NEWS BRIEFS

MAY 20, 1994

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 7

Yankee Stadium is site for Gay Games closing ceremonies

New York-The New York Yankees agreed May 6 to make Yankee Stadium available for the closing ceremony of the fourth Gay Games on June 25.

The team issued a statement saying concerns about potential damage to the playing field have been resolved and that it was honoring Mayor Rudolph Guiliani's formal request on behalf of the games.

Gay Games organizer Jay Hill said during negotiations that participants in the closing ceremony would not go on the playing field's grass, but would circle the warning track and then take seats in the grandstand.

The games, June 18 to 25, are expected to draw 11,000 participants to events at various sites in the city. The opening ceremony will be at Columbia University's Wien Stadium.

Survey shows Idaho politicians support gay rights

Boise, Idaho-More than half of Idaho's candidates for federal and statewide office oppose the Idaho Citizens Alliance's proposed anti-gay initiative, opponents say.

A survey released May 13 by the Don't Sign On Committee shows three out of 25 candidates support the initiative and 16 oppose it.

Six other candidates, including Republican Congressman Michael Crapo and gubernatorial candidate Ron McMurray, either did not respond to the survey or did not issue a definite opinion.

According to the survey, GOP congressional candidates Helen Chenoweth and Sonny Kinsey and gubernatorial candidate Larry Eastland support the measure. The alliance has endorsed them all.

Los Angeles gay men are number one target of hate crime

Los Angeles-Last year's 783 hate crimes was a record, but for the first time gay men were the most common victim and offenses motivated by race and religion declined.

For the first time since 1980, when the county Commission on Human Relations began keeping track of hate crimes, gay men replaced blacks as the biggest victim group, said Gerald J. Alcantar, president of the commission.

The number of lesbian victims more than doubled from the previous year, from 13 to 30.

"We're not surprised, but we're alarmed,” said Liza Culick of the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center. "There's been an increased visibility. We're out there demonstrating, fighting for our rights. That... foments hatred."

Gay men were targets of 211 attacks, while blacks were victimized 179 times.

The commission report was compiled from hate-crime data provided by nine law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles County, including the Sheriff's Department, the Los Angeles Police Department and six other city police departments.

Another Georgia county hates its queers

Jesup, Ga.-Wayne County Commission Chairman Richard Madray said an anti-gay resolution is designed to "protect the health, safety and welfare" of county residents.

Its purpose is to make sure that no government money is used to support programs "advocating a gay lifestyle," he said.

The county of about 21,000 is in the southeast corner of Georgia, about 20 miles from the coast.

The commission, at the urging of the county ministerial association, voted four to one in favor of the resolution May 2. Commissioner James Thomas voted against the resolution.

"I don't believe in singling out one group," said Thomas, assistant principal of Wayne County High School. “I also think this resolution is not necessary for Wayne County."

The county has never funded any programs that endorse a gay lifestyle, he said.

Thomas said the ministerial association proposed the resolution after hearing about a similar measure passed by the Cobb County Commission in metro Atlanta. Cobb County has since passed a resolution saying everyone is welcome there after a movement emerged to get Olympic volleyball out of the county in 1996.

Thomas said most residents he has talked to have agreed with his position.

Whole truth about Holocaust hidden from children

Dallas, Ore.-A reference to homosexuality in a display accompanying an Anne Frank exhibit prompted school officials to restrict visits by schoolchildren to the exhibit in this Willamette Valley farming town.

The exhibit depicts the life and death of the young Jewish girl whose World War IIera diaries described her life in hiding from the Nazis. It has been on tour in Oregon since 1992.

Dallas school Superintendent David Voves cancelled children's visits to the exhibit because of one sentence included in an Oregon Historical Society display that ac-

companied the exhibit.

The offending sentence: "Gender issues such as homosexuality, transvestism (crossdressing), and transexualism (gender reassignment) also define minority populations subject to unequal treatment."

Voves had modified his position April 29, saying middle and high school students could attend if they got their parents' permission. Elementary school pupils are still forbidden from going.

Voves said Dallas school officials saw the sentence in the exhibit when it was in Gresham and became concerned.

"We did not want to be misinterpreted as pro or con on the statement," Voves said. "We thought that parents would be unhappy. We knew we were in a no-win situation.'

Poll shows Washington voters in favor of anti-gay rights

Seattle-An initiative aimed at barring the state from granting civil rights to lesbians and gays has strong support among voters, a poll has found.

The poll found that 47 percent of voters supported I-608, while 36 percent opposed it and 18 percent were undecided.

However, a second proposed initiative didn't fare so well. Initiative 610 is more sweeping and would prohibit the state from awarding children to gays and lesbians in child-custody proceedings. The poll found 38 percent of the voters supported I-610, while 43 percent opposed it and 19 percent were undecided.

The poll, conducted by Elway Research of Seattle, was published May 4 in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. It has a margin of error of 4.8 percent.

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