Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, September 21, 2007 Page: 1 of 56
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LOCAL DALLAS COUNTY SETTLES LAWSUIT WITH FIRED DEPUTIES i NATIONAL HRC RELEASES LATEST CORPORATE EQUALITY INDEX I PLUS PAWPRINT I SCREEN i SCENE
D4sfe>ICE
74 I ISSIIF 18
LACEY BRUTSCHY
lets you relive the
Alan Ross Texas
Freedom Parade
DallasVoice.com
LOCAL
Friends, colleagues
back local theater
director beset by
legal woes.
PAGE 6.
NATIONAL
San Diego mayor
backs gay mar-
riage in emotional
press conference.
PAGE 21.
VOLUME 24 I ISSUE 18
ESTABLISHED 1S84
dallasvoice.com-
SEPTEMBER I 21 I 2007
THE PREMIER SOURCE FOR LGBT DALLAS/FORT WORTH
Maryland high court rules against gay marriage
Court of Appeals says since gays not considered 'suspect
class,' government only needs to meet lowest standard
By Lisa Keen Contributing Writer
The supreme court of Maryland on
Sept. 18 reversed a lower court deci-
sion which had found a constitutional
right for gay couples to marry, making
Maryland the fifth state high court to
uphold bans on gay marriage in the
past two years.
House vote
expected
on END A
Supporters say opponents
using 'hate-filled' rhetoric,
lies to campaign against
anti-discrimination bill
From Staff and Wire Reports
WASHING-
TON — Gay
rights advo-
cates in
Washington
said this week
they expect the
full House
Education and
Labor
Committee to act on the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act within the
next week.
The issue was pushed from the
committee's calendar this week "sim-
ply because of scheduling issues,"
according to Brad Luna, communica-
tions director for the Human Rights
Campaign.
''We expect it to be voted out of
committee next week and then go to
the House floor for a vote towards the
end of September or the very first
week of October/' Luna said.
See ENDA on PAGE 21
But it was apparently no easy deci-
sion for the Maryland Court of
Appeals to reach. The seven-member
bench — all but one of whom is a
Democratic appointee — was deeply
divided and rendered its decision by a
4-to-3 margin with an unprecedented
244 pages of
discussion.
Maryland
did not pass a
specifically
anti-gay mar-
riage statute,
like many
states, but the
ACLU lawsuit, Conaway v. Deane,
challenged the state's law which, in
Dan Furmansky
1973, defined marriage as being only
between a man and a woman. The
ACLtJ argued that the restriction
amounted to sex discrimination
against gay people.
But the majority upheld the law as
written, and concluded that, because
gay people have never been legally
designated as a "suspect class" — or
oppressed minority — the government
did not need to show any compelling
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank
JOHN WRIGHT/Dallas Voice
Thousands of people lined Cedar Springs Road on Sunday for the 24th annual Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade.
Organizers say weather contributed to drawing a record-setting crowd to
Oak Lawn Sunday for the Pride parade and festival in Lee Park
By John Wright Staff Writer
It was a record day for gay Pride in Dallas.
Michael Doughman, executive director of the Dallas
Tavern Guild, said he believes more people than ever
attended the 24th annual Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade
and the subsequent rally in Lee Park on Sunday, Sept. 16.
"I think there's no doubt that it was the biggest parade
and also the biggest festival," Doughman said, adding that
no one conducts a formal headcount.
The large turnout was due in part to favorable weather,
Doughman said. Last year, it rained heavily during the
event.
"It was a little warm, but it was certainly better than the
rain and it was better than 105 degrees," Doughman said.
There were no major hiccups to report, Doughman said,
and only a handful of arrests. He commended a security
See PARADE on PAGE 12
reason for denying them equal treat-
ment under the marriage law. Instead,
said the majority, all the government
needed to show was a simple rational
reason — the lowest level of review
for the statute.
The majority concluded that the
government's reasoning — that it
issues licenses to heterosexual couples
in order to foster procreation and
See MARYLAND on PAGE 21
Parkland
to consider
DP benefits
Board chair does not
expect controversy over
vote; county judge says
change is 'right thing to do'
By Tammye Nash Senior Editor
The Human
Resources
Committee of
the Parkland
Hospital Board
of Managers
this week
approved a rec-
ommendation
from staff
members to add domestic partner ben-
efits to the benefits package the coun-
ty hospital offers employees.
Dr. Lauren McDonald, board chair,
said Wednesday, Sept. 19, that the
partner benefits issue will not be on
the agenda for the board meeting on
Tuesday, Sept. 25, because board
member Alan Wolne, who chairs the
Human Resources Committee, will be
out of town. McDonald said she does
expect the issue to be on the agenda
for the board's next monthly meeting,
scheduled for Oct. 23.
See BENEFITS on PAGE 12
County Judge Jim Foster
WEEKEND WEATHER
INDEX
INTERVIEW
FRI Sunny
92°
Local Mews
National News
Viewpoints
6
15
21
Queen Latifah under-
goes interrogation about
'gay marriage'
{^} SAT Sunny
73/92
{ ]> SUN Isolated Thunderstorms
73/82
Life+Style
Starvoice
24
37
comments and how they
could threaten the
The weekend starts out warm and sunny. But the thunderstorms
move in by Sunday, bringing cooler temperatures that last the rest
of the week. Fall is finally here.
Calendar
Classifieds
39
55
Dallas charity she's
helping. PAGE 24.
STAGE
Gay stage professionals
scored well at the annu-
al DFW Theater Critics
Forum poll. And 'The
Ladies of the Camillias'
blooms with campy
laughter. PAGE 28.
COMEDY
In less than a year, les-
bian comedian Poppy
Champlin turned her
lack of name recognition
into a new job — lead-
ing the Queer Queens of
Comedy Tour. PAGE 30.
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Nash, Tammye. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, September 21, 2007, newspaper, September 21, 2007; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth238978/m1/1/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.