bar will be provided, as well as a door prize drawing for two tickets to the Broadway show “The Drowsy Chaperone” at the Auditorium Theatre.

The Geva show “A Christmas Story” begins promptly at 7 p.m. A special ticket price of $42 includes the show and social. Tickets are LIMITED! The DEADLINE is Nov. 19! Payment can be made by cash or check.

Please contact tmayer812@gmail.com for payment information.

Out & Equal will be collecting monetary donations and non-perishable goods in honor of AIDS Week. All donations will be given to AIDS Rochester.

Date: Saturday, November 15, 2008

Location: Monroe County Office Building

39 W. Main Street, Rochester

Time: 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM

On Election Day, Californians overthrew the rights of same-sex couples to marry. This action has set in motion a series of protests and demonstrations from coast to coast. Similar anti-gay measures were also passed in Arizona, Florida and Arkansas.

A local coalition of fair-minded citizens has expressed outrage concerning these recent developments. Many rallies to protest the passage of Proposition 8 in California are scheduled at hundreds of cities across the United States. The city of Rochester, known as one of the hotbeds for the civil rights movement, will appropriately host a rally at the Monroe County Office Building on Saturday afternoon.

Organizers expect a broad spectrum of support. This effort has been organized entirely through grassroots support on Facebook and other Internet social networking sites. There are over 150 signatures on Facebook that have committed to attending the event.

Organizers have also arranged for a diverse group of lawmakers, labor leaders, clergy and activists to speak to the inequity of civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

By Malcolm Lazin, Executive Director Equality Forum

A great paradox of the 2008 federal election in which the first African American was elected President is that three states passed referenda to amend their respective state constitutions to prohibit same-sex couples from marrying and Arkansas passed a referendum to preclude unmarried couples from adopting or fostering children.

Eighteen states allow their constitutions to be amended through ballot initiatives without consent by the legislative and/or executive branches. The remaining states enable their constitutions to be amended by the public after legislative and/or executive action. Some states require majority approval and others mandate voter approval ranging from 60 percent to two thirds approval.

The same-sex ballot initiatives exemplify the danger posed to all citizens by stripping away of fundamental rights from marginalized citizens and the importance of the judiciary in protecting civil liberties.

Barack Obama was born in Honolulu on August 4, 1961. In 1961, 16 states not including Hawaii had laws that made miscegenation a crime and branded the offspring of a black and white couple as a bastard. In 1967, the US Supreme Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia that miscegenation laws were unconstitutional because they violated the due process clause and equal protection of the 14th Amendment.

Given prevalent racial animosity in 1961, had racists tried to amend state constitutions to prohibit miscegenation, those ballot initiatives would have been overwhelmingly passed in most states.

During World War II, had xenophobes tried to amend state constitutions to prohibit the civil liberties of Japanese Americans, they would have been easily approved. State amendments to limit civil liberties could have been readily enacted against immigrants such as the Irish, Chinese and Jews, among others.

A democracy is measured by how it protects minority religious, political, racial and other individual differences. The US Supreme Court has addressed these concerns in various decisions including Loving v. Virginia and Romer v. Evans.

In Loving, which overturned Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act, Chief Justice Warren writing for a unanimous court ruled that marriage is one of the “basic civil rights of man” and that to deny this fundamental freedom on such unsupportable basis as racial classification deprives citizens of liberty without due process of law.

In 1992, Romer v. Evans arose from a ballot initiative titled Amendment 2 to the Colorado constitution that prevented any municipality from protecting homosexual citizens from discrimination. The initiative passed with 53.4 percent approval. Amendment 2 was spearheaded by Colorado for Family Values that claimed the anti-discrimination protections for homosexuals in Aspen, Boulder and Denver were special rights that needed to be constitutionally banned.

The Colorado Supreme Court overturned the amendment as a violation of equal protection and ruled was subject to strict scrutiny in which the state needed to prove a compelling state interest, which it had failed to demonstrate. Colorado appealed the decision to the US Supreme Court. In 1996, in a 6 to 3 decision, Justices Stevens, O’Connor, Kennedy Souter, Ginsberg and Beyer affirmed the Colorado Supreme Court decision.

Justice Kennedy writing for the majority held that the discrimination in Amendment 2 neither met the strict scrutiny test nor the lower rational relationship to a legitimate state interest. Justice Kennedy stated, “It is not within our constitutional tradition to enact laws of this sort.” He found that laws of this kind “raise the inevitable inference that the disadvantage imposed is born of animosity toward the class of persons affected” and was born of a “desire to harm” homosexuals.

Proposition 8 that prohibits same-sex marriage was passed with 52 percent approval. The proposition did not require consent by the legislative and/or executive branches. Proposition 8 was principally funded by out of state interests including tens of millions by the Mormon Church. The California Legislature had passed a bill providing for same-sex marriage. Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the measure because he believed the issue should be decided by the California Supreme Court.

In 2008, the California Supreme Court decided that the prohibition against same-sex couples from marrying violated the California constitution and was subject to the strict scrutiny. Governor Schwarzenegger and other prominent California Republicans were among in-state opponents to Proposition 8.

While the four state initiatives represent a setback, there is momentum for full equality including same-sex marriage for gay men and lesbians. In 2000, 61 percent of Californians opposed and 39 percent supported same-sex marriage. In 2008, those percentages respectively shrunk to 52 percent v. 48 percent.

Lambda Legal, ACLU and others are planning to challenge in the California state courts the constitutionality of Proposition 8. Ultimately the California Supreme Court decision could reach the US Supreme Court.

Five of the six US Supreme Court justices who concurred in Romer v. Evans remain on the court. We pray for their continued wisdom.

“A Day for Hospice” will take place at Six Pockets, 716 E. Ridge Rd. at Hudson Ave. on Nov. 23.

The event, to benefit Isaiah House, will include a pool tournament, live music, special guest appearances, 50/50 raffle, wings, pizza and other specials. It will begin at 12:01 p.m.

Suggested donation: $7 adults; $3 under 12. For information: PaulFancher@yahoo.com; Thoran53@yahoo.com.

The American Civil Liberties Union commends the Obama-Biden Transition team for including sexual orientation and gender identity in its non-discrimination policy as it prepares to assume power in January.

Although President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 11478, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, there are no explicit federal protections from gender identity bias in government hiring.

Christopher E. Anders, ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel, said, “As the new Administration gears up, it should be focused on hiring the best people for the job. By including sexual orientation and gender identity in its non-discrimination policy, the Obama-Biden transition team makes clear that it will focus on the relevant qualities that actually predict an applicant’s success on the job – professional experience, character, skills and education. President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden, by explicitly rejecting the bigotry and intolerance of the past, are committing that gay, lesbian, and transgender professionals can serve in government without fear of discrimination. This is a critical next step in securing the basic rights of LGBT community.

“The inclusion of gender identity is a bold departure from the past – and it sends a clear message. The ACLU recommends that President-Elect Obama follow up by 1) banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in federal contracting and 2) urge Congress to pass a gender-identity inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).”

The Obama-Biden Transition Non-Discrimination Policy can be viewed at http://change.gov/page/s/application

To learn more about the ACLU’s Transition Plan: Actions For Restoring America, go to http://72.3.233.244/about/37256res20081020.html