`waltz' Crosses Emotional Landscape

1when Harry Met Coach, 
He Got Back His Future 
Meet Harry Barnes, First-year Student At Luzerne County Community College.

By P. DOUGLAS FILAROSKI; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Thursday, February 10, 1994 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1A QUICK WORDS: IN WAKE OF OUTCRY 





WILKES-BARRE -- A month after the City Council faced a firestorm of protest
over a council member's anti-gay remarks, the body will consider making amends
tonight with gay-rights legislation. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Council member Al Boris -- who said at a December meeting that gays should
be shot, but later apologized -- even may support the anti-discrimination and
hate-crime laws going before the council at 7 tonight. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "I'm thinking about it. I'm reading over the ordinance very carefully to
see how it fits in with my views," he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Boris' wife, Luanne, said she thinks her husband will support it. "He
thinks (homosexuality) is immoral and unnatural, but that you shouldn't
discriminate against them," she said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The proposal, suggested by council member Phil McCabe, would amend the
city's Human Relations ordinance, which prohibits discrimination based on
race, religion, sex, age and marital status. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The 1967 local law covers the areas of housing, public accommodations,
employment and lending practices. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 While thinking about adding sexual orientation to the protected classes,
the council will consider making crimes motivated by perceived sexual
orientation a separate offense under the ordinance. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The council also will vote on a resolution supporting state legislation to
add such acts to the state criminal code. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Steve Hempker, who headed an effort to urge the council to enact laws
protecting gays, called the council's taking up of the issue "an important
first step." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "It's one of the steps that would be necessary to have a meaningful change
in city law," Hempker said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The city also would need to revitalize its Human Relations Commission,
Hempker said. It was created to enforce the law by hearing grievances and
making findings. The law gives the city the authority to prosecute violators,
who could face fines up to $600. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But the commission, also formed in 1967, has been dormant since the terms
of its members expired in 1983. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "As I recall ... the few of us that were active were acting without support
of other members. ... We never had a quorum," said Charles Petrillo, who
served on the commission from 1976 to 1983. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Mayor Lee Namey said he supports the changes the council is contemplating.
He pledged Wednesday to jump-start the commission by appointing 11 new members
with the help of an agency he wants to form that would do work on ethnic and
bias-related issues. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I'm very happy to see council take this kind of initiative. ... I support
what they are doing," Namey said. "There are going to be a lot of proactive
things, as well." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Council members were less forthcoming with their views. When called about
the issue Wednesday, chairman Phil Latinski said he's keeping his opinions to
himself. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I don't feel anyone should reveal how they are going to vote until they
vote. The people will know how I feel about the issue on Thursday," he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The proposal was prompted by council member Philip McCabe, who agreed to
take up the issue at the urging of several members of the gay community. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 More than 150 people crowded into City Council chambers last month to
protest remarks Boris made at a Dec. 22 meeting in response to a Kingston
resident's complaint that men were having sex in a city park. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The veteran council member -- still remembered for his opposition to a
touring performance of the risque revue "Oh! Calcutta" in Wilkes-Barre -- also
said gays who contract AIDS "get what they deserve." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In a follow-up interview, he said many gays are child molesters. At last
month's meetings, he expressed his concern about gays "dragging" mentally
retarded people into a city park for sex. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The council was forced into an abrupt adjournment of its early January
meeting, and police escorted members out of the building. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Since then, the tone of the debate has quieted, with local gay activists
speaking up in fewer numbers and shifting their focus from calls for Boris'
resignation to local gay-rights legislation. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Al Boris

In Wake Of Outcry, City Council Will Consider Gay-rights Measures