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HRCF Dinner
a Success
Over 600 people attended a $150 a plate
fundraiser for the Human Rights Campaign Fund
(HRCF) Saturday May 21 st. Touted as the largest
lesbian/gay fundraiser in Georgia history, the
gathering was treated to "fumerist" (feminist
humorist) Kate Clinton's political insight; and rose
to its feet to honor Representative John Lewis and
the Atlanta March Committee for their outstanding
work on AIDS issues and lesbian/gay civil rights.
A grant of $2,500 to the Greater Atlanta Political
Awareness Committee (GAPAC) was announced
during the dinner.
The only note of discord to the evening was the
refusal of Governor Joe Frank Harris to issue a
welcoming proclamation for the event Despite
welcoming proclamations from Mayor Andrew
Young, Fulton County Commission Chair Michael
Lomax and Dekalb County Chief Executive Officer
Manuel Maloof, and the attendance of
Lewis,Lomax, Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther
King III, and the Reverend Ralph David Abernathy,
Harris' office responded that they weren't aware that
human rights meant gay and lesbian rights. "We
don't issue proclamations to groups like that... that's
too controversial,” said Claire Gissendanner, the
governor's proclamation officer.
The Saturday night event was the culmination of
events that began one year before the National
March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights,
according to Dr. Slosh Ostrow. Noting last year's
march as a focal point of energy sent back to local
communities, Ostrow reported that he was pleased
with the evening's success.
Kennedy
Continued From Page 1
The fact that Kennedy's bill, which had over 55
co-sponsors, passed the Senate is no surprise.
Despite its $1.1 billion price tag, it won by a
lopsided 874 vote, which sends a clear and
bipartisan message to Reagan that the Senate is
unhappy with how he is handling the AIDS crisis.
The debate over the Helms amendment and the
Kennedy counter-amendment was long and'
emotional. Helms did his share of gay-bashing
saying that the GMHC film "turns my stomach."
The surprise of the day was a defense of gays
from bill co-sponsor Orrin Hatch (Utah). ”1 did not
expect Hatch to be so incredible," said one
Republican staffer. "He look Helms on head for
head and Helms was left to stand there with his teeth
in his mouth."
In spite of defending as well as voting for the
Kennedy
counter-amendment, Hatch voted against Kennedy's
motion to table the Helms amendment and in favor
of the amendment itself.
Prior to the debate, Se. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.)
circulated a letter saying that he regretted his pro
Helms vote in October more than any other vote
during his 19 years in the Senate. He specified that
the amendment had prevented the CDC from
allocating funds to groups that promote safer sex.
It is difficult too gauge how much effect the
October Helms amendment has had on AIDS
education - or what future effects the current Helms
ploy Will have. Some gay leaders say the
amendment has already been used to limit funding
of safe sex materials and point to the attorney
general of Texas as an example. He warned the state
that the distribution of condoms in prisons would
violate the Helms law.
It remains unclear what the House response will
be to SB 1220. Sources say that Rep. Henry
Waxman (D-Calif.), who chairs the health and
environment subcommitteee, wants to bring his own
AIDS research bill to the House floor rather than
1220 and then negotiate the differences between the
two bills.
It is also said that Waxman wants to bring to a
committee vote his $400 million bill for antibody
testing and counseling. This strategy would push a
vote on the research bill into the summer, when the
political conventions loom
-John Ward
special to Southern Voice
Insight into PWA
Courage
On Chuck Solomon's 40th birthday, his friends got
together and threw him a party to end all birthday
parties. Thus begins the one hour documentary
Chuck Solomon: Coming of Age to be shown at the
Georgia World Congress Center this weekend as a
part of The Names Project Quilt showing here.
Solomon was an actor-director of San Francisco's
Theatre Rhinoceros.
San Francisco Examiner critic Michael Dugan
says of the film; "It's an effervescent affair, swollen
with love, every performer drawing his or her cue
from Solomon's own transcendental courage."
Chuck Solomon: Coming of Age is just one of the
films from The Aids Film Project being shown this
weekend. Other films include a series of videos from
the American Film Institute's critically acclaimed
Only Human Series, as well as the film Buddies.
For a complete description of the schedule of
events, see die special Names Project insert included
with this issue of Southern Voice.
"Wedding" Organizer Dies Suddenly at Age 36
West Hollywood, CA-Walter Wheeler, President
and co-founder of Couples, Inc. and co-creator of
The Wedding at the National March on
Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, died of an
apparent heart attack Monday, May 16th at his
home in West Hollywood. He was 36.
Wheeler and his partner of over five years, J.
Carey Junkin, originated and coordinated The
Wedding on October 10,1987, in Washington, DC
at the Internal Revenue Service building, where
over 2,000 gay and lesbian couples formalized their
commitment to one another in a mass-marriage
ceremony. Dina Bachelor, a metaphysical minister
from California, performed the service and the
Reverend Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan
Community Church, delivered the wedding sermon
to over 10,000 people in attendance. Wheeler and
Junkin overode initial opposition from the National
March on Washington Executive Committee to
stage the event, which many called the most
moving experience of the March weekend.
Wheeler and Junkin also headed Couples, Inc., a
national organization for family diversity whose
theme is "Love makes a family. Nothing else,
nothing less." Couples is a political advocacy
group promoting full legal and social recognition of
same-sex couples to ensure all rights and privileges
heterosexual married couples enjoy. Earlier this
month, Wheeler was intrumental in securing and
enforcing an AMTRAK policy to provide reduced
fares for gay and lesbian couples and families
under AMTRAK's family fares.
Southern Voice Editor Chritina Cash, Vice
President of the Southern Chapter of Couples, Inc.,
said "I am incredibly sad. Walter's death is a
Walter Wheeler (left) and Carey Junkin at the
Southeastern Conference for Lesbians and Gay
Men this April. Photo by Rhonda Mensen
tremendous shock and a big loss for us. Walter
was so dedicated. He worked tirelessly for Couples
and did everything he could personally and
politically to achieve the goal of full legal
recognition for same-sex couples. I was always
excited by Walter’s ideas; his energy and his
warmth wall be greatly missed." Cash and her
partner, Leigh VandefEls, were interviewed with
Wheeler and Junkin by nationally syndicated talk
show host Sally Jesse Raphael in December, 1987,
on a show about gay/lesbian relationships.
"Walter was no stranger to civil rights issues,"
remembers Mark du Pont, Secretary of Couples,
Inc. "He started marching in the 60's with the King
marches in Alabama He was always seeking
justice and fair treatment for all Americans."
A resident of Atlanta for over ten years, Wheeler
and his former wife Leslie Richey were early
settlers in Inman Park and central in its resurrection
to a thriving intown neighborhood. "He had the
vision to see what that wreck of a house on Sinclair
Avenue could be," Pat Westrick of Inman Park
Restoration remembers. "He cared passionately
about this community and he didn't just care, he
was very active. He didn't care if anybody was
behind him or not, he would take charge of the
situation and try to correct it" Westrick recalls that
when Wheeler moved to Los Angeles with Junkin
in 1983, he sent back three cartons of neighborhood
materials compiled for Inman Park, including a
bikeway path he designed along what is now the
Presidential Parkway. "We miss him," Westrick
says.
Trained as a civil engineer, Wheeler worked for
Parsons Brinckerhoff Tudor Bechtel in Atlanta, the
engineers for MARTA, and helped design the
MARTA rail utility system "His passion was
subways," Chris Cash smiles. "When we were in
New York for Sally Jesse Raphael, he took us all
over the subway explaining the entire system to
us."
Walter Lee Wheeler was bom September 6,
1951 in Baltimore, Maryland. He is survived by
his partner Carey Junkin, his mother Cass Wheeler
and his brothers Ralph P. and David Wheeler, and
former spouse Leslie Richey, and numerous
friends. Funeral services were held May 24th in
Glen B untie, Maryland, and a memorial service
will be held next week in Los Angeles. Informal
gatherings of his friends are planned for Atlanta.
- Dave Patrick Hayward
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