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Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 12, Number 9 • September 20, 1997 • FREE
Sheriff breaks the law to out high school coach
“Was one queer football
coach really worth all
this?“ — Sheriff Bishop
by David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
BAKERSVILLE, NC—^As part of a settle
ment with the local District Attorney’s office,
Mitchell County Sheriff Vernon Bishop will be
allowed to keep his
job even though he
admitted ordering
deputies to illegally
intercept a high
school football
coach’s telephone
conversations to
prove that the man
was gay and to get him fired from his job.
In 1995, Bishop instructed his deputies to
use their police scanners to monitor the phone
calls of the coach — who was unnamed in court
documents though well known amongst locals
in this small Western NC county — because
he said he suspected the man of conspiring to
commit sodomy.
The court setdement was reached Septem
ber 4 in a two-hour, closed-door meeting after
three days of hearings. District Attorney Tom
Rusher had originally asked Judge Howard
Manning, Jr. to remove Bishop for apparently
violating the law since recording a private tele
phone conversation without the consent of a
judge or at least one of the involved panies is a
federal offense, but agreed to drop the case in
exchange for an official apology and a half-
months salary — about $1590 — instead.
Rusher labeled the setdement “appropriate” and
said he agreed to it because the coach was afraid
that condnuing the hearings would create more
publicity.
During the hearings, school officials related
that Bishop presented them with a tape of a
phone conversa
tion and threat
ened, to make it
public if they
didn’t fire the
coach. Although
he had been em
ployed with the
school since 1983
and was considered a good employee, the foot
ball instructor was called in for a meeting dur
ing which he resigned to avoid a scandal.
Because of the anguish that the investiga
tion caused him, the coach didn’t have any part
in the hearings, or even want them to happen
in the first place. “We’ve told everybody in
volved that this man just wants to be left alone,”
said the coach’s lawyer Dennis Howell. “Just
let him go on with his life. What happened to
him was bad enough. All this attention is just
making it worse.”
The situadon might never have come to light
had one of the deputies not discussed it during
a law enforcement job interview in another city.
The incident was then reported to the State
Bureau of Investigations (SBI) which initiated
an inquiry into the charge.
During the hearings, SBI agent Vance Stone
testified that Bishop lied when agents asked how
he procured the tape, claiming that an anony
mous citizen left it on his desk. When they chal
lenged his story and threatened to pursue the
case. Stone said Bishop fired back. “He said we
didn’t have a chance because their was no evi
dence.” He also reportedly asked the agents,
“Was one queer football coach really worth all
this?”
When Rusher learned of the possible offense,
he took it to a grand jury, seeking an indict
ment for violation of a state law forbidding the
interception of telephone calls. When the grand
jury declined to charge Bishop, Rusher filed a
court motion to have the sheriff removed.
To end the proceedings. Bishop offered a
statement that read, in part, “While I have
strong personal feelings that persons who fol
low certain lifestyles should not be employed
in particular areas of the public school system,
I realize that every citizen is entitled to recog
nition of his privacy.”
When he had finished. Judge Manning chas
tised him. “You are charged with protecting
everybody’s rights. If you don’t want to, you
shouldn’t be in office.”
Outside the courtroom. Bishop, who was
appointed sheriff in 1992 and elected to a four-
year term in 1994, expressed confidence that
he will be re-elected by Mitchell County voters
next year. He would not comment on the court
case with reporters.
The setdement does not affect the possibil
ity of federal charges being filed against Sheriff
Bishop in the future. ▼
Judge says lesbian custody case should go forward
by David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
DURHAM—A District Court judge ruled
August 29 that adoptions among gay or les
bian couples performed in other states are rec
ognized under North Carolina law and cleared
the way for a. custody battle between former
lesbian partners to proceed.
Distria Court Judge Elaine O’Neal said that
allowing the custody hearing to go forward
would not conflict with a prohibition on same-
sex marriage that was enacted last year.
In her five-page ruling, she declared, “En
forcing the adoption decree does not require
North Carolina to recognize same-sex mar
riages. Enforcing the decree simply allows the
court to determine custody of the child.”
After being artificially inseminated, Sheryl
Rose Erez gave birth to a baby girl in 1993 in
Washington state. The following year, she and
her partner, Aviva Shira Starr, successfully peti
tioned the court for an adoption decree recog
nizing Starr as the child’s co-parent. In 1995,
they moved to NC.
They raised the child joindy until separat
ing in Oaober 1996. After the split, Erez moved
to Georgia and left the girl with Starr. A month
later, Erez began her drive to regain sole cus
tody of her daughter.
In a preemptive strike, Erez’s attorney,
Martha Milam, filed a motion to have Starr’s
adoption rights voided. The NC General As
sembly passed a bill last year that prohibited
state acknowledgment of same-sex marriages,
even those performed in other places. Milam
contended that if the court presided over a cus
tody case between lesbians, it would be sanc
tioning the legitimacy of their “marriage.”
Sharon Thompson, Starr’s attorney and a
member of NC-GALA, a statewide organiza
tion for gay and gay-supportive attorneys, ar
gued that the Constitution’s “full faith and
Military ban upheld again by a Court of Appeals
by Julia Adams
Special to Q-Notes
SEATTLE, WA—^The Ninth Circuit Court
of Appeals became the third circuit court of
appeals to uphold the constitutionality of
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue” in the
case of Holmes/Watson v. Perry. No court of ap
peals to date has struck down the policy which
prohibits gay servicemembers from telling any
one about their sexual orientation.
Writing for the majority. Judge Charles
Wiggins ruled in a 2-1 decision on September
8 that the court was not in a position to “judge
the wisdom, fairness or logic of legislative
choices” and that the court owed special “def
erence” to the military. Judge Wiggins ruled that
in light of its deference to Congress and the
military on military personnel issues, the dis
charge of servicemembers who say that they are
gay did not raise concerns about their rights to
free speech or equal protection of the laws.
Judge Thomas Reavley, sitting by designation
from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in
Texas, joined the majority opinion.
In a dissenting opinion. Judge Stephen
Reinhardt took the majority to task, conclud
ing that “punishing speech that docs no more
than acknowledge a permissible status
violates the First Amendment.” Judge
Reinhardt added, “‘Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell’ seems entirely inconsistent with
the proud traditions of our
armed services, with slo
gans such as Duty, Honor,
Country....”
The case before the
Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals involved two
separate cases challenging
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,
u
... I
ail
credit” clause forced every state to recognize an
adoption performed in any other.
In her finding. Judge O’Neal wrote that the
law would not be “sufficiently offended” to
nullify the adoption. She also noted that,
“North Carolina has no public policy denying
parental status to an individual based upon that
person’s sexual preferences.”
A hearing to determine whether the girl
should remain with Starr or be placed with her
birth mother was scheduled. Possibly giving
some insight into her thoughts on this, O’Neal
indicated that Erez may have forfeited her “para
mount interest” in the child by cultivating the
parental relationship between Starr and her
daughter and by leaving the girl with Starr.
Following the judgment, Thompson told the
Associated Press, “We are seeing more and more
nontraditional families these days. Unfortu
nately, some of them will split up. But we must
focus on the best interests of the child.” T
Don’t Pursue” that had been consolidated by
the court on appeal. The first case was that of
Lieutenant Andrew Holmes of the California
National Guard. A district court had ruled in
April 1996 that Holmes’ discharge violated his
constitutional rights, comparing the policy to
Jim Crow laws.
The second case involved an appeal by
Navy Lieutenant Rich Watson from a dis
trict court opinion that ruled that “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue” was consti
tutional.
C. Dixon Osburn, co-ex
ecutive director of Service-
members Legal Defense Net
work (SLDN), called the de
cision “a great disappoint
ment.” Osburn said, “As long
as the courts abdicate their
See MILITARY otr page 17
Ellen’s mom
leads Coming
Out Project
by David M. Smith
Special to Q-Notes
LOS ANGELES—Betty DeGeneres, the
mother of actress and comedian Ellen
DeGeneres, will serve as spokesperson for the
National Coming Out Projea its sponsor, the
Human Rights Campaign (HRC), announced
September 8.
“Ending discrimination based on sexual ori
entation is a family issue, and we are so grate
ful Betty DeGeneres will be driving that mes
sage home,” said HRC Executive Director
Elizabeth Birch. “She’ll be encouraging gay
people to come out and be honest, while also
urging our fair-minded friends and family
members to come out for equal rights.”
As 1997-98 spokesperson, DeGeneres will
appear in television and print public service
announcements and will speak throughout the
country to promote honesty and openness
about being gay or, as in her case, having a gay
family member and supporting equal rights for
gay people.
“As lon^as our gay sons and daughters face
discrimination and are excluded from the basic
protection of our laws, I will urge all American
families to come out for fairness,” said
DeGeneres. “I am thrilled at this wonderful
opportunity to talk with gay and straight Ameri
cans about the importance of coming out, be
cause honesty truly is the best policy.”
HRC’s public education campaign featur
ing Betty DeGeneres will kick off in time for
National Coming Out Day on October 11, the
observance created in 1988 to recognize the
importance of coming out and to honor the
anniversary of the 1987 March on Washing
ton for lesbian and gay equal rights. HRC’s
National Coming Out Project is an ongoing
campaign to encourage and assist gay people
to be honest about their lives; provide guid
ance to campus groups and individuals dealing
with coming out; and sponsor National Com
ing Out Day events.
The selection of DeGeneres marks the first
time HRC has named a heterosexual to serve
as a National Coming Out Project spokesper
son. In past years, public figures chosen for that
role were gay and included Amanda Bearse of
Fox-TV’s Married... With Children, Candace
Gingrich, Chastity Bono, Dan Buder of NBC’s
Frasier and Scan Sasser, formerly of MTV.
“The feet that Betty is a concerned mom
underscores the point that ending discrimina
tion based on sexual orientation is not just of
See PROJECT on page 27