E3
^ The Carolinas’ Most Comprehensive Gay & Lesbian Newspaper
Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 12, Number 11 • October 18, 1997 • FREE
LC/Charlotte marks
10 years of service Page 4
Sears brings South’s
gay history to life Page 3
Gay man sues Raleigh newspaper
by David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
EDNEYVILLE, NC—Charles Merrill is
determined to have his efforts to fight the anti
gay climate in NC taken seriously. As such, on
September 17 he filed a $60 million defama^
tion suit against a Raleigh newspaper and its
parent corporation, claiming that they libeled
him and his organization. Citizens Against Dis
crimination Association (CADA), in a feature
article about the group’s campaign to initiate a
film industry boycott of NC.
In a press release issued after the suit’s filing
in US District Court in Sacramento, CA,
Merrill said that in printing its story, the Ra
leigh News and Observer “calculated to strip
[himself] and CADA of all the credibility and
respectability they have worked so hard to earn.”
The batde began on July 28 when the News
and Observer followed up on a story that had
appeared the previous week in the entertain
ment trade publication The Hollywood Reporter.
The Reporters story focused on CADA and its
call for filmmakers to stay out of NC due to
the passage of a spate of anti-gay county reso
lutions and the Mecklenburg County
Commission’s decision to cut arts funding.
The Reporter evidendy picked up the story
firom an Internet press release Merrill had is
sued previously, stating he had “organized the
boycott and contacted top members of the en
tertainment industry, Barry Diller, Rupert
Murdoch and Michael Eisner” for their sup-
■ port in establishing the embargo.
In its follow-up, the News and Observer
seemed to take the position that The Hollywood
Reporter had grossly overstated the importance
of Merrill, his group and the status of its film
blockade. Staff writer Made Carpenter asserted,
“...Citizens Against Discrimination is a 63-
year-old retired man named Charles E. Merrill,
sitting at home in the Henderson County com
munity of Edneyville with a computer and an
agenda.... Regional film commissioners have
never heard of him. Polidcians have never heard
of him. Area gay activists have never heard of
him.”
In addition to the article’s appearance in
print, it was published on the newspaper’s
website. From there, it was widely distributed
on an Internet mailing list for gay-related news
items, further angering Merrill.
In his complaint against the News and Ob
server and McClatchy Newspapers, Inc. of Sac
ramento, Merrill stated that because of the ar
ticle, both he and CADA, which he maintains
is incorporated in Delaware as a non-profit or
ganization with 412 members, have been “held
up to ridicule, hatred and contempt, and have
suffered injury to their reputations, personal
humiliation, emotional distress and mental
anguish.” He is seeking compensatory and pu-
nidve damages.
Merrill commented that he hopes his law
suit “puts McClatchy and other media organi
zations on notice that they cannot continue to
distort the impact of gay rights in America and
on the World Wide Web.”
At press time, neither of the defendants had
responded to the suit. ▼
Bishops call for acceptance of gays
by David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
WASHINGTON, DC—^An ecumenical
treatise released by the US Catholic Confer
ence that encourages Emilies to accept their
gay loved ones and calls for non-discrimina
tion against them, drew positive responses from
gay and lesbian leaders and members of a na
tional organization for gay Catholics. However,
their reactions were tempered by the bishops’
reiteration that homosexuals must remain celi
bate to avoid sin.
The open letter, entitled “Always Our Chil
dren: A Pastoral Message to Parents of Homo
sexual Children and Suggestions for Pastoral
Ministers,” contains sev-
eral important messages.
One of its most powerful
pronouncements is a call
for non-discrimination.
“The teaching of the
church makes it clear that
the fundamental human
rights of homosexual per
sons must be defended
and that all of us must
strive to eliminate any
form of injustice, oppres-
sion, or violence a^nst them.” It also states,
“Nothing in the Bible or in Catholic r^rhing
can be used to justify prejudicial or discrimi
natory attitudes and behaviors.”
The message reaffirms an earlier call for all
Christians to work to end discrimination
against gay people; recognizes the mounting
evidence that a person’s sexual orientation is not
a matter of choice; and encourages families to
be accepting and supportive of their gay loved
ones even as they are working through areas of
confusion and disagreement over the difficult
issues that arise when gay people come out to
their families.
The letter also reminds parents that gay
people often face violence and discrimination
and emphasizes how crucial it is for parents to
This is another
milestone on
America's
journey toward
common ground."
accept their gay children. In addition, the let
ter encourages pastors to welcome gay people
within communities of fiuth and encourages
both parents and children to be patient, fair
and honest with each other and rise above the
temptation to rejea each other when challeng
ing issues arise.
“This is another milestone on America’s
journey toward common ground where faith,
family and feirness go together,” said Human
Rights Campaign Executive Direaor Elizabeth
Birch. “The letter is a much-needed reminder
to American femilies that people of faith can
disagree without being disagreeable — and that
families have a moral obligation to treat all
people. Including their
gay loved ones, with fair
ness, respect and dig
nity.”
The statement, how
ever, makes a clear sepa
ration between sexual
orientation and sexual
behavior. While con
demning discrimination
against individuals on the
basis of their sexual ori
entation, the statement
reasserts the Church’s belief that homosexual
behavior is “objectively immoral.” It reiterates
that sexual relations are exclusively reserved for
a married man and woman for the purpose of
creating a new human life.
Leaders of Dignity/USA, the nation’s larg
est organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender Catholics and their families and
friends, were guardedly optimistic about the
message. “This pastoral letter is a positive step
and we commend the bishops for their im
proved sensitivity to the issues which confront
parents and their lesbian and gay children, but
all is not perfect,” noted Executive Director
Charles Cox.
Robert Miailovich, president of Dignity/
See BISHOPS on page 24
V
A
Is
Year-long lesbian health study
already yielding important facts
by Bob Roehr
Special to Q-Notes
WASHINGTON, DC—The Instimte of
Medicine conducted a workshop on lesbian
health research priorities in the District of Co
lumbia on October 6-7. It was part of a first
ever $200,000 study which should wrap up
with a report next summer. “The big news is
that they are even funding this study,” said Marj
Plumb, policy director with the Gay and Les
bian Medical Association.
Donna Futterman, MD, is a researcher at
the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “We
know that coping skills, self-care behavior, and
health seeking behavior are estabUshcd early and
have an impaa on a lifetime of interactions with
the health care system. It should be no surprise
that delay in health seeking and lack of preven
tive services and gynecologic care is a consis
tent finding in research of lesbians of all age
groups.”
But she cautioned, “We have only begun to
scratch the surfree and much of the informa
tion we have obtained may not remain relevant
because the social and cultural environment
continues to change.”
One of the major problems facing research
ers is the very definition of who is a lesbian. Is
it a question of self-identity, sexual acts, or a
combination of the two? Social stigma in both
study and delivery of care remains a major im
pediment. And the average age of awareness of
same-sex feelings has dropped from about 16
to nine or ten.
Sorting out sex
“Lesbians don’t have sex as often as do het
erosexual cohabiting couples, gay male couples,
and married heterosexual couples,” said Esther
Rothblum, a researcher at the University of
Vermont. “But on the other hand, lesbians of
ten define sex more broadly. So how do you
count that? What about people who live to-
See STUDY on page 5
Court declines militaiy ban case
by Julia Adams
Special to Q-Notes
WASHINGTON, DC—^The US Supreme
Court declined to review the case of Richenberg
V. Cohen earlier this month, leaving in place a
decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Ap
peals upholding the constitutionality of the
Clinton Administration’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell, Don’t Pursue” policy and the dismissal of
Captain Richard Richenberg from the US Air
Force for acknowledging that he is gay.
Michelle Benecke, co-executive direaor of
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
(SLDN), an independent legal aid and watch
dog organization for those harmed by the
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue” policy,
stated, “By the Court’s action, our nation has
needlessly lost the service of a combat-proven
elearonics warfare officer.”
Richenberg entered the Air Force in 1985.
After he served in the GulfWar, he began train
ing for special service in Saudi Arabia. While
in training, Richenberg disclosed his homosexu
ality to his commanding officer. The Air Force
canceled his Saudi Arabian mission and reas
signed him to Offim Air Force Base in Ne
braska, where discharge proceedings were be
gun. Richenberg was given an honorable dis
charge in 1995. He sued the Air Force, but a
federal trial judge and the Eighth US Circuit
Court of Appeals ruled against him.
“No other federal, state or local law man
dates that our government terminate the ca
reers of gay people,” Benecke stated. “For the
thousands of gay, lesbian and bisexual
servicemembers who are defending our coun
try today, the Supreme Court’s decision means
that, for the time being, they will have to con
tinue to hide to avoid the ongoing witch hunts.
The decision means that they still cannot tell
their parents, doctors or best friends that they
are gay without fear of losing their jobs or even
potentially going to jail.”
Richenberg’s case also challenges the
military’s assertion that gays disrupt morale
among enlistees, Benecke charged. “Captain
Richenberg’s discharge brings the frilings of the
gay policy into sharp focus: the Air Force has
dismissed an officer decorated in the Persian
GulfWar despite the objections of his military
colleagues who supported him even after they
learned his sexual orientation and despite his
having met the criteria for retention under
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ This case, once again,
disproves the rationale offered by the military
that straight troops will not work with openly
gay servicemembers and highlights the utter
waste of scarce resources inherent in discharg
ing military members simply because they are
not heterosexual.” ▼