Mark Reed-Walkup, left, and Dante Walkup

Looks like The Dallas Morning News is going to considerable lengths to defend its ban on same-sex wedding announcements.

Mark Reed-Walkup, who’s filed a discrimination complaint against the newspaper for refusing to publish his paid same-sex wedding ad, sent over a copy of the legal response he received via certified letter last week from the DMN’s attorneys, Jackson Walker LLP. (Download a copy of the the legal document here and the letter here.)

In the DMN’s response, or “Original Answer to Complainant Mark Reed-Walkup’s Original Complaint,” Paul Watler of Jackson Walker LLP argues that wedding announcements don’t qualify as a public accommodation under the city of Dallas’ ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Watler also argues that Reed-Walkup and his husband, Dante Walkup, aren’t legally married in Texas, and that any effort by the city to prosecute The DMN would violate the newspaper’s First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of the press.

Reed-Walkup said he was shocked to receive the letter.

“My first reaction was, I thought we were getting sued,” Reed-Walkup said. “I thought it was very intimidating that we would receive a response from the law firm, and that they were not following the process set up by the Fair Housing Office.

“The maximum fine, worst-case scenario, if this did get prosecuted, is only $500,” Reed-Walkup said, adding that the newspaper likely has already spent more than that in attorney’s fees. “It’s not like a lawsuit where we’re trying to go after them to recover financially for the discrimination we feel we’ve experienced. It’s just trying to get them to the table. The whole spirit of the public accommodations law is to try to work it out between the two parties without getting attorneys involved.”

The Walkups initially filed their discrimination complaint against The DMN in November, after they made international news by getting married via Skype in a ceremony that was held in Dallas but officiated from Washington, D.C. But after the Skype wedding was declared invalid by a D.C. court, the Walkups traveled to the nation’s capital to re-tie the knot, before re-filing their complaint against The DMN in late December.

Reed-Walkup is a board member for the national LGBT direct action group GetEQUAL, and the couple owns Wiedamark Lighting on Oak Lawn Avenue.

Since the early 2000s, the DMN has published same-sex union announcements in a separate section that’s currently called Commitments, but refuses to publish them under Weddings alongside heterosexual couples.

Reed-Walkup alleges that the policy violates the city’s ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodations.

Before receiving the letter from the DMN’s attorneys, Reed-Walkup said the couple met last Monday with an investigator from the Fair Housing Office, which processes complaints under the ordinance. The investigator told the couple that the next step would be to attempt conciliation between the parties.

“Then, boom, we get the registered letter on Thursday,” Reed-Walkup said. “I personally think they’re fighting it so hard, because I think they are down to their core group of very conservative readers and subscribers. Times are tough for all print media, and nobody can afford to lose current subscribers. … However, as we move into new media, I think it’s important that they understand that the younger, high-tech population would not be supportive of their current position.”

Reed-Walkup pointed to the results of an online poll posted by the local Fox affiliate, in which 80 percent of 10,000 respondents said they believe the newspaper should publish same-sex  unions under Weddings. Meanwhile, a Change.org petition calling for The DMN to change its policy has almost 14,000 signatures.

Reed-Walkup’s complaint has also called attention to the city’s implementation of the nondiscrimination ordinance. Since the ordinance passed in 2002, there have been 53 complaints filed, but none has ever been prosecuted by the city.

“I’d like to see at least one prosecuted, and I think we have a very strong case that we’ve been discriminated against based on our sexual orientation,” Reed-Walkup said, adding that the couple won’t be deterred by the letter from the DMN’s attorneys.

“We’re moving ahead,” he said. “It’s going to be interesting to watch this next phase, because we’re very clear on what we want and it’ll be interesting to see how they react to that. From the tone of that legalistic letter, they’re not in the mood to conciliate anything.”

Under the ordinance, if the DMN refuses to change its policy or participate in conciliation, the case will be turned over to the City Attorney’s Office for a decision about whether to prosecute.

Mark Reed-Walkup, left, and Dante Walkup

A few weeks ago we reported that two Dallas council members are reviewing the city’s handling of complaints filed under an ordinance that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

We’re still awaiting the results of that review, as well as the city’s response to an open records request filed by Dallas Voice for statistics related to complaints filed under the ordinance.

In the meantime, a gay couple who recently filed a complaint under the ordinance is complaining about the city’s handling of the matter. Mark Reed-Walkup and Dante Walkup filed a complaint against The Dallas Morning News, which refuses to publish same-sex marriage announcements in its Weddings section. The couple claims the DMN policy is a violation of the ordinance, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodations.

In a letter to Beverly Davis, director of the city’s Fair Housing Office, the Walkups said it’s been more than 60 days since they filed their complaint, and they haven’t heard anything from the city. The Fair Housing Office is charged with investigating complaints under the ordinance. Below is a copy of the couple’s e-mail, which they forwarded to Dallas Voice as well as City Councilwomen Angela Hunt and Pauline Medrano:

Hi Beverly,

It has been over 60 days since we formally filed a complaint against the DMN for discrimination based on our sexual orientation. As you recall, my husband and I had a legal wedding on 12/10/2010 and tried to submit our paid wedding announcement to the Dallas Morning News and we were denied equal access to this public accommodation. Our ad was refused and money refunded based on the Texas ban on SSM.

We reached out to you 30 days ago to seek a status on our case and you told us to “be patient” and we have been. After 60 days, we must say that the lack of any follow-up to our case has been an extreme disappointment. We are a customer of the City of Dallas and your department has not done anything to reach out to us to advise us of any updates about our case.

We expect better service from the people we pay to enforce our laws and there should be no excuse to the lack of follow-up on our discrimination complaint. Please advise when we can expect an update from your department.

Mark & Dante Walkup

REPAIRS IN THE WORKS? | Jack Gian, owner of the Chevelle Apartments in Oak Lawn, said this week that repairs on the complex’s roof should begin Friday, Feb. 11. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)

Owner of Chevelle Apartments says repairs have been delayed by winter weather, should begin on Friday

DAVID TAFFET  |  Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com

Michael Howard claims that he has been threatened with eviction by managers at the Chevelle Apartments on Throckmorton because he asked management to repair a leaky roof in his apartment.

Jack Gian owns the property.

Howard said this week that he first let the management office know that the roof was leaking into his apartment on Nov. 3. On Feb. 6, he left a message on the 24-hour maintenance line.

Howard said he had not been in touch with the management about the problem since Thanksgiving, and he said he believes that removing some of the melting snow from the roof could have prevented at least part of the current problem.

Howard filed a complaint about the problem with the Fair Housing Office in December, and on Dec. 17, city code compliance officer Nilandra Roy put in place an order preventing Chevelle management from evicting Howard, refusing to renew his lease or terminating his lease.

Howard said that he would like to move but cannot do that by the time his current lease ends on March 1. Because he is currently battling lymphoma and complications from AIDS, he said he isn’t physically able of looking for an apartment or packing and loading a truck to move.

This week he sent his landlord a certified letter “requesting reasonable accommodations under the Disability Act of the Fair Housing Code.”

“I have been on disability since 2005 for AIDS/HIV and Lymphoma Cancer, for which documentation can be provided at a later date, if needed,” Howard wrote. “I do not have the necessary resources at this time to find a new place of residence. I am expecting to have the means to move at the end of my next renewed lease. But until that time, I am once again requesting reasonable accommodations under the Disability Act of the Fair Housing Code.” But he acknowledged that the comment he left on the 24-hour maintenance line — “I would then once again be contacting the Dallas City Code Officer OR take legal action if necessary in order for me to get my roof/ceiling repaired” — might have been taken as a threat.

He said it was after that message that the management threatened to evict him.

“Someone from G&G Properties called me at 10:01 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 7, and left a very rude, mean voicemail message,” Howard said. The message warned him to “stop calling and harassing the management here at Chevelle about my repairs, and that if it did not cease then they were warning me that they would proceed with issuing me an eviction notice.”

He said he felt as if he was the one being threatened and harassed.

Howard is not the only one who has complained about the roof leaks. At least two others have requested repairs.

Nor is this the first complaint against the property owner. In June 2010, tenants complained about the air conditioning being out for several days. That service was restored after WFAA Channel 8 television station ran a story.

Gian said repairs will begin Friday, Feb. 11.

“The roofing was ordered a week ago Friday,” Gian said, adding that weather had delayed repairs. He said has to get as much ice off the roof as possible before the crew can begin.

Repairs should continue through Tuesday, Gian said, if they are able to begin work this week. He said about 5,000 square feet of roofing will be replaced.

Chalisa Warren at the Dallas Fair Housing Office said that complaints based on any of the protected categories in the city ordinance go through their office. Those categories include disability and sexual orientation.

She said information is available on Fair Housing Office website. Complaints can be filed online or by phone, or a complaint form can be mailed or delivered in person to the office in City Hall.

The website is DallasFairHousing.com.

Complaints about repairs to multi-tenant properties go through the city Code Compliance office. To file a complaint, call 311. A service number will be issued and an inspector will be sent to the property.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition Feb. 11, 2011.

Mark Reed-Walkup, left, and Dante Walkup

After filing a discrimination complaint against The Dallas Morning News for refusing to publish their marriage announcement under “Weddings,” a local gay couple reports that they received a $1,034 bill in the mail for the unpublished ad.

Mark Reed-Walkup, who filed the discrimination complaint against The DMN after marrying his partner Dante Walkup in Washington, D.C., says he wrote the following to James Moroney III, publisher and CEO of the newspaper:

“Does the DMN always send out invoices to ‘customers’ who placed an ad online but it was never published due to the paper’s discriminatory policies? We just received an invoice today for our December ad that you banned from your paper because our wedding wasn’t ‘really’ a wedding in your eyes. Unbelievable.”

Reed-Walkup says Moroney responded as follows:

“Not a good practice. I’ll take up with sales. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.”

Reed-Walkup also notes that more than 8,000 people have signed a petition launched by Change.org calling on The DMN to publish same-sex marriage announcements under Weddings. He’s hoping to get the petition up to 10,000 signatures.

As for the complaint filed against The DMN, the director of the Fair Housing Office told Instant Tea recently that the city was still in the process of reviewing it. The Fair Housing Office investigates discrimination complaints filed under a 2002 ordinance that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodations. Reed-Walkup maintains that Wedding announcements are a public accommodation.

Today I spoke with Beverly Davis, a very sweet woman who’s in charge of the city of Dallas’ Fair Housing Office, which investigates complaints under the sexual orientation nondiscrimination ordinance.

Davis explained that her office did not, as alleged, advise Steven Johnson to withdraw his complaint against the Fitness Center last year because the Fitness Center is considered exempt from the ordinance as a “private club.”

Davis, whom I trust, said the city never got a chance to determine whether the ordinance applies to the Fitness Center, because Johnson withdrew the complaint voluntarily and on his own before the investigation began. (I have my suspicions as to why Johnson chose to withdraw the complaint, but I won’t get into that here.)

So, no determination has been made about whether the ordinance applies to the Fitness Center. And again, there is no specific mention in the ordinance of an exemption for “private clubs.” Furthermore, the exemption for religious organizations should not apply because despite any affiliations the Fitness Center is not engaged in religious activities.

Alan Rodriguez, another gay man who was discriminated against by the Fitness Center, says he plans to file a complaint on Monday.

Which, I think, is a good thing.

After all, what’s the point of having the ordinance if you’re not going to attempt to use it? Filing a complaint will force the city to investigate, and it will undoubtedly force Baylor to get its attorneys involved. And at some point, they may start to wonder whether all this is really worth it to defend some backward-ass policy that probably loses money for the Fitness Center.

The city may offer mediation to Baylor and a chance to change the policy. If Baylor refuses, the City Attorney’s Office will decide whether there is cause to prosecute. If they choose not to prosecute, it becomes a City Council issue. These cases shouldn’t be decided by the City Attorney’s Office; they should be decided by judges and juries. Again, in the nine years since the ordinance was passed, there have been more than 40 complaints filed, and not one has ever been prosecuted by the city.

Granted, even if the city were to prosecute a case successfully, it’s only a maximum $500 fine per violation. But that’s not the point.

Mark Reed-Walkup, left, and Dante Walkup

A gay couple has filed a discrimination complaint against The Dallas Morning News for refusing to publish their same-sex wedding announcement.

Mark Reed-Walkup and Dante Walkup, who were legally married in Washington, D.C., in October, filed the complaint on Friday. The couple’s wedding has made international news in recent weeks because it was held in Dallas but officiated from D.C. via Skype.

Reed- Walkup said he’s been trying for several weeks to get The Morning News to publish their paid announcement in its “Weddings” section. But the newspaper has refused due to a policy that says same-sex wedding announcements can only be published in a separate section called “Commitments.” The policy reportedly is based on the fact that same-sex marriage isn’t legal in Texas.

The couple filed the complaint under a city ordinance that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodations. Reed-Walkup says he believes wedding announcements, which are paid advertisements, constitute a public accommodation.

“Our ultimate goal is for the newspaper to realize that this is discrimination and change their policy,” Reed-Walkup said. “They [the city] may agree with the newspaper that because of the ban on same-sex marriage in Texas, they have every justification to not publish it in the ‘Weddings’ section. At least we can say that we tried, and take it from there.”

Beverly Davis, director of the city’s Fair Housing Office, said she didn’t receive the complaint until Monday.

“We just got it,” Davis said Monday afternoon. “I haven’t had time to make an assessment yet.”

The Fair Housing Office investigates complaints under the ordinance before turning them over to the City Attorney’s Office for possible prosecution. Each violation of the ordinance is punishable by a $500 fine.

Jim Moroney, publisher and CEO of The Morning News, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.