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SOUTHERN VOCE Vol. 2, No. 10 Taking Pride in Our Culture July 6,1989 VanderEls Wins Latest Round Clayton County Judge Who Took Custody Away from Mother Because of Sexual Orientation, Removed from Case Leigh VanderEls won a major victory June 23 in her three-year-long battle to regain custody of her son, when Clayton County Superior Court Judge Stephen E. Boswell removed the original trial judge from the case. Boswell found that there was an air of impropriety involved when Clayton County Superior Court Judge William Ison discussed the case with VanderEls' supervisor at the time, Ann Plant. Boswell also ruled in VanderEls' favor on a question of whether or not motions in the case had been filed in a timely manner. Commenting on the victory, VanderEls said, 'Tm ecstatic. I feel it's the first positive ruling I've had since the case began three years ago. "It certainly gives me some hope for the future," she added. Ison was alleged to have spoken with Plant regarding VanderEls' position with the Clayton County Department of Family and Children Services (DFACS) after he ordered then 7-year- old Chase Ryan removed from Ms. VanderEls' home and placed with his biological father instead. Leigh VanderEls, who has fought for almost three years to regain custody of her son, can now seek a new hearing. In an order signed June 23, the judge who ruled against VanderEls because of her sexual orientation, was removed from the case. Michael Hauptman, who is VanderEls' attorney as well as president of the Georgia ACLU, told Southern Voice that Boswell's ruling clears the way for his client to seek a new trial. VanderEls began her legal battle in January, 1987 after Ison ruled in favor of a petition by her ex-husband to change the original divorce decree and grant custody of their son to the father. VanderEls' appeal is based on her allegation that Ison showed undue prejudice against her sexual orientation when he discussed her case with her employer. Ison admitted on the stand in Boswell's courtroom that he granted custody to the father solely because of VanderEls' sexual orientation. He stated that he felt the change of custody was "in the best interest of the child." In papers filed with the court, VanderEls alleged that upon ruling against her in the custody case in 1987, Ison instructed someone from the district attorney's office to contact Ann Plant, director of the Clayton County DFACS where VanderEls was employed as a foster care and adoptions caseworker. The person from the D.A.'s office allegedly told Plant to call Ison about the VanderEls case. Plant told VanderEls, subsequent to her conversation with Ison, that she had no choice but to remove VanderEls from her casework position. Plant allegedly stated that VanderEls would be a detriment to the department if she was called to testify in a child welfare case and placed her in a position where she had no client contact. That conversation, VanderEls maintains, led her to leave her her job at DFACS because she "had no future there." During his testimony before Boswell, Ison denied that he had initiated contact with Plant He maintained that Plant had contacted him to ask for "advice" on what to do about an upcoming promotion for VanderEls to a position in Child Protective Services. Plant however, testified that she was told to contact Ison by Bob Keller, district attorney for Clayton County, at which time they did discuss Ihecase. That conversation, whatever was said, was enough to convince Boswell that Ison should be removed from the case.The ruling also clears the way for VanderEls to request a new hearing. If a new hearing is granted, Chase VanderEls could be living with his mother again before school opens this fall. Asked about her feelings on that, VanderEls said, "I had pretty much given up hope, and now this ruling has given me a renewed sense of hope, ... and a small amount of faith in the justice system. _ - Chris Duncan Pride '89 - USA More than one million people participated in Lesbian and Gay Pride events held around the country this year in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots. The following is a city-by-city count of some of the celebrations held nationwide. ▼ Atlanta - 2,000 ▼ Birmingham - 250 T Boston - 50,000 T Chicago - 90,000 ▼ Dallas - 9,000 T Los Angeles - 200,000 T Louisville, KY - 300 ▼ Miami, FL-3,700 ▼ Nashville, TN-500 ▼ New York-150,000 ▼ Philadelphia -1,000 T Ralcigh/Durham - 3,000 ▼ San Francisco - 300,000 ▼ Seattle - 20,000 T Washington, D.C. -10,000 2,000+ Atlantans Turn Out For Lesbian and Gay Pride '89 JO GIRAUDO Members of ACT UP show their spirit and pride in Atlanta's Lesbian/Gay Pride March which was described by many as "the best ever." Superlatives flashed through the crowd gathered for the 1989 Lesbian and Gay Pride Day like wildfire-this year, they said, was the hottest, the biggest and the best Pride Day ever. Records show that the march held on Saturday, June 24 was not quite the hottest or the biggest, but there is no denying the renewed sense of community and pride were a welcome relief to what has been a contentious year of the gay and lesbian community here. The various factions who regularly fight among themselves turned their swords to the front for the one day a year that everyone is bound by a single purpose-pride in self and others for standing up to bigotry. The theme for this year's pride festivities was "Stonewall: Reasons to Remember," in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots. Stonewall is credited as the birthplace of the modem iesbian/gay human rights movement The Atlanta crowd echoed the feeling of Stonewall on Saturday with more than 2,000 marchers and participants at a rally held later that day in Piedmont Park. This year's march was one of the most integrated and representative marches ever held in Atlanta. Throughout the day, men and women walked arm-in-arm, people of color were visible in the crowd more than ever (though still not in proportion to their percent of the pop ulation), radical faeries laughed along with wimmin at themselves and each other, the local leather/levi club served as parade marshalls, and the newly-elected leatherhunks Mr. and Ml. Southeast Drummer gave a lift to drag queens when their float broke down in mid-parade. Yes, parade. This year marked the first time that Atlanta's celebration of Lesbian and Gay Pride included substantial aspects of a parade. For the first time, Atlanta had its own lesbian and gay marching band (The Pride of Peachtree), as well as a grand marshall, Deana Collins of Deana’s One Mo' Time, and several gaily bedecked floats. As one Atlanta native put it, "We kept stepping away from the march to look back and ahead to see just how many people were really there. "And each time we did, someone would start cheering just for the sheer numbers we had, and the crowd's energy level would go up another notch." That energy level reached EVETT BENNETT critical mass when the marchers an( j Lena Shearer, from "up north," joined 2,000 streamed into Piedmont Park, Atlantans at Piedmont Park after the march for a full where organizers had scheduled day of entertainment Cont'd on Page 13