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SOUTHERN VOICE
OCTOBER 7/1993
Courting the gay vote
Lomax, Davis and Campbell campaign at gay/lesbian forum
Atlanta—In an illustration of just how im
portant the gay /lesbian vote has become in the
Atlanta mayoral election, the three major can
didates in the race all made strong pro-gay
appeals last week.
Speaking to a forum Monday at Grady
High School, sponsored by GAPAC, Council
man Bill Campbell, Councilwoman Myrtle
Davis and former Fulton County Commission
Chairman Michael Lomax all decried discrimi
nation, said they would fight to retain domes
tic partnership legislation and committed to
doing more to combat the AIDS plague.
“Discrimination is heinous. It is destruc
tive. It can never be tolerated at any time,”
said Campbell, who told the crowd about his
experience as the first black child to integrate
the public school system in Raleigh, N.C.
“Never in my career will I ever accept dis
crimination.”
He noted his support for the recently-passed
domestic partnership legislation, as well as
legislation combating discrimination in pri
vate clubs. Campbell also told the crowd of
about 100 that he battled a neighborhood plan
ning unit in his district to allow placement of
an AIDS hospice on Edgewood Avenue.
Davis also outlined her work on gay and
lesbian issues during her time on the City
Council, including sponsorship of the non
discrimination clause in the city’s charter, hate
crimes legislation and resolutions against ho
mophobic actions by the Cracker Barrel res
taurants and tire stale of Colorado.
She also said she has gotten a “bad rap”
for being weak on gay/lesbian concerns after
she missed both Pride and a crucial vote on
domestic partnership.. Davis said that on both
of those occasions, she was out of town on
previously scheduled business, not trying to
dodge lesbian/gay issues.
“I can assure you that never happened,”
she said.
Lomax, who has lost some lesbian and gay
support for his announcement that he would
keep Eldrin Bell as police chief, also outlined
Michael Lomax pointed
to his gay-supportive history.
“I’ve been visible. I’ve been
supportive. I’ve been active.
I’ve been there.”
his longtime support of the community as chair
man of the commission, especially his work
on the AIDS crisis.
“I’ve been visible. I’ve been supportive.
I’ve been active. I’ve been there,” Lomax said.
He said he fought to allow the Infectious Dis
ease Clinic to locate on Ponce DeLeon Av
enue and said that Fulton County gave finan-
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Store spikes physique magazines
SportsTown says
two magazines are
not appropriate for its
“normal” customers
Norcross—SportsTown, the sporting goods
superstore, recently removed two magazines
featuring male physiques from its stores, claim
ing they were not appropriate for the
company’s “normal” customer.
Southern Voice has obtained a memo that
magazine buyer Scott Cowan sent to all store
managers on Sept. 24, noting that the maga
zines in question, The Human Form and Exer
cise for Men Only, both published by Chclo
Publishing in New York, had not been ap
proved by his office.
“These magazines are not appropriate for
our normal SportsTown customer,” Cowan
wrote. “Return them on your magazine rep’s
next visit and ask him/her to discontinue de
livery of these titles.”
Cowan could not be reached for comment,
and a SportsTown spokeswoman said the com
pany had no comment on the removal of the
magazines. Before the “no comment” was is
sued, public relations representative Julie Wil
liams described SportsTown’s normal cus
tomer as having a basic education of college
and above, an average income of $50,000 and
above, and between 25-40 years of age.
A source close to SportsTown told South
ern Voice that the edict originated from a
A magazine deemed inappropriate for
SportsTown’s “normal” customers.
district manager upset that the magazines were
on display in the Marietta store.
Exercise for Men Only is a full color, glossy
magazine aimed at the bodybuilding set. The
magazine carries articles about workouts and
a high concentration of photographs of mus
cular men performing various bodybuilding
activities, as well as features on healthy eating
and fashion. Chelo Publishing calls The Hu
man Form “a photo book of impressive phy
siques captured by the world’s finest photog
raphers.”
SportsTown is a growing company head
quartered in Norcross, with five stores in Geor
gia and seventeen others scattered across the
southeast, notably in Texas, North and South
Carolina, and Virginia.
KC WILDM00N
Lesbian candidate Carolyn White faces six opponents in her bid in District 1.
Council candidates face GAPAC crowd
Atlanta—Vem McCarty, a veteran of city
political campaigns, says he remembers that
as late as eight years ago, candidates for the
City Council debated the advisability of even
seeking the endorsement of GAPAC and the
city’s lesbian/gay community.
Times have changed. Last week, McCarty
and 20 other candidates for the council trooped
into the auditorium of Inman Park Middle
School to actively seek the community’s sup
port.
Also on hand were the two candidates for
City Council President—the incumbent,
Marvin Arrington, and the challenger, Jabari
Simama.
The race for council president presents a
choice between two people who have been
community supporters lately. Arrington broke
the tie that pushed domestic partnership ben
efits through the City Council and introduced
a new AIDS initiative. Simama, as a member
of the council, voted for the partnership mea
sure and gave an eloquent, moving speech in
support of the bill. He told the crowd that as a
result, he has received the most “mean spir
ited” response in his council career.
The campaign in this race has been one of
the sharpest in the election, and the GAPAC
forum was no exception. Simama accused
Arrington of being a Marvin-come-lately to
gay/lcsbian concerns, noting that he has been
involved in the council since 1970.
“Why didn’t he do these things 24 years
ago?” Simama said.
Addressing questions from the audience,
Arrington, who is stressing an improved edu
cational system as one of his campaign themes,
was asked if he would support a gay/lesbian
positive curriculum in the Atlanta public
schools. While he declined to endorse such a
plan, he pledged to study it. “I think people
ought to know about all forms of life,” he said.
Simama, who told the audience that he
was a Baptist, not a Muslim, despite his Swahili
name, was asked for his reaction to ministers
who condemn homosexuality. Simama said
that he considered such rhetoric to be “anti-
theological” and that if he heard a pastor en
gage in such verbal gay bashing, “I doubt I’d
ever go back [to that church] again.”
Among the council races, the highlight of
the evening was in the race for the 6th District
post (Virginia-Highland, Momingside and part
of Midtown), which features an openly gay
candidate, businessman Andy Loftis, the in
cumbent, Mary Davis, and attorney Joe Kelly.
All three were supportive of domestic partner
ship, expansion of anti-discrimination protec
tions and prohibitions on the city doing busi
ness with companies that discriminate on the
basis of sexual orientation.
Davis, who has been attacked by the other
candidates for not being an effective force on
the council, went through a laundry listed of
boards she has served on, stretching back to
her campaign two decades ago to stop a free
way through Momingside.
“I’m proud of my record,” said Davis, who
was the sponsor of the domestic partnership
legislation. She said that with the emergence
of an organized right-wing effort in the city,
“this is no time for on-the-job training.”
Kelly said the 6th District seat “is the seat
on the City Council we look to to stand up for
gays and lesbians.” While he isn’t gay, Kelly,
who ran a dance company in the city for a
number of years, said he had received “inspi
ration and mentoring from the gay and lesbian
community.”
He said he was running for council be
cause he thinks the current crowd downtown
doesn’t manage the city well. “I’m mad about
what I see happening to my city,” he said.
“People arc becoming discouraged about liv
ing intown.”
Loftis, saying that if he is elected he “won’t
forget my lesbian and gay sisters and broth
ers,” said that it was time “that the voices of
all the people, and not just an elite few, are
heard.” He promised to use his council post as
a bully pulpit to promote tolerance of lesbians
and gays.
“Watch me go after those people in the .
State Capitol and in Washington,” said Loftis,
who also said that a gay candidate has a per
spective that a straight candidate cannot have,
similar to the unique perspectives of black or
female candidates.
“Only lesbians and gays know what they
feel and experience,” he said.
Both Kelly and Loftis were peppered, how
ever, with questions about their community
involvement—some of which came from
Davis supporters in the audience.
Loftis, asked what he had done in the gay
community, pointed to his membership a group
called Apollo in the 1960s. And he said that “I
have been a role model for the gay community
in the business community.” Kelly, who was
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