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Gay Georgians Worked Hard for
Nunn's Support of Hate Crimes Act
Georgia's lesbians and gays have been mak
ing a significant difference in ensuring that the
Hate Crimes Statistics Act will in fact become
law. Earlier this year, members of LEGAL
(Legislate Equality for Lesbians and Gays)
were able to influence all 10 members of the
Georgia Congressional Delegation to vote
favorably for this legislation. Key players in
LEGAL included Tad Gardocki, Dick Rhodes,
Craig Allen, Jeff Corrigan and Marty Worsham
among others. The Hate Crimes Statistics Act
passed the House of Representatives with over
whelming bipartisan support this summer.
In August, Tad Gardocki met with the edito
rial board of the Atlanta Journal &
Constitution to discuss the importance of the
passage of the legislation by the Senate. On
August 11 the AJC published an editorial
which called for both Senators Nunn and
Fowler to cosponsor, and warned of Senator
Jesse Helms' attempts to sabotage. On the same
day, Dick Rhodes and Tad Gardocki met with
Senator Fowler and asked for his support of the
legislation. Senator Fowler took the matter
under advisement but made no committment to
cosponsor.
Dick Rhodes realized that more outside sup
port was needed to influence both Senators
Fowler and Nunn. He began compiling news
articles documenting hate crimes and began
submitting copies to both senators. Also, he
began building a support base to write letters to
both Nunn and Fowler concerning the issue.
Because of these efforts, Senator Nunn
responded favorably by becoming a cosponsor
of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act on Nov. 21,
1989. His lead should be congratulated.
However, Senator Fowler's support would be
beneficial in arresting any attempts by Senator
Helms to delete sexual orientation from the
crime collection criteria. Helms has managed
to inaccurately accuse a number of Senators of
"promo-homo" because of their support of this
legislation, which has prevented a few mem
bers from openly supporting it. For Georgia,
however, senior Senator Sam Nunn has dis
missed Senator Helms' "hate-mongering".
This is a major first step for Senator Nunn
to realize that all people should be protected.
However, his support did not come unsolicited.
The Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF)
and LEGAL, both urged constituents to person
ally contact their senators to request their sup
port of the bill. HRCF effectively used their
Speak Out mailgram campaign and LEGAL
produced post-cards and letters to bolster con
stituent response. These efforts helped generate
over 1,000 pieces of mail to the Georgia sena
tors.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE by
writing Senator Fowler and requesting that he
co-sponsor and support Senate Bill 419. The
following points may be useful to you in com
posing your letter:
• The legislation is cosponsored by Sam Nunn.
• The legislation has been endorsed by
President Bush, Attorney General Richard
Thornburgh, the Fraternal Order of Police, et al.
• Jesse Helms should not be allowed to obstruct
legislation which seeks to protect people from
hate motivated violence.
Letters need not be long, but should be writ
ten as soon as possible.
Senator Wyche Fowler
204 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-3643
To thank Senator Nunn for cosponsoring:
Senator Sam Nunn
303 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Guest Editorial
Massacre in Montreal
by Mona Forrest
On December 6,1989, on the eve of the year
in which Quebec women will celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the gaining of the right to vote,
gunman Marc Ldpine murdered 14 young
women at the School of Engineering of the
University of Montreal.
The gunman entered a classroom and herded
the men and women into groups, shooting his
semi-automatic rifle into the air when students,
shocked and doubting his seriousness, didn't
move quickly enough. The men were told to
leave the room, and they did. The gunman was
calm and controlled. While in that classroom
and as he later moved through the halls and
cafeteria shooting down women as he went, he
repeated anti-women statements: I’ll get the
women, you're all a bunch of feminists, why
should women be engineers and not men.
One student who survived was interviewed
several days later from her hospital bed. She
said she had tried to reason with the gunman.
She told him they were just ordinary women
who wanted to lead normal lives. His response
was to shoot her in the head.
Women in Montreal reacted with horror,
fear, grief and outrage. We are angry that a man
could kill 14 women and that massive denials of
the reasons for the massacre started immediate
ly. We are angry that every day women have to
tolerate violence in our lives, at home, on public
transport, in the street, at work and in the media.
Women asked themselves why this hap
pened, searching for an explanation. Now
women in offices, women in universities,
women in women's groups are beginning to talk
about violence in their lives. Women who have
never developed a feminist analysis of issues
are nevertheless coming up with similar
answers.
A male newspaper reporter began talking
with women around him and seemed surprised
by what he was hearing. A woman said that her
boss punched her playfully on the arm, playful
ly but so hard that she had bruises; a woman
had half an hour of terror going home on the
bus when a large man kept accosting tier while
the bus driver ignored the whole thing.[Another
male journalist started discussing thej killings
with female friends, and found out that women
always walk on the street with the same fear
and constant alertness to danger that he could
only compare with the time he had walked
through a dangerous part of New York City.
The televised funeral took place the follow
ing Monday, December 11, at Montreal's
Cathedral of Notre-Dame. Inside the Cathedral
were dozens of church officials, politicians, the
families of the deceased and some students.
Outside, women. A nun was interviewed. She
said she felt that her own church had a lot to
answer for concerning violence against women.
The Bishops of Quebec agree with the assess
ment having two weeks ago released a report in
which they said they realized that their teach
ings on the family and their subsequent coun
selling of women in distress had resulted in
keeping women in violent family situations.
I thought of the series of magazine advertise
ments for cigarettes being run in the United
States which contains a number of pictures of
women being tied up, hit with things, held
under water and generally abused, in a "cutesy"
way. These ads proclaim the theme "you've
come a long way, baby". 70 or 80 years ago
men felt they had the right to attack a woman in
the streets if she was smoking. 70 or 80 years
later, a man feels he has the right to kill women
because they want to be engineers.
We haven’t come any way at all.
Mona Forrest is the executive director of the
Women's Centre of Montreal, a multi-service
community centre serving 3,000 women a
year.
Senators Nunn and Fowler on Gay Civil Rights
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Dear Editor,
I believe it is important to let the gay com
munity know where our politicians stand on
issues important to our civil rights. Therefore,
I am enclosing a letter from the Honorable Sam
Nunn. This letter was in response to a letter
asking him to support the Civil Rights
Amendment Act of 1989. You can see by
reading this letter how he feels about the sub
ject. Please make your readers aware. We
need to get people in these positions in our
favor.
On the other hand, I’ve also enclosed a let
ter from the Honorable Wyche Fowler, Jr. Our
community needs to be aware of politicians
that are in our favor and support the people.
Everyone needs to VOTE!
Sincerely,
Bruce Petrovich & Sam Moore
Senator Fowler's Response
Dear Mr. Petrovich:
Thank you for expressing your concern that
gay and lesbian rights be protected and upheld.
As you probably know, Representative
Weiss and Senator Cranston have introduced
legislation in the House and Senate known as
the Civil Rights Amendments Act of 1989.
These bills would amend the Civil Rights Act
of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act to prohibit
discrimination on the basis of affectional or
sexual behavior. Representative Weiss' bill,
H.R. 655 is pending in the House Judiciary
Committee and the House Education and
Labor, while Senator Cranston's bill, S. 47 is
before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Similar legislation was introduced during the
last session of Congress, but was not acted
upon before that Congress adjourned.
I believe that the rights guaranteed under the
Constitution must be extended to all citizens,
and I consider legislation which comes before
me on this basis. The Constitution is explicit in
its application of equality for all persons, and I
strongly support this important principle upon
which our nation was founded. I do not believe
that gay persons can be denied legal equality
with all citizens under our laws. I believe that
we should commit ourselves to ensuring that all
persons have equal access to important aspects
of our society. We have much to be proud of in
our country, but we must continue to fight to
assure that all are free to enjoy our civil rights.
I appreciate hearing from you, and I hope
you will continue to let me know your views on
matters of importance to you.
Senator Nunn's Response
Dear Samuel:
Thank you for contacting me regarding
civil rights protection for individuals on the
basis of their sexual preference.
I understand your concern about protec
tion from discrimination. In the past, I have
supported civil rights measures which prohib
it discrimination on the basis of race, age,
handicapped status, and sex. However, I do
not support the adoption of federal civil rights
statutes to afford protection to individuals on
the basis of their sexual preference.
S. 47, the Civil Rights Amendment Act of
1989, was introduced by Senator Cranston
and referred to the Senate Judiciary for fur
ther review. The Committee has not sched
uled any additional legislative activity at this
time. A similar bill was offered in the 100th
Congress, but the Senate failed to act on this
measure before the end of the session.
Should the full Senate consider any related
legislation in the future, I will certainly
remember your concerns. I hope you will
contact me again on issues of importance to
you.
It was good to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Wyche Fowler, Jr. Sincerely,
United States Senator Sam Nunn
VIEWPOINTS is part of a continuing effort to provide a forum for the lesbian and gay community. We invite your ideas, comments and
feelings and your responses to opinions expressed on these pages.
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6/Southern Voice • December 21,1989