October 2000
Gotham Kicks
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
The deficit of queer social venues
in Chapel Hill and the surround
ing area was astonishing. If you
wanted to go out dancing, you ei
ther drove to Raleigh or Greens
boro. Who wants to spend the 30
minutes to an hour driving just for
a night out? Glenn Grossman rec
ognized this need and decided to
try and do something about it. He
met with the owners of Gotham
and together they planned Insom
nia.
Insomnia has brought much-
needed relief to queers in search of
excitement on Friday nights. The
house music is non-stop, with fa
vorite classics as well as current
chart-toppers. The beat is always
high for non-stop dancing. If danc
ing isn't your thing, you can take
in the crowd from the bar or its
newly renovated balcony. Many
people come to catch up with old
friends; meet new people and so
cialize a little, but the music and
the dancing never stop. Insomnia
boasts another unique feature: a
portion of all proceeds generated
on Friday nights are donated to lo
cal GLBT groups. Past recipients of
donations include UNC's Queer
Network for Change, Carolina Al
ternative Meetings of Professional
and Graduate Students, NC Pride,
the Lesbian Health Resource Cen
ter, Equality NC, Ruby Slipper,
and many others.
Stop wondering what to do on
a Friday night and come on out to
Insomnia. Chapel Hill finally has
a place for us like-minded people
to get together, dance, and have a
great time.
Club Gotham is located at 306h
W. Franklin St. in Chapel Hill. The
entrance to Club Gotham is facing
Rosemary Street.
Tony can be reached at quirk @emaiLanc.edn.
Pages
Scouting in America
By Sarah W. Stokes
When the Supreme Court
ruled in favor of the Boy
Scouts of America, support
ing the organization's policy
which excludes from mem
bership leaders or boys who
identify as other than hetero
sexual, many questions were
raised about the rights of pri
vate organizations, especially
those which receive funding
from public sources. In a 5-4
vote, the Supreme Court pro
claimed that the Boy Scouts'
policy pre
cedes even the
nondiscrimi
nation policy
of the state of
New Jersey,
which in
cludes sexual
orientation as
a protected
class.
"The Boy Scouts asserts
that homosexual conduct is
inconsistent with the values it
seeks to instill," Rehnquist
wrote in the majority deci
sion, in a presumed defense
of the First Amendment
rights of the organization.
However, in the past, the
Court has struck down poli
cies held by similar organiza
tions that it has considered
discriminatory - for instance,
the exclusion by the Jaycees
of women. Claiming that it is
imperative for the Court not
to be swayed by personal
opinions of whether or not
the Boy Scouts' teaching is
right or wrong. Chief Justice
William Rehnquist and the
other justices in the majority
handed down their decision
that the inclusion of gay
members in the organization
would pose too great a threat
to the organization's freedom
of expression.
The Scouts' designation as
an "expressive organization"
enables them to, in effect,
carry on a tradition of blatant
discrimination,
but there is
question as to
whether this
victory for the
Boy Scouts is
anything more
than Pyrrhic.
The organiza
tion will likely
have consequences to face for
this very public proclamation
of its decades old policy. The
issue of funding from public
sources such as the United
Way, the use of public build
ings and lands and decreases
in the number or parents will
ing to enroll their sons in the
organization are hot topics of
conversation among those in
terested in the decision. Sev
eral public school districts
have already enacted policies
barring Boy Scout troops
from meeting in public school
buildings. Local United Way
Continued on page 6