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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.