Newsgroups: bit.listserv.gaynet
Date:         Fri, 24 Jul 1992 05:17:03 -0400
From:         gaynet@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
Subject:      GayNet Digest Volume 5 Issue 573

In this issue:
                    movies, political correctness...
  News: Gay Man Allegedly "Forced Out" of Bush Campaign (for Derrick)
                               Gaylaxicon
                    GayNet Digest Volume 5 Issue 556

Please send messages for the entire list to gaynet@ATHENA.MIT.EDU,
requests to be added or deleted to gaynet-request@ATHENA.MIT.EDU, and
personal replies directly to the other person, not the entire list.
Postings to GayNet are public communications.  If you must keep your
privacy, send your messages to gaynet-anonymous@ATHENA.MIT.EDU.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Newsgroups: bit.listserv.gaynet
From: denmak@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Michele Keffer)
Subject: movies, political correctness...
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
Organization: University at Buffalo
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 22:58:00 GMT
Apparently-To: gaynet@athena.mit.edu

Bravo to Derrick for saying what I was trying to say better, and
saying a *whole* lot more as well.  We can't all go out
and make our own movies, we have other sorts of jobs as well,
but we do have the right to express our objections when we
disagree with a stereotype a film is projecting.  Loren
made the comment that straight people don't complain if they
look silly in a film, something similar to what Sharon Stone
said as well, but the point both of them are ignoring is that
in some films straight people look silly, in others they are
heroes.  Gays are invisible unless they are silly or killers-
we are not portrayed as heroes or balanced people at all.

Furthermore, people don't bash straight people because they're
straight or discriminate against them becuase they're straight.
So looking silly in a movie is not a problem for straights. Looking
foolish, or bad, or unbalanced, or always dying in the end *is
* a problem for gays because we don't have any good portrayals.
Wake up folks! In what mainstream movies are gays and blacks
portrayed positively.  (Notice how the black actor is always the
white heroes "partner" or "sidekick" even now.  Why do you think
that is??) I think it's our responsibility to not each of us
go out and make a movie (if I tried to do everything, make
a movie, write a newspaper, grow my own food, etc., it's just
not possible) but rather when we feel dangerous stereotypes are
perpetuated to let our voices be heard- in the same way that
teenagers all over the world let their voices be heard that
they wanted a Porky's iv or v or whatever.... it's an industry,
and influence and education are important components in making
that industry appreciate diversity.  We can at least express our
opinions, and if expressing my opinion makes me "politically
correct," it seems to me that's the whole point of the first
amendment...

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 24 Jul 92 03:24 GMT
Subject: News: Gay Man Allegedly "Forced Out" of Bush Campaign (for Derrick)
From: An Anonymous Sender

APn  07/23 1322  Bush Campaign-Gays

Copyright, 1992. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By ANASTASIA BENSHOFF
 Associated Press Writer
   WASHINGTON (AP) -- A homosexual former worker for the Bush-Quayle campaign
has filed a discrimination complaint alleging he was forced out of his job
because of his sexual orientation.
   Campaign officials dispute the account of the worker, Tyler Franz, saying he
was asked to move to a less-visible position because of complaints that he was
being rude to people and not because he was homosexual.
   Franz filed a complaint with the District of Columbia's Office of Human
Rights on Wednesday, alleging that he was demoted and pressured to resign in
violation of a district law that prohibits denying a person a job based on
sexual orientation.
   "I believe my rights have been violated. I'm an openly gay man, I have been
for many years. I was forced out of my job because of it," Franz said Wednesday
night on ABC-TV's "Nightline." The Wall Street Journal also published an account
of his story today.
   Franz, who joined the campaign last January to manage an information resource
center, said he was notified on July 14 by personnel director Tom Harvey that he
was being moved. Franz said Harvey told him the campaign's director of voter
outreach wanted him out because of "ideological differences with the religious
right."
   The Bush-Quayle campaign's deputy press secretary, Tony Mitchell, said today
that Franz's homosexuality "had absolutely nothing to do" with the plan to
change his job.
   "The job that he had was very full and very stressful," Mitchell said. "We
had received a number of reports that he had been rude in his interpersonal
dealings. But we felt he had something to contribute so we thought we'd put him
in a different slot. ... We would not take any personnel action based on one's
race, religion or sexual orientation."
   Franz was offered another position as assistant to building services. He said
a full explanation of the position's duties was not given and he considered it a
demotion, though he was to be given a raise in pay.
   Franz said he had met with Robert Mosbacher, the Bush-Quayle campaign's
general chairman, on June 12 to discuss what he called "anti-gay rhetoric" in
the campaign. He said Mosbacher "expressed concern and sympathy at the time but
has come across as weak and ineffective" in doing anything about it.
   Vice President Dan Quayle told interviewer Larry King on CNN Wednesday night,
"We stand firmly for non-discrimination. We have a policy of non-discrimination,
and the president just won't tolerate discrimination of any sort."
   Asked this morning about Franz's allegations, White House spokesman Marlin
Fitzwater said, "Never heard of him."


UPn  07/23 1306  Homosexual says he was forced out of Bush-Quayle ca...

Homosexual says he was forced out of Bush-Quayle campaign
   WASHINGTON (UPI) -- An openly homosexual campaign worker has filed a
complaint with the District of Columbia charging he was forced out of the
Bush-Quayle campaign as a result of strong influence exerted by the religious
right and its "very anti-gay rhetoric."
   Tyler Franz, a $15,000 per year staffer in the Bush-Quayle '92 campaign,
lodged the complaint under the district's employment-rights ordinance, The Wall
Street Journal reported Thursday. The law, which bars job discrimination based
on sexual preference, is one of the broadest in the nation.
   Franz, who worked as the manager of the Bush-Quayle campaign information
resource center, said in an interview Wednesday on the ABC  "Nightline" program
that officials initially demoted him in an effort to force him out of the
campaign. They later offered a "lump-sum payment" if he would refrain from
making any claims in court.
   "I think the demotion...was an attempt to force me out, to embarrass me, to
humiliate me, and for me to just quit," Franz said. "They did offer me a
lump-sum payment if I would sign a release not claiming any further, excuse me,
not making any future claims in court against the campaign."
   Franz said he does not believe President Bush is biased against homosexuals,
but he said "no one in that campaign is stopping the anti- gay rhetoric."
   Asked about his claim that senior staff members of the Bush-Quayle campaign
talk about "flaming faggots," Franz said the tone within the campaign was raw.
   "It most definitely was," he said. "Commonly I overheard anti-gay statements
said throughout the campaign, but most of it was focused within the department
of coalitions, where the evangelical coalition had certainly started an
insurgence as early as last March."
   The department of coalitions acts as a bridge between the Bush campaign and
the various grass-roots organizations that support conservative candidates.
   Franz said members of the religious right, working through the department of
coalitions, "wielded enormous influence although small in numbers, in terms of
percentage in the overall campaign."
   He said that many of the documents "that came through the campaign were
clearly from religious leaders who had very anti-gay rhetoric in their
presentations, and this became part of the coalitions department agenda."
   Franz said he complained to Bush's campaign chairman, Robert Mosbacher.
   "He understood where I was coming from," Franz said of his discussion with
Mosbacher. "We talked openly about various forms of bigotry, racism,
anti-Semitism. He said all campaigns will have staff who possess those
characteristics."
   Franz was asked why he believed he was forced out if Mosbacher was
sympathetic.
   "My belief is that the religious right was taking such a stronghold in the
campaign that they were virtually taking over the campaign's direction," Franz
said.
   He told ABC he specifically informed Mosbacher about the Rev. Louis P.
Sheldon, whose anti-gay rhetoric Franz considered "very damaging to the
campaign" because it was "alienating significant voter blocs, to include gay and
lesbian Americans."
   Sheldon, the chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition representing 25,000
churches, charged Thursday that Franz had been  "orchestrating his own dismissal
from the campaign for some time now in order to file grievances and politicize
his chosen form of sexual expression."
   Sheldon said he believed anyone should be able to work for a presidential
candidate.
   "What we object to is when that individual's sexual identity prohibits them
from functioning rationally to the detriment of their employer," he said.


APn  07/23 0155  Bush Campaign-Gays

Copyright, 1992. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- A worker for the Bush-Quayle campaign filed a complaint
Wednesday claiming he was dismissed from his job because he is a homosexual,
according to ABC's Nightline.
   Tyler Franz, who joined the campaign last January to work at an information
resource center, appeared on the television program Wednesday night and said he
was forced out because of pressure from the religious right.
   "I believe my rights have been violated. I'm an openly gay man, I have been
for many years. I was forced out of my job because of it," Franz said on the
program.
   Neither Franz nor officials of the Bush-Quayle campaign could be reached for
comment Wednesday night.
   The Nightline program quoted a campaign spokeswoman as saying that Franz was
let go not because of ideology, but because "he was burned out" and because of
complaints that he was being rude to people.
   Franz said he worked as a supervisor of workers assigned to telephone banks
at the information resource center.
   Franz filed a complaint Wednesday with the District of Columbia's Office of
Human Rights, alleging that he was dismissed in violation of a D.C. law that
prohibits a person being denied a job based on sexual orientation, according to
the ABC program.
   In the complaint, Franz maintains that he was told that Roy Jones, a
religious consultant to the GOP campaign, and Mimi Dawson, head of the
campaign's coalition department, wanted him dismissed, according to ABC.
   Neither Jones nor Dawson could be reached for comment.

------------------------------

Date:         Fri, 24 Jul 1992 1:47 am EDT (05:47:38 UT)
From: "JOHN E. CERESO" <CERE5447%FREDONIA.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
Organization: State University of New York - College at Fredonia
Subject:      Gaylaxicon

           GAYLAXICON IN PHILADELPHIA A ROUSING SUCCESS!!!
           -----------------------------------------------

     Gaylaxicon, the annual convention of the Gaylactic Network, a group
of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror fans and
their friends was held recently at the Guest Quarters Suite Hotel in
Philadelphia.  Attendance at Gaylaxicon IV was over 300 people from
around the United States, Canada, and England.

     The Gaylactic Network has local affillates in Albany, NY; Boston, MA;
Jersey City, NJ; Royal Oak, MI; St. Louis, MO; New Orleans, LA; Washington
D.C.; Sykesville, MD; St. Paul, MN; Broomall, PA; Boulder, CO; London, UK;
Wheaton, IL and other chapters starting every day including an unofficial
group in Toronto called Tleilaxu and a group starting in Irvine, CA.

     I personally am attempting to start an affilliate in the Buffalo/
Rochester area and anyone who would like more information should feel
free to contact me.  There is also something known as the Gaylaxians
International, for people who don't live close to an affilliate or who
for whatever reason would like to belong to both.

    For more information about the Gaylactic Network, please write:

               The Gaylactic Network
               P.O. Box 127
               Brookline,  MA   02149

    If there are any questions, I can be contacted at the E-Mail address
below (or at P.O. Box 528, Dunkirk,  NY  14048).  Gaylaxicon V is slated
for Chicago, with guest of honor being Mercedes Lackey from 16-18 July, 1993.
Hope to see you there!!!!!

  John E. Cereso
   SUNY Fredonia

   CERE5447@FREDONIA
   CERE5447@FREDONIA.BITNET

   "Due to financial constraints, the light at the end of the tunnel
    will be turned off until further notice!"; A sign hung in our
    financial aid office.

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 24 Jul 92 02:23:16 EDT
From: tyes@acsu.buffalo.edu (Winford Tyes)
Subject: Re: GayNet Digest Volume 5 Issue 556
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.gaynet
Organization: UB

------------------------------

End of GayNet Digest
********************
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU