Southern voice. (Atlanta, Georgia) 1988-20??, August 10, 1995, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextMCC holds conference in Atlanta Rev. Troy Perry was among more than 1,000 delegates and church elders who convened at the Westin Peachtree Plaza July 23-30 to plan strategy, worship and work. PAGE 7 M People is "Moving On Up" The gay-favorite British dance- pop band M People ("One Night in Heaven") is out to give disco a good name again, with a powerhouse band and soaring vocals. PAGE 54. PLEASE RECYCLE AUGUST 10/1995 ever- jg&tgsg § by DON JOHNSTON je to the ■fore the are optimistic that the case, which originated out of | Superior Court for agreeing to have consensual sodomy at a \ 1 roron ''' Hie Superior Court judge in JPIIPB sual. non commercial, private sodom] whether between married or I single people regardless of iUufr S0 j7! 0 r‘ 0 "—*-y "" 'ihouTScrsaidtheor- lize L state constitution's ex- acknowledged NGITF Sue Hyde. ^ wa$ extensive/ he believes tensive privacy clause in its ap- to be interviewed, and an under- die Georgia Supreme Court will pg a j r covet police sting operation, be more receptive to his privacy I K The rase involved C hns Chu-tcn^n wjs .onvirted of argument paiticularly sin. c r».,; e i«™a|^^^^^l(vliM^Kdtation of sodomy in Rockdale >- Continued on Page 4 COBB COUNTY The two-year struggle continues On the second anniversary of Cobb County's anti-gay resolution, the forces of prejudice remain in place by KC WILDMOON Atlanta—Two years after it passed, Cobb County's now infa mous "family values resolution"!— * the one that condemned lesbians and,gay men as."incompatible"^ with the county's community standards—is still on the books. The same five commissioners who passed that resolution are still in office, and they show no signs of rescinding it. Indeed, their oft-re peated litany of "It's a dead issue/ there's nothing to talk about" still bums the ears of the county's les bians, gay men and supportive heterosexuals. To them, the issue is anything but dead. It is alive and well, pol luting the air of the county they once thought was a safe haven where they could live their lives quietly. They were wrong—and therein lies the legacy of the Cobb resolution. It is a legacy of struggle, of persistence, of coali tion building and of hard choices. A HISTORY LESSON The summer of 1993 will go down in Atlanta's gay and lesbian history as the summer from hell. It began victoriously, with a hard- fought battle won in City Council over domestic partnership. And then came the largest Pride cel ebration in the dty to date. But the elation was short-lived. Immedi ately after Pride, then-mayor Maynard Jackson surprised the community by vetoing the benefits portion of the domestic partner ship ordinance, a measure he had publicly supported. The temperature rarely dropped below 90 degrees in July that year, and the temperature of the community's rage topped even that. Angry demonstrations—at City Hall, at Jackson's Buckhead home—were the order of the day. And then late in July, word came from Cobb County that an obscure commissioner, one Gordon .Wysong, was proposing legislation to limit arts funding in the county to those projects "which advance and support strong community, family-oriented standards." The impetus behind Wysong's move was purportedly a com plaint from a constituent regard ing "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," a play produced by Marietta's Theatre in the Square. The Terrence McNally script told the story of two heterosexual couples staying at a house on Fire Island that had been willed to one of the char acters by her brother, who died of AIDS. There were no gay charac ters—but the play was spoken of as "promoting homosexuality." Wysong, meanwhile, wasn't content with restricting arts fund ing—alongside his arts ordinance was The Resolution, which denied funds to support "gay lifestyle units" and, in the wake of Atlanta's domestic partnership battles, declared homosexuality incompatible with Cobb's commu- >*■ Continued on Page 16

Georgia Historic Newspapers

Southern voice. (Atlanta, Georgia) 1988-20??, August 10, 1995, Image 1