Date:         Thu, 30 Jun 1994 10:14:43 EDT
Subject:      Cobb County News

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Gays threaten Cobb, Olympics   The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
inWashington and the Olympics Out of Cobb Coalition renewed their demand
Wednesday that Cobb County be denied as the venue for the Olympic volleyball
preliminaries and threatened to tie Atlanta "into an Olympic knot" in 1996.
The demand followed the Cobb County Commission's failure Tuesday night to
adopt a proposed compromise to its resolution passed 11 months ago declaring
the "gay lifestyle" to be incompatible with Cobb community values. The
Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games has expressed concern about the
controversy the resolution caused but has taken no action.


Both sides say Cobb controversy will escalate      By Cathy Cleland-Pero,
staff writer
   After watching one compromise resolution go down in flames Tuesday, Cobb
Citizens Coalition members say they will push their own attempt to end the
controversy over Cobb County's stance against the homosexual lifestyle.
   "We're back to square one," said Elaine Hill, coalition co-chairwoman. "We
feel now we can propose again our human-rights resolution because this was
not passed."
   But all sides agree the commission's failure to bring closure to the
controversy will only escalate the tensions in what has become a spiritual
and cultural war.
   Meanwhile, Cobb commissioners agreed Tuesday to pay the price for waging
one spiritual battle --the fight to keep the Ten Commandments on the county
courthouse wall. In a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union,
Cobb agreed to pay $100,000 in legal fees for taking their defense of the
plaque to the U.S. Supreme Court. In-house legal expenses added another
$25,000 to the cost of the ill-fated fight.
   The county has ended its fight for the Ten Commandments, but its struggle
over gay rights is far from over.   The coalition, a gay advocacy group, will
again circulate its proposal to county commissioners, hoping commissioners
will use it to supersede the controversial resolution passed 11 months ago
condemning the gay lifestyle as contrary to community standards.
   But Cobb commissioners, who on Tuesday rejected a proposal by their
chairman to mollify gay-rights groups without seeming to back down from their
stance, appear unlikely to accept the coalition's more sweeping proposal.
   "If that three-vote coalition didn't send a message, I don't know what
does," Commission Chairman Bill Byrne said of the county governing body's
insistence against making any alteration to the original resolution.
   Byrne and Bill Cooper cast the only votes for the amendment.
   The vote Tuesday left no room for compromise, according to the three
commissioners who continue to support the original resolution. Despite
pressure from state legislators, business leaders and advocacy groups trying
to pull Olympic volleyball out of Cobb County, the resolution appears cast in
stone.
   "I'm neither pleased nor disappointed," said Commissioner Gordon Wysong
about the failure of the amendment. Wysong wrote the original resolution. "We
revisited the issue and we reaffirmed our decision."
   Gay advocates say that position excludes Cobb's homosexuals, has fractured
the community and splintered the religious population.
   "Church members of the very church I used to be a member of, right down
the road, condemn me to hell in the very community that is my home," David
Wood told commissioners.
   But some religious conservatives praised commissioners for refusing to
give ground.
   "We cannot back off; this won't go away," said Liz Vawter, who helped
organize a rally last summer in support of commissioners. "I'd rather back
the original resolution than the amended one. The original focus was what we
need: to stand up for community standards."
   -- Staff writer Kathey Alexander contributed to this article.



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