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Affirmation Day sparks protest, praise
Group kisses-in
to protest ROTC
homosexual ban
By Sarah Scalet
Staff Reporter
660 ey hey, ho ho. Homopho
bia’s got to go.”
That was the chant of
about 25 protesters who gathered in
front of the Military and Naval Sci
ence Building Wednesday afternoon
to protest the ROTC policy banning
homosexuals.
Members of the Gay/Lesbian/Bi
sexual Student Association and Early
Warning! protested from 2:30 p.m. to
3:30 p.m. They chanted and held signs,
some declaring “Every U.S. citizen
should have a right to defend his
country” and “ROTC needs a few
good queers.”
The protest also included a “kiss
in,” during which protesters publicly
kissed each other.
Lynn Kister, a junior women’s
studies and English major, encour
aged homosexual and heterosexual
couples to participate in the kiss-in.
People should be able to accept
affection between homosexuals, as
well as heterosexuals, while walking
to class, Kister said.
“We’re queer, and we’re here, and
we want to kiss our girlfriends and
boyfriends,” she said.
But Paul Moore, co-chairperson
of GLBSA, said the issue was not a
gay, lesbian and bisexual one.
“It’s a human issue,” he said, be
cause discrimination of any kind is
wrong.
“What is the Department of De
fense afraid of?” he asked. “What is
ROTC afraid of?”
Al Schaben/DN
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Moore said tnc military s excuses
to discriminate against homosexuals
— that they were security risks and
had an inability to perform — were
only justifications for homophobic
behavior.
Homosexuals arc less of a security
nsK man neieroscxuais Dccause me
grow up trained to keep secrets, h
said.
Moore also compared the silualioi
to when blacks were not allowed,ii
the military because of their supposes
inability to perform.
y V-IICU LAJUIV, ixaumi SJXJKCS
e person for Lincoln, said the military
had a “guilty until proven innocent”
i policy about homosexuals.
i
i “What all this boils down to is
homophobia,” she said.
Gays, lesbians
encouraged to
break silence
By Mike Lewis
Staff Reporter
□ wo homosexual students at the
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln
wrapped up Affirmation Day
Wednesday night by explaining why
they chose to “break the silence.”
Deb Archer, an English graduate
student and leaching assistant, and
Paul Moore, a senior speech commu
nication major, said they went public
with their homosexuality because “the
silence will not protect you.”
“I don’t want students to leave my
classroom still thinking they haven’t
met a homosexual,” Archer told an
audience of about 65.
The two students joined four other
speakers at Affirmation Day, an event
spon sored by the Gay/Lcsbian/B iscx -
ual Student Association to affirm the
rights of gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
Moore, co-chairman of GLBSA,
and Archer staged a mock conversa
tion in which Archer pretended to
turn down an invitation to speak at
Affirmation Day.
Many of Archer’s freshman Eng
lish students had made homophobic
remarks, she said. If she was to speak
at Affirmation Day, she said, she might
disrupt the sense of community in her
class.
Also, Archer said, some faculty
members in the English department
had made their homophobia “loud
and clear.” She said she had doubts
about working with people who would
be hostile toward her.
See AFFIRMATION on 2
A A A
ASUN pushes safety plan,
lobbies for cigarette tax
By Kara Morrison
Staff Reporter
A SUN passed a parking safety
proposal Wednesday night
that would increase parking
permits by $2 to
$5 over the next
four years, in
stead of the one
time $20 in
crease the Park
ing Advisory
Committee proposed last week.
The proposal will be presented
by the Association of Students of
the University of Nebraska to the
committee today at 2:00 p.m. at the
Wick Alumni Center.
The senate also voted to lobby
for a 5-ccnt cigarette tax increase
proposed by LB 1026. The bill would
provide revenue for new capital con
struction projects for the University
of Nebraska.
Jason Vogel, senator for the Col
lege of Engineering and Technol
ogy, said more than $3 million of
the revenue generated by the 5-cent
tax would fund the completion of
the Walter Scott Engineering Link,
the renovation of the East Campus
greenhouses and the removal of
asbestos from Burnett Hall.
Vogel said ASUN needed to show
its support for LB 1026 because the
Nebraska Legislature had only three
days left in its session to act on the
tax increase.
Senators then delayed action on
an ASUN bill that urges the NU
Board of Regents to oppose a pro
posed 25-cent cigarette tax increase
for environmental projects.
Brian Mikkelsen, statewide co
ordinator of the Clean Environment
Committee, urged ASUN senators
to postpone voting on a bill oppos
ing the 25-cent cigarette tax so that
students had lime to look at both
sides of the issue. •
The Clean Environment Com
See ASUN on 2
Group says new policy ‘a start’
By Jeremy Fitzpatrick
Senior Reporter
The Department of Human Re
source’s decision to create a
university-wide family leave
policy is a step m the right direction,
members of the Chancellor’s Com
mission on the j
Status of Women
“It’s certainly ■j||||JB
a good start,” |SB|||||i^l
Mary Beck, a jBjVIUUBML
chairwoman of the I w-thR r!TTTT73
commission, said.
The policy will allow University
of Nebraska-Lincoln employees to
lake up to 12 consecutive weeks of
leave without pay for child, parent or
spouse illnesses, for the birth or adop
tion of a child or for a death in the
immediate family.
Family leave now is determined
by individual departments. The hu
man resources department’s policy
will set a standard for the entire uni
versity.
Beck, an associate professor of
animal science, said that while she
was happy with the move, she thought
the policy still was lacking because it
did not provide paid maternity leave,
as did some European nations.
The commission would like to
have seen a portion of the 12 weeks as
paid," she said, "but that is apparently
not possible at this time, for whatever
reason.... We arc not going to object
to the whole plan on (hat basis, though ”
The commission supports the pol
icy, Beck said, but asks that some of
its wording be clarified, including
how family leave could be taken and
whether leave could be taken at dif
ferent times instead of consecutively.
Beck said she also wanted the policy
to include non-traditional domestic
partnerships — cohabitation or homo
See LEAVE on 2
senator says it s time
to end stalking game
ay oean ureen
Senior Reporter
-"E M osl people arc familiar with
VI “Fatal Attraction,” a film in
^ " ■*' which the spumed lover takes
revenge by stalking.
There also have been several well
publicized cases of celebrities, such
as David Lctlerman, being harassed
by an ovcrcnthusiastic fan.
But the crime is not restricted to
the movie screen or to the rich and
famous.
Average citi
zens can be vic
timized by a
stalker.
It is more than
a little troubling
to many that stalk
ing is not against the law in most
states, including Nebraska. At least,
not yet.
A bill under consideration in the
Nebraska Legislature would make
stalking illegal and give victims and
the police a weapon against stalkers.
LB 1098, sponsored by Sen. Jennie
Robak of Columbus, defines and
^IUVIUU> pLIIdlUD IUI MdIMIIg.
If passed, Nebraska would join
California and Virginia as the only
slates where stalking is illegal. The
legislative bill advanced to second
round debate Tuesday in a 32-0 vote.
LB 1098 defines stalkers as those
who “harass or willfully, maliciously
and repeatedly follow another person
or make a credible threat against that
person.”
The bill would make stalking a
Class I misdemeanor for the first of
fense and a Class IV felony for fol
lowing offenses, including a penally
of up to five years in jail and a S10,000
fine.
Robak, who made LB 1098 her
priority bill, said the need to make
stalking a crime had existed fora long
time.
The only legal recourse now avail
able for victims of stalking is to get a
protection order on the stalker, she
said.
But Robak said protection orders
only applied to cases in which the
victim and the stalker were married,
See STALK on 2
Government demands cleanup
of contaminated nuclear sites.
Page 2
VA, INDEX
Wire 2
Opinion 4
Diversions 5
Sports 13
Classifieds 13
Diver
sions looks
at people in
the neigh
borhood.
Page 5
Huskers
tune up for
weekend with 18 4 i
Wasburn in baseball. Page 13