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January 30 - February 12, 1992 Vol. 4, No. 25
Taking Pride in Our Culture
High Heels
The newest movie from gay
director Pedro Almodovar is
reviewed. Plus Francis’ top
ten for 1991. 17
Revolution
Roman Kalinin
Russia’s busiest gay activist
is leading a revolution of his
own.
11
Evolution
Jacquelyn Holt Park
The Georgia-born writer talks
about her new book, an
anguishing story of growing
up lesbian. 19
King Day: "The best way to honor his memory"
Evett Bennett
U.S. Representative Barney Frank (D-MA), pictured here at the front of the march next to U. S. Rep..
John Lewis was the first openly gay person to participate in the King Day March as a co-marshal.
by KC Wildmoon
Atlanta—U.S. Congressman Barney
Frank (D-MA) joined Coretta Scott King,
Winnie Mandela, Cherokee Nation Chief
Wilma Mankiller, singer Kris Kristoffer-
son, Reps. John Lewis and Ben Jones
(both D-GA), and other leaders of the civil
rights movement to lead the National
March of Celebration here on January 20.
The march, honoring the 7th federal holi
day of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth
day, capped a week of festivities honoring
Dr. King. Rep. Frank was the first openly
gay person to participate in the King Day
march as a co-marshal.
“I am here to join my fellow gay men
and lesbians in making clear that the fight
against discrimination is one that has many
aspects,” the congressman said at the rally
following the march. “Before Martin
Luther King, bigotry was respectable. The
best way to honor his memory is to contin
ue to fight and fight and fight until every
single citizen of this country is judged on
his or her merits alone.”
During his speech, Rep. Frank said that
the country was in “a worldwide economic
competition to keep a good standard of liv
ing.” He said that bigotry had become “too
expensive” for this economic stmggle.
“We need to mobilize every single one
of us,” he said. “We cannot let the racists,
and the sexists, and the homophobes tell us
that some of us are not eligible to partici
pate in this national effort.”
Frank's lover, Herb Moses, led a contin
gent of nearly 200 gays and lesbians in the
1.5 mile march through a windy downtown
Atlanta to the Martin Luther King Jr. Cen
ter for Non-Violent Social Change, where
the rally was held.
“The struggle for civil rights is a strug
gle for all people who are not getting their
rights in our society,” said Moses. “To lead
the gay contingent in the King Day parade
exemplifies to me what the struggle for our
rights means—the non-violent expression
of who we are by being out.”
Lesbians and gays participating in the
march were clearly committed to showing
the strength of the community, as well as
excited that Rep. Frank had been invited to
be a co-marshal.
“I thank God I lived long enough to see
this day,” said Gene Holloway, an African-
American gay man who participated in
Monday's march. “I believe that King's
dream encompassed all of humanity.”
Reaction from the crowd of over
100,000 lining the march route was mixed,
with most march watchers nodding or even
applauding in approval as the lesbians and
gays marched by. Only one anti-gay sign
was in evidence, that held by a man who
said he was there “because of that con
gressman from Massachusetts,” referring
to Frank. The lesbian/gay contingent
chanted “Shame, shame” as they passed
the man's position. A woman nearby
remarked “Prejudice is prejudice and he's
prejudiced” and shouted support as the
contingent passed.
Continued on page 2
Roe v.Wade
under fire
by KC Wildmoon
Georgia activists feel a new sense of
urgency as the 19 year-old abortion law
faces further erosion in the Supreme Court
Lu. Steger
On the eve of the 19th anniversary of the U.S.
Supreme Court's landmark 1973 abortion decision, the
nation's highest court announced that it would hear argu
ments on a Pennsylvania law that continues the erosion
of rights guaranteed by Roe v. Wade that began in 1989.
The announcement lent a new urgency to local events
celebrating the anniversary of Roe, which proclaimed
that abortion was a constitutional right.
In Atlanta, over 500 people marched and rallied on
the Capitol steps on January 25. Speakers at the rally,
including U.S. Rep. John Lewis and State Reps. Rita
Valenti and Cynthia McKinney, cited the Supreme
Court's announcement and said that now was not the
time for complacency.
“We can have our fingers on the buttons of power,”
McKinney told the crowd, “or we can continue to beg
others.”
McKinney said that the only way to stop the erosion
of reproductive freedom is to “take care of business our
selves.”
“Our highest priority is to elect women to office,” she
said.
Saturday's rally was sponsored by several local orga
nizations, including the Lesbian/Gay Rights Chapter of
the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia.
Lynne Randall, director of the Feminist Women's Health
Center, noted that gay and lesbian issues and pro-choice
issues have common themes.
“It’s important that the pro-choice community and the
gay and lesbian community work together,” she said.
“These are issues about the repression of our sexuality.
That's what we’re fighting for.”
No problems with anti-abortion protestors were
reported at the rally and march, but police stopped three
women as they drew bodies on the sidewalk with chalk.
The women were not arrested.
The anti-abortion movement has been very vocal this
week, both locally and nationally. Thousands of
protestors marched in Washington, DC, on January 22 in
what has become a yearly “pro-life” demonstration since
the 1973 court ruling. The marchers were elated over the
Supreme Court’s decision to hear the Pennsylvania case.
“Roe is going down,” said a jubilant Randall Terry,
director of Operation Rescue, which demonstrated at two
Washington abortion clinics on Wednesday. Several
hundred arrests were made when Operation Rescue
members attempted to block the entrances to those clin
ics. At one clinic under siege from the demonstrators,
over 100 counter-protestors linked arms to clear a path to
the entrance.
Operation Rescue staged a series of protests in
Continued on page 7