U.S.A.
WHERE:
■ In front of Wescop Hall. If it's raining,
the booth will be under the overhang.
■ Rotunda of Strong Hall.
■ Fourth-floor lobby of the Kansas Union.
■ Lobby of the Burge Union.
■ Sidewalk on the north side of Robinson
Student Senate Elections
TODAY and TOMORROW
8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The Kansas and Burge Union
iohs are open until 7 p.m. today only.
TO VOTE:
Bring your KUID.
You must be enrolled in at least one credit hour at the Lawrence campus to vote.
Vote
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOL.103,NO.135
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
KANSAS STATE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
TOPEKA KS 66612
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 1994
(USPS 650-640)
THE NIGHT HATRED ETCHED ITS SCARS
Michael Lovegrove was taken to a park seven years ago where he was beaten and left lying covered with blood because he was gay.
NEWS:864-4810
Doug Hesse/KANSAN
By Denise Nell
Michael Lovegrove, now a Lawrence resident, was in a good mood that Saturday in October of 1987, considering all that was going on in his life.
Kansan staff writer
So far, his senior year at Campus High in Haysville, a town of about 9,000 people about a mile outside Wichita, hadn't been spectacular. He didn't have many friends. He felt alienated at school. Even worse, he was trying to hide his homosexuality and his boyfriend from his parents and everyone he knew.
Michael Lovegrove tried to hide his homosexuality from his parents and friends. But in October of 1987, his secret was revealed when six men beat him and left him lying in a park.
But he had decided to put it all out of his mind. It was homecoming night, and he and his friend Troy had decided to stop by Pizza Hut for dinner.
At the restaurant, Lovegrove noticed two classmates from his high school sitting nearby but thought nothing of it.
What he didn't realize was that the two were watching him.
He also didn't notice that the two were following him when he went to a mall in Wichita to return a shirt to Dillard's. He didn't see them following him while he walked from store to store, killing time until the mail closed at 9 p.m.
He also didn't notice the two waiting for him outside of his friend's house, where he went after the mall and staved until about midnight.
So when he drove to a nearby gas station before driving home to Haysville, Lovegrove wasn't concerned when the two pulled up in a pickup truck followed by a car that contained four of their friends.
He had known the six since kindergarten and recognized one of them as a friend, the son of a woman with whom his mother worked at a nursing home.
The group told Lovegrove that they were going to a party at a park near the gas station. They asked him to come along.
Lovegrove declined the invitation,
but they became more and more insistent. Finally, not knowing what to do and beginning to panic, Lovegrove agreed and got into the truck.
When they got to the park, Lovegrove became concerned. It was dark, and there was no sign of a party anywhere. Also, the park they had chosen was known around Wichita as a haven for homosexuals.
They took him back to a wooded area of the park and gave him a beer. They began to talk to him and were friendly. Lovegrove began to relax.
He didn't even think to pay for the gas. He left his car sitting at the pump at the gas station.
"Where did you get the car?" they asked. "Did your parents buy you the car? Is your jewelry real? Is that real gold? You're just a snob, aren't you? You're just a stuck-up rich boy."
Lovegrove realized that something was wrong. The six circled around him. One pinned him down with his arms behind his back. They took his necklace and the two rings he had been wearing.
"Are you a faggot?" they asked.
"No! Lovegrove sobbed. He couldn't admit it. To confirm rumors of his homosexuality would ensure his alienation at school. And he couldn't let his parents find out.
Then they began to beat him. They kicked and punched him. They began to tear his clothes off his body. One of them pulled out a gun.
See REFLECTING. Page 5.
Gay-bashing a reality, even in 'safe' towns
By Denise Nell Kansan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
Although lesbian, bisexual and gay students say they feel relatively safe at the University of Kansas, that does not mean that gay bashing doesn't happen here.
"It happens, but given the visibility of our community, it's not as prevalent as one would expect," said Eric Moore, Lawrence senior and co-coordinator of LiesBiGawareness Week.
Cindy Alliss, community education and media officer for the KU police, said that KU police did not distinguish gay bashing from any other type of assault and, therefore, had no way of knowing how often it occurred on campus.
Theresa Martin, a Kansas City, Mo., sophomore who has twice been a victim of gay bashing, said she thought that both the KU and Lawrence police were helpful and understanding when dealing with gay-bashing incidents.
department, said that on an assault report, an officer was required to record whether the beating was an incident of gay bashing. However, that information is not kept on file at the department but is sent to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's Crime Statistics department.
Mark Brothers, lieutenant in charge of the Crime Analysis Unit for the Lawrence police
said. "Gay bashing is an extreme example of how you can get away with hurting someone."
"I think we feel safe in Lawrence," she said. "I feel safer in Lawrence than I do in Kansas City. The police are pretty understanding."
Three area victims and survivors of gay bashing, including Moore and Michael Lovegrove, Lawrence resident, will speak about their experiences at noon today in front of Wescos Hall.
People who target and beat lesbian, bisexual and gay people typically are reacting to their own fears. Martin said.
Janet Pryor, Scammon senior and co-coordinator of the awareness week, said she hoped that those who heard the victims' stories learned something about gay bashing.
"It's fear, and it's hatred of the unknown," she
Schedule of events
"Ihope they will learn that gay bashing is a reality," she said. "These people are living proof. They've been there and been bashed, not because of the kind of person they are, but because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and let the wrong person know they were queer."
Today
Panel Discussion: "Experiences of Victim/Survivors of Queer Bashing" —noon In front of Wescoe Hall
"Come-Out-a-Thon" — postponed from Monday — 1 p.m.
In front of Wescoe Hall
Alcove B, Kansas Union
Graduate Lecture Series: D.W. Steward, department of English 4 a.m.
Alcove B, Kansas Union
Play: "Ladies on the Couch" — 7 p.m.
Woodruff Auditorium, Kansas Union
Free event to educate KU students on issues
KANSAN
By Heather Moore Kansan staff writer
Last night it appeared that Hawk the Vote, a free concert to entice students to vote in Student Senate elections, would be canceled because of rain.
But within an hour, a suitable off-campus location was found — The Wagon Wheel Cafe. 507 W. 14th St.
David Hardy, associate director of the Organizations and Activities Committee, said the original location — on Campanile hill — was unusable.
"Basically, I checked with facilities operations," he said. "With the recent rain and 18,000 people, there would have been a mudslide. There is no approved backup site."
Hawk the Vote, which will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow, was started by the IGNITE coalition to get students who normally do not vote involved, Hizer said.
After discovering that the event was canceled, Ami Hizer, Liberal Arts and Sciences senator and IGNITE candidate for a Liberal Arts and Sciences seat, said that she was glad that she had found a place to relocate the event to but that she was upset about its near cancellation.
The event is sponsored by the IGNITE coalition, Hizer said.
"It's really a voter rally," she said. "Your vote is your voice. We would like to increase voter participation."
Local bands Hatful of Rain, Love Squad, Pilgrimage, Shoot out the Lights and Crap Supper will perform.
Tonya Cole, Liberal Arts and Sciences senator and IGNITE candidate for Senate vice president, said the event would make students more aware of campaign issues.
"My goal is to make sure awareness is increased." she said.
Desey Tziortiz, Student Union Activities live music coordinator, said that SUA had nothing to do with Hawk the Vote and was impartial.
"When we were approached, they told us it was a nonpartisan event," she said. "Now it promotes IGNITE. I'm completely uninvolved."
Tziortzis said IGNITE originally had wanted to use the plaza in front of the Kansas Union. But because the Union is a part of the University, it could not be used, she said.
Eric Medill, holdover senator and YOU candidate for Senate vice president, said he was glad that Hawk the Vote was taking place.
"The concept is great," he said. "I wish we'd been asked to help. Who knows? Maybe it will work out, and we can get 26,999 votes."
Medill said that although he thought that the concert was a good idea, he wasn't sure that IGNITE could handle the large project by itself.
"Logistically, I don't know if it can be done," he said.
Sisterhood
Critics of sororities may be surprised to learn that the first sorority women were considered feminists and that modern sororities are getting back to their roots.
Pulitzers given for raising awareness
The Associated Press
The Times won its first Pulitzer for photography in addition to prizes for features and spot news. The Chicago Tribune claimed prizes for R. Bruce Dold's editorials on child abuse and Ronald Kotulak's explanatory journalism.
NEW YORK — The New York Times added three Pulitzers to boost its collection to 69 yesterday in a contest that honored gut-wrenching photographs and stories about victims of radiation.
"We were kind of hoping for more than one," said Max Frankel, the Times' retiring executive editor. "It's my last as editor. What a way to go!"
In the arts, Edward Albee ended a nearly 20-year drought of commercial and artistic recognition, capturing the 1994 Pulitzer in drama for "Three Tall Women."
The other arts winners were E. Annie Proulx, fiction; former Washington Post reporter David Remnick, general nonfiction;
biographer David Levering Lewis; poet Yusef Komunyakaa and composer Gunther Schuller. No history award was given.
The national reporting prize went to Eileen Welsome of New Mexico's The Albuquerque Tribune for her stories about Americans unwittingly used in government plutonium experiments a half-century ago.
The feature writing prize went to Isabel Wilkerson of the Times.
The Times captured its first photography prize for free-lancer Kevin Carter's feature photograph of a vulture hovering over a starving Sudanese girl who had collapsed on her way to a feeding center.
The other journalism winners were:
The Providence Journal-Bulletin in Rhode Island, investigative reporting, for stories on corruption within the state's court system.
The Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio, public service journal, for its coverage of local racial attitudes and its attempts to improve communication in that community.
William Raspberry of The Washington Post, commentary.
Lloyd Schwartz of the Boston Phoenix; for his criticism of classical music.
Michael P. Ramirez of the Commercial Appeal of Memphis, Tenn., editorial cartooning.
Eric Freedman and Jim Mitzefeld of The Detroit News, beat report, for stories on spending abuse in the Michigan House Fiscal Agency, which does budget analysis for the state House of Representatives.
The winners were announced by Columbia University, which administers the Pulitzer competition. Each award carries a cash prize of $3,000 except the public service award, which comes with a good medal. $24,500.
Paul Watson of The Toronto Star, spot news photography, for his picture of a U.S. soldier's body being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, by a jeering mob.
The winners
Spot news reporting The New York Times staff.
Some of the Pulitzer Prize winners for Journalism were:
York Times staff.
Investigative reporting — The Providence (R.I.) Journal-Bulletin staff.
National reporting — Eileen Wel some of The Albuquerque (N.M.) Tribune.
international reporting — The Dallas Morning News staff.
**Feature writing** — Isabel Wilkerson of The New York Times.
**Feature photography** — Kevin Carter, free-lancer, The New York Times.
KANSAN
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