[Imc] WEFTie on FSRN

[Kranich, Kimberlie]

Lori Serb, a member of the 85% Coalition, and an airshifter at WEFT,has
produced a story about the Soulforce action in St. Louis for "Free
Speech Radio News."  

[For more information on what SOulforce is and why it is in the news, see
article below].

Lori's story will air on WEFT, 90.1 FM, during the Thursday edition of
FreeSpeech Radio News at 5pm June 13th. If you miss hearing it on WEFT,
youmay download the story from the Free Speech Radio news website on Friday
by visiting www.fsrn.org

Kimberlie (one of the 38 arrested at the Soulforce event)

p.s. none of the arrestees will be charged with a felony. The Advocate
article below is incorrect!

___________________

The following article came from The Daily Advocate:    www.advocate.com
Wednesday, June 12, 2002


Soulforce members arrested

Fifty protesters were arrested at the Southern Baptist Convention in St.
Louis on Tuesday as they tried to persuade the organization to accept
gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people into the fold. Inside the
convention hall, six men and six women were arrested after they tried to
gain the platform as the Rev. James Merritt was giving the annual
president's address. They will be charged with felony trespassing,
police
said. As the demonstration continued during his speech, Merritt told the
audience of about 9,500 that in the past, gay and lesbian people have
been
"for the most part discreet. Suddenly we find that they demand public
legitimization of their peculiarity, stage parades, and demand public
representation in a governing body...even at the Southern Baptist
Convention."

Thirty-eight of about 200 protesters gathered outside the convention
center
were arrested as they tried to gain entry past a cadre of police in riot
gear.
They marched toward the doors slowly in sets of four, carrying fliers
and
calling out, "Please, Brother Merritt, hear us." Each was arrested
without
incident and put on one of two waiting buses. They will be charged with
city ordinance violations--misdemeanors--for allegedly blocking the
sidewalk and disobeying police orders to move.

The demonstration was organized by Soulforce, a group based in Laguna
Beach, Calif. The protesters, who came from all over the country, said
they have tried for three years to gain the ear of Southern Baptist
leadership. They have protested at other meetings of the Southern
Baptist
Convention, which represents more than 40,000 churches, with 16 million
members. But this has been their most direct action to date, they said.
Soulforce leaders said they targeted the Southern Baptist Convention
because the denomination's teachings that gay and lesbian people are
committing a sin has led to discrimination and violence, including
killings.


Burdine to get new trial

Prosecutors in Texas said Monday that they will retry a gay death-row
inmate whose conviction was reversed because his lawyer slept through
parts of his trial nearly two decades ago. Calvin Burdine, 49, last week
won the right to a new trial when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to
review a lower court's reversal of his conviction. Harris County
prosecutors indicated then that they probably would retry the case. The
state had appealed a federal appeals court's decision that Burdine's
1984
capital murder trial was unfair because his court-appointed attorney,
Joe
Cannon, slept at times during the trial.

Burdine's lover, W.T. Wise, 50, was found stabbed to death in 1983 at
the
Houston trailer they shared. Burdine confessed to police at the time but
later recanted. He contends that an accomplice killed Wise. Cannon, who
has since died, denied falling asleep during Burdine's trial.


Kentucky gay rights group expands

The Kentucky Fairness Alliance is forming a chapter in northern
Kentucky. The new chapter is the seventh in the state for the alliance,
which lobbies for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people. The
other six are in Lexington, Louisville, Frankfort, Henderson, Owensboro,
and Paducah.

Alliance member Charles King, of Covington, said the new chapter is
working with the Covington Human Rights Commission to incorporate
protections for gays and lesbians into Covington's human rights
ordinance.
The Cincinnati suburb already prohibits discrimination in employment,
housing, and public accommodations based on race, sex, religion, and
disability. King said that gays and lesbians have also faced verbal and
physical harassment as well as subtler forms of discrimination in the
region. "Derogatory things have been said, one person's car windows were
broken, and someone's car got damaged," King added. He said the
Northern Kentucky Fairness Alliance hopes to stop those acts and
document discrimination against gays and lesbians.


Debate on hate-crimes amendments will continue

The Senate on Tuesday refused to limit debate on a bill that would make
violent attacks based on victims' sexual orientation or disabilities a
federal
hate crime. Opponents of the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act,
as well as some Republican supporters of the bill, said the legislation
stands
no chance of passing the House as now written. The measure would add
crimes motivated by gender, sexual orientation, and disability to the
list of
offenses already covered under a 1968 hate-crimes law that prohibits
attacks based on race, religion, or national origin.

The 54-43 vote derailed efforts to win a speedy vote on the legislation
and
send it to the House, which has rejected it twice in recent years. While
it
takes only a simple majority to pass a bill, motions to end debate
require 60
votes. Backers of the motion to end debate fell six votes short. Only
four
Republicans voted to limit debate. Other Republican Senators-including
bill cosponsors Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Senator John Ensign
(R-Nev.)-said they refused to close off debate because Democrats
hadn't given them enough time to attempt to amend the bill. The
legislation
would allow federal prosecutors to pursue any assault upon a person or
group because of sexual orientation or disabilities as a hate crime if
state
officials reject filing charges.

The Republican-controlled House will not take the bill as written by its
supporters, said bill supporter Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who voted to
extend debate. "If you really want to do something about hate crimes,
let's
do it the right way and amend this bill so the House will be forced to
take
it," said Hatch, who supports the inclusion of sexual orientation as a
category of hate crimes but wants to ensure that the federal government
does not interfere with state prosecutions.

Log Cabin Republicans, a gay political group, faulted the Democratic
leadership for fast-tracking the bill. "The Democrats used a high-risk
strategy to speed the bill's passage, and it not only failed but
insulted
supporters and prevented a breakthrough deal," said Rich Tafel, Log
Cabin
executive director. "It was clear from everything that happened that if
a
deal [had been] made, this bill could have flown through and had
unstoppable momentum.... Senator Hatch must be included in the process
so we can, in Senator Hatch's own words, make the House accept a bill
that will become law."

The bill's Democratic supporters took it off the schedule before GOP
senators could tack their amendments onto it. "This is just the
beginning,
and we're going to continue this battle throughout the session," said
Sen.
Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). Added Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.): "We
will be back. We'll find another bill, another vehicle."


Boston scouts take a stand for diversity

Massachusetts's largest Boy Scout council ruffled feathers again Monday
by announcing the creation of a diversity award at its annual
fund-raiser,
hosted by an openly gay Boston radio personality. The Boston Minuteman
Council, which last year adopted a nondiscrimination policy despite the
national organization's ban on gays, has created a "diversity awareness
award badge." And to make its point crystal-clear--that it opposes the
ban
on gay troop leaders--the council invited WBZ radio host David Brudnoy
to
be master of ceremonies.

"There are a lot of straight guys out there who could do this," Brudnoy
said
Monday. "[The council] said, 'We want to signal, through you, our
nondiscrimination policy."'

The council's nondiscrimination policy, developed after the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled two years ago that the Boy Scouts of America can exclude
gays as troop leaders, essentially keeps scout leaders' sex lives
private. It
says its 18,000 members will be served "without regard to color, race,
religion, ethnic background, sexual orientation, or economic status."
The
national organization has maintained that "an avowed homosexual cannot
serve as a role model for the traditional moral values espoused in the
Scout
Oath and Law and that these values cannot be subject to local option
choices." Still, the Minuteman Council is forging ahead with its new
diversity awards, which will be given for the first time this fall. The
awards
are open to all levels of scouts, scout leaders, and community groups
who
complete a curriculum of activities promoting diversity--including race,
religion, and sexual orientation.

Brock Bigsby, scout executive for the Minuteman Council, which covers
Boston and 27 other communities, said the national organization is
powerless to stop the award: "Local councils do have the flexibility to
establish awards like this to meet the needs of our kids--that's where
our
focus is. Scouting traditionally has been a very diverse activity."