Squelching weeks of speculation, President Clinton Wednesday asked Janet Reno, the first woman to serve as this nation’s top law enforcement official, to remain as Attorney General during his second term. Appearing together Thursday, December 12th at a meeting on anti-drug efforts, neither Clinton nor Reno would discuss her future with the administration. Reno had […]
A jury has awarded Elizabeth Martini, a former employee of the Federal National Mortgage Association (known as Fannie Mae) $6.9 million in compensatory and punitive damages for suffering sexual and verbal harassment at her job. Martini claims that her supervisor, Forrest Kobayashi, verbally assaulted her because of her sex and subsequently fired her by reorganizing […]
Fort Leonard Wood Staff Sergeant Anthony S. Fore, 36, has received an 18-month prison sentence and a dishonorable discharge for abusing six female recruits. Fore fondled one recruit, touched the breasts of five others while checking them for bras, and put his hands around the necks of two others who had incorrectly answered his questions. […]
The South African Constitution specifically protects homosexuals from both government and individual discrimination. No other nation’s constitution contains such extensive or explicit protection for gays and lesbians. As a result of the protections, a new labor relations act specifically protects gays and lesbians from workplace bias, and the military has barred discrimination against them in […]
White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry commented on Wednesday (12-11) that President Clinton has still not decided whether or not the federal government will intervene in the court case concerning the constitutionality of the anti-affirmative measure Prop. 209. Late Tuesday, the President granted Attorney General Janet Reno and Solicitor General Walter Dellinger another month to […]
Army officials reported on December 11th that the number of complaints of sexual harassment at the Aberdeen Proving Ground’s Ordnance Center has doubled from 25 to 50 in just a few weeks. Women have reported rape, sexual assault, and harassment at the base over a span of two years. Currently, over twenty-five drill sergeants and […]
According to a 1996 census of the nation’s largest 500 companies, women hold more than ten percent of the directors’ seats, the largest number to date. Conducted by a woman’s non-profit research group, Catalyst, the census also indicates that those numbers are leveling off. The numbers of women directors increased, but at a slower rate […]
Appearing before the council’s Personnel Committee during a sexual harassment hearing, Penny Harrington of the Feminist Majority Foundation’s National Center for Women in Policing testified that women in the Los Angeles Police Department who complain of sexual harassment face reprisals from their co-workers. Harrington said some women who do report sexual harassment see once-positive job […]
All people treated for rape in Los Angeles County will now also be given urine tests to determine if the “Date Rape Drug” was used in the assault. The new procedure of collecting urine samples follows widespread use of drugs such as Rohypnol and gamma hydroxybutyrate which generally causes victims to become dizzy and black […]
At a Human Rights Day White House Ceremony on December 10th, President urged the Senate to end its fifteen year delay in signing the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The Treaty has been ratified by over 130 nations and was signed by President Carter in 1980. Clinton […]
While a National Center for Children in Poverty released a new study showing that 6.1 million American children under the age of six live in poverty, the Clinton administration announced plans to cut federal heating aid to the poor by 25%. The administration plans to eliminate in five years federal aid program to the poor […]
A 106 member-panel of the Virginia Military Institute, charged with paving the way for the traditionally all-male school to admit women, has backtracked on earlier school statements that no standards for cadets will change. The Commission has announced that the school may modify the traditional buzz cuts for cadets, eliminating military slang words considered offensive […]
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on December 10th in a case involving the confinement of dangerous sex offenders. The case involves state laws designed to keep dangerous, but not mentally ill, sex offenders in mental institutions after they have served their prison sentences. The case is on appeal from the Kansas State Supreme Court […]
Three sailors at the U.S. Naval Submarine Base are accused of gang raping a sixteen-year-old female on November 29. The rape allegedly occurred at a Navy run lodge. The men are being held on $100,000 bonds each. Two of the men, Lionel Benjamin, 19, and Raymond Johnson, 17, were charged Monday with first-degree sexual assault […]
The fundamentalist Islamic Taleban militia has disclosed that it punished 225 women who did not follow its strict clothing rules. After announcing the punishments, the Taleban-controlled Sharia Radio warned again that, “all women should wear the burqa and veil and respect sharia or face punishment.” The broadcast also warned that women must not wear long […]
Mary Leakey, whose discoveries of prehistoric bones and artifacts in East Africa have led to a better understanding of the origin of the human species, died December 9 in Nairobi, Kenya. Leakey’s discoveries proved that human evolution began on earth up to 3.6 million years ago and have added credence to Charles Darwin’s theory that […]
A proposed law in the Netherlands would give same-sex marriages the nearly identical legal status heterosexual marriages. Lesbian and gay couples would not, however, be allowed to adopt children. The proposal has broad backing in parliament and is expected to become law in early 1998. Though lesbian and gay rights advocates hail the law as […]
Stating that welfare reform will devastate California residents, Senator Dianne Feinstein wants to amend the newly-passed legislation. Though mindful that the 105th Congress is not likely to overhaul the welfare reform, which destroys the 60-year-old federal guarantee of cash assistance to the poor, Feinstein is determined to make changes which will accommodate California’s large and […]
A Columbia University student charged with assault, sexual abuse and unlawful imprisonment last week has also allegedly attacked at least two other women. The women told authorities recently that Oliver Jovanovic, 30, attacked them in a manner similar to the way he is charged with attacking a 20-year-old Barnard Student. Prosecutors claims that Jovanovic brought […]
President Clinton and Attorney General Reno are considering whether the federal government should involve itself in the legal battle over the constitutionality of the Proposition 209, the amendment passed in California last month that seeks to outlaw affirmative action and gut sex discrimination law in the state. The Justice Department has created a list of […]
