ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 20, 1996 TAG: 9611200083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: FAIRFAX
SOURCE: Associated Press
MEMO: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
To gay students and their supporters, the allegation that a lesbian was harassed and hounded from her dormitory by other George Mason University students is proof enough the campus needs a homosexual ``support center.''
``Hate crimes are growing, and the school just is not dealing with it well,'' said Beth Armitage, a graduate student and a leader in the fight to establish the center.
But opponents say the proposed $15,000 counseling and research center flouts Virginia's sodomy law, is divisive and a waste of money. Its fate may be decided today at a meeting of the public-funded school's governing board.
The Board of Visitors held up money for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Resource Center in September after Republican board members recently appointed by Gov. George Allen objected.
Minutes of that meeting show that several board members worried that funding the center could be viewed as an endorsement of sodomy, which is illegal in Virginia, whether performed by homosexuals or heterosexuals. The law is rarely enforced.
``The university ought not to be spending resources supporting that sort of activity if it is illegal,'' board Chairman Marvin Murray said then.
The board voted 11-3 along party lines to stall money for the center at least until today's meeting.
George Mason's new president, Alan Merten, has since said he wants to review whether the gay center, approved in May by school administrators, duplicates counseling and support services already available on campus.
``Homophobia is the real reason,'' Armitage said. ``They're bringing up all these other issues, but the original sodomy comments kind of point to clear discrimination.''
Center supporters held a rally on campus Monday and read an allegation from an anonymous lesbian student. The woman claims other students in her campus dorm exposed themselves and masturbated before her last year, and later threatened her with a handgun if she did not move out. The claim did not specify whether she was harassed by female or male students.
She claims she reported the incidents to campus police, but nothing was done.
``I know this woman. She had to move off campus, and the people who did this to her are still here,'' Armitage said.
George Mason spokesman Daniel Walsch said campus police have no record of the woman's complaint.
Oscar Young, president of the College Republicans, said establishing a center for gay students is an unaffordable luxury when the school is trying to cut costs.
He said mistreatment of homosexuals is of concern, but that the broader issue is whether there should be centers on campus dividing the college community. ``It is unnecessarily divisive and exclusionary,'' Young said.
George Mason administrators allocated student activity money for a part-time coordinator and materials for the center.
Supporters envision a room where gays would be safe from harassment, Armitage said.
The room would have magazines, books and other resource material at hand, and serve as a home base for gay social life on campus.
Merten and the board ``want to make the issue go away,'' either by consolidating the gay center into existing student groups or delaying a decision indefinitely, Armitage said.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 linesby CNB