October, 1989

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Page 15

Straight man jailed for sodomy

Georgia attorneys are challenging the conviction and jailing of an Atlanta-area man on charges resulting from private and consensual sodomy with his wife.

A petition for a writ of habeas corpus was filed in DeKalb Superior Court July 28 to overturn James Moseley's two-year jail sentence.

The petition argues that the conviction under the 156-year-old law violates the man's right to privacy and that the law is vague and overly broad. Winning Moseley's release from jail does not preclude a legal challenge to the Georgia sodomy law based on his case.

Moseley was accused by his wife, from whom he was being divorced, of rape and aggravated oral and anal sodomy.

Moseley's case has received extensive NIMH looks

coverage in the non-gay press in Atlanta

and around the state. Georgia Attorney

General Michael Bowers, who argued to uphold the sodomy law in Bowers v. Hardwick, has said "the law would have serious constitutional problems were it to be applied to a married couple."

In the wake of the Moseley case, Georgia gay and lesbian activists are considering a legislative repeal strategy to strike the law from the books.

Kathy Woolard, president of the Lesbian and Gay Rights Chapter of the Georgia ACLU, said, "We've got the momentum from the press coverage. This is a big issue right now and we should strike while the iron is hot."

Woolard and other activists are considering how best to prepare for the opening of the Georgia state legislature in January. ▼

at anti-gay violence

The National Institute of Mental Health held a national research workshop on anti-gay violence in Bethesda, Md., June 27-28.

Entitled "Mental Health Aspects of Violence Towards Lesbians and Gay Men: Research Issues and Directions," the workshop was designed to critically review the current state of research on anti-gay violence, identify key gaps in current understanding of the issue, and establish priorities for future research in this area by NIMH and the mental health field.

The result of lobbying in 1987 by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

and the American Psychiatric Association, the meeting included more than a dozen invited participants, including researchers, psychologists, social workers, and members of the NIMH staff.

The workshop was co-chaired by NGLTF Anti-Violence Project director Kevin Berrill, who said it would help shape the nature and direction of future research, and further illustrate the need for federal response to anti-gay violence.

Topics addressed at the workshop were defining anti-gay violence, the social and psychological context of homophobic violence, the extent and scope of the problem, risk factors, mental health consequences, and treatment and service interventions. Papers on each of these areas will be prepared by selected participants and will be published in 1990.▼

On May 12, 1988, a jury found him Feds notice: Many teen suicides are gay

innocent on all counts of coerced sex, but convicted him of sodomy because Moseley testified that he had engaged in consensual oral sex with his wife.

Clayton County Superior Judge William Ison instructed the jury that Moseley's admission gave them the option of considering the consensual sodomy charge. The jury returned a verdict of guilty and Ison sentenced Moseley to five years in jail. Moseley, eligible for parole after two years, has served 17 months. ▼

NGLTF AIDS briefing two blocks from Quilt

On Saturday, October 7, the weekend the Quilt will be displayed, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, in cooperation with the Human Rights Campaign Fund, will host a Congressional briefing on the status of federal AIDS legislation in the 101st Congress.

The briefing will be held in the Council Chambers of the District of Columbia located on the 3rd floor of the District Building at 14th & Pennsylvania Avenues, N.W. The Federal AIDS update will be offered between 10:30 a.m.12 noon Following the briefing, AIDS lobbyists from NGLTF, HRCF and other organizations will be available to answer questions and direct activists to information tables where lobbying materials will be available. The program will end at 1:30 p.m.

The briefing will be held in the District Office Building instead of Capitol Hill to accommodate activists who will be visiting the Quilt and participating in the Housing NOW! March. The Names Project will display the Quilt on the Ellipse. The District Building is just two blocks from the Ellipse.

"This is a great opportunity for activists to come and learn more about our Federal AIDS legislation agenda, our strategy to move our agenda forward, and how our Members of Congress have responded", said NGLTF Legislative Director Peri Jude Radecic.▼

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Youth Suicide has released a report that acknowledges that lesbian and gay youth are at increased risk for suicide and calls for “an end [to] discrimination against youths on the basis of such characteristics as disability, sexual orientation, and financial status.'

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The four-volume document identifies risk factors for youth suicide, reviews prevention and intervention activities, and defines strategies for the future.

The report reflects the findings and recommendations of three 1986 conferences sponsored by the DHHS

Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide. It also features about 50 papers commissioned by the DHHS Task Force on Youth Suicide, including papers on lesbian and gay youth suicide by Paul Gibson, LCSW, and Joseph Harry, Ph.D. Gibson's paper described suicide "as the leading cause of death among gay male, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual youth," and concluded that lesbian and gay youth "may comprise up to 30 percent of completed suicides annually." Dr. Harry's paper concluded that "homosexuals of both sexes are two to six times more likely to attempt suicide than are heterosexuals." In a section focusing on prevention and intervention, the

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report stated that "mental health and youth service agencies can provide acceptance and support for young homosexuals, train their personnel on gay issues, and provide appropriate gay adult role models; schools can protect gay youth from abuse from their peers and provide accurate information about homosexuality in health curricula; families should accept their child and work toward educating themselves about the development and nature of homosexuality."

Copies of the report can be obtained for $45 from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. ▼

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