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SOUTHERN VOICE » DECEMBER 21/199S
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Kill 1 llipiii l ill
, Soulhern Voice
' T095 Zonolrte Road
Atlanta, GA 30306
HOT) 876-1619
N.C. activist
targets Helms for
defeat in '96
by WALTER WOODS
Atlanta—Mandy Carter rolls her
eyes at Jesse Helms' claim that he's
never used the word "nigget"
"Oh, please," she said. "He was
bomandiaisedinthesegiegatedSouth;
ofcoursehe'ssaidit"And,sheadded,
"we're going to use that in an ad
vertisement against him."
Carter, a former officer of the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force,
has moved back to Durham, N.C.,
to set up North Carolina Mobiliza
tion '96, a campaign that she says
will finally unseat Jesse Helms from
the U.S. Senate.
Carter spoke at an Atlanta Lambda
Center forum on Dec. 10 at Emory
University to rally early support for
the effort.
She called on Carolinians now
living in Atlanta to return home to
march in the North Carolina Pride
parade next June in Winston-Salem.
'"Thousands of North Carolinians come
to Atlanta's Pride march ev
ery year;" she said. "Nextyear,
we'd like to have thousands
of Atlantans in our march."
In 1996 Helms will face
either his1990opponent,former
Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt
or Raleigh businessman Charlie
Sanders. They will face off in a May
7 Democratic primary for the right
to challenge Helms.
Carter said Gantt is more solid
on gay and lesbian issues and has a
better chance to beat Helms. Gantt
is expected to win, but Mobilization
'96 will throw its support behind
Sanders if he upsets Gantt. "We'll
support almost anybody at this point
to get Helms out," she said.
Carter's story about the "N" word
came out of an exchange between
Helms and a caller on "Larry King
Live" earlier this summer. A caller
called in to thank Helms for help-
ingto"keeptheniggersdown."Helms
didn't respond, but when pressed by
King he said he had never used the
word after his father had spanked
him for saying it as a child.
Carter told the group of about
30 Lambda Center supporters that
the growth in tire Research Triangle
area between Chapel Hill, Raleigh
and Durham may be the key to Helms'
defeat in 1996. "The man has never
won by more than 50 percent of the
vote in any recent election," she said.
Hopefully,the sameprogressive voters
that last month elected Mike Nelson
of Carrboro the state's first openly
gay mayor; will also make the dif
ference next year with Helms, she
said.
Mandy Carter
Kennesaw State to offer
gay literature course
Greg Johnson
by WALTER WOODS
Marietta.—In Cobb County, the
heartland of anti-gay Georgia, about
30 students next month will read
and discuss Oscar Wilde, Rita Mae
Brown and James Baldwin.
The English department of
Kennesaw State College is offer
ing a winter quarter undergradu
ate class in gay writers and gay
literature. Fifteen students—11 men
and five women—have already
signed up for the 30 spaces, and
the class is set to begin Jan. 2.
Novelist GregJohnson, who will
teach the course, said there hasbeen
surprisingly little controversy. One
anonymous letter criticizing the
course was sent to the Marietta Daily
Journal,but theideabreezed through
the English department's approval
committee. Kennesaw State's presi
dent has said publicly that he sup
ports the course.
Ever Bill Byrne, the chairman
of the Cobb County Commission
who supported the county's 1993
anti-gay resolution, told the Marietta
Daily Journal he endorsed the
college's right to offer the course.
A recent faculty forum on minor
ity issues brought up the course and
only a few of the school's360teachers
expressed concern.
Students in the course, called
"Modem Gay Literature," will read
Baldwin's "Giovanni's Room" and
Tony Kushner's "Angels in America,"
as well as works by Thomas Mann,
Paul Monette and Camille Paglia.
Johnson, author of the popu
lar novel "Pagan Babies," said the
class also will discuss tire evolu
tion of gay culture from the days
when Wilde was sent to prison for
homosexuality to the political is
sues being discussed today.
The course is the first under
graduate class to tackle this sub
ject matter at any of Georgia's tax-
supported colleges and universi
ties. Georgia Southern University
in Statesboro offeredagraduate level
course called "Gay Literature" last
year. Duke University in Durham,
N.C., offers a gay studies major.
Johnson said he started the ef
fort to establish the course about
three years ago because of the ex
plosion of gay literature into the
mainstream.
Elaine Hill of Cobb Citizens
Coalition, which formed to protest
the Cobb anti-gay resolution, said
she was thrilled to hear about the
course. "We need some honest dis
cussion of gay issues in Cobb
County," she said.
Police search
Bulldogs lor
shooting
suspect
Atlanta—In whatmighthave
been a throwback to the bad old
days, police and Georgia Bureau
of Investigation agents entered
Bulldogs Tuesday, Dec 5, made
themanagament turn up the lights
and probed around the startled
patrons.
Unlike pre-Stonewall raids
ongay bars what police frequently
toughed up aislomeis, this search
was welcomed by Bulldogs'
general manger MatkTayloi. He
said officers from tire GBI and
the Doug!asville,Ga., Police De
partment asked if they amid look
in the bar for a suspect. He said
- he was glad to cooperate.
"The guy was wanted for
shooting at a Douglasville po
lice officer and some other of
fenses,"Taylor said. He saidpolke
searched several establishments
along that- section of Peachtree
Street (Bulldogs ison Peaclitice
and 7th streets) looking for the
man, whom they believed was
staying at the Villager Iodge motel
across the street. ! -
"All we had to do was turn
up the lights for a little bit, it was
no big deal," Taylor said "I
welcomed it i was glad to co-
opeiate Iwouldn'twantsome-
body like that in my bar." 1
Taylor said he wished police
Would do mine to make the
.. neighborhoodsafet "Hive right
across the street, so I see how
bad the area is every day," he
said.
18-year-old
charged in
hair stylist's
murder
An 18-year-old Thomasville
man has been charged with
murder in the killing of a
Danielsville hair stylist.
Sterling Barber is accused of
killing Gerald Doug Wyatt, 48,
whose body was found Nov. 30
in some woods off a rural road
near Camesville, Ga.
Wyatt was reportedmissing
Nov.28, and his abandoned car
was found the same day three
miles from where the body was
eventually discovered Autopsy
results showed he died from
multiple stab wounds.