The Latest Qr-POLL Results
Did you attend the Millennium March on Washington
this past April?
Yes,
I had a good time
14%
No,
I didn’t support it
70%
1 wanted to,
but couldn’t make it
16“''“
The Carolinas’ Most Comprehensive Gay & Lesbian Newspaper
Vote at www.q-notes.com
Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 15, Number 2 • June 10, 2000 • FREE
State gay youth
agency secures
new director
by David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
DURHAM—^After searching for more than
two months, representatives ofNC’s only state
wide organization focused on GLB and allied
youth has announced the hiring of Paula Aus
tin as the groups new executive director.
Austin, originally from New York, made a
name for herself in the Tarheel state through
her extensive involvement in literacy work. Her
efforts included active participation in SCALE,
the Student Coalition for Action in Literacy
Education.
Hez Norton, the previous executive direc
tor, worked with her successor at NCLYN for
two weeks to ensure a smooth transition. Fol
lowing that, she completed a permanent move
to Boston.
During Nortons tenure, NCLYN stressed
leadership, communication skills and network
ing to its members — all between the ages of
13 and 24. Austin plans to hold to the same
course while broadening the scope even wider.
She wants NCLYN to be instrumental in
grooming a generation of leaders who are able
to effectively tackle a multitude of social issues.
“I plan to provide this safe space [NCLYN]
to more lesbian, gay, bisexual and allied youth
and get our name and voices out there,” Austin
asserted. “As an Afro-Caribbean femme lesbian,
I think NCLYN’s future lies in increasing our
multi-issue organizing efforts.”
In addition to filling its highest post,
NCLYN also tapped Brandon Lacey Campos
to assume the newly-created position of state
wide coordinator.
"As an Afro-Caribbean
femme lesbian, I think
NCLYN’s future lies in
increasing our multi
issue organizing
efforts." - Paula Austin,
executive director
Gender activists lobby Congress
His mission is to strengthen the
organizations statewide presence and extend
more of its resources to rural communities.
Campos has been dedicated to youth orga
nizing since his college years in both North
Carolina and his native Minnesota.
“To be part of this is purely and simply a
celebration of my identity and the work Eve
done so far. I bring with me a commitment to
youth empowerment and positive social
change,” he said.
Denisse Andrade, NCLYN’s communica
tions coordinator, praised both hirings in a press
release announcing them. “Having these two
wonderful people brings a new energy to the
organization that will allow us to continue our
work in creating more progressive communi
ties that understand and connect different forms
of oppressions.”
In other news, NCLYN was also the recent
recipient of two generous donations — one
from a rather unusual benefactor.
The group received a $25,000 grant from
the Diana Princess of Wales Fund.
The 12-month grant will support further de
velopment of an initiative to revise the states
controversial Teach Abstinence Until Marriage
Law which forces teachers — among other
things — to state that some homosexual sex
acts are illegal under NC law whenever the topic
comes up in the classroom.
The other grant comes from the Cill Foun
dation, the charitable organization founded by
Colorado entrepreneur Tim Cill that funds
CLBT programs across the nation. The Foun
dation awarded NCLYN $15,000 for general
operating support.
For more information on NCLYN, call
(919) 683-3037. ▼
Lesbian mother regains custody
by Travis Tu
Special to Q-Notes
ST. PETERSBURC, FL—Sending a strong
message that the best interests of children are
not served by baseless assumptions and anti
gay stereotypes, a Florida appellate court has
rejected a custody decision because it allowed
prejudice to keep a lesbian mother from her
two young children.
Ruling 2-1, the District Court of Appeal of
Florida for the Second District reversed a trial
court ruling granting sole custody of the kids
to their father, writing that the lower court had
inappropriately “succumbed to the fathers at
tacks on the mothers sexual orientation.”
The appellate decision in Jacoby v. Jacoby,
written by Judge Stevan T. Northeutt, was re
leased May 26.
“The court sent a forceful reminder that the
best interests of children, not irrational fears
and prejudices, should be paramount in all cus
tody decisions,” said Staff Attorney Stephen R.
Scarborough of Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund’s Southern Regional Office in
Atlanta.
Scarborough authored a friend-of-the-court
brief on behalf of the mother, Julie Jacoby, ar
guing that society’s irrational prejudices should
not be held against parents.
Jacoby filed for divorce in 1997, and later
moved her two children, ages 7 and 10, into
the home she shared with her female partner
in St. Petersburg, Florida.
by Alan Klein
. Special to Q-Notes
WASHINGTON, DC — National Gender
Lobby Days took place in the nation’s capital
May 21 -23. More than 150 activists from across
the US converged on Capitol Hill to educate
Congressmembers about the prevalence of gen
der-based violence and the need to end gen
der-based discrimination in the workplace.
Sponsored by GenderPAC, a national orga
nization working to guarantee every American’s
right to express their gender free of stereotypes,
discrimination and violence, Lobby Days were
used to kick off the group’s groundbreaking
Congressional Equal Employment Opportu
nity (EEO) Project.
The Project asks Congressmembers to sign
a diversity statement publicly affirming that
their office will not discriminate based on an
employee’s gender orientation. Gender activ
ists visited over 100 congressional offices and
obtained signatures from 28 representatives and
2 senators with more pending.
GenderPAC also announced plans to open
a Beltway office this summer to better manage
the project and pursue its educational and pub
lic advocacy objectives.
GenderPAC convened an all-day gender
policy institute on May 21 that was attended
by 75 activists. The event featured in-depth cov
erage of employment discrimination, hate
crimes, the Employment Non-Discrimination
Act (ENDA), judicial strategies and an in-depth
presentation on effective lobbying and advo
cacy techniques by the Human Rights Cam
paign (HRC) and the National Gay and Les
bian Task Force (NGLTF).
“GenderPAC’s Congressional EEO Project
marks our first true litmus test for congressional
support of gender civil rights,” said Riki Anne
Wilchins, GenderPAC executive director. “We
thank the gender activists from around the
country who attended this event, our board,
donors and members for making the kickoff of
this project such a huge success.”
On May 22, GenderPAC held a Congres
sional Gala honoring Rep. Janet Schakowsky
(D-IL) and Chicago gender activist Miranda
Stevens-Miller. Schakowsky was the first
Congressmember to expand her office’s EEO
statement to include gender. Attending the gala
were Congressmembers Jerrold Nadler (D-NY),
Carolyn Maloney (R-NY) and staff members
from Reps. William Delahunt (D-MA),
Michael Forbes (D-NY), Maurice Hinchey (D-
NY) and Lynn Rivers (D-MI).
GenderPAC revealed that next year’s Na
tional Gender Lobby Days will be preceded by
a three-day National Conference on Gender.
The first National Gender Lobby Days took
place in 1996 following the tragic murder of
Brandon Teena.
For more information on GenderPAC, visit
their web site at http://www.gpac.org. T
Black GLBT survey is underway
In 1998, the Pinellas County Circuit Court
granted sole custody to her ex-husband, agree
ing with his argument that granting custody to
Jacoby would have made the children vulner
able to teasing and harassment from classmates
at their private, religious school.
The appeals court said that the decision to
grant custody to the father “penalized the
mother for her sexual orientation without evi
dence that it harmed the children.”
The appeals court also admonished the lower
court for favoring the household of the father,
who has remarried, over the home provided by
the children’s mother, ordering it to reconsider
custody without relying on anti-gay prejudices.
Lambda’s brief had urged the appeals court
to overturn the circuit court decision because
it ignored the 16-year-old US Supreme Court
ruling in Patmore v. Sidoti, in which the High
Court held that “private biases may be outside
the reach of the law, but the law cannot, di
rectly or indirectly, give them effect.”
Added Scarborough, “The circuit court
wrongly thought it could and should insulate
these kids from possible knee-jerk biases against
lesbian and gay parents.”
Lambda Legal Director Beatrice Dohrn said,
“Just like the communities we live in, the courts
are waking up to the truth about lesbian and
gay parents and our families. Decisions like this
give us hope that the law will catch up to real
ity and do away with the discriminatory barri
ers that divide us and harm our children.” ▼
by David Elliot
Special to Q-Notes
WASHINGTON, DC—The most exten
sive survey ever conducted of black GLBT
people in the US is currently underway.
“Black Pride Survey 2000” is a comprehen
sive research project designed to document the
policy priorities, basic demographics and unmet
needs of thousands of black gay, lesbian, bi
sexual and transgender people.
Washington, DC’s black GLBT community
had the chance to participate at “D.C. Black
Pride 2000” during the Memorial weekend.
The gathering was the third of 10 such celebra
tions around the country at which the survey
will be distributed.
The survey has already been conducted at
Philadelphia Black Pride and at Houston
Splash. In the next few
months, it will be
available at Oakland
Black Pride 0une IB
IS); Chicago Black
Pride (June 29-July3);
At the Beach in Los
Angeles (June 30-July
4); Hotter than July in
Detroit (July 18-25);
New York Black Pride
(August 2-6); New
US. “Black Pride Survey 2000” is a step toward
closing this wide demographic gulf for black
GLBT people.
“Legacies of invisibility, bias and inattention
have created huge gaps in knowledge about the
basic demographic realities, unmet needs and
concerns of African-American same-gender-lov
ing and GLBT people,” said Dr. Cathy Cohen,
Professor of Political Science and African
American Studies at Yale University and lead
researcher for the project. “This survey is a step
toward gathering such critical information.”
“Black Pride Survey 2000” is a project of
the NGLTF Policy Institute’s Racial and Eco
nomic Justice Initiative, a long-term program
to increase meaningful advocacy by mainstream
GLBT organizations on issues of racism and
poverty and to support those organizations that
already engage in this
"Black Pride Survey
2000” is a step toward
closing the wide
demographic gulf for
black GLBT people.
York Caribbean Pride; and In the Life in At
lanta (September 3-7).
“Black Pride Survey 2000” was launched by
the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
(NGLTF) Policy Institute in collaboration with
several leading gay and lesbian African-Ameri
can scholars, the participating Black Pride cel
ebrations, and the National Black Lesbian and
Gay Leadership Forum.
The survey will provide invaluable informa
tion about family structure, age, occupation,
income, political affiliation, policy concerns,
experiences of discrimination, access to health
care, and a host of other subjects. Because sexual
orientation and gender identity are rarely in
cluded in surveys, there is a dearth of solid, sta
tistical information specifically about gay, les
bian, bisexual and transgender people in the
work. The NGLTF
initiative is a multi
year commitment to
research, policy devel
opment and advocacy
that also examines rac
ism within the GLBT
community and works
to increase advocacy
on issues of sexual ori
entation and gender
identity by mainstream non-GLBT organiza
tions working on issues of race and poverty.
“The goal of the survey and the Racial and
Economic Justice Initiative is a cultural shift
within the GLBT movement to a new para
digm that identifies racism and poverty as in
trinsic threats to the dignity and well-being of
all GLBT people,” said Urvashi Vaid, NGLTF
Policy Institute Director.
“We seek to engender a stronger, more de
termined and self-confident GLBT movement
that explicitly links with other movements to
challenge America to understand the critical
need to eradicate the social pathologies of ho
mophobia, racism and poverty from our cul
ture,” she added.
In addition to Dr. Cohen, the remaining
See SURVEY on page 27