From: rjwill6@pbsdts.sdcrc.pacbell.com (Rod Williams)
Subject: Hispanic Journalists to Meet in Colorado
Originator: rjwill6@pbsdts.sdcrc.pacbell.com
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, California
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 21:53:28 GMT


A story in the Business section of today's (12/28/92) New
York Times...

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An angry dispute between two groups of journalists about the
boycott of Colorado is threatening to present the nation's
major news organizations a choice between insulting Hispanic
people or homosexuals.

The battle erupted because the board of the National
Association of Hispanic Journalists voted in mid-November to
proceed with a spring convention in Denver, despite a
widening national boycott protesting the passage of an anti-
homosexual-rights measure in Colorado.  The measure, approved
by voters in a referendum, prohibits the state Legislature
and Colorado cities from approving anti-discrimination
protection for homosexuals and voided existing ordinances.
Association board members said the cost of canceling the
meeting would devastate the association.

That decision has split the organization, which has 1,400
members.  Some members have assailed others as homophobic,
and some have defended the decision by saying that the
homosexual-rights cause is not a prime concern of Hispanic
people.

Caught in the middle are news organizations nationwide, which
traditionally send corporate executives to the conventions of
all minority journalists to show support.

They are being pressured not to send representatives to, or
to recruit at, this convention.  The battle presents a
particularly awkward situation for news executives because
many in the industry have been saying it is a business
necessity to diversify news staffs by hiring both more racial
and ethnic minorities and more homosexuals.

Some news organizations have already heard from homosexual-
rights advocates, who say they will begin a campaign to
discourage news organizations from attending.

"It would be uncomfortable to go," said Linda Picone, a
deputy managing editor at The Star Tribune in Minneapolis.
"On the other hand, we want to recruit ethnic minorities, and
I would feel uncomfortable about boycotting the National
Association of Hispanic Journalists."

Inside the news profession, the debate has turned colleagues
into adversaries and exposed a number of divisions.

Patricia E. Duarte, a member of the board of the Hispanic
journalists' association, said she resents what she said are
"pressure-group tactics" being used against the organization.
She said the convention does not have to be moved to show
that Hispanics are sympathetic to homosexuals.  "We should
not be pressured into taking a political stance," Ms. Duarte
said.  "I don't think I have ever recalled gays taking a
stand on Hispanic issues."

Ms. Duarte, editor of La Familia de Hoy, a Whittle
Communications magazine, said she thought the issue arose
partly because sexuality in general is viewed as more
"natural" by Hispanic people.  That, she said, may have made
board members less aware of discrimination against
homosexuals than some of the board's critics.  "The fact that
'gay' is a movement is to me a white Anglo thing," she said.

Some members of the National Association of Hispanic
Journalists said they were distressed by the board's action
and were organizing a campaign within the association to get
the convention moved out of Colorado.  "This is active
discrimination against a group," said Maria Hinojosa, a staff
reporter at National Public Radio in New York.  "We have been
victims of discrimination and could have been victims of this."

Some homosexual journalists said they were stung by the
decision not to move the convention and would urge people not
to attend.  Deb Price, a columnist who writes about her life
as a lesbian in a regular column in the Detroit News, said
she turned down an invitation to address the convention in a
special session that will deal with homosexual issues.

"The point is: Do you support bigotry or not?" Ms. Price said.
"For a Hispanic group to hold this convention there sends a
message."

Juan R. Palomo, a columnist at The Houston Post, said he was
particularly hurt by the battle because he is both homosexual
and Hispanic.

Mr. Palomo said Hispanic people remained the victims of
discrimination in newsrooms nationwide.  But he said news
organizations were changing and now sought to recruit
Hispanic journalists.

Homosexual journalists, he said, may face the greatest
obstacles of any group in the news industry, because attitudes
about sexual orientation have changed slowly.

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