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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

An Independent Chronicle of the Ohio Lesbian and Gay Community

Volume 9, Issue 14 January 14, 1994

Flying high in New York

MARCUS

Perestroika, Part II of Tony Kushner's Angels in America, concludes the gay epic. Review on page 15.

Mayor White sponsors lesbiangay-bi civil rights protections

by Kevin Beaney Calling discrimination based on sexual orientation "wrong in Cleveland, wrong in Ohio, and wrong in America," Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White announced that his omnibus legislative package includes discrimination protection for lesbians, gays, and bisexuals.

The mayor made the announcement during his State of the City address at the Cleveland City Club on January 7 and was greeted several times with applause during this portion of the speech. He submitted the omnibus legislative proposal to Council on January 10.

After raising an over $1 million campaign "war chest," decisively

Condom ads are cute but lacking

The Clinton administration has taken a step that was never likely in the Reagan-Bush era: distributing public service announcements that urge sexually active people to use latex condoms to prevent AIDS. But at least one AIDS activist is not impressed. The radio and television spots, designed by the Centers for Disease Control, were introduced January 4 by Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala and National AIDS

Policy Coordinator Kristine Gebbie. They are part of the education campaign, "America Rcsponds to AIDS," that the government introduced to combat the continuing spread of HIV, especially among young people.

The new ads are more clever than explicit. They never show an actual condom or an unmistakably gay couple, even though more than half of the reported HIV cases in the United States are of gay or

Sister Spirit is not

bisexual men. And that's the problem, according to Washington, D.C.-based AIDS activist Luke Sissyfag. On January 7, Sissyfag set one of the campaign kits on fire and said, "This is not a bold new prevention initiative, it's a slap in the face, it's homophobic. To launch an AIDS prevention program that does not include gay and bisexual men is criminal."

By not being explicit, the ads Continued on page 6

winning last November's election, and seeing most of his endorsed candidates win, White is politically secure in his second term as mayor. Sensing the timing to be

Mayor White

right, he put into final motion the campaign promise he made to lesbians, gay men and bisexuals more than four years ago.

Prior to the November 1989 election, the Chronicle asked candidate White for his position on several issues of interest to its readers and, based on his responses, endorsed him for the election that he later won. White indicated that he favored "the inclusion of the words 'sexual orientation' in city ordinances banning discrimination," according to the endorsement article. He also "would not discriminate against an openly lesbian or gay man in his administration" and would "consider" a do-

mestic partners ordinance.

During the past two years, Cleveland's Community Relations Board (CRB), headed by Executive Director Sam Thomas III, has quietly been working on preparing revised, current wording for the myriad of city ordinances that include, or should include, non-discrimination statements. Stonewall Cleveland officers Keith Sutton and John Nolan, and political activist Martha Pontoni collaborated with the CRB to come up with legislative wording, largely based on other cities' human rights laws that include sexual orientation.

Soon after the November 1993 election, the CRB was notified that the mayor was ready to publicly support the changes to the ordinances and final meetings were held with Pontoni and Nolan. When the mayor gave his speech, he said, "While this city has a remarkable record in the area of reducing ethnic intimidation, it is now time that we confront as a community the question of discrimination against any citizen on the basis of sexual orientation. The question of an individual's sexual orientation, I know, has always been an issue of much social and emotional upheaval ...

"The laws of the land, the laws of the state, and the laws of the city are presumed to protect the rights Continued on Page 6

A year ago, Bill Clinton was

yet out of the woods About-face going to lift the ban. Now we

Ellisville, Miss.--Homophobic residents of the Ovett community met January 3 here to discuss ways to attempt shutting down a feminist retreat in this town 100 miles north of New Orleans.

The controversy began when Brenda and Wanda Henson, a lesbian couple, began building Camp Sister Spirit, a feminist retreat near Ovett. The Gulfport women said they want to conduct workshops on topics such as sexism, and help women become self-reliant and learn job skills. They both have teaching degrees, but work full time for charity.

The Hensons are rebuilding a dilapidated pig farm, with the help of volunteers.

The women also have the sup-

Stonewall 25 plans include

an ongoing national network of activists to fight the right

port of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Robin Kane, NGLTF public information officer, said a film of last April's March on Washington that was shown at the meeting is popular with groups like the Christian Coalition who want to stir up people's emotions against gays and lesbians.

"They (those attending the meeting) didn't talk about anything of substance," Kane said following the meeting. "They didn't talk about the Hensons or whether they were breaking laws or anything of that nature. They only showed a film of the March on Washington which had nothing to do with the Hensons and what they are trying

Continued on Page 6

Lakewood's

hot meals program for people with AIDS expands its service area

For lesbians and gay men in the military, 1993 has been a long year of controversy, compromise, loss and gain. A review of 1993 shows how far the issue has traveled, from initial public outcry and fear, through crumbling presidential support and congressional codification of the ban, to recent important court decisions in cases involving gay service members.

President Clinton's commitment to lift the ban caught many gay activists off guard when he followed his campaign promise with a January announcement of his intentions. The Human Rights Campaign Fund and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the two national groups responsible for coordinating

INSIDE

Joel Hyatt talks about his response to AIDS and insensitivity in the Philadelphia case

wait to see if the courts do it

Washington lobbying on gay issues, came under heavy criticism by Capitol Hill staffers for "being asleep at the switch." The HRCF and NGLTF had no concrete strategy for dealing with gays in the military, focusing January and February plans instead on a push for a federal gay civil rights bill.

By January 29, Clinton had backed off from the front line position he had taken, realizing that the military issue could threaten his plans for pushing economic and health care reform through Congress. The White House had also become aware of the tremendous potential for “revolt" within the military should a blanket order be executed. Instead, Clinton instructed Secretary of Defense Les Aspin to begin a six-month study

Catch up on women's and breakbeat music, and find out who Taylor really is

News Briefs

of the matter, setting a deadline of July 15 for a draft executive order that would lift the ban. Until then, recruits would no longer be asked questions concerning sexual orientation; the Department of Justice would delay all action on existing challenge lawsuits; gay service members would no longer be discharged based solely on their status; service personnel in the limbo of postponed discharges would be placed on standby reserve; and commanding officers could reassign personnel who were in the process of being separated. Clinton's compromise would become known as "don't ask, don't tell." Continued on Page 2

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