A Hawaii bill allowing same-sex couples limited benefits traditionally reserved for married couples became state law on July 8th without Governor Ben Cayetano’s signature. The legislature passed the bill in conjunction with passing a proposal to amend the state’s constitution to ban same-sex marriages. The legislation came in response to a State Supreme Court ruling […]
Doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and at the medical clinic in Fargo, North Dakota have reported that 24 women who used a popular diet drug combination are suffering from a very rare and serious heart condition. The women developed an unusual and serious heart valve problem and eight of them also have […]
Brenda Hoster, the woman who originally brought charges of harassment against the Army’s top enlisted man Sergeant Major of the Army Gene McKinney, has said she will be willing to testify at the pre-trial hearing assessing the charges under two conditions. Hoster and her attorney will ask the U.S. Military Court of Appeals to order […]
Former Congresswoman and Vice Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro said on July 7th that, “If it [the New York Senate race] were today, I’d probably say ‘Yeah, I’m going to go’.” Ferraro further commented that she would make a firm decision by December of 1997 regarding the 1998 Senate race. If she ran, Ferraro would face […]
Mumeo Oku, one of the first females elected to Japan’s parliament, died from a stroke at the age of 101. Oku made several contributions to the feminist movement in her country since she attended Japan Women’s University in the 1920’s. During that decade, she founded “Working Women,” a monthly magazine devoted to improving the status […]
Attorneys who fought The Citadel’s all-male admissions policy face another battle with the state of South Carolina, this time over legal fees. On July 7, the lawyers requested that a federal judge grant them $6.7 million for the 23,406 hours they spent on litigation that took nearly five years. The state spent 25,385 hours defending […]
Following recent celebrations of the 25th anniversary of Title IX, the 1972 law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender in publicly-funded educational institutions, the Washington Post published an extensive feature on Sunday, July 6 on how women athletes at the University of Texas sued the university and gained more athletics opportunities for women. As […]
In 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that a state law banning same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. In response, the Hawaii legislature has passed a law which would allow same-sex couples marriage benefits. Governor Ben Cayentano has said he will sign the bill granting such spousal benefits as medical insurance, state pensions, inheritance rights and the […]
National Organization for Women activists from across the country have re-elected President Patricia Ireland at the organization’s annual conference. Upon re-election, Ireland announced that the organization is launching “The Victory 2000 Campaign.” The campaign will focus on electing 2,000 feminists to office by the year 2000. The campaign will also concentrate on re-electing feminists, such […]
The National Education Association, the largest teacher’s union in the United States, has voted to support affirmative action programs. At the organization’s annual conference, delegates voted to urge local unions to use affirmative action programs in education hiring. The NEA issued the vote in light of recent congressional and legal challenges to current affirmative action […]
Dorothy Buffum Chandler, who helped her husband build the Los Angeles Times and fostered charity drives throughout Los Angeles, has died at the age of 96. Chandler married Norman Chandler, the L.A. Times publisher from 1944 to 1960, and was the mother of Otis Chandler, who served as the newspaper’s publisher from 1960 to 1980 […]
The “Beetle Bailey” cartoon General Amos Halftrack, who spends most of time objectifying his secretary, Ms. Buxley, will soon undergo sexual harassment sensitivity training. Mort Walker, the cartoon’s creator has said he decided that the General should undergo the training after recent charges that inappropriate sexual behavior runs rampant through the military. Editors’ negative reaction […]
Federal Judge Eugene H. Nickerson, of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, has ruled that the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding lesbians and gay men is unconstitutional. Nickerson has also become the first judge to rule that the military’s ban on lesbians and gay men is unconstitutional. The judge ruled that the “don’t […]
A recent study reveals that almost one in every ten Argentine women suffers from clinical anorexia or bulimia. According to mental health experts, eating disorders among young women in the country are three times higher than in the United States and in all likelihood the highest in the world. The country’s most prominent supermodel, Mancini, […]
Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Allen T. Compton will step down from his position, but remain on the Court, after receiving a private rebuke from the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct for sexual harassment. The Commission found that on two occasions Compton’s conduct toward two different female court employees violated the Alaska Code of Judicial […]
The Montana Supreme Court has ruled that that state’s 24 year-old ban on lesbian and gay sex is unconstitutional. The court ruled that the government has no right to govern the private sex lives of consenting adults and that the ban violates Montana’s Constitutional right to privacy. Currently, Arkansas, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri and Oklahoma still […]
Although women have been accepted into the Secret Service since 1970, only 10% of agents are women. To qualify for the United States Secret Service, an individual must undergo 16 weeks of training, pass physical fitness tests and detailed background checks and spend about eight years at the service’s field offices investigating counterfeiting and other […]
The June 27th suspension of Lt. Col. Martin T. Utzig marks the first time the Army has decided to assign responsibility to a commander for sexual misconduct in training units at Aberdeen. Six drill sergeants and a captain in Utzig’s battalion face charges of sexual assault against subordinate trainees. Delmar Simpson, the first Aberdeen drill […]
Abortion Rights Mobilization (ARM), a small New York-based abortion rights group, plans to offer mifepristone (formerly known as RU-486) free to 10,000 women as part of an effort to make the drug available to American women. The group has approval from the Federal Drug and Food Administration to use its own version of the drug […]
A study released on July 1, 1997 by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy shows that conservative foundations have given over $210 million within a three year period to reshape national policy debates and push the U.S. and states legislatures to the right. The study said, “Two-thirds of their grant dollars went to organizations and […]
