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4 - THE BARB, October : ^L-mil
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Barb Endorsements
In 1975 Mayor Maynard Jackson was awarded
the Gay Community’s highest community service
award, the Phyllis Killer Cecil B. DeMille Oscar. In
June of 1976 Mayor Jackson called a press
conference to defend his issuance of a Gay Pride
Day Proclamation and to reiterate his support of
civil rights for gay people. In June of 1977 Mayor
Jackson issued a Civil Liberties Week
proclamation that ran from June 25th (Gay Pride
Day) through July 4th. He included gay rights in
the proclamation; did not mention Gay Pride Week
and left many gay people wondering what had
happened to the courage of June 1976. The fire and
vigor of 1976 had turned into a 4th of July fizzle.
Emma Darnell brought back some of that fire on
September 12th at the First Tuesday candidates
forum. Maynard Jackson’s name received a
scattered hissing and no applause. The mayor did
not attend, send a representati ve or his regrets. In a
five-minute speech, Darnell was interupted seven
times by applause. Ms. Darnell has been listed as
We have supported Mayor Jackson for a long
time. He has a good record on gay rights. He has
been a good administrator. In a time of economic
turmoil and inflation he has moved the city
forward without the painful consequences felt in
other large cities.
His actions and words of the past few weeks,
however, cast grave doubts on whether he would
support gay rights legislation.
WE ENDORSE
Mayor:
Emma Darnell
President,
City Council:
Carl Ware
District 2:
John Sweet
District 3:
James Howard
District 4:
James Bond
District 5:
Morris Finley
District 6:
Esther Lefever
District 7:
Cast No Vote
District 9:
Arthur Langford
District 10
Ira Jackson
District 11:
Bob Way man
Post 13:
AT LARGE
Robb Pitts
Post 14:
Marvin Arrington
Post 15
Panke Bradley
Post 16:
Barbara Asher
Post 17:
Q.V.Williamson
Community Calendar
October 4: Election Night Party—First
Tuesday Democratic Association—at
The El Matador Lounge in Ansley Mall.
October 8: Georgia Gay Alliance meeting.
Call 378-8750 for details.
October 13: Speaker - Jane Gavin of Tempo, a
new Atlanta Counseling Service for
sexual minorities. Committee for Gay
Education, Emory University Student
Center.
If your group has an activity it would like
Emma Darnell has stated her position in many
forums. She has campaigned hard in the gay
community.
To maintain our self-respect and our integrity we
have only one choice for mayor and that is the
candidate who supports our rights and is willing to
push for legislation that will insure those rights.
That candidate is Emma Darnell for mayor of
Atlanta.
CITY-WIDE RACES
Four of six city-wide council races are
uncontested. Marvin Arrington, Post 14; Panke
Bradley, Post 15; Q.V.Williamson, Post 17 and
Jack Summers, Post 18 have no opposition.
Panke Bradley has pledged to introduce gay
rights legislation into city council. Arrington and
Williamson have voted against anti-gay
legislation in council in the past. Summers can not
be considered an advocate of gay rights but has not
made any public anti-gay statements.
In the contested city-wide posts 13 and 16 all
candidates have a generally positive position on
gay rights. Robb Pitts, Post 13 and Barbara
Asher, Post 16 have campaigned hard for the gay
vote. We urge you to vote for Robb Pitts and
Barbara Asher.
district races
District 6 and 7 have the largest concentration of
gay voters. In district six all three candidates have
positive views on gay rights legislation. All have
campaigned in the gay community. In District 7
none of the candidates have campaigned for the
A Bach Pern Vie
.Religion and politics supposedly make strange
bedfellows. Quite understandable then that it took the gay
community to bring them together.
In Atlanta the First Tuesday Democratic Association was
formed, in part, by Rev. Howard Wells, pastor of MCC-
Atlanta and Frank Scheuren, former president of Dignity-
Atlanta.
Tennessee has now picked up the gauntlet of political
involvement with the formation of the Tennessee Gay
Coalition for Human Rights, sponsored by MCC-Nash ville,
Rev. Tom Bigelow, pastor. Rev. Bigelow stated that the
group would be operating statewide to effect gay rights
legislation through the MCC’s in Memphis, Nashville,
Knoxville and Chattanooga. Anyone wishing more
information concerning the Tennessee Gay Coalition for
Human Rights should contact it’s president, Corky Gamer
c/o Compton House, 1504 Compton Ave., Nash ville,TN
37202.
Speaking of Compton House, the Gay Community
Services Center of Nashville, they recently undertook a
project to begin a Gay Health Clinic when they discovered
there were more than a dozen members in the congregation
who worked in area hospitals—9 of whom were registered
nurses. Presently planned to operate at Compton House on a
quarterly basis, Rev. Bigelow said that Health Department
officials discussed the possibility of funding a permanent
Gay Health Clinic if sufficient interest is displayed in the
current project.
Elsewhere in Tennessee, Rev. Charlene Taylor, Worship
Co-ordinator of the MCC-Memphis Mission, is currently
involved in setting up a Gay Community Services Center in
Memphis similar to the one in Nashville. If funding is
authorized by the church’s Board of Directors the center will
house the church offices, a book store and recreational
facilities for the gay community of Memphis.
Being from Memphis myself, I find it heart-warming to see
the community there taking such tremendous strides. Don
THE BARB
P.O.Box 7922
Telephone: (404)892-6341
Publisher W.E.(Bill) Smith,Jr.
Editor .V. GaryW.Poe
Office Manager Gary Edwards:
H.Lee Conn Dr.Francis Dale Steve Warren
■ Phyllis Killer Scott Young Rodney Frazier
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gay vote though one is hoping for it by default.
In District Six gay rights wins no matter who you
vote for. We feel that incumbent Esther Lefever
is most qualified and the most able to fulfill her
campaign promise of gay rights legislation. We
urge you to vote for Esther Lefever in council
district six.
In District 7 we strongly urger you not to vote!
First Tuesday’s ratings list indicates a new
awareness of the power of a unified gay vote. To
choose the lesser of three evils in a district where so
many gay people live is abdicate our responsibility
as voters. So, if you live in District 7, please vote for
mayor and the at-large candidates, but do not vote
for a city council representative in your district.
Organized gay voting, power in the ten other
council races is not as great. If you live in one of
those districts we do recommend the following
candidates to you: John Sweet, District2; James
Bond, District 4; Ira Jackson, District 10; Bob
Waymer, District 11. All the above mentioned
candidates have stated that they would support a
gay rights ordinance.
In District 3 we recommend James Howard, in
District 5 we recommend Morris Finley; in
District 9 we recommend Arthur Langford.
These three men have not indicated any objection
to gay rights legislation and have generally
supported human rights efforts both legislatively
and administratively in the past.
Whether you agree with our opinions or not
PLEASE VOTE on October 4th!
(I) by Gary Edwards
Rosignoll, co-owner of the soon-to-be-opened George’s
Crisco Disco, is to be congratulated for organizing a benefit
for the “California Fund for Human Dignity” to fight the
John Briggs initiative to ban homosexuals from teaching
jobs in California. This is the campaign for which Rev. Troy
Perry went of a 16-day fast to raise $100,000. The Memphis
benefit was historic in that it marked the first time every bar
in Memphis co-operated on a single project. Rev. Taylor said
the benefit raised over $1,000 and MCC-Memphis hoped to
match that figure for a total donation of $2,000 from the
Memphis Gay Community. Nice work Memphis!
Elsewhere in MCC’s South-Atlantic District:
Rev. James Hill has assuemed responsibilities as pastor of
MCC-Augusta and MCC-Columbia. Best wishes to him and
the members of his congregations.
The Fall District Conference will be held in Atlanta the
weekend of November 5th, instead of in Memphis the week
before. Memphis has /decided to hold the Spring District
Conference next year over Memorial Day weekend with the
goal of chartering in mind at that time.
In other religion news, Dignity-Atlanta will be holding a
special election to replace it’s president Frank Scheuren,
who is resigning in order to play a more active role in Tempo,
the counseling center for sexual minorities, as well as the
Christian Council for the Advancement of Gay People,
which he and Rev. Howard Wells founded.
Frank reports that there’s a lotgoing on in Dignity; a yard-
sale at the Peachtree Battle Shopping Center the 21st and
the 22nd of this month. Every Sunday their prison ministry
team visits with inmates at the Federal Penitentiary. If
anyone is interested in participating in this vital ministry
please contact Frank at355-1416. Also, Dignity-Atlanta will
open it’s formal offices this month at 972 Peachtree, Suite
#202.
Anyone desiring information on Integrity, the group for
gay Episcopalians and their friends should call 355-1416.
Lutherans Concerned meets the 1st Monday of each
month. For more information, contact Jim at 256-2485.
Congratulations to Chuck Med wig, who installed as an
Exhorter (student minister) and Diane Pulaski and Bill
Leppert, who were installed as Deacons of MCC-Atlanta in
special services last month.
Well, that about does it for this issue. If your church or
orgainzation would like it’s upcoming events publicized in
this column, please drop a line to:
Religion Editor