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An agency from the U.S. Department of Jus
tice has responded to a call from the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force to intervene in a volatile
case occurring in Ovett, Miss. The Community
Relations Service received a call from NGLTF
Executive Director Peri Jude Radecic requesting
its help with the case of two lesbians, Wanda and
Brenda Henson. The women were condemned
for their sexual orientation at a public community
meeting and have been the subjects of harass
ment and violence from the surrounding commu
nity. The NGLTF reports that among the items
discussed at the meeting were possible strategies
that may be used to oust the women from their
120-acre farm in the small Jones County commu
nity. Both private citizens and public officials
were reported to have vowed to research county
and state laws, including the state sodomy law, to
find a way to force the lesbians out. Residents
fear the lesbians will approach straight women in
the community and “pick up little girls.” The
Hensons have received threatening phone calls,
armed strangers have trespassed on their prop
erty and a dead dog was hung from their mailbox
within the past two months.
An official of the CRS agreed that the situa
tion warranted immediate action and assured
NGLTF that she would contact the local sheriff
and the FBI to let them know a federal agency
was monitoring the situation. However, the CRS
is mandated to mediate disputes related only to
race, color and ethnicity—not sexual orientation.
The CRS cannot directly intervene unless Attor
ney General Janet Reno directs them to do so.
Radecic has sent an urgent letter to Reno
asking her to support the civil rights of the Hensons
by directing the following: the intervention of
the CRS; monitoring of the situation by the FBI;
an investigation by the Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division into the attempts to violate
the civil rights of the Hensons; and the attendance
of a representative of her office at the next Ovett
community meeting.
Information about the case has also been
delivered to the offices of the congressional com
mittee chairs who oversee the Department of
Justice.
Rural Idaho columnist
comes out
class at the University of Idaho. Students’ reac
tion there have been positive overall and the
classroom atmosphere is generally comfortable.
“Apparently their fear of flunking is much stron
ger than their fear of me,” she commented.
Gay Games 1994:
lots of good news
The Federation of Gay Games has announced
the involvement of two major corporate sponsors
for the games in New York City this June. Miller
Brewing Company and Continental Airlines have
signed on in what is being hailed as a new level
of corporate support for the lesbian and gay
events. Miller, a division of Philip Morris Com
panies, will be the exclusive beer sponsor for the
games which, according to a Miller spokesper
son, will be its “largest sponsorship...ever for a
lesbian and gay event.” Continental will be the
official Gay Games airline. Athletes and specta
tors will receive a reduced rate when they fly
Continental and the games will receive flight
coupons that will be used for people on scholar
ship and promotional, media and staff travel.
Securing Continental as the official airline is
significant say games officials, because of the
airline’s weak history in the gay and lesbian
market. Corporate sponsorship is said to consti
tute about $1.2 million of the projected $5.5
million cost of the games. Other corporate spon
sors include: Nora Beverages, which markets
Naya spring water; the American Preferred Plan,
a mail order pharmaceutical company; Mayer
Laboratories, maker of the “official condom of
the Gay Games”; and Out, a gay and lesbian
magazine.
The Federation has also announced its en
dorsement of “The Rainbow Roll for the End of
AIDS.” This cross-country, in-line skating relay
from San Francisco to New York City will culmi
nate as part of the games’ opening ceremonies. A
multi-racial, co-gendered team of skaters will
carry a rainbow flag as an AIDS memorial and
symbolic “torch” representing all lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgendered people around the
world.
The deadline for accepting nominations for
the Tom Waddell Award has been extended to
April 1, 1994. The three finalists will be an
nounced in New York City in early May at the
premiere book signing and reception for Gay
Olympian, The Biography of the Founder of the
Gay Games, Dr. Tom Waddell, by ABC Sports
Readers of Susan Baumgartner’s weekly col
umn in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News got
more than the average column the week when
Baumgartner used it to come out as a lesbian. She
is believed to be the first openly lesbian weekly
columnist for a rural daily newspaper. Ever since
the column was published, Baumgartner has been
overwhelmed with supportive cards and phone
calls from gay, lesbian and heterosexual readers
and friends.
Before writing the column, Baumgartner ap
proached the paper’s publisher, Randy Frish, and
asked if the paper would run it. Says Frish,
“There was no doubt in my mind we were going
to run the column.” He added, “She’s a good local
columnist and whether she’s gay or not is as
immaterial as whether she speaks French or not.”
Baumgartner, 41, came out to herself only
two and a half years ago, after living for many
years in denial of her sexuality. Coming out in her
column was both a significant personal decision
and a political one. The accelerated homophobic
activities of the Idaho Citizens Alliance com
pelled her to include more gay and lesbian issues
in her column. In seeking something to do about
the proposed homophobic initiatives she said,
“Coming out seems to help most.”
correspondent Dick Schaap. Nominees should be
people who have dedicated themselves to service
in the arts, athletics or volunteerism that captures
the spirit of the Gay Games. Forms can be ob
tained from: The Federation Awards Committee,
584 Castro St., Suite 343, San Francisco, CA
94114.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been se
lected as the site for Gay Games V in 1998.
Federation officials affirmed, “Amsterdam is a
very open society with a strong history of toler
ance and acceptance, so it’s only fitting that
Amsterdam’s theme for Gay Games V is Friend
ship.”
The Gay Games were first held in 1982, in San
Francisco, attracting 1300 athletes in 13 sports.
Gay Games II, in 1986, was also held in San
Francisco with 3,500 athletes in 17 sports. Gay
Games III, in 1990, held in Vancouver, Canada,
attracted 7,500 athletes and 1,500 cultural par
ticipants. Gay Games IV, to be held in New York
City, June 18 to 25, 1994, is expected to draw
15,000 athletes, a 200-booth merchandise fair, an
extensive product licensing program and cultural
participants from more that 50 countries around
the world. Applications for participation in the
Gay Games IV Cultural Festival are due Jan.
31. Call (212) 633-9494 for more information.
the two communities totaling 43,000 people that
she writes for—she also came out to her English
Compiled by Lee Norwood
Still, Baumgartnerdidn’t stop with telling just