The News & Observer, Jan. 29, 1991
By RACHEL BUCHANAN
CHAPEL HILL -- Facing a deeply divided, standing-room-only crowd that mirrored the nation's anguish over the Persian Gulf war, the Chapel Hill Town Council on Monday rejected a move to declare the town a haven for military deserters and conscientious objectors.
The council voted down the sanctuary proposal, 6-2, with most members saying it was too radical. But the issues weren't simple and the debate was heated in a university town that became famous for its Vietnam War protests in the 1960s and 1970s. "This asks us to endorse particular behavior that is certainly illegal, is something we could not carry out, and is not supported by a majority of our citizens," said council member Arthur S. Werner, who voted against the plan.
At issue was a petition presented by the Orange County Greens, the local chapter of a worldwide, liberal political action group.
Under the plan, the town would have welcomed military deserters, conscientious objectors, war protesters and people who withheld part of their taxes to protest the war.
The proposal also would have allowed town employees -- including police officers -- to refuse to prosecute or arrest protesters or deserters. But the petition would not have been legally enforceable.
Council members Joyce Brown and Joseph A. Herzenberg voted for the sanctuary petition. But the majority of the council agreed with opponents and took the unusual step of refusing to accept a citizens' petition.
"I don't think {the sanctuary petition} deserves to see the light of day," said council member Alan E. Rimer. "I don't want us to do anything with it."
The split vote was indicative of the divisiveness that has racked the town since the sanctuary plan was proposed last week.
Council members said they had received numerous phone calls about the "safe haven" proposal. Town hall had received more than 50 calls in the previous three days. And security was tight at Monday's meeting, with Police Chief Arnold Gold and at least two undercover officers present.
The crowd was fraught with emotion. Supporters urged the council to meet Chapel Hill's image as a courageously liberal college community.
Many people at the meeting carried signs that typified the intellectual, rebellious streak the town has become famous for. Among them: "Individuals Should Not Abrogate Their Thinking and Moral Judgment to the President," and "Follow Martin Luther King's Dream, Not George Bush's Nightmare."
The Rev. W.W. Olney, who last week declared his church a sanctuary for war resisters, made an impassioned plea.
"Every day I get calls from across the state and out of state from young men and women saying, 'I do not want to kill and I do not want to be killed,'" said Mr. Olney, pastor of the Community Church. "How can we turn our backs on our children who can not bring themselves to kill?"
But others urged the council to reject the proposal, calling it unconstitutional, unenforceable and damaging to the town's reputation. Some waved flags while the council debated the petition.
"Chapel Hill would become the object of maximum derision and vilification in North Carolina and the country, and rightfully so, if this is passed," said Phillip J. Sullivan, a retired businessman and former Navy officer.
"Enticing members of the U.S. Armed Services to go AWOL is illegal, big-time. Most of us in Chapel Hill would consider that an act of treason."
Tuesday, January 29, 1991
Tuesday, January 22, 1991
Town is asked to be haven for deserters
The News & Observer, Jan. 22, 1991
By RACHEL BUCHANAN, Staff writer
CHAPEL HILL -- This university town with a tradition of anti-war protests should become a sanctuary for military deserters and conscientious objectors, say members of the Orange County Greens, a political and environmental group.
The proposal has the support of one town council member and is likely to be presented to the full council tonight.
"Basically we want the town to declare itself a safe haven for individuals who are acting from their moral conscience in matters regarding the war," said Daniel A. Coleman, a spokesman for the group, which has about 200 members in Orange County.
"There is a strong sentiment of opposition to the war in this community, you can see that on Franklin Street every day."
The resolution -- which also will be presented to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen -- would allow city employees to enforce federal and state desertion laws according to their individual convictions.
"Local governments are reluctant to take stands on national policies," said Mr. Coleman. "But this is a case where we are able to bring the national concern back home where they can take local action."
The resolution describes Chapel Hill as having "a long tradition of citizens taking courageous stands to attain great social and political goals" and as a place that "has for many years been in the forefront of the call for social justice and peace."
Chapel Hill council member Joyce Brown, a member of the Greens, said she supported the resolution and thought the town needed to take a stand against the war.
"I think this is an excellent way for local government to acknowledge the grave concern of our citizens about the war," said Ms. Brown. "This would certainly be a strong stand."
But other council members said the resolution might be too strong.
"I am personally against the war," said council member Joseph A. Herzenberg. "And I do believe in taking steps to work toward peace and putting pressure on the government to change its policy. But I'm not sure I want to go this far. I know that sounds cowardly, but I like to think about things."
The Rev. Roosevelt Wilkerson, a major in the Air Force Reserve and a council member, said he would not support the resolution.
"Personally, I don't think this is the proper time for us to be engaged in this type of dialogue," said Mr. Wilkerson. "I feel we need to be supportive of the young men and women engaged in this conflict not by choice but by the resolve of our nation to bring about peace worldwide.
"There may be dialogue about whether or not we are doing the right thing but that holds no place when you have young men and women on the firing line risking their lives."
Members of the Greens said they planed to present the council with the resolution at tonight's public hearing, which begins at 7:30 in town hall. It is unclear whether the council will allow the group to make its petition because the town council usually accepts petitions during its regular council meetings, not at public hearings.
But Mr. Coleman said he would urge the council to consider his plan.
"If they try to sit on it, to me that conveys a sense of a lack of moral fiber on such a critical issue," said Mr. Coleman.
"This is not like most of the things that come before them. This is something that is so much a part of everyone's thoughts and feelings that it behooves them to take this up."
By RACHEL BUCHANAN, Staff writer
CHAPEL HILL -- This university town with a tradition of anti-war protests should become a sanctuary for military deserters and conscientious objectors, say members of the Orange County Greens, a political and environmental group.
The proposal has the support of one town council member and is likely to be presented to the full council tonight.
"Basically we want the town to declare itself a safe haven for individuals who are acting from their moral conscience in matters regarding the war," said Daniel A. Coleman, a spokesman for the group, which has about 200 members in Orange County.
"There is a strong sentiment of opposition to the war in this community, you can see that on Franklin Street every day."
The resolution -- which also will be presented to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen -- would allow city employees to enforce federal and state desertion laws according to their individual convictions.
"Local governments are reluctant to take stands on national policies," said Mr. Coleman. "But this is a case where we are able to bring the national concern back home where they can take local action."
The resolution describes Chapel Hill as having "a long tradition of citizens taking courageous stands to attain great social and political goals" and as a place that "has for many years been in the forefront of the call for social justice and peace."
Chapel Hill council member Joyce Brown, a member of the Greens, said she supported the resolution and thought the town needed to take a stand against the war.
"I think this is an excellent way for local government to acknowledge the grave concern of our citizens about the war," said Ms. Brown. "This would certainly be a strong stand."
But other council members said the resolution might be too strong.
"I am personally against the war," said council member Joseph A. Herzenberg. "And I do believe in taking steps to work toward peace and putting pressure on the government to change its policy. But I'm not sure I want to go this far. I know that sounds cowardly, but I like to think about things."
The Rev. Roosevelt Wilkerson, a major in the Air Force Reserve and a council member, said he would not support the resolution.
"Personally, I don't think this is the proper time for us to be engaged in this type of dialogue," said Mr. Wilkerson. "I feel we need to be supportive of the young men and women engaged in this conflict not by choice but by the resolve of our nation to bring about peace worldwide.
"There may be dialogue about whether or not we are doing the right thing but that holds no place when you have young men and women on the firing line risking their lives."
Members of the Greens said they planed to present the council with the resolution at tonight's public hearing, which begins at 7:30 in town hall. It is unclear whether the council will allow the group to make its petition because the town council usually accepts petitions during its regular council meetings, not at public hearings.
But Mr. Coleman said he would urge the council to consider his plan.
"If they try to sit on it, to me that conveys a sense of a lack of moral fiber on such a critical issue," said Mr. Coleman.
"This is not like most of the things that come before them. This is something that is so much a part of everyone's thoughts and feelings that it behooves them to take this up."
Tuesday, December 11, 1990
Saturday, July 28, 1990
AIDS House Planned Again
Greensboro News and Record, July 28, 1990
An Orange County group is moving closer to establishing a home for AIDS patients, and organizers say they hope to get a better reception than the last time they proposed the idea.
"This house could go in any neighborhood," said Joseph Herzenberg, a member of the town council and of the Orange County AIDS task force. "It's my hope that neighbors anywhere would treat people living in this home as neighbors."
...
Saturday, June 30, 1990
Joe on morning of 1990 NC Pride Parade
Joe outside Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill, June 30, 1990. Photo courtesy of Mark Donahue.
On this morning, Joe was preparing to march in the 5th annual NC Gay Pride parade, Marching into the Gay 90's, held that year in Carrboro.
Photo courtesy of NC Pride.
Joe was one of the key organizers behind the first NC march, in 1986, which had its roots in Our Day Out, a 1981 Durham rally held in response to the Little River gay bashings. And as North Carolina's first openly gay elected official, he was an honored guest at NC Pride parades from the late 80's on.
Monday, December 18, 1989
Politician Refuses To Be Invisible: Openly Gay Chapel Hill Council Member Is Unique In N.C.
Charlotte Observer, Page A1, Dec. 18, 1989
By JOHN DRESCHER
CHAPEL HILL - Joe Herzenberg is a homosexual. That, in itself, is not unusual.
But Herzenberg is an openly gay, elected politician in North Carolina. And that makes him very unusual.
In fact, he's the only elected official in the state who publicly acknowledges his or her homosexuality.
"Gay people are still, in most parts of society, hidden and invisible," said Herzenberg, 48, a member of the Chapel Hill Town Council. "It's not right. I think people should know gay people are everywhere."
Last month Herzenberg attended the fifth annual National Conference of Lesbian and Gay Officials in Madison, Wis.
He was the sole elected official to attend from North Carolina - "and from South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi," he said, laughing. He believes he may be the only openly homosexual elected official from the Southeast.
The group's best-known member is U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.
Herzenberg's homosexuality has seemed to make little difference in this college town of 40,000. He said it never was an issue during the campaign and rarely is an issue now.
A Franklin, N.J., native, he has personally acknowledged his homosexuality for all of his adult life. "I sort of figured it out in junior high school," he said, fidgeting a bit in a low-slung chair in the mayor's office.
He never openly addressed his sexual orientation when he was appointed in 1979 to fill a vacancy on the town council. He served part of one term. He was defeated for reelection in 1981, still without publicly acknowledging his homosexuality.
Then, in 1984, he ran as a gay delegate to the Democratic National Convention and was elected. And when he announced he was running for town council in 1987, he said he was gay.
He won, finishing third in a nonpartisan race for four seats.
"I think my openness about being gay was considered a good point," he said. "The whole idea of carrying a huge secret around is a tremendous burden."
A Yale graduate who taught history in the 1960s at Tougaloo College, a historically black school in Tougaloo, Miss., Herzenberg is a liberal in the Chapel Hill mold. He is financially independent - he declined to discuss the source of his income - and is writing a biography on the late UNC-Chapel Hill President Frank Porter Graham.
Herzenberg said he believed that North Carolina has "a decent sprinkling of gay and lesbian elected officials, but for various reasons they elect to remain in the closet."
He acknowledged that it's probably easier for a gay politician to get elected in Chapel Hill, but he says he thinks openly gay candidates could be elected in more conservative towns. "I don`t think it's the formidable obstacle that people think it is," he said.
During his stint on town council, Herzenberg hasn`t pushed a gay rights agenda; the town already had an ordinance that protects homosexual town employees from discrimination.
His interests have been more generic.
His chief accomplishments: An ordinance that will require candidates for office in Chapel Hill to report all campaign contributions of more than $100 and a requirement for officeholders to disclose their property holdings.
"His sexual preference makes absolutely no difference in working on the issues," said council member Julie Andresen. "Whether or not he`s gay is really irrelevant to me."
Gerry Cohen, a former council member and political ally, said: "Even though I consider myself a good friend of his and still do, I had no idea he was gay until he announced it publicly."
Herzenberg, who lives alone, hasn't escaped the venom of a few citizens angry with his presence on the town council.
One person has written him three times anonymously criticizing his sexual orientation.
But his chief tormentor over the years has been Bob Windsor of Chatham County, who once published a homespun weekly newspaper on politics called The Landmark.
Windsor's stories called Herzenberg a variety of names and said that the state Democratic Party was kowtowing to homosexuals like Herzenberg.
"I just don't approve of their lifestyle," Windsor said in an interview.
Herzenberg shrugs off such comments and says they're rare.
"There really has been remarkably little negative feedback," he said. "I'm very pleased in the niche I'm in. My intent is mainly to be a good member of the Chapel Hill Town Council."
By JOHN DRESCHER
CHAPEL HILL - Joe Herzenberg is a homosexual. That, in itself, is not unusual.
But Herzenberg is an openly gay, elected politician in North Carolina. And that makes him very unusual.
In fact, he's the only elected official in the state who publicly acknowledges his or her homosexuality.
"Gay people are still, in most parts of society, hidden and invisible," said Herzenberg, 48, a member of the Chapel Hill Town Council. "It's not right. I think people should know gay people are everywhere."
Last month Herzenberg attended the fifth annual National Conference of Lesbian and Gay Officials in Madison, Wis.
He was the sole elected official to attend from North Carolina - "and from South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi," he said, laughing. He believes he may be the only openly homosexual elected official from the Southeast.
The group's best-known member is U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.
Herzenberg's homosexuality has seemed to make little difference in this college town of 40,000. He said it never was an issue during the campaign and rarely is an issue now.
A Franklin, N.J., native, he has personally acknowledged his homosexuality for all of his adult life. "I sort of figured it out in junior high school," he said, fidgeting a bit in a low-slung chair in the mayor's office.
He never openly addressed his sexual orientation when he was appointed in 1979 to fill a vacancy on the town council. He served part of one term. He was defeated for reelection in 1981, still without publicly acknowledging his homosexuality.
Then, in 1984, he ran as a gay delegate to the Democratic National Convention and was elected. And when he announced he was running for town council in 1987, he said he was gay.
He won, finishing third in a nonpartisan race for four seats.
"I think my openness about being gay was considered a good point," he said. "The whole idea of carrying a huge secret around is a tremendous burden."
A Yale graduate who taught history in the 1960s at Tougaloo College, a historically black school in Tougaloo, Miss., Herzenberg is a liberal in the Chapel Hill mold. He is financially independent - he declined to discuss the source of his income - and is writing a biography on the late UNC-Chapel Hill President Frank Porter Graham.
Herzenberg said he believed that North Carolina has "a decent sprinkling of gay and lesbian elected officials, but for various reasons they elect to remain in the closet."
He acknowledged that it's probably easier for a gay politician to get elected in Chapel Hill, but he says he thinks openly gay candidates could be elected in more conservative towns. "I don`t think it's the formidable obstacle that people think it is," he said.
During his stint on town council, Herzenberg hasn`t pushed a gay rights agenda; the town already had an ordinance that protects homosexual town employees from discrimination.
His interests have been more generic.
His chief accomplishments: An ordinance that will require candidates for office in Chapel Hill to report all campaign contributions of more than $100 and a requirement for officeholders to disclose their property holdings.
"His sexual preference makes absolutely no difference in working on the issues," said council member Julie Andresen. "Whether or not he`s gay is really irrelevant to me."
Gerry Cohen, a former council member and political ally, said: "Even though I consider myself a good friend of his and still do, I had no idea he was gay until he announced it publicly."
Herzenberg, who lives alone, hasn't escaped the venom of a few citizens angry with his presence on the town council.
One person has written him three times anonymously criticizing his sexual orientation.
But his chief tormentor over the years has been Bob Windsor of Chatham County, who once published a homespun weekly newspaper on politics called The Landmark.
Windsor's stories called Herzenberg a variety of names and said that the state Democratic Party was kowtowing to homosexuals like Herzenberg.
"I just don't approve of their lifestyle," Windsor said in an interview.
Herzenberg shrugs off such comments and says they're rare.
"There really has been remarkably little negative feedback," he said. "I'm very pleased in the niche I'm in. My intent is mainly to be a good member of the Chapel Hill Town Council."
Friday, December 23, 1988
To live in Robeson County, NC is like to live in Mississippi 20 years ago
GROUP ASKS NEW YORK GOVERNOR TO REJECT EXTRADITION OF JACOBS
Fayetteville Observer, Dec. 23, 1988
CARRBORO (UPI) - About 15 religious and community leaders Thursday pleaded for New York Gov. Mario Cuomo to reject extraditing Indian activist Timothy Jacobs to North Carolina to face kidnap charges. The contingent also asked Cuomo to request the New York attorney general to investigate circumstances in Robeson County that led Jacobs and Eddie Hatcher to take 17 people hostage at The Robesonian newspaper office on Feb. 1.
...
"I don't think people today have any idea that to live in Robeson County, NC, is like to live in Mississippi 20 years ago," said Joe Herzenberg, a Chapel Hill Town Council member. Herzenberg says he wrote Cuomo a personal letter on Jacobs' behalf. A hearing is scheduled in mid-January in New York...
Fayetteville Observer, Dec. 23, 1988
CARRBORO (UPI) - About 15 religious and community leaders Thursday pleaded for New York Gov. Mario Cuomo to reject extraditing Indian activist Timothy Jacobs to North Carolina to face kidnap charges. The contingent also asked Cuomo to request the New York attorney general to investigate circumstances in Robeson County that led Jacobs and Eddie Hatcher to take 17 people hostage at The Robesonian newspaper office on Feb. 1.
...
"I don't think people today have any idea that to live in Robeson County, NC, is like to live in Mississippi 20 years ago," said Joe Herzenberg, a Chapel Hill Town Council member. Herzenberg says he wrote Cuomo a personal letter on Jacobs' behalf. A hearing is scheduled in mid-January in New York...
Thursday, June 30, 1988
Sixth Annual Stonewall Community Supper flyer, 1988
Sixth Annual Stonewall Community Supper flyer, 1988. Courtesy of Mark Donahue.
Monday, December 7, 1987
Tuesday, December 1, 1987
Herzenberg Wins Seat - by Sean Rowe
Lambda, Carolina Gay & Lesbian Association Newsletter, page 8, December, 1987
By SEAN ROWE
On November 3, 1987, 3,575 Chapel Hill voters elected this state’s first openly gay politician. Joe Herzenberg, a 46-year old historian and former catfish rancher, who lost three previous bids for a seat on the town council, finally won…
Read original version as PDF in Lamdba archives
(Editor's note - The author of this article, Sean Rowe, is a novelist and former reporter for the Miami Herald. Sean was a close friend of Joe's and traveled with him to several continents during the 80's and 90's.
Orange County Commissioner and former mayor of Carrboro Mike Nelson convinced Joe to make one last run for the Town Council in 1987 and orchestrated a brilliant race as his campaign manager. In 1995, Mike would himself become the first openly gay mayor in N.C.
Interviewed by Joseph Mosnier in 1995, Joe recalled how "they had planned to turn any anti-gay attacks to their advantage in the race, believing that local voters would rally to support him if he was attacked for this reason." (Mosnier's words) This proved unneccesary, because Joe said from his '85 campaign on, he encountered very few incidents where his sexual preference was an issue in Chapel Hill.
Mike Nelson reflected on the significance of Joe's '87 victory in an October, 2007 post on his blog titled Twenty Years Later, written shortly before Joe's death.)
Tuesday, November 3, 1987
Joe and Kathie Young share a victory hug
Joe & Kathie Young share a victory hug on election night, 1987
Friday, October 16, 1987
Campaign fundraiser reception invitation, Herzenberg for Town Council, 1987
Campaign fundraiser reception invitation from 1987, Herzenberg for Town Council. Courtesy of Mark Donahue.
Monday, September 28, 1987
Campaign contribution thank-you note from 1987, Herzenberg for Town Council
Campaign fundraiser reception invitation from 1987, Herzenberg for Town Council. Courtesy of Mark Donahue.
Sunday, January 25, 1987
Postcard invite to founding meeting of the Triangle Alliance, 1987
Invitation to attend Jan. 28, 1987 founding meeting of the Triangle Alliance. Postcard courtesy of Mark Donahue.
Wednesday, October 1, 1986
Joe Herzenberg tells it like it is...
Lambda, Carolina Gay & Lesbian Association Newsletter, page 1, October, 1986
Speech by Joe at the Triangle Lesbian and Gay March & Celebration in Durham on June 28, 1986
Marchers at 1986 Triangle Lesbian and Gay March & Celebration. Photo courtesy of NC Pride.
Speech by Joe at the Triangle Lesbian and Gay March & Celebration in Durham on June 28, 1986
Marchers at 1986 Triangle Lesbian and Gay March & Celebration. Photo courtesy of NC Pride.
Wednesday, April 30, 1986
Tuesday, October 1, 1985
Sunday, September 1, 1985
"Gay-Baiting in Southern Politics," Southern Exposure, Sept/Oct 1985
Southern Exposure, Issue 13, Sept/Oct 1985.
By Joe Herzenberg
After being personally slimed by the hateful tactics of Jesse Helms' political machine during the 1984 Hunt-Helms Senate race, Joe wrote this article for Southern Exposure magazine's Fall 1985 issue. He cast light on how gay-baiting was a tactic used all over the South by the Republican Party in recent elections to scare up votes for its backwards, right-wing candidates.
Joe's article doesn't touch on his and Lightning Brown's own history as the most prominent targets attacked by gay bigots in North Carolina during 1984. He left that to his fellow gay activist Mab Segrest, who wrote a companion piece in the same issue titled "Anatomy of An Election."
By Joe Herzenberg
After being personally slimed by the hateful tactics of Jesse Helms' political machine during the 1984 Hunt-Helms Senate race, Joe wrote this article for Southern Exposure magazine's Fall 1985 issue. He cast light on how gay-baiting was a tactic used all over the South by the Republican Party in recent elections to scare up votes for its backwards, right-wing candidates.
Joe's article doesn't touch on his and Lightning Brown's own history as the most prominent targets attacked by gay bigots in North Carolina during 1984. He left that to his fellow gay activist Mab Segrest, who wrote a companion piece in the same issue titled "Anatomy of An Election."
"Anatomy of An Election," Southern Exposure, Sept/Oct 1985
Southern Exposure, Issue 13, Sept/Oct 1985.
By Mab Segrest
By Mab Segrest
This article by gay activist and writer Mab Segrest appeared in Southern Exposure magazine's Fall 1985 issue. It provides a comprehensive look at how the Helms machine used shameful hate mongering against Joe, Lightning Brown, and the rest of North Carolina's gay and lesbian community to eke out Jesse's narrow 1984 re-election.
The inset of the article's second page is a reprint of a story that appeared in The Landmark, a virulently anti-gay publication printed in Chatham County, in June 1984, titled "Faggots Dominate Fourth Congressional District Convention." It was at this convention that Joe was elected as an openly gay Mondale delegate to the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco.
Sadly, this article is typical of the scurrilous bile that The Landmark published two or three times a month throughout 1984. It was distributed in regular editions of tens of thousands of free copies all over North Carolina, and its press run increased dramatically in the weeks leading up to Election Day. Every word of this hate-filled propaganda tool passing as a "newspaper" dripped with bigotry and prejudice.
"The faggots worked the crowd like maggots in a manure pile. They had their ducks in a row for the second time and the so-called Gay Rights resolution passed."
- The Landmark, June 7, 1984
The paper's homophobic publisher, Bob Windsor of Chapel Hill, was a cog in the machine of right-wing Helms backers. According to lyndonlarouchewatch.org, Windsor was being used by the political organization of extremist Lyndon LaRouche to spread anti-gay filth around the state and help ensure Helms’ re-election.
Former LaRouche security staffer Charles Tate "says he was told in early 1984 that work would be done on Helms's behalf. This was no surprise to Tate: he knew the security staff had been in touch with a top Helms aide for several years…Security staffers discussed sending an infiltrator into the Hunt campaign, but decided they could do the job best through undercover phone calls."
Posing as reporters for the black and gay press, LaRouche staffers made and taped phone calls to gay activists and civil rights leaders around the country who were backing Hunt. Articles based on distorted excerpts from the phone calls were then published in issues of The Landmark.
"The idea was to show that Hunt was getting substantial local and national support from constituencies disliked by many conservative Democrats…At least some of the tapes used by The Landmark came from LaRouche's security staff.
In early March 1984, a LaRouchian phoned Virginia Apuzzo, director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, pretending to be a news reporter. Charles Tate says he heard the call being made and "saw the tape recorder running." A transcript of Apuzzo’s remarks appeared in the March 29 issue of The Landmark, which also included excerpts from a phone conversation with Lightning Brown, a gay activist in Chapel Hill.
Brown says he received two calls. The first was from Grant Duay, a supposed reporter for a gay weekly, the New York City News. Brown said that Duay "asked about my fund raising for Hunt. The details ended up in The Landmark right away—it was frightening." Duay was in fact a notorious LaRouche operative who had previously used the New York City News as his cover for interviewing and taping political opponents of LaRouche. (In 1986 Duay would be arrested in Manhattan as part of a homosexual child pornography ring.)
Brown's second call was from the black LaRouchian. "I told him I felt sorry for the publisher of The Landmark and that I had prayed for him," said Brown, who is a Quaker. "My remark later appeared in The Landmark. It was supposed to prove I was a devil worshipper."
Landmark publisher Windsor was in close contact with the LaRouchians throughout that spring. He accompanied Tom Allred, Hunt's LaRouchian opponent in the Democratic primary, on a trip to Raleigh. "We toured the legislature and I introduced him to Liston Ramsey, speaker of the house, and many other people,” Windsor wrote in a front-page article about Allred.
In a 1987 phone interview Windsor said he had also attended a meeting held to recruit North Carolina conservatives to run on the LaRouche slate, Windsor claimed that a number of his conservative friends had contributed money to the NDPC (National Democratic Policy Committee – one of LaRouche’s national political organizations), including one $50,000 contribution.
- LaRouche and the New American Fascism, by Dennis King, Chapter 15 - LaRouche and the Reagan Revolution, from www.lyndonlarouchewatch.org)"
Besides running made-up stories that slandered Joe and Lightning in every way possible, including accusations that they had started a Chapel Hill NAMBLA (North American Man-Boy Love Association) chapter and were secretly "porno kings," The Landmark also published their home addresses and did everything possible to incite violence against the two of them.
No wonder, as Segrest recounts in her article, that "Brown and Herzenberg were subjected to more than a dozen separate incidents of intimidation, vandalism and harassment…for their work within the Democratic Party."
In a 1984 interview with the Independent Weekly when Joe and Lightning were awarded two of the Indy's first-ever Citizen Awards, Lightning told of how "two people even threatened to kill me on Rosemary Street." Joe called the attacks "very disruptive and at times painful." Asked if he had been scared, he admitted, with a subtlety that testified to his courage, "At moments."
At the time "Anatomy of An Election" was published in Southern Exposure, Mab Segrest served as coordinator of North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence. Earlier versions of her article appeared in Gay Community News and The Front Page.
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