8 ▼ January 21, 1994 ▼ just out
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national news
Man perceived as gay is
murdered in French Quarter
Three men have been arrested in the fatal
stabbing of a Gulfort, Miss., man who was as
saulted allegedly because his attackers thought he
was gay. Joseph Balog and a male friend were
walking in the French Quarter of New Orleans in
the early morning hours when a group of four or
five men shouting homophobic epithets attacked
them, killing Balog and seriously injuring the
friend. Police reported that the victims were not
gay.
Arrested for first degree murder and held
without bail were Grant Wayne Gunderson, 24,
Ronald D. Graves, 24, and Mingo Graham, 23.
All were from a New Orleans suburb. Police are
reportedly looking for more suspects.
The city’s gay and lesbian community re
sponded to the assaults with a rally and candle
light march to the intersection where Balog died.
Lin-Todd Soldani, a liaison between lesbians and
gay men who live in the French Quarter and the
New Orleans Police Department, said of the at
tack, “I think people are getting the signal from
the government on down that gays arc second
class citizens and it’s okay to treat them anyway
at all.” Soldani also said that the attitude towards
gay men and lesbians in the city has gotten worse
after the city’s reversal of a decision to extend
health insurance benefits to the domestic partners
of gay and lesbian city workers.
NGLTF meets with
Justice Department
with Gus Van Sant, Empress Maria and
Gail Shibley to benefit
a program of Outside In and Phoenix Rising for
homeless gay, lesbian and bisexual youth
S a tu r d a y , Feb. 12, 3 pm
at and sponsored by
TH E CITY NI<3HTCLUBi3Nwi3th
T ic k e ts $ 2 0 availab le a t O u ts id e In, Phoenix Rising, The C ity N ig h tclu b ,
B lo o m ln g s to c k , It's M y P lea su re . C all 2 2 3 -4 1 2 1 fo r m ore In fo rm a tio n .
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force met
recently with the U.S. Department of Justice to
discuss its involvement in the case of two lesbi
ans, Brenda and Wanda Henson, who are being
harassed and threatened by their surrounding com
munity in Ovett, Miss. The Justice Department’s
actions are restricted though, because the federal
civil rights law does not include sexual orienta
tion as a protected status.
The actions taken thus far by the department
include having the Community Relations Service
contact the Hensons, the local FBI office, the U.S.
Attorney’s office and the sheriff’s department in
Jones County to let them know a federal agency is
monitoring the situation. Departmentofficials are
considering what other actions may be taken by
the CRS.
The Department of Justice has ordered the FBI
to remain in close contact with the local sheriffs
department and continue monitoring of the situ
ation. Because an investigation could only be
launched if other generally applicable federal
statutes arc violated, the NGLTF has agreed to
notify the Justice Department if any violent or
threatening incidents happen to the Hensons.
NGLTF’s Tanya Domi commented that the
meeting “outlined some of the limits the Justice
Department faces in intervening on behalf of gay,
lesbian and bisexual people because sexual orien
tation is not included in federal civil rights laws.”
Maupin’s Tales of the City
attacked by right wing
groups
across the country.
Representatives from gay and lesbian civil
rights groups also testified at the hearing. Speak
ers from the D.C. chapter of Gay and Lesbian
Alliance Against Defamation and the Human
Rights Campaign Fund called on CPB to continue
airing lesbian and gay programming and asked
for more funding for its production. HCRF’s
Gregory King said, “The real threat to America
comes from those who argue that some Ameri
cans arc not members of the general population,
that some Americans should be silenced and that
some Americans are sub-human and are unde
serving of human rights simply because they are
different.”
The HRCF is encouraging individuals to call
local public television stations in support of pro
grams like Tales o f the City.
On a local note, a caller reported to Just Out
that local PBS affiliate, Oregon Public Broadcast
ing, has been receiving many negative phone calls
regarding its recent airing of the show. To show
your support for Tales o f the City call OPB at
(503) 244-9900.
HRCF to hire Ballot Measure
Campaign manager
The Human Rights Campaign Fund is set to
hire a campaign manager to coordinate the 1994
Ballot Measure Campaign. HRCF’s Ballot Mea
sure Campaign will provide coordinated political
and fundraising assistance to fight the increasing
threat of the radical right at the ballot box. The
campaign manager will be responsible for over
seeing political activities in several states and
nationally and for providing consulting services
to state campaigns. The temporary position will
end on Dec. 31, 1994.
Those interested in the position should send a
cover letter, resume and three references to Eric
Rosenthal, Political Director, HRCF, 1012 14th
Street, NW Washington, DC 20005.
American Airlines
settles dispute
American Airlines has made a settlement with
Timothy Hollcss, the man with AIDS who Ameri
can personnel forcibly removed from Flight 55 at
O ’Hare Airport in Chicago in November. Repre
sentatives for the Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund announced that as part of the
settlement, the full terms of which are confiden
tial, American Airlines will satisfy Hollcss’ re
quest of additional training for gate agents and
flight attendants about working with passengers
with disabilities, including AIDS.
Specifically, the airline will work with the
National Association of People with AIDS and
the National Leadership Coalition on AIDS to
sensitize airline personnel to the needs and con
cerns of persons with AIDS. American’s vice
president of customer services, George Mueller
said that the airline “tries to ensure that all of our
passengers have a safe and com fortable
flight., .rcgardlcssof their physical condition.’ He
added, “We thank Mr. Hollcss in helping us to do
a better job in that regard.”
A public hearing was held by the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting in Washington D.C.,
where groups strongly criticized the scries Tales
o f the City by gay author Armistcad Maupin as “a
slick piece of gay propaganda." Representatives
from the Family Research Council and Accuracy
in Media objected to taxpayers having to pay for
a national propaganda exercise glorifying ho
mosexual promiscuity ."The groups called for the
CPB to air i he Gay Agenda, a homophobic film
Which, has .been widely dtsiribukxht* **im*Qs i \ U \ W W
com piled by Lee Norwood