The Washington Blade, April 3, 1987

              April 3, 1907 • vol. _ 750 Outside of D.C./Baltimore Areas
THE GAY WEEKLY OF THE NATION'S CAPITAL
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Md. repeal effort fails in committee; delay in vote blamed
by Rick Harding ,
The Judiciary Committee of the
Maryland House of Delegates Saturday
defeated, by a vote of 15 to 7, a bill to repeal
the state's sodomy law.
Supporters of the bill expressed surprise
over the lopsided voting . margin and
attributed the resounding loss largely to the
month-long lag between hearings on the bill
and the committee vote.
One committee member, who asked not .
to be identified, said committee Chairman
William Home (D-Eastern Shore), who .
had gone on record opposing the bill,
apparently delayed the vote on the bill to
increase its chance of failure.
Delegate Ken Montague (D-Baltimore
City), who led support for the bill in the -
committee, said that shortly after the bill's
hearing on March 4, there appeared to be
enough votes on the committee to pass the
legislation.
"But as the weeks wore on, and as those
on the,committee who opposed the bill
• lobbied hard against it," Montague said,
support dwindled.
Montague called the delay in voting on
the bill "unusual" and noted that the
committee voted much earlier on several
bills which received committee hearings
after the sodomy bill hearing. '
Continued on page 6
Direct mail to Gay markets: 'How did they get my name?'
From groups to
guessing zip codes
' by Katherine Bourdonnay
and Larry Hartsell -
When you go out to pick up your mail
and find a fundraising letter from a group
you have never heard' of before, do you
pause for a second and ask yourself: How
did they get my name?
To answer that question it helps if you
have an appreciation for just how large
and sophisticated the direct mail industry
is in this country. According to Karen
Wysocki, spokeswoman for Direct
Marketing Association in New York,
$63 billion in the sale of goods and
services was generated through direct
mail in- 1983, the last,,year for which
statistics were available. An estimated
$31.9 billion, was raised for charities in
1985 through direct mail solicitation.
With that kincl of money at stake, •
compiling lists of people *likely to
contribute or buy has become big and
Continued on page 12
Utah DJ took her
bar's list to court
Gay and Lesbian membership lists are
"a multi-edged sword," according to
Babs DeLay, a Salt Lake City disc jockey
who felt the sword's sharp edge. DeLay
warned that neither bar owners nor
patrons should take membership lists
lightly.
DeLay, who became entangled in a
basketball coach's 1984 libel lawsuit,
spoke to The Washington Blade about
the role a membership list played in the
Outcome of that trial.
Jn 1983, DeLay was a Salt Lake City
disc jockey with a successful radio
program and a reputation for packing
• them in at Puss 'n' Boots, a Lesbian bar
where she worked. DeLay says she
.X offered more.
B "I was a performing disc jockey," she
• says, explaining that she sang along with
the songs and kept the patrons
entertained. On an average Saturday
Continued on page 12
Britt narrows the gap; but 50 percent are still undecided
by Lou Chibbaro Jr.
and Lisa M. Keen
San Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt's
campaign to become the nation's first open
Gay to be elected to Congress as a non-incumbent
is entering its, final three days;
and results of a poll just released by the daily
San Francisco Examiner show Britt trailing
Opponent Nancy Pelosi by 1.1 points.
Britt supporters, while questioning the
poll's reliability, say the poll nevertheless
indicates that Britt has narrowed Pelosi's
lead. An. Examiner poll taken two weeks
ago showed Britt trailing by 18 points.
The latest poll notwithstanding, the
campaign to fill the seat left vacant by the
death of Rep: Sala Burton (D-Calif.) has
generated a great deal of activity and
controversy within the Gay community.
With the special election .set for Tuesday,
both Britt and Pelosi supporters agree that
the Examiner poll correctly shows that the
race has settled into a contest between AO
and Pelosi. The 12 other candidates in the
race for the 5th Congressional seat have
slipped below, 3 percentage points or less
each, according to the poll.
But while much of the attention in the
final week of the campaign.has been focused
on polls, a controversy has persisted within
a segment .of Gay community which claims
that not enough attention has been given to-
Britt's shortcomings.
While the overwhelming majority of Gay
activists are endorsing Britt, others tontend
that a considerable number of Gays have
concerns about Britt's shortcomings as an
elected official. They also contend that Britt
supporters are "pressuring" activists .to
endorse Britt publicly but that a number of
activists who have done so are saying
privately that they will not vote for him.
Kim Corsaro, editor of the Gay monthly
Coming Up!, said Britt's eight-year record
oh the city's Board of Supervisors indicates
he has failed to push effectively for rn
legislation of interest to the Gay
community.
Corsaro and San Francisco activist Ron
Baker have charged that Dritt has shown a
lack of interest in working with many local
Gay groups: Long-time Lesbian activist Del
Martin says Britt has particular difficulty
working with Lesbian city officials.
Jo Daly, a Lesbian activist who served on
the city's police commission for several
years, said Britt sat on complaints from the
Gay community about police treatment
rather than bring the complaints up with
her. Juanita Owens, who took Daly's seat
on the commission, said she finds Britt
"approachable," although there is "not a lot
of dialogue" between her office ind Britt's.
Owens and others say some in the Gay
community are still bitter over allegations
that Britt lobbied Mayor Dianne Feinstein
to appoint hiiirto replace Harvey Milk after
Milk's assassination in 1979. They say the
Gay community at the time was pushing for
another Milk associate, Anne Kronenberg,
to get the job.
Baker„ in a February 23 column in the
New York Native, said Britt exhibits
"weak" leadership. As an example, he said
in 1984, Britt appeared to waffle on whether
the city should close bathhouses because of
the ADIS epidemic.
"As the debate raged on and the tide
moved from one side of the argument to the
other," wrote Baker, "Britt made
ameliorating noises, first to one side, then to
the other, following the tide."
Baker and others also charge that Britt
"dropped the ball" on the highly
controversial "domestic partnership" bill in
1982. The bill was approved by the Board
but quickly vetoed by Feinstein. Baker
complained that Britt was out of town on a
speaking tour for the Democratic Socialist
Organizing Committee, of which he was an
officer, at the time of the veto and that he
failed to return to the city to orchestrate an
override.
Britt supporters refute
But Britt and his supporters argue that
there were not enough votes to override
Feinstein's veto of the domestic partnership
bill and say that most of the criticism of his
leadership as supervisor has been both
exaggerated and motivated by various
players within Gay community's
internecine factions.
A number of Lesbian feminist attorneys
Continued on page 7
Waldorf-Astoria takes a
walk on the wild side 3
Grave marker's mystery
is unveiled 7
Gay alumni groups bask
in popularity 11
PBS to air documentary
on Rita Mae Brown. 19