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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

An Independent Chronicle of the Ohio Lesbian and Gay Community

Volume 9, Issue 11 November 26, 1993

Court orders Navy to give Steffan his commission

Washington-A federal appeals court ordered the U.S. Naval Academy on November 16 to graduate a midshipman who was forced to withdraw from the school after saying he was gay. Judges ordered the Pentagon to commission him as an officer.

Six years after the expulsion of Joseph F. Steffan, the three-judge panel unanimously ordered the Navy to grant him his diploma, "reinstate him to military service, and commission him as an officer." Steffan was forced to resign from the academy in 1987 before he was set to graduate because Navy investigators confirmed that he had told a fellow midshipman that he was gay. Steffan sued the Navy but a lower court judge had dismissed the lawsuit.

Steffan, now 29 and a third-year law student at the University of Connecticut, said, "All Americans should be gratified by the court's ruling. I am grateful for today's decision, and I look forward to serving my country as an officer in the United States Navy."

At the Pentagon, spokeswoman Kathleen deLaski said the department "will follow the order," but that in the meantime, officials have not yet decided whether or how to appeal the decision. At the White House, Chief of Staff Mack

Continued on Page 6

BWMT moves into the future

ALAN GOLDMAN

Co-chairs Clifford Blake (1) and Ron Evans discuss future plans at Black and White Men Together's 13th anniversary celebration at the Sheraton-Hopkins November 6. Story on Page 3.

Judge blocks anti-gay Issue 3

by Christopher Federer

AU.S. District Court judge in Cincinnati issued an injunction on November 16 blocking the implementation of Issue 3, which would have removed the anti-discrimination protection for gays and lesbians from the city human rights ordinance.

Judge S. Arthur Spiegel said the voter-approved amendment infringed on the rights of gays and lesbians to petition the city for legislation on their behalf. The judge's ruling prevents the amendment from taking effect until further action by the court.

"It was really a positive ruling," said Tina McMann, office coordinator of the ACLU's Cincinnati office. "It seemed he [Spiegel] went out of his way to say how bad Issue 3 is."

Columbus attorney Jerry Bunge, program director of Citizens for Justice, said "The injunction is a very good sign... and whether or not the city appeals, the whole thing could drag on for a long time in the courts." At press time, the city had not filed an appeal.

AIDS activists cleared in

Bush-Quayle demo case

by Charlton Harper

Two men who were arrested at

a Bush-Quayle rally on Strongsville

Commons on October 28, 1992, and subsequently charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, saw all charges against them dropped on November 17. A jury trial had been set to begin the next day.

The men, James DeLong of Akron and H. Paul Schwitzgebel of Canton, had been present last year to protest the Republican ad-

ministration's AIDS policy at the last-minute rally to draw local support for the Bush campaign. Strongsville Republican mayor Walter Ehrnfelt had leased the city property to campaign organizers for one dollar, then called the Commons private property. The area was then packed with approximately 25,000 Bush supporters. Officials tightly controlled the crowd. terials were confiscated at the enAll pro-Clinton and anti-Bush ma-

trance.

The two men were arrested after

Now they say our brains work differently

Denver-Brains of gay men are stimulated by sound differently than those of straight men, indicating genetic and biological differences, a psychiatrist said November 11.

Dr. Martin Reite, professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, said the findings are based upon a study of 17 adult males.

An earlier study by a group of National Cancer Institute researchers announced on July 16 found evidence supporting the theory that the tendency to be gay may be inherited.

Dean Hamer, principal author of the earlier study, said his research does not prove that sexual orientation is compelled genetically, but it does indicate that sexual orientation is powerfully influenced by inherited genes.

December 1 is World AIDS Day; Cleveland art groups and ACT UP have events planned

The 17 men were divided into groups of nine straights and eight gays.

Brain function was mapped through magnetoencephalography, a non-invasive method of recording magnetic fields of brain activity while tones were delivered through an earphone.

Reite said brain waves of the straight men were asymmetrical, with processing sites in the right hemisphere being further anterior than those in the left hemisphere.

Past studies had shown that straight women process such stimulation symmetrically in both the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

Brains of gay males processed the sound stimulations somewhere between straight males and straight females, the study determined.

Get started on

your gift-giving 17

list with a holiday selection of gay and lesbian books

Continued on Page 10

INSIDE

The expression

of women's sexuality is the focus of plays by Feindel and Geither

displaying a sign that read, “The government has blood on its hands: One AIDS death every 10 minutes." The crowd restricted their movement and ripped the sign from DeLong before police arrived to make the arrest. Schwitzgebel went limp as police escorted him from the grounds and received the resisting arrest charge. The move raised serious questions about violations of First Amendment freedom of speech rights and the misuse of public space.

Continued on Page 6

"The vibe so far is that they may not appeal and let it go to trial,” said Alphonse Gehardstein, one of the lawyers for activists who sued to challenge the amendment. "Then the city could appeal the final decision." The "no special rights" proponents may take some action if the city does not, Gehardstein added.

Several gay and lesbian activists have warned that while the injunction may be viewed as a victory, the community should not become complacent. "We still expect groups from the radical right to try and put an anti-gay initiatives on the state ballot in 1994," Bunge said.

Pam McMichael, acting executive director of Stonewall CincinContinued on Page 6

Airline kicks PWA off airplane

San Francisco-A man with AIDS was dragged screaming off an American Airlines flight and arrested after he refused to leave the plane, said witnesses who complained of how he was treated.

"It was awful. Just incredibly awful," said Robby Robinson, a board member of the San Mateo AIDS Program who saw the incident in Chicago November 14. "I'll never get that vision out of my head. Like it was his fault. Like he was being punished for being sick."

But American said November 15 that Timothy Holless, 33, of San Francisco, had hung an IV bag over his seat, against American policies, and refused to cover his

Institute Art showcases

a private collection of African American works on paper

News Briefs

open sores, violating policies to protect his health and that of other passengers as well.

He also declined an offer to be booked on another flight while American tried to assess the situation, and demanded to be arrested, the airline said.

Holless was arrested for investigation of disorderly conduct and released on his own recognizance the same day.

Holless traveled without incident from San Francisco to Chicago and then to Columbus, Ohio, then returning back to Chicago headed home to California, said Robinson and another witness, Continued on Page 10

Editorial, Community Forum Postings

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