Date: Wed, 24 Aug 94 09:35:55 EDT From: GLAADATL@aol.com GLAAD ATLANTA NEWS AUGUST 24, 1994 By Carl Lange VICTORY IN NORTH CAROLINA! The Chapel Hill-Carborro School Board voted on August 4 to include sexual orientation in the district's plans for diversity education. This is remarkable and wonderfully ironic considering this district is in North Carolina, the home state of Jesse Helms. Senator Helms is currently conducting a massive anti-gay legislative campaign in Congress. This Chapel Hill-Carborro 40 page plan will teach staff, students, and faculty that every individual and family (even gay families) should be respected and accepted. It not only affirms the dignity of lesbian and gay persons, but calls for support staff for lesbian/gay students and families to be included in every school in the district. Such welcome efforts are essential in the continuing struggle to combat the virulent homophobia in text books, which reach a truly captive audience and rank among the most widely-read mass media in the country. To support the effort in North Carolina, contact Ken Touw (Chair and author of the plan), Chapel Hill-Carborro School Board, Administrative Office -- Lincoln Center, Merrit Mill Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27516, tel. 919-967-8211. HE'S BAAACK... from Al Kielwasser, GLAAD/SFBA Comedian Andrew Dice Clay -- whose stand-up act is built on little more than sexist and homophobic ranting -- will play a supporting role in the new NBC series, The Ties That Bind. The Warner Bros. production is executive produced by Peter Noah and Bruce Rasmussen, Warner Bros. Pictures, 4000 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91522, tel. 818-954-6000. Copy your complaints to Warren Littlefield, President, 3000 W. Alameda Ave., Burbank, CA 91523, tel. 818-840-4444. And, as always, be sure to request a reply! WHICH ONE OF THESE DOESN'T BELONG from Al Kielwasser, GLAAD/SFBA Journalist James Brady recently interviewed actress Meredith Baxter for Parade magazine, writing: "I noted that in previous acting jobs Meredith had been an addict, an alcoholic, a lesbian mother, a bulimic and a murderer. So I asked [her], "What have they got against you?'" Let Mr. Brady know that lesbian motherhood has no place in a list of societal ills. Perhaps "bad journalist" would be more appropriate. Write: James Brady, Editor-at-Large, Advertising Age, 220 East 42nd St., New York, NY 10017-5846, 212-210-0195, fax 212-210-0200. We welcome and thank you for your contributions to this column. Permission is granted to reprint this column provided attribution is made to Carl Lange, GLAAD/Atlanta and contributor Al Kielwasser, GLAAD/SFBA. For more information about GLAAD/Atlanta write PO Box 55111, Atlanta, GA 30308; phone 404-876-1398; fax 404-876-4051; internet: glaadatl@aol.com. This column is a product of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation/Atlanta, Incorporated. -------------------------------------- August 22, 1994 Mr. George Rohrig Cartel Restaurants Inc. 235 East Paces Ferry Road Atlanta, GA 30305 Dear Mr. Rohrig, I'm writing you on behalf of the Atlanta chapter of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to ask you to respond to reports of discriminatory actions committed by Cartel Restaurants Inc. against its gay employees. Based on conversations with former employees and significant legal evidence, we are convinced that Cartel Restaurants Inc. has on more than one occasion fired a gay man, or are an employee who is perceived to be gay, so as to prevent them from being included in Cartel's health plan. We have been made aware that these actions have been committed with your participation. This policy is discriminatory toward gay men as well as to people with HIV and/or AIDS. To equate men who are gay, or perceived as being gay, as being HIV-positive, and therefore a risk to an employer, reinforces false and dangerous stereotypes about gay men as well as about people with HIV and/or AIDS. HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, does not discriminate based on sexual orientation. We ask that you do the following: 1) Reach an agreement with Ronald Kirkland who has filed charges against Cartel Restaurants. 2) Institute a non-discrimination based on sexual orientation policy for all Cartel companies. 3) Make public this policy and an apology for any past discrimination. 4) Make sexual orientation and HIV/AIDS sensitivity training mandatory for all management of Cartel companies, on a regular basis. This training is to be directed by GLAAD or is to be a program approved by GLAAD. 5) Make a significant contribution to an Atlanta AIDS organization. As an organization that monitors and counters anti-gay defamation we ask you to immediately respond so that we may inform gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and those who respect our equal civil rights that they may in good conscience continue to support your businesses. Sincerely, Carl Lange Executive Director GLAAD/Atlanta cc Jeff Graham, ACT UP AID Atlanta Mark King, AIDS Survival Project Anti-Defamation League Mayor Bill Campbell, City of Atlanta Gay & Lesbian Task Force for Public Safety, City of Atlanta Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Allan Jones, Atlanta Executive Network GLAAD Don George, Human Rights Campaign Fund Pat Hussain, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force National Organization for Women United Health of Georgia Dan Green, ABC News, Turning Point Atlanta Business Chronicle Susan Rook, CNN, Talk Back Live Holly Morris, Atlanta Constitution Shelia M. Poole, Atlanta Consitution Cynthia Tucker, Atlanta Constitution Creative Loafing Jack Pelham, Etcetera Magazine Marietta Daily Journal Debra Lum, NBC News Peter Applebome, New York Times Chris Cash, Southern Voice Joe Shapiro, US News Report WAGA-TV WGNX-TV WGST WNNX WSB-TV WXIA-TV Founded in 1985, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation seeks to provide more fair, accurate and diverse portrayals of lesbians, bisexuals and gay men. ###