MAY 1, 1998 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 9

NEWS BRIEFS

Gospel singing pair says gay spirit 'is the enemy'

Nashville, Tenn.-Gospel singers Angie and Debbie Winans, who released the antigay song "It's Not Natural," seem to be entering the political realm. On April 2, they visited Washington D.C. to join the religious right group Traditional Values Coalition in lobbying against the gay and lesbian Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

"We got a zeal. We're angry at the enemy," Angie Winans said prior to the trip. "There's a spirit that is a homosexual spirit. It's unclean and not of God. That spirit is the enemy. It's a strong spirit, it's deceitful."

In an April 2 statement, National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum director Jubi Headley pointed out that TVC has rallied in the past against affirmative action and social programs geared to help people of color, women and the poor. They have also backed efforts to try to unseat African-American members of Congress.

"By aligning with the Traditional Values Coalition, [Angie and Debbie Winans] are allowing themselves to be pimped by a machine whose very history devalues their own existence, because of their race, gender, and status, and regardless of their sexual orientation," Headley said. "While the Winans have publicly and unfairly categorized lesbian and gay communities as "the enemy,' they are, in fact, sleeping with the enemy." Rosie's gay brother seeks office

""

Albany. N.Y.-The openly gay brother of entertainer Rosie O'Donnell announced April 20 that he would make a run for a seat in the New York state senate.

Daniel O'Donnell, a former public defender, said he intends to seek the seat being vacated by Franz Leichter, a Democrat who is retiring after 24 years in the New York Senate.

O'Donnell, 37, is one of about six Democrats interested in the seat, which encompasses nearly all of Manhattan's West Side. Should he win, O'Donnell would become the first openly gay man in the New York legislature.

Leichter said he will stay neutral in the battle to succeed him, but added that O'Donnell is more than just a famous name. "Everybody refers to him as 'Rosie's brother,' but he's somebody in his own right," Leichter said.

Governor signs marriage ban

Des Moines, Iowa-Gov. Terry Branstad has signed a law stating that lowa will not recognize same-sex marriages.

Branstad signed the law without comment April 15, with his staff simply issuing a notice that the governor had approved it. The House and Senate both overwhelmingly was approved the bill earlier this year. Senators gave approval 40-9, while the House approved 89-10.

fired." Carleo added that the accusations of lesbianism was "the most inflammatory approach to take here."

"If you don't have any legal complaints, and you have someone who is vulnerable on that issue, then you go for it, and that's what these players did,” he said.

Dems rapped for anti-gay bills

Tulsa, Okla.-Democratic lawmakers here are taking some heat for not arguing when a bill to bar convicted sex offenders from working in schools was amended to also bar gays and lesbians. The bill was approved 100-0, and is on its way to a conference committee for more work.

Despite a resolution adopted by the Oklahoma Democratic Party State Convention that says the party "opposes, deplores and disavows discrimination, extremism and hatred of every kind," Democrats also did not object when Republicans offered an amended bill that would prevent children from being placed in the foster care of “someone who is a homosexual or a lesbian."

Oklahoma Democratic Party Chair Pat Hall defended the decision of Democratic lawmakers, saying that debating the issue "gives those preaching hate a bully pulpit."

"If you just move it through with a voice vote, then you have eliminated a hate pulpit," Hall said. He also admitted that another reason the amendments were passed without protest is because it is an election year, and anyone who openly opposes such measures could be accused of "promoting homosexuality" by political opponents.

City sodomy ordinance upheld

Topeka, Kan.—A three judge panel of the state court of appeals ruled on April 24 that an ordinance narrowly defining sodomy as sex between two people of the same sex or sex with an animal is constitutional.

Issuing an unsigned, unanimous decision, the panel refused to overturn the municipal court misdemeanor conviction of Max D. Movsovitz, who was was arrested in Topeka's Gage Park in April 1995 and charged with soliciting sex from an undercover police officer. Gage Park and has a reputation as a cruisy area for gay men.

According to court records, two undercover police officers approached Movsovitz while he was parked in his car. During a conversation, Movsovitz agreed to engage in oral sex.

Movsovitz, who was aided by the American Civil Liberties Union, claimed that the city ordinance and the state's anti-sodomy law were both unconstitutional, and violated his rights to privacy, equal treatment under the law and freedom of expression.

Citing the U.S. Supreme Court's 1986 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, which upheld Georgia's sodomy law, the appeals panel re-

Roughly half the states have approved jected all of the arguments. Movsovitz can similar legislation.

Coach denies 'recruitment'

Denver-The head coach of the University of Southern Colorado women's basketball team is calling allegations that she tried to coerce several players into becoming lesbians an "absolute lie.

Since December, six players have quit the team, and at least three have accused coach Sherry Winn of “spreading rumors that the players were lesbians and of trying to push them into adopting her gay life style," the Denver Post reported April 9. Winn has not commented on her sexual orientation.

According to the Post, three of the players-Kristie Dufek, Carol Hayes, and TimmiJo Miller-brought their complaints to university officials, who are investigating the charges.

"We always take any allegations made by students seriously," university president Tito Guerrero said. "By the same token, all employees... are entitled to due process.'

""

Winn's attorney, James A. Carleo, said the charges stemmed from personal conflicts among certain members of the team, and were intended to "defame the coach and get her

appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court. State sodomy law struck down

South Kingstown, R.I.—A Superior Court judge said April 24 that a 109-year-old state law forbidding oral and anal sex was unconstitutional, since it singles out only unmarried people for prosecution.

"Unmarried adults are subject to [the law] not because of the conduct in which they engage but because" they are single, Judge Frank Williams wrote. "Such a distinction bears no rational relationship to the purported objective of the statute. It's unconstitutional for an act to be legal for some people, but illegal for others," he said.

Opponents of the law said they hope Williams' ruling would convince lawmakers to repeal it.

The state house is currently considering a bill to repeal the "abominable and detestable acts" law, the first time lawmakers have not killed the measure in committee. A similar bill is being considered by the state senate.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, fourteen other states have laws banning oral or anal sex, while six others have statutes that apply only to sexual activity between members of the same sex.

Bookstore is vandalized

Minneapolis-A gay bookstore was vandalized April 21, in what is considered to be the fourth hate crime against the bookstore in six months.

A Brother's Touch Bookstore manager Aaron Happel found two holes in a window and shattered glass inside the store. Happel said he has no doubt it was a hate crime. "It's horrible," he said, “The hate crimes and the bias crimes that are occurring in the Twin Cities are absolutely ludicrous."

In August, someone spray-painted FAG, KKK and 187-the Los Angeles police code for homicide, often heard in movies on the store's window. Later in August, someone threw a couple of rocks through the store's window.

About two weeks later, two windows of the store were smashed out with a brick. According to police reports, that perpetrator was apprehended and plead guilty to vandalism.

With each act, the vandals have targeted a pink triangle in the store's window.

Teens get eight days for bashing

Corvallis, Ore.-Three teen-age boys have been sentenced to eight days each on a work crew and a year or more of probation for the February intimidation and assault of Paul Miller, a gay high school senior.

On April 22, Cyle Schroeder, 15, and Robert Huffaker and Michael Nash, both 16, appeared before Benton County Circuit Judge Robert Gardner. Miller, who

lost two teeth in the assault, did not attend the hearing. All three must undergo diversity education, pay restitution to Miller for his dental bills and write a letter of apology, judge Gardner said.

"If people are assaulted because of their particular status, the assault is not just on that person, but also on the group," Gardner said. "That's the reason I think this case had the publicity and had the attention I think it deserved."

Compiled by Doreen Cudnik, Dawn Leach and Eric Resnick from wire reports.

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