"THE VOICE OF THE GAY COMMUNITY - SERVING THE SOUTHEAST AND THE NATION”
Vol. 2, No. 2 PUBLISHED IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA 25 cents
★★★ NATIONAL NOTES ★★★
GEORGIA SODOMY LAW
REPEAL DIES IN COMMITEE
House bill 425, introduc
ed into the Georgia Legis
lature by Newnan Repre
sentative Nathan Knight,
contained sweeping re
forms of Georgia’s Cri
minal Codes relating to
sexually oriented crimes.
Commonly refered to as the
“Rape Bill,” HB 425rede
fined a host of sexual of
fenses and drastically re
vised the judicial proceed
ing involved in prosecuting
alleged rapists and the pen
alities that can be imposed.
The original version of
the bill eliminated all
existing state laws against
sodomy and solicitation for
sodomy. The bill would
have effectively ended the
argument of employers and
other who refused to do
business with gay people
that they could not do so
on the grounds that gay
people were potential fer
Ions. Sexual crimes were
defined as those sexual acts
committed against the will of
one of the parties involved
without regard to the nu
mber of persons involved
or the sexes of the parti
cipants.
The bill was introduced
with little comment and sent
to the Special Judiciary
Committee of the House
of Representatives for
hearings. Publicity in the
Atlanta newspapers promp
ted Rep. Knight, author of
the bill, to state that the
bill would not legalize ho
mosexual and that the
Committee would spell that
out clearly.
In a telephone interview
with Rep. Knight he stated
that he did not sup
port the elimination of the
sodomy laws. When asked
why it was in his orginal
version of the bill he re
fused comment. It is doubt
ful that Knight actually had
anything to do with the
writing of the bill and even
more doubtful that he was
aware that it would repeal
Georgia’s sodomy laws
until Atlanta Constitution
reporter Claduia Townsend
highlighted this four line
section of his ten page 318
line bill.
Dekalb County Represen
tative Elanor Richardson,
a co-sponsor of the bill
told the BARB that she was
“unaware of what the bill
would do to the current
sodomy laws.” She sug
gested that we contact a
lawyer.
Many bills coming out of
the Georgia legislature are
confusing but Representa
tives of the caliber of
Knight and Richardson, as
suming that they read their
bill, could not fail to unde-
stand what the bill would do
The bill stated that it would
in addition to changes in the
rape laws “...FURTHER
AMEND BY REPEALING IN
THEIR ENTIRETY THE
FOLLOWING SECTIONS
FOLLOWING CODE SEC
TIONS CODE SECTION 26-
2002, RELATING TO THE
CRIMES OF SODOMY AND
AGGRAVATED SODOMY;
CODE SECTION 26-2003,
RELATING TO THE CRIME
OF SOLICIATION OF SO
DOMY;” Efforts to have
Supporters of this section
testify before the House
Special Judiciary Com
mittee on behalf of this bill
failed. The failure of sup
porters to testify was due
to the total lack of pre
paredness on the part of
Atlanta’s gay community
leaders, ^Io one in the gay
community was aware of
the bill’s existence until
after the bill was introduc
ed. Also a lack of know
ledge of how the Goergia
House operates hindered
efforts to properly arrange
testimony. A chance meet
ing between BARB editor
Bill Smith and St. Rep. Sid
ney Marcus provided the
necessary information to
make the prpper arrange
ments to testify. Unfortun
ately, time had run out for
Georgia gays as the Special
Judiciary Committee had
closed its agenda the day
before.
One of the most dis
appointing aspects of the
fight to keep the sodomy
repeal in the bill was the
attitude of the Feminist
Action Alliance (FAL).
Press reports quoted
spokesperson for the group
as saying that they were
quite willing to strike the
“homosexual” part of the
bill. Ostensibly / done to save
the rest of the far reach
ing bill the quick cave in
of FAL at the first sign of
publicity was extremely
disappointing. BARB ef
forts to find out why the
FAL discarded the sodomy
repeal even before indivi
dual legislators objected
were met with a wall of
silence and unreturned tele-
phone calls.
The Committee substi
tute as reported out of com
mittee leaves the solicita- .
tion for sodomy and agra-
vated sodomy laws to in
cluded females as well as
males. The penalty for a
conviction under this law
remains not less than one
year and not more than
twenty.
Efforts to restore the
original version of the bill
are being made. The total
lack of preparedness on the
part of gay leadership has
seriously jeprodized any
small chance the bill may
have had. The BARB urges
all Georgians both straight
and gay who support the
repeal of the sodomy laws
to immediately write to
your House District Repre -
sentative in support of the
orgianl version of HB 425.
The committee substitute is
being sponsored by Repre
sentatives Knight of the 67th
Richardson of the 52nd,
Hawkins of the 50th, Car-
lislie of the 71st, Felton
of the 22nd, Burruss of the
21st, Oxford of the 116th,
Bolster of the 30th and
Marcus of the 26th. Sup
port letters to the bill spon
sors above or just a copy of
your support letter to your
representative would also
be helpful.
If you do not know your
House District Represen
tative send your letter to:
THE BARB, P.O. 7922,
ATLANTA, GA. 30309 and
we will toward it to your
representative. Be sure to
enclose your correct ad
dress so that we can de-
termin your House District!
CHECK OUR
CLASSIFIED ADS
Coyer Photo
Glenn Billings was bom in
Cincinnati, Ohio 24 years ago
this month. After attending
Ohio State University where
he majored in Dance and Art
he enrolled at the Fashion
Institute of America. Glenn
will graduate this month with a
degree in fashion and fabric
design.
Travel is his immediate plan.
Mexico, California, Canada
and hopefully Europe are on
his agenda. Longer range
plans include breaking into the
highly competitive design
market in New York.
New York- A “Summit
Conference” held January 27
between representatives of the
gay community and top
executives of NBC has
resulted in the announcement
that the network’s equal
employment program will be
> broadened to include gay
people.
New Nork- The National Gay
Task Force has begun an
emergency alert telephone
network to mobilize the
national gay community. The
network would be used in
emergency situations to com
municate necessary informa
tion or to begin and coordinate
a national protest. NGTF
would like to find contact
people in every state. Those'
willing to participate in^this
effort should call the Task
Force at (212) 741-1010.
Los Angeles- An eight page
memorandum circulated re
cently among members of the
Los Angeles Police Depart
ment charges that the
homosexual lifestyle is “reck
less, irresponsible and wan
ton” and that homosexuals are
’’immoral, abnormal, degrad
ing and criminal.” The Los
Angeles City Council is
currently considering a
proposed ordinance which
would make it illegal to
discriminate against gays in
hiring of police officers.
New York- The presiding
council of the American
Association for the Advance
ment of Science adopted a
resolution on January 31
stating that the Association
“deplores any form of
discrimination on the basis of
sexual behavior between
consenting adults in private.”
Houston- A court order
recently gave guardianship of
a child who had been
tentatively diagnosed as a
m^le transexual, to Anne
Mays, a post operative
transexual. The order followed
a two month investigation by
the County juvenile probation
department and the District
Attorney’s office.
Glenn’s personality, not to
mention his 5’ 10” 1601b.
physic so well displayed on
this month’s cover, will, no
doubt, be an asset than will
allow his talents, design and
other wise, to be utilized by
the New York fashion world.
Atlanta park goers will miss
seeing Glenn’s graceful bod
riding through the bike trails
in Piedmont Park. The
familiar, though rather brief,
levi shorts he sported last
Los Angeles- Gay people
have been distressed by
repeated media statements
that the “slasher”, the
murderer of nine men along
L.A.’s skid row is homosexual.
Whatever the orientation or
the motivation of the unknown
killer, the allegation that the
police are looking for a
homosexual has no basis in
fact. The L.A. police has said
that the possibility that the
killer may be homosexual is
merely one of five possible
theories advanced to explain
the activities of the “slasher”,
perhaps to predict his next
move.
Boston*Dignity, the gay
Catholic organization, an
nounced plans for this year’s
national convention to be held
in Boston on Labor Day
Weekend, August 29 to
September 1. Suggestions for
speakers and workshop topics
should be sent to the Dignity
national office: 755 Boylston
St. Rm. 514, Boston, MA
02216.
Detroit- A bottleneck in the
office of Mayor Coleman
Young is holding up adoption
or ordinances that will put into
effect the sweeping gay rights
provisions that became part of
Detroit’s city charater last July
1. Young is reportedly
incensed at the suggestion
that one or more gay people be
named to the Human Rights
Commission that oversees the
department that enforces the
city’s anti-discrimination law.
New York- Howard J.
Brown, M.D. co-founder and
past chairman of the National
Gay Task Force died of a heart
attack on February 1. He was
50 years old.
New York- In a decision
handed down January 20, a
judge of the District Court of
Suffolk County (N.Y.) has
declared unconstitutional a
statute prohibiting sodomy.
The judge pointed out that the
statute unfairly discriminates
against single adults and thus
violates the 14th amendment
to the U.S. Constitution. The
decision will be binding only if
it is affirmed on a higher level.
summer were of his own
design. We’re sure Glenn will
continue his favorite hobby in
the parks of New York. The
hobby? Bike riding of course!
Glenn’s favorite color is blue
and his many friends and
admirers are feeling just like
his favorite color at his
departure from the Atlanta
scene. The BARB wishes him
all the success his unique and
diversified talents will bring to
him.
