December 17, 1999 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

newsbriefs

Ammiano loses bid to become first gay big-city mayor

San Francisco-Supervisor Tom Ammiano failed to defeat incumbent Mayor Willie Brown in a keenly watched runoff election for mayor of San Francisco on December 14. With 95 percent of the precincts reporting, Brown had 115,299 votes, or 60 percent, to 77,663 votes, or 40 percent, for Ammiano.

"I am not conceding the war. I am conceding the battle," said Ammiano, who would have become the first openly gay mayor of a major American city. "My voice may be

high, my orientation may be gay, my politics may be left, but we are right. We moved San Francisco forward."

Ammiano, a former schoolteacher and standup comic, will continue as president of the city's Board of Supervisors. He said he would run again for mayor in four years.

Tom Ammiano

The runoff election resulted from a strong showing Ammiano made in a four-way mayoral election in November. After beginning a write-in campaign only three weeks earlier, he won 25% of the vote.

"You have no idea how relieved I am," Brown told hundreds of supporters at Fisherman's Wharf, wearing a baseball cap emblazoned with STILL DA MAYOR in gold letters.

Brown hasn't lost an election since 1964, when he reached the state assembly by campaigning as an antidevelopment crusader. He served 31 years, including 141⁄2 as speaker, the longest tenure of anyone in the legislature's most powerful post.

Forced out by term limits that voters imposed largely in reaction to his imperial tenure, Brown was elected San Francisco's first black mayor in 1995.

Brown outspent Ammiano ten to one. Army moves to discharge May

Phoenix, Ariz.-An Army investigator is recommending the discharge of a Republican state legislator from Phoenix for violating the “don't tell" part of the military's gay policy.

State Rep. Steve May, a lieutenant in the Army Reserve, has been open about his sexuality since he first ran for office in 1996.

May's commanding general will decide whether to call a separation hearing board of three senior officers. If the board votes to discharge May, it would have to be approved by the Secretary of the Army. That process could take several months.

In the meantime, May, 28, is being con-

Teena Brandon, 21, who lived as a male and was known as Brandon Teena, was murdered December 31, 1993, by two men he told authorities had beaten and raped him six days earlier. The men later testified that they killed Teena to silence his accusations about the rape.

Teena's mother, JoAnn Brandon, sued the county and former Sheriff Charles Laux, claiming that they had been negligent when they failed to arrest John Lotter and Marvin "Tom" Nissen immediately after Teena reported the Christmas Day crimes.

JoAnn Brandon's attorney, Herbert Friedman, said that the award was "so insignificant that it tends to trivialize the whole matter," and that she will probably file an appeal, according to the Lincoln Journal Star.

The judge did not find that authorities should have made arrests more quickly. However, he ruled that the county should have provided protective custody for Teena after the rape.

The judge awarded $80,000 to JoAnn Brandon, of which Richardson County must pay 14 percent plus funeral expenses. Nissen and Lotter were ordered to pay 85 percent. However, their ability to pay is limited, as Lotter is on death row and Nissen is sentenced to life in prison for the murders of Teena and two others.

The judge found Brandon Teena one percent responsible for his own death,

to three different locations?" he said, paus-

ing. "I was part of an organization that was involved in that."

Altogether, the fires caused more than $1 million in damage at the Congregation B'nai Israel near downtown Sacramento, the Congregation Beth Shalom in suburban Carmichael and the Knesset Israel Torah Center in northeastern Sacramento County.

The Williams brothers have not been charged in the synagogue fires. Initiative remains 'Limit on Marriage'

Sacramento, Calif.-A Superior Court judge declined on December 8 to again change the name of an anti-marriage initiative on the March ballot.

The initiative, which will appear as Proposition 22, states, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." It is intended to deny recognition of same-sex marriages made in other states.

Proponents had named it the "Definition of Marriage" initiative, but Attorney General Bill Lockyer changed the title to "Limit on Marriage."

The proponents then sued to restore the original name.

Judge James T. Ford rejected proponents' contentions that the new name would prejudice the electorate.

subtracting $62 from a $6,223 award for Charges dropped in Mugabe 'arrest'

funeral expenses.

In his ruling, the judge said Laux "should apologize to Teena's family, her friends and to his community" for referring to him as an "it" while interviewing him in the rape investigation.

Advocates seek pro-gay referendum

Augusta, Maine-Supporters of a proposed state law to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination will seek another referendum during the next presidential election.

Gay civil rights opponents collected enough signatures to bring about a "people's veto" referendum in February 1998 that killed a state anti-gay discrimination law passed by the legislature the previous year.

This time, advocates will ask lawmakers to take the issue directly to voters. Supporters are counting on a different outcome by seeking a vote during a presidential election when there is usually a high turnout.

Only about 30 percent of adult Mainers cast ballots in the single-issue, midwinter election that repealed the rights law. By contrast, more than 64 percent of adult Mainers cast ballots in the 1996 presidential election.

With at least one poll suggesting that supporters of lesbian and gay civil rights outnumber opponents in Maine, a high-turnout referendum in November 2000 could get such a law onto the books.

sidered for promotion to the rank of captain. Williams says he started temple fires

May said he will challenge a discharge in court, arguing the Army cannot limit his free speech rights as a civilian or interfere with his ability to represent his constituents as a state legislator.

"This would cost me nothing to walk away right now. Believe me, I think about that every day," May said. "But it's my obligation to fight this immorality."

May's sexuality came to the Army's attention when he was called up for possible deployment in the Kosovo campaign last winter. His commander was given a newspaper article about comments May made on the Arizona House floor during a debate on domestic partner benefits.

Mom wins Brandon Teena lawsuit

Falls City, Nebraska-A Nebraska District Court judge has found Richardson County negligent in the death of a transgender man whose murder inspired two films. The December 7 judgment orders Richardson County to pay $17,360 in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the man's mother.

Redding, Calif. One of two brothers charged with killing a gay couple told a television reporter he started fires at three Sacramento area synagogues last June.

Reporter Jon Baird of KOVR-TV said December 8 that Benjamin Matthew Williams called him from the Shasta County Jail on Sunday, December 5.

Williams and his brother, James Tyler Williams, are charged with murder in the deaths of Gary Matson, 50, and Winfield Mowder, 40. The couple was found shot to death on July 1 at their home in Happy Valley, near Redding.

Benjamin Williams told a newspaper last month that he shot Matson and Mowder because he believed their homosexuality violated God's law.

Benjamin Williams, 31, told Baird how he blended the ingredients used to start the synagogue fires from oil and gasoline.

Baird asked him if he had run to all three synagogues, where fires started within 35 minutes in the middle of the night.

"Why would you assume that I have to run

London--A gay civil rights campaigner who tried to carry out a citizen's arrest of Zimbabwe's president during a protest in London will not be tried on charges.

The Crown Prosecution Service said December 10 that it had dropped all charges against Peter Tatchell, 47, because of insufficient evidence.

During a hearing at Horseferry Road Magistrates Court, the Crown also dropped charges against Chris Morris, 20, and Alistair Williams, 31, who had been accused of public order offenses.

Tatchell and members of the gay activist group Outrage! had approached the limousine of visiting President Robert Mugabe during a protest Oct. 30 over the alleged torture of two Zimbabwean journalists.

Mugabe has made numerous anti-gay statements in the last few years, calling gays "lower than pigs or dogs," and saying they should be rounded up and jailed.

During the protest, Tatchell said he told the African leader: "President Mugabe, you are under arrest for torture. Torture is a crime under international law."

Mugabe blamed what he called England's tolerance of homosexuality for the attack, and has said Zimbabwe is better than England when it comes to human rights.

"It is a vindication of a citizen's arrest on President Mugabe on charges of torture," Tatchell said. "If Mugabe returned to Britain we will arrest him again.”

Britain to end its military gay ban

London Following a European court ruling, Britain said December 13 it will lift its ban on gays in the military, but will first impose a new code of conduct for all personnel, gay or straight.

"Someone's sexuality is a private matter. People are entitled to a private life," Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said in an interview with the Times of London.

"A new code of conduct is, therefore, the right way of dealing with this question, but I want to make sure that any solution to this problem does not jeopardize the effectiveness of the armed forces," he said.

Under the new code, to be published next month, "inappropriate" sexual behavior between personnel on duty would be a disciplinary offense, but a person's sexual orientation would not be.

Britain's Labor Party government promised to lift the ban after the European Court of Human Rights ruled in September in favor of four gay people dismissed from the military. The judges said the ban was a grave interference in private lives.

Unlike the United States military, with its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, the British military flatly bans gays.

Compiled from wire reports by Denny Sampson, Michelle Tomko and Brian De Witt.

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