Thursday, April 29, 1932
Daily Nebraskan
Page 9
Amendment important
to everyone who suffers discrimination
Pro
By Micliida Thiiman
6rm
he sexual orientation amend
ment is not just an amendment
to condone homosexuality. It is
a civil rights amendment that
affects everyone.
That is one of the ideas that pro gay
and lesbian civil rights leaders in Lincoln
arc trying to get across before voters sec
a ballot May 1 1 : the universality of the
sexual orientation amendment.
"Right now there is no law to pro
tect anyone against sexual discriminat
ion," said Jim llolloway, a UNLstudent
and president of the UNL Gay Student
Group. "Right now people can be fired
for something that has nothing to do
with their competence as an employee
or their responsibility as a tenant."
"People in Lincoln are very con
servative, very family and church-oriented,"
llolloway said. "But they arc also
very fair-minded and can be persuaded
that there is no need to fear gay peo
ple." I lolloway said the amendment stands
a good chance of passing in Lincoln.
"I'm very optimistic," he said, "but
my main concern is that gay people get
out and vote." If the entire gay populat
ion in Lincoln mobilizes and gets behind
the amendment it could pass, he said.
"That's a hell of a voting block. If we
lose it will be by a very close margin."
llolloway estimates 10 percent to 20
percent of Lincoln's population is gay.
Precedent possible
If passed, the amendment would be
the first of its kind to be enacted by an
initial public vote, llolloway said.
The Rev. Larry Doerr, co-chairman
of Citizens for Human Rights, campus
minister and coordinator of Common
place, said there is "a demonstrable
need" for the amendment in Lincoln as
there is discrimination here.
"If you walk funny you can be sub
jected to discrimination and lose your
job without recourse," he said. Passage
of the amendment would decrease the
number of those types of situations as
harassment techniques, and would take
the edge off homosexual fears of being
"found out" and discriminated against,
Doerr said.
He said he cannot speculate on
whether the amendment has a good
chance of passing. If passed, it does not
assure anyone complete freedom from
sexual discrimination, he said.
Doerr said opponents to the amend
ment are saying they want the freedom
to discriminate.
Members of Citizens for Human
Rights have been speaking to church,
school and other community groups, he
said.
Scott Stebclman, co-chairperson of
the Lincoln Coalition for Gay and
Lesbian Civil Rights and assistant pro
fessor of UNL Libraries agreed that the
amendment is necessary because people
in general, not necessarily just gays, are
discriminated against with a bias that is
unfair and damaging to both the com
munity and the individual.
Promotion work
Stebelman said coalition members
have contacted various organizations
and dispersed literature about the
amendment.
Whether the amendment passes or
not, Stebelman said coalition members
will continue their efforts.
Debbie Alicen, a member of the
Lincoln Lesbian League, said that group
also has been involved in meetings and
programs.
Alicen said she is not sure if the
amendment will pass because she is not
sure how middle-of-the-road voters will
vote.
Marcee Metzger, coordinator of the
Women's Resource Center at UNL, said
the WRC supports the amendment, and
is working with the coalition for its
passage. The WRC has testified before
the Lincoln City Council about dis
crimination in Lincoln.
Con
By Bob Glissmann
The issue in the sexual orientation
amendment, according to Paul Camer
on, "is not about protecting jobs for
homosexuals, but of legitimizing homo
sexual activity."
Cameron, chairman of the Commit
tee to Oppose Special Rights for Homo
sexuals and a social psychologist in
Lincoln, said the goal of amendment
supporters is to make homosexuality
"as good or as socially recognized as
hetcrosexuality."
Cameron said this attitude is wrong.
"Homosexuality is bad. It's injurious
to people who practice it and to soc
iety." Nels Horde, a UNL history professor
and vice chairman of the committee,
said the amendment would "Irreparably
damage the moral character of the com
munity.'" He also said that the Old and New
Testaments of the Bible and all western
civilizations have opposed homosexual-
ity.
Cameron said the amendment is de
signed "especially to protect those who
behave in a homosexual manner."
He also said the amendment is not
needed.
"It's gratuitous," he said. "They
(homosexuals) have exactly the same
rights as everybody else."
The cases of discrimination ment
ioned in a flier distributed by the Cit
izens for Human Rights, a pro-amendment
group, "would not hold up in
court. They're just one person's
claim. . .there are always two sides of
the story."
He said that, including the three
examples printed in the flier, "There
is not a single documented case in all
the city of Lincoln (of job discrimina
tion)." He said, however, that he does
have documentation of his charges
against homosexuality.
Cameron said the amendment will
increase the incidence of child moles
tation in Lincoln schools by opening the
way for more homosexuals to acquire
teaching jobs. He cited statistics from
the 1964 J. McGeorgc study of 400
cases of sexual assaults on students by
teachers that claims homosexual teach
ers arc 43 times more apt than hetero
sexual teachers to molest their students.
A pamphlet from his group also cites
other studies which say that homosex
uals are promiscuous and have more
incidence of venereal diseases than
heterosexuals.
He said he "shudders at the thought"
of the amendment passing, but that no
one knows all that will happen if the
amendment passes.
"I'm suie it will protect job acquis
ition," he said.
He said homosexuals will be able
to say they were discriminated against
if they are fired, even if their dismissal
is for another reason.
"Homosexuals will think 'all I have
to do is get a job,' " he said.
Cameron said amendment backers
have not been able to refute any of
his findings and that some UNL psy
chology professors who publically sup
port the amendment are "blinded by
advocacy" and have no documenta
tion of their statements.
Cameron said he has offered to pay
$500 to anyone who shows his stati
stics are in error. So far, he said, no
one has accepted his challenge.
He also said amendment backers
have a much larger budget than his
group.
His group will spend $2,000 for the
election and the opposition is spending
the same amount "on just radio spots
with just one radio station," he said.
Cameron predicted that the oafional
media soon will be in Lincoln to cover
the controversy.
He said passage of the amendment
would attract "more freaky people" to
Lincoln and may have some negative
economic jmpact through loss of tour
ists to the city.
Homosexuals 'came out'
because they wanted to live honest lives
By Michicla Thuman and Chris Hodges
T
he following are excerpts from interviews con
ducted with two homosexual members who live
Lincoln. Each shared information about
in
what it means to be homosexual, to "come
out," and to face daily social and emotional frustra
tions. Both wished to remain unidentified. The names
attributed to each are fictitious.
Mark, 20, is a full-time student at UNL with a part
time job and high career aspirations.
"All my life I've had this feeling that I was differ
ent," he said. "I just didn't look at things the way
other people did."
Jane, 33, is involved in a professional career. She
"became" a lesbian six or seven years ago - a process
she described as a gradual discovery of her own true
feelings.
Mark said he first realized in junior high what direc
tion his sexual interests were taking. He said he knew
he was gay through high school, yet still believed that
sooner or later he. would meet a nice girl, settle down,
get married and have a family.
He said he did not accept his gayness until about
two years ago, about six months before he began his
first serious relationship with another man.
"When I finally realized I was gay and had come to
grips with it, I not only wanted to have sex with a man,
but I wanted to fall in love with one. I knew I was
gay and what I wanted; the only problem was I had no
idea where to find it."
Before accepting her lesbianism, Jane was a full
time student at UNL working part-time and living with
her parents. Her life was typical of many young women
in college; she had average grades and dated two or
three young men.
"I was young. At that time, the men were filling
my needs," she said.
Mark said his father was the first to learn that his
son is homosexual.
"1 am very lucky. I've always had a very good re
lationship with my parents. I never feared rejection,
but I valued my father's opinion very highly. That he
might think less of me was very scary."
Jane said she hid her identity as a lesbian from her
family for four years. "I don't think they (the family)
were very happy about it when I told them. Several of
my friends were not very surprised, though."
"My family is very accepting of it," Mark said.
"It shook my dad to the core at first. But he knew
that if I had already reached a point where I identified
myself as gay , acted on it and began a relationship with
another man, there was nothing he could do to change
me."
Both Mark and Jane said they want very much to
develop steady, long-lasting relationships with one per
son.
"I want to find a lover, someone I can settle down
with in a monogamous relationship and have a kind of
love and caring security that everyone needs," Mark
said.
Jane said some of her co-workers are aware that
she's a lesbian, but she said she does not make a point
of "coming out" at work.
Mark, on the other hand, is completely open about
his gayness, even at his job.
Mark said his primary concern is that gay people
not be afraid of themselves.
"There are a lot of people out there who are gay
and would like to do something about it but are just
scared," he said. "Can you imagine being black and not
knowing another black person?"
"It's difficult to show straight people what we're
like," Mark said. "We're not being honest to ourselves.
You can't live a lie. People keep thinking homosexual
ity is a choice people make, that we say to ourselves
one day, 'I want to be gay,' " he said. "I ask hetero
sexual people, When did you choose to be straight?' "
"Any human being has the capacity to love another
human being, no matter what sex," he said.
"I am a highly intelligent person, extremely talented
in the work I have chosen for my career. No one can
call me a rotten person and have me believe it," he
said. "This is who I am. This is what makes me happy."
