Same sex partners denied status


Civil Union supporters have told MPs that same-sex partners are being denied next-of-kin status.

A select committee is hearing submissions on controversial legislation which would allow same-sex and defacto couples to have their relationships legally recognised.

Calum Bennachie told the committee his father disowned him when he came out as gay. But he says when he was admitted to hospital it was his father rather than his long-term partner who had all the legal rights.

Bennachie says same-sex partners can also find themselves shut out of funeral arrangements for their loved ones. 


~

Hate crime charges against boy dropped
By EVE HIGHTOWER, Democrat staff writer


Hate crime charges against a 16-year-old boy from Davis were dropped Tuesday during a Yolo County court hearing of a vandalism case.

A lack of evidence led District Attorney David Henderson to drop the hate crimes charges against a Davis teen, who allegedly vandalized the private property of gay, black and other Davis residents, according to Raphael Moore.

Moore is the attorney for Robert Russell. Russell, an openly gay man, maintained he was a victim of a hate crime when a group of four teenage vandals threw entire flats of eggs on his car Oct. 26. The vandals caused more than $4,000 in damage because liquid from the eggs seeped into the engine.