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SOUTHERN VOICE
SEPTEMBER 23/1993
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by RICHARD SHUMATE
Now that the qualifying period is over for
elections in the city of Atlanta, the true insanity
of the campaign can begin.-
With all of candidates running for mayor, 18
City Council seats and council president, along-
with 40 people running for the school board, it
might be a little difficult to keep up to date on
what the candidates are saying about issues im
portant to the lesbian/gay community. To help
out, Southern Voice will run this column each
week between now and the Nov. 2 election.
The biggest prize up for grabs, of course, is
the mayor’s chair, and the three major contend
ers, as expected, are Fulton County Commission
Chairman Michael Lomax, City Councilman
Bill Campbell and City Councilwoman Myrtle
Davis—all of whom have generally been pro
gay/lesbian in their past political careers. The
good news for the community was that Police
Chief Eldrin Bell—he of a decidedly not-so-
gay-friendly bent—decided not to take the
plunge. The bad news is that Christian suprema
cist Nancy Schaefer threw her power hair
into the ring.
Gay and lesbian political activists seem to
be splitting between the candidates. Among those
supporting Campbell is ProMove CEO Todd
White, who spoke at Campbell’s kickoff rally,
while Joe Blount is on Lomax’s campaign
committee and Don George, active in HRCF
circles, is lending his expertise to Davis.
In the wake of Lomax’s departure as head of
the Fulton County Commission (under state law,
he had to resign the minute he qualified to run
for mayor), state Rep. Mitch Skandalakis, a
Republican from Buckhead, announced he would
run for the chairmanship in a special election
that will also be held Nov. 2. Skandalakis, you
might recall, was one of the Georgia House
members who joined Billy McKinney in sup
porting legislation to overturn Atlanta’s domes
tic partnership ordinance. His strongest oppo
nent will be County Commissioner Martin
Luther King III. who, though he has a mixed
history on gay/lcsbian issues, was a partnership
supporter on the commission.
A race that seems destined to split the lcs-
bian/gay community is in the 6th District City
Council race. This district encompasses many
cast side neighborhoods such as Virginia-High
land, Momingsidc and Druid Hills. The incum
bent, Mary Davis, arguably the most pro-gay/
lesbian voice on the council, is being challenged
by Andy LoftiS, a gay man who is the former
head of the city’s zoning board, and Joe Kelly,
a local attorney who is also very progressive on
lesbian/gay issues.
Loftis, who has issued a public debate chal
lenge to his opponents, recently hired The Ad
vance Group, a New York-based political con
sulting firm that helped elect David Dinkins as
mayor of New York. His campaign people also
faxed around a copy of a speech Loftis made
recently at Crazy Ray’s, which opened with the
following joke: “You know there are a lot of
people downtown who think they are crown
princes and princesses. With your help in No
vember, the real queen will be seated.”
For those of you who want to meet the can
didates up close and ask them a few things,
GAPAC is sponsoring two candidate forums—
Monday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. at Grady High School
(candidates for Atlanta mayor and school board)
and Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. at Inman
Middle School (Atlanta City Council candidates
and candidates for council president).