VOL. 100, NO. 56 (USPS 650-640)
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
MONDAY
NOV. 13, 1989
NEWS:864-4810
Abortion activists clash in protests
Groups rally in Topeka
Stacey Gore/KANSAN
More than 5,000 pro-choice and pro-life groups gather to rally at the steps of the Capitol in Topeka
By Stacy Smith and Derek Schmidt Kansan staff writers
TOPEKA — About 5,000 prochoice marchers and 200 anti-abortion activists clashed on the statehouse grounds yesterday.
Anti-abortion protesters sang "Amazing Grace" in front of the Capitol as a line of pro-choice activists surrounded around the statehouse grounds.
"Here come the baby killers," the anti-abortion group shouted as the marchers converged on the Capitol's south side.
The pro-choice marchers gathered on the Capitol grounds as part of a nationwide demonstration for abortion rights. The march was prompted by the Supreme Court decision to v. Reproductive Services, which allowed states to restrict abortions.
11
I'm thoroughly sick and tired of the innocent slaughter of the thousands of babies at the hands of the Supreme Court whose hands are bloody.
- Jonathan Phelps
Topeka lawyer
More than the 450 KU students participated in the march, said Pam Skarda, coordinator of the KU Pro-Choice Coalition.
Similar marches took place yesterday in each state capital, in Washington, D.C., and in several other cities. The marches were coordinated by Mobilize for Women's Lives, a collection of pro-choice groups.
"While my generation has grown up with legalized abortion, we are reminded of the deaths resulting from illegal, back-alley abortions," Skarda, Omaha, Neb., senior, said. "We won't go back."
Protesters shouted at each other, but no violence was reported by police. "Radical Dudes 4 Pro-Choice" marched next to "Mothers for Pro-choice" and "Quail Hunters for Choice." A large, white poole carried on its back a sign stating, "Pro-baby, pro-choice."
They were countered by protesters carrying anti-abortion sign stating, "I'm Glad My Mom didn't Believe in Abortion" and "At Least Bundy's Victims had a Fighting Chance," comparing abortion to the crimes of serial killer Ted Bundy.
Leah Woodall, Topeka senior, said she decided to join the march
to keep the right to legal abortions open to future generations.
"I want to prove my point. It's a woman's body and she should have that choice, not the court," she said.
One woman, who carried a sign stating "Grandma for Choice," said she had joined the march to end child abuse and five grandchildren.
"This is an important thing I believe in, and I can't count on other people to fight the fight for me," Joan Bennett, of Prairie Ridge, says. "I'm a believer that people can make decisions for themselves."
Anti-abortion activists said abortion was the wrong decision.
"I'm thoroughly sick and tired of the innocent slaughter of the thousands of babies at the hands of the Supreme Court whose hands are bloody," Jonathan Phelps, Topeka lawyer, said.
Organizers said one purpose of the march was to try to influence the abortion debate in the next legislative session and in the 1990 elections. Several political figures were present.
Fred Phelps Jr., a Topke lawyer who intends to run for governor in the 1990 elections, protested with anti-abortion advocates. He said the abortion issue should rise above politics.
"On some issues you don't con-
See MARCH, p. 9
Pro-choicers gain support
The Associated Press
Pro-choice activists rallied from coast to coast yesterday hoping to generate new momentum and illuminate the "darkness of back alley despair."
"I am pro-choice, and I light the light of choice," U.S. Rep. Barbara Boxer told 2,000 cheering demonstrators at a downtown San Francisco park yesterday evening.
The day's events played upon President Bush's thousand points of light theme and began with a sunrise candlight service in Kennebunk, Maine, near Bush's vacation retreat.
Pro-choice activists were energized last week by the success of gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey who support the right to have an abortion.
Pro-choice rallies also were held in Topeka, Lincoln, Neb.; Austin, Texas; Jefferson City, Mo.; New Orleans; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Providence, R.I.; Charleston, W.Va.; Tallahassee, Fl.; Montgomery, Ala.; Oklahoma City; Salt Lake City, Utah; Boise, Idaho; Milwaukee; Chicago; Watertown, N.Y., and Seattle.
Pam Skarda, Omaha, Neb., senior, speaks out about abortion.
Germans continue festivities 3 million go west to celebrate reform
The Associated Press
BERLIN — West Germany's president yesterday urged Western nations to help East Germany recover from the exodus of its citizens, and the mayors of East and West Berlin shook hands in no man's land to usher in a new era of relations.
Another hole was cut through the Berlin Wall to the roaring cheers of spectators. East Berliners continued to flood the western half of the city, buying anything they could afford with their $55 of government "welcome money."
Secretary of State James A. Baker III said yesterday that any U.S. economic aid for East Germany would have to await clear evidence that the East Bloc country was willing to reform its economy, not just open its borders.
The dramatic change unfolding in Berlin is a historic political event, "but it doesn't mean a whole lot in economic terms," Baker said.
But amid the euphoria, there were reminders of the political changes and uncertainty still sweeping through East Germany, which opened in 1938. There was a carving passage through the 28-mile-long Berlin Wall on Friday.
The Communist Party announced an emergency congress for next month, during which party chief Egon Krenz will try to solidify his power base. Krenz indicated that a new Central Committee would be elected to carry out various reforms aimed at stopping East Germans from abandoning their Communist homeland.
"The wall will never be what it used to be. It remains a memorial to inhumanity." West German President Richard von Weizsaeker said in a speech at West Berlin's Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedaechtnis Church. The church, a landmark to World War II destruction, combines the bombed-out ruins of the old Kaiser-Wilhelm church with a modern structure.
“Winter is at the door, the alling have to be taken care of,” von Weisszecker said, alluding to the near decimation of parts of the East German economy and the severe shortage of medical personnel as a result of the recent exodus of East Germans to the West.
Asexual student seeks tolerance
Since Krenz replaced hard-liner Erich Honecker as party chief Oct. 18, 10 full members of the ruling 21-member Politburo have lost their positions. There also has been pressure for the 163-member policy-setting Central Committee to resign.
More than 3 million East Germans headed West during the weekend, while several hundred thousand people made their way to Berlin from other countries to join a 4-day-old celebration.
More than 200,000 East Germans have left East Germany since September. Reports say that medical students have been drafted to work in hospitals to make up for the loss of doctors and nurses.
By Lisa Moss
Kansan staff writer
When Toby was 12 years old, a seat partner riding in a school bus with him turned to him and said, "Are you a boy or a girl?"
Toby, a University of Kansas graduate student, was raised as a girl, but has no female or male genitalia. At the age of 12, he, as Toby prefers to be referred to, realized he was not a girl.
Surprised, Toby responded that he was a girl.
"If you are not a girl what are you?" he said his mother asked when he was 13.
Toby said he had to pause and think about the answer he would give.
Toby did not know what his altern- natives were.
"So I tried being a boy," he said.
"The only difference it made was a different name and different pronouns."
So the question of whether he is a boy or a girl arises.
That question has become one he
Toby has had to be stubborn to survive in a world where there are men's and women's bathrooms, locker rooms and documents that classify people by their gender. There is little tolerance for a person like Toby who refuses to accept the roles society expects him to follow.
hears too often.
The answer: Toby decided he was
correct.
Because Toby fights for who he is, the state of Kansas has a new classification on its computer system for issuing drivers licenses.
In the space that called for male or female to be entered, there is now an entry for a person who is neither male or female.
"I know who I am," he asserts 14 years later.
"I do fight for the integrity of my identity. I don't need social expectations or opinions to justify who I am," Toby said.
Toby said he fought with officials after they told him he would have to specify whether he was male or female. They ended up changing the
Toby has started a support group, Finding Our Own Ways, and puts out a bimonthly newsletter.
Membership is open to anyone who
He said he was not celibate because the word celibate carried the connotation of abstinence.
"Celibate people are either temporarily celibate and are not going to be celibate forever, or are permanently celibate as a matter of abstinence, of giving up something," he has have separated them selfs from their families and neither one of those situations sounded like it matched my situation.
"I'm not giving up anything. It is just not there to begin with. I don't consider that to be a temporary state. I expect that if I haven't noticed anything interesting about sex in 27 years I am probably not about to wake up one day and find out that it is wonderful."
classification.
Toy says he also is asexual. Sexuality plays no part in his life.
See TOBY, p. 9
By Steve Buckner Kansan staff writer
Student activism of 1969-70 almost cut school year short
This story is the first in a three-part series about student activism. Today's story reviews the events at the University of Kansas during the 1969-70 school year. The campus newsmakers of 20 years ago will be examined tomorrow. The third story will look at today's KU activists.
The title of the editorial in
the University Daily Kansan back-to-
school edition of 20 years ago was as
accurate — "Good times, bad times."
The University endured a watershed in the 1989-70 academic year. It was a year of Anti-Vietnam War protest marches and verbal attacks from the left and the right. The Kansas Union burned. The Spring semester almost was called on account of the threat of violence.
.
But the University survived.
If only it had been that easy
In the conclusion of that editorial of Sept. 11, 1989, Joanna K. Wiebe wrote, "The bad times are crowding in on the Jayhawk Boulevard orbit. Let's get together and roll them back down the Hill."
The people who were here, for the most part, said that despite the problems, it was a great time to be in college. But the excitement of the era nearly was lost through anarchy.
In 1970, March coared into April as students were asked to support two professors who had been denied promotions by the Board of Regents because of their actions outside the classroom. Lawrence Velvet, associate professor of law, had been a vocal critic of the war. He unsuccessfully sued the U.S. government because of the war's constitutionality and had
On April 2, several campus groups, led by the Student Senate, called for a one-day strike against the University to show support for the professors. The Council of Deans and the Senate asked students urging the Regents to grant the promotions, SenEx also supported the strike, set for April 8.
spoken at a rally in which some vandalism occurred, Frederie Litto, assistant professor of speech, made a film about the United States that was to have been shown in Eastern Europe until it was deemed unsuitable by Congress.
1.
Chancellor E. Laurence Chalmers Jr. wrote in a page one bulletin in the April i Kansan that a strike would be inappropriate because he was sending the Regents additional material on the two professors — information that should result in their promo-
See HISTORY. D. 8