From owner-glb-press@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Thu Jun 5 21:41:07 1997 Received: from listmail.aol.com (listmail.aol.com [152.163.200.7]) by abacus.oxy.edu (8.6.10/8.6.11) with ESMTP id VAA17709 for ; Thu, 5 Jun 1997 21:41:06 -0700 Received: from LISTSERV.AOL.COM by listmail.aol.com (LSMTP for Windows NT v1.0a) with SMTP id CD1A13A0 ; Fri, 6 Jun 1997 0:37:24 -0400 Received: from LISTSERV.AOL.COM by LISTSERV.AOL.COM (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 1.8c) with spool id 122051 for GLB-PRESS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM; Fri, 6 Jun 1997 00:38:54 -0400 Received: from listmail.aol.com (listmail.aol.com [152.163.200.7]) by listserv.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-3.0.0) with ESMTP id AAA26231 for ; Fri, 6 Jun 1997 00:38:38 -0400 (EDT) Received: from LISTSERV.AOL.COM by listmail.aol.com (LSMTP for Windows NT v1.0a) with SMTP id B49F71D0 ; Fri, 6 Jun 1997 0:36:42 -0400 Approved-By: julie@DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU Received: from emout03.mail.aol.com (emout03.mail.aol.com [152.163.125.94]) by listserv.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-3.0.0) with ESMTP id QAA19892 for ; Thu, 5 Jun 1997 16:19:50 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from root@localhost) by emout03.mail.aol.com (8.7.6/8.7.3/AOL-2.0.0) id QAA05174; Thu, 5 Jun 1997 16:12:37 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970605161227_222766554@emout03.mail.aol.com> Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 16:12:37 -0400 Reply-To: LLDEFNY@AOL.COM Sender: GLBT* Community Press Releases and Announcements From: LLDEFNY@AOL.COM Subject: Lambda Responds to Admissions by Michael Bowers To: GLB-PRESS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Status: RO FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, June 5, 1997 Contact: Ruth Harlow, 212-809-8585 x 210 Peg Byron, 212-809-8585 x 230, 888-987-1984 Lambda Responds to Admissions by Former Georgia Attorney General Michael Bowers Gubernatorial candidate Bowers, who argued in federal court that no attorney even perceived to be in violation of Georgia's sex laws could effectively represent the state, admits to decade-long adultery as Attorney General (NEW YORK, June 5, 1997) Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund issued a statement today in response to the admissions of adultery and hypocrisy this morning by former Attorney General of Georgia Michael Bowers, who is now a candidate for governor of that state. Bowers admitted this morning in an interview with the Associated Press that he had a decade-long adulterous affair while Attorney General of Georgia. At the same time, Bowers fired an attorney on his staff, Robin Shahar, because she planned to engage in a private religious marriage ceremony with her female partner. "Former Attorney General Michael Bowers said it best himself -- he is a hypocrite. He also has violated the Constitution by imposing more exacting standards on Robin Shahar, an honest gay employee in a loving, legal, monogamous relationship, than he imposed on himself," said Ruth Harlow, now managing attorney at Lambda's national headquarters and lead counsel for Robin Shahar since the ACLU's filing of Shahar v. Bowers in 1991. "We've been saying throughout the litigation that Georgia's antiquated laws against all kinds of consensual sexual behavior -- including adultery -- are irrelevant to a state attorney's qualifications. Given his own behavior, Michael Bowers would finally have to agree," said Harlow. "Those laws certainly can't be used to harm gay and lesbian attorneys' employment chances while being flouted by the Attorney General himself," Harlow emphasized. Bowers's decision to fire Shahar is challenged in a case where the Eleventh Circuit, three days before his admission, ruled 8-4 in his favor. Lambda is the nation's oldest and largest legal organization defending the rights of lesbians, gay men, and people with AIDS and HIV. In late June, it will open a Southern Regional Office in Atlanta, the first such office for a national gay organization. Headquartered in New York, Lambda has regional offices in Chicago and Los Angeles. - 30 -