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Queering the new year Gay Atlanta will I ringinl?96 with a spate of events, induding "A Night at the Tiopicana" featuring impressionists Lucy and Ricky. PAGE 15 PLEASE RECYCLE Not-so-happy holidays Manygaysand lesbians must choose between lovers and familyduring the holidays. Therapist Julia Strong (pictured) offers tips for managing the stress. PAGE 16 DECEMBER 21/1995 That's what HSUEFHJS are for With say subplots and an upcoming lesbian wedding, the NBC sitcom “Friends” is a hit with gay fans, David Crane, the gay co-producer of the show, speaks with writer Franklin Sellers about his shoWs appeal. PAGE 25 Minister calls off pickets of Atlanta bars by WALTER WOODS Atlanta—The black minister who called for a boycott of local gay and lesbian bars several weeks ago now says she is softening her pro test because of the negative backlash from bar patrons and owners. The Rev. S.F.Ma-Hee, pastor of the 150- member Redefined Faith Unity Fellowship Church, said there would be no pickets of the five bars—Loretta's, Burkhart's, The Other- side, the Marquette Lounge and Traxx/The Warehouse. The rhetoric in the community on both sides of the issue was getting too hot and hate ful, Ma-FIee said last week, "so we have de rided to talk, to encourage more dialogue, be fore we do anything else," "People are, starting to talk about things, and I have a feeling that we will work this out," she said. Ma-Hee had earlier called for boycotts of die five bars and threatened pickets. Since her statements, bar owners and patrons, both black and white, have strongly and some times angrily defended the boycotted clubs. Ma-Hee targeted the three black bars be cause, she claimed, they resist AIDS educa tion in their clubs and aren't involved enough black community charities. David Hampton, co-owner of Traxx/The Warehouse, defended his club, saying that Traxx has sponsored several AIDS fund-rais ers with Outreach Inc. and AIDS Education/ Services for Minorities. Outreach workers also regularly pass out condoms and AIDS >■ Continued on Page 6 Police say motive was - robbery, not hatred AU'dfcrd, Ore— Police have ar rested a man suspected in the brutal slayings of an Oregon lesbian couple, but they-say the motive was robbery, not anti-gay bias ^ ^ Alerted by a telephone tip a po lice SWAT team di sc encfoil on a motel in Stockton Calif., early Dec 13 and arrested Robert James Acremant, 27, on charges of muidermg Roxanne Hlis and Michelle Abdili in Medford An extradition was scheduled tor Dec 1? in Sain Joaquin County Supe rior Court i The bodies of the victims were found Det 7 in the hack of their truck The women lad been bound, gagged and blindfolded and each shot tv\k.e in the head Acremant's father, Kenneth Acremant of Stockton, told the Asso ciated Press that his son said during a jailhouse visit thafhh attempt to fob the women went awry and he had to lull them - . "He said he needed the money to get out ot the country," the eldci Acremant said The slayings ot Abdili and Ellis alarmed mane m the gay community- nationwide, who feared the women were killed because of their gay rights activism, but police, piosecu- tois and the suspect's father said there's no indication tiro crimes had anything to do with anti-gay hatred Oregon law requires verbal or writ ten expression ot bias be made for classification as a bias crime or hate crime, i ’ ” 1 Activists associated with Parents, Families and Fnends of Lesbians and Gays (ITLAGj m Medford held a press conference Dec 14 expressing concern that, despite police statements, anti gay bias might have factored into the fillings. "We know the killer enacted a de- iiberate, calculated process of entrap ment," the activists' statement said '"We know the killerwanted both vic- -tims. We know that money and credit cards were left at the scene „ What kind of robber leaves visible money at the criine scene 7 Did this man re- I allyhaveno knowledge thatRoxanne ami Michelle were a lesbian couple when, .to know than, even casually, SW I The murders of Rownne Ellis (left) and Michelle Abdili ham shired I . community lean nationwide. or to walk into their office, was to . know they were proud and out lesbi- ans and human rights activists?" Acremant hid moved to Medford recently with his mother J and rented an apartment four blocks away from the scene of the 1 killings He knew Ellis thiough a property management agency the women ran. He had been shown the apartment w here the women disap peared two weeks prior to the-kili- The suspect's father said that, in addition to Abdili and Ellis, his son admitted to killing a friend, Scott George, 23, of Visalia Calif, on Oct 3 in a fit of rage after a night of