Newspaper Page Text
'Ex-gay'
preacher in
sex scandal
Colin Cook, a
former minis
ter who has
admitted hav
ing sex with
men who came
to him to be
"cured" of homosexuality, faces new
allegations of misconduct. PAGE 6
PLEASE RECYCLE
Studds
won't seek
re-election
Openly gay
Rep. Gerry
Studds (D-
Mass.), the first
U.S. congress
man to come
out while in of
fice, has announced he won't seek ieelec-
tion next year. PAGE 7
NOVEMBER 9/1995
The innovative French-Canadian troupe of
acrobats, dancers and mimes brings its latest
production, “Alegria,” to Atlanta beginning
next week. Michael Kape previews what's
under the big top. PAGE 27
Talk of race relations and racism has
risen to the top of the national agenda in
the wake of the O J. verdict and the Million
Man March. Everyone seems to have had
- something to say on the topic, and many
whites shed their PC cloak in doing so. Sud
denly, modei ate, middle-class white people
were expressing feelings and emotions that
- previously were confined to-the rabid edges
of talk radio. ;
Yet theie is a curious silence about the
issue m the gay and lesbian community,
where whites are accustomed to thinking
of themseh es as enlightened about race and
immune from racism due hi their own op
pression.
In interviews for this article, many
people, black and white, asked not to be
identified by name and, even then, spoke
wi h i I mull i ■nin->[sit >01 uKv,
about the issues of race relations and rac-
mh
rh.it Jo. sn l siirpn-i H| laiksoii W
simply don't talk about these issues, but
that doesn't mean racism within our com-
'Xhir community might be a little more lolenmt. bill if
{white guys] didn't need me political!* would they even
reach out to me?*—BJ Jackson
mumty doesn't exist," says Jackson, an Af
rican-American lesbian who is coordinat
ing the second in a series of community
workshops to air out these issues
"We like to put up a facade to the main
stream" that race relations among the 1/g/
h i on iimn t ut 111 li 11 ter th an m tlx 1
111 nl | op ul ati li v -.ais hull it
think that s true' There is rai ism simme r-
n iitnivlith i istlimiti thr urau sit
>- Continued on Page 15
Anti-gay editorial in Emory paper stirs
by WALTER WOODS
A guest columnist for an Emory
University newspaper who blasted, the
school for extending benefits to the gay
partners of its students, faculty and staff
has sparked a debate on campus about
gay rights and free speech.
The flap came the same week as a
key part of the school's new gay domes
tic partners policy was set to go into ef
fect.
Angry letters to the editor have
swamped the usually quiet offices of the
Emory Report, the school's faculty
newspaper, condemning the paper for
running a guest editorial that criticized
the school for extending school benefits
to gay partners.
' The editorial, which ran in the
Report's Sept. 25 issue, was written by
Gerald Garrett, who is identified as a
senior accountant in the School of
Medicine's Department of Family and
Preventive Medicine. The column,
called "First Person," is a regular feature
that allows school faculty and staff to
voice opinions on issues.
The editorial said, "To be prejudicial
against others in terms of aspects that
can change (benevolent discrimination),
such as behavior, is completely appro
priate. Homosexuals can change, and
indeed many have. To discriminate
against a person solely because they en
gage in perversion is wrong. To grant
benefits or privileges on the basis of that
perversion is to be an accomplice to de-
campus ire
pravity, which is equally wrong.''
It goes on to say, "Statements to the
contrary notwithstanding, adoption of
same-sex benefits does endorse homo
sexuality. The answer to any sin prob-
. lem is not to condone it, like the Board-
of Trustees has done, but to encourage
others to repent, and accept Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior!"
Nancy Spitler, the managing editor
of the Report, said the editorial and en
suing flap has been loud and personal.
5^- Continued on Page 14