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The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 26, 2004 - 3


A glimpse of Chia

Lawyer dedicates career to
fighting for gay civil rights

League celebrates
75 years of
serving women
In May 1929, the Michigan League
opened its doors as the center for
women's social, cultural and recre-
ational activities on campus. In cele-
bration of Women's History Month and
the League's 75th anniversary, the
League is sponsoring this year's
Artemisia Women's Forum which is
titled "Spectrum of Women: Celebrat-
ing the Empowered Woman in all of
Her Aspects. "
The forum will be held today from
5 to 11 p.m. in the League. The
keynote speaker will be Education
Prof. Jana Nidiffer, who will discuss
women's issues, empowerment and
the formation of allies. The annual
event aims to educate, enlighten and
inform the campus about women's
issues and interests. It is free and
open to the public.
Event bridges gap
between scientists,
environmentalists
The Environmental Justice and
Global Climate Change student
group, the SNRE and the Department
of Philosophy are holding a confer-
ence this weekend titled "Just Cli-
mate? Pursuing Environmental
Justice in the Face of Global Climate
Change." The conference will last
from 8:30 a.m today to 3 p.m. Sun-
day. The conference will begin in the
School of Public Health, but at 12:30
p.m. today it will transfer to the Dana
Building where the remainder of the
conference will be held.
The aim of the conference is to
bridge the gap between the work of sci-
entists, academics, policy-makers,
economists and activists from commu-
nities around the world on issues of cli-
mate change and environmental justice.
The conference is free and open to the
public, but registration is required at
www.sitemaker umich. edu/snre-ejcc.
CNN medical
correspondent
lectures at 'U,
Sanjay Gupta, a medical correspon-
dent for CNN, will give the keynote
speech at the First Annual Asian Amer-
ican Health and Cultural Fair tomor-
row from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the
Medical Science II Building. A variety
of workshops will be offered on topics
including mental health, yoga, health
care interpretation, racism and other
Asian American health care issues.
Participants can register online at
http://www.umich. edu/-uaamsa/cultur-
alfair html.
Music and dance
highlight spread
of Persian culture
The Persian Students Association
presents "Donya: Embedding Our
Footprints in the World," a show
encompassing the spread of the Per-
sian culture and voice resulting from
Iran's political climate. The event will
be tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Power
Center for the Performing Arts.
The Persian civilization encompass-
es the area that today is Iran,
Afghanistan and parts of other sur-
rounding countries. The show
includes musical performances, skits
and traditional and contemporary Per-
sian dances. Tickets are $9 for bal-
cony seats and $12 for floor seats at

the Michigan Union Ticket Office,
and $11 and $15 at the door.
Greek community
holds silent
auction for charity
As part of Greek Week, the silent
auction will continue today from 9
a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Sophia B. Jones
Room of the Michigan Union. The
Greek community will be auctioning
off several items, including Red
Wings tickets, an autographed Joe
Montana jersey, Coach Carr coffee
hour and an autographed Nolan Ryan
baseball. For those who can't make
the auction, bids can be sent by e-
mailing gwsilentauction@umich.edu.
Participants who send in bids by e-
mail will then receive updates. All
proceeds go to charity.
Economist
discusses why
Africa is poor
The Undergraduate Political Sci-
ence Association is sponsoring the
Jack . Wal~ker Clonference on Politi-

JEFF LEHNERT/Daily
Researcher Qiang Shi, far right, and Rackham student Irma Navrotskaya, second
from right, check out the Chinese Cultural Display in Pierpont Commons yesterday.

RALLY
Continued from Page 1.
Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender
Affairs and Multi Ethnic Student
Affairs, as well as the loss of an inde-
pendent office for the Sexual Assault
Prevention and Awareness Center,
among other issues.
The rally attracted particular attention
from members of the Greek system,
who were concerned about proposed
changes to fraternities and sororities on
campus. Members of the Greek commu-
nity said they believe the changes,
including plans to enforce substance-
free houses and postpone fall rush to
winter semester, risk removing a consid-
erable amount of power from the inter-
governmental organization, as well as
hiking up already expensive costs for the
Greek system. .
"While not directly affected by the
budget cuts, the Greek community rec-
ognizes the importance of presenting a
united study body. In an effort to
'Unite the Fight' against the recent
decisions made by the Division of Stu-
dent Affairs, the Greek community has
aligned itself with the SVA," Greek
Task Force spokeswoman Catherine
Roosevelt said in a written statement.
Following the delivery of the
demands, students chalked the side-
walk inside Regents Plaza and the
sides of Fleming with their concerns
about the projected cuts to the student
services.
Harper and Willis responded to the
rally by listening to the concerns by
members of SVA outside Fleming.
Harper acknowledged a lack of student
input thus far in regard to the proposed
changes and tentatively scheduled a
meeting with herself, SVA, and possi-
bly University President Mary Sue
Coleman on Monday.

MCRI
Continued from Page 1.
MCRI has continually contended
that such legal assessments are out-
side the jurisdiction of the board,
which should only rule on technicali-
ties, such as font size and formatting.
"The judge is absolutely and com-
pletely wrong about this," said
O'Brien, who acknowledged he had
not consulted with lawyers from
MCRI or the Attorney General's
office since the decision.
But Manderfield said even though
the members of the board are not
constitutional lawyers, "the question
before the State Board of Canvassers
in this matter simply did not require
an analysis that was beyond the
board's authority or qualifications to
act upon."
The intent of the provision requiring
petitions to include the section of the
constitution it could change is to guaran-
tee an informed electorate. The omission
of this information means petition sign-
ers are misinformed, Manderfield said.
The decision could complicate
MCRI's campaign if it has to restart
its initiative. The group recently
announced it will need 400,000 to
425,000 signatures by June 15, sig-
nificantly more than the prescribed
amount.
Since most campaigns receive a
large number of invalid signatures -
mostly from unregistered voters -
the extra time and signatures will
provide a necessary buffer. Cam-
paign officials have expressed con-
cern about the success of the
initiative, primarily because the
group needs more funding.
But despite the decision, MCRI is
undeterred. O'Brien said that going to
the board in December was only a for-

By Rosie Goldensohn
and Marie Handfield
Daily Staff Reporters
In 1998, two men were arrested for
engaging in consensual sex in their
home, after police entered on a false
tip. Under Texas's Homosexual Con-
duct Law, both men were convicted of
criminal sexual intercourse, which was
also considered a sex offense in 13
other states.
In the case, Lawrence v. Texas, the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled last June that
such sodomy laws were invalid. Ruth
Harlow was lead counsel in the case.
Harlow is currently teaching a semi-
nar at the University's Law School and
spoke last night about her experience in
Lawrence.Harlow's involvement in the
struggle for gay rights began in 1986
when the court upheld anti-sodomy laws
mality. A ruling ordering the board to
change its decision "means nothing,"
he said. He added that the decision is
"premature" because the signatures
have not yet been submitted.
"There is no step anywhere in
this process where someone is even
required to go to the board of state
canvassers to seek approval," he
said.
MCRI is unsure whether it will
change its petition form. While
Washington and BAMN said the ini-
tiative would have to change its
form in order to get the issue on the
ballot, O'Brien said that this was
"hypothetical."
Before the issue reaches the ballot in
November - provided MCRI obtains
enough signatures - the board will
have to judge the petition form, Wash-
ington said. MCRI will have to change
the petition if it wants its campaign to
survive.
But MCRI may not pursue this
route. "We're not going to do anything
except assure our people to continue
petitioning," O'Brien said.
For BAMN, the court's decision was
a victory for civil rights. MCRI is
propagating a deceptive petition drive
that seeks to undo years of affirmative
action legislation, BAMN members
said.
"(The petitions) were a conscious
deception around the equal protection
clause," BAMN national co-chair Luke
Massie said.
The group has faced other chal-
lenges during its petition drive. MCRI
officials estimate that the total cam-
paign will cost $4 million, so the group
is now soliciting supporters across the
state for funding. MCRI officials also
said the weather has partially curtailed
their ability to obtain signatures over
the past two months.

in Bowers v. Hardwick. Harlow, fresh
out of law school, recalled feeling as if
she had been punched in the stomach
upon reading the verdict.
"How could they do this, not just to
me as a lesbian but to the society as a
whole?" Harlow said.
For the next 18 years, Harlow dedicat-
ed her career to gay rights, working as
the legal director of Lambda Legal Edu-
cation and Defense Fund and as an asso-
ciate director of the American Civil
Liberties Union Lesbian & Gay Rights
and AIDS Projects.
Harlow emphasized the role of the
gay community as the catalyst of the
social progress that ultimately led to the
overturning of Bowers. She said she
believes real change starts with interac-
tions between friends and neighbors and
continues on the steps of the court.
"Our role as lawyers was to capture
LIBRARY
Continued from Page 1
Several groups were vying for the
collection, including the Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual and Transgender Center in
San Francisco, Calif. Finally, it was
decided that the University would
receive the collection, and the GLBT
would receive duplicates of any items
in the library.
"We had to think - is it going to be
there 50 years from now, or will it
always be scraggling for money?"
Denny said.
The archive includes items ranging
from books to two pairs of shoes worn
by Virginia Prince, a transgender
activist, more than 50 years ago. Other
items include buttons, pins, photo-
graphs, playbills and flyers.
The first item, a book titled The Man-
Maid Doll, was purchased in the late
1970s. All items in the collection were
either purchased by Denny or donated
by others, and can be found by searching
MIRLYN, the library's electronic card
catalogue.
Julie Herrada, curator of the Labadie
Collections, oversaw the transfer of the

changes that had already happened in
society.... Society had already moved
past sodomy laws;' Harlow explained.
The case was a legal milestone in the
ongoing debate over the right to privacy.
One of the most controversial aspects
of the ruling was that both legally and
socially it opened the door to a national
discourse on gay marriage.
"What I've noticed is a much more
vibrant discussion on campus, and a
lot more interest in national events ...
a sense that what's happening in the
(court) and in Massachusetts has real-
life effects for students," said Law stu-
dent Madeleine Findley, a member of
speakers committee of OUTlaws, the
Law School's LGBT issues group.
Much of the audience was com-
prised of law students, many of whom
have been personally inspired by Har-
low's work.
collection from Atlanta to Ann Arbor in
2000, and helped to catalogue all of the
items over the last four years.
"We are still collecting contemporary
materials related to social protest. You
can imagine the work we have cut out
for us because the struggle never really
ends," Herrada said of the Labadie Col-
lection. Certain items, such as personal
letters to Denny, cannot be accessed by
the general public unless identifying
information is removed.
"I'm glad that (the University) has
that sensitivity. A lot of the people
writing were pouring their hearts out
for help," Denny said.
Other speakers at the event included
University Provost Paul Courant and
State Sen. Liz Brater.
"I think that it's just so wonderful
that now, in 2004, we talk about GLBT
and people are starting to understand
what that means. We're so proud to
have (the collection) here," Brater said.
Also speaking at the event was Prof.
Bruce Frier, who serves as chair of the
University's Provost Task Force on
TBLG Concerns. The task force recently
made alterations in the nondiscrimination
policy to include gender discrimination.

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From Amazonia to Eden:
God, Climate Change,
& Biodiversity
a science & religion lecture by
Sir Ghillean . Prance
Director emeritus, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, U.K.
Scientific Director, Eden Project, Cornwall, U.K.
2:00 p.m. Sponsored by
Sunday, March 28
Campus Chapel
(1236 Washtenaw Ct.;
parking in ChurchSt. ramp) @ Campus Chapel
734-668-7421

for more information call 734/998-6251

t
' ; ':.. r :f

The University of Michigan College of Literature, Science,
and the Arts presents a public lecture and reception

"The
Coral of Life":
Genealogy and Geographv

I