Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN
Skinheads II:
"the Ollie North
Mentality"
Page 13
August 18,1988
INSIDE
Circle K Corporation has issued a
dangerous new insurance policy,
according to the Human Rights
Campaign Fund,which has produced a
ground swell of opposition. PWA
organizers are working furiously to get
the policy changed. Page 3.
Counterculture shifts home this
issue, with a focus on local
entertainers. Singer/songwriter Angela
Motter daydreams with John Blizzard
about her upcoming album, which she
hopes will make top-forty fans want to
say "I am so tired of that Angela
Motter song." No one ever gets tired
of Big Hair (and other teases), as the
talented cast take it into its fifth month
Upstairs at Gene and Gabe's. Page 7.
. . . .
Living with AIDS-Michael Callen
Callen, who has been making a name
for himself as a musician while
balding AIDS for the past 6 years, has
released his debut album, Purple
Heart. The album, which he classifies
as a "celebration of being gay," reflects
Callen's belief that music is a political
act. Page 12.
Openly Gay Candidates
Defeated in Race for Ga. House
Lesbian and gay politicos reported both a
sense of frustration and validation on Tuesday
after realizing that the campaigns of Gil
Robison and Dick Rhodes for the Georgia
House of Representatives had failed to muster
enough votes to get the candidates past the
Democratic primary and into the general
election this fall. Both Robison and Rhodes
are openly gay men who were running on
platforms that emphasized "mainstream" as
well as lesbian and gay issues.
Robison was running in a seven candidate
field for the Fulton County at-large seat from
House Districts vacated by Representative
Barbara Couch. He garnered 8% of the
43,291 votes cast in the race Cynthia Ann
McKinney, daughter of notoriously
homophobic state Representative Billy
McKinney, will face state AFL-CIO
president Herbert Mabry in an August 30th
run-off election.
McKinney has stated in the past that her
father's views are his, and that her beliefs are
different. She was given an "acceptable"
rating by Greater Atlanta Political Awareness
Coalition (GAPAC) in their pre-election
candidate survey. Mabry was not rated by
GAPAC.
Rhodes, who also ran against six
competitors, fared poorer in his race for state
District 46 in DeKalb County. He received
4% of the 3,006 votes cast District 46
encompasses much of the north-western
comer of DeKalb.
District 46 voters will also decide a run-off
August 30th between political activist Doug
Teper and lobbyist Holly Bates. Teper was
rated as "reccommended" in GAP AC's pre
election survey, while Bates was not
mentioned.
Rhodes began the gay/lesbian political
season with his sutprise announcement for the
District 46 seat the night of the Super Tuesday
primary this spring, while waiting to hear if he
would go to the Democratic National
Convention as a Gore delegate. He targeted
education, the drug problem and an effective
AIDS strategy as priorities during his
campaign. He was the first openly gay man to
announce for the Georgia House of
Representatives.
Rhodes refused to categorize his candidacy
as a loss, however, reemphasizing the role his
campaign and volunteers have played in
"waking up" Democratic Party regulars in
DeKalb County. He also stressed the
education that his relatively inexperienced
team picked up, saying that they would be
available for future candidates to draw from.
While Rhodes does not plan on entering
any other races in the near future, he does
want to continue to work within the party in
DeKalb County. "It only costs $10 to joirj the
Cont'd. on Page 10
LEGAL volunteers Melinda Daniels and Tim Forchet stand guard outside the Midtown Hospital as far-right Christians
wait to be arrested at their feet. Lesbians and gay men have constituted a large part of the volunteer force helping to ensure
that the anti-abortion protesters do not succeed in disrupting services at Atlanta's clinics for women. See story page 3.
Controversy at
AID Atlanta
Continues,
Letters Fuel Speculation
The controversy surrounding the
management of AID Atlanta continues to
escalate. Last week a letter dated April 9,
1988 from Dr. Mervyn Silverman, director of
the AIDS Health Services Program-an
initiative of the Robert Woods Johnson
Foundation, was mailed anonymously to
Southern Voice. The letter clearly stated that
funding could be cut off if the conditions it
cited were not improved. There is no public
record that the entire Board of Directors of
AID Atlanta was made aware of the existence
or contents of the letter until late July or early
August after a more emphatic letter dated July
18,1988 (see Southern Voice VI No. 12)
from Silverman advised that AID Atlanta's
Phase n grant proposal was being returned for
reprocessing.
The first letter was addressed to Buren
Batson, Executive Director of AID Atlanta;
Bruce Gamer, President of AID Atlanta's
Board, was the only person at the agency
copied. The second letter was addressed to
Gamer; Batson and all members of AID
Atlanta's Board were copied.
Rumors about AID Atlanta and Batson,
fomented partially by the veil of secrecy
surrounding the agency, have ran rampant
throughout the community in the past month.
The revelation of the April 9th letter, along
with continued personality conflicts between
Batson and many members of the community
at large, has fueled speculation that the
Batson's days at AID Atlanta are numbered.
Other’s claim that his position is secure and
that his contract will be renewed soon. A
budget breakdown mailed to Southern Voice
with the April 9 letter indicates that Batson
would have received a healthy 27 percent
raise if the first Phase II funding application
had been approved.
Another rumor currently in vogue insists
Silverman, Robert Woods Johnson and
another major funder are demanding that
Batson be fired as a condition of continued
funding. Such rumors could not be
confirmed. Denise Graveline,
communications officer with the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation which funds the
Program, stated "Our program does not seek
to interfere with the internal personnel
decisions of any agency we fund."
Southern Voice attempted to reach both
Batson and Gamer for comment, neither
returned phone messages. Batson has
previously stated that the complaints made by
Silverman are "common mid-course
corrections" in a grant this size. Batson has
also commented that "there is no crisis (at
AID Atlanta)." Graveline confirmed that the
reason the grant was broken into two phases
Cont'd on Page 3