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Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 15, Number 11 • October 14, 2000 • FREE
House-Senate conferees strip hate
crimes bill despite broad support
Coretta Scott
King to attend
Creating Change
by David Elliot
Special to Q-Notes
ATLANTA, GA — Civil rights giant
Coretta Scott King has been confirmed to ap
pear at the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Forces (NGLTF) 13th annual Creating Change
Conference, scheduled for November 9-13 in
downtown Atlanta.
King will appear at Creating Change on No
vember 10, at a plenary that will focus on or
ganizing in the South and the connections of
race, class, gender and sexual orientation with
community organizing. The plenary, entitled
Southern Cookin’: Stirrin Up Change in the
South and the Nation, ’’will feature stories, vi
gnettes and song with Southerners on New
Ground (SONG). Presenters include Pam
McMichael and Kim Diehl, co-directors of
SONG.
Coretta Scott King was an early pioneer in
the fight for justice for gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender people,” said NGLTF Execu
tive Director Elizabeth Toledo.
She has articulated a vision for the progres
sive movement that links issues such as civil
rights for people of color, justice for the GLBT
community, rights for the disabled community,
equality for women and workplace equality.
Atlanta is both the cradle and the crossroads of
the civil rights movement in our country, and
we are honored that Mrs. King will be joining
us for this historic conference,” Toledo added.
During the conference, attendees will have
the opportunity to join Mrs. King in a proces
sion of respect honoring her late husband. Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The procession will
travel from the conference hotel — the Westin
Peachtree Plaza— to the Martin Luther King,
Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
This year’s Creating Change will kick offjust
two days after the November 2000 elections.
Coretta Scott King
An opening plenary the evening of November
9 will examine the November elections, and
what the future holds for the gay, lesbian, bi-
sexual and transgendered community. Another
plenary will focus on ageism within the GLBT
movement and community and will feature ac
tivists who span several generations.
A Sunday morning plenary will feature Dr.
Manning Marable, professor of history and po
litical science and the founding director of the
Institute for Research in African-American
Studies at Columbia University.
In addition to the plenaries and hundreds
of workshops, a series of pre-conference insti
tutes will be held during the day on Thursday,
November 9. These institutes will examine such
topics as people of color organizing, youth or
ganizing, building community centers, philan
thropy and social change, sex and gender lib
eration, anti-racism organizing and aging.
The conference concludes with the Body
Politic Workout, back for its second year, which
will offer a day-long intensive skills-building
sessions in such areas as fundraising, leadership
development, grassroots organizing, operational
planning and governmental relations. T
John Paulk dismissed from Exodus
International board position
“Ex-gay” leader lied
about trek to gay bar
by Wayne Besen
Special to Q-Notes
, SEATTLE, WA — Exodus International,
the worldwide umbrella group for “ex-gay ” min
istries, removed John Paulk from his position
as Chairman of the Board after leaders deter
mined that he misled them about a recent, well-
publicized trip to a Washington, DC, gay bar.
The board of directors for Exodus voted Oc
tober 3 to remove Paulk as chairman. Accord
ing to an Exodus press release, he will remain
on the board on probationary status, but can
not vote or attend meetings.
Paulk’s troubles began on September 19 af
ter he was discovered in a gay bar by three HRC
staffers. Paulk originally claimed that he did not
know the establishment was gay and had
stopped by to “use the bathroom.” However,
the story .seemed suspect to witnesses who said
Paulk was in the bar for nearly an hour.
“That statement was widely doubted by
both other Exodus leaders anjJ by the gay com
munity,” said Exodus Director Bob Davies.
“John’s unwillingness to tell the truth from the
beginning was most unfortunate, as it has fur
ther undermined his public credibility.” Paulk
later admitted to Exodus leaders that he knew
Mr. P’s was a gay bar before he went in.
According to an October 5 article in the
Gazette, a Colorado Springs-based newspaper,
Paulk’s dismissal from Exodus leadership also
puts in jeopardy his position as head of Focus
on the Family’s Homosexuality and Gender
Public Policy Department.
Tom Minnery, vice president of public
policy for Focus on the Family, said the Exo
dus board’s action was appropriate. Asked if
Paulk would still run FOF’s “Love Won Out”
program — an anti-gay traveling road show that
highlights Paulk’s testimony of “change” and
argues against GLBT rights — Minnery re
sponded, “I believe John eventually will be lead
ing the Love Won Out ministry again,” insinu
ating that Paulk is not currently in charge of
the program, although he remains on the
group’s staff
Paulk first made headlines in 1998 when he
and his wife — self-described “ex-lesbian” Anne
— appeared on the cover of Newsweek. The
Paulk’s were prominently featured that same
year in a half-million dollar right-wing news
paper ad campaign that appeared in major dai
lies such as the New York Times und USA Today.
The couple also appeared on popular shows like
60 Minutes and Oprah, and Paulk is the author
See PAULK on page 19
by David Elliot
Special to Q-Notes
WASHINGTON, DC — Despite strong
support from the public and affirmative votes
by both the US House and Senate, on October
5 members of a House-Senate conference com
mittee stripped hate crimes legislation from a
Department of Defense authorization bill.
The action constitutes a major setback for
passage of a hate crimes bill including sexual
orientation, but a broad coalition of anti-vio
lence groups vowed to continue fighting for the
legislation until Congres.s’ expected adjourn
ment later this month.
Activists say the GOP leadership’s actions
show they are determined to kill the legislation
. even if it means Republicans will be hurt on
Election Day. Polls show overwhelming sup
port for hate crimes legislation among the
American public.
“The conservative leadership that refused to
allow this legislation to become law has sent a
message of callous indifference to our country,”
said Elizabeth Toledo, executive director of the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
(NGLTF). “In less than five weeks we will go
to the polls to elect a new House and a new
Senate. We in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender community will have our own
message to send come Election Day.”
“The morally reprehensible action by the
GOP leadership sends the wrong message to
the country and will have ramifications for fair-
minded Republicans who supported bipartisan
hate crime legislation,” said Winnie
Stachelberg, political director for the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC). “The recent murder
in Roanoke illustrates once again the need for
our leaders to seriously tackle the problem of
hate violence. [See related story on page 5.] But
we have a GOP leadership that has instead
turned its back on hate crime victims and their
families and acted against the wishes of the
Hoti.se, the Senate and an overwhelming ma
jority of the American people. This is not only
bad policy, it is bad politics, and their irrespon
sible actions may cost the party in November.”
In a recent poll, 66 percent of respondents
said they would be less likely to vote for a can
didate who opposed hate crimes legislation, in
cluding 54 percent of Republican respondents.
The removal of the hate crimes rider came
despite Virginia Sen. John Warner’s pledge to
reconsider his position on hate crimes legisla
tion in light of the Roanoke incident. As chair
man of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
Warner was a key member of the House-Sen
ate conference committee.
The committee’s decision to oppo.se hate
crimes legislation also flies in the face of strong
support from both chambers. Last summer, the
Senate voted 57-42 to add the legislation to
the Department of Defense authorization bill.
Although the House did not add the amend
ment to its version of the bill, it voted 232-192
for a nonbinding resolution instructing House
conferees to leave the legislation intact.
“Not only did the conservative leadership
of the House and Senate ignore the will of the
public, it ignored the will of a majority of Rep
resentatives and Senators,” Toledo said. “We
look forward to the day when our political lead
ers have the fortitude to do what’s right for our
country.”
It now appears that the only way hate crime
legislation can become law this year is if it is
madp part of the final budget negotiations be
tween the House, Senate and White Hou.se. T
Winston-Salem United Way drops
dispute with Scouts amid backlash
by Veronica Schwartz
Special to Q-Notes
WINSTON-SALEM — Under pressure
from a conservative GOP alderman, the United
Way of Forsyth County is reinstating its finan
cial support of the Boy Scouts of America and
repealing a sexual orientation clause recently
added to its member agency agreement.
According to a
press release from ■' ■'
Winston-Salem Al
derman Vernon
Robinson, the United
Way “grossly over
stepped their mandate
[and] abused the sen
sibilities of the com
munity” when they
moved to cut the
Scout’s funding.
In August, follow
ing a controversial US
Supreme Court ruling
affirming the Boy Scouts’ right to exclude gays
from participation, the United Way of Forsyth
County amended its member agency agreement
to withdraw support from groups that discrimi
nate on the basis of sexual orientation.
Staffers, whom Robinson labeled “fringe el
ements of the homosexual lobby,” used the new
wording to cut $429,000 in United Way sup
port from the Old Hickory Council of the Boy
Scouts of America.
When the story broke that the United Way
The United Way '"grossly
overstepped their
mandate land] abused the
sensibilities of the
community" when they
moved to cut the Scout’s
funding.
was planning to pull funding from the Boy
Scouts, Robinson announced plans to introduce
a resolution excluding the United Way cam
paign from being conducted on City premises.
In addition, the resolution would stop payroll
deductions to the United Way unless the agency
continued its funding. Robinson claimed that
the United Way was being manipulated by “the
homosexual lobby,
the North American
Man-Boy Love Asso
ciation and the
American Civil Liber
ties Union” to wage a
public war on scout
ing.
According to Local
Scout Executive Hal
Murray, several large
employers phoned to
express their support
■' for Robinson’s resolu
tion and promised to
discontinue participation in the United Way
campaign if its “persecution of the Boy Scouts”
continued.
Robinson expressed delight at the United
Way’s surrender. “This is nothing short of ex
traordinary. It is a total victory for the Win
ston-Salem Forsyth County community, the
Boy Scouts of America, and this nation.”
He also stated that the agency’s turnaround
was “the best birthday present” he could receive.
Robinson turns 45 this month. T