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NEWS
Clayton "Sodomy Sweep" Nabs 21
Local paper publishes names and addresses of those arrested
The Clayton News /Daily, reports that
Clayton County Police ended a week long
'sodomy sweep" of the park surrounding
the Sigma Chi Monument on Highwayl9-
41 just south of Jonesboro on March 9. An
eight man team conducted the operation
after reportedly receiving complaints of
harassment from visitors to the monument.
Twenty-one men were arrested on
charges of simple battery, obstruction of a
police officer, solicitation for sodomy and
public indecency. Civil libertarians ques
tion the validity of charges brought under
the guise of "solicitation," but admit that
trying to get such charges dropped or
changed is difficult if not impossible.
According to the News /Daily, the police
claimed that "all but five" of the men were
married and most resided outside Clayton.
One man reportedly "confessed to officers
he had AIDS."
While the story was given top billing on
the paper’s Saturday March 10 paper, the
tone of the article was not particularly mali
cious. One officer was quoted as saying,
"Parks are for everybody, homosexuals,
everybody. But when homosexuals start
infringing on the enjoyment of the straight
community..." Another said, "None of us
have anything against homosexuals. But it
has gotten so people can’t even bring their
kids up here for a picnic without getting hit
on."
While the language of the news cover
age was mild, the News/Daily did choose to
print the names, ages and addresses of
those arrested. In larger cities, such prac
tices have long since been abandoned in
acknowledgement of the fact that they sub
stantially increase the possibility of bias
crimes or harassment against those arrest
ed.
told Southern Voice that the paper follows
this practice regularly so that readers "will
not confuse two people with the same
name." Hiett added that he has "reserva
tions about the policy in some cases" and
"I don’t feel particularly comfortable with
it." He added that the staff discussed
whether or not to include address in this
particular instance. The majority felt it best
to maintain their normal policy, although
that agreement "was not unanimous."
Hiett added that he would take into
account the feelings of readers who wrote
concerning the policy.
Two readers have written to the
News/Daily, but it was not the news story
that aroused their ire. Both complained
strongly about an editorial by News/Daily
owner Jim Minter, who is a former editor
of the Atlanta Journal/Constitution. Four
days after the news story, Minter penned an
editorial that took the conciliatory tone of
the arresting officers to task.
"There is no need to apologize for this
kind of police activity," he said. Minter
went on to suggest that the police had been
conciliatory because they were afraid of
being "bashed by the gay lobby" which had
recently taken Andy Rooney and Martin
Luther King III to task for their public
homophobia.
Minter went on to say that "homosexu
als have a problem," but failed to say exact
ly what that problem was. But, "The rest of
us certainly have a problem dealing with
their problems when they demand to be
treated like everybody else..." was as close
as he got to salience.
In their letter to the News/Daily, P-
FLAG members Lauretta and Elvin Rouse
took Minter to task for his rambling
hypothesizing about the origins of sexual
orientation and offered," We chose to learn
and understand and also believe that if God
made them that way and he can love them,
so can we. We don’t question it, just accept
it.”
Western Union Loses
$350,000 Lesbian
and Gay Account
HRCF cites company's opposition to
San Francisco Lesbian and Gay
Rights Ordinance
Washington, D.C. — The Human
Rights Campaign Fund has announced that
it will no longer use Western Union Corp.
to deliver "Speak Out” constituent mes
sages to Capitol Hill, a decision that will
cost the communications firm $350,000
this year.
In addition, HRCF announced that it
will encourage other organizations and
individuals throughout the country to reex
amine their business relationship with
Western Union.
Executive Director Tim McFeeley stat
ed that the decision "to terminate our rela
tionship with Western Union is based on
the company's continued efforts to overturn
a twelve-year old San Francisco ordinance
protecting lesbians and gays from discrimi
nation."
"What Western Union is doing presents
a greater threat to the rights of lesbian and
gay Americans than any other corporate
action in recent memory. We have no
intention of remaining silent while efforts
are made to undermine protections that les
bian and gay Americans have fought so
long to achieve," McFeeley stated.
Western Union is challenging the con
stitutionality of the San Francisco ordi
nance as part of a legal battle which began
last year. Armand Ertag, a Western Union
employee in San Francisco, sought dam
ages against the company for harassment
and intimidation he experienced at work.
Rather than address the specific allegations
in Mr. Ertag's suit, Western Union has
sought to have the gay rights ordinance
overturned.
Publisher of the News/Daily, Joe Hiett
DISH
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21 Arrested In Sodomy Sweep
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there's a fine line between telling the truth and talking trash
Too much Dick
Wait! How could there possibly be too much of a good
thing? Simple. It happens when the Dick in question is
a prick named Williams. The Atlanta Journal's resident
expert on reductive reasoning just can't seem to get
enough queer bashing in these days. First came his
early March warning " Georgia edges closer to endors
ing gay rights." God(dess) forbid that should happen!
Then there was the televised unpleasantness mentioned
in this space last issue. And close on the heels of that
pile of poop comes ol' bow-tie-brain ranting about the
US Senate's unwillingness to endorse the homophobia
of that neo-Atilla the Hun, Sen. Wm. Armstrong (R-
CO). (See news this issue.) The depth of Williams'
panic is evidenced by the fact that the Armstrong story
didn't even run in the local paper; he had to go looking
for it. Williams told us several years ago that he'd get
off his homohating high horse only when it was proven
that gays were born that way. We, in turn, will pledge
to stop picking on Williams only when he proves that
mean-spirited people are born that way.
Not enough thanks
Bushel baskets of thanks to Brian Brazill who for the past
five months has been one of four folks who have regularly
volunteered to input the contents of this newspaper. Brian's
work demands are such that he can no longer help us. We'll
miss his speed and his sense of humor. Luckily Shelly
Robbins, Mark duPont and A1 Cotton continue to pound
the keys, a task to which each has unstintingly donated
2/Southern Voice •
their time since Southern Voice's infanthood. Without their
help and the help of numerous others who give freely of
their time and talents this paper would not be. Thanks! And
congratulations to Mark and his lover Mark on their recent
5th Anniversary.
Pecs and pits
Dish's Publicity Pic of the Week award goes to
tMmbada stars J. Eddie Peck and Melora Hardin. The
men in the office liked Peck's pecs quite a lot, thank
you. And the women thought that Ms. Hardin was most
attractive indeed. They did, however, wonder why the
lady seems to be making such an issue over the fact that
she has just shaved her pits.
Disc Dish
Who's hot ?
Lisa Stansfield. Her Arista album "Affection" is a high
ly danceable union of hip-hop bass rhythms and way-up-
in-the-mix disco string lines. Her voice is Linda coffee-
laced-with-Kahula . Don't bring this one to work, though,
because you'll embarrass yourself. Once you turn it on,
you won't be able to keep from dancing. Or singing. "Been
around the world and I Yi Yi, I can't find my baby..."
The Jody Grind's CD debut "One Man's Trash is
Another Man's Treasure" is due out "any minute" on DB
records. Kelly Hogan, vocalist for The Grind laid everyone
out at the ACT UP benefit at Backstreet a few months
back with her cool, rich, flexi-flyer vocals. There were
times you coulda' heard a pin drop.
And on the waiting-with-baited-breath list is Sinead
O'Connor's follow-up album and Michelle Malone's major
label debut. A single has been released from O'Connor's
newest offering, but no sign of the disc yet. Have I missed
something? Rumor has it Malone's debut on Arista is due
out in May. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the
country reacts to "another" Atlanta artist. Our guess is
Malone's liquid, effortlessly supple vocals and her bad-ass
rock and roll persona will propel her past all previous suc
cesses. In the words of another local musician, "everyone
else is just going to have to move over a notch."