Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 7, No. 27, Ed. 1 Friday, November 2, 1990 Page: 3 of 36
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This Week
NEWS
The General Election, set for Tuesday,
dominates this week’s news as we
spotlight local and state races of spe
cial interest to gays and lesbians. Also
— a look at the North Carolina Senate
race, where challenger Harvey Gantt
is leading in the polls over anti gay
Sen. Jesse Helms.
FORUM 7
Opinion by Stan Aten, president of
Metroplex Republicans, and Tim
Thetford, a member of the State
Democratic Executive Committee;
Letters.
CALENDAR 11
Events scheduled over the next ten
days: Announcements; Gay Broad
cast listings.
PROFILE 14
Dalkts artist Siros designs promotion
al materials for the AIDS Resource
Center and Brian's House.
TRAVEL
Two common gay/lesbian travel des-
tinations — San Francisco and
Washington, D C. — plus info on this
season’s RSVP tours.
THEATER 23
A review of ‘The Inspector General,'
onstage at the Dallas Theater Center.
GOSSIP 23
Timesaving tips from Heda the ef
ficiency expert.
VOICE
THE COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
FOR GAY AND LESBIAN DALLAS
©1990, VOICE PUBLISHING CO... INC
521-3230 521-3239
ADVERTISING NEWS
Robert Moore Dennis Vercher
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR EDITOR
Tim Self TimmytNish
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
John Bode
GRAPHIC ARTIST
Lee Lynch Heda Quote
Jerry Garrett David Taffet
Alien SmalKng Dell Richards
Sieve Tracy Steve Warren
Cliff O'Neill PaulVarneD
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Gabriel Vangelys James Crook
PHOTOGRAPHER CIRCULATION
DonRitz
CONTROLLER
DIRECT CORRESPONDENCE TO.
DAUAS VOICE
2525 WYCLIFF AVENUE, SUITE 123
DALLAS, TX 75219
Paid advertising copy represents the claim(s) of the adver-
tiser. False or misleading information should be brought to the
attention of the Director of Advertising.
The Dallas Voice reserves the right to make its own inde-
pendent judgment as to the suitability of advertising copy, illus-
trations and/or photographs
UnsoScited manuscripts are welcomed and we wil exer-
cise care in their handling. We cannot, however guarantee
their safe return.
\News
Gay voters find friends
and enemies on ballot
LEADERS STRESS IMPORTANCE OF CASTING BALLOT NOV. 6
By TAMM YE NASH
election year — which will
jt be remembered as the first to
m see a large number of state-
JL. wide candidates seeking and
receiving endorsements from
lesbian/gay political organizations —
will end Tuesday, Nov. 6 with the gen-
eral election, and local political activists
stress the importance of a large turnout
of gay and lesbian voters.
“This is a very, very important elec-
tion, and hopefully lots of people will
get out and vote,” said Bill Travis, chair
of the Dallas Gay Political Caucus, the
political action committee of the Dallas
Gay Alliance.
“A lot of people have said they are
totally fed up with the mudslinging, es-
pecially in the governor’s race by both
candidates. But we need to remember
that there are basic differences in [the
gubernatorial candidates’] views on our
rights, and those views can’t be ig-
nored,” Travis said. “I have had a lot of
people tell me ‘My vote won’t matter.’
But there are several instances in history
where races have been decided by one
vote or a small number of votes. That
could definitely be the case this year
where so many of the races are so
close. Everyone needs to get out and
vote, and vote all the way down the bal-
lot. There are people in down-ballot
races who need our support and who
will support us if they get elected.”
Peter Brooks, co-chair of Dallas’
Lesbian/Gay Political Coalition, said that
the lesbian/gay community in Texas is
“really at a crossroads” with this elec-
tion. “If [Democratic gubernatorial can-
didate! Ann Richards, [Democratic lieu-
tenant governor candidate] Bob Bullock,
[Democratic Attorney General candidate]
Dan Morales, [Democratic Agriculture
Commissioner candidate] Jim Hightower,
[Democratic Supreme Court Chief Justice
candidate] Oscar Mauzy and [Supreme
Court Place 2 candidate] Bob Gammage
are elected, we will be sending a strong
message to the right-wing opposition
that their gay-baiting, hate-mongering
tactics don’t work anymore. It would be
impossible to exaggerate the importance
of electing Richards and Bullock and the
others I mentioned.”
Brooks added that although he can
usually predict by this time “whether
our side is going to win or lose, this
year it’s just so close I can’t tell. We’ve
got to vote. Get your neighbors to go
out and vote. It’s all going to be a mat-
ter of turn-out."
LGPC co-chair Deborah Wood
agrees: “Turn-out is everything this year.
The governor’s race is basically in a
dead heat, and our community has an
opportunity to really make a difference
in this general election. 1 don’t think
we’ll get credit for making a difference,
but that’s okay. What matters is that the
right people gel elected.”
Wood said that at this point, “we
just have to wait and see what happens
on election day. Traditionally,
Democrats turn out heavily on election
day, while Republicans were the ones
who have always really gotten our their
absentee votes. But the whole thing of
absentee voting has changed, and we’re
seeing a huge absentee turn-out this
year. So far the Democrats seem to be
holding their own in the absentee vot-
ing. And the bigger turn-out has tradi-
tionally been an advantage for the
Democrats.”
"This is a very serious election,"
Wood warned. "A lot of people are
caught up in the governor’s race, but
they need to think about those down-
ballot races, too,” Wood said.
On a local level, two of the most
important contested races involve the
16th State Senatorial District and the
107th State Representative district.
The 16th Senatorial District race is a
face-off between incumbent Republican
John Leedom and his opponent, openly
gay Democrat Jack Borden. Leedom’s
record plants him firmly on the conser-
vative side of the fence, and in public
statements he has opposed the repeal of
Section 21.06 of the Texas Penal Code
which criminalizes private, consensual
sexual contact between adults of the
same gender, and he has called abortion
“murder any way you add it up.” He
also introduced legislation that would
charge any woman or doctor involved
in an abortion with a second degree
felony. Leedom describes himself as “a
champion of not wasting the taxpayers’
money,” and readily admits he will not
get votes from many gays or lesbians.
Borden, on the other hand, has
vowed, if elected, to introduce legisla-
tion in the Senate to repeal 21.06. He
claims he is a staunch supporter of the
right to privacy and a woman’s right of
choice. Borden’s main issues in his cam-
paign have centered on cleaning up the
state’s education system and prison sys-
tem, as well as women’s issues.
Contradicting most mainstream po-
litical observers, Wood said that Borden
“has a good chance” of winning in his
race against Leedom. “I haven’t seen
any of the polls on that race, but Jack
has run an incredible campaign. He has
gotten all sorts of endorsements, and he
has gotten a lot of attention. But it’s all
going to depend on the turn-out. [Bor-
den] needs some help. He’s in a tough
race. But if folks will get out and vote in
that election, they can really help him.”
Travis agrees that “Borden has a lot
of support around the district, and he
really has a chance at defeating Lee-
dom," whom Travis called "the Jesse
Helms of Texas.”
Brooks said that while Borden faces
an “uphill battle,” the Democrat is “the
first one in years to launch a concerted
effort against John Leedom. [Borden] de-
serves our support and our respect”
Brooks also said that “it was a big
disappointment" that both Dallas daily
newspapers “failed to pick up on what
an extremist John Leedom is. He’s made
such a fool of himself over the years. He
voted not to fund shelters for battered
women because he said it would en-
courage the break-up of families. And
his attempt to get protection for faith
healers under Texas law was also pretty
embarrassing for the district”
Local politicos are fairly certain that
incumbent Democrat David Cain does
not face any real tl -eat from his Repub-
lican opponent Kenneth Green in the
race for the 107th District seat in the
House of Representatives — although
Green seeks support among gay and
lesbian voters and has promised to sup-
port their issues.
“District 107 is one of the most lib-
eral and Democratic districts in the state,
and I anticipate David will be re-elect-
ed,” Brooks said. “[Cain] obviously has
the support of a vast majority of [the
gay/lesbian] community. There just can
be no doubt about the contributions
David has made over the years to our
community, and if David were elected
speaker of the House, life would be a
whole lot easier for our community.
He’s liberal, a progressive, a real friend
of our community, and he has a real
chance to become Speaker of the
House. That would give us a real oppor-
tunity to make some important inroads.”
Travis agreed that Cain “looks pretty
good.” He added that “I’m hoping David
will do well because he’s been a friend
of our community for a long time, and
THE DALLAS VOICE ▼ NOVEMBER 2, IBM
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Vercher, Dennis. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 7, No. 27, Ed. 1 Friday, November 2, 1990, newspaper, November 2, 1990; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth615896/m1/3/?q=%22gay+urban+truth+squad%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.