Newspaper Page Text
Page 6
Journal of a
Lesbian Mother
In January, 1987, Judge William Ison of Clayton
County Superior Court awarded custody of Leigh
VanderEls' seven-year-old son, Chase, to
VanderEls'ex-husband. After four days of
testimony, Ison read the findings and conclusions
of the Court, each of which addressed Leigh's
lesbianism. No other grounds were offered upon
which the change of custody was based.
Subsequently, Leigh was asked to resign from her
job at Clayton County Department of Family and
Children Services where she worked with children
in foster care and adoptive homes; Judge Ison had
called and relayed details of the case to Leigh's
employer.
Currently, Leigh is awaiting word from the
Georgia Supreme Court, where the case will be
reviewed in the near future.
Below, Leigh shares excerpts of her journal
from the past year.
January 19871 haven’t stopped crying for two
days. I feel as if my heart has been ripped from my
body and thrown away so Til never find it again. I
keep picturing Chase hiding behind the dryer
screaming and crying that he doesn't want to go. If
I could have at least had the weekend with
him...ten minutes isn't time enough to explain. We
need to be together, to cry together. There are still
so many things to say. I keep holding the furry
white teddy beayt's the only thing I have to hold
onto.
April 1987 Chase is here for the weekend and I
feel the need to organize my drawers. Our visits
are very strained. When we see each other we are
forced to deal with our pain. There's a part of me
that wants to avoid it Chase is mad at me because
he had to move to Nashville. He perceives me as
being unable to protect him. He's confused and not
talking about his feelings. Our weekends are
tension-filled, and often not very pleasant I hope,
with time, it will be easier and we will be able to
share our pain.
June 1987 "On the Road Again" sung by Chase
andtheManhattans. It was one of those very
special times that none of us will ever forget We
were a tad nervous about recording our "first tape"
in front of a crowd of strangers. None of us are
country music experts, but we were in Nashville.
We had so much fun that day and we were excited
about a tangible reminder of our precious time
together. Chase wanted to play the tape
continuously (so did we). It feels so good to be
together. Chase, good friends, our family. Our
precious family.
September 1987 It's Chase's birthday. I really
want to share this time with him. I miss listening to
his ideas, perceptions of the world, and what he did
at school. We had planned his party for next
weekend, but they won't let him come even though
it's my scheduled visitation. I wonder how that
makes him feel. He spent the first seven years of
his life with me... our family, our friends. I hope
he knows how much he means to us. Iamso
angry. They want to pretend that I never existed.
It's not healthy. I won’t do that
October 1987 We were riding home from
mother's..! love riding in the car with Chase, there
are no distractions, it feels safe for us. He asked
me why judges always give custody to the "other"
parent He explained that his friend had to go live
with his mother and he had been living with his
father. He became very angry. (It feels good when
he expresses his anger, I wish he would more
often.) He asked why judges were allowed to
make decisions about where kids should live
because they don't even know the families. I don't
know. I agree with him. We both feel that w e
have no control to make those decisions for
ourselves. I told him that Tm still trying to regain
custody. It made him feel better, but I am not so
sure atout me. There is still someone else deciding
the fate of our lives.
It feels wonderful to talk with him. He’s very
insightful. I love the person that he is.
January 19881 haven't been able to find Chase.
They told me they were moving (two hours further
away) but there is no listing in Memphis. I need to
hear his voice and be sure that he is all right. What
if they didn't move to Memphis? This will be his
fourth move in a year...and my home is unstable?
They can move wherever they choose and I don't
have a legal right to stop them. I am so afraid we
won't be able to see each other as often.
February 1988 Chase couldn't wait to get home
and open his presents. I gave him a journal with
teddy bears on it I thought it would help him to
express his feelings since he’s "not supposed to
talk" about them in his father's home. He read the
inscription and immediately began to cry. We have
missal each other so much. Our time together is
less frequent because of distance and finances.
Fortunately, we can cry together now.
March 19881 called home today and the message
Chase made for Valentine's Day was still on the
machine. His voice stirs feelings of happiness,
love, guilt, anger and pain. We had a great time
during his last visit (but it seems like such a long
time ago). Our relationship is more comfortable
again. Sometimes our long distance conversations
are strained with his "new family" listening and
reminding him to get off of the phone. It's difficult
for him to open up under those circumstances.
Often, we are able to get past it and really connect.
We will be returning to court soon. It's
frightening! My faith in the justice system is
shaken...but I still hope.
Regardless of the outcome we will continue to
love each other and grow. I really want to believe
that things work out for the best I will always
remember what Chase told me during one of our
visits, "You will always be my mother, you birthed
h
me.
Sparks, Cont.
Continued From Front Page
demonstrate a person is or isn't gay. The police ignore
the possibility of anti-gay crime being motivated by the
perception of a person’s sexual orientation." Gripp
responded to the charges by calling the shootings a
"window of opportunity" for the AGC to bring anti-
gay/lcsbian violence to the public's attentioa
According to Gripp, "it is the ideation of a suspect,"
not the orientation of a victim which must be assessed
by the police crime investigators.
A list of five demands prepared by the AGC Task
Force against Napper appeared in an editorial
commentary written by Swanson in an issue of The
News, a publication of the AGC. Swanson is also
Managing Editor of The News.
The AGC Task Force demands included a call for
Napper to "make an unambiguous public statement that
the city of Atlanta will not tolerate anti-gay crimes..."
Other issues addressed among the five demands
were sensitivity training on lesbian/gay concerns for
the corps of police officers, disciplinary procedures for
discriminatory behavior by officers against lesbians
and gays, recognition of hatred (bias) as a motive for
crime, and statistical collection issues.
In the same issue of The News, Swanson and writer
Gate Koland issued thinly-veiled threats against
heterosexual society and Commisioner Napperts
political career. Koland, an AGC Board member
writing under a psuedonym, concluded that, "Some
(people) are already saying that maybe we ought to
consider buying guns, and that it might be immensely
satisfying to teach some queer-bashing rednecks an
expensive lessoa As a law enforcement officer, he
(Napper) must be aware that people who are afraid
sometimes do desperate things." Swanson stated in his
editorial that "Commissioner Napper must do his job.
If he refuses, he must be replaced. It's that simple."
Gripp staled that he was unaware of any plans to
back up Swanson's statements with community-wide
action
Swanson stressed the perceived lack of concern by
the Department of Public Safety in response to reports
of anti-gay/lcsbian violence as a primary factor in the
formation of the AGC Task Force. Both Swanson and
Gripp lambasted the previous work of the American
Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) Police Advisory
Committee of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Chapter to the
Public Safety Department for its "ineffectiveness and
inactivity" on past incidences of suspected bias crime.
Maurice Wiel, past Chair of the Advisory
Committee, countered Gripp and Swanson's assertions
that the Committee was inactive, stating that "the
Advisory Committee has always met on an as needed
basis." He did admit, however, that the Committee had
not been as active in the last three months, due to work
the ACLU was doing along with the Georgia ADS
Coalition during the General Assembly Session.
The Police Advisory Committee has been in
existence for seven years, according to George
Braining The Advisory Committee has had "excellent
relations in the past with the Atlanta Police
Department, and that is because we search for
constructive solutions to problems," said WieL Gripp
was a member of the Advisory Committee in 1981
When the AGC Task Force members were
informed that the meeting they had demanded with
Napper had been agreed to and set for March 24, they
were dismayed to learn that members of the Police
Advisory Committee, many of whom they considered
unfriendly to the Gay Center, along with members of
other metropolitan lesbian and gay organizations,
would be present at the meeting.
Among those present at the meeting were Buren
Batson, Jr., AD Atlanta; Ray Kluka, Midtown
Neighborhood Association; Gene Guerrero, ACLU -
GA; Greg Schroeder, ACLU - GA, Gay/Lesbian
Rights Chapter, Jeffrey Laymon, MACGLO
(Metropolitan Atlanta Council of Gay/Lesbian
Organizations); Maurice Wiel III; George Brenning
and Jud Herndon. Representing the AGC Task Force
were Bill Gripp, Chairperson; Richard Swanson;
Michael Wilson; Dr. Donald Smith; and Jean Levine.
Present from the Department of Public Safety were
Commissioner Napper, Deputy Chief of Police Beverly
Harvard, and representatives of the police academy and
the Atlanta jurisdictional zones.
"Napper was very constructive throughout the
meeting, wanting to address all of the issues being
brought up. It was evident that bias crimes are a part of
their (the Department of Public Safety) agenda,"
reported Laymon.
Wiel and Brenning agreed with Laymon, stating that
'They (the AGC Task Force) re-raised a number of
issues we brought up as long ago as two years." The
hue purpose of the AGC Task Force was to place
Gripp "in a position of importance in Atlanta politics....
And this is a result of my refusal to reappoint him to
the Advisory Committee," said WieL
Commissioner Napper refused to issue the blanket
position statement on bias crime that AGC Task Force
members were insistent upon. Instead, he chose to
appoint an informal committee to assist him in wording
a document to include all hate-motivated crime. He is
expected to receive a report from his committee within
two weeks.
Gripp refused to be a member of the committee,
declaring "I don't want to waste my time silting on a
committee to write a statement that should come from
you (Napper)." It was reported independently by
Laymon and Brenning that Gripp also said "It's my
responsibility to raise issues, not to solve them." Gripp
has emphatically denied making such a statement
He commented that he felt that it was "obscene that
we had to form a committee." Wiel said that it was an
example to him of Gripp using the legitimate
committees and organizations of the lesbian and gay
community as his own personal tools. What he is
practicing is the politics of exclusion, ...the politics of
deceit The purpose of this Task Force'was for the
AGC to appoint themselves to power,... it was a power
play.
AGC Task Force member Smith did break ranks
with Gripp and agree to help prepare the statement
City Hall insiders predict that Napper will attempt to
involve Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young in issuing such
a statement
All other demands by the Gay Center Task Force
were referred internally to the Department of Public
Safely, which will investigate the issues and report to
Napper as appropriate.
According to Gripp, the Atlanta Gay Center Task
Force "is enthusiastic... and while we would have
wanted Napper to do it (issue a statement against hate
crimes) right away, we trust him at his word. We have
thrown him the ball, hell either dribble it or drop iL”
Due to squabbling among the participants at the
March 24th meeting, the groups involved agreed to
form a temporary committee to study plans to improve
the Police Advisory committee. Guerrero will act as
temporary chair of the ad hoc committee.
Chris Duncan
Midtown Resident
Details Shooting
Atlanta- Two people were shot in the Midtown
section of Atlanta the evening of March 11,1988, by
an unknown assailant The lovers, Michael Dcnyou
and Jamie Bowman, were on their way to a local
bar/restaurant when they were accosted by a man
wielding what Ms. Bowman described as a 'large
gun", near the comer of 5th Street and Myrtle Avenue.
Many Atlantans remember Bowman, a transsexual, as
the female impersonator Jamie Cole, who performed
regularly for several years in Atlanta before beginning
the process to undergo male-to-female surgery.
Bowman, dressed as a female, believes their
assailant initially assumed they were a heterosexual
couple. He approached them out of a parking lot
and appeared to be on some type of drugs, according to
Bowman.
"He was walking towards us on the sidewalk, and 1
stepped behind Michael (Dcnyou), to let him pass.
When I did that he was no more than two feet away
from us, and he pulled out his gun from under his
jacket, and pointed it at us."
"When tfie man pulled the gun out on us, I didn't
know what to think. Michael was in shock. The man
didn't say a word. I pulled my gun, and screamed at
him Freeze! Drop the gun!' I said it three times. He
was shocked that I had a gun pulled on him. Andhe
was amazed at the tone of voice coming from me. We
don't look like two gay men walking down the street
When he heard the voice coming out of me, he just
freaked, and he started shooting. That bought me three
bullets, for being who and what I am. Andthenhe
turned around and shot Michael once," she said.
Bowman was shot in her shoulder and left chest.
The injuries caused no serious complications, though
surgeons were not able to remove two of the bullets.
She was released form the hospital six days after being
shot. Denyou was shot in the head, and was still in the
hospital as of press time. According to Bowman,
although the bullet itself did not enter Denyou’s brain,
it shattered his skull, and drove fragments into the
areas of his brain that control speech.
Their attacker "turned and ran down the block and
that was all I saw. When he turned the comer, there
was a man standing there with a dog, and he shouted to
me, He just jumped into a van.’ I was very coherent
throughout it all. I never lost condousness."
Bowman is highly critical of The Atlanta Journal-
Constitutioris accounts of the double-shooting, on both
factual and ethical grounds. The first notice of the
attack was reported in the Atlanta daily which stated
that Bowman and Denyou were shot from a passing
van, leading many to speculate that it was arandom
shooting, in an area of town known to have a large gay
and lesbian population.
"Apparently he was waiting for anybody (to walk
by), and he had the van parkerLand waiting,"
corrected Bowman. "And after he did his thing, he just
jumped in the van and zoomed off," she said.
"A reporter from the Constitution showed up on
Monday (the 11th), and they put in all kinds of nothing
Cm their story). They even put in the address of where
I live, so that this man could possibly come back and
just finish me off. So, I'm kind of pissed off. .
She is not pleased with the City of Atlanta Police
Department, either. According to Bowman, she was
not contacted by the Police until Monday, the third day
after she was shot 'The Detective came in, asked me
a few questions, said he would be back the next day,
and I haven't seen hair nor trace of him since."
When asked if pulling the starter pistol didn't
precipitate the shooting, she answered "No. We didn't
have any money... If he had pulled the gun, searched
my purse, and found no money, he probably would
have shot us anyway. He was very, very nervous.
You could feel the vibes strongly."
Bystanders woe quick to stop and help, for which
Bowman is very thankful. "People were concerned.
They did take time out to help us," said Bowman.
■ Chris Duncan