July 2, 2014
Issue 1536
Wingspan’s future ignites community conversation OBSERVER STAFF TUCSON – Tucson’s LGBTQ community center is in the midst of unsteady finances and facing an imminent closure at its Fourth Avenue location and a possible merger with the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation causing many in the community to ask what happened. The Wingspan board voted to dissolve the position of executive director last week. The position had been filled by Carol Grimsby since April of 2013. Grimsby is the former executive director of a group
Inside Tucson officials now able to electrify citizens and take their food scraps
Hobby Lobby ruling:
What’s left after the sawdust and glitter settles
that advocates for neglected and abused children, the Court Appointed Special Advocates in Kansas City, Missouri, as well as an advocate for women in groups such as Women with One Voice. The board vote to eliminate Grimsby’s position set a wave of gossip and hearsay throughout the community. With its lease for the facility at 430 E. 7th Street set to expire July 31, the organization is moving quickly to make changes amid financial struggles. The impact of changes in Wingspan’s programming was Continued on page 11
Tenth Circuit rules in favor of the freedom to marry in Utah DENVER — In a landmark decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that Utah’s ban on the freedom to marry for same-sex couples violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process.
PERSON PERSON OBSERVER STAFF Monday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the the anti-gay religious $2 billion corporation Hobby Lobby. In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the issue at bench was whether the craft supplier could opt out of paying for women’s contraception as part of its healthcare costs because such treatments violate the owner’s religious beliefs.
Page 12
Indiana’s ban on same-sex marriage struck down
Page 5
Did Lady Gaga say bye-bye to bi life? Page 13 Some thoughts on Wingspan and the Stonewall riots Page 7
Continued on page 15
The dissenting opinion comes from Justice Gisnburg. Some key quotes from the ruling worthy of noting: In response to concerns that the ruling may allow for discrimination in employment,
the majority opinion ruling says: “The principal dissent raises the possibility that discrimination in hiring, for example on the basis of race, might be cloaked as religious practice to escape legal sanction. Our decision today provides no such shield. The government has a compelling interest in providing an equal opportunity to participate in the workforce without regard Continued on page 12
Former Arizona political star runs for Congress but can’t vote still registered as a Republican when he filed to run in the Democratic primary, a judge recently gave the no-no to the faux-faux -- he’s off the ballot.
The June 25 decision in Kitchen v. Herbert is the first federal appellate court ruling in a freedom to marry case since the United States Supreme Court ruled in June 2013 that the federal government must recognize the marriages of same-sex couples. The case was brought by Utah couples Derek Kitchen and Moudi Sbeity, Laurie Wood and Kody Partridge, and Karen Archer and Kate Call. On Dec. 20, 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby ruled that Utah’s laws denying same-sex couples the freedom to marry violate the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process. More than 1,000 same-sex couples married in Utah in the days following the ruling. Utah appealed the ruling to the Tenth Circuit, which heard oral argument in the case on April 10, 2014.
The majority opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito. He was joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Kennedy, Scalia, and Thomas -- all men.
MEH
Turns out there’s another candidate in the same primary who can’t vote because he’s a convicted felon.
OBSERVER STAFF
A few short years ago, the Rev. Jarrett Maupin was a political meteor blazing across the Phoenix sky. Then he was convicted of lying to the FBI in allegations against former Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon.
PHOENIX -- Arizona’s 7th Congressional District is determined to be a circus this year no matter how far into La-La Land its candidates have to venture in order to keep the fun coming.
Maupin was stripped of his seat on a Phoenix school board, ordered to pay restitution for offering legal services without a law degree, placed on five years’ probation and, of course, lost his right to vote, all in 2009.
First there was white Republican Scott Fistler changing his name to Cesar Chavez to run as a Democrat in the majority-Hispanic district.
His probation would have ended in April, but prosecutors got his probation revoked, saying his performance was “nothing more than a continuation of his predilection for lying and half-truths.”
Republican Scott Fistler changed his name to Cesar Chavez to run as a Democrat in a majority-Hispanic district.
Since Fistler/Chavez was
He’s currently scheduled to be off probation in midNovember -- shortly after Election Day. Maupin can run for Congress as a felon because the U.S. Constitution doesn’t bar it. But Arizona gets to decide who can vote, and the state bars felons on probation or owing restitution. Maupin is a long shot in the primary even though the 7th District holds the state’s largest black voting bloc. Front runners are longtime Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, who has made some surprising missteps of her own in the campaign, and former state Rep. Ruben Gallego, who once made national news by bucking the National Rifle Association by supporting a proposal to block people on the terrorist watch list from buying guns. A fourth candidate is Randy Camacho, a teacher.