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The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club is calling on D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams
to reprimand Wanda Alston, his full-time staff director of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, & Transgender
Affairs, for declining to support a proposal to designate two reserved seats
for the club on the city’s Democratic State Committee. The State Committee
voted down the proposal in October. Alston, a member of the committee, abstained
from the vote, drawing criticism from Stein Club members. In a Nov. 11 letter
to Williams, Stein Club President Bradley Lewis said the committee’s decision
not to approve the seats showed the committee failed to recognize the club as “the
city’s GLBT Democratic organization.” “Given these facts,” Lewis
wrote, “we would like to request that you actively and publicly support
the Stein Club’s representation on the DSC and that you reprimand Wanda
Alston for failing to assess the needs of the GLBT community and advocate on
its behalf.” Alston called the club’s request that she be reprimanded “ridiculous.” She
said she made it clear to Stein members that she abstained in the State Committee
vote because she favored coupling the Stein seats with seats for other minorities
such as Latino and Asian Americans. Alston said she did not support any one group
having a designated seat without other minorities also having such seats. But
Stein member Phil Pannell called Alston’s reasoning a “smoke screen,” saying
Alston never took steps to recruit Latinos and Asian Americans on the committee
in the past. Tony Bullock, the mayor’s press secretary, called the club “out
of line” in asking for a mayoral reprimand for Alston. Bullock said the
mayor recognizes that Alston acts on her own behalf as a State Committee member
and is entitled to vote as she wishes.
- LOU CHIBBARO JR.
The Virginia Crime Commission will end its public comment period on Friday
regarding what action the General Assembly should take regarding the state’s “crimes
against nature” law. While the state’s sodomy law is no longer
enforceable due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling in Lawrence
vs. Texas, the Family Foundation of Virginia and other socially conservative
groups are urging the commission — a body of legislators who decide
to eliminate unconstitutional or outdated laws — to keep the law on
the books as a symbol of “moral fortitude” for the Commonwealth.
Residents can submit comments to Del. David Albo, 804-698-1042 or del_albo@house.state.va.us. “Keeping
the crimes against nature law on the books, though perhaps unenforceable,
will send a clear message that the Commonwealth of Virginia is serious about
marriage and decency,’’ Victoria Cobb, chief lobbyist for the
conservative Family Foundation, said in a statement. “By not repealing
the law, the legislature will protect the definitions and institutions of
marriage and family in the face of the court’s outrageous decision.” Dyana
Mason, executive director of Equality Virginia, is urging Virginia citizens
who favor repealing the law to voice their concerns to the commission by
Friday. Mason said that a hearing on the matter will occur in early December
and Equality Virginia will testify in favor of repealing the sodomy law.
Political insiders suggest that the Republican-controlled legislature is
unlikely to make changes to the state’s existing sodomy law noting
that opponents of the sodomy law fought for years to have the law repealed.
- JOE CREA
Two straight high school girls who protested alleged incidents of homophobia
at River Hill High School in Clarksville, Md. last week by standing on top
of a lunch table and kissing each other were suspended for two days for causing
a disruption, according to a report in the Baltimore Sun. The suspension
has prompted protests from other students earlier this week. Junior Stephanie
Haaser stepped onto the table, shouted “End homophobia now!” and
kissed senior Katherine Pecore on Nov. 5. Both girls said they were suspended
for two days for creating a disruption, but several of their classmates believed
school administrators were more concerned with the content of the disruption
than the disruption itself. On Tuesday, two other girls — juniors Mia
Freyer and Anna Boyland — stood outside the school along Route 108
holding signs that read “Down w/ Homophobia!” and “Don’t:
hate or discriminate.” The girls said the punishment handed to Haaser
and Pecore proved that the school was biased against gay students and those
perceived as gay. Principal Scott Pfeifer met with Freyer and Boyland after
their protest, and school administrators have said they are looking at ways
to improve understanding and acceptance for gay students, the Sun reported.
The school currently has a Gay-Straight Alliance. Submit your comments to:
Del. David B. Albo, General Assembly Building, Room 527, Richmond, Virgina
23218, or call (804) 698-1042. You may also submit your comments via email
at del_albo@house.state.va.us.
- BRYAN ANDERTON
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