Practicing lesbian makes perfect.The Anderson Prize Foundation in November presented the 1998 Stonewall stone·wall v. stone·walled, stone·wall·ing, stone·walls v.intr. 1. Informal a. Awards to four activists whose work echoes the defiant tone of the 1969 riots for which the honors are named. Among the recipients of the $25,000 prize was Puerto Rican Puer·to Ri·co Abbr. PR or P.R. A self-governing island commonwealth of the United States in the Caribbean Sea east of Hispaniola. activist Margarita Sanchez de Leon, 42, who viewed the Stonewall Award as an affirmation of the commonwealth's gay rights campaign. "I was crying because it was support I didn't think we were going to receive in Puerto Rico," Sanchez de Leon said. She was honored in part for challenging Puerto Rico's sodomy law. Sanchez de Leon's fight began in October 1997, when a legislator interrupted her testimony against an anti-same-sex marriage bill to ask whether she is a "practicing lesbian." She fearlessly answered yes. "Then I went to the justice department to confess that I was a violator of the sodomy law," Sanchez de Leon said. An ordained or·dain tr.v. or·dained, or·dain·ing, or·dains 1. a. To invest with ministerial or priestly authority; confer holy orders on. b. To authorize as a rabbi. 2. minister, she has since formed a coalition of rights organizations to challenge the antigay sodomy law. Miami AIDS activist Damian Pardo, 35, San Francisco transgender transgender or transgendered adj. Transsexual. crusader Shadow Morton, 37, and Chicago victims' rights victims' rights, rights of victims to have a role in the prosecution of the perpetrators of crimes against them. Nearly all U.S. states have enacted some victims' rights legislation. advocate Vernita Gray, 49, also won Stonewall Awards. |
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