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AALGA Honors
Mobley at Dinner
The 1st Annual Marquis Walker
Humanitarian Award was presented on
Sunday, Oct. 30, to Carolyn Mobley, who
served as the first female co-chair of AALGA
(African-American Lesbian/Gay Alliance)
along with Walker. Over 75 people attended
the historic event.
Mobley, a volunteer, activist and entertainer
in the lesbian/gay community, was active in
the formation and organization of AALGA.
She is a member of the Atlanta Feminist
Women's Chorus, a former board member of
the Atlanta Gay Center and a founding
member and deacon of First MCC, the Atlanta
chapter of Metropolitan Community Churches.
Fulton County Commission Chair Michael
Lomax, the keynote speaker, spoke of strength
and acceptance in more general terms.
"You've got to be strong, you've got to be
powerful. You've got to look into the mirror
and accept - first of all -- who you are, with
pride and dignity, and then you've got to stand
up with pride and dignity to the rest of the
world," Lomax said.
"We don't have to be all the same to live
together as a civil community.
"A beautiful city is a city which includes
everyone and excludes no one. Atlanta is a city
that says, 'Be who you are, respect yourself
and respect the rights of others and your voice
will be heard," he said.
Lomax said it was appropriate that the
AALGA awards dinner was held at Paschals
ACLU
Cont'd from Page 1
ground. He said courts have often ruled that
Congress "cannot discriminate on the basis
of viewpoint in allocating funds." He cited
the case of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts v. Bowen, in which a U.S.
Court of Appeals struck down a Reagan
administration ban on federal funding for
family planning clinics that provide abortion
counseling. "It is clear that the government
cannot use the power of the purse string to
impose its ideological perspective on the
country," said Cole.
Lori Behrman, spokesperson for GMHC,
said that in July the CSC denied the
organization a $680,000 grant to do research
into educational techniques because the
content of the research was explicitly
homosexual. She said GMHC was forced to
end ongoing research about risk reduction
motel and restaurant, where much of the
planning and organizing for the black civil
rights movement took place.
"Paschals is food for the body and soul. The
Paschal brothers have been feeding America's
socially conscious for a long time," said
Lomax.
A special tribute in the form of an honorary
plaque was presented to Mercedes A. B.
Carolyn Mobley
Arnold for her contribution to the black gay
community.
Arnold, also known as Mercedes King, lost
two sons to AIDS - Bmce and Danny Wright.
Her dedication to her sons prompted her to
offer the use of her Bedford Pine residence to
the Atlanta Gay Center last summer. Arnold
stood by her decision to lease the property to
the Center, despite the homophobic reaction of
neighbors in the predominantly black section
of town.
-Davanna Jones
with Wendy Morse
techniques conducted at gay bars and
bathhouses.
A recent $207,000 grant to the National
Association of Black and White Men
Together's (NABWMT) Task Force on
AIDS prevention was accompanied by a
warning from the CDC that the
organization's materials could not "promote
homosexuality or offend community
standards." Reggie Williams, NABWMTs
director, said that Black gay and bisexual
men, who are often ignored by mainstream
AIDS organizations, need explicit
educational materials to avoid high-risk
behaviors. He said any censorship of the
NAB WMT's materials would result in the
death of some Black gay and bisexual men.
Helms' office did not return several
phone calls by GCN.
-Chris Bull
Reprinted from Gay Community News
(Boston, MA)
"...voices like hers come
along maybe once in a
generation."
-New York Post
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Lesbian Killer Faces 9 Charges
Linked to
4 Other Murders
Seattle - David Todd Ross, 24, was
charged Nov. 3, with first degree murder in
the May 18th stabbing death of Serena
Willers, a lesbian activist, vocational
counselor and Seattle Gay News columnist.
Police have linked Ross to four other
"crimes which were part of a common
scheme or plan," mounting a total of nine
charges against him according to
prosecuting attorney Jeffrey Baird. Ross
faces five counts of first degree armed
robbery, two counts of rape, one count of
indecent liberties and one count of first
degree murder.
Each case represents an attack of a well-
dressed, professional woman in her late
30's or 40's, and each occurred in Seattle’s
Pioneer Square/downtown area. Three of
the five women were personal or vocational
counselors.
"i don't think it was an issue of him
wanting to attack counselors, as some of
the media here have indicated. It was more
an issue of raping and robbing tall, well-
dressed professional women. It really
makes you wonder," said one of Willers’
coworkers.
Seattle Gay News reporter Cookie Hunt,
who knew Willers, said she didn't know
whether or not Willers' murder was a result
of her sexual orientation.
"It's sometimes hard to tell if a woman
was killed (because) she was a lesbian or
she was a woman. There's a lot of woman-
hating out there," Hunt said.
Police apprehended Ross on September
29th, after a female counselor recognized
him from a composite sketch circulated by
the Special Sexual Assault Unit of the
Seattle Police Department.
The counselor, who asked not to be
identified, worked about one mile from
Willers' office. She said Ross asked for an
immediate appointment when he entered
her office, but she gave him her card and
asked him to call back. He called and made
an appointment and the counselor notified
police, who were waiting for Ross when he
returned with a large knife and crowbar on
September 29th.
-Wendy Morse
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