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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
JULY 9, 1993
NEWS BRIEFS
ACT-UP holds funeral at Capitol
Washington-ACT UP held an abbreviated open-casket "political funeral" for a fallen member outside the Capitol July 1.
About 60 members of the group had planned to march from the Capitol to the White House with an open casket containing the body of Tim Bailey, where they I would hold a memorial service and denounce President Clinton's inactivity on AIDS. Bailey, a New York AIDS activist, died June 28 of AIDS complications.
But Capitol police held up the marchers for several hours, saying they didn't have all the necessary permits. Angry ACT UP members then pulled the casket out of a van. Police officers, some of them wearing rubber gloves, quickly shoved it back during a scuffle in which two men were arrested.
Protesters then decided to hold the service where they stood, in a Capitol parking lot. ACT UP members stepped up to the casket one by one to say their goodbyes while reporters took photographs.
One of the men arrested was the dead man's brother, Randall Bailey of Youngstown.
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Shortly before his death, Bailey had asked fellow ACT UP members to throw his body over the White House gates. But group spokesman Scott Sawyer said they had no plans to do that.
New York rights bill killed
Albany, N.Y.-Gay and lesbian activists say their lobbying tactics won't be nearly as polite in the future in the wake of a decision by Republicans who control the state Senate to quash a gay civil rights bill.
Meeting in private July 2, the 35 Republican senators decided not to allow a public debate and vote by the full Senate on the bill. That effectively ends any chance it will become law this year.
The state Assembly passed the bill in February and Gov. Mario Cuomo pledged support. Gay and lesbian activists predicted that, with the help of the Senate's 26 Democrats, they would have enough votes to pass it if Republicans allowed a public vote..
Bill proponents had eschewed public demonstrations this year, preferring to quietly push the bill like many other lobbyists with an occasional news conference and hallway conversations with senators. Witch-hunt files opened
Tallahassee, Fla.-The State of Florida conducted witch-hunts of gays on college campuses from 1956 to 1965, according to files of a Florida investigative committee that were to be sealed until 2038. The files were opened July 1 by a constitutional amendment passed last year.
The Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, also known as the Johns Committee, sought to root out gays at college campuses, communists, bootleggers, and the Ku Klux Klan. More than 100 suspected gay educators lost their jobs because of the investigation, which ruined many lives.
On campuses, simply being different could get a person labeled "homosexual." Lawmakers disbanded the panel after the 1964 publication of the "Purple Pamphlet," which detailed findings on gays, and legislators began getting complaints from terrified educators and others.
The files show informants were paid to report on any kind of suspicious activity or anyone they believed might be gay or communist. Phones were tapped.
The Florida witchhunts are very similar to the approach the military takes in drumming out gay and lesbian members Gay rights activists cited the opening of the files as relevant to the battles currently being waged by the right wing against lesbian-gay civil rights.
NAACP to face anti-gay protest
Washington-The NAACP's stand in support of gay rights is drawing fire from a black citizens' group that says it will picket the civil rights organization's July 10 annual meeting in Indianapolis.
The Indianapolis-based group, Concerned Citizens for Traditional Family Values, also plans to press NAACP members to overturn a board decision supporting an end to the ban on gays in the military.
NAACP board chairman William Gibson said supporting an end to the gay ban is in line with the organization's stated mission of equality for everyone.
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"We basically feel that no groups, no individuals, should be discriminated against in America," Gibson said.
Rhode Island rights go loudly
Providence, R.I.-A House vote to kill gay civil rights legislation for the ninth consecutive year sparked a boisterous Statehouse demonstration on June 29.
With nearly 200 people watching from the galleries, the House voted 39-58 not to reverse a committee's "no" vote on the bill. An identical bill has passed the state senate.
About 100 people then stood in the galleries and chanted, "Equal rights, simple justice." Some draped a banner behind the speaker's rostrum that read: "No more lies! Get it?"
About 40 opponents of the bill, wearing yellow, circular patches with diagonal lines slashed through the words "special rights," remained silent in the galleries.
Troopers cleared the galleries and House members locked the three doors leading into the chamber. Nearly four hours later, protesters continued to whistle, chant and cheer on the second floor of the Statehouse.
Jerry Falwell's ghostwriter to lead MCC TV ministry
Dallas-A man who once served as ghostwriter for Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson has been chosen by the world's largest gay and lesbian church to lead its national media-based ministry.
Mel White has been named the new dean of Dallas Cathedral of Hope, the 1,200member flagship of the 30,000-member Metropolitan Community Church.
White's ghostwriting jobs often brought $100,000 for a few months' work. He collaborated with Graham on his book, "Approaching Hoofbeats." He also assisted Falwell, the former Moral Majority leader.
White, 53, is starting a national mediabased ministry to counter religious-right figures such as Robertson, who he says wants to destroy gays.
The MCC's movement, called Circles of Hope, will will use modern technologytelevision programs, modems and 800 numbers
to reach those in communities with little or no visible gay presence.
Ireland legalizes gay sex
Dublin, Ireland-Lawmakers approved a bill legalizing homosexuality June 24, effectively ending years of official intolerance of gays and further loosening the Roman Catholic nation's social restrictions.
The bill, passed by the Dail, or lower house of parliament, allows gay activity
among people aged 17 and over. The parliament's upper chamber, or Senate, must still approve the measure, but passing the Dail was the major hurdle to approval.
Sex between consenting male adults in private has been legal in Britain since 1967, but never in Ireland. Lesbian sex has never been illegal in Britain or Ireland.
The measure is expected to go before the Senate within weeks. It then must be signed by President Mary Robinson.
Coretta King says ban must go
Atlanta-Coretta Scott King said June 30 that the ban on gays in the military is similar to policies which kept blacks in segregated units, and she is counting on President Clinton to honor his pledge to lift the ban.
"The arguments that have been raised in favor of the ban are the same arguments that were so often raised against racial integration," Mrs. King said during a news conference at the grave of her husband, slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Thalidomide found to slow HIV
Washington-Thalidomide, a morning sickness pill that created a nightmare of birth defects in the 1950s, shows promise in laboratory tests and in early clinical trials of slowing down HIV.
Researchers reported July 1 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that thalidomide retards proliferation of HIV by reducing the production of TNFalpha, an immune system protein that assists the virus' replication.
Body wasting has also been reversed in a number of patients taking thalidomide in clinical trials. Researchers cautioned, however, that these results are "very preliminary observations" in studies involving small numbers of patients.
Missouri anti-gay petition filed
Jefferson City, Mo.-The Amendment Coalition, a group of conservatives and church leaders, has filed a proposed petition with the secretary of state to amend the state constitution to bar all gay civil rights laws.
The petition, filed June 29, is identical to the one approved in Colorado last November, and presently under legal challenge.
Officials have until the end of July to decide whether the form can be used to gather signatures to put the proposed amendment on the November 1994 ballot.
Missouri has no state gay civil rights law. Cities which have enacted specific legal protections for gays include Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbia and Festus.
HATE CRIME UPDATE
Compiled by the Maryann Finegan Project of the Lesbian-Gay Community Center
June 11
Female residence hall director at BaldwinWallace College had swastika and other derogatory comments drawn on door after posting pro-gay sign there. Supportive signs were again posted followed by more vandalism. Hall meeting called and the vandalism and homophobia were discussed. June 17
Cleveland gay male in 20s repeatedly assaulted by neighbor in a property dispute. Homophobic language used. Police and the Cuyahoga County Witness/Victim Service Center are involved. June 22
For past two years, Cleveland female impersonator verbally harassed by neighbors and local store employees. Neighborhood youth gang broke front windows causing $300 damage. Community Relations Board epresentative came out and talked to store employee. Victim referred to Witness/ Victim.
June 24
28-year-old male met male at West Side
bar. Friend drove them to victim's apartment and dropped them off. The two had sex, during which the victim consented to being handcuffed. Perpetrator struck victim with screwdriver and hammer. Victim able to get one hand free and fight back; perpetrator fled. Cleveland police called and report made.
Perpetrator description: Caucasian male, short dark hair, early 30s, moustache, 5' 10", tattoos on arms and serpent tattoo on abdomen.
June 24
Center notified of homophobic billboard on Pearl Rd. near State Rd., put up by the Harry Sysack Sign Co., 351-6111. July 1
Married Ashtabula woman and two sons verbally harassed, sons physically assaulted, property stolen and damaged over the past year by neighbors who discovered victim has a lesbian friend. Local police notified; response good after assault on son, but indifferent when called about vandalism and harassment.