Migration Category: NCWP Old Site

Oregon mental health experts are protesting a federal agency’s efforts to delete references to gay, lesbian, and transgender people from the title of a suicide prevention program. The federally funded Portland, Oregon conference, “Suicide Prevention Among Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Individuals,” has been renamed “Suicide Prevention in Vulnerable Populations” in response to a “suggestion” made by project manager at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the agency within the Department of Health and Human Services funding the conference, reports the Associated Press. The Washington Post asked Mark Weber, a spokesperson for SAMHSA, how strong a suggestion it was to change the name; Weber replied, “Well, they do need to consider their funding source.”

Ron Bloodworth, a former coordinator of youth suicide prevention for Oregon and one of three specialists leading the session, was told that “sexual orientation” would be an acceptable change, according to the Associated Press. “Everyone has a sexual orientation,” he told the Post Tuesday. “But this was about gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders.” Bloodworth also pointed out that transgender people have a different sexual identity, not sexual orientation, reports the Washington Post. The Post cites studies showing that suicide risk for these groups is two to three times higher than the average.

The federal agency also suggested that a session on faith-based suicide prevention be added to the February 28 workshop. In an e-mail to colleagues, Bloodworth wrote, “We find this behavior on the part of our government intolerable,” the Post reports.

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Defrocked priest Paul Shanley was sentenced today to serve 12 to 15 years for repeated sexual assault over the course of six years of a young boy in the 1980s. Shanley will be eligible for parole after serving two-thirds of his sentence, and once released from prison will be on probation for ten years, according to the Associated Press. Prosecutor Lynn Rooney has asked for a life sentence, saying, “He used his collar and he used his worshipped status in that community. There has been no remorse shown on the part of the defendant. There has been no acceptance of responsibility,” AP reports.

Shanley, 74, will serve his sentence in a medium-security state prison rather than a county lock-up, which his lawyer had requested, according to Bloomberg News. Another notorious Boston priest who was convicted of pedophilia was killed in prison by fellow inmates. “We fervently hope that corrections officials will take great care to make sure no more violence occurs either by or against Shanley when he’s behind bars,” said Barbara Blaine, founder and president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “We also hope that Shanley will now search his conscience and disclose to the police, prosecutors, and the public what he knows about cover ups of sex crimes by church officials.”

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) was prevented from testifying on Thursday about the need to include information on emergency contraception in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) guidelines for the treatment of sexual assault victims before an advisory committee working to strengthen the federal Violence Against Women Act. Rep. Maloney was told that if she did not leave, security would escort her out, according to her office. A spokesman for DOJ told Newsday that Maloney was asked to leave because she had not registered to speak in time. “Today’s unfortunate incident raises questions about the basic willingness of the Justice Department to hear public comment on its decisions regarding women’s health,” Maloney said in a statement released by her office on Thursday.

The Justice Department’s guidelines, published for the first time last September, currently do not mention offering EC to rape victims – an omission that has spurred criticism from many women’s, civil liberties, and health groups across the country. Last month, 97 US lawmakers, led by Maloney, sent a letter to Diane Stuart, Director of DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women, in which they “strongly urged” the revision of its new guidelines for the treatment of sexual assault survivors to include information about emergency contraception (EC). Maloney said, “It is clear that the administration’s ideological opposition to choice now even extends to rape victims. Women who are sexually violated at the very least deserve the right to prevent unwanted pregnancies.”

EC is exceedingly safe and effective if taken within 5 days but it is most effective (95 percent) if taken within 24 hours after any unprotected sexual intercourse, when a condom breaks, or after a sexual assault. EC has the potential to cut in half the 3 million unintended pregnancies in the United States each year and prevent as many as 800,000 abortions a year. In some states, such as New York, hospitals are bound by law to offer emergency contraception to rape victims.

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A jury in California awarded two women $2.3 million in a sexual harassment case against FedEx Corporation. Kolainia Hettick alleged she was the subject over the course of several years of an obsession by a male coworker, Rubelle Cristobal, and Jana Bryant said she was harassed for persuading Hettick not to date Cristobal, according to Bloomberg News. Both women complained to management, and alleged that management did not act appropriately to protect them, according to Mercury News.

The women won $1 million each in punitive damages. Hettick won an additional $298,000 and Bryant received $30,000 in compensatory damages. Hettick delivered a message to other women through her lawyer, John Winer, that she hopes “this verdict sends a message that sexual harassment is not okay, and if you’ve been sexually harassed, don’t be afraid to come forward,” according to Mercury News. “This verdict clearly sends a message to corporate America that we will not tolerate sexual abuse in the workplace,” said Winer, according to the Bloomberg News. “In addition, workers should not be intimidated by companies that turn their backs on this type of behavior.”

FedEx spokeswoman Sandra Munoz said that FedEx believed the suit had no merit, and that it would appeal the ruling, according to the Memphis Business Journal.

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Paul Shanley, one of the most notorious priests in the Boston clerical abuse scandal, was found guilty on all four charges of repeatedly raping and assaulting a young boy at St Jean the Evangelist Parish in Newton, Massachusetts during the 1980s. Shanley’s $300,000 bail was revoked, the Los Angeles Times reports, and he was immediately taken to jail. It is possible that Shanley will receive life in prison when he is sentenced on February 15.

“We are relieved and grateful,” said Barbara Blaine, founder and president of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). “We are especially grateful to the brave men and women who were assaulted by Shanley and came forward. Because of their courage, innocent children and vulnerable adults are safer now.”

At least two dozen men have allegedly been molested by Shanley, who was defrocked by the Pope in May of 2004. Documents that were kept by the Boston archdiocese have confirmed many of the allegations against Shanley, which date back to 1967, the LA Times reports. Documents also show that leaders of the church were aware that Shanley had attended a meeting in 1979 of men who were involved sexually with boys.

Shanley’s conviction is considered to be an important victory for those who wish to see abusive priests brought to justice all over the country. According to the NY Times, the Massachusetts attorney general’s office estimates that approximately 1,000 children have been sexually abused by over 240 priests in the Boston Archdiocese since the 1940s.

The trial against Paul Shanley, a 73-year-old defrocked Catholic priest facing three counts of child rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child, begins tomorrow. These charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. Shanley remains one of the only priests in the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston indicted in the abuse scandal uncovered in 2002. With many of the allegations centering around events which took place decades before, legal experts are predicting a difficult case for prosecutors, reports The Washington Post.

In addition, only one of the original four alleged victims will testify against Shanley, a third accuser having been formally dropped from the case last week. Jury selection has further complicated the suit as many potential jurors struggle with impartiality. “It’s what we’ve all experienced over the last three years,” a prospective juror told Superior Court Judge Stephen Neel. “I have this slant now where I just look at the archdiocese and I shake my head,” reports The Boston Globe. Despite these difficulties, a jury of eight women and eight men was settled upon on Thursday.

Victims’ advocates remain hopeful, viewing an acquittal as devastating. According to the The Washington Post, David Clohessy, national director of the Survivor’s Network of Those Abused by Priests, stated, “If Shanley walks, it will cause already deeply wounded victims, who mustered the strength to come forward, to feel hopeless.”

An early Sunday morning fire at the Eastside Women’s Health Clinic in Olympia, Washington was intentionally set according to local police and federal investigators from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The clinic was closed when the fire was discovered and there were no injuries, reports the Associated Press. The blaze, which caused an estimated $500,000 in damage to the clinic, was the result of incendiary materials set on fire on the roof, according to Scott Thomasson, assistant special agent in charge of ATF’s Seattle Division.

Nancy Armstrong, co-owner of the clinic, told the local CBS station that the facility has been picketed weekly for the past 20 years without any violence and there have not been any recent threats against the facility. Clinic staff met outside with patients who came on Monday and are rescheduling appointments through the clinic’s answering service. Armstrong said the fire will not put the clinic out of business and she hopes to reopen at another location in the next two weeks.

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Nine women were arrested Friday as they participated in a protest of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) holding up the over-the-counter-use of Emergency Contraception (EC). Part of a group of some 40 protesters, the nine women, mostly from New York and Florida, were charged with disorderly conduct as they were arrested by Homeland Security officers for blocking the entrance to FDA headquarters in Rockville, MD.

The protestors said that they wanted to meet with Steve Galson, Acting Director of the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation who issued a “not approvable” letter in May 2004 in response to the initial application from Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc., but were told he was unavailable. Two FDA advisory panels voted in December 2003 to recommend approval of the sale of Plan B without a prescription, but Galson said that he made the May 2004 decision on his own and did not follow these recommendations.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) just released a statement urging the FDA to approve a new Barr application for over-the-counter EC. ACOG said in its release that “greater access to emergency contraceptives could cut the U.S. unintended pregnancy and the abortion rate in half.”

The FDA is expected to rule later this month on a second application by Barr to make Plan B Emergency Contraceptive more accessible. This second proposal employs a novel packaging requirement called the “dual label,” which, if approved, would allow the drug to be sold to females older than 16 without a prescription but would require a doctor’s order for those younger than 16.

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Beginning New Year’s Day, several laws took effect in the state of California that bolster the equality of women, girls, and same-sex couples. According to the Washington Post, one new law will guarantee to same-sex couples who register as domestic partners many of the same benefits marriage affords, including access to divorce court, automatic parental status over children born to one’s partner, shared responsibility for a partner’s debt, the power to determine arrangements for the remains of a partner, and protection from having to testify against one’s partner in court.

Another new law has made California the first state to ban gender discrimination in community youth athletics programs. The law (AB 2404) ensures that state- and county-sponsored sports programs meet the same guidelines of gender equality that Title IX has required of educational programs that receive federal financial assistance for the past 30 years.

A law (SB 1385) that also went into effect on January 1 will allow imprisoned women a chance for a new trial or reduced sentence if they can prove that their crime was committed under coercion of an abusive partner. The law is an expansion of a law that enabled women convicted of killing their abusers before 1992 to seek a new trial or reduced sentence. The law could mean release from prison for those who felt forced to commit a crime, knowing that they would be severely beaten by their abuser if they chose not to.

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