From: WillNich@aol.com Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 17:02:59 EDT Subject: Newspaper Blasts Anti-Gay Candidate For further information, contact: David Williams, Editor The Letter, PO Box 3882, Louisville, Kentucky 40201 Phone: 502/636-0935 Fax: 502/635-6469 Email: WillNich@aol.com GAY NEWSPAPER BLASTS ANTI-GAY COMMENTS BY ALDERMANIC CANDIDATE Louisville, KY (July 11, 1998). The Letter, a gay and lesbian monthly newspaper published in Louisville, Kentucky, has taken issue with the campaign of Michael Dickerson, a Republican candidate for Louisville's board of aldermen, over claims made in a fundraising letter dated July 6, 1998. In the letter, Dickerson says that The Letter is allowing personals ads from adult men seeking sex with children. It goes on to claim, "These are the same Homosexuals who will be teaching our children and grandchildren in Jefferson County" if his opponent were to win. A copy of a personals page from the March 1996 issue of the newspaper was attached. In correspondence dated July 10, David Williams, editor, warned the Dickerson campaign that the letter is potentially libelous. "The Letter has never allowed such ads in its paper and never will," Williams wrote. "Our mission statement--published several times--is very clear on this matter." Williams has demanded a written retraction from Dickerson and is threatening legal action if one is not forthcoming. The information was supplied to Dickerson by Dr. Frank Simon, Kentucky's leading anti-gay crusader. Simon has used the same ads in previous literature and on his weekly television call-in program. Ironically, the ads do not demonstrate claims made by Simon and Dickerson. The first is from a 45-year-old man seeking a relationship with a "boy-toy," gay slang for a young adult male. In the photocopied sample, the term "boy- toy" is heavily circled, partially obscuring the age requirement of the respondents being sought. Instead of "28-38," it is made to appear "8- 38." The second is from a 45-year-old man seeking a "nudist boy." In that instance the age requirement, oddly, is not obscured: 18-38. A third ad was placed by an adult lesbian hoping to establish a relationship with a "baby dyke." The term "baby dyke" is lesbian slang for a young adult female. It does not refer to babies or children. Simon debuted the bogus claim two years ago on a local television call-in show that also featured Williams and has been using them ever since. When Simon read the ads on camera, he skipped over the age requirements, which are clearly visible, and did not allow Williams to examine the ads during the broadcast. Only after the show was Williams able to find the ads and refute them. On the advice of the paper's attorney, he declined to pursue the matter through the courts. (A videotape of the program is available at the Kentucky Gay & Lesbian Library and Archives). "Simon is as dishonest as they come," Williams says. "I don't mind if he's opposed to gay civil rights: that's his privilege. But to start making things up to support his arguments is about as low as you can go. And now he's got a political candidate spouting the same lies." The Letter's "Statement of Purpose" notes that the publication is not open to individuals or groups that encourage violence or harm, or those who "advocate sexual activity of whatever nature between adults and individuals under the legal age of consent." That policy covers supportive portrayals of such individuals or groups in its articles and advertising. In addition, its application form for personals ads asks for a signature confirming that the person placing the ad is at least eighteen years of age: one year higher than the legal age of consent in Kentucky. Only in one instance has the newspaper made an exception to that policy, for a seventeen- year-old self-identified gay teenager just short of his eighteenth birthday who was confined to an institution.