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Hello Ohio!

Scott Michel deserves your thanks and the thanks of gay people throughout the country.

Never heard of Scott Michel? That's probably true, because Scott Michel, a young Detroit man, didn't make headline stories like the defeat of gay rights ordinances in Eugene or Wichita or Minneapolis. But except for people living in Detroit, Scott Michel

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(312) 929-2768 VOLUME 1 NUMBER 5 June 2, 1978 Through June 18, 1978 PUBLISHERS Jay French Jr. Ralph Paul Gernhardt Dan Di Leo

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isn't too well-known. Yet Scott Michel won a victory equally as important as the defeat of those ordinances and similar ones in other cities.

Almost a year ago, Scott Michel was ar rested and found guilty of accosting and soliciting a police officer for an act of prosti. tution. He could have taken the easy way out and accept the $50 fine imposed and forgotten the whole thing. But Scott Michel didn't believe he was guilty as charged and he demanded a jury trial. He knew it would be a long and costly fight.

Scott's battle began when, according to police testimony, Scott solicited one of the officers for sex in a restaurant. But according to a waitress, who was a witness, that wasn't how it happened at all. She said two plainclothes cops walked into the restaurant and said "OK, this is a bust. We've got guns and they are loaded. All you prostitutes and pimps get up against the wall." Scott fled, he said later, because he thought the two were muggers. He was captured outside the restaurant, tossed on the ground and it was only then that the two men identified themselves as cops.

On May 23 of this year, after a long, long delay, Detroit Judge Andrew Wood tossed the case out of his court as Michel, his attorney and the judge waited for more than two hours for the arresting officers to appear for the trial. Judge Wood also said he would not reopen the case in view of the failure of the two cops to appear and he also ordered Michel's fingerprint and photo records removed from the police department files.

The arrest of Scott Michel stirred strong support from Michigan gays. A Scott Michel Defense Fund was organized last July by Larry Lee, chairperson of the now-defunct Metro Gay News and a benefit plus contributions from hundreds of Detroit area persons which were collected by the community's gay bars, raised more than $1,800 to cover the full cost of medical bills and legal fees.

Following Judge Wood's actions, Lee thanked all those who provided donations that made the defense súccessful. "The entire gay community scored a victory by standing up to the police and serving notice that we will not sit idly by while gay human rights are violated," he said.

Lee is right and the Scott Michel case is just one example, however small, of what can be done when people stick together.

Thanks Scott Michel and thanks, too, to those who stood behind him. You've helped us all.