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LAND CLIURARY SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPT. PERIODICAL

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GAYLE'S CHRONICLE

An Independent Chronicle of the Ohio Lesbian and Gay Community

Volume 9, Issue 12 December 10, 1993

ROBBIE KIDWELL

AIDS activists march at the Federal Building in downtown Cleveland as part of ACT UP's "Funeral for the Red Ribbon" on World AIDS Day, December 1.

A rally for the converted

A personal view of the Cleveland observance of World AIDS Day, December 1.

By Charlton Harper My co-worker Christine and I headed out from the Chronicle, making for ACT UP's Funeral for the Red Ribbon at Public Square, the main event planned downtown for World AIDS Day. It was around 10:30 am, a surprisingly sunny day. So much for Doppler 3 radar.

The crowd gathered on the Northwest Quadrant steadily grew from a few dozen to around 125, the "official" Chronicle estimate. (At least that's what Christine and

I figured.) ACT UP's later estimates confirmed ours, give or take. A coffin sat to one side of the Tom Johnson statue, sitting as squat and big as life as Tom himself. An ACT UP banner was flapping gently, pulling against its tic-downs, making the cheesy Christmas structure it was anchored to seem less cheesy and Care-Bearish. More like a real, live breathing Christmas where there was room for compassion and not just greeting-card schmaltz.

The mood seemed mellow, but expectant. Everyone had a job to do and there was a willingness to just fall in line and start the ball

rolling. No power struggles or hogging the Channel 8 cameras. It was obvious that many people knew each other. Conversation was tossed around like friends at a party. It made me wonder, who are these rallies for when only the converted appear? I asked Kenn Kriz from ACT UP that question. "Well, the rallies are for the people who are participating. Many of them do it as a way to remember friends they've lost or they do it to represent themselves. But you see those TV cameras? That's the main reason we hold these demonstrations. To get those few seconds of air Continued on Page 6

AIDS IN A SECOND-TIER CITY

Continued

Reno orders FBI to stop barring gays

U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno has issued an order prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation throughout the Justice Department, including the FBI, just as a discrimination suit brought by a gay former FBI agent went to trial.

Reno issued a statement December 2 prohibiting all kinds of discrimination, saying Justice Department policy prohibits using sexual orientation as a reason to deny employment or a security clearance.

While that order was a restatement of existing policy for most of the department, the language forbidding discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation produced a major change for the FBI, spokesman Carl Stern said.

The bureau issued its own statement December 3:

"The FBI, like the attorney general, is committed to ensuring that

applicants and employees are judged on the merits of their qualifications."

Until 1979, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had barred gays and lesbians, and since then its

policy was that being gay made it "significantly more difficult to be hired."

Most agents were taking the change in stride, said one FBI agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "I don't believe it's perceived as being revolutionary or shocking."

Under the new policy, job applicants at the FBI will not have their chances derailed simply because someone interviewed during a background check says the applicant is gay or lesbian when asked about "conduct that would make the person unreliable," the agent said.

Homosexuality alone would not disqualify applicants, but going to gay bathhouses every night could, just as "if a heterosexual is going to singles bars every night, you could make the case that that could compromise the person," this agent said.

"To the extent that you have somebody engaged in questionable sexual activity, it doesn't matter if it's heterosexual or otherwise," he said.

Continued on Page 2

Texas county reverses anti-gay Apple vote

Georgetown, Tex.-Reversing an earlier vote based on anti-gay sentiment. Williamson County commissioners voted 3-2 December 7 to offer tax breaks to Apple Computer, a California company currently planning to build an $80 million dollar facility in the area.

The decision reverses a November 30 vote to reject all tax abatements to Apple because of its policy of offering domestic partnership health benefits to gay and lesbian employees.

Apple had sought $750,000 in tax abatements over seven years for its proposed $80 million facility in southern Williamson County, just north of Austin. The facility will create about 700 local jobs. Looking beneath the surface of the Williamson events and a recent battle over partnership rights in nearby Austin indicates that opponents of partner benefits have received advice and support from Colorado for Family Values.

Colorado for Family Values, which sponsored Amendment 2 there, sent director Kevin Tebedo to Austin in late November to offer political advice to a citizens group seeking to repeal a city ordinance extending benefits to partners of gay city workers.

The Texas group's leader, Rev. Charles Bullock, had earlier gone to Colorado to defy the state boycott called by gays, and to consult with Colorado for Family Values chairman Will Perkins.

When one Williamson County commissioner learned of the gayrights debate in Austin, in nearby Travis County, he contacted Bullock for information. Bullock, a conservative Baptist minister. called friends in Williamson County, encouraging them to oppose the Apple deal.

Since their 1992 Amendment 2 victory, Colorado for Family ValContinued on Page 2

The Oblo

Holiday blues

3 Rights Coalition 11 peeping up on

now includes gay lesbian groups as it fights discrimination

you? Don't agonize! Nurture yourself; make some choices

INSIDE

Scrooge or

gospel singers? B3

Two Christmas plays are as excellent as they are diverse

Josette reviews recordings of women's music-the latest releases and a variety of sounds

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