Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 17:11:45 -0800 From: Jean Richter Subject: 1/13/2000 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news, pt. 2 1. PBS's Frontline to air program on homophobic violence in February 2. FL: Leon County school board amends discrimination policy 3. Uganda: First Lady warns youth of "evils" of homosexuality ========================================================================== From: SARATOGANY@aol.com Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 20:40:13 EST Subject: PBS: ASSAULT ON GAY AMERICA (2/15/00) To: SARATOGANY@aol.com, bdm3g@gateway.net FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS RELEASE: Press contacts: (617) 300-3500 Erin Martin Kane [erin_martin_kane@wgbh.org] Chris Kelly [chris_kelly@wgbh.org] ASSAULT ON GAY AMERICA PBS airdate: Tuesday, February 15, 2000, 10 P.M., 60 minutes (check local listings) On February 19, 1999, Billy Jack Gaither, a thirty-nine-year-old computer programmer from Sylacauga, Alabama, was brutally beaten with an axe handle. His throat was cut, and his body was set on fire. Charles Butler, twenty-one, and Steven Mullins, twenty-four, were convicted for the crime. Mullins later testified he killed Billy Jack because Billy Jack was "queer" and had made a pass at him. Jury selection for the trial was difficult - many called for duty said that they didn't know whether they could render a fair verdict, because the Bible tells them that homosexuality is a sin. In "Assault on Gay America," airing Tuesday, February 15, at 10 P.M. on PBS (check local listings), FRONTLINE producer Claudia Pryor Malis and correspondent Forrest Sawyer explore the nature of homophobia in America, both as a catalyst for hate crimes and as an attitude that permeates public life. "We move from the exploration of the hate crime against Billy Jack Gaither to the larger question of how much homophobia we share as a society," says Pryor. "We examine the possible links between the forces that drove them to kill, and the forces that fuel homophobia in the general law-abiding public." America has developed a conflicted outlook regarding its gay citizens. While a majority of Americans have come to believe that homosexuals deserve the same rights as straight citizens, almost half of them believe that homosexuality is a "sin" or "wrong." This mix of acceptance and contempt, tolerance and prejudice, exists within many Americans. Charles Butler, one of Billy Jack Gaither's killers, tells FRONTLINE correspondent Forrest Sawyer that he has a gay friend who he had accompanied to gay clubs, but that "we had an understanding that we was friends, and we was only to be friends." Still, he informs Sawyer that something "snapped" when Gaither assumed "that I was gay, just as himself, and [threw] himself on me like he did." Billy Jack Gaither's sister Kathy, who is also gay, tells FRONTLINE that her brother never formed a long-term relationship with another man, because it would have forced his parents to face the truth about their son. "I think he respected them to the point where he put that aside. His parents meant that much to him. He wasn't going to do nothing to offend them or disrespect them," Kathy Gaither says. She also says that Billy Jack was worried about two men who had been propositioning him and wouldn't leave him alone. She believes that the men Billy Jack spoke of, just one month before his death, were his eventual killers, Charles Butler and Steven Mullins. Billy Jack's brother, Ricky, feels Butler and Mullins "lied" when they claimed Billy Jack had propositioned them. "Billy wouldn't approach anybody that didn't approach him. He didn't push himself on people .I think it was a cover-up." The term "homophobia" was coined some thirty-five years ago by Dr. George Weinberg, a heterosexual psychotherapist in New York, to define straight America's fear of gays. Michael Kimmel, professor of sociology at SUNY, Stonybrook, tells FRONTLINE, "The most important rule of all masculinity is: no sissy stuff. What makes a man a man is that he is relentlessly repudiating the feminine .Some people think [homophobia] is the fear that deep down inside there might be some part of you that might be you know. And so that becomes really terrifying .I think men experience it in the following way: we are terrified that other men will get the wrong idea about us." Indeed, a 1993 national survey conducted by the American Association of University Women found that "gay" is considered the worst epithet in schools; some students reported they'd rather be physically assaulted than to be called gay. Dr. Karen Franklin, a forensic psychologist and former criminal investigator who has produced the only scientific study of perpetrators of anti-gay hate crimes, tells FRONTLINE about a young man who had committed a series of offenses against gay men. "He told me that if a man didn't carry himself in a masculine way, then he's looking to get beaten up, and it's perfectly acceptable to beat him up." Derek Henkle, a gay nineteen-year-old who attended high school in Reno, Nevada, dropped out of school because of ongoing harassment. In one case, a group of young men attempted to place a rope around Henkle's neck while threatening to "string up the fag, tie him to the back of our truck, and drag him down the highway." Henkle says that had the boys "been more talented at lassoing, [they] probably would have killed me." For him, high school was comparable to "being drafted into a war-a war where you're the only one fighting for yourself." For some, anger at gays may derive from fears of one's own homosexual desires. A 1996 test conducted at the University of Georgia surveyed men and divided them, based on the results, into homophobic and non-homophobic groups. Both groups were shown three videos: one of straight sex, one featuring two women, and a third of two men. As the men watched, penile arousal was measured. Both groups measured the same rate of arousal while watching straight and lesbian sex. Fifty-four percent of the "homophobic" group were aroused by the episode of gay sex, while only twenty-four percent of the "non-homophobic" group were. For many, interpretation of Bible scripture tells them homosexuality is wrong. Among religious conservatives, homosexual acts are considered grave sins, behavior that goes against the fundamental, "sacred" purpose of sex for procreation. Tim Wildmon, vice-president of the American Family Association, one of the strongholds of the Christian Right, says, "If we, as a country mock God's laws, when he teaches that in the Bible homosexuality is a sin I think there's going to come a point in time where God is going to say, 'you know, if you're going to live in open rebellion to me and my laws then I'm going to let you go your own way.' And 'your own way' is self-destruction." Alan Chambers is a deeply religious twenty-seven-year-old Christian minister who considers himself an "ex-gay." Growing up, he was persecuted by those who perceived him to be gay and tells FRONTLINE that, after several years of exclusive sexual experiences with men, he made a decision to live his life as a heterosexual. "I don't think people choose their feelings," he says. "I didn't choose them. The choice I made was not to be gay. I chose to be heterosexual. That was my choice. I didn't choose to be gay, I chose to be straight." Although Chambers describes his religious beliefs as "conservative," he refuses to align himself with the Christian Right, calling them "too hateful." Even the Reverend Jerry Falwell tells FRONTLINE that anti-gay rhetoric may have gone too far. "I never envisioned someone taking a teenage boy out and killing him, or a college kid, and killing him, just because he was gay." Still, Falwell says, "If we decide to establish homosexuality as an acceptable alternative lifestyle, I think we will see a breakdown of the family. I think that everything America's built on-basically the Judeo-Christian ethic-will be down the tubes." The Bible scriptures that many point to as evidence of God's judgment of homosexuals are part of the ancient Hebrew holiness code: instructions that God gave to the Jews to follow as they settled into the new land of Canaan. The prohibitions include children cursing their parents, adultery, sex during menstruation, incest, bestiality, and eating certain kinds of food. "The concern," says Roman Catholic priest and Biblical scholar Daniel Helminiak, "is to keep Israel from taking part in Gentile practices .no thought is given to whether the sex, in itself, is right or wrong. All thought is for keeping the Jewish identity strong." Recently, the "Just the Facts Coalition" distributed a twelve-page booklet promoting gay tolerance to the heads of all 14,700 public school districts across the U.S. The coalition, representing the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Education Association, the American Psychological Association and seven other groups, informed school superintendents that there is "no support among health and mental health professional organizations for the idea that homosexuality is abnormal or mentally unhealthy." Gay and lesbian groups have applauded it as a "history-changing moment." But conservative groups have attacked the booklet, saying that it is politically motivated and not scientific. Following the broadcast, access the FRONTLINE Web site at http://www.pbs.org/frontline for more on this report, including: * new studies on the roots of homophobia by biologists, psychologists, and social scientists; * extended interviews with the family of Billy Jack Gaither and one of his killers; * the latest research on the nature of homosexuality, including a look at the question "Can gays be 'cured' or 'converted?'" * reports on the religious and cultural wars against gays; * video reports and an excerpt from the program; * PLUS the "Assault on Gay America" Viewer's Guide, with thought provoking discussion questions for a variety of audiences. "Assault on Gay America" is produced by Claudia Pryor Malis. The associate producer is Deborah Fryer. The correspondent is Forrest Sawyer. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers. FRONTLINE is closed-captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers. The executive producer for FRONTLINE is Michael Sullivan. The senior executive producer for FRONTLINE is David Fanning. FRONTLINE XVIII/February 2000 =============================================================================== Tallahassee Democrat, January 12, 2000 277 N. Magnolia Dr., Tallahassee, FL, 32302 (Fax 850-599-2295 ) (E-MAIL: tdedit@taldem.com ) ( http://www.tdo.com/ ) School Board grants protective measure for gays The new changes in the nondiscrimination policy become effective today. By KATHLEEN LAUFENBERG, Tallahassee Democrat After listening to more than 35 speakers, the Leon County School Board voted 4-1 to give new protection to students and teachers and other employees who are gay by adding the words "sexual orientation" to its nondiscrimination and sexual-harassment policies. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] HOW THEY VOTED The School Board voted 4-1 to amend both its nondiscrimination and sexual-harassment policies to include sexual orientation. For: Tom Young, Scott Dailey, Joy Bowen and Maggie Lewis. Against: Fred Varn. ================================================================================ New Vision (Kampala), January 12, 2000 http://www.africanews.org/east/uganda/stories/20000112/20000112_feat10.html Avoid Gay Sex, Janet Tells Youth (excerpt) By Milton Olupot Kampala ­ The First Lady, Mrs. Janet Museveni, has cautioned the youth against adopting foreign sexual behaviour like homosexuality, saying it would lead to their deaths. "Do not experiment these new sex fashions in town, like homosexuality and others. Please, I warn you youth of Uganda, that it pays to stay pure sexually, respect your life and guard it well," she said. Mrs Museveni also warned the youth against alcoholism and drug abuse . . . [continues with warnings of other evils] ================================================================================= Jean Richter -- richter@eecs.berkeley.edu The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) These messages are archived by state on our information-loaded free web site: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/