June 4, 1998 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The Internal Revenue Service has given charity status to a Rhode Island health group that serves gay women, but not before drawing charges of anti-gay bias from homosexual-rights activists for its handling of the matter.
In February, Kathys’ Group received a faxed note from an I.R.S. official that said that the group needed to revise its bylaws before it could be cleared for charity status. The requested change: to state that it would help lesbians “and any women” in whom cancer had been diagnosed (The Chronicle, May 7).
That request drew angry letters from the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, in New York, which represents Kathys’ Group, as well as from Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat.
Both letters raised concerns about the potential for widespread anti-gay bias at the I.R.S. and cited the example of the Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Support System, in North Carolina, which was also denied and then awarded charity status after a controversial exchange over its mission (The Chronicle, October 16). “I renew my demand that the I.R.S. take necessary action to prevent this problem from recurring,” Representative Frank wrote.
David S. Buckel, a lawyer at the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, said he was pleased that the I.R.S. moved quickly to recognize Kathys’ Group as a charity — without requiring any changes to its mission — after he raised his objections. But he said he is concerned that other small groups may face discrimination and agree to make unnecessary changes or give up their quest for tax-exempt status entirely. “We’re really worried that there may be a lot of groups out there that respond in that fashion because the I.R.S. is pretty scary to deal with,” he said.
I.R.S. spokesman Larry Blevins said that the agency had taken steps to make sure that agents in the offices that handled the two cases in question understood I.R.S. policies.
