GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE SEPTEMBER 17, 1993

Melamed Friedman & Key

Personal Injury, Workers' Compensation,

Divorce, Domestic Partnerships, Estate Planning

Torie Osborn leaves NGLTF

Frustrated by administrative demands, the head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is resigning.

Torie Osborn was hired as the group's executive director in March. But she said the job hasn't been what she expected and she will leave Nov. 1.

"It just isn't working," she said. "This job requires internal management in far greater measure than I am prepared to give at this time."

In her resignation letter released Sept. 3, Osborn wrote, "The avalanche of support for NGLTF over the past months has made it virtually impossible for me to effectively do both the movement-building, external, public role that is my passion, and also the necessary day-to-day management work required of this job."

Osborn also acknowleged to the Washington Blade there was some tension between her and the staff, "but no more than in any growing organization."

"There was a growing sense of staff feeling that they didn't have somebody in-house who was doing the day-to-day management," she told the Blade, noting that she had been on the road 60 percent of the time.

The Washington, D.C.-based task force is one of the nation's leading lesbian-gay organizations, with a national membership of 32,000.

Osborn is former director of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center.

She said she plans to stay in Washington and would like to devote more time to writing, lecturing and consulting.

Jeffery A. Key

ATTORNEY AT LAW Suite 720

Three Commerce Park Square 23200 Chagrin Blvd. Cleveland, Ohio 44122 (216) 292-1144

Business and Securities Litigation, Real Estate and Construction Litigation

No charge for initial consultation

'Too activist, too out' Stonewall director resigns

The director of Stonewall Cincinnati has resigned just as the organization is preparing to fight a ballot challenge of the city's human rights law.

Shirley Lesser resigned from Stonewall Cincinnati on September 2 following a review by the group's executive committee of Lesser's three-month probationary period, said committee member Betsy Gressler.

"They have a particular image and particular ways they perform," Lesser said. "They desire someone who can do it a little bit differently than I can do it.”

John Maddux, a former board member, said the organization is "middle-of-the-road" and that Lesser was "too activist, too open, too out."

"They have a real problem with someone who's too openly gay," Maddux said.

Lesser previously worked with gay civil rights groups in Virginia.

She said she probably would stay in Cincinnati to continue working against a November ballot initiative to repeal the gay civil rights provisions of a human rights ordinance enacted last fall.

Ohio Clinic for Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery

A private, outpatient surgical center located in Westlake, Ohio.

Financing Available

Call for an appointment or for our information brochure

►216.333-1020

Michael H. Wojtanowski, M.D., F.A.C.S. Board Certified

Member, American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, Inc.

Fight the Right summit brings 300 from 5 states

Cincinnati-About 300 gay-rights activists from five Midwest states attended seminars in the city over Labor Day weekend to prepare to fight efforts by groups trying to repeal gay civil rights legislation, a spokesman said.

"I think the activists have left this summit conference re-energized and reinvigorated and ready to take on the struggle before us. There was a lot of commitment," said David Smith, spokesman for the Washington-based National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. NGLTF was an organizer of the Fight the Right Midwest Regional Summit.

The regional summit was planned months ago, but coincided with plans for a November election in which Cincinnati voters will decide whether to delete the reference to sexual orientation in the human rights ordinance that city council passed last year.

Conservatives are waging similar battles against gays and lesbians in at least 10

Spots yanked after Marky Mark bashes

Three anti-bias groups said in late August they canceled a public service spot with Calvin Klein underwear model Marky Mark Wahlberg after he allegedly made anti-gay remarks while assaulting a man.

The New York chapter of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence and the Anti-Violence Campaign also called for Klein to drop Wahlberg as a model.

He had agreed to finance and appear in a spot denouncing bias violence after the groups protested his past involvement in racist attacks and promoting homophobia. The three groups said in a statement that Wahlberg was dropped after allegedly assaulting Maverick Records executive Guy Oseary at a party on July 31.. Oseary was treated for a bruised nose.

♡

states, said Suzanne Pharr, member of the Arkansas Women's Project.

Some activists are urging a tourism boy-. cott of Cincinnati, as was the case against Colorado after last fall's election.

"We don't think the people of Cincinnati will vote for this ballot issue, but if they do, boycott is something you talk about down the road," said Shirley Lesser, former executive director of Stonewall Cincinnati.

Greg Gajus of Gay and Lesbian March Activists/ACT UP Cincinnati was more certain.

"If the ballot initiative passes, there will be a boycott; that much is inevitable."

Queen City seeks help

Volunteers are needed by the carload to help combat the radical right in Cincinnati, said Jerry Bunge, who is helping the local group Equality Cincinnati round up assis-

tance.

Bunge will organize a caravan of cars for volunteers from throughout the state on the weekend before the election (Oct. 30-31). Earlier trips may be arranged if enough volunteers are available.

The volunteers will distribute literature door to door and staff information booths in public places to educate voters about the right-wing ballot initiative that would revokė civil rights protection for lesbians and gays.

"We need to make sure every person in Cincinnati realizes how dangerous this is," Bunge said.

Housing will be provided for those who need it he added. For more information, call Bunge at 614-464-1700.