AUGUST 1, 1997 GAY PEOPle's ChroNICLE

9

NEWS BRIEFS

IRS backtracks, looks again at youth group's status

Greensboro, N.C.-The Internal Revenue Service has agreed to reopen the case of a gay youth support group seeking tax-exempt status after charges that an agent was biased against gays.

"It's very exciting," said David Buckel, a staff attorney with the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.

The gay legal group sent an angry letter to the IRS earlier this month on behalf of the youth group, the Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Support System.

In a letter dated July 9, the IRS agreed to reopen the case at no additional charge and assign a new agent to it.

In a September 1996 letter, the IRS stated that GLASS would not be given tax-exempt status until it proved, among other things, that it does not encourage homosexual attitudes or activities.

White House retracts comment

Washington, D.C.-White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry issued a statement July 21 retracting an earlier statement he made in support of the military's use of its 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. While the policy was intended to reduce discharges of gay and lesbian servicemembers, the Servicemember's Legal Defense Network has indicated that these discharges have increased since the policy began.

When asked about a New York court ruling concerning the policy, McCurry had told reporters July 3 that "We continue to believe that the policy is a good one, it is being implemented effectively by the Department of Defense."

"This is a puzzling assessment" wrote SLDN co-directors Michelle Benecke and Dixon Osburn in a July 10 letter to McCurry, "in light of the overwhelming evidence indicating that military officials have violated the policy with impunity and that discharges under the policy have increased to the highest level since 1991 and the highest rate since 1987."

After meeting with SLDN directors and other gay civil rights leaders on July 21, McCurry retracted the statement. He said that the comment was an off-the-cuff response, and that he had since learned that Defense Secretary Cohen has expressed concern about how the policy is being used, and has created a review panel to look into the policy.

"In retrospect, I would have pointed that out, if I had looked into the issue more on July 3," said McCurry.

Gay leader invited to summit

Washington, D.C.-President Clinton invited the director of the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum to be a part of an official U.S. delegation to an annual summit of Africans and African Americans in Zimbabwe.

Homosexuality is illegal in Zimbabwe, and summit host President Robert Mugabe has repeatedly made strong anti-gay statements in the last year.

Leadership Forum director Keith Boykin, a former White House aide, joined 30 people in the delegation which included Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and Rev. Jesse Jackson.

The July 20-25 summit addressed topics such as AIDS and health care, arts and culture, and women's issues.

Boykin said he is looking forward to discussing solutions to Africa's growing AIDS epidemic and to encouraging African-American leaders to take an active role in the global fight against AIDS.

Donkey kicks elephant

New York-The Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats of New York (GLID) publicly blasted the Log Cabin Republicans for giving Republican Senator Alfonse D'Amato of New York a "phony" leadership award.

According to a Log Cabin Republican

press release, the award was presented to D'Amato "for his leadership on gay rights and AIDS funding.”

"Senator D'Amato has thrown gay and lesbian New Yorkers a few bones as his toughest re-election ever approaches," said GLID president Doug Sterner. "But when you look at his whole record over the years, Alfonse D'Amato has repeatedly voted with Senator Jesse Helms and the rest of the antigay Republican leadership in Congress against the concerns of gay and lesbian New Yorkers."

Sterner added, "It is unfortunate and unacceptable that the Log Cabin Republicans— in their desperate attempts to win acceptance within their own party—would mislead and misinform voters about the true record of Senator D'Amato."

Calling them 'gay' costs $340K

Los Angeles-A judge ordered former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss to pay $340,000 for slandering two police officers who participated in her arrest and the father of one officer, an Olympic gold medalist.

They contended in a lawsuit that Fleiss went on Los Angeles radio station in 1996 and made false and damaging statements, including accusations that they are gay, and therefore sexual deviants.

Superior Court Judge Arnold Gold awarded $250,000 to former Olympic diver Samuel Lee and $45,000 each to Lee's son, Beverly Hills police officer Samuel Lee II and Los Angeles police officer Patricia Corso. Fleiss had insinuated that the elder Lee, who has coached diver Greg Louganis, was a pedophile.

The officers participated in the undercover sting operation that led to Fleiss' arrest on state pandering charges. The elder Lee is a retired doctor who won Olympic gold medals in diving at the 1948 and 1952 Games. Fleiss did not attend the trial. She is serving a 37-month federal prison sentence for tax evasion and money laundering.

Harvard allows gay weddings

Cambridge, Mass.-Harvard University has decided to allow gay and lesbian couples to hold marriage ceremonies in Memorial Church the main chapel on the prestigious Ivy League campus.

The school is believed to be the first major university in the nation to endorse same-sex unions by allowing marriages on its Cambridge, Mass., campus. A gay couple that wanted to get married in the chapel at Emory University in Atlanta last month ignited a controversy that resulted in the couple having to move the wedding.

Conservative Christians immediately denounced Harvard's decision, accusing the school of condoning something they consider to be a sin.

The new policy, which takes effect this month, applies only to Harvard students, employees and alumni, not the general public.

Nevertheless, Mark O'Brien, a leader of the Pride Interfaith Coalition, a gay rights group in the Boston area, says he thinks "it sets a wonderful precedent" that may spur other churches around the country to follow suit.

Frank says ENDA is stalled

Washington, D.C.-Rep. Barney Frank met with gay and lesbian Labor Department employees July 1 to discuss the status of ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a proposed federal bill to outlaw job discrimination based on sexual orientation. ENDA failed in the Senate last year by one

vote.

According to the Washington Blade, a lesbian-gay weekly, Frank told the group that the bill is stalled in the House. Frank said that the House Republican leadership refuses to let the bill come up for a vote, but that he hopes that may change if ENDA supporters put pressure on them.

Frank said that he is optimistic that the bill could pass in the Senate within the next year. NOW supports transgenders

Memphis, Tenn.-The National Organization for Women (NOW) passed a resolution July 6 on transgender issues.

"The statement recognizes the struggle of transgender and transsexual people and affirms people's right to self-identify," explained Terry McCorkell of the New Jersey NOW transgender issues subcommittee who said that a "substantial majority" voted for it.

The measure was originally introduced and unanimously passed at NOW-NJ's state conference in 1994, and then introduced at the 1995 national conference in Columbus. It was tabled for the next two conventions.

The resolution was reintroduced at the 1997 convention, and passed with the support of NOW President Patricia Ireland, New Jersey NOW President Bear Atwood and NOW Lesbian Rights Coordinator Kim Ward.

Ex mayor: I'm not a lesbian

San Jose, Calif.-Former San Jose Mayor Janet Gray Hayes has settled a libel suit against distributors of a history book that falsely described her as an “avowed homosexual," a defense lawyer said July 17.

The book, Chronicles of America, said she was lesbian at the time of her first election in 1974.

Hayes' attorney said that she supported gay rights as mayor but did not want to be identified as a lesbian and felt her reputation was damaged.

Her suit, filed in 1994, sought $1 million in damages.

Attorney John Carne, who represented

one of the distributors, said the settlement would include a court judgment saying the book's statement was inaccurate.

Gay school to open in Texas

Dallas-Three educators in Texas are forming a high school that caters to gay and lesbian teenagers.

Becky Thompson, Pamela Stone and Wally Linebarger plan to open the Walt Whitman Community School on Sept. 2.

Course offerings will include language arts, math, natural science, social studies and electives in either fine arts or human development.

The purpose of the school, named after the 19th-century gay poet, "is to create an atmosphere of tolerance, an acceptance of sexuality confusion and opportunities for personal growth so that each individual student can become a fully functioning and healthy member of society," according to its mission

statement.

"This population is a population that was underserved in terms of education," Stone said. "There wasn't anything special happening for these kids."

Thompson cited a 1984 New York study that found that 28 percent of gay and lesbian students drop out of high school because of harassment.

Other schools for gay and lesbian students operate in New York, Toronto and Los Angeles as partnerships between private groups and local school districts. The San Francisco public schools offer programs in all middle and high schools geared toward gay, lesbian and bisexual teens.

Compiled by Doreen Cudnik, Dawn Leach and Tom Rappa from wire reports.

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