Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN
VOCE
What to Do
When
Shit Happens
Page 13
Vol. 2, No. 2
Taking Pride in Our Culture
March 16,1989
Anti-Abortion Groups Try New Tack
Billboards Seek to Spawn Lawsuits
Hate Crimes Bill Goes to Congress;
Local Police Await "Instructions"
Ar/anra-Pro-Choice forces in the city
face a new threat from anti-abortion groups,
as a well-funded organization is dotting the
city with billboards asking women if they
are "Hurting after an abortion" and offering
a toll-free number to call for help.
The billboards, according to abortion
answering service in Chattanooga.
ARC has sought and received funding
from local churches, most notably the First
Baptist Church of Atlanta, and Mt. Vernon
Baptist In Atlanta, a steering committee
made up of seven businessmen whose
names have not been released, heads the
after an abortion?
MEDICAL ♦ LEGAL * EMOTIONAL HELP
rights activists, are part of an effort to bring
lawsuits against the clinics and force them
to close. The 60 billboards that have
appeared since last November are rented by
the Tennessee-based American Rights
Coalition, an organization with close ties to
right-wing evangelists, working for an end
to abortion. The 800 number reaches an
effort.
According to Melanie Vencion, assistant
to the president of ARC, Charlie Wysong,
the billboards are going up in several cities,
although Atlanta is the main target of the
campaign.
When women call the number, says
Cont'd Page 6
Georgia General Assembly Update
The Genera! Assembly was scrambling madly to finish its 40 days of work as Southern Voice
went to press prior to the constitutionally mandated end of session. Funding for many projects of
concern to the gay/lesbian and AIDS-affected communities appeared to be in better shape after ;
the two Houses reached a compromise agreement on an increase in the sales tax.
• A housecleaning bill to provide Durable Power o,f Attorney for Health Care Purposes (HB
999) as an addition to the current laws concerning durable power of attorney was introduced by
Rep. Jim Martin (D-Fulton). The purpose of the medical power of attorney, according to Georgia
AIDS Legislative Coalition lobbyist Gil Robison, is to specifically appoint one person to make all
medical decisions for an individual in the event of incapacitation. Although it is unlikely that HB
999 will be passed this session, Robison said he thought it would have a "good chance" during
next year's session.
• The "Resaca Pest House Bill" (HB 974) would allow county Boards of Health to regulate
hospices and nursing homes that house terminally ill people with communicable diseases. The bill
is, of course, AIDS motivated, and stems from a dispute between a landowner in the Northwest
Georgia town of Resaca and the Monastery of the Glorious Ascencion, which wants to care for
people with AIDS, Grady Stanley, the landowner, reportedly feared contamination of the air, the
ground, and the water with the AIDS virus, and induced Reps. Griffin and Foster (both
Democrats from Whitfield) and Meadows (D-Mcriwether) to introduce HB 974. Although the
bill can not be passed as new legislation in this session, Robison and others are watching closely
to see that it does not get attached to another bill at an amendment
• The Department of Human Resources (DHR) budget for FY 90 appeals to be in good
position to benefit from the new sales tax. A compromise on the DHR budget was reached before
the sales tax was announced, in which the budget amount is doubled from last year's figure of
$660,000. DHR requested $3.5 million at the beginning of the session, however, and many
legislative watchers feel that they might receive something closer to that amount before the
session is over.
A "hate crimes" bill, which would require the Justice Department to collect
comprehensive national data on crimes of prejudice committed because of race,
religion, sexual orientation, and ethnicity, was reintroduced last month in the U.S.
Congress.
The legislation, known as the Hate Crimes Statistics Bill, was overwhelmingly
approved in the House during last year's congressional session. However, it was
stalled in the Senate because of
threats made by Sen. Jesse
Helms (R-NC) to attach anti
homosexual amendments,
despite unanimous approval for
the measure by the Senate's
judiciary committee.
If enacted, the bill would
require state and local law
enforcement jurisdictions to
forward bias-related crime data
to the Justice Department.
The Atlanta police
department is apparently
awaiting passage of the bill
before they are willing to
absorb the cost of updating
report forms and computer
information-gathering THE HATE CRIMES STATISTICS ACT
programs. A spokesperson said that the department cannot justify the cost-estimated
at several hundreds of thousands of dollars-of changing existing crime reporting
systems now, if these systems will have to be changed later to comply with provisions
of any new legislation.
The Atlanta Gay Center, in response to what it believes is a growing number of
crimes committed because of anti-gay bias, announced March 1 that it will undertake
its own survey of hate-related crimes against gays and lesbians in metro Atlanta.
"The police say they have no statistics on the number of attacks against gays," said
AGC Anti-Gay Violence Task Force chair, William Gripp, "because their reports
don’t have any space for listing the cause of the attack." The results of the survey are
expected to require as much as a year to compile.
"We have people driving to the Midtown area for the express purpose of attacking
gays," Gripp said, referring to the arrest of two Douglas County men for the murder of
a Tucker woman February 7 in the Buckhead district. Police said that the men drove
into Atlanta to beat and rob homosexuals.
Meanwhile, Police Chief Morris Redding has directed police intelligence units to
begin submitting monthly analysis reports of hate-related crimes, in an attempt to
provide data that could reveal the extent of crimes of prejudice committed in Atlanta.
Public Safety Commissioner George Napper initiated the action in late February, a
spokesperson said. Redding's first report, due by mid-March, could reveal the extent
of crimes of prejudice committed in the city, even though crime report forms officers
currently use are not set up to determine if crimes are specifically prejudice-related.
"Both Commission Napper and Police Chief Redding are sensitive to this issue,
particularly as it relates to the gay and lesbian community," the source said.
Last September the deputy chief of police for criminal investigations asked zone
commanders to forward reports of suspected hate crimes to intelligence units for
study.
Gay and lesbian groups predict floor votes on the Hate Statistics Bill in both the
House and Senate within the next few montlis.
In 1987,7,008 reported cases of verbal or physical abuse aimed at the gay and
lesbian community could be documented from random surveys compiled nation-wide
by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, up from 4,946 reported incidents in
1986.
- Matt Moline
