I
HH 1995 UOLUME II HIMBEI 5
COMMUNIT^ONNECTION)
SERVING WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA’S LESBIAN, CAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDERED COMMUNITY
HATE CRIMES BILL
VOTED DOWN IN NC
NEW PROJECT
SAFEGUARD
DIRECTOR
Today, President Clinton will applaud
public and private efforts to teach chil
dren about tolerance, and will urge
Congress to pass quickly the pending
federal hate crimes legislation. This leg
islation strengthens the existing federal
hate crimes law by (1) extending the sit
uations where prosecutions can be
brought for violent crimes motivated by
bias based on race, color, religion, or
national origin; and (2) expanding the
federal hate crimes statute to protect
against hate crimes based on sexual ori
entation, gender, or disability. The
President will also announce a new
public-private partnership which will
focus attention on issues of hate, toler
ance, and diversity in middle-grade
schools. Finally, the President will call
MOUNTAIN SPLASH CIRCUT EVENT
COMES TO ASHEVILLE
Great Expeditions, a new travel agency
and event planner for gays and lesbians
is the driving force in the creation of a
new event for the east coast.
Touted as a combined circuit event, the
inclusion of many groups under the
umbrella of Mountain Splash sets this
circuit event apart from all others. A
two-stepping Hoedown called
Whitewater Hoedown, a gathering of
bear groups as Wet Paws and the regu
lar circuit attendees for the major circuit
party Cascade are one of the reasons
that Circuit Noize Magazine has called
Mountain Splash a winner!
The weekend of August 20-22 are the
on the Departments of Justice and
Education to include hate crimes in
their annual report card on school safe
ty and to report on hate crimes and bias
on college campuses.
CLINTON PUSHES
FEDERAL
BILL
Urging Passage of Expanded Federal
Hate Crimes Law. The President will
urge Congress to pass the bipartisan
Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999,
which expands a principal federal hate
crimes statute. The current statute pro
hibits acts of violence that are based on
a person's race, color, religion, or
national origin and that are intended to
dates for this weekend of parties,
dances and whitewater rafting.
Friday's events include a big Pool party
with many surprises. That night it is
on to the clubs for a series of events.
A special shuttle will take attendees on
Saturday morning up the French Broad
to enjoy the white waters of the French
Broad. A moderate course has been
chosen so everyone can enjoy a trip on
the water. The evening begins with vis
itation of area clubs and the circuit
events of Cascade, Whitewater
Hoedown and Wet Paws.
A large BBQ for all attendees will be
held on Sunday to finish off the week-
interfere with certain specified federally
protected activities. The proposed leg
islation would extend the situations
where prosecutions could be brought
by making these acts of violence illegal
even if they did not interfere with fed
erally protected activities. In addition,
the legislation would authorize the
Department of Justice to prosecute indi
viduals who commit violent crimes
against others because of the victim's
sexual orientation, gender, or disability.
Current federal law does not cover
these cases.
Announcing Public-Private Partner
ship to Create a Middle-School
Program about Tolerance. The
President continued on page 10
end with tea dances to follow at some
area clubs.
Area clubs and GLBTA business' have
joined with Great Expeditions to pro
mote and support this weekend. When
asked, many local proprietors
expressed the excitement of an event
such as this in attracting more gays and
lesbians to visit and shop here. It is
expected that this first year will bring a
large group to Asheville much like
Pride did last year and continue annu
ally as the gay and lesbian "must attend
event"...as stated by the Triangle.
Reservations have come in from as far
Circut continued on page 18
Dear Asheville,
My name is Parker Poole, and I am the
new "Project Safeguard" coordinator
at The Western NC AIDS Project. For
those of you who don't know, "Project
Safeguard" is a HIV/AIDS prevention
program focusing on gay and bisexual
men in the Asheville/Buncombe
County area. I appreciate this oppor
tunity to introduce myself to you.
I was born in Raleigh, grew up in
Fayetteville and graduated from
Catawba College in Salisbury. For the
past fifteen years, I have lived in Los
Angeles, working in the television and
film industry. In January I decided to
leave Los Angeles and move to
Western North Carolina.
I'm a gay man and though I'm HIV-
negative myself, I have lived with
Safe continued on page 18