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NEWS
Sodomy Sinks in Committee
Rightwing lobbying also responsible for punishment enhancement
being stripped from hate crimes
by Patrick Garvey
Atlanta—As major media attention focused on passage of
Gov. Zell Miller's lottery bill last week, lesbian, gay and AIDS
lobbyists worked feverishly to secure passage of a state-wide
hate crimes bill and repeal of the state's archaic sodomy laws.
The progressive lesbian/gay effort was countered by massive
phone lobbying from members of Operation Rescue and
Citizens for Public Awareness. As this issue went to press, it
appeared that the two right-wing groups had been effective.
Sodomy Sacked: This year's sodomy repeal bill (H.B. 491)
written and introduced by Rep. Jim Martin (D-Fulton) takes a
different tack from last year's effort and seeks to remove
"sodomy" from the 14-plus places that the word appears in the
Georgia Criminal Code. In some cases the bill substitutes "oral
or anal sex" for "sodomy" in other cases the word was simply
banished.
While repeal advocates have been working for more than
ten years in Georgia, this year's effort by the Georgia Privacy
Coalition has been far and away the most organized and direct
ed effort ever, including a well attended and organized lobby
day and a massive postcard campaign.
That effort, however, appears to have been grounded for the
session. Members of the Special Judiciary Committee voted 7
3 not to send the bill to the House floor for further considera
tion.
The only positive votes came from Reps. Henrietta
Tumquest, Mary Young Cummings, and the bill's sponsor Jim
Martin.
Cathy Woolard of the lesbian and gay chapter of the ACLU
says she and other members of the Privacy Coalition felt sure
that they had more than enough support going into the commit
tee meeting, "It points to how much further we have to go to
pass this bill," she said, "...this could take years [to pass], we
have to be patient."
"It's a controversial political issue," said Martin echoing
Woolard's disappointment and concern. "It’s difficult for some
[legislators] to address because they're worried about their con
stituents. We just have to keep working on it to convince them
to pass it."
Three of the legislators who voted against sending H.B.
491 to the House floor did not return Southern Voice's calls
requesting an explanation for their vote, lending credence to
Martin's observation.
"Operation Rescue and Citizens for Public Awareness are
flooding the Capitol with calls [on both sodomy repeal and
hate crimes]," added Woolard, "we absolutely must match or
exceed their efforts."
The Privacy Coalition has asked that concerned citizens call
the offices of members of the Special Judiciary Committee to
thank the legislators who voted to send H.B. 491 to the floor
and question those who refused to allow the House to vote on
it. (See sidebar for names and numbers.)
Hate Crimes Stripped: Unlike Sodomy Repeal, The Bias
Crimes Information and Documentation Act (H.B.376 ) sailed
through the Special Judiciary Committee with no one testifying
against it and only one dissenting vote, from Rep. Anne
Mueller (D-Chatham).
As originally written the bill would bring Georgia into
compliance with the national Hate Crimes Statistics Act,
requiring the state to collect data on crimes motivated by the
race, religion, national origin, color, gender, sexual orientation
or HIV status of the victim.
The bill would also require law enforcement training centers
in Georgia to provide training in identifying and combating
hate crimes and provide harsher penalties for perpetrators con
victed of crimes motivated by prejudice and hate.
Apparently in response to pressure on legislators from
Operation Rescue (which claimed its anti-abortion protests
could have been seen as bias crimes under the provisions of the
bill) and Citizens for Public Awareness (whose flyer opposing
the bill claimed it would be a victim of the legislation), Rep.
Nan Orrock (D-Fulton), the bill's sponsor, decided to amend
the legislation scheduled to be voted on in the House as this
issue went to press. That bill contained only the data collec
tion and training provisos of the original measure. Orrock
remained adamant that she would withdraw the bill rather than
allowing sexual orientation of HIV status to be removed from
it.
For the latest information on H.B.376 call the Privacy
Coalition's Legislative Hotline, 286-2358.
AIDS Issues: People with AIDS, their advocates and health
care workers swarmed the Capitol on Jan. 7 to lobby for
increased funding and attention to the disease. Juanita Hicks,
from the Washington DC-based National Organization of
Response to AIDS, addressed a crowd of around 75 people
about the current issues affecting AIDS legislation prior to the
lobbying effort.
"You are not allowed to be discriminated against if you don't
pose a health risk," said Hicks. "Current legislation wants to
spend federal and state money on testing for people considered
to be in a high risk category—mandatory testing without
knowledge or consent."
Presently H.B. 427 is the only negative AIDS legislation that
has been introduced this year. The bill would require mandato
ry HIV antibody testing for any person being accused of an
AIDS-transmitting crime—rape, incest, and aggravated
sodomy.
Jeffrey Corrigan, Lobbyist for the Georgia AIDS Coalition,
doesn't see mandatory testing doing any good for the state or
the victim. "The legislation thinks testing is the cure-all," he
said. "The idea is to test everybody, and those who are positive
can be kept in a comer."
Summing up the combined efforts of the gay, lesbian and
AIDS communities in this year's General Assembly activist
Chip Rowan said, "For too long we expected other people to
speak for us. Now we've decided to speak for ourselves...I
think it's time where we all empower ourselves, and put state
politics back into our own hands."
Hate mail: Citizens for Public Awareness' flyer
opposing passage of H.B. 376 focuses entirely on
preventing the passage of laws that would pro
vide equal protection for gays and lesbians.
Rape Shield Threatened: A law that protects the victims
of one of the most violent and damaging of all hate crimes,
rape, was threatened by a measure introduced by Sen. Nathan
Deal (D-Gainesville), President Pro Tern of the Senate. Deal's
bill would have permitted rape victims to be questioned during
the trial about their sexual histories and lifestyle.
Women lobbyists at the Capitol responded immediately and
angrily threatening to make the changes, if passed, a major
issue in the General Assembly for the next several sessions.
After a flood of phone calls from angry women, the Senate
unanimously defeated Deal's proposal.
Pap Smears Added: Under the terms of H.B. 538—spon
sored by "Able" Mable Thomas (D-Atlanta)—health insurance
payments for pap smears and mammograms would be manda
tory in the state of Georgia. Current law allows insurance com
panies to offer such coverage as an option. While observers
praised Thomas' bill, they noted that she had refused to sign on
to Martin's sodomy repeal bill as a co-sponsor, after indicating
to community activists that she would.
■ ■■
Call These Legislators
Thank these for voting to send H.B. 491 to the House:
Mary Cummings—656-0126; Jim Martin—656-7859;
Henrietta Tumquest—656-0126
And tell these that you are dissatisfied with their vote to not
send H.B. 491 to the House floor:
Fred Aiken—656-0109; Henry Bostick—656-0305; Bill
Goodwin—656-0137; David Irwin—656-0305; Curtis
Jenkins—656-0325; Sidney Jones—656-0177; Kip
Klien—656-0265; James Langford—656-0213; Anne
Mueller—656-0109; Mable Thomas—656-7859; Jay
Walker—656-0152
GLAAD Wins One
With Dickerson
Media watchdog group vows
to take on J/C's obit policy
by Patrick Garvey
Atlanta—In their first confrontation with
a local journalist, members of the Atlanta
Chapter of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance
Against Defamation (GLAAD) met with
Atlanta Journal editorialist Jeff Dickerson
two weeks ago and have apparently con
vinced him of the error of his ways. In
December Dickerson commented—on the
TV program "Sunday News Conference"
—that gay men and lesbians must be "wear
ing their sexuality on their sleeves" when
they were victims of hate crimes. The
implied conclusion? That gays and lesbians
deserve to be bashed when they make them
selves visible to the straight community.
Padraig McMannus-McLoughlin says the
group of six men and women met with
Dickerson at his home, and "had a great dis
cussion for about an hour. He couldn't figure
out why someone would be bashed because
they were gay," McLoughlin explained. "It
took a lot of convincing...but he learned, he
took back his statement."
Pat Hussain co-chair of GLAAD added,
"We found out that even though Dickerson
is a conservative, he isn't closed minded.
We didn't go looking for a convert, just fair
treatment."
Heartened by their interaction with
Dickerson, members of GLAAD say they
will confront the Atlanta Journal/
Constitution for its refusal to acknowledge
the partners of gays and lesbians in its obit
uaries as well as attempt to meet with
Journal editorialist Dick Williams (see
Viewpoints this issue.)
The long simmering feud about the
paper's obituary policy came to a boil again
recently when the paper refused to
acknowledge Jeffrey Engel as the lover of
William S. Anderson Jr. who died in early
January. The two men were partners for 14
years. The paper accepted a paid funeral
notice that recognized the relationship as
well as the fact that Anderson died of
AIDS, but printed an obituary that excluded
both facts. Engel gave his permission to run
the obit, but only if it included information
about the two men's relationship.
Engel's mother, Rhea, called the paper's
action "deceitful, negligent and inaccurate
reporting" in a scathing letter to editor Ron
Martin.
GLAAD's Pat Hussain requested that
anyone who has gone through a similar
experience contact her at 872-9088.
Restaurant
Accused of
Firing Gays
Homosexuals or men with
feminine traits targeted
Norcross, GA—Two gay male employ
ees of the Cracker Barrel restaurant located
at 6175 McDonough Dr. say they were fired
because they are gay. A third employee,
Wayne Couch, who is currently not working
because of a job related injury, says that he
was asked to be at the meeting where the
other two were fired, but did not attend.
Couch says he assumes that he will be fired
when he does return to work.
Couch also reported that at least one
other Cracker Barrel employee who worked
in Charlotte, N.C. was recently fired
because he is gay.
One of the men who was fired asked that
his name not be used; Southern Voice was
unable to contact the other man to ask per
mission to use his name in print.
The men who were fired say that their
store manager, Ron Phillips, called them
into his office on Friday, Feb. 1 and told that
they were being dismissed because the com
pany now had a policy of not employing
"homosexuals or men who had feminine
traits." One had worked for the company
for 3.5 years and was an assistant store
manager. Neither protested their dismissal.
Phillips refused to comment on the inci
dent and referred Southern Voice to Bill
Bridges in the company's personnel depart
ment at its headquarters in Lebanon, Tenn.
Bridges did not return repeated requests for
information about the incident.
Cracker Barrel owns more than 90
restaurant/gift shops located mostly along
Interstate highways in the Midwest and
Southeast. The stores are all company
owned, and the parent company Cracker
Barrel Old Country Stores, Inc. is a publi-
cally traded stock. The stores do a busy
breakfast, lunch and dinner trade with busi
nessmen, families, truckers and tourists.
Because Georgia is a "right to work"
state and has no laws prohibiting discrimi
nation based on sexual orientation, the fir
ing of the men because they are gay is legal.
However, one of the men who was fired
says that when he went to apply for unem
ployment benefits, a state employee told
him, "this isn't right, they can't do this." A
conference between the employer, the dis
missed employee and the unemployment
insurance agency is set for Wednesday, Feb.
13.
2 Southern Voice/February 14, 1991