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NATL/,
NATIONAL
from page 6
Opponents of the issue were upset
that the city would consider changing
the anti-discrimination ordinance less
than four years after county voters
overturned a similar ordinance to protect homosexuals.
Three arrested for
attacking gay Ore. teen
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP)—Police have
arrested three teen-age boys suspected of beating a gay student two weeks
ago.
Lasl week, police arrested Robert P.
Huffaker, 16. of Corvallis; Cyle A.
Schroeder, 15. of Albany: and Michael
B. Nash, 16. of Corvallis. All were
charged with intimidation and assault
in the incident.
Paul Miller. 17. reported a group of
four boys followed him. taunting him
with slurs like "queer" and "faggot."
police said. Miller said when he
responded lo one of the boys making
the taunts, the boy slugged him in the
mouth, knocking oul two teeth.
Miller, a senior at Corvallis High
School who leads a support group for
gay students, said two adults walked
by as the name-calling was taking
place, bul did nothing.
The attack prompted support from
residents of the community. Connie
Onslad. Miller's grandmother, said a
woman stopped by with money to pay
for Miller's dentist bill. Onstad said
others had called or dropped off supportive messages. "Paul, I was so sorry
to see your face on the front page
today." Onstad read from one note. "It
sickens me lo think lhal a lown with a
generally higher level than average of
educated tolk could harbor such idiots
as those who attacked you."
Some residents had organized rallies against hate crimes at the Benton
County Courthouse and at Corvallis
High.
Miller said he doesn't wanl the suspects lo go to jail, and lhat he isn't
seeking revenge. "11 just all seems so
poiutkss," Miller said of the incident.
There was so much anger, as if I'd
done something horrible to Ihese peo
pie and 1 haven't. I think it's really
siid. I hope these people get whatever
help they need. If it ends up being
mental health or therapy or whatever,
I hope they get it."
Gay church founder
confronts Myrtle Beach
opposition
MYRTLE BEACH. S.C. (AP)—The
founder of the world's largest predominantly gay Protestant denomination
says fear is behind Myrtle Beach
opposition to this spring's gay-rights
festival.
"We don't have horns growing out of
the top of our heads. We're patriotic.
We're part of the community. Ever
since this community's been here,
we've been a part of it," said Rev. Troy
Perry, moderator of the Universal
Fellowship of Metropolitan
Community Chinches.
He traveled to Myrtle Beach to speak
at a fund raiser for an expansion project at MCC headquarters in Los
Angeles.
"We're only lour years old here."
local MCC Pastor Barbara Garrison
said. "For him to come to a church
this small says a lot about what's hap-
penlng here tlol only lo our congregation, bul to our community.*
Perry said he heard aboul local
developer Burroughs & Chapin's
opposition to the upcoming gay pride
festival. "I'm very disappointed, bul
that's not our problem," he said. "It's
time for us to be seen. To know us is
to love us. and the way to be known is
to be seen."
Perry founded lhe first MCC congregation in 1968. Now the church has
about 52,000 members and welcomes
a quarter-million visitors each year to
congregations in 15 countries.
Myrtle Beach is just another place
where fear and ignorance need to be
overcome, Perry said. "People respond
oul of fear," he said. "People fear what
they don't know. So we need to get
known."
Chicago cuts ties with
Boy Scouts over gay ban
CHICAGO (AP)—The city of Chicago
has agreed to sever ties to Boy Scouts
of America programs until thc group
accepts gays and stops requiring a
religious oath.
The agreement last week settles a federal lawsuit filed against Chicago by
the American Civil Liberties Union. In
agreeing to settle, the city avoided
accepting blame.
The ACLU sued last April seeking lo
end lhe city's sponsorship of 28 Scout
programs. The lawsuit alleged the
city's involvement violated the separation of church and state principle and
that the Scouts' ban on admitting gays
is discriminatory.
The ACLU called the settlement a victory and urged other cities to "take a
cue from Chicago's action and end
their sponsorship of these discriminatory programs."
Tlie city agreed to pay S 20.000 In
court costs, said ACLU attorney Roger
Leishman.
Rebecca Fields, an executive with the
Scouts' Chicago area council, did not
say whether the Scouts are considering changing Iheir policies. She said
private sponsors have helped fill the
void left by Chicago's disassociation
with the group.
S.D. high school
squashes gay play
SPEARFISH, S.D. (AP)—The show
won't go on for a group of high school
students who wanled to perform a
pro-gay play, and South Dakota
activists are claiming censorship.
The Spearfish High School drama
leam planned to present the one-act
play called "Removing the Glove,"
which is aboul discrimination against
homosexuals, at a state competition
lasl week in Vermillion.
Because a group of parents was upset
about the play, which was written by a
college student, some school officials
had changed parts of it to make it
about discrimination against lefl-
handedness. But the play's publisher
hadn't authori?,ed the editing and said
the students couldn't perform it lhal
way. That knocked the school from
the state contest.
Although the publisher gave permission for Spearfish to put on the play in
its original form, the Spearfish Board
of Education only would allow the
edited version.
The situation smacks of censorship,
according to Free Americans Creating
Equal Status (FACES) of South
Dakota, a gay and lesbian activists
group. Barry Wick, the group's executive director and board president, said
not allowing students to perform the
play the way it was written violates
their right lo free speech. The mere
suggestion of homosexuality sends
chills down the yellow spines of minister bigots and legislator-loonies In the
stale of South Dakota," Wick said in a
press release.
Others agreed. Suzanne Alger, whose
son was a cast member, said she fell
her authority as a parent was being
questioned by the school board because
she already signed a permission slip
allowing her son to be in the play.
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