Equality Di.
August 26
nortK
& sout
CAROLIN
Q-Living:
Sfmlacular
Estate
SINCE WWW.Q-NOHES.COM
AUGUST S3 . 2005
Cherokee Nation
okays lesbian union 22
Phranc plays the Cawiinas, ,
Aug. 16-18 40
Jay Bakker booted from
Exodus conference 03
NC. Pride slated for
Sept 24 16
Out on DVD:'Maestro'
examines the beginnings of
queer club music 36
North and South
Carolina
North Carolina:
Asheville NOW welcomes
Anna Worthen 08
South Carolina:
Columbia starts
'Takeover Friday' 10
ONUNE
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Interior Decorating
What happened to Iranian teenagers?
Human Rights Watch says they were
executed for raping a child.
Outrage says thats not so
by Rex Wockner
The New York Times and the Tunes of London
have separately reported that Mahmoud
Asgari and Ayaz Marhon — the two male
teenagers hanged in Mashad, Iran, July 19 —
were executed not for having sex with each
other, as has been reported, but for raping a
13-year-old boy. Human Rights Watch
(HRW) is supporting that claim.
Asgari and Marhoni allegedly raped the
boy at least 14 months prior to their execu
tions, meaning at least one and perhaps
both, were minors at the time.
There is some apparent confusion regard
ing the age of Asgari, as well, in different
publications he has been listed as 16, while
both Times indicated he was 18.
According to Scott Long, director of
HRW’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
TYansgender Rights Project; “On the morning
of July 19 — that is, just before the execu
tions — a long article in Quds, a Farsi daily
published in Mashad, described the case. It is
clearly identified there as a raf>e case, with a
lengthy interview with the father of the 13-
year-old apparent viaim. The account there
is that the case dates
back two years, that
the boy in question
was seized outside a
shopping area by the
two boys ultimately
convicted, who took
him to a deserted area
where five other boys
were also waiting. (It’s
not clear what hap
pened to the five other
members of what is
described as a gang.)
He was gang-raped at
knifepoint, according to
his father’s account,
which is supported by
three passersby who
interrupted the act.
Passersby were
attacked with knives
and had their cars vandalized.”
It also now seems that an article from the
Iranian Students News Agency, translated
and circulated by the London gay group
OutRage, was not the first article about this
case, as OutRage believed, and rnay not have
been translated correctly.
OutRage had reported that the ISNA arti
cle said the boys were executed for consen-
Ayaz AAarhoni and AAahmoud Asgari minutes before their execution.
sual gay sex. But HRW says the headline and
the first sentence of the article make it clear
they were hanged for “sodomy by coercion”
(“lavat beh onf”). “Lavat beh onf,” HRW said,
is an archaic phrase that is not the normal
way to refer to rape.
“Ultimately,” said HRW’s Long, “one has
to ask what is the basis for believing that the
see CONTROVERSYonia
Charlotte's Gay Center
lets new executive
qets new
director
Laura Kane-Witkowski is new executive director
by Monica Simpson
The Charlotte Lesbian & Gay Community Center’s Board of T-ustees
announced Aug. 3 that Laura Kane-
Witkowski has been hired as the new execu
tive director. In her new position she will pro
vide direction and leadership toward the
achievement of the organization’s values,
mission, strategy and annual goals and
objectives.
Before relocating recently to Charlotte
with her partner, Jessica Kane-Witkowski,
who is with Bank of America, Laura was the
Health Services Coordinator of Affirmations
Lesbian & Gay Community Center in Detroit.
“We’re ecstatic to have Laura join our team
at The Center,” says Jennifer Wirt, chair of The
Center’s Board of TVustees. “She brings enthu
siasm and vision for programming that will
reach all sectors of our diverse community.”
“I’m extremely excited to be a part of The
Lesbian & Gay Community Center of Charlotte,” says Kane-
Witkowski. Xhariotte is such a rapidly growing area and see CENTER on 20
Laura Kane-WMcowski
previously worked with
Affirmations Lesbian & Gay
Community Center in Detroit.
Bush Supreme
Court nominee
helped overturn
'Amendment 2'
Roberts' work in overturning anti-gay amendment
seen as 'crudal'
by Donald Miller
The Los Angeles Times reported Aug. 4 that Supreme
Court nominee John Roberts assisted LGBT activists dur
ing the mid-1990s in
preparation for one of the
most important cases in
the history of the gay
rights movement.
The Romer v. Evans
case sought to strike
down a voter-approved
1992 Colorado initiative
known as Amendment 2, Supren _
that allowed employers Roberts: friend or foe?
and landlords to exclude gays and lesbians from jobs and
housing.
The coalition eventually won the case in 1996 in a 6-
3 decision.
Lambda Legal’s Jean see NOMINEE on 16