From: Eric Hunt <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Jun 94 23:07:13 CDT

June 17, 1994
The Mobile Press-Register

USA's GAY ISSUE HEARING TODAY
Page A1
by Eddie Curran, Staff Reporter

On one side, an avowedly gay University of South Alabama student and an
American Civil Liberties Union lawyer from New York who specializes in
gay rights cases.

On the other -- and, judging from past comments, not real wild about
being there -- South Alabama President Fred Whiddon, USA Dean of
Students Dale Adams, and Jimmy Evans, Alabama's attorney general.

The two sides clash today in a 2pm hearing in Montgomery that ultimately
could decide whether Alabama remains the only U.S. state to prohibit
some student funding based on the students' sexual practices.

An Alabama law prohibits public funding for any college organization
that "promotes a lifestyle or actions prohibited by the sodomy and
sexual misconduct laws" or encourages "its members or others to engage
in or provide materials on how to engage in the lifestyle or actions."

The ACLU's Ruth Harlow will argue the case for the plaintiffs, the Gay,
Lesbian, and Bi-Sexual Alliance, a student organization at South
Alabama.

"There are no other states that have anything clsoe to this law that
Alabama now has," Harlow said. "Florida did have a similiar law, but it
was struck down by the Florida Supreme Court (in 1982)."

Deputy Attorney General George E. Jones III, who will represent all
three defendants, said Thursday that other states "will be watching to
see what happens.

"It's a very significant case," Jones said. "It's a potential test case
that could go all the way to the United States Supreme Court. It raises
the issue: Are the taxpayers of Alabama required to subsidize homosexual
groups that may advocate the violation of the state's sodomy laws or
that foster and promote the gay lifestyle."

The case, filed in September, will be heard in Judge Myron Thompson's
U.S. District Court in Montgomery.

Jones said he doubted a ruling could be handed down at today's hearing,
though it's possible a ruling could come within two weeks.

If Thompson rules in favor of the attorney general, the law will remain
on Alabama's books. If not, the law becomes null and void.

South Alabama appears to have been caught in the middle in this case.
George Hite Wilson, the president of the GLBA, willingly concedes that
he and the organization he represents have been treated fairly by USA's
administration.

"They're trying to follow the law," Wilson said. "The school itself and
the administration have been supportive of the GLBA and its right to
exist, but their hands are tied. They're in a Catch 22. If they don't
fund us, we sue them. If they do fund us, then the state sues them.

"Our goal is to have the law declared unconstitutional and have it
overturned," Wilson said, adding that no monetary damages are sought.

The law itself is relatively new. It was passed in 1992, largely in
response to a request for funding from a gay organization at Auburn
University.

"A number of people concerned about that (the funding for the gay
organization at Auburn) called me. They felt like it was something that
was not healthy because of the AIDS situation," said state Rep. Perry
Hooper, R-Montgomery, a co-sponsor of the bill that became law.

"In my opinion, it's (the gay lifestyle) not moral. That's my own
opinion, and I'm sure many others share that. My district is very
pro-family, and it's certainly something that concerns them as well as
it does me."

Hooper said that before the bill was voted on, he requested a ruling on
the constitutionality of such a law from the state attorney general's
office. The attorney general's office informed him that such a law would
be constitutional, he said.

During this period, the GLBA already existed as a recognized USA campus
organization. But existing and receiving funding are not the same thing.
To receive funding, campus organizations first must make a request to
the USA Student Government Association.

Wilson said that in the winter quarter of 1993 the GLBA requested $500
for a speaker. He said Dean of Students Adams, aware of the recently
passed law, asked the Executive Council to table the resolution until he
could ascertain the legality of providing the GLBA with the requested
money.

"That's why I asked the attorney general to give us an opinion," Adams
said. "We asked for an opinion (before refusing funding) and the
attorney general said we couldn't fund them. That's what precipitated
the lawsuit."

The GLBA, while denied funding, has been allowed to continue to use
campus facilities. [In violation of the law being challenged, which is
never mentioned. -typist]

Though Adams said he couldn't discuss in detail a pending suit against
the University, he said in a deposition that the law, in his lay
opinion, was "possibly unconstitutional," and, furthermore, he was not
in favor of it in the first place. As for Whidon, Harlow said he is
named as a defendant because of his position as president of the
University.

At one point Evans requested that he be removed as a defendant, but
Judge Thompson refused the request. Neither of the three defendants,
Evans, Whiddon, or Adams, are expected to attend today's hearing, which
essentially will involve arguments by Harlow and Jones.

The ACLU attorney characterized today's hearing as a First Amendment
case.

"We want the statute struck down, so students on university campuses in
Alabama can talk about and think about whatever they want. That's one of
the important aspects of a university eduction," Harlow said. "This is a
very important case because it strikes at the heart of free speech on
college campuses."

The law would be without basis if not for Alabama's sexual misconduct
law, which prohibits same-gender sex acts.

According to Harlow, 24 states prohibit sodomy, with 17, including
Alabama, prohibiting sodomy involving any couple -- married, unmarried,
gay or straight.

The key to the case likely will rest on Davis' ability to prove that the
GLBA and similiar groups do in fact promote breaching of the state's
sexual misconduct law. According to Wilson, the GLBA has not advocated
the violation of the state's sexual misconduct law, nor has it urged its
members to do so.

If the GLBA loses, both Harlow and Wilson said there will be an appeal.
Davis said it was premature to speculate on whether the defendants would
appeal in the event of a ruling in favor of the GLBA.
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