archived: 16 - 22 Jul, 2006         Back                 Next

                        NORTH CAROLINA TO BE A “FIRST”  

The General Assembly will achieve another “first” this week, a first not only for North Carolina but the United States – an Innocence Inquiry Commission.  The ICC is being created to review actual claims of innocence by prisoners incarcerated in North Carolina.  Specifically,  

To conduct inquiries into claims of factual innocence, with priority to be given to those cases in which the convicted person is currently incarcerated solely for the crime for which he or she claims factual innocence.

 

To coordinate the investigation of cases accepted for review.

 

To maintain records for all case investigations.

 

To prepare written reports outlining Commission investigations and recommendations to the trial court at the completion of each inquiry. 

The ICC will investigate claims and if five members of the Commission believe a person was wrongfully convicted a special three judge court will be empanelled to hear the petition of the ICC.  The State and prisoner will be represented by counsel.  If all three judges find actual innocence by “clear and convincing evidence,” the charges against the inmate will be dismissed. If the three members of the court are not unanimous, the proceeding is dismissed.  There is no appeal from a dismissal of the petition.  

This historic legislation is now in conference committee as the House and Senate bills differ in important regards.  However, the differing versions of the bill passed each chamber of the General Assembly with near unanimous, bipartisan support.  

On one issues, the Parties are acting for the common good and justice that North Carolina will accord its citizens.  The anticipated vote on the final bill next week will be a great day for North Carolina.  

                        REPUBLICAN IDEOLOGY  

The Chairman of the Guilford County Republican Party has caused a stir with his comments linking homosexuality to pedophilia.  The Chairman’s quote and logic: 

"We now say that homosexuality is OK. That it is natural. Yes, it is as natural as pedophilia," he wrote.
 

Kindley refused a demand to apologize from the Carolina Advocacy Coalition and told a radio interviewer Thursday that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice like choosing to be overweight.  

No one should really be amazed at such comments as they reflect the Republican Party Platform (emphasis added):  

We believe homosexual behavior is not normal and should not be taught as an acceptable "alternative" lifestyle either in public education or in public policy.   

Putting aside the scientific research, as the Republicans obviously do, one has to look only to Mary Cheney, the Vice-President’s daughter and who openly admits here homosexuality, to fathom the hypocrisy of the Republican position.  Todd Morman wrote this poignant analysis in the Spectator in 2002 which is apropos today: 

These days the target of North Carolina's Republican Party leadership isn't black people, since they're no longer acceptable scapegoats. Today's handy distractions from difficult political discussion are the evil fags and dykes who are destroying Our Great Nation -- you know, the people who are responsible for God lifting his "curtain of protection" last September and for the rise in the U.S. divorce rate (which began way before gay liberation, but we'll leave that pesky detail aside). Seeking to stem the tide of this obvious evil -- or seeking more fundamentalist Christians at the polls . . . , take your pick -- state Republicans recently issued a press release that attacked Sen. John Edwards for earning a 100 percent positive rating from the Human Rights Campaign, a mainstream gay-lesbian lobby group. "John Edwards is a liberal with a radical agenda," warns party chairman Bill Cobey, before blasting the senator for keeping company with -- gasp! -- "radical gay groups." The 100 percent rating is proof, Cobey says, that "John Edwards is out of step with North Carolina."  . . .

 

I wonder what Mary Cheney thinks about that.

 

Smart, gay-friendly Republicans

 

Surely you remember Mary Cheney, the openly lesbian daughter of the man who happens to be our vice president. In late April, almost two years after her sexual orientation became public knowledge; Cheney broke her silence about queer issues by joining the board of directors of the Republican Unity Coalition, a group whose avowed purpose is to gather large political donations from lesbian and gay conservatives. "Working together... we can make sexual orientation a non-issue for the Republican Party," says the vice president's daughter, "and we can help achieve equality for all gay and lesbian Americans."

 

Wait a minute. Did she actually say "equality"? Goodness. What can Mary Cheney possibly mean by equality? Perhaps it has something to do with the RUC's guiding principles, which clearly state a goal of "full civil equality for all, without regard to sexual orientation." . . .  How can you have "full civil equality" without queer adoptions, queer marriages and queers serving openly in the military? Oh, that's right. You can't.

 

The story gets better. Turns out that former U.S. President Gerald Ford -- who is, of course, well known for his radical queer activism -- is a member of RUC's advisory board. When lesbian columnist Deb Price of the Detroit News asked him last October about government recognition of gay and lesbian couples, President Ford replied, "I think they ought to be treated equally. Period." Oh my. And how did this Republican leader respond when asked specifically if lesbian and gay couples should be given the same Social Security, tax and other federal benefits that straight couples get? He said this: "I don't see why they shouldn't. I think that's a proper goal." A proper goal. Who's out of step now, Mr. Cobey?

 

Campaigning on the backs of queer voters

 

The fact that the North Carolina Republican Party is held hostage on social issues by a small minority of religious fundamentalists hardly counts as news. . . .  [M]ost queers are -- surprise, surprise -- good-hearted, honest, hard-working people. In other words, bigoted statements from politicians about the inherent evil of homosexuality are increasingly being seen as the nonsense they are. And that means that gay baiting no longer simply alienates a small queer minority; it now also turns off that minority's mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends and co-workers. The numbers add up quickly, as any pollster will tell you. GOP gay baiting also opens the door for questions to be aimed at the handful of quietly homosexual Republicans who hold office in this state. Some of them are so well known in media and political circles that their homosexuality has long since passed beyond the realm of "open secret" into "not a secret at all, except to the public." . . . But if the state GOP continues to attack lesbian and gay citizens as a sleazy strategy for political gain, inquiries into what homosexual Republicans think about the attacks become fair game. Does the North Carolina Republican Party really want to go there? If so, it's a good bet there'll be journalists who'll want to follow.

 

[I agree] with Vice President Dick Cheney that "people should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to enter into."  

Morman’s article raises a singular question:  Do most North Carolinians really want to entrust the governance of our communities with this type of Republican bigotry and hypocrisy?

TAR HEEL DEM CELLAR