Quest Vol. 12 No. 18

*Quest News* Volume 12 No. 18 September 29, 2005 Compiled & written by Mike Fitzpatrick Top Stories: Judge Tells Legislature, Cities To Butt Out Of ACLU Domestic Partner Suit Madison - A Dane County circuit court judge has told the Republican-dominated State Legislature and several local governments they cannot join the fight against a lawsuit seeking equal benefits for gay public employees. Judge David T. Flanagan ruled that state law gives the Department of Justice the authority to defend the state’s interests, and the department is already doing so in the lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed by six lesbian state employees and the American Civil Liberties Union last April, asserts the state’s refusal to provide health insurance to their partners violates the equal protection clause of the Wisconsin constitution. The lawsuit names several state agencies as defendants, but not the Legislature. In May, Republican lawmakers at the behest of Assembly Leader John Gard (R-Peshtigo) asked an Arizona-based “Christian” legal firm to represent the Legislature in fighting the lawsuit. The GOP-controlled Joint Committee on Legislative Organization voted 6-3 along party lines May 18 to authorize the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) to represent the Legislature. The Legislature later approved the hire, the first time in U.S. history that a statewide elected, representative body had contracted a religious-based group to intervene in a civil matter. ADF then filed a motion to intervene in the case, arguing the Legislature, not the courts, should decide who gets benefits. A second, Wisconsin religious-based group calling itself the First Freedom Foundation later approached eight villages, towns and cities - the largest of which is Green Bay - to solicit them to file a similar motion to intervene, arguing that a ruling forcing the state to grant benefits in the case would force them to follow suit. Flanagan threw out both motions, ruling that they would violate the separation of powers outlined in the state Constitution. Flanagan also found that the municipalities and the Legislature have no compelling interests that meet legal requirements. Both groups are expected to appeal Flanagan’s decision. Founded in 1993 by a group of ministers and supported by private, special interest donations, the ADF is closely tied to co-founder, James Dobson, who created a stir earlier in 2005 for criticizing a children’s video featuring cartoon characters, claiming it promoted homosexuality. Dobson attacked a video from the We Are Family Foundation starring scores of children’s cartoon characters, including SpongeBob Squarepants. He said the video was meant to desensitize children to homosexual and bisexual behavior. At the time of the ADF’s hire by the Legislature, openly gay State Representative Mark Pocan (D-Madison) revealed evidence that the group had aggressively campaigned for donations on the state’s “Christian” radio stations in ads that claimed support was needed to prevent the criminalization of religious belief. “Don’t let Christianity become a crime!” wailed one such ad. The shadowy First Freedoms Foundation appears to be a one man operation run by Waukesha attorney Michael Dean. The Fall 2005 edition of Marquette University’s comprehensive Foundations In Wisconsin index lists no such entity. Foundations must be legally incorporated in Wisconsin to appear on the Marquette index. An exhaustive search by Quest found no address, phone, email or wesbsite listings available for the foundation under that name. However, Dean has been involved in other lawsuits that religious-based legal teams have taken up. According to an August, 2003 report in the LaCrosse Tribune, Dean identified himself as being a representative of “the Family and Freedom Foundation, a Waukesha, Wis.,-based public interest legal organization.” Dean became involved in that city’s Ten Commandments monument lawsuit, also later serving as co-counsel for televangelist Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice in the case at the US Supreme Court level. The Marquette University foundation index also lacks and entry for the Family and Freedom Foundation. Roberts Nomination Goes To Full Senate Vote Pro-Gay Groups Upset as Both Wisconsin’s Democrats Vote For Confirmation. Washington, DC - A majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including both Wisconsin’s Seantors, approved the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. to become the nation's 17th chief justice on September 22 and sent it to the full Senate for a vote this week. The 13-5 vote was a defeat for pro-gay advocacy groups such as the Human Rights Campaign, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Lambda Legal Defense, who waged an aggressive campaign to persuade Democrats to take a strong stand against confirmation, despite Robert’s work to overturn Colorado’s anti-gay Amendment 2 in the 1990’s. Some had earlier predicted a party-line vote, but Roberts' strong performance during his hearings last week left Democrats deeply divided. The vote was a victory for conservatives who are looking at a second Supreme Court vacancy created by the imminent retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a critical swing vote. With the nominee demonstrating he can command at least some Democratic support, conservatives said, President Bush will be emboldened to fill the second seat with someone who shares Roberts' judicial philosophy. With the committee vote behind them, some prominent Democrats began declaring their votes. Among them are two of the most closely watched senators, Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, both of whom said they would vote no. "My desire to maintain the already fragile Supreme Court majority for civil rights, voting rights and women's rights," Clinton said, "outweighs the respect I have for Judge Roberts' intellect, character and legal skills." Two of the three Democratic votes supporting Roberts belonged Wisconsin’s Senators Herb Kohl and Russell D. Feingold. Feingold said Roberts had persuaded him that "he will not bring an ideological agenda" to the court. Some progressives dismissed Kohl’s vote as posturing for his expected 2006 run for re-election. But for liberal advocates, Feingold, a possible 2008 presidential candidate, was the biggest shock. "It's a tremendous disappointment," said Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way, which has been one of the leading opponents of the Roberts pick. Neas called the overall vote "a defeat for the constitution, the Bill of Rights and the protections that ordinary Americans value." Citing his lone opposition to the Patriot Act, Feingold supporters were quick to point out that the senator’s voting record has been historically showed him a man guided by strongly held values rather than political considerations. Marriage Matters In Experts’ Debate Madison - Evan Wolfson and Glenn Stanton both agree - marriage matters. They’ve both written books that contain the phrase in their respective titles. But that is about all two of the nation’s leading experts on marriage issues could agree on during a 90 minute debate in front of a near capacity audience at the University of Wisconsin’s 1300-seat Union Theater here September 21. Wolfson, who serves as the Executive Director of Freedom To Marry and has been involved in the current marriage equality debate since arguing the subject in front to the Hawaii state Supreme Court in 1993, that the benefits bestowed by civil marriage are too critical to be denied same-sex couples. Echoing comments made in his recent Quest interview, Woflson told the largely supportive crowd that "If the government doesn't have a harm it's preventing - a harm that outweighs the tremendous harm done to (gay and lesbian) couples and their kids - it shouldn't be putting obstacles in the way of loving families." Stanton, vice president of Focus on the Family and self-reported father of four girls, ranging from “girly-girls to tomboys,” claimed granting marriage equality to same-sex couples was the real harm to families. Stanton argued that marriage between one man and one woman should be maintained because it has always been “a human universal and neither male nor female roles are optional.” Stanton also claimed that gay marriage “isn't about producing children, it's about satisfying ‘adult desires.’” He then referenced lesbian celebrity Rosie O'Donnell's story of how he then-6-year-old kept saying he wanted a daddy. Stanton claimed that was proof of how innate it is for children to want parents of both sexes. Wolfson urged listeners to focus not on theoretical concepts, but on the consequences of discrimination for real gay and lesbian families. "There are thousands of kids being raised by gay parents in Wisconsin. Those kids have parents; they're not going to be transferred to somebody else's idea of what ideal parents would be," he said, adding that if those children were truly at a disadvantage, "wouldn't it be more important to provide those kids with the best protection, the best safety net?" In response to Stanton's claim that in all societies, marriage has been about bringing men and women together, Wolfson explained that historically it also was one man and several women, and that women were considered to be property. Wolfson then brought up the relatively recently illegal issue of "marital rape.” "If you want to lump all those horrible things into marriage, who's doing that?" Stanton responded, prompting the crowd to shout back, "You!" Earlier in the evening, Stanton claimed that same-sex marriage would open the door to polygamy, saying that “there are a lot of people in Utah interested in these developments.” Wolfson countered with verbatim quotations from court decisions against interracial marriage that alluded to how a "Turk and his harem would move in" and how the children of interracial unions would be “sickly and feminine.” Though clearly motivating much of Stanton’s rhetoric, theological reasoning for his opposition to marriage equality for gay and lesbian families remained outwardly unspoken. Stanton even claimed that nowhere on the Focus on The Family website will anyone find homosexuality condemned as immoral. Stanton even called Wolfson a “moral person,” and took offense at Wolfson’s repeated characterization of Stanton’s supporters as “opponents of equality.” The debate, sponsored in part by the Wisconsin Union Directorate Contemporary Issues Committee, was the second major match-up on marriage equality issue in the last 11 months. Former HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch debated Robert Knight, Director of the Concerned Women For America’s Culture and Family Institute at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay late last year. Quest's Dan Ross contributed to this article. Soggy 16th Annual AIDS Walk Wisconsin Raises $383,025 Milwaukee - Over 2,500 people joined Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and wife Kris in the 16th Annual AIDS Walk held Sunday. The Barretts, long supporters of the Walk, were the Honorary Co-Chairs of the event, which brought in $383,025. “This is real life. We have a commitment to do everything we can to end this pandemic,” Mayor Barrett told walkers during the event’s opening ceremonies. Joining Barrett onstage were Miller Brewing Company Vice President Mike Jones and his family, Julie Kubasa of Miller Brewing Company, State Senator Tim Carpenter, State Representative Jon Richards, ARCW Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Gifford, and ARCW client Sheila Jones and her family. Ceremonies were emceed by Kiss FM DJ Wes McCain. Despite occasionally drenching downpours, over 1000 of the walkers completed the ten and five kilometer routes. Because of comncerns about a thunderstorm about two hours into the walk, walk organizers mounted a rescue mission using shuttle vans and busses to collect walkers - some of whom who left rain gear behind after the skies had cleared during the opening ceremonies. “I think our walkers would walk through a tornado for us,” said Dan Mueller, the Chief Development Officer for the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin. “This is truly, truly amazing.” With the number of people living with HIV in Wisconsin at a record high, funds generated from the Walk will support the thousands of men, women and children who rely on the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin and other agencies who help people with HIV access health care, housing, and important social services. The Walk also supports important, aggressive HIV prevention programs aimed at people most at risk for HIV. World & National News: Pentagon Admits Sending Openly Gay Service Members To Iraq Acknowledgment Follows Discovery of Regulation Ordering Commanders to Retain Gays Santa Barbara, CA - An official military spokesperson has acknowledged that the Pentagon is sending openly gay service members into combat in Iraq. Kim Waldron, of the U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort McPherson, said that, “The bottom line is some people are using sexual orientation to avoid deployment. So in this case, with the Reserve and Guard forces, if a soldier ‘tells,’ they still have to go to war and the homosexual issue is postponed until they return to the U.S. and the unit is demobilized.” Waldron’s statements were reported in the september 23 edition of the Washington Blade. Waldron’s comments follow the discovery of a controversial regulation halting the discharge of gay soldiers in units that are about to be mobilized. That regulation, contained in a 1999 “Reserve Component Unit Commander’s Handbook” and still in effect, states that if a discharge for homosexual conduct is requested “prior to the unit’s receipt of alert notification, discharge isn’t authorized. Member will enter AD [active duty] with the unit.” The 1999 document was obtained by researchers at the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military (CSSMM), a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Although the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy remains in effect, Waldon’s acknowledgment appears to confirm that in some cases, the Pentagon ignores the law by retaining service members who say that they are gay. Statistics confirm that during the present war, as has been the case in every war since World War II, gay discharges have fallen during the conflict and then increased during peacetime. However, prior to Waldron’s acknowledgment, official spokespersons often denied that the military intentionally sends gays to fight despite the existence of a gay ban. According to Aaron Belkin, Director of the CSSMM, “The military has claimed for years that allowing openly gay and lesbian service members to serve in uniform would undermine unit cohesion. During wartime, ho ever, when cohesion is most important, the Pentagon retains gays and lesbians.” Vatican Rule Banning Gay Men From Becoming Priests Expected Rome - In its ongoing inability to differentiate between sexual orientation and pedophilia, the Roman Catholic Church apparently is about to forbid gay men from being admitted to Catholic seminaries to train for the priesthood. The controversial rule, in development since 1994, is expected to be approved by Pope Benedict XVI sometime this fall. The rule allegedly wouldn’t enforce a uniform standard, according to some church insiders. Each bishop may be able to determine whom to admit to seminary in his diocese or to ordain. The proposed rule follows the scandalous uncovering of decades of priestly pedophilia toward both sexes, though the majority of victims were teenage boys. The successful lawsuits since the scandal broke in 2002 has forced the Vatican to investigate seminaries in the United States. The main goal of the probe is look into the psychological, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation of seminarians and priests, not to “root out homosexuals,” according to Rev. Stephen Rossetti, director of the St. Luke Institute in Silver Spring, Maryland. Archbishop of Military Services Edwin O’Brien will lead visits to the American seminaries, starting this fall. The Associated Press, citing an unnamed Vatican official, reported that the rule on gay candidates for seminary admission probably will be approved by Pope Benedict XVI in time to provide guidelines for these visits. Tennessee “Ex-Gay Camp” Given A Week To Clean Up Its Act Nashville - State officials here have given two unlicensed personal care facilities in Memphis another week to apply for a license or change their operations before facing an order to shut down. The state Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities extended a deadline from September 21 to September 30. The facilities are run by the extremist Christian group Love In Action International, that claims it can counsel gay men and women to give up homosexuality through so-called “reparative therapy.” The state inspected the two facilities in Memphis on August 19 and determined Love In Action was providing housing, meals and personal care for mentally ill patients without a license. If convicted of operating without a license Love In Action would face criminal penalties that include fines of up to $500 and six months in jail for each day the facilities are determined to be in violation of state laws. The Department of Mental Health’s current action is not the first time Love In Action has drawn the state’s attention. Earlier this year the Department of Children’s Services investigated a child abuse complaint against Love In Action that was found to be unsubstantiated. The complaint stemmed from a Web blog written by a gay teen going by the name of “Zach” who said his parents were sending him to a religious organization that would try to convert him to heterosexuality. The teen’s blog drew protests from gay civil rights advocates who protested for weeks in front of what the activists characterized as a concentration camp. HRC Report Reveals America’s Most Gay Friendly Workplaces Washington, DC - The Human Rights Campaign Foundation unveiled its fourth annual report card September 21 on corporate America’s treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, which includes a record 101 companies with a perfect 100% score - more than seven times as many since the first report card in 2002. “Equality now illuminates thousands of factory floors, board rooms and cubicles across America,” Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said. “The enormous growth we’ve tracked in fair employee policies proves that corporate America is making good on the old adage: what’s good for business is good for America.” The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s fourth annual report card - the Corporate Equality Index - rates Fortune 500 and other major companies on a scale from zero to 100% on seven key indicators of fair treatment for LGBT employees. Indicators include policies prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as well as equal health care benefits. Among this year’s key findings: A record 101 companies score 100%, which is attributed to a sharp increase in gender identity non-discrimination policies. In 2002, only 13 companies earned a perfect rating. Also, 5.6 million people work at the 101 companies that score 100%. In 2002, approximately 690,000 people were employed by the 13 companies that scored 100 percent. Additionally, 81% of scored companies offer health benefits to the domestic partners of employees, up from 70% in 2002. “With 101 companies scoring one hundred percent, millions of Americans now have protections they would have only dreamed of a few years ago,” Daryl Herrschaft, director of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Workplace Project and lead author of the report, said. While industries like computer manufacturing have had 100% scores for years with leaders like IBM, defense giant Raytheon reached 100% this year as a first for its industry. In addition, BP and Chevron became the first oil companies to score 100% and Dow Chemical became the first in its industry to do so. “Prudential Financial is proud of the recognition received from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation,” Arthur F. Ryan, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, a 100 percent company, said. “Diversity continues to be key to the ongoing success of our company, and we remain committed to ensuring an inclusive and supportive work environment for all people.” In electronics retail, Best Buy offers full protections to LGBT employees, while competitor Radio Shack scores a 29% and Circuit City holds a 43% score. Corporations shown to be actively working against equality include Emerson Electric with a 29% score; Entergy with 36%; Exxon Mobil with 14%; and Perot Systems with a 14%score. In the financial sector, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase each score 100% compared to MBNA that has given money to anti-gay organizations and scores only 43%. “Corporate America knows that treating employees fairly is not just the right thing to do, it’s good for the bottom line,” added Solmonese. More than forty of the companies scoring 100% attended the recent Out & Equal Workplace Summit, where for two days they joined over 850 LGBT employees, straight allies, and human resources and diversity professionals who share the same vision of equal treatment in the workplace. The event was held in Denver September 22-23. The HRC Foundation’s Workplace Project not only tracks corporate policies on GLBT issues, but also advocates for equal treatment within corporate America through educational programs and direct advocacy. To read the full report, visit the Human Rights Campaign website at: www.hrc.org. State News: PrideFest Sets Town Hall Meeting Milwaukee - PrideFest has scheduled a town hall meeting for 7 PM, Thursday, October 20. The meeting will be held at the Hillside Family Resource Center at 1452 N. 7th Street, three blocks west of the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center. A review the highly successful 2005 festival is planned. The board will also spend some time looking forward to 2006. All interested members of the LGBT community are invited to attend. The Board decided to announce the event early to permit community members to plan ahead. For more information, contact PrideFest, Inc. via email at: info@pridefest.com, or by phone phone at: 414-272-3378. Sexual Health Discussion Group Forms Madison - A sexual health discussion group for gender diverse people will start at OutReach, Madison & south-central Wisconsin’s LGBT community center this fall. The six week group will cover a wide variety of topics related to gender self-expression, body imagery, discrimination issues, health care barriers or resources, and the sexual decision-making process. Sessions will run two hours and meet weekly on Saturdays at the center on 600 Williamson St. Refreshments will be provided, and an attendance allowance for consistent participation will also be given at the end of the six week session. For more information about the group or how to get involved with it, please leave a phone message for Renee at 608-255-8582 or by e-mail at: madcityrenee@tds.net or programs@outreachinc.com. “Remember Matthew” Fundraiser Set For October 9 Madison - “Remember Matthew,” TR Productions’ star-studded fund-raising revue to benefit the Matthew Shepard Foundation will be held on Sunday, October 9 beginning at 10 PM at Club 5, 5 Applegate Court here. Among the performers scheduled to appear are Mr. and Miss Gay Wisconsin USofA 2005 Joel Z and Natasha Marques, Mr. Gay Wisconsin 2004 Cody Domino, and Miss Primavera San Francisco, Diamond Girl. A host of local and regional USofA titleholders, including Alicia D. Stone, Mimi Jackson, Bryanna Banks and Raina D. Stone, will also perform. The event will follow the showing of the 2002 made-for-television movie “The Matthew Shepard Story” at 8 PM. All proceeds from the show will benefit the Matthew Shepard Foundation. There will be a $4 cover charge at the door. For more information about the event, visit the Club 5 website at: www.club-5.com. AIDS Walk, Roll & Stroll Grabs $37,000 Madison - Picture perfect weather and increased attendance helped AIDS Network’s 3rd Annual Walk, Roll & Stroll reap over $37,000 here Saturday, September 17. “Our goal (was) to double the $20,000 net we achieved from last year’s walk,”AIDS Network Executive Director Bob Power told Quest in an interview last month Billing itself as “Madison’s Only AIDS Walk” and featuring T-shirts that said “Local Fun, Local Funds,” the 7K walk drew a larger crowd even as it eliminated many of the frills similar events traditionally schedule, focusing instead on “getting walkers registered and walking,” according to Power. The Walk kicked off with a complimentary continental breakfast for all their supporters and participants. AN also instituted a non-refundable $15 registration fee to cover administrative costs for this year’s event, with an additional $10 fee for the walk’s commemorative T-shirt. The near doubling of the gross receipts for this year’s Walk, Roll & Stroll marks the second highly successful major fundraiser for the Madison-based AIDS service organization in as many months. August’s Act III AIDS Ride’s revenues topped $303,000. AIDS Network serves thirteen south central and southwestern counties, providing an array of HIV case management and prevention services. Rainbow Over Wisconsin Schedules Fall Fundraisers Green Bay - After recently distributing over $13,300 to area organizations ranging from ARCW and Positive Voice to the Harmony Cafe and Appleton’s GLBT Partnership youth program, Rainbow Over Wisconsin has scheduled several fundraisers, including its signature annual auction, dinner, show and dance “An Evening With Rainbow Over Wisconsin.” On September 18 ROW sponsored a family kickball tournament at Murphy Park. The Napalese Lounge team beat Cricket’s Fox River Lounge for the first-ever local kickball trophy. Proceeds from registration, refreshment sales and raffles benefitted the charitable organization’s Community Enrichment Fund. ROW’s annual Fall bowling tournament will be held Saturday, October 8 at the Riviera Lanes, 2450 University Avenue in Green Bay. Registration for the 9-pin tap tournament will begin at 2:15 PM with bowling starting at 3 PM. The $25 entry per person fee includes games, shoe rental, a luncheon, cash prizes and awards. Both four-person teams and individuals may enter. To register in advance, or for more information, contact Jeff at 920-430-1395. Tickets are also on sale for the 2nd Annual “Evening with Rainbow Over Wisconsin,” being held Saturday, November 12, at the SC Grand banquet hall and convention center in DePere. Tickets are $25 each through September 30, and $30 thereafter and available from ROW members and businesses. ROW organizers expect to have about $5000 in items available for this year’s silent and live auctions. The evening plans will begin with cocktails and the silent auction at 6 PM, followed the family-style broasted chicken and beef tips dinner, and a live auction conducted by female illusionist Jarica Jordan and friends. Live entertainment and dancing will conclude the evening. All the fund raising will help to replenish Rainbow Over Wisconsin’s Community Enrichment Fund, which has seen much activity since June. ARCW received a $4000 grant targeting gay outreach and prevention in northeast and eastern Wisconsin. Positive Voice, the Harmony Cafe and the GLBT Partnership received a total of $1800 in grants for educational conferences. Clients served by ARCW’s Green Bay office also benefitted from more than $7500 raised by ROW’s Guernsey Gala project. Founded following the success of the “Alive With Pride 95” gay pride event by the region’s tavern keepers, Rainbow Over Wisconsin has grown from a group that had served to coordinate bar benefit shows to a non-profit, tax-exempt community foundation whose members include area business owners, LGBT activists and people who simply want to make northeast Wisconsin’s gay community the best it can be. With its most recent grants ROW has now distributed over $73,300 in funds to over two dozen organizations for the betterment of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community in central, eastern and northeastern Wisconsin. For more information about Rainbow Over Wisconsin and its upcoming events, visit the group’s website at: www.rainbowoverwisconsin.org. Milwaukee Police Chief Holds Town Hall Meeting Milwaukee - Police Chief Nen Hegerty met with about fifty members of the city’s gay community at the Milwaukee LGBT Center here September 21. Though a number of topics were covered, the main reason for the event was the controversy over the shut down the Uncommon Theatre company production of “Naked Boys Singing” at the city’s Gay Arts Center last August. Hegerty explained the reasons for the vice squad raid. “Whenever we have a license violation that’s coupled with anything that may pertain to nudity, nakedness - those types of behaviors - it automatically goes to the vice squad,” Hegerty said, comparing the gay revue’s shutdown with vice squad visits to the local performance of the internationally-touring “Puppetry of The Penis” and area strip clubs when there are complaints that total nudity allegedly has occurred. The “Naked Boys” shutdown followed a formal complaint by Drew Heiss, a local self-styled “street preacher.” Among those in attendance was “Naked Boys” director Mark Hooker who told Wisconsin Public Radio’s Chuck Quirmbach that a lack of coordination among the city’s departments was responsible for the entire misadventure. “I do think the city needs to work on knowing what one hand, the other one is doing,” Hooker said. “The police department should have been in contact with the licensing department. None of this would have happened if they had realized that we didn’t need the license in the first place.” Hegerty also addressed recent improper police behavior toward minorities and her efforts to provide diversity training to officers. She stopped short at commitng to a suggestion that the MPD adopt a Canadian diversity program that features officers of the same sex going out in public holding hands as part of the awareness training. “I appreciate that suggestion but I would have to give that some very careful consideration,” Hegerty said. Top of Page Quest Home QNU Home

Judge Tells Legislature, Cities To Butt Out Of ACLU Domestic Partner Suit
Madison - A Dane County circuit court judge has told the Republican-dominated State Legislature and several local governments they cannot join the fight against a lawsuit seeking equal benefits for gay public employees.
Judge David T. Flanagan ruled that state law gives the Department of Justice the authority to defend the state’s interests, and the department is already doing so in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed by six lesbian state employees and the American Civil Liberties Union last April, asserts the state’s refusal to provide health insurance to their partners violates the equal protection clause of the Wisconsin constitution. The lawsuit names several state agencies as defendants, but not the Legislature.
In May, Republican lawmakers at the behest of Assembly Leader John Gard (R-Peshtigo) asked an Arizona-based “Christian” legal firm to represent the Legislature in fighting the lawsuit. The GOP-controlled Joint Committee on Legislative Organization voted 6-3 along party lines May 18 to authorize the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) to represent the Legislature. The Legislature later approved the hire, the first time in U.S. history that a statewide elected, representative body had contracted a religious-based group to intervene in a civil matter.
ADF then filed a motion to intervene in the case, arguing the Legislature, not the courts, should decide who gets benefits. A second, Wisconsin religious-based group calling itself the First Freedom Foundation later approached eight villages, towns and cities - the largest of which is Green Bay - to solicit them to file a similar motion to intervene, arguing that a ruling forcing the state to grant benefits in the case would force them to follow suit.
Flanagan threw out both motions, ruling that they would violate the separation of powers outlined in the state Constitution. Flanagan also found that the municipalities and the Legislature have no compelling interests that meet legal requirements. Both groups are expected to appeal Flanagan’s decision.
Founded in 1993 by a group of ministers and supported by private, special interest donations, the ADF is closely tied to co-founder, James Dobson, who created a stir earlier in 2005 for criticizing a children’s video featuring cartoon characters, claiming it promoted homosexuality. Dobson attacked a video from the We Are Family Foundation starring scores of children’s cartoon characters, including SpongeBob Squarepants. He said the video was meant to desensitize children to homosexual and bisexual behavior. At the time of the ADF’s hire by the Legislature, openly gay State Representative Mark Pocan (D-Madison) revealed evidence that the group had aggressively campaigned for donations on the state’s “Christian” radio stations in ads that claimed support was needed to prevent the criminalization of religious belief. “Don’t let Christianity become a crime!” wailed one such ad.
The shadowy First Freedoms Foundation appears to be a one man operation run by Waukesha attorney Michael Dean. The Fall 2005 edition of Marquette University’s comprehensive Foundations In Wisconsin index lists no such entity. Foundations must be legally incorporated in Wisconsin to appear on the Marquette index. An exhaustive search by Quest found no address, phone, email or wesbsite listings available for the foundation under that name.
However, Dean has been involved in other lawsuits that religious-based legal teams have taken up. According to an August, 2003 report in the LaCrosse Tribune, Dean identified himself as being a representative of “the Family and Freedom Foundation, a Waukesha, Wis.,-based public interest legal organization.” Dean became involved in that city’s Ten Commandments monument lawsuit, also later serving as co-counsel for televangelist Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice in the case at the US Supreme Court level. The Marquette University foundation index also lacks and entry for the Family and Freedom Foundation.

Roberts Nomination Goes To Full Senate Vote
Pro-Gay Groups Upset as Both Wisconsin’s Democrats Vote For Confirmation.
Washington, DC - A majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including both Wisconsin’s Seantors, approved the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. to become the nation's 17th chief justice on September 22 and sent it to the full Senate for a vote this week.
The 13-5 vote was a defeat for pro-gay advocacy groups such as the Human Rights Campaign, The National Gay and Lesbian Task John Roberts

Force and Lambda Legal Defense, who waged an aggressive campaign to persuade Democrats to take a strong stand against confirmation, despite Robert’s work to overturn Colorado’s anti-gay Amendment 2 in the 1990’s. Some had earlier predicted a party-line vote, but Roberts' strong performance during his hearings last week left Democrats deeply divided.
The vote was a victory for conservatives who are looking at a second Supreme Court vacancy created by the imminent retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a critical swing vote. With the nominee demonstrating he can command at least some Democratic support, conservatives said, President Bush will be emboldened to fill the second seat with someone who shares Roberts' judicial philosophy.
With the committee vote behind them, some prominent Democrats began declaring their votes. Among them are two of the most closely watched senators, Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, both of whom said they would vote no.
"My desire to maintain the already fragile Supreme Court majority for civil rights, voting rights and women's rights," Clinton said, "outweighs the respect I have for Judge Roberts' intellect, character and legal skills."
Two of the three Democratic votes supporting Roberts belonged Wisconsin’s Senators Herb Kohl and Russell D. Feingold. Feingold said Roberts had persuaded him that "he will not bring an ideological agenda" to the court.
Some progressives dismissed Kohl’s vote as posturing for his expected 2006 run for re-election. But for liberal advocates, Feingold, a possible 2008 presidential candidate, was the biggest shock.
"It's a tremendous disappointment," said Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way, which has been one of the leading opponents of the Roberts pick. Neas called the overall vote "a defeat for the constitution, the Bill of Rights and the protections that ordinary Americans value."
Citing his lone opposition to the Patriot Act, Feingold supporters were quick to point out that the senator’s voting record has been historically showed him a man guided by strongly held values rather than political considerations.

Marriage Matters In Experts’ Debate
Madison - Evan Wolfson and Glenn Stanton both agree - marriage matters. They’ve both written books that contain the phrase in their respective titles. But that is about all two of the nation’s leading experts on marriage issues could agree on during a 90 minute Marriage debate

debate in front of a near capacity audience at the University of Wisconsin’s 1300-seat Union Theater here September 21.
Wolfson, who serves as the Executive Director of Freedom To Marry and has been involved in the current marriage equality debate since arguing the subject in front to the Hawaii state Supreme Court in 1993, that the benefits bestowed by civil marriage are too critical to be denied same-sex couples. Echoing comments made in his recent Quest interview, Woflson told the largely supportive crowd that "If the government doesn't have a harm it's preventing - a harm that outweighs the tremendous harm done to (gay and lesbian) couples and their kids - it shouldn't be putting obstacles in the way of loving families."
Stanton, vice president of Focus on the Family and self-reported father of four girls, ranging from “girly-girls to tomboys,” claimed granting marriage equality to same-sex couples was the real harm to families. Stanton argued that marriage between one man and one woman should be maintained because it has always been “a human universal and neither male nor female roles are optional.”
Stanton also claimed that gay marriage “isn't about producing children, it's about satisfying ‘adult desires.’” He then referenced lesbian celebrity Rosie O'Donnell's story of how he then-6-year-old kept saying he wanted a daddy. Stanton claimed that was proof of how innate it is for children to want parents of both sexes.
   Wolfson urged listeners to focus not on theoretical concepts, but on the consequences of discrimination for real gay and lesbian families. "There are thousands of kids being raised by gay parents in Wisconsin. Those kids have parents; they're not going to be transferred to somebody else's idea of what ideal parents would be," he said, adding that if those children were truly at a disadvantage, "wouldn't it be more important to provide those kids with the best protection, the best safety net?"
In response to Stanton's claim that in all societies, marriage has been about bringing men and women together, Wolfson explained that historically it also was one man and several women, and that women were considered to be property. Wolfson then brought up the relatively recently illegal issue of "marital rape.”
"If you want to lump all those horrible things into marriage, who's doing that?" Stanton responded, prompting the crowd to shout back, "You!"
   Earlier in the evening, Stanton claimed that same-sex marriage would open the door to polygamy, saying that “there are a lot of people in Utah interested in these developments.”
Wolfson countered with verbatim quotations from court decisions against interracial marriage that alluded to how a "Turk and his harem would move in" and how the children of interracial unions would be “sickly and feminine.”
Though clearly motivating much of Stanton’s rhetoric, theological reasoning for his opposition to marriage equality for gay and lesbian families remained outwardly unspoken. Stanton even claimed that nowhere on the Focus on The Family website will anyone find homosexuality condemned as immoral. Stanton even called Wolfson a “moral person,” and took offense at Wolfson’s repeated characterization of Stanton’s supporters as “opponents of equality.”
   The debate, sponsored in part by the Wisconsin Union Directorate Contemporary Issues Committee, was the second major match-up on marriage equality issue in the last 11 months. Former HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch debated Robert Knight, Director of the Concerned Women For America’s Culture and Family Institute at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay late last year. Quest's Dan Ross contributed to this article.

Soggy 16th Annual AIDS Walk Wisconsin Raises $383,025
      Milwaukee - Over 2,500 people joined Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and wife Kris in the 16th Annual AIDS Walk held Sunday. The Barretts, long supporters of the Walk, were the Honorary Co-Chairs of the event, which brought in $383,025.

“This is real life. We have a commitment to do everything we can to end this pandemic,” Mayor Barrett told walkers during the event’s opening ceremonies.
Joining Barrett onstage were Miller Brewing Company Vice President Mike Jones and his family, Julie Kubasa of Miller Brewing Company, State Senator Tim Carpenter, State Representative Jon Richards, ARCW Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Gifford, and ARCW client Sheila Jones and her family. Ceremonies were emceed by Kiss FM DJ Wes McCain.
Despite occasionally drenching downpours, over 1000 of the walkers completed the ten and five kilometer routes. Because of comncerns about a thunderstorm about two hours into the walk, walk organizers mounted a rescue mission using shuttle vans and busses to collect walkers - some of whom who left rain gear behind after the skies had cleared during the opening ceremonies.
“I think our walkers would walk through a tornado for us,” said Dan Mueller, the Chief Development Officer for the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin. “This is truly, truly amazing.”
With the number of people living with HIV in Wisconsin at a record high, funds generated from the Walk will support the thousands of men, women and children who rely on the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin and other agencies who help people with HIV access health care, housing, and important social services. The Walk also supports important, aggressive HIV prevention programs aimed at people most at risk for HIV.

Pentagon Admits Sending Openly Gay Service Members To Iraq
Acknowledgment Follows Discovery of Regulation Ordering Commanders to Retain Gays
Santa Barbara, CA - An official military spokesperson has acknowledged that the Pentagon is sending openly gay service members into combat in Iraq. Kim Waldron, of the U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort McPherson, said that, “The bottom line is some gay soldier

people are using sexual orientation to avoid deployment. So in this case, with the Reserve and Guard forces, if a soldier ‘tells,’ they still have to go to war and the homosexual issue is postponed until they return to the U.S. and the unit is demobilized.” Waldron’s statements were reported in the september 23 edition of the Washington Blade.
Waldron’s comments follow the discovery of a controversial regulation halting the discharge of gay soldiers in units that are about to be mobilized. That regulation, contained in a 1999 “Reserve Component Unit Commander’s Handbook” and still in effect, states that if a discharge for homosexual conduct is requested “prior to the unit’s receipt of alert notification, discharge isn’t authorized. Member will enter AD [active duty] with the unit.” The 1999 document was obtained by researchers at the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military (CSSMM), a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Although the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy remains in effect, Waldon’s acknowledgment appears to confirm that in some cases, the Pentagon ignores the law by retaining service members who say that they are gay. Statistics confirm that during the present war, as has been the case in every war since World War II, gay discharges have fallen during the conflict and then increased during peacetime. However, prior to Waldron’s acknowledgment, official spokespersons often denied that the military intentionally sends gays to fight despite the existence of a gay ban.
According to Aaron Belkin, Director of the CSSMM, “The military has claimed for years that allowing openly gay and lesbian service members to serve in uniform would undermine unit cohesion. During wartime, ho ever, when cohesion is most important, the Pentagon retains gays and lesbians.”

Vatican Rule Banning Gay Men From Becoming Priests Expected
Rome - In its ongoing inability to differentiate between sexual orientation and pedophilia, the Roman Catholic Church apparently is about to forbid gay men from being admitted to Catholic seminaries to train for the priesthood. The controversial rule, in development Ratzi The Nazi

since 1994, is expected to be approved by Pope Benedict XVI sometime this fall.
The rule allegedly wouldn’t enforce a uniform standard, according to some church insiders. Each bishop may be able to determine whom to admit to seminary in his diocese or to ordain.
The proposed rule follows the scandalous uncovering of decades of priestly pedophilia toward both sexes, though the majority of victims were teenage boys. The successful lawsuits since the scandal broke in 2002 has forced the Vatican to investigate seminaries in the United States. The main goal of the probe is look into the psychological, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation of seminarians and priests, not to “root out homosexuals,” according to Rev. Stephen Rossetti, director of the St. Luke Institute in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Archbishop of Military Services Edwin O’Brien will lead visits to the American seminaries, starting this fall. The Associated Press, citing an unnamed Vatican official, reported that the rule on gay candidates for seminary admission probably will be approved by Pope Benedict XVI in time to provide guidelines for these visits.

Tennessee “Ex-Gay Camp” Given A Week To Clean Up Its Act
Nashville - State officials here have given two unlicensed personal care facilities in Memphis another week to apply for a license or change their operations before facing an order to shut down. The state Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities zach

extended a deadline from September 21 to September 30.
The facilities are run by the extremist Christian group Love In Action International, that claims it can counsel gay men and women to give up homosexuality through so-called “reparative therapy.” The state inspected the two facilities in Memphis on August 19 and determined Love In Action was providing housing, meals and personal care for mentally ill patients without a license. If convicted of operating without a license Love In Action would face criminal penalties that include fines of up to $500 and six months in jail for each day the facilities are determined to be in violation of state laws.
The Department of Mental Health’s current action is not the first time Love In Action has drawn the state’s attention. Earlier this year the Department of Children’s Services investigated a child abuse complaint against Love In Action that was found to be unsubstantiated. The complaint stemmed from a Web blog written by a gay teen going by the name of “Zach” who said his parents were sending him to a religious organization that would try to convert him to heterosexuality. The teen’s blog drew protests from gay civil rights advocates who protested for weeks in front of what the activists characterized as a concentration camp.

HRC Report Reveals America’s Most Gay Friendly Workplaces
Washington, DC - The Human Rights Campaign Foundation unveiled its fourth annual report card September 21 on corporate America’s treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, which includes a record 101 companies with a perfect 100% score - more than seven times as many since the first report card in 2002.
“Equality now illuminates thousands of factory floors, board rooms and cubicles across America,” Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said. “The enormous growth we’ve tracked in fair employee policies proves that corporate America is making good on the old adage: what’s good for business is good for America.”
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s fourth annual report card - the Corporate Equality Index - rates Fortune 500 and other major companies on a scale from zero to 100% on seven key indicators of fair treatment for LGBT employees. Indicators include policies prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as well as equal health care benefits.
Among this year’s key findings: A record 101 companies score 100%, which is attributed to a sharp increase in gender identity non-discrimination policies. In 2002, only 13 companies earned a perfect rating. Also, 5.6 million people work at the 101 companies that score 100%. In 2002, approximately 690,000 people were employed by the 13 companies that scored 100 percent.
Additionally, 81% of scored companies offer health benefits to the domestic partners of employees, up from 70% in 2002.
“With 101 companies scoring one hundred percent, millions of Americans now have protections they would have only dreamed of a few years ago,” Daryl Herrschaft, director of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Workplace Project and lead author of the report, said.
While industries like computer manufacturing have had 100% scores for years with leaders like IBM, defense giant Raytheon reached 100% this year as a first for its industry. In addition, BP and Chevron became the first oil companies to score 100% and Dow Chemical became the first in its industry to do so.
“Prudential Financial is proud of the recognition received from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation,” Arthur F. Ryan, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, a 100 percent company, said. “Diversity continues to be key to the ongoing success of our company, and we remain committed to ensuring an inclusive and supportive work environment for all people.”
In electronics retail, Best Buy offers full protections to LGBT employees, while competitor Radio Shack scores a 29% and Circuit City holds a 43% score.
Corporations shown to be actively working against equality include Emerson Electric with a 29% score; Entergy with 36%; Exxon Mobil with 14%; and Perot Systems with a 14%score.
In the financial sector, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase each score 100% compared to MBNA that has given money to anti-gay organizations and scores only 43%.
“Corporate America knows that treating employees fairly is not just the right thing to do, it’s good for the bottom line,” added Solmonese.
More than forty of the companies scoring 100% attended the recent Out & Equal Workplace Summit, where for two days they joined over 850 LGBT employees, straight allies, and human resources and diversity professionals who share the same vision of equal treatment in the workplace. The event was held in Denver September 22-23.
The HRC Foundation’s Workplace Project not only tracks corporate policies on GLBT issues, but also advocates for equal treatment within corporate America through educational programs and direct advocacy.
To read the full report, visit the Human Rights Campaign website at: www.hrc.org.

PrideFest Sets Town Hall Meeting
Milwaukee - PrideFest has scheduled a town hall meeting for 7 PM, Thursday, October 20. The meeting will be held at the Hillside

Family Resource Center at 1452 N. 7th Street, three blocks west of the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center. A review the highly successful 2005 festival is planned. The board will also spend some time looking forward to 2006.
All interested members of the LGBT community are invited to attend. The Board decided to announce the event early to permit community members to plan ahead. For more information, contact PrideFest, Inc. via email at: info@pridefest.com, or by phone phone at: 414-272-3378.

Sexual Health Discussion Group Forms
Madison - A sexual health discussion group for gender diverse people will start at OutReach, Madison & south-central Wisconsin’s LGBT community center this fall. The six week group will cover a wide variety of topics related to gender self-expression, body imagery, discrimination issues, health care barriers or resources, and the sexual decision-making process.
Sessions will run two hours and meet weekly on Saturdays at the center on 600 Williamson St. Refreshments will be provided, and an attendance allowance for consistent participation will also be given at the end of the six week session.
For more information about the group or how to get involved with it, please leave a phone message for Renee at 608-255-8582 or by e-mail at: madcityrenee@tds.net or programs@outreachinc.com.

“Remember Matthew” Fundraiser Set For October 9
Madison - “Remember Matthew,” TR Productions’ star-studded fund-raising revue to benefit the Matthew Shepard Foundation will be held on Sunday, October 9 beginning at 10 PM at Club 5, 5 Applegate Court here. Among the performers scheduled to appear are Mr. and Miss Gay Wisconsin USofA 2005 Joel Z and Natasha Marques, Mr. Gay Wisconsin 2004 Cody Domino, and Miss Primavera San Francisco, Diamond Girl. A host of local and regional USofA titleholders, including Alicia D. Stone, Mimi Jackson, Bryanna Banks and Raina D. Stone, will also perform.
The event will follow the showing of the 2002 made-for-television movie “The Matthew Shepard Story” at 8 PM. All proceeds from the show will benefit the Matthew Shepard Foundation. There will be a $4 cover charge at the door. For more information about the event, visit the Club 5 website at: www.club-5.com.

AIDS Walk, Roll & Stroll Grabs $37,000
Madison - Picture perfect weather and increased attendance helped AIDS Network’s 3rd Annual Walk, Roll & Stroll reap over $37,000 here Saturday, September 17. “Our goal (was) to double the $20,000 net we achieved from last year’s walk,”AIDS AIDS W, R & S

Network Executive Director Bob Power told Quest in an interview last month
Billing itself as “Madison’s Only AIDS Walk” and featuring T-shirts that said “Local Fun, Local Funds,” the 7K walk drew a larger crowd even as it eliminated many of the frills similar events traditionally schedule, focusing instead on “getting walkers registered and walking,” according to Power. The Walk kicked off with a complimentary continental breakfast for all their supporters and participants. AN also instituted a non-refundable $15 registration fee to cover administrative costs for this year’s event, with an additional $10 fee for the walk’s commemorative T-shirt.
The near doubling of the gross receipts for this year’s Walk, Roll & Stroll marks the second highly successful major fundraiser for the Madison-based AIDS service organization in as many months. August’s Act III AIDS Ride’s revenues topped $303,000. AIDS Network serves thirteen south central and southwestern counties, providing an array of HIV case management and prevention services.

Rainbow Over Wisconsin Schedules Fall Fundraisers
Green Bay - After recently distributing over $13,300 to area organizations ranging from ARCW and Positive Voice to the Harmony Cafe and Appleton’s GLBT Partnership youth program, Rainbow Over Wisconsin has scheduled several fundraisers, including its ROW dinner

signature annual auction, dinner, show and dance “An Evening With Rainbow Over Wisconsin.”
On September 18 ROW sponsored a family kickball tournament at Murphy Park. The Napalese Lounge team beat Cricket’s Fox River Lounge for the first-ever local kickball trophy. Proceeds from registration, refreshment sales and raffles benefitted the charitable organization’s Community Enrichment Fund.
ROW’s annual Fall bowling tournament will be held Saturday, October 8 at the Riviera Lanes, 2450 University Avenue in Green Bay. Registration for the 9-pin tap tournament will begin at 2:15 PM with bowling starting at 3 PM. The $25 entry per person fee includes games, shoe rental, a luncheon, cash prizes and awards. Both four-person teams and individuals may enter. To register in advance, or for more information, contact Jeff at 920-430-1395.
Tickets are also on sale for the 2nd Annual “Evening with Rainbow Over Wisconsin,” being held Saturday, November 12, at the SC Grand banquet hall and convention center in DePere. Tickets are $25 each through September 30, and $30 thereafter and available from ROW members and businesses. ROW organizers expect to have about $5000 in items available for this year’s silent and live auctions.
The evening plans will begin with cocktails and the silent auction at 6 PM, followed the family-style broasted chicken and beef tips dinner, and a live auction conducted by female illusionist Jarica Jordan and friends. Live entertainment and dancing will conclude the evening.
All the fund raising will help to replenish Rainbow Over Wisconsin’s Community Enrichment Fund, which has seen much activity since June. ARCW received a $4000 grant targeting gay outreach and prevention in northeast and eastern Wisconsin. Positive Voice, the Harmony Cafe and the GLBT Partnership received a total of $1800 in grants for educational conferences. Clients served by ARCW’s Green Bay office also benefitted from more than $7500 raised by ROW’s Guernsey Gala project.
Founded following the success of the “Alive With Pride 95” gay pride event by the region’s tavern keepers, Rainbow Over Wisconsin has grown from a group that had served to coordinate bar benefit shows to a non-profit, tax-exempt community foundation whose members include area business owners, LGBT activists and people who simply want to make northeast Wisconsin’s gay community the best it can be. With its most recent grants ROW has now distributed over $73,300 in funds to over two dozen organizations for the betterment of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community in central, eastern and northeastern Wisconsin.
For more information about Rainbow Over Wisconsin and its upcoming events, visit the group’s website at: www.rainbowoverwisconsin.org.

Milwaukee Police Chief Holds Town Hall Meeting
Milwaukee - Police Chief Nen Hegerty met with about fifty members of the city’s gay community at the Milwaukee LGBT Center here September 21. Though a number of topics were covered, the main reason for the event was the controversy over the shut down Hegerty

the Uncommon Theatre company production of “Naked Boys Singing” at the city’s Gay Arts Center last August.
Hegerty explained the reasons for the vice squad raid. “Whenever we have a license violation that’s coupled with anything that may pertain to nudity, nakedness - those types of behaviors - it automatically goes to the vice squad,” Hegerty said, comparing the gay revue’s shutdown with vice squad visits to the local performance of the internationally-touring “Puppetry of The Penis” and area strip clubs when there are complaints that total nudity allegedly has occurred. The “Naked Boys” shutdown followed a formal complaint by Drew Heiss, a local self-styled “street preacher.”
Among those in attendance was “Naked Boys” director Mark Hooker who told Wisconsin Public Radio’s Chuck Quirmbach that a lack of coordination among the city’s departments was responsible for the entire misadventure. “I do think the city needs to work on knowing what one hand, the other one is doing,” Hooker said. “The police department should have been in contact with the licensing department. None of this would have happened if they had realized that we didn’t need the license in the first place.”
Hegerty also addressed recent improper police behavior toward minorities and her efforts to provide diversity training to officers. She stopped short at commitng to a suggestion that the MPD adopt a Canadian diversity program that features officers of the same sex going out in public holding hands as part of the awareness training. “I appreciate that suggestion but I would have to give that some very careful consideration,” Hegerty said.