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A PUBLICATION FOR THE GAY COMMUNITY SEPT. 13, 1979 INS Ignores New Policy Lesbians Turned Back En Masse At Borde'r P.erslstence: Pay,S Ott by Larry Bush Outgoing Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS] Commissioner Leonel Castillo has ordered an investigation into his agency's behavior following a three day incident that saw scores of Lesbians turned back at U.S. border points in direct violation of his new INS policy directives. A! least 55 women were turned back at points along the _ Canadian border from August 22 to 24 when they sought to attend the Fourth Annual Michigan Women's Music Festivai at Hesperin, Michigan. The festival is a major event for women in the United States and Canada, drawing a record 8,000 participants this year. At Port Huron, Michigan, however, INS officials· turned back women believed to be Lesbians or suspected of attending the festival. INS officers said later they had not yet officially received word of Castillo's August .Streei Crime Takes A Nosedive by Don Leavitt On August 26, 1978, a Gay man was attacked as he left a Gay bar. Chlorine bleach was thrown into his eyes and while he was helpless his assailants robbed him. This brutal incident was only one of many - assaults, rapes, and robberies directed against Gays during l 978's crime wave. Police said there was little they could do since Gays wouldn't report the crimes. The criminals themselves realized Gays were afraid to speak out and could be easily victimized. When the attacks became a weekly occurence, the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) decided it was time to counter the problem. ,The, C rime and Police Project was formed to . . find. ways to reduce this threat to the Gay community. Larry Kamins and Tom Lowderbaugh were set up as co-coordinators. Kamins was known for his animated and radical style while Lciwderbaugh was quieter yet equally as intense, and together they formed a partnership. With a handful of dedicated workers they tackled the crime problem. Habits of the Gay community made it easy prey for victimization and it was felt that with some education this could be changed. Gays who parked their cars in dark alleys, left valuables under the seat or in the trunk, walked alone, or didn't report crime_s made robbery an easy_ profession. By passing out leaflet's with such Once Too Often by Steve Martz A stranger glancing at Chrisopher · Lloyd would probably think him an agreeable young man. Not strikingly handsome., but definitely agreeable: A full crop of darkly blond hair. A ready smile. The well-proportioned body of an athlete. A stranger who approached Christopher might find conversation with him an easy affair. Like many 18 year olds, Christopher loves to talk, especially when the topic is himself or his opinion. He can be engagingly forward, despite a slow southernish drawl. A stranger may quickly discover most of the facts of Christopher's life. He just graduated from Washi_ngton-Lee High School, where· he played on the football team. He has a dark tattoo on his right shoulder, which he occasionally rolls up his sleeve to display. He is engaged to be married. He isn't planning to go to college. This may be because he is happy - with his new job, which pays about S4 an \.. . - hour and offers him overtime (although he isn't paid time-and-a-half for it). He is confident he will make even more money after his boss sends him .to investigator's school. But a stranger must be careful not to say or do the wrong thing around Christopher. Christopher works for a private security firm called Arlington Protective Agency. The firm recently gained the attention of local Gays when it began using undercover officers to entrap Gay men around the Buckingham Shopping Center in Arlington, Va. The shopping center has been a cruising area for Gay men for many years, according t~ both former and present residents of the neighborhood. Christopher Lloyd, by his own account, was the undercover decoy who made the first four arrests there, all within a two hour period in the early morning hours of August 14. Continued on page 18 · titles as "Queer Bashing Kills - Are You Responsible?" and by speaking to interested groups, project members began to get the word out. Cruising 9th Street /n a squad car. -page 18 Not leaving a bar alone was one of the simplest steps a patron could take. Lowderbaugh joked that people should use as a line "I'll walk you to your car if you 'II drive me to mine." And project members were amazed at how many people parked in lonely areas and then proceeded to unload expensive coats, wallets, and C.B. radios into the trunk. Burglars would wait in the shadows and break into the car once the owner had left. One man lefr his wallet in his car and when he returned it was gone. The wallet contained $1,100. However, project members felt that most of the problems could be blamed on the police. "The police were not doing their jobs," says Kamins. Police patrols were few and far between in the Gay business areas, and when a crime was reported, officers were often less than cooperative. GAA decided to go right to the top and mandated the project to meet with Police Chief Burtell Jefferson. A White Paper on crime . in Gay areas was researched so that the Chief could have background information on the problem, and in October 1978 the meeting was held. In that meeting with the Chief and in a June 1979 meeting, several substantial accords were hashed o.ut. Where most citizen groups simply ask .for "better police protection" the project requested specific actions Continued on page 18 10 'policy directive that admits "suspected" homosexuals into the country on a "deferred" basis and forbids border turnbacks. The Port Huron incidents are believed to exceed any previous INS actions to bar homosexuals, and incidents reported by the • Continued on page 7 March Leaders S~y Problems Are Resolved by Lou Chibbaro, Jr. Despite staff changes in the Washington, D.C. office and the abrupt cancellation of a nationwide travel office in Arizona that included a toll free telephone number, leaders of the National March on Washington for Lesbian and. Gay Rights claim plans for the October 14 event are on schedule. Although they decline to predict t)e number of persons expected to turn out, march spokespersons say the protest will be one of the largest Gay rights demonstrations ever held and will have a "profound effect" on the course of the Gay rights movement for years to come. A Blade spot survey of nine cities - San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Denver, Philadelphia, Miami, Houston, and Akron - indicates that the number of seats reserved on buses and planes far exceeds the actual number of tickets sold. However, march organizers in the various cities· say they are confident the reserved or "blocked" seats will be sold within the next two weeks. The Blade survey also indicates that interest in the march and commitments to come to the nation's capital appear to diminish in areas west of Chicago. In some of the cities, such as Chicago and San Francisco, disagree- Continued on page 19 I: INSIDE: • Guide to Gay Baltimor~ - bars & organizations - page 9 • Introducing a new feature - "Capital -_Dispatches" ~page 5 PLUS: • Wrap Up, Disco Fever, .Community . Focus, Calendar,Directory - and much more!.
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Transcript | A PUBLICATION FOR THE GAY COMMUNITY SEPT. 13, 1979 INS Ignores New Policy Lesbians Turned Back En Masse At Borde'r P.erslstence: Pay,S Ott by Larry Bush Outgoing Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS] Commissioner Leonel Castillo has ordered an investigation into his agency's behavior following a three day incident that saw scores of Lesbians turned back at U.S. border points in direct violation of his new INS policy directives. A! least 55 women were turned back at points along the _ Canadian border from August 22 to 24 when they sought to attend the Fourth Annual Michigan Women's Music Festivai at Hesperin, Michigan. The festival is a major event for women in the United States and Canada, drawing a record 8,000 participants this year. At Port Huron, Michigan, however, INS officials· turned back women believed to be Lesbians or suspected of attending the festival. INS officers said later they had not yet officially received word of Castillo's August .Streei Crime Takes A Nosedive by Don Leavitt On August 26, 1978, a Gay man was attacked as he left a Gay bar. Chlorine bleach was thrown into his eyes and while he was helpless his assailants robbed him. This brutal incident was only one of many - assaults, rapes, and robberies directed against Gays during l 978's crime wave. Police said there was little they could do since Gays wouldn't report the crimes. The criminals themselves realized Gays were afraid to speak out and could be easily victimized. When the attacks became a weekly occurence, the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) decided it was time to counter the problem. ,The, C rime and Police Project was formed to . . find. ways to reduce this threat to the Gay community. Larry Kamins and Tom Lowderbaugh were set up as co-coordinators. Kamins was known for his animated and radical style while Lciwderbaugh was quieter yet equally as intense, and together they formed a partnership. With a handful of dedicated workers they tackled the crime problem. Habits of the Gay community made it easy prey for victimization and it was felt that with some education this could be changed. Gays who parked their cars in dark alleys, left valuables under the seat or in the trunk, walked alone, or didn't report crime_s made robbery an easy_ profession. By passing out leaflet's with such Once Too Often by Steve Martz A stranger glancing at Chrisopher · Lloyd would probably think him an agreeable young man. Not strikingly handsome., but definitely agreeable: A full crop of darkly blond hair. A ready smile. The well-proportioned body of an athlete. A stranger who approached Christopher might find conversation with him an easy affair. Like many 18 year olds, Christopher loves to talk, especially when the topic is himself or his opinion. He can be engagingly forward, despite a slow southernish drawl. A stranger may quickly discover most of the facts of Christopher's life. He just graduated from Washi_ngton-Lee High School, where· he played on the football team. He has a dark tattoo on his right shoulder, which he occasionally rolls up his sleeve to display. He is engaged to be married. He isn't planning to go to college. This may be because he is happy - with his new job, which pays about S4 an \.. . - hour and offers him overtime (although he isn't paid time-and-a-half for it). He is confident he will make even more money after his boss sends him .to investigator's school. But a stranger must be careful not to say or do the wrong thing around Christopher. Christopher works for a private security firm called Arlington Protective Agency. The firm recently gained the attention of local Gays when it began using undercover officers to entrap Gay men around the Buckingham Shopping Center in Arlington, Va. The shopping center has been a cruising area for Gay men for many years, according t~ both former and present residents of the neighborhood. Christopher Lloyd, by his own account, was the undercover decoy who made the first four arrests there, all within a two hour period in the early morning hours of August 14. Continued on page 18 · titles as "Queer Bashing Kills - Are You Responsible?" and by speaking to interested groups, project members began to get the word out. Cruising 9th Street /n a squad car. -page 18 Not leaving a bar alone was one of the simplest steps a patron could take. Lowderbaugh joked that people should use as a line "I'll walk you to your car if you 'II drive me to mine." And project members were amazed at how many people parked in lonely areas and then proceeded to unload expensive coats, wallets, and C.B. radios into the trunk. Burglars would wait in the shadows and break into the car once the owner had left. One man lefr his wallet in his car and when he returned it was gone. The wallet contained $1,100. However, project members felt that most of the problems could be blamed on the police. "The police were not doing their jobs," says Kamins. Police patrols were few and far between in the Gay business areas, and when a crime was reported, officers were often less than cooperative. GAA decided to go right to the top and mandated the project to meet with Police Chief Burtell Jefferson. A White Paper on crime . in Gay areas was researched so that the Chief could have background information on the problem, and in October 1978 the meeting was held. In that meeting with the Chief and in a June 1979 meeting, several substantial accords were hashed o.ut. Where most citizen groups simply ask .for "better police protection" the project requested specific actions Continued on page 18 10 'policy directive that admits "suspected" homosexuals into the country on a "deferred" basis and forbids border turnbacks. The Port Huron incidents are believed to exceed any previous INS actions to bar homosexuals, and incidents reported by the • Continued on page 7 March Leaders S~y Problems Are Resolved by Lou Chibbaro, Jr. Despite staff changes in the Washington, D.C. office and the abrupt cancellation of a nationwide travel office in Arizona that included a toll free telephone number, leaders of the National March on Washington for Lesbian and. Gay Rights claim plans for the October 14 event are on schedule. Although they decline to predict t)e number of persons expected to turn out, march spokespersons say the protest will be one of the largest Gay rights demonstrations ever held and will have a "profound effect" on the course of the Gay rights movement for years to come. A Blade spot survey of nine cities - San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Denver, Philadelphia, Miami, Houston, and Akron - indicates that the number of seats reserved on buses and planes far exceeds the actual number of tickets sold. However, march organizers in the various cities· say they are confident the reserved or "blocked" seats will be sold within the next two weeks. The Blade survey also indicates that interest in the march and commitments to come to the nation's capital appear to diminish in areas west of Chicago. In some of the cities, such as Chicago and San Francisco, disagree- Continued on page 19 I: INSIDE: • Guide to Gay Baltimor~ - bars & organizations - page 9 • Introducing a new feature - "Capital -_Dispatches" ~page 5 PLUS: • Wrap Up, Disco Fever, .Community . Focus, Calendar,Directory - and much more!. |