OBITUARIES

Michael Smith, BWMT founder

Michael John Smith, the founder of the National Association of Black and White Men Together died on September 20 due to complications related to AIDS.

Smith founded BWMT in San Francisco in 1980 in an effort to fight racism in the bars and in the gay community. Within a year, there were several other chapters across the country. The organization has now grown to include 20 chapters nationally and two international affliliates.

In addition to establishing BWMT, Smith was the editor of Quarterly Magazine, published by Quarterly Press of BWMT, Inc., also established in 1980. He also edited Black Men/White Men (1983), an anthology of writings by black and white men, and Colorful People and Places, a guide for Third World lesbians and gays to bars, organizations, and places of interest. Smith was in the process of revising Colorful at the time of his death.

Mabel Hampton, civil rights activist

Mabel Hampton, an Afro-American lesbian community activist who played a founding role in the Lesbian Herstory Archives and was an inspiration to many in the battle for civil rights, died of pneumonia in New York City on October 26. She was 87.

In the 1980s, Ms. Hampton was featured in several films and television programs, including Before Stonewall: The Making of the Gay and Lesbian Community, documenting her involvement in the Harlem Renaissance and in gay life before the 1970s.

In 1937, Ms. Hampton met Lillian Foster who was her life partner until Ms. Foster's death in 1978.

Donation in her memory can be sent to the Lesbian Herstory Educational Foundation Inc., PO Box 1258, New York, NY 10116, and to Senior Action in a Gay Environment (SAGE), 208 West 13th St., New York, NY 10011.

Cynthia Slater,

Smith's last literary effort was a musiSociety of Janus

cal-The Book of Malcolm--which will be produced posthumously in San Francisco later this year.

Smith is survived by his mother, Doris Kramer Smith; brother, Pat Smith; sister Maureen Smith Fernago; friends and colleagues of the many chapters of BWMT; and countless others whose lives have been touched by the works of Michael J Smith.

In lieu of flowers, friends and family request that donations be made in Smith's name to Project Open Hand Atlanta, or Project Open Hand San Francisco.

founder

Cynthia Ann Slater, founder of the Society of Janus the first pan-sexual S&M educational support group died October 26, in San Francisco, four and one half years after being diagnosed HIV-positive. She was 44 years old.

Ms. Slater was the first S&M woman to go public to the world at large, educating, rabble-rousing and raising consciousness.

She is survived by her three children and a granddaughter. ▼

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December, 1989 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Lesbian activist appointed to DNC

Jean O'Leary, executive director of National Gay Rights Advocates, has been appointed to the resolutions committee of the Democratic National Com-

Jean O'Leary

Page 17

mittee (DNC). O'Leary is the first open lesbian to have been appointed to the DNC, the governing body of the Democratic Party.

O'Leary was the first open lesbian delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1976, a Kennedy delegate at the 1980 Convention, a Dukakis whip in 1988, and served on the board of the Gay and Lesbian Democrats of America. Acknowledging O'Leary's outstanding record on civil rights, Carmen Perez, vice chair of the DNC said, “I am particularly pleased that Chairman Ron Brown has appointed Jean to the Resolutions Committee. Those of us who have worked with her over the years know of her deep commitment to the civil and legal rights of all our citizens. Her appointment assures that we will have a strong voice for human rights on the Committee as well as a strong advocate for the Democratic Party agenda in 1990 and the race for the presidency in 1992." ▼

Homophobic clerk costs Arco $20,000

A gay man who was verbally assaulted and refused service by an Arco A.M./P.M. Mini Market in Los Angeles has won a $20,000 settlement from the company.

In November 1987, Johnny Ray Gearhart entered the market to redeem a winning lottery ticket. The clerk refused to serve him, yelling "Get out of the store, faggot. I don't want to catch AIDS.”

Gearhart's attorney, Peter Laura, said, "Anti-gay and AIDS-phobic epithets are vicious and hurtful. I am delighted that Johnny will be compensated."

Cynthia Goldstein, director of the National Gay Rights Advocates AntiViolence Litigation Project, was equally pleased with the result. "The recent increase in violence against the gay and lesbian community, and against people with AIDS, makes this win particularly valuable," said Goldstein. This settlement warns bigots and bashers that they will pay a stiff price for their prejudice, and that the lesbian and gay community will not tolerate any form of homophopia." ▼

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