Friday, December 28, 2007

Top Dallas Voice stories of 2007

By Tammye Nash of Dallas Voice , John Wright of Dallas Voice

Ed Oakley survived a crowded field of general election candidates to make the runoff against eventual winner Tom Leppert in the 2007 race for mayor of Dallas. The openly gay candidate’s campaign made headlines around the country.

Sex or politics — and sometimes both — played a major role in most of Dallas Voice’s top stories of 2007.

While Congress was playing politics with employment rights and hate crimes protections for LGBT people in Washington, D.C., U.S. Sen. Larry Craig was playing footsy with an undercover policeman in a Minnesota airport bathroom.

Here at home in the DFW Metroplex, favorite gay son and longtime Dallas City Council member Ed Oakley made headlines around the country as he made a serious run for mayor. But gay Dallas County Constable Mike Dupree was running for cover as new accusations of harassment and criminal activity were aimed his way on an almost weekly basis in the first half of the year.

Add into that mix a well-known gay political activist who got caught allegedly having sex in a public park, a feud over the future of the Trinity River Corridor Project and the desperate scramble by AIDS service organizations facing drastic cuts in federal funds, and it is obvious that an old political cliché certainly held true this year: Politics do, indeed, make strange bedfellows.

It is those stories, plus the tragic murder of a man in Oak Lawn that galvanized the community and the ongoing debate over the future of the “gayborhood” that the news staffers at Dallas Voice have chosen as our top 10 stories of 2007.

So read on and remember the year that was.

1. Ed Oakley narrowly misses in run for mayor’s office

Gay Dallas City Councilman Ed Oakley made headlines across the country when he won a spot in the runoff for Dallas mayor. He was the first openly gay person to be a serious contender for mayor of a major city.

Oakley lost the election to retired businessman Tom Leppert on June 16, but his candidacy rallied the LGBT community to a pitch never before seen in Dallas. Five precincts with heavy LGBT populations reported voter turnout at double what was seen during the regular election on May 12.

After he lost, Oakley said the news he made for being a gay candidate possibly on the verge of winning the top elected seat in the nation’s ninth-largest city probably cost him the election. His sexual orientation became the “talk of the town,” he said.

Oakley also noted that Leppert, a multi-millionaire and a favorite of many Dallas business people and religious conservatives, outspent him 2-to-1 in campaign expenses.

Oakley and Leppert went into the runoff with a poll showing they were in a dead heat, but when the votes were tallied Leppert won with 58 percent of the vote.

Still, Oakley made history by acquiring the support of famous Dallas family names, such as Hunt and Crow. He raised more than $1 million and spent none of his own money on his campaign while Leppert made significant loans to himself in his bid for mayor.

Oakley, who gave up his District 3 seat on the City Council to run for mayor, said he was not bitter about his loss, and that he only wanted to see good things happen in the city.

With Oakley’s loss and the failure of a gay candidate to win the District 3 seat, the election marked the first time in 14 years that there would not be a gay representative on the City Council.

2. Gay constable chased out of office

Gay Dallas County Precinct 5 Constable Mike Dupree resigned from office on June 28 to avoid going to jail after several male employees filed complaints claiming he sexually harassed them at work.

Dupree, who claimed he was the victim of a political conspiracy, pleaded guilty to one Class A misdemeanor charge of abuse of official capacity after reaching a settlement agreement with Dallas County and the Texas Attorney General’s Office. He agreed to surrender his peace office license and to never seek public office again, ending a 27-year career in law enforcement.

He was placed on one year of probation, ordered to serve 24 hours community service and to pay a $500 fine. Dallas County Court No. 9 approved the plea agreement on July 2.

The resignation followed six months of legal wrangling with the Dallas County Commissioners Court, which ordered an independent investigation of Dupree. The investigator sustained the complaints against Dupree.

3. Gay activist arrested on sex charge

Anti-gay Republicans weren’t the only ones who found themselves mired in sex scandals this year.

Shannon Bailey, president of the Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus, was arrested June 14 on a charge of public lewdness after two Dallas police officers allegedly observed him performing oral sex on another male suspect in White Rock Lake Park.

Bailey’s arrest prompted a vote to request his resignation by the board of directors of TSDC, the state’s largest gay political group. Bailey also was removed from the board of Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, the local chapter.

Bailey’s opponents argue the situation has harmed TSDC’s reputation heading into an election year and perpetuated stereotypes about the gay community. His supporters, meanwhile, point to his long record of service and say his civil liberties entitle him to a presumption of innocence and due process under law.

In a letter to the board, Bailey refused the request to resign, and through an attorney, he’s said he’s not guilty.

Bailey has repeatedly declined requests for comment from Dallas Voice, but he’s indicated that he’ll tell his side of the story once his case is resolved. We look forward to hearing it.

4. Funding changes leave big gaps

A doctor’s appointment isn’t going to do you much good if you have no way of getting there.

That was the mantra of HIV/AIDS support services providers this year, after their budgets were slashed significantly due to federal funding changes that passed Congress in December 2006. Under the changes, 75 percent of HIV/AIDS funds must go toward core medical services, leaving only 25 percent for support services like transportation, food, housing and the like.

Congress implemented the rule because as people live longer with the disease, costs associated with medical care and prescription drugs are rising. But for many agencies, it was a bitter pill to swallow.

For example, the area’s primary provider of transportation, AIDS Interfaith Network, lost almost one-third of its $2 million budget. Meanwhile, hot meals programs at AIN and the Resource Center of Dallas are threatened. In Tarrant County, the AIDS Outreach Center may be forced to cut in half the number of clients eligible for its food pantry. And the list goes on.

Support services representatives say they are hoping Congress will take another look at the guidelines, which are subject to review every three years. Until then, though, they’ll be forced to rely more heavily on the funding source that got most of them started — contributions from the community.

5. Scandal rocks Republican Party

When U.S. Sen. Larry Craig was arrested on July 11 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for making sexual advances to an undercover cop in a men’s restroom, he quietly pleaded guilty and paid a fine, hoping to keep the incident under wraps and out of the media.

Those hopes were dashed, however, a little more than a month later when the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call published a story revealing the sordid details of the Iowa Republican’s arrest.

According to police reports, Craig stood outside a stall occupied by the officer and peered through the crack between the door and the wall. Craig then entered the adjacent stall and propped his briefcase against the door — supposedly to block the view — then proceeded to tap his foot, move his foot over to bump the officer’s foot, and gesture with his hand beneath the stall wall.

All of these things, the officer said, were “known signals” used by men looking for sex in bathrooms.

6. Activists criticize HRC as ENDA fails

Thirty-three years after a federal job rights bill protecting gays was first introduced, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act finally passed the House in 2007.

One might have thought this would be cause for celebration, but that has not been the case.

The LGBT community remains, by most accounts, bitterly divided over the what happened with ENDA this fall.

The controversy began in late September, when House Democratic leaders removed transgender protections from the bill because they said it otherwise wouldn’t have enough votes to pass.

More than 300 local, state and national LGBT organizations came out in opposition to the sexual-orientation-only version of ENDA. Noticeably absent among them, however, was the Human Rights Campaign, which eventually threw its support behind the trans-less ENDA.

After more than a month of behind-the-scenes wrangling, the bill passed the House 235-184 on Nov. 7.

ENDA remains stalled in the Senate, where Republicans have threatened a filibuster. Even if the bill passes, President Bush is expected to veto it. That means the ENDA debate is all but certain to resurface — after a new Congress and president take office— in 2009.

7. Hate crimes bill cut from DOD measure

Activists were hoping for passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, which would allow federal prosecution of violent crimes committed based on the victims’ sexual orientation, gender identity, gender or disability.

In an effort to avoid a veto by President Bush, Senate Democrats decided to make the Shepard Act — which had already passed the House — an amendment to a defense spending bill.

But the strategy backfired when some House Democrats said they would vote against the measure because of their opposition to the Iraq war. A House-Senate conference committee removed the hate crimes amendment from the defense bill in early December.

8. Cedar Springs strip fights for life

As more old homes and apartment buildings were razed and more new high-end residential and business buildings started going up in Oak Lawn in 2007, some people applauded the new developments while others bemoaned the loss of the area’s unique personality and historic charm.

Many longtime residents of the area also expressed dismay that they were being run out of Oak Lawn as most of the older, more affordable housing was being replaced with expensive high-rise condos and townhomes, and that the “gayborhood” was being taken over by wealthy heterosexuals.

In January, Crosland Investments, a North Dallas development company, announced plans to construct a multi-floor apartment building with ground floor retail space on the site of the former Tom Thumb grocery store on Cedar Springs Road.

The following month, some longtime business owners in the area announced the reformation of the Cedar Springs Merchants Association. Association members said they wanted to work together to fight off the recent downturn that they attributed, in part, to ongoing street construction that made it more difficult for shoppers and club-goers to get to the Cedar Springs strip.

9. Murder at the Crossroads strikes fear

The slaying of a 31-year-old McKinney man in the heart of the Oak Lawn entertainment district in front of an ATM machine on April 16 shocked a city accustomed to violent crimes.

Oak Lawn residents, business people and club goers were shocked by the brazenness of the killer, who shot Jose Landa in front of his wife during a robbery in view of several witnesses. The couple and two others had just left a gay nightclub when the attack occurred.

Police quickly arrested Darrell Jenkins, 23, whom they identified as a male prostitute who was known as “Black Jesus” in the neighborhood. He lived in vacant buildings, police said.

10. Trinity River Project vote engages all

Dallas Councilwoman Angela Hunt led a revolt against the city’s business establishment by challenging the proposed Trinity River Corridor Project.

Hunt, who represents part of Oak Lawn and enjoys strong support from LGBT voters, led a petition drive to force a referendum on Nov. 6 on the inclusion of a high-speed toll road inside the massive flood control and park beautification project.

Hunt’s City Council colleagues and the Dallas business establishment fought back but failed to prevent her from securing 52,000 signatures on a petition to force the referendum. lar project.

Hunt’s effort ultimately failed at the ballot box.

Pegasus News content partner - Dallas Voice, the community newspaper for gay & lesbian Dallas.

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