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Atlanta Mayor Wins
Phyllis Killer Oscar
ATLANTA* Atlanta’s Mayor
Maynard Jackson won the 8th
Annual Cecile B. DeMille Award
at the Phyllis Killer’s Annual
Oscar’s Show. The Cecil B.
DeMeille Award, like its name
sake, is presented to the person
who has done the most to
enhance the gay community.
The award was presented at
the May 5th Oscars Show at the
Sweet Gum Head Lounge.
Accepting for Mayor Jackson
was Atlanta Community
Relations 2nd Vice-Chairperson
Bill Smith.
In accepting the award for
Mayor Jackson Commisioner
Smith cited the Mayors
commitment both public / and
private to the civil rights of gay
people.
John Austin, manager of the
Sweet Gum Head Lounge
presented the trophy -to the
Mayor dti May lltn in a .short
ceromony in his office.r.
Mayor Jackson expressed his
pleasure in receiving the Oscar
-and reiterated his commitment
to the basic civil rights of all
people regardless of their sexual
orientation. Mayor Jackson
added “We haveproblems The
process of' change takes
time,...but we are committed in
this administration and they
know it.”
Mayor Jackson received
more votes than any other
nominee in the 8th Annual
Phyllis Killers’s Oscar Show
John Austine (L), manager of Atlanta’s Sweet Gam Head Lounge,
presents the Ceciai B. DeMille Oscar Award to Atlanta’s Mayor
Maynard Jackson
Demo Platform Gets Gay Input
ATLANTA- Sheryl Pense,
member of the board of directors
of NOW, and Dr. Lanny Dykes,
an Atlanta physician, both
testified in favor of including a
gay rights plank in the
Democratic National Platform.
Pense and Dykes were followed
by four well Known gay activist;
people in the areas of housing,
employment, public
accomodations and public
service.
The platform committee sat
silently through-out- the
presentations and asked no
question of any of those who
spoke in favor of gay rights
planks in the Democratic
Platform.
Rev. Perry commenting on
the lack of response from the
committee said '‘every time we
speak out we lay the ground
work for action in the future.”
BARB Editor, Bill Smith
stated that, ‘‘testimony like this
has been given in the New
England hearing, now here in
Atlanta and will be given again
in every regional hearing they
hold. By the time they begin
srriting the platform they may
have the answers to any
potential questions stored in
their heads. They cannot say we
have not offered to resonably
discuss the issue when gay
demonstrators appear at
Madison Square Gardens in
July.”
Sheryl Reuse
Rev Troy Perry of Los Angeles,
Rev. Jim Snow of Atlanta, and
newly named National Gay Tak
Force Board of Directors
member Martha Smith of ALFA
and Bill Smith of THE BARB - an
Atlanta based gay newspaper.
Speaking from prepared texts
the four activist called on the
Democratic Party to. in dude a
call for the passage of civil rights
legislations to prohibit
discrimination against gay
(Lto K) Dr. Laimey Dykes, Rev Troy Perry and Rev Jim Snow.
NGTF Names Five Southerners
NEW YORK (It’s Time) three
Georgians and two Texans were
named to the National Gay Task
Force (NGTF) board of directors.
The expanded thirty member
board draws representatives
from throughout the United
States reflecting the national
make up of the NGTF
membership.
Pocky Anderson and Gary
Van Ottingham, both active in
Houston's Gay Political Caucus,
were named to the board.
Martha Smith, an active member
of ALFA (Atlanta
Lesbian/Feminist Alliance) and
B31 Smith, editor of THE BARB
were also named.
Dr. Louis Crew, founder of
Integrity, from Ft. Valley,
Georgia was the fifth southerner
named.
New Yorkers still hold twelve
positions on the board with the
west coast coming in second
with seven members, four from
FTU Hosts Florida Conference
Orlando- The Gay Student
Association of Florida Tech.
University will host the 1st
Annual Florida Gay Conference
in Orlando May 29-31 st. The
recent southeast wide gay
conference sponsered by the Gay
Student Union, University of
North Carolina-Chapel Hill has
prompted the FTU Gay Student
Asssociation to provide a state
wide forum for gay activists and
other interested parties.
‘‘Gay Unity Through Positive
Action... Awareness...
Pride...Political Action” will be
theme of the conrerence.
the news monthly
for southern gays
JUNE 1976
NATIONAL NOTES
mid-atlantic states, two from the
mid-west and the remaining five
from southern cities.
PORTLAND— Delegates to the
General Conference of the
United Methodist Church have
refused to liberalize their stance
on homosexuality. The
conference refused to consider
the ordination of gays into the
ministry and the open
.acceptance of gay women and
men into the fellowship of the
church.
HONOLULU— The broad gay
rights bill overwhelmingly
approved by the Hawaii State
House of Representatives in
early March died quietly in early
April when a senate committee
chair refused to schedule
hearings on it. The chairman of
the committee said that a gay
rights bill might create a
backlash which would wipe out
gains already made by gays in
Hawaii.
ANNAPOLIS— Two gay rights
bills, one which would have
repealed the state’s sodomy laws,
and another which would have
guaranteed civil rights for
homosexuals were defeated by
the legislature of Maryland. The
repeal spurred the state’s first
public gay demonstration as 35
gays gathered at the state capitol
on April 5th to protest scuttling
of the bills.
SAN FRANCISCO— A federal
appeals court has ruled that
advocacy of gay rights causes
and public admission of
homosexuality constitutes
‘‘flaunting” of homosexuality
and therefore can be a just cause
for dismissal from a civil service
job. According to the February
decision from the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the ninth circuit in
San Francisco such “flaunting”
is not protected by the Civil
Service Commission.
SACRAMENTO—San Fran cisco
may have a gay sheriffs deputy,
but it will be ~no dice if the
subject of a gay law officer
comes up in Sacramento County.
The county’s sheriff says he’d
object such a hiring case to the
Supreme Court, adding, “if I
ever had to call for services of a
policeman, I wouldn’t expect
the sheriff or the police chief to
send out a queer.”
INDIANAPOLIS- The U.S.
Supreme Court took a “giant
step backward” | in ruling that
certain sexual acts between
consenting adults in private
could_be criminal, according to a
noted sex researcher. Dr. Paul
H. Gebhard, director of the
Institute for Sex Research (The
Kinsey Group) said that the
decision allows for capricious
enforcement of sex laws.
LOS ANGELES- In a syndicated
article, singer Johnny Mathis
has denied that he is a
homosexual and has stated that
he would like to become a father,
but he is too old fashioned to
have children out of wedlock.
SAN DIEGO- The San Diego
State University student council
voted to boot military recruiters
out of the student union because
the military discriminates
against gay people. The council
also called for a “blue ribbon”
panel to consider whether the
university president should ban
recruiters from the campus
altogether.
LOS ANGELES- The University
of Southern California Law
School has formally adopted a
policy of non-discrimination
against gay pepple in both the
selection of students and hiring-
of faculty. The policy also bans
the use of law school facilities by
employers who discriminate.
NEWPORT-. The Rhode Island
Bicentenial Commission has
refused to allow a gay group,
Toward a Gayer Bicentenial to
participate in Rhode Island’s
bicentenial celebration. The
group has appealed to the
courts.
Washington-, Leonard
Matlovich's request for a court
order forcing the Air Force to
readmit him has been delayed
until early May while his lawyers
make an appeal within the Air
Force bureauracy.
LONDON- London’s
Gay Times t reports that the
United states Embassy in
London has refused a visitor’s
visa to a Birmingham man
because he was thought to be a
homosexual.
JACKSONVILLE— Mayor Hans
Tanzler of Jacksonville, FL.
aenied a request from
the city’s Gay Alliance for
Political Action that a gay person
be placed on Jacksonville’s
Community relations
Commission. Said TanzleT in
response to the request, “I must
at this time agree with the
commission that the homosexual
question can be handled by the
commission with the
membership as it now stands.”
NEW YORK— The Co-
Chairman of the National
Committee for Sexual Liberties,
agroup organized to fight for the
elimination of punitive sex laws!
has blasted the National Gay•
Task Force and gay activist,
Frank Kamenv. i» * ‘•♦atement
to the Advocate , the
Chairman said that the case
which NGTF and Kameny took to
the Supreme Court was litigated
prematurely, poorly conceived
and improperly and inadequately
handled. The statement called
Kameny “director general” of
involving the rights of
homosexuals, much to the
dismay of those with knowledge.
and competence in the law.
OTTAWA- Canada’s capitol city-
has outlawed discrimination
against gay people in municipal
employment.
Toronto is the only other
Canadian city to offer such rights
guarantees, though the
provincial human rights code of
British Columbia recently was
interpreted to protect gay people
against discrimination.
ATLANTA
Gay Pride Week 76 Celebration
ATLANTA- A march from
Atlanta’s Civic Center, Saturday
June 26th, will highlight
Atlanta’s GAY PRIDE WEEK
CELEBRATION ’76. The march
was a traditional part of the
Stonewall Commeration from
1971 until 1973. The 1971 march
began at Peachtree and 7th. ’72
and ’73 saw the parade
commence at the Civic Center
and wind its’ way to Piedmont
Park. 1974 and 1975 did without
parades with Gay Pride Week
activities limited to local gay
organizations.
The GAY PRIDE WEEK
CELEBRATION ’76 Planning
Committee has begun
preparations for the celebration
scheduled for the week of June
20-27. The planning committee,
comprised of individuals from
such diverse groups as ALFA,
Dignity, Integrity, the Atlanta
Gay Center and the Atlanta
Metropolitan Community
Church, arecoordinating efforts
towards different workshops and
meetings. Social, political and
health topics are being
developed.
The planning committee has
not finalized the schedule of
events for the entire week
of GPW-’76. A variety of local
gay and non-gay figures from
many areas are being sought for
workshops pannels and parade
day speakers.
An intense publicity
campaign is planned for the
entire southeast to publicize the
weeks events in gay lounges and
generate a large turnout for the
parade on June 26th.
TENNESSEE’S
Coagresswoman Lloyd Opposes
The sponserS aim is to
develope an association of
“Florida Gay groups which will-
move toward a consensus of
positive action through a
consensus of our own awareness,
our own pride and our political
action.”
Registration for the
conference is $5.00 prior to the
conference and $6.00 the day of
the conference. For advance
registration mail your name,
address, city, state, and your
check or money order for $5.00
to: FTU Gay Student Asso.,
P.O. Box 26,274; Orlando, FL
CLEVELAND, IN- Rick Russell,
President of the Cleveland based
United Gay Alliance, has urged
the defeat of Congressperson
Marilyn Lloyd (D) of
Tennessee’s Third District. In a
letter to Russell, Rep. Lloyd
made clear that she will not
support Gay legislation in
Congress and that she does not
‘‘condone homosexuality
because lama Christian and the
Bible specifically condemns
this.”
Russell called her position
unfortunate and “typical of the
bigoted attitudes” held by many
of the government
representatives in the state.
He went on to say that
although the UGA does not
generally elect to endorse or
urge non-support of candidates,
Rep. Lloyd’s attitudes make it
necessary for Gays to “unite at
the ballot box to assure that
homosexuals
representation in Washin gton. ’ ’
The UGA, a Gay civil rights
organization working in the
Cleveland-Chattanooga area, is
currently involved in canvassing
area legislators in order that
their stands on Gay issues may
be publicized. Questionaires
dealing with such subjects as the
Equal Rights Amendment and
Gay rights have been mailed to
officials in Tennessee. The
The parade will assemble at
the Pine Street corner of the
Atlanta Civic Center parking lot
from 1 PM until 2 PM. The
parade is' scheduled to begin at
2 PM going up Pine Street to
Peachtree Street turning down
14th Street and ending in
Piedmont Park.
Ed. Note: All people hi the
Southeast are invited to come
and celebrate march 26th and.
daring the entire week of Jane
20th thru 27th. Farther
information can be obtained by.
writing to: GPW’76; Suite 1976;
20 4th St., N.E.; Atlanta, GA
30308 or by calling the GAY
HELP LINE AT (404) 892-5855.
Gay Rights
results of that survey an
expected to be released prior t<
the elections in August am
November.
Anyone wanting mori
information on Gay concerns it
the Cleveland-Chattanooga are
snould address their inquires t<
Rick Russell, Post Office Boi
697, Cleveland, TN 37311.
ON THE COVER
Lee Davenport Is a YOUNGMAN. You
will see him at the “in” place in Atlanta.
He enjoys many things including dancing
and sports. Youngmen like Lee are hard
to find but a call to YOUNGMAN wifi
make Lee a part of your day.
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