Newspaper Page Text
CJCC Recomends Repeal
Of Sodomy Law
Atlanta- On
November
Criminal
Coordinating
unanimously
mended the
Monday,
22, the
Justice
Council
recom-
repeal of
the state statute against
sodomy.
The Council, chaired
by Atlanta Mayor
Maynard Jackson, is
made up of 30 state
legislators, judges, law
enforcement officials
and concerned citizens
from Fulton and
DeKalb counties. It was
established two years
ago to insure greater
efficiency in the
criminal justice
systems within the two
counties, and to provide
better communication
among the several
systems and their
departments. The staff
of the CJCC is also
called the Crime
Analysis Team (CAT)
and it was their paper
on victimless crime
that the CJCC ap
proved.
The paper also
suggested recom
mending legalization of
adultery and for
nication, which are
misdemeanors, that is.
punishable by fines and
up to a years im
prisonment. In other
sections of the paper
G P A members Margo
Gil Robinson.
legalization of por
nography, prostitution,
gambling, and
marijuana was also
recommended.
The proposals,
written chieftly by CAT
member Richard Clark,
stated that “the
treatment of victimless
crimes has negative
effects on the criminal
justice system and on
society generally. It
unnecessarily ties up
criminal justice
Regional Offices For
NGTF?
Courtesy NGTF with toward by Chris
Thompson
NEW YORK- BARB
editor, Bill Smith,
recently elected to the
National Gay Task
Force Board of
Directors attended the
second meeting of the
newly expanded NGTF
Board. Tile new board
represented a cross
section oi the 2.500 plus
members oi the
organization.
"The question of
regional offices for
NGTF was the main
topic of discussion.
Smith told us that
“regional offices are a
must for NGTF to
achieves goals. I think
the board, on the whole,
is eager to proceed with
regional office. The
major obstical is
NGTF’Southern continqent pose for picture at
the October Board meeting in New York.
Houston’s Gary Van Octeghem; Bill smith,
Atlanta; Louie Crew, Ft. Valley, Ga. (Top row
2nd, LR) and Martha Smith, Atlanta (2nd roiy
2nd from end
finances. If mem
bership continues to
grow at last years rates
and the Tea Dance
program is successful
regional offices may
become a Reality in
late 1977 ”
Continued on page 12
Activist Prisoner Slashed
BARB NEWS SERVICE
An inmate within
hours of his release
from the prison medical
center without in
stitutional hearing
consultation with the
prison psychiatrist
singled out Leroy
Shorter and slashed his
throat. The ZVz inch cut
severed veins and
muscles and required
over 50 stitches. Five
prison officials were
nearby when the in
cident took place.
Leroy Shorter was
diciplined for his part in
the incident by Lt.
Wilcott. Shorter claims
that Willcott and
Shields had previously
threatened him for his
support of John Gibbs,
a well known gay ac
tivist prisoner.
Early in April. 1976
LEROY SHORTER was
released from the
segregation unit into
the prison population
and was tnreated
(according to Shorter)
by Lt. Shields and Lt.
Wilcott, “I am going to
get you for em
barrassing the ad
ministration.”
The inmate
population prepared an
affadavit and petition
with over one-hundred
signatures denouncing
the disciplinary action
taken against LEROY
SHORTER, the victim'
of the attack. Lt.
Willcott destroyed both
the petition and the
affadavit.
Sister Evelyn
Ancilla, Convent of the
Transfiguration,
Glendale, Cincinnati,
Ohio 45246, has
organized a DEFENSE
FUND FOR LEROY
SHORTER. The Illinois
Prisoners Organization
located an attorney who
visited Leroy Shorter on
October 22nd. Attorney
Jona Goldschmidt
advised that he will be
assisting_ Mr. Shorter
“IN THE MATTER OF
Continued on page 5
the news monthly
for southern gays
Holiday
Issue
NATIONAL NOTES
Photo by Gil Robinson
George, Karen Gold and
resources that could be
directed toward more
serious problems.
Treating these ac
tivities as crimes un
necessarily restricts the
choices oi the general
public, punishing some
people but not others
for their commercial
and leisure pursuits.
Finally, this treatment
encourages side effects
such as involvement by
Continued on page 12
PHILADELP
HIA- “I believe that gay
people should have civil
rights equal to any
other people under the
constitution,” Coretta
King, widow of the late
Dr. Martin Luther
King, said recently. The
Philadelphia Gay News
reportecf that Mrs. King
made the statement
after a brunch in
Philadelphia on October
15. The civil rights
leader told Gay Raider
Mark Segal that gay
people are entitled to
have equal protection
under the law and
encouraged gays to
exercise their present
rights of protest.
NEW YORK- The
National Coalition of
Gay Activists(NCGA)
has strongly con
demned the country
music song, “C.B.
Savage” now being
heard on AM radio.
According to the NCGA,
the record sung by Roa
Hart is - a ‘'pametic,
flighty, vacuous por
trayal of a homosexual
‘citizen baner’.” The
narrator’s charac
terization of the ‘C.B.
Savage’ as “lisping, odd
and wierd serves to
re-enforce false
sterotypes and panders
to the vilest of
prejudices against gay
people,” says the
group.
SAN FRANCISCO- The
San Francisco Human
Rights Commission
unanimously ruled that
the Pacific Telephone
Company must issue a
new employment
statement barring anti-
§ ay discrimination. The
ecision is a major test
of San Francisco’s new
gay rights law. If PT&T
does not comply to
Human Rights Com
mission has the right to
order all phone booths
to be removed from San
Francisco’s sidewalks.
NEW JERSEY- A New
Jersey state appeals
court ruled November s
that John Gish, a high
school English teacher
should submit to a
psychiatric
examination to
determine if he is
mentally capable of
teaching and diseipling
students. Gish says that
the Examination , is a
responce to his out
spoken stand on gay
rights and is a violation
of his constitutional
guarantee of free
speach.
MILWAUKEE- A
member of the Army
Reserve is an admitted
lesbian said she will
fight her honorable
discharge from the
Army. Miriam Ben-
Shalom, 28, joined the
Army Reserve three
years ago and at that
time, she said, she
didn’t try to hide the
fact that she was gay.
Ms. Shalom intends to
fight her discharge in
the courts.
SAN FRANCISCO-
California’s newly
elected Senator,
Republican S. I.
Hayakawa, continues to
mystify California gays
with his views on gay
rights. Hayakawa nad
been quoted early in his
election battle with
incumbent Sen. John
Tunney as saying, “I
am deeply prejudiced
against gay people and
I will vote that way.” In
a later statement
however, a west coast
g ay newspaper quotes
im as saying that
although he considers
gayness an
p ‘aboi
abomination”, he
would be the first to
stand up against anyone
who persecuted gay
ie merely because
their sexuality.
DAYTON, OH.: An Air
Force serviceperson
has been recommended
for an honorable
discharge for
“displaying
homosexual ten
dencies” because he
associated - with
homosexuals. Staff Sgt.
Jack Tyler who insists
he is straight” noted
that letters to a gay
friend were used
against him. Tyler said
that he ended his letters
to the gay friend with
the expression “Fondly,
Jack.
WASHINGTON, D.C.-
The Justice Depart
ment released files
recently that gave new
insight into former FBI
Director J. Edgar
Hoover’s interest in
homosexuality. The
Justice Department
released heavily cen
sored summaries of 164
folders of secret files
many of which
discussed allegations
that various politicans,
important people and
government employees
were gay. The files also
contained several
memoranda on many
people who has
reportedly said that
Hoover himself was a
homosexual.
LOS ANGELES- The
L.A. campus of
U.C.L.A. has adopted a
policy statement that
No person shall be
denied employment or
any other benefit of
employment on the sole
basis of that person’s
private sexual
preference of orien
tation.”
WASHINGTON, D.C.-
The U.S. Supreme
Court has upheld a New
Jersey court order
which instructed a
divorced husband to
pay his former wife
alimony.The case is
significant because the
former wife is a
transexual. The lower
court ruled that the
transexual was legally
a woman and that the
marriage had been
consummated. The U.S.
Supreme court ap
proved of this reasoning
and affirmed that
decision.
LONDON, ENG- Two
Church of England
bishops have con
demned a form of
marriage ceremony
performed for two
lesbian couples by the
vicar of Thaxted parish
church who is himself
an admitted
homosexual. The pastor
defended the ceremony
as only a private
blessing.
SOUTHERN SHORTS
WINCHESTER,
TENN.- An Episcopal
priest, indicted on 16
sex related charges was
an exemplary
clergyman during his
early years in Georgia,
according to those who
knew him. The Rev.
Claudis Ira Vermilye
Jr. 47, was indicted
recently on various
charges including
crimes against nature
and the alleged
production of por
nographic and
homosexual films at his
Boys Farm, Inc. for
wayward boys.
JACKSON, MS.- It
didn’t take long for the
residents of Hinds
County to convey their
reaciions-mostly
negative- to state of
ficials after receiving
their 1977 licence
renewals. The director
of the Mississippi motor
vehicle licence plate
division confirmed that
an “extraordinary”
volume of discontent
had been reported to his
office within days after
the mailing of 1,000 sets
of new plates which
bore the three-letter
prefix “GAY”. The
state has no plans at
present to offer
replacements to
disgruntled motorists in
the countv.
RICHMOND, VA.- A
federal court of appeals
has ruled that public
colleges and univer
sities cannot refuse
Continued on page 11
ON THE COVER
Mr. Club Baths 1977 is Art Karopoulos.
Representing the Club Lagrange Baths
The competition for Mr. Club Baths is
always fantastic and the winner is
always a man to watch in more ways
than one! Art is an aspiring actor and
with his talent it won't be long before
we see him at the movies!
Photo Courtesy Gay Chicago Magazine by Tom Coughlin