Subject: Religious Conservative Sues Louisville Gay Groups, Bars
From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 22:38:09 -0400

GAY BARS, ORGANIZATIONS SUED BY RELIGIOUS RIGHT ACTIVIST

by David Williams, Editor
The Letter - Kentucky's #1 gay and lesbian newspaper

The family of a leading religious conservative in the Louisville area filed
suit August 28 against numerous local gay bars, organizations, and
newspapers.  The charges stem from an economic action initiated in August
1995 by bar owners and activists in Louisville against River City
Distributing, which was co-owned by David Shedd, its president.

The Shedds' complaint alleges intentional infliction of emotional distress,
criminal harassment, defamation of character, invasion of privacy,
interference with contractual relations, and conspiracy.  It seeks payment of
damages in an unspecified amount.

Nearly four months after the economic action was inaugurated, David Shedd was
fired from his job at River City Distributing.  He has since filed suit
against his former employer and Miller Brewing Company of Milwaukee, seeking
back pay and benefits, among other damages.

Defendants in the latest suit include most of the leading lights of the
Louisville gay and lesbian community:  social activist Eleanor Self; bar
owner George Stinson; former bar manager John Scussel; GLUE (Gays and
Lesbians United for Equality); GELSCO, Inc. (operators of The Connection
Complex, Louisville's largest gay bar); Julians and Eatery (a gay
restaurant); The Fairness Campaign; Honesty; MCC-Louisville; P-FLAG Metro
Louisville; gay bars Score, Sparks, Teddy Bears, Tryangles, and Tynkers; the
Williams-Nichols Institute, operators of the Kentucky Gay and Lesbian Library
and Archives; and The Letter and The Kentucky Word, two gay newspapers.

The Shedds' complaint did not name as defendants any of the non-gay bars and
groups which also supported the economic action.

Shedd's wife, Donna, an evangelical Christian, is Vice-President of Kentucky
Eagle Forum.  That group is a chapter of the national Eagle Forum, a
conservative group opposed to gay civil rights, abortion rights, and equal
rights for women.  A leader of the conservative wing of the local and
statewide Republican Party, she voted in favor of a resolution at the 1994
Kentucky Republican Convention to recriminalize same-sex sexual activity.

The 1995 protest was designed as an educational effort to convince the
community not to buy Miller Beer and other products distributed by River City
in order to call attention to Ms. Shedd's activities.  Ms. Shedd countered
that while she disagreed with the gay rights movement, her main focus lay in
the area of Kentucky's education reform laws.

The protest group was deactivated this past spring but has re-formed to fight
the Shedds' suit.

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