A Henderson m*n hasbeenfoundinnocent .
of charges that he solicited an: undercover
policeman for “ijJrime against nature” ft
Rajeigh’s Crabtree-Valley Mall on August 14. -
Duan<e Evans, one of 39 men arrested in an
undercover campaign at Raleigh .shopping
malls this summer, was found hot-guilty after
a trial before Wake District Judge L. W.
“Mike” Payne on November 2.
Evans was the only one of the arrested men
who asked the North Carolina Human Rights
Fund for legal assistance. The NCHRF
accepted Evans’ case after he contacted the
NCHRF on October 12. He was represented
for the NCHRF by Raleigh attorney John H.
Boddie.
Most of the other shopping mall cases have
been postponed until December or January.
However, at least three other cases have been
decided.
A Raleigh physician was found guilty of
“solicitation for crime against nature” before
Judge Payne on November 1. In that case the
undercover officer, J. C. Taylor, contended
that the defendant was masturbating in front
of a urinal when he told the officer, “I’m into
blow jobs, I’d like to give you a blow job.”
Under cross-examination by defense
attorney Wade Smith, the officer admitted
that he had his penis out of his pants during
his encounter with the defendant.
The defendant doctor said that he had not
masturbated and had mentioned “blow jobs”
only in response to what he believed was a
solicitation by the officer. The defendant, who
was fined $50 and court costs by Judge Payne,
appealed the case for a new trial in superior
court.
In another case decided November 1 Judge
Narley Cashwell fcrfjnd & man guilty of
solicitation and assault-, after Officer Taylor
testified' that- the defendant grabbed the
officer’s “crotch".
On October 11 'Judge Cashwell dismissed a
Charge of disorderly conduct against a man
who allegedly stood in a toilet stall and
masturbated while a police officer looked on.
In Evans’ case, Officer M. V. Jarmon
testified that he was standing in a mall
restroom when Evans came in and went to a
urinal. He said that Evans looked at him and
then walked out the door, holding it open for
the officer.
Officer Jarmon said that he then followed
Evans to the parking lot, where they struck up
a conversation. At the end of the
conversation, according to the officer, Evans
said he “gives blow jobs and likes to receive
them, too.” Jarmon said he then asked Evans
“if he was going to give me one,” and Evans
said, “Yes.”
Evans testified that he had gone to the
restroom to relieve himself and that while he
was urinating, he could see that a man (the
officer) was staring at him. Evans said that he
left the restroom, heading for his car. The
officer caught up with him in the parking lot
and began a conversation.
Evans continued that although at first he
was put off by the man’s aggressiveness, he
gradually warmed up to him. He said that the
officer looked at him in a sexually suggestive
way, and that it was very clear that he was
looking for sex. Evans said that when he
finally mentioned “blow jobs” it was in
response to the officer’s solicitation of him.
Accused Murderer
Fit To Stand Trial
A state psychiatrist has said that Joseph
Charles Johnson is competent to stand trial on
a charge that he murdered a Winston- Salem
gay man last January, according to a report in
the Winston-Salem Journal.
Johnson, 19, pleaded not guilty to the first
degree murder charge at his arraignment on
October 30. If convicted, he could face the
death penalty. The trial is set for November
26.
Johnson is charged with killing Robert
Allen Moyers by cutting his throat with a
knife. Friends of Moyers’ found his body on
January 20 in his apartment.
Judge W. Douglas Albright denied a
motion by attorney Carl Parrish that would
have disallowed as evidence Johnson’s
conviction on a manslaugther charge when he
was 15. (The Front Page has been told,
although it has not yet been confirmed, that
this case also involved a homosexual victim.)
Parrish said that allowing that as testimony
could be used to show a history of violent
behavior. Such a history could figure in a
jury’s consideration of whether Johnson
should receive the death penalty, if convicted.
Parrish, who is Johnson’s court-appointed
attorney, asked the court for money to hire an
independent psychiatrist to evaluate Johnson.
Albright denied the request because the state’s
forensic psychiatrist said that Johnson is
competent to stand trial.
In denying the request, Albright read aloud
the state psychiatrist’s letter: “He is capable of
going to trial and understands the legal
situation. I find nothing to suggest that he
would not be responsible for his actions.”
Albright also said that the prosecution can
also use as evidence fingerprints identified as
Johnson’s found on a beer bottle in Moyer’s
apartment. Parrish said that the bottles should
have been destroyed, the fingerprints
shouldn’t be allowed as evidence.
Parrish also asked that Moyers’ stereo,
found in the apartment of Johnson’s
girlfriend, not be admitted as evidence because
no one knows when it was removed from the
apartment. Albright denied the motion after
District Attorney Donald K. Tisdale said that
witnesses would testify that the stereo was in
Moyers’ apartment on the day before the
murder. •
A tape of the incident leading to Evans*
arrest showed that the two talked for about 12
minutes before any verbal reference to sex.
The Raleigh City Manager is currently
conducting an* investigation of undercover
operations by the Raleigh Police Department.
The investigation report was due to be given
to Raleigh Mayor Avery Upchurch in
October. However, the investigation has been
delayed. *
Anyone with a complaint against the
Raleigh Police Department may still write
Dempsey E. Benton, Jr., Raleigh City
Manager, PO Box 596, Raleigh, NC 27662 to
provide him with the details of your
complaint. •
Press Clippings:
... You Lose Some
So my candidates lost. Big deal. That doesn’t make me wrong.
The notion that winning makes you right is one of the nastier principles of ReagAmerica —
which has room only for winners. That’s what Reagan means by his constant references to the
American Olympic gold: “Greg Louganis, come on down! You, too, Mary Lou Retton and
Carl Lewis — provided you both remember your place as second-class citizens. But if you are a
loser — i.e., you’re not white, straight, male, healthy, and rich — then don’t bother to apply.
You’d just depress us.”
They’ve been repairing the Statue of Liberty this year. (Rumors that her facelift will make
her look like Nancy R. have yet to be disproved.) They’ve also updated her plaque, to fit
ReagAmerica: “Give me your healthy, your rich, your well-heeled Yuppies yearning to spend
free ...”
I didn’t lose. We all lost. You’ll see. When you do, send apologies c/o The Front Page.
Two minor victories to report. First, the UPI wire service picked up the News & Observer
piece on The Front Page and “Gays for Jesse.” From there, it got printed n the Roanoke
Rapids, NC, Herald (10-29). The story developed a heavily Republican slant, emphasizing
Helms’s denials rather than the gay votes. Still, the folks in Roanoke Rapids did get a brief
glimpse of the world elsewhere.
Second, a usually reliable source (who also does a great Bette Davis) informs me that onewf
those “gays for Jesse” changed his mind after reading last issue’s “Press Clippings” item about
Helms’s homosexual joke. It’s a small victory; but in elections, as in bars, I take what I can get.
Making a Killing
Ii’s time to clean out the clippings box. During the campaign months, we’ve collected some
homophobic pieces that provoked good gay responses. Even though some are about the
elections, they’re still relevant. Candidates may come and go, but homophobia is forever.
For example, there’s a letter from H. Doyle Seymour to the Winston-Salem Sentinel^ 10-16),
which briefly mentions the Democratic platform plank on gays, but soon gets to the essence of
gay life: killing straights, through mass disease and mass murder.
Seymour first rants about AIDS, stressing that no one knows “all the ways AIDS is
transmitted.” He’s exploiting the fear that it is spread not just through sexual contact, but
through casual contact. That means that even straights could get it, from hairdressers and
toilet seats. Which lets Seymour draw this conclusion: “When one group’s pursuit of happiness
infringes on the rights and freedom (not to mention health) of others, then they forfeit those
rights.”
It gets worse: “Besides the fact of potential plague, one must consider the other effects of this
perverted lifestyle. How does one explain to the families of the victims of mass murdering
homosexuals like John Wayne Gacy, who buried many of his victims under his house? Of
course he was just exercising his freedom to be himself and pursuing his brand of happiness.”
Gacy is no more your typical gay than Hitler is your typical heterosexual. Instead, although
he had sex with the young men he killed, he violently denied being gay. In fact, while killing
them, he often read to them from the Bible to prove that they were evil and deserved to die.
(This information is taken from Killer Clown, a recent book about the Gacy killings — Ed.)
So Gacy, far from being gay, is a homophobe — like you, H. Doyle. Gacy is the product, not
of a society too lenient toward gays, but of a homophobic society that taught him to hate
himself. He simply turned the hatred outward onto the young men he desired. You should be
proud of him, H. Doyle. He’s on your side.
The Sentinel printed (10-26) a response from Rick Hunter, who acknowledges that AIDS
and Gacy are realities, but asks the sensible question: “What do they have totdo with the civil
rights of responsible and productive gay men and lesbian women?”
Hunter describes his own reality, in contrast to Seymour’s stereotypes: “I am gay. I punch a
clock five days a week and pay taxes like most folks. Instead of putting on a false front, I simply
choose to be myself. ... Like many other gay people, I consider myself to be a responsible,
productive American citizen.”
Some might question Hunter’s implied assertion that, to be a “citizen,” a gay must be
“responsible” and “productive.” How many straights could pass such a test? Still, his
conclusion holds: “I believe that as long as I’m not hurting anyone, I should have the freedom
to live my life as I please.”
But Names Can Never Hurt Me
The recent campaign has taught us to recognize a more subtle homophobia — the kind that
is especially treacherous because it at first seems to be liberal and enlightened.
An editorial in the Greensboro News-Record (10-12), entitled “Racists and ‘Queers’,” first
describes how Helms called Hunt a “racist” for running some ads only in black newspapers.
Then it draws a parallel: “Just as shameful is the Helms camp's attempt to link Hunt with gay
rights” — in particular, press secretary Claude Allen’s statement that Hunt had links to “the
queers.” The editorial bemoans: “The attempt to slur Hunt’s character is transparent.”
continued on page 14
M. C.CJ Richmond
4500 Kensington Avenue Richmond, Virginia 23221
(804) 359-5426
Rev. Arthur C. Runyan, II
Meets 6:30 each Sunday. All are welcome!
METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH
Of CHARLOTTE
Services: Sunday 11am ft 7pm
Tups ft Wed - 7:30pm
229 Austin Drive Charlotte, NC 28213
REV. LYNN GUERRA, PASTOR
(704) 598-7188