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Mavoral Race Heats Up
Lomax Scores Big Against
Jackson at 4th Tuesday Meeting
The votes won't be tallied until October
3, but mayoral candidate Michael Lomax
began to seriously carve out chunks of the
gay electorate during his appearance before
a lesbian networking group on May 23.
Lomax scored big at the monthly
meeting of Fourth Tuesday, a lesbian
business group, when he pummeled his
opponent Maynard Jackson for declining a
joint appearance with him at the meeting to
discuss the two candidates' lesbian and gay
agendas, observers said.
The scheduling problems which drew
Jackson away from the meeting early and
gave Lomax his opening were compounded,
Fourth Tuesday members said, by a
rambling and "insulting" response to
Lomax's charges by a Jackson campaign
EVETT BENNETT
Mayoral Candidate Michael Lomax
staffer, the Rev. Tim McDonald.
"I was embarrassed for Maynard," one
long-time Lomax supporter said. "It's
getting bad when I'm working for Michael
and I'm embarrassed for his opponent."
Although the Jackson campaign staff
denies that any damage has been done to
their candidate's appeal in the gay/Iesbian
community, they did acknowledge the
incident as an "unfortunate" tactical error.
"I would hope that there has been no
damage," said Jackson campaign manager
Kevin Ross. "This whole thing has been
unfortunate."
McDonald, who is a prominent leader in
VanderEls
Cont'd from Page 1
Hauptman declared during his closing
arguments. "Till the day she grows old and
dies, Leigh is going to wonder about what
may have happened during that meeting."
Judicial rules "require absolute
impartiality and absolute prevention of any
appearance of impropriety," Hauptman said.
He added that VanderEls should get a new
hearing because "We have the appearance
of impropriety in this case."
Judge Boswell could rule, however, that
the motions were not filed in a timely
manner, thus negating any possibility of a
new hearing.
When asked if she would continue with
legal proceedings for a new hearing if
Boswell does not rule in her favor,
VanderEls responded that she could not
make that decision until the ruling is handed
down.
"That will be a difficult decision to make.
For now I can only concentrate on Boswell's
decision. I have to take it one day at a time."
-Chris Duncan
the black civil rights movement, was "trying
to explain Maynard's scheduling conflict,...
when he strayed off the subject," according
to the Jackson campaign's Ross. He added
that although McDonald is highly valued by
the campaign, "He was not authorized as a
spokesperson for the campaign or as an
issues surrogate."
The effort to get Jackson to appear
opposite Lomax at the meeting was
apparently a scheduling comedy-of-errors
from the beginning.
"We just don't understand how the
Jackson campaign messed this up,"
complained Wendy Gaylord, Fourth
Tuesday program secretary.
Peter White, III, lesbian/gay liaison for
Jackson, said it was only a last minute
change of schedule that allowed his
candidate to appear at the meeting at all.
White said the campaign had originally
intended to send a representative in
Jackson's stead because the candidate was
scheduled to be out of the city. When
Jackson returned one day sooner than
expected, White said, he decided to go to
the meeting before attending a science fair
his nine-year-old daughter, Amanda, was
participating in.
"I have a daughter, too," Lomax
countered, and said he had told his family
they would have to take a lower priority
during the heated mayoral race.
Lomax campaign members have since
been implying that Jackson did not stay at
the meeting because he was not as well
prepared as Lomax to discuss issues of
concern to the lesbian and gay community.
"Now the gay/lesbian community has a
clear-cut choice," said Lomax lesbian/gay
liaison Gary Cox. "On the one hand, a
mayoral candidate who has said this is what
I'm going to do, and (on the other), an
opponent who has yet to put anything in
writing.
"I do not believe Maynard realizes how
well organized our community is going into
the 90's," Cox charged. "And I think his
tactics are reflective of an overall rose-
garden approach to this campaign."
Jackson supporters say their man could
have withstood the heat for leaving the
meeting early much easier if McDonald had
not addressed the group. .
Although it is unclear exactly what
McDonald meant by his remarks, the story
of his speech has already begun to attain
memorable status in the gay/lesbian
political community.
"I don't care whose side you’re on," said
Fourth Tuesday's Gaylord, "Maynard
deserved a better representative (than
McDonald)." Gaylord is an announced
Lomax supporter.
"The best weapon is the truth and
Maynard Jackson speaking it," said
Jackson's press secretary Angelo Fuster. "It
would be unfortunate for anyone to make a
decision on this campaign based on
statements made by a campaign
representative who was not authorized to
speak for Maynard."
White, Jackson's liaison to the gay
community, hinted that whatever negative
effect the Fourth Tuesday meeting might
have had will be negated when Jackson
releases his own lesbian and gay platform
agenda.
"Just wait and see," he said.
-Chris Duncan
AID Atlanta
Cont'd from Page 1
recommendations made by the consultant.
"My only issue was that they keep PWA
(People with AIDS) representatives on the
advisory panel and the social services
committee," Rahn said. He added that the
board passed a resolution to that affect
before submitting their resignations.
"We won't maintain representatives from
a specific group (on the board),"
acknowledged Paris. "At the same time, we
recognize that clients' must be given top
priority by the board." She added that in
addition to meeting the requirements of the
resolution passed by the board, the agency
has established a Client Hearing Board to
address any perceived or actual problems
with service delivery.
The future may well contain other
changes for Atlanta's preeminent AIDS
agency, Paris said. She predicted that the
agency will "continue to narrow its focus
and concentrate more on social services."
EVETT BENNETT
AID Atlanta Acting Dir. Sandra Thurman
Paris added that she hoped that the gay
and other AIDS-affected communities will
view the changes being made as a favorable
sign and be patient while they try to get
their house in order.
-Chris Duncan
a] [l] @ [s] jo] [n
ALMANAC
THIS MONTH
In Gay & Lesbian History
JUNE 8, 1972: Camille Mitchell
became the first open lesbian to win
custody of her children in a disputed
divorce proceeding. The judge, how
ever, ruled that her lover could not
move in with her until Mitchell’s chil
dren had "developed a firmer base of
understanding" about homosexuality.
Excerpted with permission from The Aly-
son Almanac, available in bookstores na
tionwide. Copyright c i9g9 by Alyson
Publications, Inc.
FAMILY
TREE
Marguerite
Yourcenar
b. June 8, 1903
d. Dec. 17, 1987
French writer
Yourcenar’s best-known novel. Mem
oirs of Hadrian, portrays a passionate
romance between Roman emperor Ha
drian and his beautiful lover Antinous.
In her authors note, Yourcenar
wrote that she should have dedicated
the novel to Grace Frick, her lifetime
companion, but even the longest dedi
cation is too short and too common
place to honor a friendship so uncom
mon | with someone) who leaves us
ideally free, but who nevertheless
obliges us to be fully what we are.
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