The following is from the Columbus _Dispatch_, February 14, 1991.

Gay Rights Leader Charged in Rape
by Bruce Cadwallader, _Dispatch_ police reporter

	The president of a gay rights organization was charged yesterday with
the  rape of a homosexual date.
	Russell A. Stalk, 32, was elected president of the Stonewall Union in
September.  The homosexual advocacy organization recently received federal
and  local grants to fight anti-gay violence.
	Columbus police arrested Stalk of 1224 Summit St. in an adult bookstore
he  manages on Harrisburg Pike.  A Newark, Ohio, man said that on Feb. 5
he was  bound with a necktie and raped repeatedly by Stalk, police
reported.
	Stalk was held in the Franklin County jail pending a court hearing
today.
	Police detectives said the case is rare because it involves two men, but
it is being treated like any other "date rape" case.  Detectives said
they  were seeking information on a 1979 case in Lima, Ohio, in which
Stalk pleaded  guilty to raping a 12-year-old boy.  Stalk said the boy was
a teen prostitute,  police said.
	Ohio prison records say Stalk served four years of a 6- to 25-year
sentence  for the rape.  He was released from parole in November 1985.
	In October, Stalk and his lover applied for a marriage license.
Franklin  County Probate Judge Richard B. Metcalf refused to grant it.  He
said Ohio law  prohibits the legal marriage of people of the same sex.
	More recently, Stalk criticized news media coverage of gay issues and
helped his organization receive $12,000 in federal and local grants to aid
 gay crime victims and increase public awareness of bias crime.  An Ohio
Department of Health official said yesterday the grants will be honored
because they were issued to Stonewall Union.
	Rhonda Rivera, a professor of law at The Ohio State University and
former  Stonewall president was shocked to learn of the rape charge.  She
hoped it  would not cast a bad light on the agency's work.
	"It's going to come as a gruesome shock to them (Stonewall board
members),  and they are going to be appalled," Rivera said.  "The gay
community is  appalled by any kind of violence, and certainly rape is one
of the most  heinous crimes I can think of."
	Holly Featherstone, current Stonewall vice president, declined comment
on  the charge.  She said the board will meet in an emergency session
today.
	In an interview about the grants last month, Stalk told _The_Dispatch_,
"This is something Stonewall Uniion has always worked on ... encouraging
people to come forward" with reports of violence.
	The 24-year-old man who filed the charge against Stalk told
_The_Dispatch_  he wanted to do just that, in case others with a similar
experience were  afraid to report a crime.
	"If I don't say something, I have to carry it all my life and secondly,
he  gets away with it," the man said.  "I never in my wildest nightmares
imagined  he'd do what he did."
	The official charge against Stalk is that he forced the man to perform
oral sex.  THe victim said the attack was much more.
	The victim said he has known he is gay since he was 13.  A friend
suggested he go to the Columbus Eagle Bar at 232 N. 3rd St. to meet new
friends.  He said it was his first time at such a bar.
	A man who identified himself as Stalk approached him and began making
conversation and, the victim said, tried to gain his confidence because of
his  affiliation with Stonewall.  They had several drinks.
	THe victim said he agreed to go to Stalk's house but only to talk.
	Once there, Stalk made him put on a tie and then choked him with it,
bound  his hands with another tie, poured hair-styling gel into him and
commited  sexual acts, the victim said.
	THe victim said his face was burned with a chemical snuff and that he
was  forced into a bathtub, was doused with barbecue sauce and sexually
assaulted  again.
	Later, Stalk told him to shower and drove him back to his car, the
victim  said.  He said he returned to Newark and later sought medical
attention.
	A police detective persuaded him to report the incident.
___________
I'll post everything the _Dispatch_ publishes about this, unless the
moderator  does a tappity-whack.  I think this is important, even though,
strictly  speaking this crime doesn't involve women.

TCOY,
- Julie

--- msged 1.99S ZTC
 * Origin: It's all for my true love, who's far, far away  (1:226/20.16)

From the February 15, 1991 Columbus _Dispatch_

Rape Suspect Resigns Post in Gay Group
by Mary Stephens, _Dispatch_ staff reporter

	Russell A. Stalk, 32, accused of rapist, [sic] resigned yesterday as
president and a board member of Stonewall Union, a gay advocacy group, the
new  president said last night.
	Stalk was elected president of the group in September, replacing Chris
Cozad.  Cozad said last night the group's board elected her to fill the
remainder of Stalk's one-year term.
	Stalk is accused of tying up and raping a Newark, Ohio, man.  The victim
 says he met Stalk in a bar Feb. 5.
	Judge Guy L. Reece II of Franklin County Municipal Court set Stalk's
bail  at $75,000 yesterday.
	"Obviously, it's quite a shock," said Michael Scarce, vice president of
the  OSU Gay and Lesbian Alliance.  "We in the gay community are targets
of  violence often enough, and to have it happen in our own community is
even more  disgusting."
	Most gay leaders said they have always known Stalk to be a committed and
 dependable organizer.  They stressed he has not been found guilty of
raping  the Newark man.
	Some, however, said the charge is not as disturbing as the revelation
that  Stalk pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old boy in Lima, Ohio, in
1979 and  served four years in prison.
	"That is the most unnerving thing," said Rhonda Rivera, an Ohio State
University law professor and a past president of Stonewall Union.
	Past and present leaders of Stonewall Union met last night to decide how
to  respond to the rape accusation.
	Background checks are not routine for Stonewall Union members who, like
Stalk, begin as volunteers and work their way up to leadership positions.
 Rivera said.  Only the group's treasurer, who must be bonded, is usually
checked she said.
	She expressed some doubt about the current charge against Stalk and said
 she worries that the alleged crime will inflame anti-gay sentiment.
	"I'm sure there are people who will seize on this opportunity," she
said.   "People who don't like gay people will find any excuse to say
something bad  about them."
	Jerry Bunge, a lawyer and chairman of the Gay/Lesbian Rights Project of
the  Ohio American Civil Liberties Union, said he hopes people will not
jump to the  conclusion that violent gay rape is common.
	He objected to the inclusion of bizarre details about the alleged attack
in  a _Dispatch_ story.  "That's so far beyond what most gay people think
of as  normal sex," Bunge said.  "(Heterosexual) people may assume that's
normal gay  behavior, and it's not."
	Before going to police with his accusation against Stalk, the victim
repeatedly asked Stalk for money to pay hospital bills related to the
attack,   Columbus detective Mike Spencer said yesterday.
	The man had first- and second-degree burns on his face from a liquid
chemical some homosexuals use as an aphrodisiac, Spencer said.
	Stalk promised to give the man some money but never did, Spencer said
the  man told him.
	Stalk has called for greater awareness of hate crimes against gays.
Stonewall Union recently received $12,000 in federal and local money to
address the problem.
	Cozad said a coordinator has been hired for the anti-violence program,
and  a 24-hour hot line for victims is to be set up soon.
	The grant money also is for self-defense and rape prevention classes
that  begin next week she said.
___________
This is the second post on this story.  I will continue to post whatever
coverage the _Dispatch_ gives this issue, for I feel it is important even
in  no women were involved.

TCOY,
- Julie

The following is from the February 16, Columbus _Dispatch_.

Gay Leader Says Group to COntinue
President accused of rape resigns, new leader named
by Robert Albrecht, _Dispatch_ staff reporter

	"We are still a functioning healthy organization and intend to go on
with  business as usual," Chris Cozad said of Stonewall Union after
resuming duties  as its president yesterday.
	The advocacy group for homosexuals lost Russell A. Stalk, 32, as its
president Thursday night when he resigned, a day after being arrested on a
 rape charge.
	A 24-year-old man from Newark, Ohio, has accused Stalk of raping him
Feb. 5  after they met in a bar on N. 3rd Street.  Stalk remained in the
Franklin  County jail in lieu of a $75,000 surety bond.
	Evidence in the case is being considered by a grand jury, a worker in
the  Municipal Court clerk's office said yesterday.
	Stalk resigned voluntarily, Rhonda Rivera, a former president of the
group,  said at a news conference.
	Cozad said Stalk made no requests for legal assistance.  Stonewall Union
is  not equipped to offer that kind of support, she noted.
	Cozad was Stalk's immediate predecessor in the Stonewall presidency.  He
 was elected head of the group, with 700 dues-paying members, in September.
	"Stonewall Union does not condone criminal activity," Cozad said in a
prepared statement.  "We hope sensationalism will not obscure the
presumption  of Mr. Stalk's innocence or jeopardize his right to a fair
trial."
	Douglas Whaley, another former Stonewall Union president, said, "We hope
we  can persuade the Columbus community that this is an aberration and not
 business as usual."
	The charge comes at a time when the gay community is calling for help in
 quelling violence against homosexuals.
	A case in which both the victim and the alleged assailant are homosexual
 plays to the beliefs of the wrong people, according to Stonewall leaders.
	"This is every homophobe's dream," Whaley said.
	Ohio prison records indicate Stalk served time in prison after pleading
guilty in 1979 to raping a 12-year-old boy.
	"The organization had absolutely no knowledge," of Stalk's criminal
record,  Rivera said.
	"Women Against Rape supports Stonewall Union," members of that group
said  in a news release yesterday.  "The recent developments and charges
against  Russell Stalk do not change that in any way," spokeswomen for the
group said.
__________
This is the third article I have taken from the _Dispatch_ covering the
incident.  I intend to post everything that is published in connection
with  this incident, unless the moderator decides otherwise.

TCOY,
- Julie