King County, WA
. gay rights ordinance
A King County fair em ploym ent ordinance
which would have extended the city of Seat
tle's em ploym ent protection to gay men and
lesbians in the surrounding county was re
turned to com m ittee for further discussion
March 15.
At least 450 people signed up to testify at
two days of heated discussion. The first
public hearing session lasted an unprece
dented eight hours.
Sponsor of the ordinance. Councilor
Cynthia Sullivan, reports she received a death
threat over her sponsorship of the measure.
Primary opponent of the ordinance is the Full
Gospel Fellowship Association, a Christian
businessmen's club.
Supporters include the Washington State
Conference of Bishops, the League of
W omen Voters, the local Service Employees
Union, the State Municipal Employees
Union, Washington Educational Association,
Seattle Council of Churches. Washington
State Association of Professional Psycholo
gists and the King County Democratic Party
Committee.
Return of the ordinance to committee is a
move supported by most local activists.
According to Jim Arnold, publisher of the
Seattle G ay News, the move means the ordi
nance will probably not be reconsidered until
after the fall elections. “ It looks like it will
m oulder in com m ittee until fall.” he said.
In addition, gay activists are putting pres
sure on Washington Gov. Booth Gardiner,
who prom ised an executive order protecting
em ploym ent rights during his last campaign.
The city's ordinance, already in effect for city
employees, is also “being strengthened" and
that action is “going well,’’ Arnold said.
King County councilors reported receiving
thousands of phone calls opposing the ordi
nance. Opposition on the council was spear
headed by Councilor Paul Barden, ex-marine
and ex-police officer, who accused gay men
and lesbians of "mockery of God." Funda
mentalist Dr. Paul Cameron was flown into
Seattle to testify and Gay Mews Editor George
Bakan said, "The organized fundamentalist
effort is absolutely incredible.”
Postponement of action on the ordinance
stalled the fundamentalist campaign. Coun
cilors are "intim idated as hell," Bakan said,
especially since several are up for re-election
in November.
Opponents were also ready to gather sig
natures to force a referendum if the ordinance
passes. A referendum is still a possibility if the
measure is held in committee until after the
election.
Activist Caitlin Sullivan said the strong anti
gay cam paign could force the gay and les
bian com m unity to "coalesce" and may raise
the consciousness of heterosexuals suppor
tive of gay rights.
Ex-nuns banned
in Boston
by Lynne de Mont
Rosemary Curb and Mancy Manahan,
editors of a new book entitled Lesbian Nuns:
Breaking Silence were "disinvited" in early
April from a scheduled May appearance on
Boston television.
The Boston Globe reported that Station
WBZ-TV cancelled the appearance of the wo
men in response to protests from the local
Roman Catholic community. Reverend Peter
Conley, secretary of com m unity relations of
the Boston archdiocese, complained that the
appearance of the two women, both lesbian
ex-nuns, was “ insulting and the book itself
exploitative because only nine of the 51
wom en interviewed are nuns now."
Conley notified local Catholic lay organiza
tions of the scheduled appearance and
"urged them to do what they felt appropriate."
The station received letters and petitions re-
guesting that Curb and Manahan not appear
on the May 9th program, "People are Talking."
The station defended its action in a letter to
Fr. Conley which read in part that many,
many letters about the booking revealed that
it distressed a great portion of the audience,
and we would respond in kind to other issues
of kind that affect large numbers of people."
In response to the charge that her book is
exploitive, editor Curb replied, "I d like to ask
w ho’s exploiting whom, if exploiting exists
where there's an imbalance of power, where
one group is empowered to dictate rules to
another deferential and powerless group and
if the power is patriarchal which is the rule in
the Catholic Church and in other male-
dom inated institutions.”
She added that "anyone who reads the
book will see that the only exploitation in the
lives of the women is the patriarchal power
[o f the C hurch] over them."
The book contains 49 autobiographies of
present and former nuns who identify their
sexual orientation as lesbian.
Barbara Grier, representative of Maiad
Press, predicted that Curb and Manahan will
gain national attention. "These women will
be talked about at every breakfast table in
America," she said. "They’re going to be two
of the best-known women in the country a^d
— I do n’t mean this as a challenge — but
there’s nothing the Catholic Church can do
about it.”
Maiad Press has arranged an extensive na
tional author’s tour including radio, television
and bookstore appearances to promote the
book.
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The Archdiocese of San Francisco has
agreed to pay Dick Kram er’s Gay Men's
Chorale $2,250 to stop a lawsuit from going
to trial where Archbishop John Q uinn could
be forced to testify. The cash settlement is to
com pensate the Chorale for losses incurred
when Q uinn arbitrarily cancelled a contract
for Kram er’s Spring 1983 performance at St.
Boniface Church. The lawsuit was filed last
year by National Gay Rights Advocates and
Paul F. W otman of the San Francisco law
firm , W otman & Hall.
Leonard Graff, MGRA Legal Director, said:
“ There was an express written agreement for
the use o f the space at St. Boniface. The
Archbishop had no legal basis to unilaterally
cancel that contract” The Chorale suffered a
severe financial loss because it had to settle
for a performance hall with a smaller capacity
as a last m inute replacem ent
Jean O ’Leary, MGRA Executive Director,
said: “ We re not going to allow our local
cultural groups to be treated this way. The
Church should be aware that we intend to
fight hom ophobic actions such as this."
O ’Leary noted that MGRA successfully sued
the Church a few years ago when they failed
to keep a sim ilar co m m itm e n t
Curb and Manahan will be in Portland Fri
day, June 14. for a speaking engagement
sponsored by A W oman’s Place Bookstore as
part of Lesbian and Gay pride Week.
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