Gays And Lesbians

A Baltimore nun said she will abide by a Vatican order to end her ministry to gay and lesbian Roman Catholics, but will work to have the ban overturned.Sister Jeannine Gramick, who said until recently she had not decided whether she would obey the Vatican, said she felt it was wiser in the long run to work within the structures of the Roman Catholic Church."While I see no benefits for lesbian and gay Catholics and their parents if I passively accept the [Vatican] decision, I believe it is more beneficial to minister on their behalf with the blessing of Church leadership than without it," she said in a statement.

THE MATTER is one of fairness and justice: Everyone should be treated equally, regardless of race, age, gender -- or sexual orientation.Everyone should have the same right to apply for a job or to rent an apartment without fear of discrimination. Yet gays and lesbians do not have that right under Maryland law.A bill seeking to ban prejudicial treatment on the basis of sexual orientation is one of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's prime objectives in the legislative session.He has devoted more effort to passing this bill than any other.

In her first public statement since being banned this month by the Vatican from ministering to gay and lesbian Roman Catholics, a Baltimore nun said she was "anguished and deeply troubled" by the action and has not decided whether to accept the censure."

Legislation that would add gays and lesbians to the ranks of groups protected from discrimination in Maryland cleared a major hurdle last night, narrowly gaining the approval of a House committee in Annapolis.The decision casts aside six years of defeat in the House Judiciary Committee, marking a major victory for gay rights advocates. The 12-8 vote also stands as an accomplishment for Gov. Parris N. Glendening, who has been waging an aggressive campaign for the bill."I applaud the members of the House Judiciary Committee who courageously said today that discrimination has no place in Maryland," Glendening said in a statement released after the vote.

This is an edited excerpt of a Chicago Tribune editorial, which was published Friday.THE chilling story of 21-year-old Army private Barry Winchell illustrates, as if any additional evidence were needed, why the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military is unworkable -- and why it ought to be eliminated.Mr. Winchell enlisted in 1997, filled with dreams of becoming a helicopter pilot. But because he was gay, he soon was subjected to months of harassment and was ultimately bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat by fellow private Calvin Glover.

Lesbian and gay activists won a partial victory yesterday when a Baltimore judge ruled that it was not illegal for people of the same gender to engage in sexual activity in Maryland.Circuit Judge Richard T. Rombro ruled that the state's anti-sodomy law violates homosexuals' constitutional rights. The law prohibits oral sex between people of the same gender but not between heterosexual partners. Lawbreakers face a maximum 10-year prison sentence. Anal sex is illegal for everyone and was not part of the case.

As the Baltimore City Council moves to deter attacks on gays and lesbians through a local hate-crimes law, a state delegate who sponsored Maryland's hate-crimes statute wants to expand the law to include sexual orientation.State law covers racial and ethnically based hate crimes.Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat, said he is drafting a bill to be introduced in the General Assembly in January to amend the state law in the wake of Matthew Shepard's killing Oct. 12 in Laramie, Wyo. The university student, 21, was killed in part because he was gay.Since last week's incident, gays and lesbians across the country have been calling on local, state and federal lawmakers to draft measures to help deter attacks on people because of their sexual orientation.

GAYS AND LESBIANS look for the same comforts that everyone else wants in their community: safety, sanitation, serenity. Even schools. There is one more element that attracts homosexuals to a town or neighborhood. Tolerance.These factors explain why Columbia has become a safe domicile for many gays and lesbians. Fear doesn't discriminate. Pick any demographic -- male-female, black-white, young-old, gay-straight -- and it's clear that fear of urban problems has driven some of each to the suburbs they consider secure.

Homosexuality used to be, to quote Victorian literary light Lord Alfred Douglas, "the love that dare not speak its name." Doulgas would have known: in 1895 his gay affaire de coeur sent fellow writer Oscar Wlide to prison after a notorious trial. The end of the Victorian era did not end anti-gay sentiment. When Radclyffe Hall penned her now-classic novel of lesbian love "The Well of Loneliness" (Doubleday, 437 pages, $10.95) in 1928, the book was banned outright in England. A lengthy obscenity trial ensued in the United States.

Needed calculator to subtract 2 from 9I really appreciated the Oct. 14 front-page article, ''Math teachers seek solutions." It told me more than you realized.The sample math problems were great. They went a long way toward explaining why the shift manager running the cash register in a nationally franchised restaurant we visited (presumably she was a high school graduate) could not, even with pencil and paper, solve the problem of subtracting 2 from 9. She needed a calculator.Lloyd E. DarlandBel AirPlaying field uneven for state workersIn two recent articles, Sun staff writer Michael Dresser has pointed out that collection of delinquent child support in Baltimore City has been turned over to a private company because state government workers have clearly failed in this effort.

In the recent past, lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender issues were only part of the National Football League landscape when a player held a news conference to assure fans that, despite the rumors, he was not gay. But as a direct result of the movement for marriage equality, there are green shoots for social justice becoming visible in the locker room. Baltimore Ravens three-time Pro Bowl linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo came out for full marriage equality, writing in the Huffington Post: "Looking at the former restrictions on human rights in our country starting with slavery, women not being able to vote, blacks being counted as two-thirds of a human, segregation ... all have gone by the wayside.

Forty years ago this weekend, New York City police carried out another routine raid on a gay bar in Greenwich Village, even though the Mafia owners had dutifully paid the customary $2,000-a-week bribe to the local precinct. But something went wrong that night at the Stonewall Inn. Around 1 a.m. June 28, as some patrons were ushered out to the paddy wagon, others who had been inside, or just passing by, began to taunt the police. Coins were flung at the cops, a rude reference to the payoffs everyone knew about.

SAN FRANCISCO - -The California Supreme Court's decision Tuesday to uphold Proposition 8 and existing same-sex marriages left in place all rights for California's gays and lesbians except access to the label "marriage," but it provided little protection from future ballot measures that could cost gays and other minorities more rights, lawyers and scholars said. In a 6-1 ruling, the court said the November ballot measure that restored a ban on same-sex marriage was a limited constitutional amendment, not a wholesale revision that would have required a two-thirds vote of the legislature to be placed before voters.

Societies that are tolerant, free and diverse tend to be richer and happier than societies that aren't. Maryland has shown this for decades. Now is the time to extend the legacy by legalizing same-sex marriage. The move would beam welcome signals not just to gays and lesbians but to all members of the young "creative class" who represent the economic and social future. Not coincidentally, it's the right thing to do. More and more research shows how inextricably linked tolerance and prosperity really are. No religion, race or sexual orientation has a monopoly on talent.

Three years ago my wife and I attended our first - but, I suspect, not last - gay wedding. Two of our women friends exchanged vows in a most ironic location: a church directly behind the U.S. Supreme Court building. When I consider that Justice Antonin Scalia might have been working that Saturday - his car in the court's underground garage closer to the chapel than the curbside spot three blocks away where we parked - I relax, knowing that gay marriage in some form is here to stay. The movement for sexual orientation-based equality is part of a proud, progressive tradition that includes abolition, women's suffrage, the ending of child labor, racial integration of the armed forces, the civil rights movement and anti-miscegenation reforms.

Open letter to Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Dear General Pace: Tomorrow marks the 33rd anniversary of my enlistment in the Air Force. That fact probably doesn't mean diddly to you, but in light of the heat you've been taking lately concerning your remarks about gays and lesbians in our armed forces, I thought you might like to hear from a veteran. And not just any veteran, mind you. I'm a member of that group of vets who might be called the "Bottom of the Barrel Crew," meaning that our armed forces really scraped the bottom of the barrel when they let us join.

WASHINGTON -- How much harm do gays and lesbians cause in the ranks of the military? Not much, it turns out. Judging by the latest discharge figures, the military's policy is really: "Don't ask, don't tell. Just keep fighting!" Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made more news than he wanted to last week when he called homosexual acts "immoral" during a meeting with the Chicago Tribune's editorial board. The general expressed mild regret for divulging his personal views instead of sticking with the official Pentagon line.

A mom and dad joke with their kids as their Ford Freestyle winds through scenic terrain. They stop at a roadside stand for a snack. They frolic on a beach at sunset. They look like the perfect, happy family until the Freestyle pulls into a condo complex and Dad gets out. "Thanks for inviting me this weekend," he tells his former wife. Dad gives his kids a heartfelt hug and waves as the Freestyle crossover vehicle pulls away. A voiceover intones: "Bold moves: They happen every day." The daring move here really belongs to Ford: showing a divorced couple in an advertising campaign.

Episcopal church leaders yesterday rejected a temporary ban against gay bishops, while Presbyterians agreed to let local and regional governing bodies decide whether to ordain gay or lesbian ministers. The actions by the churches' governing assemblies could cause further rifts in denominations already coping with theological divisions over homosexuality and declining membership. The Episcopal House of Deputies, composed of more than 800 lay leaders and clergy, has been meeting in Columbus, Ohio.

ATLANTA -- Ruth Malhotra went to court last month for the right to be intolerant. Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she's a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of sexual orientation. Malhotra sees that as an unacceptable infringement on her right to religious expression. She's demanding that Georgia Tech revoke its tolerance policy. With her lawsuit, the 22-year-old student joins a growing campaign to force public schools, state colleges and private workplaces to eliminate policies protecting homosexuals from harassment.