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The News & Entertainment Paper for N.C.’s Gay Community IN THIS ISSUE: Have A Happy Holiday Weekend Drive Carefully • Letters page 3 • 5th Annual SE Gay Conference page 5 • Media Notes page 5 • Book Review: “Men's Bodies, Men's Selves", page 7 • The scoop on “La Cage Aux Folles" page 6 • Record Reviews page 9 • Directory page 10 • Free Personals page 11 DEADLINES n or next issue: For copy: 3/28 For ad space: 3/31 Cover date: 4/10 v J ARE YOU READY FOR THE 80S? Have you registered to vote, yet? The deadline for registration is April 8. (Call your local Board of Elections, listed in your telephone directory under your county listings, for information on where to go.) The primary election will be on May 6. Presidential Candidates Respond to Questions on Gay Issues “The President’s record shows that he has taken steps, in his first three years in office, to address most of the public issues articulated historically within the gay community,” wrote Robert Strauss, Chairman of President Carter’s re-election committee, earlier this month in response to a questionairre from the National Gay Task Force. “1 believe this record warrents your continued support.” In making their survey, the National Gay Task Force asked each candidate of the Republican and Democratic Party five questions. The questions touched on access to administration officials, consideration of presidential appointees without regard to sexual orientation, support for a gay rights platform plank in their party, issuance of an executive order to prohibit discrimination by the Federal Executive Branch, and support for the gay rights bill in Congress (HR 2074). Lesbians and gay men are an important, albeit otten invisible, grass roots constituency in this country,” commented NGTF Co Executive Directors Lucia Valeska and Charles F. Brydon. “We believe the candidate responses acknowledge this growing political reality. They also reflect signifigant movement since 1976 when only one candidate, Jimmy Carter, was prepared to speak out on the issue.” Rep. John Anderson (R-IL) and California Gov. Jerry Brown have been vocal in their support of gay rights. Senator Kennedy has a mixed record on this issue, but of late has been making stronger pro-gay statments. The letters from these candidates to NGTF reveal little that is new. Senator Howard Baker (R-TN), while affirming equal protection under the law, commented: “I do not believe that this should become an issue that sharply divides the American people.” Governors Ronald Reagon and John Connally did not respond to the letter. The three-page letter from Carter’s campaign office praised the President for opening up the White House for the first time to meetings between Gay leaders and presidential aids; for his commitment to appointing officials without discrimination based on sexual orientation; and for his signing into law the Civil Service Reform Act which, among many other things, prohibits discrimination in federal personnel actions based on non-job related behavior (i.e., homosexuality). continued on page 4 National News Congress Considers Immigration Legislation Washington, DC—Sen. Alan Cranston (D CA) has introduced legislation to repeal offensive language in the Immigration and Naturalization Act used to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. The bill, S. 2210, would repeal section 212(a)(4), which provides for exlusion of “aliens afflicted with pyschopathic personality, sexual deviation, or mental defect." The bili goes on to re-insert “aliens afflicted with psychopathic personality or a mental defect.*' Companion legislation has also been introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill, like the Cranston bill in the Senate, would delete the term “sexual deviation" from the same immigration legislation. The bill. H R. 6303, was introduced by Representatives Julian Dixon. Anthony Beilenson and Henry Waxman (all democrats from California). Already, there are six additional co-sponsors on the bill. March Committee Meets Oberlin, OH—The National Coalition for the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights held its first national meeting since the October 14 march recently, according to Gay Community News. Over 100 lesbians and gay men from various parts of the country met during the weekend of March 7-9 at Oberlin College. Plans were announced for the formation of a new national organization in the spring of 1981, that would unite grass-roots organizations throughout the nation and co-ordinate various nationwide activities. Also discussed was the $35,600 plus debt incurred by the first march. Revenue of $10,000 is anticipated from the sales, during the last march, of t-shirts. buttons and posters. A fund-raising committee was formed to plan a drive to raise $25,000. Gay Man Denied Citizenship Alexandria, VA—A federal judge ruled on Feb. 26 that homosexuality is sufficient ground for denying US citizenship to a Springfield,VA man who immigrated from Germany some 13 years ago. In a three-page decision in which homosexuality is described as continued on page 4 Lesbian Mother Fights Richmond, VA-A lesbian mother, denied all parental rights and currently appealing that ruling, has petitioned the Virginia Supreme Court to place the appeal on the “priviledged docket” of the court, according to a report in Gay Community News. Her attorneys cited the uncertainty for the child as cause for the case to be moved up on the courts’ agenda. The mother, “Jane Doe” is appealing the ruling of a local judge that her 8-year old son be taken from her because of her sexual preference. Pseudonyms are being used in this case by court order at the request of the mother to protect the privacy of the 8-year old child (referred to as “Jack”), T7ie story was briefly covered in The Front Page, issue no. 8. “it’s the only case where parental rights have been terminated solely because(the mother) is a Lesbian," ACLU attorney Marsha Lowry explained to the Blade. Lowry, who heads the ACLU’s Children’s Rights Project in New York City, defined the loss of parental rights as meaning that the parent “becomes a legal stranger to the child.” The parent cannot visit, call, or have any contact with the child, and the child can be adopted. This differs from custody rights, which gives a parent the child's legal guardianship. According to a report written for the Blade by Lisa M. Keen, the background of the case is this: “Jane, and her former husband, John separated in 1972. Their only son, Jack, lived with his mother in Ohio. After two years, Jane and her son moved in with Jane’s lover and her son. The father seldom saw Jack until February, 1976, when he arrived at Jane's house, with his new wife, and asked to take his son to dinner. They never came back. John and his new wife had taken the boy back to their home in Virginia. continued on page 4
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