Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 23, 1993 TAG: 9303230041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX LENGTH: Medium
STATE SENATOR APOLOGIZES FOR GAY, BLACK JOKES
State Sen. Warren Barry of Fairfax County apologized Monday for making remarks that offended blacks and homosexuals.Barry and other Republicans, including Iran-Contra figure Oliver North, have been criticized for comments made at a March 12 dinner honoring former Rep. Stan Parris.
"The jokes made that evening were not meant to attack individuals, nor were they intended to come across as being intolerant of blacks or gays," Barry told a news conference. "I apologize to anybody who feels anything done by me at that roast was offensive."
Barry said the comments would not hurt him politically.
"It hurt me personally," he said. "I've been in public office 23 years, and I've never been subject to this kind of abuse.
"You won't see Warren Barry at a political roast again," he said.
Barry said a gay family member, whom he would not identify, laughed at the comment and was not offended. However, he said several gay groups did register their complaints and "certainly let me know" that they were unhappy.
The incident was blown out of proportion, he said.
"To take these jokes out of context does a disservice to the public, which relies on the news media for its information," he said.
At the dinner, Barry called President Clinton's plan to lift the ban on gays in the military as the "fags in the foxhole" proposal. He also said Parris once tried to rename the 14th Street Bridge between Virginia and Washington, D.C., the "Soul Brothers Causeway."
Ron Fisher, former vice chairman of the Prince William County Republican organization, said some good may come out of the uproar. Discussion of the issue will raise public consciousness and make people aware that this sort of conduct will not be tolerated, said Fisher, who is black.
But he added, "I don't think he was wrong."
Fisher said he probably would have laughed at the jokes. "I have a sense of humor," he said.
The head of the Fairfax County chapter of the NAACP has called Barry's remarks "racist."
In a letter to Linda Byrd-Harden, executive director of the state National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, GOP state party chairman Patrick M. McSweeney said: "We, as Republican leaders in the General Assembly and of our state party, will continue to exhort everyone speaking for a Republican entity not to make statements that are insensitive or in poor taste. Common courtesy demands no less.
" . . . Simple common sense also demands that we do everything possible to make all people feel comfortable in our midst."
Barry said he made similar comments two months ago at a dinner for House Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk. He said most people in the audience, which was one-third black, laughed.
The March 12 dinner honored Parris for his 25 years of public service. Parris was defeated in 1990 by James Moran in the Eighth Congressional District.