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Newsgroups: alt.censorship,alt.college,alt.college.us,alt.freedom.academic,alt.homosexual,alt.homosexual.lesbian,alt.politics.homosexuality,alt.politics.homosexual,fl.general,fl.news,fl.politics,info.academic-freedom,soc.college,soc.bi,soc.motss
Subject: FL Senator: Stop gay diver's talk
From: mdallara@kcii.com (Mark Dallara)
Date: Mon, 03 Feb 1997 04:41:54 GMT

[NOTE: Contact information for Senator John Grant's office, and for Tampa
Bay newspapers, is included at the end of this post.]

From the website of the St. Petersburg Times:
http://www.times.st-pete.fl.us/News2/12597/NATIONAL/Senator.html

	Senator: Stop gay diver's talk

	By MONICA DAVEY
	©St. Petersburg Times, published January 25, 1997 
	
	TAMPA - Olympic gold medalist Greg Louganis,
	considered by some the greatest diver of all time, should
	not speak at the University of South Florida this spring
	because he will "promote homosexuality." 

	So says state Sen. John Grant, R-Tampa, in a letter to
	USF President Betty Castor. 

	"First of all, such a presentation represents moral
	decadence, and is an embarrassment to the university
	community," said Grant's letter of Jan. 14. 

	"I fully recognize the right of the gay community to practice
	their lifestyle, but to promote it as a university event gives
	it a different kind of sanction," said the letter, written on
	Senate letterhead. 

	As chairman of the Senate Education Committee and a
	member of a committee that works on the state budget,	
	Grant added, "I am going to be looking closely at these
	kinds of fiscal abuses."... 


Senator Grant should be heartily and openly criticized for:
 
(a) having the arrogance to attempt to bully USF into revoking a speaking
invitation on ANY grounds,
(b) exhibiting basic hypocrisy by shifting gears and opposing the speech
on fiscal grounds (Leonard Nimoy will get $11,000 more to speak later in
the semester),
(c) being ignorant enough to say that a gay speaker will "promote" or
"sanction" homosexuality, and that such sanctioning is a basis for keeping
a speaker off campus.

The senator does have a right to express his views, homophobic as they may
be, but he does not have a right to abuse his power as a member of the
education and budget committees.  YOU have a right to express your views
to him directly...

CONTACT INFORMATION:
To make your voice heard on this issue, contact the following:

Florida State Senator John Grant, R-Tampa
813-975-6658
(look for a fax number soon)
grantj@leg.mail.ufl.edu
610 W. Waters Ave.
Suite A
Tampa, FL  33604

USF Oracle (campus paper)
www.oracle.usf.edu 
(site is down, letters email address unknown)

Weekly Planet (alternative newsweekly)
Planetoids@aol.com

St. Petersburg Times (best daily)
letters@sptimes.com

Tampa Tribune (2nd-best daily)
tribletters@tampatrib.com 

--
Mark Dallara
mdallara@kcii.com