JULY 2001
OOLME 13 HUNBEB 7
COMMUNIT^NNECTIOM
SERVING WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA’S LESBIAN, CAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDERED COMMUNITY
HELMS AMENDMENT HAS NO SUBSTANCE
NOTHING BUT AN ACT OF POLITICAL POSTURING
HELMS AMENDMENT
ACCOMPLISHES NOTHING BUT
SENDING AN ANTI-GAY MESSAGE,
SAYS HRC
WASHINGTON - The Human Rights
Campaign called today's passage of an
amendment sponsored by Sen. Jesse
Helms, R-N.C., a blatant example of
political posturing that has nothing to
do with improving education in this
country. The Helms amendment, which
passed 52 to 48, prohibits federal fund
ing to schools that choose not to offer
facilities to Boy Scout troops because of
their discriminatory policy banning gay
scouts. However, the measure is point
less, because the Constitution already
dictates that the Boy Scouts have equal
access to school facilities, asserts HRC.
"The Boy Scouts already have complete
and unbridled access to all community
facilities in which the general public has
access," says HRC Political Director
Winnie Stachelberg. "The purpose of
AMNESTY REPORTS DETAILS TORTURE OF GLBT PERSONS
GOVERNMENT INACTION & ABUSE
DRIVES TORTURE, SEXUAL
ASSAULT, FORCED PSYCHIATRIC
TREATMENT OF LESBIANS AND
GAYS WORLDWIDE
Latest Report in Amnesty International's
Anti-Torture Campaign Documents
Violations in 30 Countries; Urges US and
Others to Dramatically Increase Protection
of LGBT People (New York) ? Government
inaction — and at times government provo
cation — is a driving force behind the tor
ture and mistreatment of lesbians, gay men,
bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people,
the Helms amendment is to bully
schools into granting the Boy Scouts
special privileges not offered to other
groups. This is really an underhanded
attempt to reward those who practice
discrimination and punish those who
value equality." The courts have
already ruled that school districts must
allow the Boy Scouts to have equal
access to public facilities, just like any
other group. But school districts are still
entitled to deny the Boy Scouts special
benefits not offered to other groups. For
instance, as the U.S. District Court
explained, local school districts are not
required to "endorse, participate, or
solicit others to participate in Boy
Scouts activities." What the Helms
amendment seeks to do is intimidate
school officials into continuing to offer
the Boy Scouts these special privileges,
even if their discriminatory policy con
flicts with a community's values and
standards, says HRC. "This is really
about forcing Helms' anti-gay view
point on local school districts across
Amnesty International said in a report
launched July 27, 2001.. The report includes
documented examples of torture and ill-
treatment in some 30 countries, including
Uganda, Pakistan, Argentina, the United
States and Russia, and details cases of LGBT
people who were antagonized in custody,
physically and sexually assaulted, subjected
to unnecessary medical or psychiatric treat
ment, and sometimes forced to flee their
countries because of persecution based on
their sexual identity.
The report, Crimes of Hate, Conspiracy of
Silence: Torture and Ill-Treatment
America," said Stachelberg. "It is
putting the congressional stamp of
approval on exclusionary behavior by
having the Senate officially say that 'dis
crimination is good.' We believe this
sends a terrible message that conflicts
with the values of most Americans."
Helms said on the Senate floor that
"radical militants" were trying to ban
the Boy Scouts from campuses. He also
said they [gay activists] "demand that
everybody else's principles must be cast
aside in order to protect the right of
homosexual conduct." On May 23, the
House passed a similar anti-gay amend
ment sponsored by Rep. Van Hilleary,
R-Tenn. The Human Rights Campaign
is the largest national lesbian and gay
political organization with members
throughout the country. It effectively
lobbies Congress, provides campaign
support and educates the public to
ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender Americans can be open,
honest and safe at home, at work and in
the community.
Based on Sexual Identity, is the latest in
the organization's yearlong campaign
to fight torture worldwide. It notes that
LGBT people are frequently subjected to
torture and abuse by state agents in
police stations and prisons; that over 70
countries, including parts of the US, still
criminalize same-sex relations; and that
some countries even mete out the death
penalty as punishment.
However, government abuse represents
only one part of the picture. All people,
as a result of real or perceived sexual
Amnesty continued on page 2
PFLAC PROGRAMS
FOR EQUALITY IN
THE SCHOOLS
By Doug Wade.
The Asheville chapter of PFLAG hosted a
safe school training weekend for 10 PFLAG
chapters in Tennessee and South Carolina
as well as North Carolina. The seminar
was conducted by staff from national
PFLAG, and was intended to help local
activists work more effectively for gay and
lesbian students in our public schools. My
sense is that the time is ripe for this work.
Public school administrators are becoming
aware that they have a very big problem
with their GLBT students, but don't know
what to do about it, and are scared to death
of the Christian conservatives. I think that
many schools will welcome helpful com
munity assistance in solving this problem.
The Asheville PFLAG chapter is commit
ted to working in our schools.
The program for this month's support and
discussion meeting will be on GLBT
teenagers and the public schools. We will
talk about the work we are doing on this
issue and show part of the video,
Something In Common produced by UNC-
TV and is an excellent video on different
programs being tried in various schools in
North Carolina to solve problems caused
by diversity in the student population. We
will be showing the parts of the program
which relate to GLBT students.
We encourage GLBT folks who need
support to attend our monthly meet
ings, and many are. For the first half of
the meeting the group breaks up into
smaller discussion groups. One of
these groups is usually primarily
GLBT. We also welcome those of you
who might be interested in participat
ing in our education and advocacy
PFLAG continued on page 6