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WEST COAST ACTIVISTS
ENDORSE CARTER
Reprinted from NEWSWEST
SANFRANCISCO - Former
Governor of Georgia and
frontrunner for the Democratic
E residential nomination, Jimmy
arter, has announced that he
would sign the national Gay
Rights bill, if he is elected
President. Carter made the
announcement at a news
conference in San Francisco on
May 21 st, while campaigning for
the California primary.
“I will certainly sign it,” said
Carter in response to a reporter's
question, “because I don’t want
to single out homosexuals. for
speciafabuse or harassment.”
Carter’s position on gay
rights had previously been
subject to some dispute. In a
letter to GCN in September of
last year, the Georgia governor
wrote, “I .oppose all forms of
discrimination against
individuals, including
discrimination on the basis of
sexual orientation. As President
I can assure you that all policies
of the federal government would
reflect this commitment to
ending all forms of
discrimination." However,
three weeks later, Carter told
GCN reporter David Brill that he
“hadn’t made up his mind” on
the national gay rights bill. “I
don't know how we could deal
with the issue of blackmail,”
Carter was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Rev. Troy Perry,
founder of the Metropolitan
Carter, JteMjr'a
hanei with Dr. Newton Deli
(center).
Community Church, announced
his support of Carter’s
presidential bid. “I am strongly
supporting Jimmy Carter
because of his commitment to
civil rights for all people and
because of his opposition to non
job related employment
discrimination,” Rev. Perry
stated in a full-page
Iter (left) and Rev. Troy Perry
advertisement for Carter in Los
Angeles gay bi-weekly
NewsWest. The advertisement
featured a picture of Rev. Perry
discussing community issues
with Rosalynn Carter, wife of the
candidate.
HUNNICUTT CASE
DISMISSED^H
Keith Hunnicutt, a 24
year old inhalation therapist at
Cobb General Hospital, was
cleared June 12th of charges that
he ordered the murders of Pete
Winokur and his two
companions.
Winokur, the owner of
Mother’s Lounge disappeared
Feb. 19th approximately 5 days
after a Valentine Day fire which
destroyed the game room of his
dub. Nineteen year old Keith
Stamm and 17 year old Floyd
King also disappeared from
Sight with Winokur.
On April 27th the bodies of
Stamm and King were
discovered by a hitch-hiker along
the banks of the Chattahoochee
River in Fulton County.
Winokur’s body was found by
BISHOP SUMMONS
DR. CREW
Fulton County Police in a shallow
grave on the river bank.
Pressure for an arrest grew in
the four month old case asTulton
Police charged Atlanta Police
with “sloppy” investigation.
Hunnicutt’s arrest was based on
allegations made by George
Matthews who according to
aquaintances of Hunnicutt’s was
his ex-lover.
Matthews was in the Cobb
County Jail on bad checks and
auto theft charges. Louis
Graham. Fulton County Chief of
Detectives, asked that charges
against Hunnicutt be dropped
after Matthews admitted that he
had made up his story to get
back at Keith for throwing him
out of his apartment. Matthews
has a lenthy history of mental
illness and had been in private
therapy at the time of his arrest.
Friends of Hunnicutt, a
member of Atlanta s
Metropolitan Community
Church, told the BARB that they
felt “pressure to make an
arrest" in the controversial case
had led to Keith’s arrest. “His
(Hunnicutt’s) ex-lover, George
Matthews was obviously
mentally unstable... the police
should have checked that out
before dragging Keith through
all this.” the source added.
Justice of the Peace Robert
A. Thompson dismissed the
charges against Hunnicutt in a
hearing that lasted less than one
minute Friday afternoon.
LATE NEWS
ATLANTA- Atlanta Mayorl
Maynard Jackson signed a GAIT
PRIDE DAY PROCLAMATION, f
friday June 18th during
telephone conversation with a
local radio talk show host. The
radio show host had made what
many felt were disparaging
remarks about the mayor, Gay
Pride Week, and the Mayor’s
proclamation. Mayor Jackson
informed the talk show host that
he had not proclaimed Gay Pride
Week as the host had incorrectly
stated but Gay Pride Day and
that the document was not
signed. The Mayor then
proceeded to sign the
proclamatioinotUh^ir^^^^
Dr. Louie Crew (I) founder of Integrity talks with Gene Goerro,
President ACLU, Georgia
Controversial gay
Episcopalian activist, Dr. Louis
Crew, drew fire from Bishop
Bennett Sims of the Episcopal
Diocese of Atlanta.
Dr. Crew, the Founder of
Integrity and recently elected to
the Board of Directors of
National Gay Task Force was
invited to worship elsewhere by
the local parish. Board of Laity
at the St. Lukes Episcopal in Ft.
Valley, Georgia. Crews former
church St. Pauls of Orangeburg,
S. C. wrote Crew, supporting his
ministry and inviting him to
worship with them. Despite
Bishop Sims requests not to mke
B ublic the Orangeburg letter -
r. Crew released it to the press.
Bishop Sims summoned
Crew to Atlanta for a disciplinary
hearing before the Standing
Committee of the Diocese of
Atlanta. Bishop Sims also
telephoned the Macon Telegraph
and News and released the letter
of rebute to the media.
Dr. Crew asked the Bishop to
delay his hearing until he had
obtained both legal and
ecclesiastical counsel.
Macon and Atlanta daily
papers headlined Crew’s
reaction as a refusal to attend the
hearing. Dr. Crew was explicit
in his letter to Bishop Sims that
he felt he must have counsel
before any displ inary board.
Dr. Crew told the BARB that
he felt Bishop Sims request to
withhold the church letters was
in violation of his constitutional
rights. “The Church has a duty
to minister to all people” Crew
said.
Bishop Sims resdieduled
Crews hearing for the fall at the
next regularly scheduled
meeting of the standing
committee of the Diocese of
Atlanta.
the news monthly JULY 1976
for southern gays V013 NO 5
NATIONAL NOTES
ALBANY - The New York State
Assembly sent a comprehensive
gav rights bill to a crushing
defeat with a 94-35 vote on May
12. The bill would have
prohibited discrimination
against gay people in the areas
of employment, public ac
comodations housing, licensing
and education. This is the
seventh time that gay rights
legislation has been killed in the
state's lower house in as many
years.
LOS ANGELES - The Los
Angeles City Council ended
discrimination against municipal
employees on May 10 when it
quietly approved the inclusion of
gay people within the city’s new
affirmative action code.
LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles
City Attorney Burt Pines an
nounced May 4 that he would not
prosecute those arrested at the
Mark IV slave auction raid.
District attorney John Van de
Kamp had earlier announced
that he was going to prosecute
four of the fourty arrestees on
pandering charges; the rest were
left up to Pines for possible
misdemeanor charges. The
arrests were the result of a raid
on a charity event sponsored by
members of the LA. gay
community.
SAN FRANCISCO - The San
Francisco Health Department
issued a warning that a number
of gay men are picking up deadly
typhoid fever from oral-anal
sexual contact. The department
says that the practice of
“rimming" can lead to typhoid
as well as hepatitis and bowel
diseases such as amoebic
dysentary salmonella and
shegalla.
SEATTLE - The early May
Seattle event was billed as a face
off between the current Husky
football team of the University of
Washington and a team of Husky
alumni - but a lot of the attention
ended up going to alumnus
player Dave Kopay, now a gay
media star. Kopay, who cap
tained the Huskies in their 19o4
Rose Bowl season won a slot as
one of the alumni teams six co
captains.
RICHMOND - A federal appeals
court has ruled that even a
married couple has no right to
sexual privacy if they invite
another person to climb into bed
with them. By a 5 to 3 vote, the
Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals upheld the conviction of
a Virginia couple on charges of
sodomy. "Once a married
couple admits strangers as
onlookers, federal protection of
privacy dissolves," the decision
stated.
SAN DIEGO • In a late April
decision, a U.S. District Court
judge backed up the Marines
policy of labelling a gay bar in
Oceanside Ca., as off-limits.
The judge held that the public
would suffer harm if the Marines
dallied in such' places and that
the public has-an "interest in
well-disciplined and moral
military personnel."
WASHINGTON.D.C. - The U.S.
Supreme Court has refused to
review its controversial March
decision upholding the con
stitutionality of a Virginia
sodomy statute. The refusal was
issued on May 20 in response to
an American Civil Liberties
Union petition asking the court
to hear oral arguements and
issue a full opinion on the case.
AMHERST • Amherst became
the first New England city to
adopt a gay rights ordinance, as
the 240 member Town meeting
voted to accept the recom
mendations of the Citizens
Review Committee adding
"sexual or affectional
preference” to the town’s by
laws. The action came less than
a month after Boston’s mayor
Kevin White issued an executive
order banning anti-gay
discrimination in that city.
CLEVELAND • Cleveland
Heights, OH, joined the ranks of
cities protecting the rights of gay
municipal employees when it
approved a new affirmative
action policy earlier this year.
The Cleveland suburb’s new
program represents the first
breakthrough for gay rights in
densely populated northern
Ohio.
OLYMPIC GAMES SPAWN GAY
HARRASMENT
(OTTAWA) - Gay people in
Canada are banding together to
rotest the harassment of
omosexuals by police. This
harassment is part of a national
campaign to "clean up Canada”
for the Olympic Games.
In May 27 people were
arrested in a raid on the Club
Baths in Ottawa. This follows
two similar raids at steam baths
in Montreal which resulted in the
arrests of some 115 people.
Most of those arrested were
charged with being found-in’s at
a bawdy house. At the same
time, in Montreal, five gay bars
were raided by police ostensibly
looking for chugs. In two of
those raids, the police barged in
with guns and rifles.
Dennis LeBlanc, President of
Gays of Ottawa, the coordinating
office for the National Gay
Rights Coalition, said in a
S epared statement on May
th.1976:
"We know, from the chain of
events themselves, from
remarks made by policemen
during their raid of the Neptune
Baths, and from inside
information which we have
obtained from people with
confidential information on
Olympic security, that this is
part of a concerted, national
effort aimed at ‘cleaning up’
Canada for the Olympic Games.
"This effort is not directed
solely at gay people. It is
common knowledge that police
forces have been visiting leftist
groups and other organizations
which might want to
demonstrate during the Games.
You are also aware of the stories
from Montreal about drunks and
winos being given sentences six
to eight times their normal
lengths in order to keep them off
the streets. We have just
returned from Kingston where
the local prisons are full of
drunks who have been given six
month sentences instead of the
isual couple of days.
"Our information is that this
clean-up extends from Quebec
City through to Toronto. We
believe that what we have seen
so far in Montreal and Ottawa is
only the beginning."
Gays of Ottawa has talked
with the Canadian Civil Liberties
Association and with its elected
representatives at all three levels
of government in Canada -
municipal, provincial and
federal.
The National Gay Rights
Coalition will be contacting its 27
member organizations to plan a
strategy at the national level.
In Montreal, a Gay Coalition
Against Repression has been
formed and held a press
conference on May 26th, 1976.
In Ottawa, a picket has been
organized by Gays of Ottawa in
The newly-formed North
Carolina Gay Union is a state
wide gay organization for gay
groups and individuals in N. C.
Our next meeting is July 31, 1-6
R m., Chapel Hill, Manning
all. For info contact:
Temporary coordinator is Judi
Willis, 825 Evans St.,
Greenville, N C. 27834, 919 - 752
- 4043 Dues are S10 for a group.
S5 for an individual. NCGU will
meet at least 6 times a year,
publish a newsletter, lobby for
the repeal of anti-sexual laws in
N. C., affecting consenting
adults, determine political
candidates’ positions on gay
rights legislation, act an an
informational clearing house,
parade programs, seminars and
speaking engagements for
community groups throughout
N.C., ana support and
encourage newly-formed gay
organizations in the state.
On Saturday, June 5th,
approximately 20 NCGU
delegates, officers, and
members met to review the
proposed purpose and by laws.
These bylaws will be voted on at
the next meeting on July 31. In
front of Ottawa Police
Headquarters (60 Waller Street)
for 3:45 p.m. to 5 p.m., Friday,
May 28th to protest this
harassment by police.
In his statement, Mr.
LeBlanc said, "We have no
S lans to disrupt the Olympic
ames. We have no quarrel
with these Games and we are not
a disruptive or subversive
element. We understand the
need for security. But we will
not put up with this kind of
senseless harassment. It doesn’t
make sense in the context of the
Olympics and it doesn’t make
sense at any time.”
addition NCGU formulated plans
to publicize and encourage
support of Atlanta’s Gay Pride
March by gay men and women
throughout N.C. Four,
committees were also
formulated:
Publicity/Newsletter, Program,
speaker’s Bureau, and Fund
raising. The state was divided
into 5 regions to help meet the
needs of gays throughout the
state: Mountain, Piedmont
West, Piedmont East,
Northeast, and Southeast. Each
gay organization, as well as each
region, will be represented by a
delegate and an alternate at all
meetings of NCGU. Meetings
are open to all persons in the
state interested in helping
NCGU achieve its goals. The
next meeting is scheduled for
July 31, 1-6 p.m., Chapel Hill,
Manning Hall. All interested
persons may attend. For further
information about NCGU, write
or call Judi Willis, Coordinator,
825 Evans St., Greenville, N.C.,
27834, 919-752-4043, or write to
NCGU,c/o Carolina Gay
Association, Box 39, Carolina
Union, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514
ON THE COVER
N. C. GAY UNION FORMED
ATLANTA’S
PARADE
CHRISTOPHER STREET SOUTH
Saturday June 26th 2pm
SEE BACK COVER FOR GAY PRIDE
WEEK SCHEDULE
ROBBY BENSON becomes a legend in
“ODE TO BILLY JOE". Steve Warren
reviews this new release on page 10.