It all began in the cold.
The American legal system's first strong move toward Gay rights took place 25 years ago yesterday, and it was almost a miracle.
Nighttime temperatures were in the range of minus -21 degrees.
It was 25 years ago, in Denver, Colorado, when the American Bar Association House of Delegates voted to urge governmens to adopt laws "prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation," defined as "heterosexuality, bixesuality and homosexuality," in "employment, housing and public accomodations."
The resolution passed because my mentor, United States Department of Labor Chief Administrative Law Judge Nahum Litt quietly wroked for its adoption. He was a federal Administative Law Judge, subject to removal by a Republican Administration.
Judge Litt didn't have to speak out on Gay rights. As a judge sitting in the House of Deegates, he could have remained silent. But one of his most recent law clerks (that would be me) had "come out to him," and he loved to advance progressive causes. So he advised those of us in the Young Lawyers Division working to pass the resolution, including Section Administrator Ron Hirsch.
Other judges, including United States Department of Labor Deputy Chief Judge John Michael Vittone, questioned him and did not want ABA to support "queers." One federal judge from Rhode Island even told the Council of the ABA Judicial Administration Division (now the Judicial Division) that he opposed protecting "Sodomites" from discrimination because sodomy was then a crime in 26 states. But then Tennessee Court of Appeals Judge Martha Craig (Cissy) Daughtrey, who chaired the Judicial Administation Division, said she would not support bigotry and enthusiastically supported the sexual orientation nondiscrimination resolution. (Judge Daughtrey was later the first woman justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court and was named a federal appellate judge by President Bill Clinton; she is now a senior judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit._
Empowered by Judicial Administration Division support, Judge Litt, Judge Daughtrey and others worked to win passage. Supporters in eery ABA Section fanned out to win support from state and local bar associations. But it was tough going. A similar resolution had failed twice before, failing to win a majority vote. This was 1989, and misunderstanding and hatred of Gays was as pandemic as AIDS in our country.
Twelve hours before the ABA debate was about to start, supporters were grim. At an open bar cocktail hour with massive shrimp, Judge Litt, Ron Hirsch and I shared intelligence, compared notes and counted votes.
The ABA Gay rights resolution was going to lose again. There were two reasons: first, delegates were being persuaded by hatred spewing from delegates hailing from Charleston, S.C., Antlers, Oklahoma, and other places where "homosexual" was a dirty word. Even some moderates were against the resolution, figuring htat "sexual orientation" might include "bestiality and pederasty." That leads to the second reason: resolution supporters had drafted an ambiguous resolution. They did not define their terms. What did "sexual orientation" mean? It was open to interpretation, and opponents were taking advantage of it.
The opponents were talking about sex with children and animals.
It was 1989.
On the spot, in the ballroom of a Denver luxury hotel, I suggested to my two mentors that we borrow the definition of "sexual orientation" from the District of Columbia's 1974 Human Rights Act (urged by then-Councilman Marion Barry when I was a college freshman).
That definition reads: "Sexual orientation means heterosexuality, bisexuality and homosexuality."
It is elegant in its simplicity. Future ABA President John J. Curtin of Boston made the amendment the first item of business in the debate twelve hours later.
This seven word amendment won the day. It protets everyone from discrimination, not just Gays -- everyone, Gay, striaght and Bi.
In fact, one of the first and largest jury verdict under the DC law was for a heterosexual Howard University employee harassed by Gays.)
The language protects everyone.
And that's what the ABA adopted. Twelve hours later, Boston lawyer John J. Curtin amended our resolution at the beginning of House of Delegates debate.
For six hours of debate AP correctly described as "sometimes emotional," opponents ranted about irrelevant issues, while others looked on in amusement and amazement at bigoted lawyers braying their bigotry in the prestigious ABA House of Delegates, peopled mostly by power lawyers and respected judges. "When it comes to bestiality, just say WHOAA!" said one St. Louis delegate to another Missouri delegate.
The sexual orientation nondiscrimination resolution passed by 251-121 vote.
What a victory!. It was made possibe by Judge Nahum Litt and other progressives in the ABA House of Delegates.
Civil rights victories are, like brick walls, built one piece at a time, with backbreaking labor. The piece of the wall of civil rights protections we placed in Denver on February 6, 1989 made possible future victories. That includes Gay marriage.
Reading the AP story from February 6, 1989 earlier today made me cringe, recalling how cruel the opponents sounded in their putatively Bible-based bigoted opposition, based on attempting to inflict their misreading of scripture into legislation. The AP story repeatedly uses the word "homosexual," failing to appreciate that the resolution called for laws protecting everyone from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Today the Olympic Games opened in Sochi, Russia, where Gays are targeted for abuse by the Russian government.
Reading what the Soviet Parliament has said and done about Gays, it is hard for me of all people to feel superior to them.
That's because 25 years ago, Ameridcans wre using the same terms, trite tropes and irrational hatreds, and it was even being said and done by American lawyers and judges.
The Gay-bashing lawyers from Antlers, Oklahoma and Charleston, S.C. had as little love in their hearts for Gays as Russian dictator Vladimir Putin does today. Like former KGB agent Putin, they did not use the term "Gay."
Putin is not too much worse than the burghers in Jacksonville, Florida, who refused to protect Gays against discrimination. The Mayor of Jacksonville lifted not one finger to support GLBT rights.
Forgive them!
If St. Augustine (December 10, 2012) and St. Augustine Beach (2013) can forbid sexual orientation discrimination, so can Congress, Russia, and maybe even Antlers, Oklahoma.
The St. Augustine and St. Augustine Beach nondiscrimination ordinances both use the same language from the DC Human Rights Act adopted by ABA in 1989).
Meanwhile, St. Johns County and its Tourist Development Council remain in the Dark Ages, with its Visitor and Convention Bureau, Inc. irrationally refusing to open its heart to Gay tourists.
Our work continues. Forgive them.
February 8, 2014 Postscript, from New York Times and wire reports: On Monday, February 10, 2014, Attorney General Eric Holder plans to announce a series of nondiscrimination provisions involving Gay and Lesbian spouses, while President Barack Obama is signing an execuive order forbidding sexual orientation discrimination by government contractors. Viva!
No comments:
Post a Comment