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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE AUGUST 30, 1996

NEWS BRIEFS

Log Cabin endorses Dole despite anti-gay platform

San Diego--The national organization representing lesbian and gay Republicans have endorsed candidate Bob Dole, despite the GOP's adoption of a strictly conservative platform that declares lesbians and gays incompatible with military service and supports legislation against same-sex marriage.

"The platform is ignored by everybody," said Rich Tafel of the Log Cabin Republicans, the group that sponsored the endorse-

ment.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) disagreed with the endorsement in a press statement and called the DoleKemp ticket "dangerous for America and dangerous for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people."

Tafel said the conservative platform does not affect the lesbian and gay Republicans as much as heterosexuals.

Teenage pregnancy is “hardly a problem in the gay and lesbian community," said Tafel, who also called abortion "a heterosexual problem."

The NGLTF in its press statement cited Dole's co-sponsoring of the Defense of Marriage Act invalidating same-sex marriages and opposition for sexual orientation to be included in federal civil rights statutes.

Air Force major acquitted

San Antonio, Texas-An Air Force major who faced a military court martial for the crime of consensual oral sex with another woman was acquitted in a verdict which Michelle Benecke, co-director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, called "an astounding victory." Benecke said that in six years she has never seen anyone

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acquitted of similar charges.

"It's a tribute to her defense team and some fair minded members of the jury," Benecke said.

Maj. Debra L. Meeks, 41, cried and hugged her lawyers after a five-man, two-woman military panel acquitted her August 15 of sodomy and conduct unbecoming an officer. Under the military criminal codes, she faced dismissal from the Air Force, loss of her retirement benefits and up to fifteen years in military prison if convicted.

"I'm just glad this nightmare is over," she said.

Pamela Dillard, a civilian, had claimed that she and Meeks engaged in oral sex and had a two-year relationship. The charges were brought against the major after Dillard was unsuccessful in making an unrelated complaint against Meeks, who was the woman's landlord.

Benecke said that a disproportionate number of anti-gay military discharges are women, and that charges of homosexuality are used against both gay and straight service members who are perceived to be a threat.

"This is a classic witch hunt against women." said Benecke. "Women are investigated when they report sexual harassment or rape, and they are accused as gay when they achieve a status of excellence."

Benecke said she hopes that this case will bolster the efforts of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network to stop such cases in the future.

The military's 1994 "don't ask, don't tell" rule permits gays to serve as long as they don't have sex with service members and keep their sexual orientation and conduct private. While the rule was intended to reduce the number of discharges based on sexual orientation, Benecke said there has actually been a 21% increase in such discharges since 1994.

An officer with 19 years of active-duty service, Meeks declined to discuss her military future or her sexual orientation. -Dawn Leach

Bottoms abandons custody battle

Richmond, Virginia--Sharon Bottoms dropped her bitter, three-year custody battle for her five year old son August 15 and asked instead for more lenient visitation rules. But Bottoms was angry when the Henrico County Circuit judge ruled that she may not allow her long-time partner to see or speak with the child.

Her mother, Kay Bottoms, sued for custody in 1993 because she was offended by her daughter's lesbianism. Bottoms lost custody of Tyler when Judge Buford Parsons

said she was an unfit mother because she and Wade engaged in oral sex, a felony in Virginia.

A Virginia appeals court overturned the decision, but the Virginia Supreme Court reinstated it last year, ruling that a child raised by a lesbian couple might be subjected to ridicule from others, in spite of the testimony of the court-appointed psychologist that the child's interests would be best served by returning him to his mother.

On August 15, Bottoms withdrew her petition for custody of Tyler Doustou, choosing instead to focus on winning better visitation rights.

"She just didn't want to go through this ordeal again," said Donald Butler, Bottoms' lawyer.

Previously, Bottoms could not bring her son to the apartment she shares with Wade, although Wade, who has developed a close relationship with Tyler, could talk to the boy over the telephone. Under the new visitation rules, Wade will have to leave her own apartment during visits, and is not even allowed to talk to Tyler.

"I don't understand how anybody can tell someone they can't speak to someone else. It breaks my heart," said Bottoms.

Both women said at a news conference August 22 they were angry about Parsons' ruling. When asked if she would return to court and seek custody of Tyler, Bottoms said, "Possibly. I can't predict the future."

Kay Bottoms is pleased with the ruling, said Richard R. Ryder, her attorney.

Ryder said he doubted Sharon Bottoms would resume the custody fight.

"They had sense enough to give up this time," Ryder said. “If they start it again they know they will be subjected to sanctions" for pursuing a frivolous court case.

Ryder said Kay Bottoms may seek child support from her daughter.

Suspect says murder was anti-gay

Medford, Oregon--The man accused of killing a lesbian couple said he did it because he hates homosexuals and bisexuals.

Previously, Robert James Acremant had said he shot Roxanne Ellis, 53, and Michelle Abdill, 42, during a robbery that went awry, and their homosexuality made it easier.

Acremant said in a letter to his hometown newspaper, the Stockton (Calif.) Record, that he invented the robbery motive because he was nervous about how other jail inmates would react.

"Now I just don't care what people think, including the jury," Acremant, 27, wrote from the jail where he is awaiting trial on aggravated murder and related charges. "They can kill me for all I care. I've never liked life anyway."

In the Aug. 8 letter, Acremant also said he killed a man last year in a drunken rage after the man made a pass at him.

Trial was set for February.

Acremant wrote that he decided to kill Ellis and Abdill after he deduced Ellis was a lesbian while she showed him an apartment in Medford. The women were partners in a property management business.

The bound and gagged bodies of Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill were found in December in the back of a pickup truck. They had been shot in the head.

Gay community leaders expressed fears they were killed because they were outspoken champions of gay rights. Shortly after the murders, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.contacted Attorney General Janet Reno to ask her make sure that law enforcement officials were investigating the possibility of an anti-gay hate motive in the murders.

"New confessions of the murders being a hate crime and not a 'botched robbery' are not a surprise to us," said Melinda Paras, executive director of NGLTF. "This has been a primary suspicion since the first hour the bodies were found."

Paras called attention to the case of Julianne Williams and Lollie Winans, two lesbians who were murdered on the Appalachian Trial in Virginia June 1. Paras urged the Department of Justice to give new consideration to the possibility that this may have also been motivated by an anti-lesbian bias.

Gay twins flee anti-gay harassment

Seamen--Two gay twin bothers remain in hiding, while the men who burned a cross on their lawn in this southwestern Ohio town and threatened their lives have been charged with disorderly conduct.

Ron and Don Singleton of Seamen were so concerned about their safety when their sister, her family and friends harassed them and threatened to out them, they left their aging father at home and fled the state.

Don, who was going to nurse two veterans in his home, declined the arrangement because the harassment would make it too difficult. He has found a job in Cincinnati, reported the Cincinnati Enquirer.

According to the Enquirer, four of the six men were charged with disorderly conduct. They pleaded guilty and paid $63.

Though the sheriff said he forwarded the case to the prosecutor for any possible further action, Adams County Prosecutor Greg Carroll said the case never reached him and he didn't know about the incident until the second week in July. ♡ -Daniel R. Mullen

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First rehearsal Sept 15th Call 216-473-8919 for more info. North Coast Men's Chorus is composed of gay and gay-supportive men.