Page 12

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE September 18, 1992

EXCUSES

CAKES

PASTRY SHOP

PASTRIES▼ CANDIES

13006 Larchmere Blvd. ● 229-7007

Of course you know us from Sunday Brunch... But have you ever tried us for dinner?

Inn on

the

BURGERS

Coventry

PASTA

CHICKEN

and Mom's homemade desserts. Full Liquor Breakfast 7am-2pm Lunch 11am-5pm.● Dinner 5pm-10pm Sunday Brunch 9am-3pm

2785 Euclid Hts. Blvd. Cleveland Hts. 371-1811.

Confused by your accounting? Upset at the thought of Taxes?

I can help you work through these problems.

Providing tax, and accounting services to individuals and small business.

Don Resseguie, CPA

Call (216) 228-1572

Marie Bielefeld, Ph.D. COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGIST

*INDIVIDUAL/COUPLE

*LESBIAN/GAY ISSUES

*SELF EXPRESSION THROUGH VOCATION *PERSONAL/SPIRITUAL GROWTH

*COPING WITH MEDICAL PROBLEMS

WESTGATE PLAZA BUILDING 20325 CENTER RIDGE RD. (accessed from Linden Rd.)

STATE PARM

INSURANCE

3091 Mayfield Rd. #217

Office: (216) 932-6900

OOOO

No. 2

Health Insurance

Accepted

Day, Evening & Weekend Hours

899-7625 (messages) 734-8164

Auto Life Health Home Business

Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118

BETSY WARNER Agent

National Notes

Bush campaign fires gay staffer

Washington DC--A gay man has filed a complaint against the re-election campaign organization for President George Bush alleging he was fired because he is gay.

Tyler Franz says he is a loyal Republican who wanted to help Bush win re-election. Franz helped coordinate a volunteer phone bank until he was dismissed from the campaign. In his complaint with the D.C. Office of Human Rights, filed in July, Franz says that his dismissal was the result of pressure from anti-gay fundamentalist Christians and violates D.C. law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The campaign denies that Franz was the victim of homophobia. It says that a number of complaints that Franz was rude had been received and that Franz was offered another job which was less visible. When he refused, he was let go.

Franz, in television interviews, maintains that the Bush campaign has become the captive of right-wing fundamentalist Christians and that homophobic campaign rhetoric may well have an important role in the fall election. He had hoped to help turn the Republican Party away from such tactics.

State orders hotel to pay for AIDS harassment

Boston--The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, ruling on its first AIDS discrimination complaint, ordered a Boston hotel to pay $30,000 to the estate of a waiter who claimed he was harassed because he had the disease.

The ruling ordered the Boston Harbor Hotel to pay $30,000 to the estate of Douglas McKinley, for emotional distress he suffered after he was allegedly harassed when the hotel perceived he had AIDS.

McKinley, of Cambridge, died in Octo ber at the age of 40.

Lesbian couple loses custody battle with gay sperm donor

The Asheville, North Carolina CitizenTimes reported August 16 on a paternity court battle involving a lesbian couple and a gay man who provided sperm for an artificial insemination which produced a child.

Seven months prior to the insemination, the man and the intended mother signed a "sperm donor recipient agreement" based on a model form provided by the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco. At the time, both parties agreed that the man would have no rights as a parent, and would not be responsible for the child, either emotionally or financially. He would, however, be permitted visitation rights.

Once the child was born, the lesbian couple found that the donor became more invasive, increasing his visits and expecting the child to call him "Dad." The couple sued in Buncombe County District Court, requesting a ruling that the man was not the father.

The judge ruled in favor of the man, despite North Carolina's Rights of Children statute, which excludes a sperm donor from parental rights. The statute was written specifically for married couples and protects the couple from having to provide visitation rights to the donor.

Judge Gary Cash said, "In anything other than what the statute would precisely cover, the sperm donor would have parental rights. That's the way I interpret the law."

The case breaks new ground in the rights of lesbians having children, according to Paula Ettelbrick, director of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. A past president of the Southern Appalachian Lesbian and Gay Alliance, who is a friend of the defendant, Carlos Gomez, disagrees. He stated that this is a simple child custody

case with no lesbian family overtones, and that the donor always intended to be involved as the child's father.

Indiana Methodist bishop: No gay marriages allowed

The United Methodist bishop in Indiana has warned clergy in his charge not to officiate at ceremonies for gay men and lesbians "which resemble the rite of marriage," or to allow their churches to be used for such liturgies.

A statement of admonition to clergy was issued August 20, by Bishop Leroy C. Hodapp of Indianapolis and the 20 district superintendents who assist him in supervising Indiana's 1,400 ordained United Methodist ministers and 1,500 congregations.

The statement, mailed to all United Methodist clergy in Indiana, came in response to conflict sparked by a "Celebration of Holy Covenant" between two gay men held July 25 at Broadway United Methodist Church in Indianapolis.

Five United Methodist clergy--four from Indiana and one from Michigan (see below)--took part in the ceremony, at which Holy Communion was served.

Sharp reactions by some Indiana clergy prompted front-page coverage in the Indianapolis Star and a news story on a local television station.

The worship service included the exchange of rings but no formal vows or official marriage liturgy.

In their letter the bishop and superintendents sought to clarify what they termed the "ambiguous" area between the church's affirmation of ministry to homosexuals and its rejection of homosexual marriage...

Michigan minister withdraws from post basexo bus nogu svomi

Amid turmoil over the above Indiana committment ceremony, the Michigan clergywoman who took part in the cer emony has backed off from accepting an appointment as a United Methodist district superintendent.

In an August 26 letter to pastors, United Methodist Bishop Judith Craig, of Southfield, Mich., announced that she has granted "with deep regret?' the Rev. Ilona Sabo-Shuler's request to "step back” from appointment as superintendent of the Grand Rapids District in the church's West Michigan Annual Conference.

Craig called the situation that prompted Sabo-Shuler's withdrawal "grievous and bordering on the ludicrous."

Sabo-Shuler was to have assumed the post September 1, replacing the Rev. Sharon Z. Rader, who was elected bishop in mid-July.

International gay march meeting set in Dallas

Activists representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and AIDS-related organizations throughout the U.S. will meet during January 15-17 in Dallas, Texas, to help build the International March on the United Nations to Affirm the Human Rights of Lesbian and Gay People. The International March and Rally will be the largest of several hundred events planned for June and July, 1994, in New York City and around the world to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. Organizations planning events are being encouraged to provide information to conference participants. This information will also be added to the Global Media Calendar, a comprehensive listing of events related to Stonewall 25. This networking is expected to contribute to the success of all the events.

"Letters of invitation to the conference will be sent to every lesbian, gay, bisexual and AIDS activist organization for which we have a mailing address. This process will begin in September and continue as the mailing list is updated," explained Gary

f

C S