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Vol. 1, No. 12 Taking Pride in Our Culture GERALD JONES Skinheads, neo-Nazi by-products of the Punk movement, taunt demonstrators at the Free Speech site on Sunday before the Democratic National Convention. Skinheads claim to be "the ultimate patriots", and have ironically chosen Little 5 Points as their base of operation. See story page 6. MACGLO Backs Police Committee, Rejects Gay Center Task Force Delegates and Activists at the Democratic Convention were forced to make hard decisions about how lesbian/gay goals fit into the Democrats' scheme for regaining the White House. While the delegates were planning, the activists were playing havoc with Atlanta's city government. Pages 3 & 5.. ' ■ - ■ - , ' - : EXIT - for a good time during Decagon ’88, the tenth anniversary Hotlanta River Raft Race. This special pull-out feature will guide you to Atlanta's hottest clubs after'you float down the'Hooch. Centerfold. Dancers' rides to the beat of sweet success in the heart of L5P. Based on service, Dancers' Bicycle Shop celebrates their tenth anniversaty as a lesbian-owned and operated business. Rhodes for House District 46 is the rallying call for the first openly gay man to run for the Georgia House of Representatives. An interesting interview with the man who was also Georgia's first openly gay man to be sent to the Democratic National Convention. Page 13. Atlanta-Wi\h the question of exactly who will act as official liaison between the gay/lesbian community and the Atlanta police still up in the air, members of the Metropolitan Atlanta Council of Gay and Lesbian Organizations (MACGLO) cast their vote 21 to 1, endorsing the revamped Police ■ Advisory Committee developed by Cathy Woolard, president of the ACLU's Gay and Lesbian Rights Chapter (GayCLU). MACGLO's endorsement leaves the Atlanta Gay Center's Task Force on Anti Gay Violence without a stamp of approval from the organization, which represents almost 50 of Atlanta's gay/lesbian groups.The AGC and the GayCLU have been struggling for the past several months over issues of control of the advisory committee, with both groups meeting with Commissioner Napper. Woolard said she has had several productive meetings with city officials recently,but was "somewhat alarmed" by the prospect of having Napper continue to deal with two separate committees. Michael Wilson, who represented the AGC at the meeting and cast the lone dissenting vote, stated that a copy of the AGC's proposal outlining their plan for the committee was sent to all MACGLO organizations for their consideration several months ago. However, when asked for a show of hands, only two representatives had received it. Some MACGLO members expressed resentment they had not received the proposal, since it names MACGLO as one body from which committee members would be drawn, but had seen it in print several times in the AGC's publication, The News. "It's time for the Gay Center to join the community," said Nick Danna, a past president of the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Chapter. "We’re splitting the community when people are dying." Danna also suggested that the AGC, if they choose to not work with the community, should separate themselves and make it clear that they are only representing themselves. The AGC's Task Force was created last April by administrator Richard Swanson and board member Bill Gripp, after expressing their disapproval over the Police Advisory Committee's response to a Midtown shooting believed to be an incident of anti-gay violence. "We recognized a need in the community, and as a responsible organization, we responded to it," Wilson said. It was also in April that Napper, responding to complaints by the AGC about the Police Advisory Committee, asked ACLU-GA executive director Gene Guerrero to instigate an overhaul of the committee. Guerrero turned the job over to Woolard, who outlined her reorganization plans at the MACGLO meeting. Woolard said she had tried to incorporate the AGC's ideas in setting up the committee and had named a body of people "as representative of this community Cont'd. Page 6 Skinheads: Fascism on the Rise. Page 6 August 4,1988 $800,000 Grant In Jeopardy At AID Atlanta Atlanta-AID Atlanta and its executive director, Burcn Batson, are under fire from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funded a four-year 1.6 million dollar grant to be administered by AID Atlanta under the AIDS Health Services Program. In a letter circulated to AID Atlanta's Board of Directors, Dr. Mervyn Silverman, nationally renowned AIDS expert and director of the AIDS Health Services Program, criticized the internal management of AID Atlanta and sent back the proposal for Phase II of the grant, valued at $800,000. Rumors had circulated prior to the regularly scheduled held July 27th board meeting that Batson would ask that AID Atlanta withdraw its participation from the program in response to the highly critical letter. Grassroots AIDS activists rallied quickly and packed the board meeting to ensure that the board kept the community's best interest at heart. Batson emphatically denied the charges in a pre-meeting interview. The AIDS Health Services Program is a model that is being watched closely from around the country. Grady Memorial Hospital and the Visiting Nurse's Association (VNA) receive the lion's share of the grant monies, while AID Atlanta administers the program and acts as a central referral point in the system. The goal behind the program is to reduce the overall cost of health care for each person with AIDS (PWA). Silverman's letter cited five areas in which AID Atlanta's administration was lacking: poor communication with the subcontractors and the community, low agency morale, undocumented minority outreach programs, inconclusive housing and long-term care goals, and poor reporting standards. During the meeting, Batson and Dr. Don Smith, secretary of the board, characterized the charges as "common mid-course corrections" in a grant of this size. Batson stated that "academicians" do not know how to manage institutions. It must be noted that Silverman ran the San Francisco Department of Health during the early stages of the pandemic, and his assistant, Cliff Morrison began the model care program Ward 5B, which incorporated lovers and gay family in the healing and dying process of AIDS. "Communication within the program, to the subcontracors and with the community, must be improved," said Silverman. "The perception of AID Atlanta... was that the organization is more interested in administering the grant than in providing services for PWAs," he concluded. The fear that AID Atlanta was systematically attempting to distance itself from the gay/lesbian community was the prime motivating factor for the presence of many of Cont'd. Page 3