Wikipedia:Requests for mediation/Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper

The filing party (the editor who opened this request) will add the basic details for this dispute below.

Editors involved in this dispute

1. Engleham (talk · contribs) – filing party
2. Bede735 (talk · contribs)
3. Collect (talk · contribs)

Articles affected by this dispute

1. Gary Cooper (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

Other attempts at resolving this dispute that you have attempted

• [[1]]
• [[2]]

Issues to be mediated

What is this dispute about? What sections, sentences, or issues in the article(s) can you not agree on? If you are the editor who opened this request, list these issues to be mediated under "Primary issues". If you did not open this request, you can add additional issues to be mediated under "Additional issues". The issues to be mediated would be properly agreed upon later, if this request for mediation is accepted.

Primary issues (added by the filing party)

1. The article of actor Gary Cooper has two self-appointed gatekeepers who prevent any inclusion of mention of Cooper's friendship with the actor Anderson Lawler, despite however many solid references are provided in support - far more than for any other claim in the article. This is presumably because Lawler was homosexual. Lawler was an important element in Coopers life, and introduced him to a wider social circle, so possibly advancing his career. Various spurious reasons are given for the ban on his inclusion, including that it is trivia - despite significant mention in the article of Cooper's affairs with women. The situation has been endlessly talked out with the two other parties on the Talk page, who I now reasonably believe are simply stonewalling. The brief sentences I wish to include, with solid citations, are as follows.

"In 1929 Cooper met the aspiring Paramount actor Anderson Lawler, with whom he lived with for a year. Popular and unabashedly homosexual, Lawler introduced Cooper to Hollywood society, but their close friendship caused intense jealousy with Clara Bow and Lupe Velez. According to actor William Janney, Cooper, Lawler and Velez at least once had a threesome."

Citations would be:

• Mann, William J. Behind the screen: how gays and lesbians shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969, Viking, 2001, pp105
• Swindell, Larry The Last Hero: A Biography of Gary Cooper, New York: Doubleday, 1980, pp104-5
• Lawrence, Jack They All Sang My Songs: The Life and Times of Jack Lawrence, Barricade Books, 2004
• Fleming, E. J. The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine; McFarland & Company, Jefferson, North Carolina & London 2005, p92
• Vogel, Michelle Lupe Velez: The Life And Career of Hollywood's Mexican Spitfire, (McFarland & Company 1972) p71
• Ankerich, Michael G. The Sound of Silence: Conversations with 16 Film and Stage Personalities Who Bridged the Gap Between Silents and Talkies, McFarland and Company, 1998, pp127-128

The William J. Mann reference can be read on Amazon by doing a word search for Lawler in the book preview: http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Screen-Lesbians-Hollywood-1910-1969/dp/0670030171/

The William Janney's account of the threesome of Cooper,Lawler & Velez (which clarifies the closeness of the friendship) can be read on Google Books here: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=N4WhCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA128&dq=%22anderson+lawler

Additional issues (added by other parties)

• Additional issue 1
• Additional issue 2

Parties' agreement to mediation

If you are a named party, please sign below and indicate whether you agree or refuse to participate in mediation. Remember that all editors are obliged to resolve disputes about content through discussion, mediation, or other similar means. If you do not wish to participate in mediation, you must arrange another form of dispute resolution. Comments and questions should be made underneath the numbered list below, to avoid confusion.

1. Agree. I further state that the so-called Consensus referred to below , is merely the refusal of the two individuals to countenance any mention of Lawler, (who is mentioned in all the leading biographies of Cooper), so compromising a biographical article. Engleham (talk) 15:45, 15 May 2016 (UTC)
2. Disagree. This matter is not a matter of "gatekeepers" but a refusal to understand WP:CONSENSUS entirely by one editor. Collect (talk) 17:06, 15 May 2016 (UTC)
3. Disagree. Consensus was reached twice, here and here. My rationale for rejecting the content is provided in the first link. Bede735 (talk) 17:22, 15 May 2016 (UTC)

Decision of the Mediation Committee

This section should only be edited by a mediator. The Mediation Committee's representative will indicate in due course whether the request is accepted (meaning a mediator will be assigned) or rejected (meaning you will have to try a different type of dispute resolution). If the mediator asks you a question in this section, you may edit here.

• Reject. Fails to satisfy prerequisite to mediation #5, "A majority of the parties to the dispute consent to mediation". For the Mediation Committee, TransporterMan (TALK) 20:44, 15 May 2016 (UTC) (Chairperson)