“We have not determined if this was a break up of a couple,” said Fulton County Cpl. Kay Lester during a July 9 press conference. “However, she [Danielle Parker] was determined to be an ex-roommate.”
Crystal Parker was a member of Atlanta’s chapter of Sigma Omega Phi Fraternity from 2008-2010, said Amber Moore, who works at the Health Initiative, a non-profit organization focused on LGBT health. Moore is also a founding member of the national fraternity for masculine-identified gay women.
“It’s a horrible thing. We’re just trying to help each other, learn from it and do what we can do to prevent this from happening to someone else if we can,” Moore said.
Moore said the fraternity is not speaking about the incident or the relationship of Danielle and Crystal Parker as a matter of principle and also so as not to impede the police investigation.
Moore described Crystal Parker as “awesome.”
“She helped us develop our scholars program,” Moore said, adding Parker was known as “Chris” by frat members and given the “line name” “KouRageuX.”
“She was always there for you and never asked for anything back. She was a real person, she was hilarious and she will be greatly missed. I know East Point is missing her,” Moore said.
Fraternity members held a candlelight vigil at Crystal Parker’s home after her funeral service on July 14.
Moore was honored as the 2012 Officer of the Year by the East Point Police Department.
PETITIONS TARGET GAY MARRIAGE IN GA, DOMESTIC PARTNER BENEFITS AT UGA
Amanda Lee Carver, a lesbian from Gainesville, Ga., has created a petition on the popular social advocacy website Change.org calling for the state’s political leaders to embrace marriage equality.
The short petition simply calls on Gov. Nathan Deal and the state legislature to “make same-sex marriage legal in Georgia.” At press time July 16, the petition had almost 6,300 signatures.
Short of a court decision forcing the issue, the actual process to legalize same-sex marriage here is complicated. In 2004, Georgia voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Repealing the amendment would require a two-thirds majority vote in both the state House and Senate to put the measure on the ballot, then approval by a majority of Georgia voters.
A separate Change.org petition drive is calling on the University of Georgia to “authorize a fully funded domestic partner benefits program.”
UGA began offering “soft” benefits to gay and lesbian employees back in May but fell short of offering many of the benefits, like health insurance, that advocates hoped.
Since then, a new school president has taken the helm at UGA and is not in favor of expanding domestic partner benefits, according to Ricky Roberts, a UGA employee and LGBT activist.
Speaking on a local AM radio stations in Athens, new UGA President Jere Morehead said earlier this month that the university has gone as far as it can, given the state’s refusal to allow state funds to be spent on coverage for domestic partners
LGBT advocates have been trying to secure the benefits for more than a decade, the petition notes.
“Our comparator peer institutions such as the University of Florida and the University of Arizona offer equal benefits to employees with domestic partners,” it states. “These schools have proven that, when there is an institutional commitment, these benefits CAN be offered at schools located in states that bar the use of state dollars for this purpose.”
NATIONAL LGBT GROUPS JOIN OUTCRY OVER TRAYVON MARTIN
More than 30 national LGBT groups have signed an open letter asking the federal government to investigate the slaying of Trayvon Martin after his accused killer was acquitted.
The NAACP, which supports marriage equality, has launched a petition to demand the Obama administration file a civil rights case against George Zimmerman. The petition went up July 13, the day a jury found Zimmerman not guilty in the killing of Martin, an African-American teen who was 17 and unarmed.
The largest national LGBT groups issued a statement July 15 supporting the efforts of the NAACP and other groups.
“Our community has been targets of bigotry, bias, profiling and violence. We have experienced the heart-breaking despair of young people targeted for who they are, who they are presumed to be, or who they love,” the letter states.
Signers include the Center for Black Equity, GetEqual, GLAAD, Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, National Lesbian & Gay Task Force and many others. For the full letter and list of signers, visit www.thegavoice.com.
ENDA PASSES OUT OF COMMITTEE, FULL SENATE TEST NEXT
Gay rights supporters in Washington have been trying to advance the Employment Non-Discrimination Act for years, but the two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on gay marriage cases have given renewed momentum to the fight for workplace protections for the country’s LGBT workers.
The U.S. Senate’s committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions passed H.B. 815, the 2013 version of ENDA, on July 10. Despite a lobbying effort by Georgia Equality, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), one of 10 Republicans on the HELP committee, voted against the measure, which was approved on a 15-7 vote. All Democrats on the committee and three Republicans voted in favor.
The bill’s next test will be the full Senate. ENDA is expected to have a better chance of passage there then in the GOP-led U.S. House.
ENDA, in its current form, would prohibit employers from firing, refusing to hire or otherwise discriminating against workers solely based on sexual orientation or gender identity.