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Vol. 4, No. 1 "Taking Pride in Our Culture" February 28,1991
Laughter Levi
Cartoonist
Alison Bechdel is
coming to Atlanta to
help celebrate our 3rd
anniversary. ,
Country & Western
dancing is hot. And
getting hotter.
19
Yes, Sir!
Mr. & Ms. Southeast
Leather are coming
to town.
21
Cracker Barrel Waffles on Anti-Gay Policy
NGLTF exerts pressure;
activists wait for response
by Gary Kaupman
Douglasville, GA— On Fri., Feb. 15,
Cheryl Summerville heard a rumor that her
employer, Cracker Barrel Old Country
Stores, had instituted a policy of firing its
gay and lesbian employees. When she
went to work the following day, the rumor
proved true: Summerville, a cook
employed for eight months by Cracker
Barrel, was fired because she is a lesbian.
"I told them I'd heard there was a new
policy [about gays]," said Summerville.
"At first they said that it didn't apply to me
because I worked in the kitchen and
because I was a woman." One of her
supervisors told Summerville that her
understanding was that the policy was tar
geting gay men who worked as waiters.
Wylie Petty, 21, and two gay male co
workers at the Tifton Cracker Barrel may
be the first employees to have been fired
under an undated policy statement from
the chain which operates 90 restaurant/gift
shops in the Southeast and Midwest. That
statement reads in part: "It is...inconsistent
with those in our customer base, to contin
ue to employ individuals in our operating
units whose sexual preferences fail to
demonstrate normal heterosexual values
which have been the foundation of families
in our society."
Petty says that the three men were fired
in "late January." Petty had been employed
by Cracker Barrel for 15 months and says
that all his evaluations had been positive
and that he was a "Par 3" employee on the
company's rating scale. "That's just one
step below the level where they send you
out to other stores to train new employ
ees," he said. One of the other men fired
was a "Par 4."
A Cracker Barrel employee who
asked not to be identified said she was
told the anti-gay policy was instituted
when an irate customer wrote to the com
pany complaining that two male employ
ees in the Tifton store were kissing each
other in view of the customers.
Petty says that he and his lover, who
worked at the same store in Tifton, "never
kissed each other at work." He added that
the store manager had warned the two men
they needed to be careful "not to show
affection at work" but otherwise knew
nothing of the rumored complaint.
Neither Georgia, nor any of its munici
palities, have laws which prohibit firing
someone based on their sexual orientation.
There are also no laws prohibiting two
people of the same sex from kissing.
All Cracker Barrel employees have
been instructed not to discuss the policy
with non-employees and refer inquiries to
Bill Bridges, Vice president of Human
Resources, at the company's Lebanon,
Tenn. headquarters.
After repeated phone messages went
unreturned, Southern Voice reached
Bridges who said, "we will not comment
where we will not get a fair hearing." He
then asked what kind of newspaper
Southern Voice was. In reply to the answer
"lesbian and gay," Bridges said "No further
comment" and hung up.
Bridges did fax a copy of the company's
anti-gay policy to Jack Hayes of Nation's
Restaurant News but refused to discuss the
matter further with Hayes.
Robert Bray of the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force had better luck get
ting Bridges to speak to him, "Initially he
went into what I would call a controlled
corporate mini-panic," said Bray after
speaking to Bridges on Feb. 21.
Bridges called Bray back the next
morning and told him that he had spoken
to Cracker Barrel C.E.O. Dan Evins and
they had decided "the policy stands, we
have no comment."
Bray says he assured Bridges that
NGLTF wanted to work with Cracker
Barrel towards a solution. But if the com
pany persisted with its anti-gay policy,
Bray said NGLTF would launch an attack
using litigation, the media, government
pressure and grassroots activism to fight
the company.
At 4p.m.‘that same afternoon Bridges
faxed a statement to NGLTF which reads
in part, "Our recent position on the
employment of homosexuals in a limited
number of stores may have been a well-
intentioned over reaction to the perceived
values of our customers and their comfort
levels with these individuals."
"We're preparing a statement," said
Bray. "We want to continue to work with
Cracker Barrel to right a very terrible
wrong."
Southern Voice has now confirmed that
Cracker Barrel has fired at least six
employees because of their sexual orienta
tion. Reports that as many as nine employ
ees of Charlotte area stores and one man in
Tallahassee have also been fired have not
been confirmed by the individuals con
cerned.
Queer Nation!Atlanta was scheduled
to discuss possible actions against
Cracker Barrel on Monday night after
this issue went to press. Call 286-2355 for
more information.
Billy Adams owner of Billy's bar in
Tallahassee, FL, says that he will help
organize an action against Cracker
Barrel in that city. Call him at (904) 574
3355 after 4pm.
Cracker Barrel's address is P.O. Box
787, Lebanon, TN. 37088-0787; phone
(615) 444-5533. Bill Bridges is the V.P. of
Human Resources. Dan Evins is the
C.E.O.
Cracker Barrel is the corporate under
writer for WABE's broadcast of A Prairie
Home Companion on Saturday nights.
WABE's phone number is 827-8900.
"It is...inconsistent with those in our customer base, to continue
to employ individuals in our operating units whose sexual
preferences fail to demonstrate normal heterosexual values which
have been the foundation of families in our society."
Dreams, Questions and Answers
An update on the The National Lesbian Conference
by Debbie Fraker
Some herstory: Though she is no
longer directly involved in its coordina
tion, Michelle Crone was one of the found
ing mothers of the National Lesbian
Conference. In 1986 she attended an inter
national lesbian conference in Geneva.
Crone says that it was through this confer
ence that she began to realize lesbians in
this country "don't have a clear focus on
who we are and what our agenda is." She
and three other women—Kay Ostburg,
Joyce Hunter, and Urvashi Vaid—began
working on the concept of a national con
ference for lesbians.
After the 1987 March on Washington,
plans for the conference crystallized and
more lesbians became involved in plan
ning.
Throughout the process Crone and
the other originators have had certain pri
orities in mind. Among them was the con
cept that the conference should not have a
set agenda or be organized by a major,
national organization. It was to be what
lesbians from across the country made it,
needed it to be, with as little as possible
predetermined by the organizers. This may
explain the apparent lack of organization
evident in the process and which is draw
ing comment from many lesbians as the
April date for the event approaches.
Despite the slow pace on many fronts,
Crone and NLC staff members are deter
mined to stand by their original operational
strategy as the only appropriate one for a
lesbian conference.
"In the beginning, we said 'This is a
very noble experiment.' I hope it's going
to work," Crone candidly admits. She fol
lowed up with, "It's very important to
make this a grassroots project. In the pro
cess of organizing, we got women in three
piece suits and women in full crystal
regalia. We asked ourselves, 'How do we
make this a safe place for all lesbians?"
Crone says she has high expectations
for the conference. "The vision of this con
ference is that everyone's voice is respect
ed. There is no head set on it other than
making sure the diversity is there. I hope
that a lot of women show up." When
asked about her other concerns about the
conference, Crone added, "I hope that the
Atlanta community is functioning as a
tight knit group to provide for the needs of
women coming to the conference."
Crone and N.C. activist Mandy Carter
are co-producers of the Friday night dance
and Saturday night concert during the
Conference. These are not official NLC
events, but what the organizers refer to as
"related events." The cost for the dance
and concert will be in addition to confer
ence registration fees, but Conference par
ticipants will be eligible for tickets at a 50
percent discount.
Unlike at the Conference, performers
and stage crews at these two events will be
paid. But due to the expense of using the
Civic Center, where the dance and perfor
mances will be held, "What we had to do is
get everybody to work for a percentage of
the door. We hope they can make enough
to cover travel costs."
Yer Girlfriend, a Kentucky-based band,
will play at the Friday dance. Saturday's
Concert performers: Teresa Trull, Alix
Dobkin, Lea DeLaria, Gail Reter, the
Washington Sisters, Sue Fink, Karen
Williams and Two Spirited/Thunder
People, the first all-lesbian Native
American dance troupe.
Patsy Lynch
Michelle Crone hopes the NLC will
be "a forum to see how we can
learn to deal with our differences,
instead of trying to kill each other
because you eat white sugar or red
meat or have a boy child."
Continued on page 14