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FOWLER REJECTS PETITION “1 don’t operate by petition” was Atlanta City Council Resident Wydie Fowler’s reply to the gay community’s petition for repeal of Atlanta’s idling and loitering ordinance. Fowler casually tossed the over 500 signature petition back to CRC Commissioner Bill Smith as they met to discuss theordinance. Over 100 gay persons were arrested during the summer of 1975 under Atlanta’s idling and loitering ordinance. Many more were harassed according to the records of several gay organizations and gay business persons. Several 'thousand people have been arrested under the ordinance according to Margie Hames, a local attorney. Hames recently accused Atlanta police of using the law to harass accused prosititutes and homosexuals with felony charges and then convincing the accused to plead guilty to the misdeameanor ch arge of idling and loitering. According to attorney Hames the person not only gets a police record in the bargin but is subject to police harassment if spotted again in areas “Known” tb be frequented by prosititutes and homosexuals. In September the Atlanta Community Relations Com mission urged that the city council repeal the idling and loitering ordinance. The CRC Task Force report on the or dinance concluded that the law was “not in keeping with the spirit ot the City ov Atlanta ana does not appear in serve any lawful purpose.” Fowler contended that he has received numerous comnlaints from/businessmen and citizens who have, been accosted by homosexuals and prostitutes. The public has a right to be protected from unwanted ao oostation on the street from prostitutes and homosexuals accordin g to Fowler. “I have a responsibility to the total city and the image of the city. I wrote many of the idling and loitering laws when I was on the board of aldermen” stated Fowler. Most of them were aimed at the hippie problems of the sixties and were eventually declared unconstitutional. Fowler recommended that Commissioner Smith take his suggestions to the members of the police and judiciary com mittee of the Atlanta City Council, since as president of council he could neither vote nor introduce legislation. When asked if he would support a general city ordinance on gay rights at this time Fowler said. ‘‘I really haven’t thought about the issue....occasionally I do get an anonymous letter on the subjbct.” Fowler added that when Atlanta Public Safety Com missioner Eaves spoke of hiring to get Sodomy Law Challenge ex-offenders his switch board was jammed with calls from people complaining about the hiring of criminals. He admitted though, on further questioning, that few calls were received objecting to Eaves comments homosexuals. of hiring (Ed’s Note:..A pre-publication copy; of this article was sent to Atlanta City Council President, Wyche Fowler. He' characterized the article as unfair and a misrepresentation of his views.) In cooperation with NGTF Board Member Dr. Frankljn Kameny and the Virginia Civil liberties Union, the National Gay* Task Force has undertaken a major federal court challenge of restrictions pn consensual adult sex. Thirteen states have passed legislative refdrms striking sodomy from their criminal statutes, but similar laws still exist in the remaining thirty ,seven states. The most effective route to ending tnese laws lies in federal court challenge. To initiate a court challenge to the laws, two Virginia men, one of them a prominent member of NGTF and a Virginia resident, went into federal court seeking a declaratory judgment against the law’s constitutionality in the states. On October 24, a three- judge panel refused the suit in a two-to-one split decision. In a strongly-worded dissent, Judge Merhige of the Eastern District in Virginia took ex ception , to his fellow judges and wrote, ‘ ‘I can find no authority for intrusion by the state into the private dwelling of a citizen. Stanley vs. Georgia, 394 U.S. 157 (1969) teaches us that socially - condemned activity, excepting that of demonstrable external effect, is and was intended by the Constitution to be beyond the scope of state regulation when conducted within the privacy of the home. ‘The Constitution extends special safe-guardstothe THE BA the news monthly iRB for southern gays FEBRUARY 1976 NA TIONAL NOTES No Gays Here Reprinted by special persmission of NewsWest. By Hugh Harrison, News West Special Writer “Dave Kopay? Never heard of him! “I’m sorry, but we have no aomment at this time.” What began as a search for the elusive Mr. Kopay soon turned into the most tangled mess of misinformation and cold non-reaction this writer has encountered. It all arose from a series of artides in the Washington Star by writer Lynn Rosellini on homosexuality in sports. At first, the response in the general media, with the exception of the LA. Times, was at least ob jective. Then, suddenly, the Kopay story was dropped from one end of the country to the other. It sank without a trace! That was what prompted me to start my search by phone. Until recently, one of my more cooperative sports sources has been Tom Kelly at KNXT. Now, with the bombshell dropped by Kopay - and because I am a writer for the gay press -1 could no longer get through to him. Likewise, a call to Stu Nahan at KABC found him quickly turning me over to a girl at th e sports desk who coolly and firmly gave me no help what soever. The reaction at KNBC was even worse. After a confusing series of switches from one person to another - none of whom would, give a name - I drew the conclusion that they, had never heard of Dave Kopay, Lynrt Rosellini, the Washington Star, pro football or even the word “gay.” Why? My first.inkling that someone or something was out to clamp an iron lid on the Kopay affair was from a contact on the L.A. Times. When I asked why the Times ignored the story, he said the sports department had received several “suggestions,” the main one being that they “totally ignore it.” Reasons? “It wouldn’t be good for the game. It would be. bad for the world of sports in general. It would destroy our culture.” When pressed for the source of such “suggestions,” my contact carelully alluded to “some important ball clubs and other sports organizations.” He didn’t name them. He added that if I leaked the information, he’d deny it and was sure the paper would do the same. I tried to contact several major sports clubs in Los Angeles, hoping someone would confirm the fact that the Kopay story was being systematically represseed. I expected a cold reception from the various publicists, but the real surprise was this: The last team Kopay had played for, the Southern California Sun, was in the now- defunct World Football League. I decided that a call to National Football League headquarters in New York might at least put me on the trail of Kopay, who had played for six teams in the NFL. The young woman who answered the phone was sweet and charming. Without naming Continued on page 13. Washington, D.C. - Indiana Senator Birch Bayh (D).an an nounced presidential candidate, told members of New York’s Gay Political Union that if he is elected President one of his first actions will be to sign an executive order banning discrimination against gay people in the federal govern ment. Washington, D.C. ■ U.S. Rep. Don Edwards (D-CA) reports that his Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights will begin hearings on the federal gay rights bill (HR 5452) in January. Bloomington, In. - The Municipal government of this city approved a local ordinance which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, martial status and age in education, housing, employment and public ac comodations. Mayor Frank McCloskey sponsored and in- trou duced th e legislation. Phoenic, Ariz. - The Arizona Court of Appeals struck down the state’s sodomy and “lewd and lascivious act” laws as unconstitutional, saying that they violate the “fundamental right” to sexual privacy between consenting adults. Gay Service Center for Atlanta? ATLANTA - An informal gathering at the home of Randel Hinton, host of the radio program Gay Atlanta, is the possible nucleus of a gay community service center for Atlanta. Steven Douglas, former Atlanta Gay Help Line staff member, proposed a temporary organizational plan for an Atlanta Center that might very well fill need for a com prehensive gay social service organization here. British Sterling Memorial Fund Director Bill Smith was also present at the meeting. Smith, whose concerns have increasingly centered around political lobbying since he resigned as director of the Atlanta Gay Help Line, ex pressed his desire to see gay professionals organize for in tensive legislative lobbying effort. “The community,” ac cording to Smith, “has not in dicated its willingness to support the massive amount of work involved in running a gay center.” Randel Hinton, recently arrived in Atlanta from Pensacola, expressed his surprise that there was no gay service organization in Atlanta with the exception of the three church groups. Hinton suggested that the activities of the proposed center, the Atlanta Gay Help Line and the British Sterling Memorial Fund be consolidated under a comprehensive plan. Dr. Gibson Higgins the director of AGHL, was contacted after the meeting and indicated his willingness to work with the group to help the group for mulate the plans and to merge the gay help line activities into the program. There is no “center” now artjd the plans are at a very in formal level. The possibilities are nonetheless exciting. Individuals interesting in working with the group are, urged to contact them either writing Gay Center care of The Baih, Post Office Box 79l2, Atlanta, Ga. 30309, or call The Baib (Office hours 12 noon-11 p.m.) at 874-3232. Boca Raton, FI. • The Com^ munity Relations Board of this city voted unanimously to in vestigate a complaint charging the Police Department with harassment and entrapment of gay people. The formal com plaint was lodged on behalf of the Gay Academic Union of Florida Atlantic University. Jackson, Ms. • Gay liberation ’ has reached this southern state. The Mississippi Gay Alliance held its first state convention November 21-23. For more information about this organization write to MGA, P.O. Box 8342, Jackson, Ms 39204. Houston, Tx •' .Gay people here* are serious about getting the city’s Commissioner’s Court to recognize gay rights. Each Week a gay woman or man goes to the County Com missioner, announces their sexual orientation and appeals for protective legislation. The program is now in its fifth month. Dallas, Tx. - A domestic relations court jury of 10 men and two women decided by a vote of 10 to 2 that Richard Rishers, 9, must leave his. mother, a lesbian, and gdlive with his father. The jury, ap parently heeding-attorney Mike McCurley’s plea not to make the boy a guinea pig of someones social experiment took more than fives hours to make the decision. * New York - New York police, in vestigating a ring of procurers privacy of th e home...., ’ United ^States vs. Oritto 413 U.S. 139 (1973). Whether the guarantee of personal privacy springs from the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, the penumbra of th e Bill of Rights, or as I believe, in the concept of liberty guaranteed by the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court has made it clear that fun damental rights of such' an in timate facet of an individual’s life as sex, absent circumstances waranting intrusion by the state, are to be respected. My brothers, I Respectfully suggesti, hate by todky’s ruling, misinterpreted the issue - the issue centers not arqundmoralityordecency, outthd constitutional right of privacy. ’ ’ The Virginia Civil Liberties Union and NGTF now plan to appeal the decision. That appeal will go directly to the United States Supreme Court. NGTF Executive Director Dr. Bruce .Voeller commented, “This challenge should become the ‘Brown vs. Board of Education’ of the gay movement. If the high, court strikes down the Virginia law, the laws of the other thirty- seven states will fall simultaneously. With these laws will fall the ‘criminalizing’ coloration from which lesbians and gay men have suffered so long. Unlike two recent cases which were refused hearing by the high court, the present case is clear, direct, and to the point. We should have a landmark case with even greater application and effect to most gay people’s lives than the Matlovich case.” The sucess of the appeal- depends in part on the availability of money to cover oasts of the case. Th^ Virginia Civil Liberties Union will provide the attorneys for that historic appeal; however the appeal will involve over 1,000 dollars in others costs including printing and filing fees. This money is needed urgently, and the Task Force askes that donations be sent to NGTF headquarters with a note ear marking the funds for “sodomy law challenge.” who supply boys to the homosexual trade, arrested one of the chief operators along with his book of clients. Listed were the names of a number of VIP’S including a European ,U.N. Ambassador, a movie star and the brother of a very well known politician. Washhigton, D.C. - Dave Kopay, former running back and special teams player for six National Football League teams, said that he is gay. Kopay, thought to be the first professional football player to openly admit -his homosexuality, stepped forward via an interview with the Washington Star after reading the initial installments of tht newspaper’s series on gay athletes. Chicago - The American Public Health Association has approved a resolution calling for action on the part of the Association for the rights of gay people. The. resolution was presented by the APHA’s Gay Caucus. ON THE COVER Bringing the “Philly Sound” to the nation’s discos are Daryl Qall and John Oates. They recently appeared at the Electric Ballroom in Atlanta as Part of a tour in conjunction with the release of their first album for RCA, ‘ ‘Daryl Hall/John Oat^s.’’