Dec. 20-Jan. 9, 1983
N.C. Human Rights Fund Receives Grant
The North Carolina Human Rights Fund
(NCHRF) has been awarded a $7,000 grant by
the Chicago Resource Center, a private
grantmaking foundation. The money, which
the organization plans to match (or exceed)
with locally contributed funds, is to be used to
further research and education projects.
Founded in 1979, NCHRF originally
concerned itself with the unfair treatment of
gays by the police and the courts. Since then,
the organization has diversified into education
of gays and non-gays and support of projects
aimed at the needs of individual lesbians and
gay men.
Educational efforts currently include:
documentation of discrimination and
harassment; informing legislators about the
negative effects of archaic sexual laws; and
helping gather and disseminate information
on the health needs of the gay community.
Support efforts include: helping individuals
find a sympathetic, competent lawyer;
providing a dispute settlement service for gay
people; and intervention in cases of
discrimination or harassment.
In January of 1983, the Chicago Resource
Center (CRC) announced that it was
interested in funding gay and lesbian
organizations and projects nationwide. The
Center said that it was interested in a wide
range of programs, including (but not limited
to) those that focus on: civil and legal rights of
lesbians and gay men; services for the gay
community’s special needs; coalition building;
outreach to educational and community
institutions. Although its funding in this area
is just beginning, CRC's grants in other areas
have varied from $500 to $50,000, with the
majority in the $5,000-$ 15,000 range. All
grants are for one year’s funding only.
Many of the current projects sponsored by
NCHRF, which endeavors to function as a
state-wide organization, met the criteria for a
CRC grant. With the grant as a beginning, the
Fund is committed to expanding these
activities.
Principal among the organization’s
proposed activities is the creation of a
statewide Hotline. Currently, the Fund lacks a
quick and confidential mechanism for
individuals to reach the organization when
they need information, advice, etc. The
Hotline will alleviate this problem and, once
established, the organization plans to
publicize it widely. NCHRF hopes that its
proposed hotline will complement, rather
than conflict with, existing switchboards and
crisis lines already in existence in North
Carolina.
The NCHRF, Hotline might also: facilitate
communication between gay organizations in
the state; make the Fund’s Dispute Settlement
Service more readily available; serve as a basic
research tool. The Hotline would principally
be staffed by volunteers, but one person would
have to be hired to coordinate the project. This
same person might also conduct some of the
Fund’s research activities.
NCHRF also hopes to establish a series of
workshops aimed at educating professionals
who may come in contact with gay people but
who are ill-prepared to deal with their special
needs. These workshops would be offered to
attorneys, law enforcement officials, high
school guidance counselors, ministers, social
workers, health care providers, news media
representatives, etc. In addition to soliciting
and training volunteers to facilitate these
workshops, the Fund would provide a basic
video tape presentation which the volunteer
could use to “break the ice” on the issue.
In order to develop materials appropriate
for the workshops, the Fund feels a need to
research a variety of issues and conduct
opinion polls which would then be turned into
position papers. Topics might include
homosexuality and public health,
employment and housing rights of gays, rights
of gays in the military, etc. These activities
would supplement the Fund’s already on
going effort to document cases of
discrimination and incidents of harassment in
the state.
Other projects discussed by the Fund
include: the production of public service
television and radio announcements; the
development of a resource center for materials
relating to all aspects of gay life; establishment
of a statewide speakers bureau of individuals
available to address a variety of interested
groups.
In-kind contributions of office space,
graphics production, public relations work
and computerized research analysis have been
forthcoming. The Front Page has also agreed
to contribute space for ads publicizing the
organization’s statewide efforts.
NCHRF may also apply to other
foundations for additional grant money.
The Fund plans an intensive direct mail
drive, not only to raise funds, but to find
volunteers interested in and capable of
implementing its staggering list of projected
activities. The organization would like to hear
from all interested parties, especially women
and minorities.
In summation, the Fund’s major priorities
for 1984 are:
* Match or exceed the $7,000 grant from
CRC with locally- raised funds.
* Establish a state-wide Hotline.
* Continue to offer arbitration and
mediation services through its Dispute
Settlement Service and publicize the
availability of those services.
* Continue its ongoing discrimination
documentation project.
* Monitor and respond to attacks on the
human and civil rights of lesbians and gay
men in North Carolina, especially those
which result from the AIDS scare.
* Encourage efforts to repeal the state’s
“crime against nature” laws.
“All of these are interrelated,” says a Fund
spokesperson, “and our potential
accomplishments could have positive impact
of the lives of lesbians and gay men in North
Carolina for years to come.”
For more information on the North
Carolina Human Rights Fund, to join or to
make a contribution, write: NCHRF, PO Box
10782, Raleigh, N.C. 27605. •
Greensboro Rest Area Arrests Continue
GREENSBORO—The intermittent arrests
and undercover operations at the rest areas
east of Greensboro on 1-85 are apparently
continuing, although they are not yielding the
expected results.
One of the unanticipated developments has
been the social status of many of the men
arrested so far — few of them from
Greensboro, few of them self-identified as gay,
many of them considered “pillars of the
community.” Several businessmen, an award
winning schoolteacher, a Jaycee leader and a
minister are among those arrested, according
to a report in the Greensboro Daily News.
Guilford County vice squad officers began
investigations and undercover surveillance at
the rest areas in late February of this year. Sgt.
Roy Dodez, who heads the vice squad, told the
Daily News that the investigation began after
his office received more than a dozen
complaints from travelers in the course of
several weeks.
“We’d like it if publicity about the arrests
we’re making out there scared them all away,”
Dodez said. “But 1 don’t think that’s going to
happen.”
The Sheriffs Department has received
complaints about the problem for many years,
he said, and arrests have been made previously
from time to time by deputies who spotted
illegal sexual acts.
In 1981, a brief undercover probe led to
charges of “crime against nature” being
brought against 10 men, he said.
After that operation, enforcement action at
the rest areas nearly ceased. There were
personnel changes in the vice squad in late
1982 and, until this year, the unit lacked the
sufficient personnel to investigate the
complaints.
Several arrests were made in March and
April of this year, and then several more in
October.
The “clean-up” effort clearly isn’t working
yet, Guilford County District Attorney Lamar
Dowda told the Daily News.
The first three men arrested were given
deferred prosecution — meaning they could
escape without a conviction if they got
counseling and stayed away from the rest
stops.
continued on page 8
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