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6 APRIL 11, 2003
www.houston voice.com HOUSTON VOICE
MARGOT KIDDER joins
Amy J. Carle &? Starla Benford
FINAL HOUSTON ENGAGEMENT
VAGINA
MONOLOGUES
EVE ENSLER
A BONA FIDE
PHENOMENON.
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City council includes gays, transgenders in anti-bias code
EL PASO — LAMBDA GLBT Community Services praised the El
Paso City Council on Tuesday for voting to add sexual orientation
and gender identity to the city's Municipal Code on discrimination.
"Today's vote is a major victory for gay lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered El Pasoans and an important sign of progress for the
entire city." said LAMBDA President Rob Knight in a press release
from the group. "El Paso has affirmed its commitment to ending all
forms of discrimination, and for the first time in this city's history,
gay men and women, and transgendered persons, are no longer sec*
ond-class citizens." Knight praised the efforts of Mayor Raymond
Caballero and Jan Sumrall, District 1 representative for the City of
El Paso, in passing the legislation. LAMBDA is El Paso's oldest and
largest non-profit agency serving gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered residents. Since 1991, LAMBDA has provided services
throughout the region aimed at eliminating inequality, mistreatment, and violence that result from anti-gay bias.
•af) MORE INFO
LAMBDA GLBT Community Services • 915-562-4297
e-mail: admin'S.lambda.org • www.lambda.org
Gay activists praised El Paso
Mayor Raymond Caballero after
city officials this week added
sexual orientation and gender
identity to El Paso's Municipal
Code on discrimination.
Gay-rights group opposes
promotion of former leader
SAN ANTONIO — A former Fort Campbell
commander nominated for a lieutenant general promotion faced opposition from gay-rights
advocates meeting in San Antonio last week,
the Associated Press reported. Members of the
American Veterans for Equal Rights contend
that Maj. Gen. Robert T. Clark bears some
responsibility for a 1999 hate crime at Fort
Campbell, Ky. The San Antonio native, now a
Fort Sam Houston general, was the post commander at Fort Campbell when Pfc. Barry
Winchell, 21, was beaten to death in his sleep
by a drunken soldier on July 5,1999. Winchell's
parents, who live in Kansas City Mo., spoke
April 3 to about 40 members of American
Veterans for Equal Rights. Wally Kutteles,
Winchell's stepfather, and his wife, Patricia,
said they feel an anti-gay environment at Fort
Campbell caused their son's death. The couple
aren't sure if their son was gay because he
dated young women, while openly befriending
gays. Clark said in an interview that he began
teaching values about respecting fellow soldiers in February 1998, when he became commander of Fort Campbell. After the killing, the
post instituted specific policies to discourage
anti-gay remarks and actions, Clark said. "We
were very proactive" in discouraging a hostile
environment for gay soldiers, he said. Clark
was cleared of any wrongdoing after an Army
investigation. A private named Calvin Glover,
of Sulphur, Okla., received a life sentence in
the murder.
Conroe librarian honored
for defending banned books
A woman who helped fight efforts to ban two
young adult sex education books from
Montgomery County library shelves has
been awarded this year's PEN/Newman's
Own First Amendment Award, the
Associated Press reported. Jerilynn
Williams, director of the Montgomery
County Library, will receive a $25,000 prize at
PEN's annual gala on April 22 in New York
City. Last August, commissioners in
Montgomery County, located north or
Houston, agreed to temporarily remove two
books. "It's Perfectly Normal" and "It's so
Amazing." both by Robie H, Harris, after
complaints, particularly from the conservative Republican Leadership Council. The
group objected to what it described as the
books' pro-homosexual stance and explicit
illustrations. Williams worked to convince a
review committee looking into the books to
put them back on library shelves.
"Librarians like Jerilynn Williams are on
the front lines of censorship battles every
day, their commitment to intellectual freedom often the only thing standing between us
and the book-burners," said Pat Schroeder,
president and CEO of the Association of
American Publishers and one of this year's
judges for the PEN/Newman's Own Award.
Gay tolerance issue brings
controversy to A&M faculty
COLLEGE STATION - A bitter controversy
that erupted in February in the Texas A& M
University College of Education regarding a
proposed tolerance statement for gays has
prompted faculty members to accuse each
other of bigotry, the campus newspaper, the
Batallion, reported late in March. Others question whether Texas A&M Dean Jane Conoley
is imposing her political views on the college.
The college's faculty advisory committee was
to consider a final draft of a diversity statement it first proposed Feb. 4. Eight professors,
including Stephen Crouse, associate dean of
the college, signed a letter objecting to the
statement, which says faculty must "celebrate
and promote all forms of human diversity"
and lists sexual orientation as a protected status, along with race, gender and other categories. The letter suggests the committee
adopt a general non-discrimination statement
similar to that of the university, and said
Christian faculty should not have to "celebrate
and promote" a lifestyle they believe is
immoral. In a Feb. 26 memo, Conoley rebuked
the arguments Crouse and others set forth to
their letter. Conoley also instituted a new policy that states the college "celebrates and cherishes GLBT people." The statement, which is
enforced as the college's policy and is separate
from the faculty committee's statement,
grants gays on fhe faculty "special access to
protection and support" and states that any
decision about promotion and tenure involv
icserve "heightened scrutiny"
From staff and wire reports
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