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Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 13, Number 25 • May 1, 1999 • FREE
Gender activists plan lobby days
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New party chairman Andrew Reyes (r) greets supporters after the election
Gay man elected by Democrats
by Dan Van Mourik
Q-Notes Staff
CHARLOTTE—Openly gay, Charlotte
businessman Andrew Reyes was elected party
chairman of the Mecklenburg County Demo
cratic Party on Saturday, April 17. In an unof
ficial count, Reyes, 32, beat former state Sen
ate candidate Jim Alexander, 60, by a vote of
226 to 84.
Reyes is the second minority to hold the job,
as well as the first Hispanic and first gay man.
“It’s a definite turnaround from the good
old boy school of politics. He’s not your basic
white male,” said Jeannette Manning, chair of
Precinct 35.
Some Reyes supporters described his elec
tion as a wake-up call for old-school activists.
The county convention was held at
Dilworth Elementary School with more than
300 party members in attendance. Sen. John
Edwards (D-NC) delivered the keynote address
and Reyes was nominated by Bob Davis, the
first minority to hold the party chairman job.
The two candidates drew few distinctions
between themselves and Reyes, after the vote,
indicated no radical departures for the party.
Encouraging a diversity of people to become
active in the party is important, he said, but
“keeping the party financially stable” is a higher
priority. Reyes wants every precincr in the
county to organize a Democratic committee.
Only about a fourth of county precincts sent
delegations to the convention.
As the Democrat most responsible for keep
ing the county party healthy, Reyes’ success will
be measured in terms of successful Democratic
candidates.
Reyes brings financial muscle and an im
pressive list of connections to the job. Reyes
has several businesses, including his account
ing firm, a construction company and a weekly
See ELECTED on page 5
by Brian M. Myer
Q-Notes Staff
WASHINGTON, DC—GenderPAC, the
national advocacy group dedicated to pursu
ing “gender, affectional, and racial equality,” will
hold its Fourth National Lobby Day on Capi
tol Hill from Sunday - Tuesday, May 23 - 25.
Because the Employment Non-Discrimina
tion Act (ENDA) and the Hate Crimes Pre
vention Act (HCPA) are edging closer to criti
cal votes, gender activists feel this is a pivotal
^ point in time. GenderPAC believes that unless
.Q the voices of the GLBT community are heard,
•S Congress may fail to include coverage for gen-
der-different people in these bills. Historically,
y votes for inclusion have carried great political
m risks for Congressional representatives — most
.S' of whom operate with a critical lack of knowl-
^ edge of issues surrounding gender-difference.
£ The last three Lobby Days have each drawn
nearly 100 grassroots activists to Capitol Hill
on a variety of issues. This year, GenderPAC
will continue to protest, educate and advocate
for all those who identify or express gender dif
ferently, especially those who cannot speak for
themselves.
GenderPAC’s Lobby Day begins with an
intensive workshop on national policy (what
national queer groups arc doing and why) and
skills training sessions like “Getting your story
in the news,” “How to lobby 101,” and “Press
by Dan Van Mourik
Q-Notes Staff
LARAMIE, WY—^After the guilty plea and
sentencing of Russell Henderson in the Mat
thew Shepard murder case, lawyers for the sec
ond defendant, Aaron McKinney, have hinted
at their defensive krategies for the August 9 trial.
McKinney’s lawyers want to see where
McKinney could likely spend the remainder of
his life: the Wyoming State Penitentiary in
Rawlins.
A motion filed on his behalf asks that his
lawyers be allowed “to tour and videotape the
cell, recreation yard and other areas of access
where the defendant would reside...if he re
ceived a death sentence.”
McKinney, 21, remains at the Albany
County jail in Laramie. He is charged with first-
degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated rob
bery in the beating death of Shepard.
In addition to the tour, McKinney’s lawyers,
Dion Custis and Jason Tangeman, requested
“out-of state options available to the state of
Wyoming for the confinement of Mr.
McKinney” and “a description of the physical
confinement setting...representing the highest
level of security within the Department of Cor
rections for management of inmate violence.”
The attorneys wrote that access to the prison
is “absolutely necessary” for McKinney’s de
releases that work.”
Two days of lobbying follow — which in
cludes educating and advocacy. GenderPAC
stresses that no lobbying experience is neces
sary and most visits are made with groups of
people from a common tri-state area.
The host hotel is the Holiday Inn on the
Hill, 415 New Jersey Ave., NW, Washington,
DC 20001. This location is a 10-minute walk
from the Capitol building, and a similar dis
tance from Union Station, the local Amtrak and
subway-to-airport hub — not to mention pubs,
parks, museums, monuments, restaurants, a
multiplex theater and shopping. The phone
number for reservations is 1-800-638-1116.
Everything except rooms and associated
hotel charges is free. Some limited scholarships
are available for those who are students or un/
underemployed. Participants are responsible for
calling and booking their own room, or dou
bling, tripling, or quadrupling up with others.
To find someone to share a room, try utilizing
the feedback section of the GenderPAC website
(www.gpac.org) to make your needs known.
When calling for hotel reservations, be sure to
mention that you are with GenderPAC for the
group rate.
For more information, or to sign up, con
tact GenderPAC members Riki Wilchins or
Carrie Davis at (212) 645-1753 or email
Carrie@gpac.org or LobbyDay@gpac.org. ▼
PBS affiliate rejects broadcast
Defense strategies revealed for
second Shepard murder trial
fense. They said the information is “critical” for
presenting mitigating evidence in the case, “so
the jury will accurately and more completely
know the effect of a sentence of life imprison
ment.”
Senior Assistant Attorney General Lori
Gorseth filed an objection on behalf of the
Corrections Department, encouraging 8th Dis
trict Judge Barton Voigt to deny the request,
saying the motion was inappropriate.
McKinney’s lawyers may also focus on
Shepard’s homosexuality in an effort to show
he was not lured from a bar the night of his
murder. They are seeking evidence of Shepard’s
lifestyle, including whether he routinely picked
up other men in bars.
Public defender Custis told Judge Voigt that
the defense needs to know how prosecutors
concluded that Shepard was taken against his
will.
“If they’re saying he was kidnapped fi'om this
bar, any information concerning his back
ground, leaving with other males, gerting in
volved in similar types of situations...that in
formation is particularly relevant,” Custis said.
He also asked for any evidence prosecutor
Cal Rerucha may possess that showed “flirta
tious conduct” by Shepard at the bar or after
leaving.
See STRATEGIES on page 5
by David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
CHARLOTTE--When “Gang of Five”
Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James
(R-District 6) learned that right-wing religious
groups were mobilizing to stop PBS stations
around the country from airing a gay-themed
documentary in June, he wasted no time in let
ting local public television affiliate WTVI know
that he was staunchly opposed to a broadcast
in the Charlotte region. In reply, the head of
the station was equally quick in assuring him
that it would not be shown here.
The program in question is an award-win
ning documentary called It’s Elementary: Talk
ing about Gay Issues in School. Co-produced by
Academy Award-winning documentary film
maker Debra Chasnoff [Deadly Deception: Gen
eral Electric, Nuclear Weapons, and Our Envi
ronment) and Helen S. Cohen, it shows teach
ers talking about gay and lesbian issues with
their K-8 students in
six public and indepen
dent schools across the
nation.
Since its 1996 re
lease, the film has won
numerous awards, in
cluding the Silver
Apple from the Na
tional Educational Me
dia Network; been
shown at nearly 500
teacher training pro
grams and hundreds of
schools, churches and
synagogues; and received endorsements from
the National Education Association and the
American School Counselors Association for its
usefulness in breaking harmful stereotypes.
However, in an April 8 faxed letter — writ
ten on Commission stationery — to WTVI
Station Manager Hal Bouton, James describes
It’s Elementary quite differently. “I viewed this
film at the Mint Museum in 1997 as I weighed
funding the arts in Charlotte and am person
ally familiar with its content. The film is a piece
of pro-homosexual dogma designed to teach the
moral acceptability of homosexuality to chil
dren beginning in the [first] grade. It is not
about tolerance but about reversing moral val
ues taught at home that the author disagrees
with. WTiat better way to rid society of tradi
tional morality, Hal, than to indoctrinate [first]
graders and up with an alternative morality at
odds with their parents’ beliefs. Teaching ‘per
versity as diversity’ is the basis on which this
movie was made.”
In a later paragraph, he adds, “This film is
neither objective nor news. It is not a docu
mentary, as it does not present a rational and
logical discussion of the opposite opinion. It
does not discuss North Carolina law (and the
law of some 20 other states) that make homo
sexual conduct a felony, or the medical reasons
why homosexual conduct is so dangerous. It is
pure indoctrination of the worst kind attack
ing those least able to logically defend against
them, [first] graders.”
James closes his let
ter with what seems to
be a thinly-veiled fund
ing threat. “I would ask
that you review your
current policy on this
matter and determine if
iS a show calling for the
- indoctrination of [first]
(J graders on homosexu-
^ ality (without their par-
2 ents’ knowledge) is
£ worthy of yoiir valuable
airtime. There will be
those who will say that
this ‘documentary’'will be shown at a late hour
and not available to children. I would contend
that the [sic] presenting this show on a taxpayer
subsidized station during a budget year with
many conflicting needs and a bond request for
$ 10 million this fall is not wise at ANY HOUR.
Clearly, it is not the kind of show WTVI, with
its proud history, should be associated with.”
In a post-script, he says that he is sending
copies of his letter to US Rep. Sue Myrick (R-
District 9) and Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) to
See BROADCAST on page 5
Commissioner Bill James