19th June, 2001 (# 1) News Clippings Digest.

1.  CHICO (CA) ENTERPRISE-RECORD  Three letters outraged by Linda
Bowles' latest anti-gay column (yes, she's still at it, in the
backwaters anyway)
2.  DANBURY (CT) NEWS-TIMES  Local Pride picnic coverage
3.  DES MOINES REGISTER  Proposal to add sexual orientation to city's
non-discrimination policy passes second City Council vote
4.  ALBANY (NY) TIMES-UNION  Letter:  Add sexual orientation to
discrimination law
5.  SCHENECTADY (NY) DAILY GAZETTE  Letter:  Bill would ensure
equality for gays
6.  CONGRESSIONAL RECORD  U.S. Senator Gordon Smith (R-Oregon) gives
another of his daily PSA's about anti-gay hate crimes

Chico Enterprise-Record, June 12, 2001
Box 9, Chico, CA, 95927
(Fax: 530-342-3617 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.chicoer.com/ )
Letter:  Bowles is no expert
        I read Linda Bowles' column "Psychiatrist changes mind on
homosexuality."  I really wish you would stop printing her garbage;
her
misrepresentations of science are ridiculous and potentially harmful.
Sexual orientation is not something that can be so clearly defined as
"homosexual" or "heterosexual."  Instead, sexual orientation is a
continuum
ranging from an exclusively same-sex orientation to an exclusively
opposite-sex orientation.  Few people are at these extremes.
        One day my bored friend decided to play a game with her dog.
(Pavlov
would have been so proud.)  Every time the little dog went near his
food
dish, my friend squirted him with water.  The dog eventually was
conditioned
to fear and avoid his food dish, even though it was necessary for his
survival.  My friend had to feed her dog off the kitchen floor for
about a
week, if I remember correctly.  The fear of the food dish wore off,
but the
stimulus had stopped.
        Now Bowles is writing about people who are praying and
receiving
therapy for their behavior, and she notes that these are people who
adamantly do not want to be same-sex oriented.  Is it any wonder why
they
"change"? If not for the conditioning effect, then their change
probably
comes from the placebo effect (wanting a change and believing it will
occur).
        Running out of space, but by the way, we know that there is at
least
a genetic link (if not cause) to sexual orientation.
- Ethan H. Beckley, Orland

Letter:  Bowles' comments an outrage  (June 5, 2001)
        I was outraged by Linda Bowles' anti-gay column on May 25 and
I'm
embarrassed to be part of a community that supports such views.  In a
recent
study (May 9), Dr. Robert Spitzer stated that "some people can and do
change
(their sexual orientation)" from which Bowles concludes,
triumphantly, "The
bottom line is this:  No child is born to be a homosexual."
        That's pretty faulty logic.  It's like saying, "Some people
can and
do remain celibate" after making a study of 200 Catholic and Buddhist
monks,
only to declare that "no child is born with sexual longing."
        In Spitzer's study all 200 individuals were deeply religious
and felt
that their homosexual feelings were abhorrent.  And yet, after five
years of
struggle to change their homosexual urges, only 66 percent of males
and 44
percent of females (a total of 119) were able to make "significant
progress"
toward heterosexuality.  Only slightly more than half of people who
wanted
to change were able.  This is hardly proof, as Bowles seems to think,
that
"homosexuals are made, and they can be unmade."
        But all of this is beside the point.  It doesn't make the
slightest
difference whether homosexuality is "natural" or "environmental."
Every
individual, regardless of sexual preference, possesses the inalienable
rights we have worked toward in our Constitution and Universal
Declaration
of Human Rights.  Bowles, however, seems to think that gays and
lesbians
should be second-class citizens.  This is wrong and this is immoral.
The
bottom line is this:  If you don't like homosexuals, don't be one.
- Chico

Letter:  Here's something to pray for  (June 3, 2001)
        This regards Linda Bowles and her hailing the latest study
(Spitzer)
that claims gays can become heterosexual through prayer and therapy.
The
"ex-gay" movement was generally pronounced dead last September when
Exodus'
poster boy John Paulk (featured as a proud "ex-gay" on the cover of
Newsweek
in 1998), was caught hitting on patrons in a D.C. gay bar.  For those
looking to the Spitzer study for renewed hope:
        1) The Spitzer study only tracks reported behavior, not actual
behavior.
        2) Spitzer's "success rate" only reflects those still enrolled
in
ex-gay programs, not the legions who left them in disgust.
        3) Spitzer completely ignores the confounding issue of bisexual
orientation.
        Because of bisexuality, of course "ex-gay" programs will seem
to show
some success.  People with pre-existing bisexual tendencies switch
from gay
to straight relationships even without prayer or coercive, unlicensed
"ex-gay" programs.
        Nonetheless, a study more comprehensive than Spitzer's (Shildo
and
Schroeder, 2001) shows a 90 percent failure rate of "ex-gay" therapy.
Shildo found that under duress, many people force themselves into an
ostensibly "heterosexual" identity and lifestyle.  But for those with
a more
exclusively gay orientation (studies out of the universities at
Austin and
Berkeley show in utero hormone levels to be the primary factor),
happiness
seldom lasts, and a secret gay life often develops on the side.
        Perhaps people should stop searching for heterosexual
orientation
through prayer and therapy, and instead seek prayer and therapy to
overcome
their unreasonable prejudice against same-sex relationships.
- Julie and Gary Estep, Chico


Danbury News-Times, June 14, 2001
333 Main St., Danbury, CT, 06810
(Fax: 203-792-8730 ) (E-Mail:    editor@... )
( http://www.newstimes.com/ )
Lesbian/gay pride picnic Saturday
By Peter Hagan
        RIDGEFIELD - It's just another picnic.
        That's what organizers of Ridgefield's annual lesbian/gay pride
community picnic hope people will realize when the picnic is held
Saturday.
        "We're just another group having a picnic," said Phil Lewis, an
organizer of this year's picnic.  "Just like when the Italian
Americans have
a picnic or the soccer groups, it's just another picnic."
        This is the picnic's fifth year and organizers are expecting
it to be
larger than ever.
        "We had about 150 people last year and we've doubled every
year,"
Lewis said.  "So, weather permitting we should see about 300 people."
        The festivities will begin with the opening ceremony at the
Veteran's
Memorial on Main Street at 12:30 p.m.
        Speakers will include the town first selectman and various
religious
leaders from the community.
        "There are two main reasons for holding the picnic," Lewis
said.
"The first is to make people in general aware of the concerns of our
community.  And the second is to let other people who are lesbian and
gay
know that it's OK, and that they're not alone."
        After the opening ceremonies the picnic will move down the
street,
led by bagpipes, to the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art where the
picnic
will proceed.
        The picnic is one of many that will occur in various locations
throughout the country during the month of June, traditionally gay
history
month.
        Celebrations with costumes and parades are conducted in large
cities
like New York and San Francisco.
        In Ridgefield, the picnic is a subtle way of combating what
Lewis
calls homophobia.
        "The problem currently lies in instances of people simply
looking at
us differently or other subtle instances of homophobia like that,"
Lewis
said.  "It's still acceptable and popular in certain instances to act
homophobic and that's what we're tying to combat on a local level."
        But the picnic is also about having a good time.
        Off Center, the chamber group of the Connecticut Gay Men's
Chorus
will be performing at the picnic for the first time this year.
Additional
artists and musicians will be performing including southwestern
Connecticut
folk rock band, Sans Cherubs.
        Refreshments will be available for purchase from the Emerald
City
Cafe Catering, and the public is welcome to attend.
        . For more information, organizers can be reached by e-mail at
ridgefieldpride@....


DES MOINES REGISTER, June 19, 2001
Box 957, Des Moines, Ia., 50304
(Fax 515-286-2511 ) (E-MAIL: letters@... )
METRO/IOWA
GAY PROTECTION BACKED AGAIN
CRITICS FAIL TO CHANGE D.M. COUNCIL VOTE
By Jeff Eckhoff, Register Staff Writer
        More than 60 concerned Christians rallied outside Des Moines
City
Hall on Monday, chanting "No special rights" as they urged City
Council
members to reverse plans to protect gays under an anti-discrimination
law.
        They failed.
        Council members heard 30 minutes of debate after the rally
before
quietly voting 5-2 to expand the city's human-rights ordinance.
        The change, which passed by the same vote at a first reading
two
weeks ago, inserts sexual orientation into a law that bans
discrimination
based on race, creed and religion, among other things.
        Council Members Christine Hensley, Tom Vlassis, Archie Brooks,
Chris
Coleman and Mayor Preston Daniels voted in favor.  Councilmen George
Flagg
and Michael McPherson cast the dissenting votes.
        Critics opposed the idea, citing a wide variety of religious-
related
concerns.
        "We should not be elevating chosen behaviors to a protected
class,"
said Robert Cramer of Grimes, head of a construction company that does
business with Des Moines.  "I hope you don't believe this is the end
of the
homosexual agenda.  This is only the beginning."
        Chad Thompson, gender specialist for the Iowa Family Policy
Center,
urged council members to study the cause of homosexuality before
passing any
law.
        "I'm not sure we've heard all the facts," Thompson said,
referring to
one study arguing that gays were happier after choosing to give up
their
homosexuality.  "I really think we need to look at the issue of
homosexuality before we decide to normalize it."
        Bruce Lehnertz heard Thompson present a similar argument at
the rally
before the council meeting.  He agreed that some gays aren't happy
with
their sexual orientation, but he said that's because society treats
homosexuals and heterosexuals differently.
        "The solution is not in discriminating against them and trying
to get
them to change," said Lehnertz of West Des Moines.  "The solution is
in
greater acceptance."
        Later, Wayne Shoemaker, a retired Methodist pastor, urged the
council
to approve the ordinance.
        "To me, a 'no' vote on this would indicate that it's OK to
discriminate based on the way God created us," he said.
        Council members voted without comment after a half-hour that
included
multiple Bible quotations and several bursts of spontaneous applause.
Daniels thanked those in attendance "for their patience and for their
ability to remain mostly civil."
        The expanded ordinance, which needs one more council approval
before
it can take effect, would outlaw unequal treatment in matters of
employment,
housing or the use of public accommodations.  The next vote will be
July 9.
        If the expansion is approved, Des Moines will become Iowa's
fifth
city to extend such protection to gays.
        . Reporter Jeff Eckhoff can be reached at
eckhoffj@... or
(515) 284-8271.

PROPONENTS, OPPONENTS HAVE THEIR SAY
        "This message is not meant to condemn gay and lesbian people
who are
content with their sexual orientation.  It is only meant to offer
hope to
those who are not."
- Chad Thompson, speaking at a rally against the ordinance.  Opponents
brought literature for those wishing to give up their homosexuality.

        "I totally am in support of your brave decision.  You did the
right
thing."
- e-mail to council members from Bruce Hughes, Des Moines.

        "Thank you for your courage and wisdom in voting to expand Des
Moines' human right ordinance to include sexual orientation.  As a
former
teacher ... I am proud to be a citizen of a community that recognizes
the
importance of equal rights for all."
- e-mail from Nancy McClimen, Des Moines.

        "Every citizen is already protected under this ordinance, and
we do
not need any more favoritism to what the homosexuals are demanding.
Would
they vote to have Christians be designated as a protected class?  Not
quite.
..."
- e-mail from Buzz Rupp Johnston


Albany Times Union, June 19, 2001
645 Albany-Shaker Road, Albany, NY, 12201
(Fax: 518-454-5628 ) (E-Mail: tuletters@... )
( http://www.timesunion.com )
Letter:  Add sexual orientation to discrimination law
        It is high time the state Senate took a public stand on an
important
piece of legislation.
        Thirty years ago, the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination
Act was
introduced in the state Legislature.  This bill outlaws
discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation.
        It took the Assembly 21 years to act, but then it did pass the
bill.
And it has continued to pass it every year since then by larger and
larger
majorities.  Our state Senate, though, for nine years now, has
refused to
even bring this bill to the floor for a vote.  Wouldn't we like to
know
where our senators really stand on this issue?  I believe they simply
don't
want a public record of their stance.
        A long time has lapsed to wait for a law that guarantees gay
and
lesbian New Yorkers the same opportunities and protections that other
citizens of our state take for granted.  All this bill does is add two
words, "sexual orientation,'' to the existing law.  The existing law,
by the
way, already prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity,
religion and other categories.  Just as these groups have
historically been
denied equal treatment by landlords, employers and government
officials, so
too are gay men and lesbians.  So this isn't about special
protections.
It's about equal protections -- and nothing more than that.
        Our state Senate should act now before time runs out on this
legislative session.
- JAMES BELL, Albany


Schenectady Daily Gazette, June 19, 2001
Box 1090, Schenectady, NY, 12301
(Fax: 518-395-3089 ) (E-Mail:   gazette@... )
( http://www.dailygazette.com )
Letter:  Bill would ensure equality for gays
        Thirty years ago, the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act
(SONDA) was introduced in the state Legislature.  This essential bill
would
outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
        The state Assembly has passed SONDA every year since 1991, with
larger and larger majorities each year.  However, our Republican-
dominated
state Senate has refused to even vote on this bill.
        SONDA guarantees gay and lesbian New Yorkers the same
opportunities
and protections that other citizens of our state take for granted, by
adding
two words -- sexual orientation -- to the existing law.  It does not
grant
any special rights, only equal rights.  Existing law already prohibits
discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, and many
other
categories.
        Just as other groups have historically been denied equal
treatment by
landlords, employers and government officials, so too have gays and
lesbians.  This is a matter of equal protection under the law for all
citizens.
        The National Organization for Women - New York State, Inc.
urges Sen.
Hugh Farley to act now and support SONDA before time runs out in this
legislative session.
- KATHRYN LAKE MAZIERSKI, Niagara Falls
The writer is president of National Organization for Women - New York
State,
Inc.


Congressional Record, June 18, 2001
http://thomas.loc.gov
LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ACT OF 2001 -- (Senate)
        Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. President, I rise today to speak
about hate
crimes legislation I introduced with Senator Kennedy last month. The
Local
law Enforcement Act of 2001 would add new categories to current hate
crimes
legislation sending a signal that violence of any kind is
unacceptable in
our society.
        I would like to describe a terrible crime that occurred July
24, 1999
in San Diego, California.  Hundreds of gay-pride marchers and
spectators
were tear-gassed when someone threw a military-issue tear-gas grenade
near
the Family Matters contingent during the 25th annual Pride Parade.
Family
Matters is a social and educational group for gay and lesbian parents
and
their families.  The 70-person contingent included small children and
babies
in strollers.
        I believe that government's first duty is to defend its
citizens, to
defend them against the harms that come out of hate.  The Local Law
Enforcement Enhancement Act of 2001 is now a symbol that can become
substance.  I believe that by passing this legislation, we can change
hearts
and minds as well.
19th June, 2001 (# 1) News Clippings Digest.

1.  CHICO (CA) ENTERPRISE-RECORD  Three letters outraged by Linda
Bowles'
latest anti-gay column (yes, she's still at it, in the backwaters
anyway)
2.  DANBURY (CT) NEWS-TIMES  Local Pride picnic coverage
3.  DES MOINES REGISTER  Proposal to add sexual orientation to city's
non-discrimination policy passes second City Council vote
4.  ALBANY (NY) TIMES-UNION  Letter:  Add sexual orientation to
discrimination law
5.  SCHENECTADY (NY) DAILY GAZETTE  Letter:  Bill would ensure
equality for
gays
6.  CONGRESSIONAL RECORD  U.S. Senator Gordon Smith (R-Oregon) gives
another
of his daily PSA's about anti-gay hate crimes

Chico Enterprise-Record, June 12, 2001
Box 9, Chico, CA, 95927
(Fax: 530-342-3617 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.chicoer.com/ )
Letter:  Bowles is no expert
        I read Linda Bowles' column "Psychiatrist changes mind on
homosexuality."  I really wish you would stop printing her garbage;
her
misrepresentations of science are ridiculous and potentially harmful.
Sexual orientation is not something that can be so clearly defined as
"homosexual" or "heterosexual."  Instead, sexual orientation is a
continuum
ranging from an exclusively same-sex orientation to an exclusively
opposite-sex orientation.  Few people are at these extremes.
        One day my bored friend decided to play a game with her dog.
(Pavlov
would have been so proud.)  Every time the little dog went near his
food
dish, my friend squirted him with water.  The dog eventually was
conditioned
to fear and avoid his food dish, even though it was necessary for his
survival.  My friend had to feed her dog off the kitchen floor for
about a
week, if I remember correctly.  The fear of the food dish wore off,
but the
stimulus had stopped.
        Now Bowles is writing about people who are praying and
receiving
therapy for their behavior, and she notes that these are people who
adamantly do not want to be same-sex oriented.  Is it any wonder why
they
"change"? If not for the conditioning effect, then their change
probably
comes from the placebo effect (wanting a change and believing it will
occur).
        Running out of space, but by the way, we know that there is at
least
a genetic link (if not cause) to sexual orientation.
- Ethan H. Beckley, Orland

Letter:  Bowles' comments an outrage  (June 5, 2001)
        I was outraged by Linda Bowles' anti-gay column on May 25 and
I'm
embarrassed to be part of a community that supports such views.  In a
recent
study (May 9), Dr. Robert Spitzer stated that "some people can and do
change
(their sexual orientation)" from which Bowles concludes,
triumphantly, "The
bottom line is this:  No child is born to be a homosexual."
        That's pretty faulty logic.  It's like saying, "Some people
can and
do remain celibate" after making a study of 200 Catholic and Buddhist
monks,
only to declare that "no child is born with sexual longing."
        In Spitzer's study all 200 individuals were deeply religious
and felt
that their homosexual feelings were abhorrent.  And yet, after five
years of
struggle to change their homosexual urges, only 66 percent of males
and 44
percent of females (a total of 119) were able to make "significant
progress"
toward heterosexuality.  Only slightly more than half of people who
wanted
to change were able.  This is hardly proof, as Bowles seems to think,
that
"homosexuals are made, and they can be unmade."
        But all of this is beside the point.  It doesn't make the
slightest
difference whether homosexuality is "natural" or "environmental."
Every
individual, regardless of sexual preference, possesses the inalienable
rights we have worked toward in our Constitution and Universal
Declaration
of Human Rights.  Bowles, however, seems to think that gays and
lesbians
should be second-class citizens.  This is wrong and this is immoral.
The
bottom line is this:  If you don't like homosexuals, don't be one.
- Chico

Letter:  Here's something to pray for  (June 3, 2001)
        This regards Linda Bowles and her hailing the latest study
(Spitzer)
that claims gays can become heterosexual through prayer and therapy.
The
"ex-gay" movement was generally pronounced dead last September when
Exodus'
poster boy John Paulk (featured as a proud "ex-gay" on the cover of
Newsweek
in 1998), was caught hitting on patrons in a D.C. gay bar.  For those
looking to the Spitzer study for renewed hope:
        1) The Spitzer study only tracks reported behavior, not actual
behavior.
        2) Spitzer's "success rate" only reflects those still enrolled
in
ex-gay programs, not the legions who left them in disgust.
        3) Spitzer completely ignores the confounding issue of bisexual
orientation.
        Because of bisexuality, of course "ex-gay" programs will seem
to show
some success.  People with pre-existing bisexual tendencies switch
from gay
to straight relationships even without prayer or coercive, unlicensed
"ex-gay" programs.
        Nonetheless, a study more comprehensive than Spitzer's (Shildo
and
Schroeder, 2001) shows a 90 percent failure rate of "ex-gay" therapy.
Shildo found that under duress, many people force themselves into an
ostensibly "heterosexual" identity and lifestyle.  But for those with
a more
exclusively gay orientation (studies out of the universities at
Austin and
Berkeley show in utero hormone levels to be the primary factor),
happiness
seldom lasts, and a secret gay life often develops on the side.
        Perhaps people should stop searching for heterosexual
orientation
through prayer and therapy, and instead seek prayer and therapy to
overcome
their unreasonable prejudice against same-sex relationships.
- Julie and Gary Estep, Chico


Danbury News-Times, June 14, 2001
333 Main St., Danbury, CT, 06810
(Fax: 203-792-8730 ) (E-Mail:    editor@... )
( http://www.newstimes.com/ )
Lesbian/gay pride picnic Saturday
By Peter Hagan
        RIDGEFIELD - It's just another picnic.
        That's what organizers of Ridgefield's annual lesbian/gay pride
community picnic hope people will realize when the picnic is held
Saturday.
        "We're just another group having a picnic," said Phil Lewis, an
organizer of this year's picnic.  "Just like when the Italian
Americans have
a picnic or the soccer groups, it's just another picnic."
        This is the picnic's fifth year and organizers are expecting
it to be
larger than ever.
        "We had about 150 people last year and we've doubled every
year,"
Lewis said.  "So, weather permitting we should see about 300 people."
        The festivities will begin with the opening ceremony at the
Veteran's
Memorial on Main Street at 12:30 p.m.
        Speakers will include the town first selectman and various
religious
leaders from the community.
        "There are two main reasons for holding the picnic," Lewis
said.
"The first is to make people in general aware of the concerns of our
community.  And the second is to let other people who are lesbian and
gay
know that it's OK, and that they're not alone."
        After the opening ceremonies the picnic will move down the
street,
led by bagpipes, to the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art where the
picnic
will proceed.
        The picnic is one of many that will occur in various locations
throughout the country during the month of June, traditionally gay
history
month.
        Celebrations with costumes and parades are conducted in large
cities
like New York and San Francisco.
        In Ridgefield, the picnic is a subtle way of combating what
Lewis
calls homophobia.
        "The problem currently lies in instances of people simply
looking at
us differently or other subtle instances of homophobia like that,"
Lewis
said.  "It's still acceptable and popular in certain instances to act
homophobic and that's what we're tying to combat on a local level."
        But the picnic is also about having a good time.
        Off Center, the chamber group of the Connecticut Gay Men's
Chorus
will be performing at the picnic for the first time this year.
Additional
artists and musicians will be performing including southwestern
Connecticut
folk rock band, Sans Cherubs.
        Refreshments will be available for purchase from the Emerald
City
Cafe Catering, and the public is welcome to attend.
        . For more information, organizers can be reached by e-mail at
ridgefieldpride@....


DES MOINES REGISTER, June 19, 2001
Box 957, Des Moines, Ia., 50304
(Fax 515-286-2511 ) (E-MAIL: letters@... )
METRO/IOWA
GAY PROTECTION BACKED AGAIN
CRITICS FAIL TO CHANGE D.M. COUNCIL VOTE
By Jeff Eckhoff, Register Staff Writer
        More than 60 concerned Christians rallied outside Des Moines
City
Hall on Monday, chanting "No special rights" as they urged City
Council
members to reverse plans to protect gays under an anti-discrimination
law.
        They failed.
        Council members heard 30 minutes of debate after the rally
before
quietly voting 5-2 to expand the city's human-rights ordinance.
        The change, which passed by the same vote at a first reading
two
weeks ago, inserts sexual orientation into a law that bans
discrimination
based on race, creed and religion, among other things.
        Council Members Christine Hensley, Tom Vlassis, Archie Brooks,
Chris
Coleman and Mayor Preston Daniels voted in favor.  Councilmen George
Flagg
and Michael McPherson cast the dissenting votes.
        Critics opposed the idea, citing a wide variety of religious-
related
concerns.
        "We should not be elevating chosen behaviors to a protected
class,"
said Robert Cramer of Grimes, head of a construction company that does
business with Des Moines.  "I hope you don't believe this is the end
of the
homosexual agenda.  This is only the beginning."
        Chad Thompson, gender specialist for the Iowa Family Policy
Center,
urged council members to study the cause of homosexuality before
passing any
law.
        "I'm not sure we've heard all the facts," Thompson said,
referring to
one study arguing that gays were happier after choosing to give up
their
homosexuality.  "I really think we need to look at the issue of
homosexuality before we decide to normalize it."
        Bruce Lehnertz heard Thompson present a similar argument at
the rally
before the council meeting.  He agreed that some gays aren't happy
with
their sexual orientation, but he said that's because society treats
homosexuals and heterosexuals differently.
        "The solution is not in discriminating against them and trying
to get
them to change," said Lehnertz of West Des Moines.  "The solution is
in
greater acceptance."
        Later, Wayne Shoemaker, a retired Methodist pastor, urged the
council
to approve the ordinance.
        "To me, a 'no' vote on this would indicate that it's OK to
discriminate based on the way God created us," he said.
        Council members voted without comment after a half-hour that
included
multiple Bible quotations and several bursts of spontaneous applause.
Daniels thanked those in attendance "for their patience and for their
ability to remain mostly civil."
        The expanded ordinance, which needs one more council approval
before
it can take effect, would outlaw unequal treatment in matters of
employment,
housing or the use of public accommodations.  The next vote will be
July 9.
        If the expansion is approved, Des Moines will become Iowa's
fifth
city to extend such protection to gays.
        . Reporter Jeff Eckhoff can be reached at
eckhoffj@... or
(515) 284-8271.

PROPONENTS, OPPONENTS HAVE THEIR SAY
        "This message is not meant to condemn gay and lesbian people
who are
content with their sexual orientation.  It is only meant to offer
hope to
those who are not."
- Chad Thompson, speaking at a rally against the ordinance.  Opponents
brought literature for those wishing to give up their homosexuality.

        "I totally am in support of your brave decision.  You did the
right
thing."
- e-mail to council members from Bruce Hughes, Des Moines.

        "Thank you for your courage and wisdom in voting to expand Des
Moines' human right ordinance to include sexual orientation.  As a
former
teacher ... I am proud to be a citizen of a community that recognizes
the
importance of equal rights for all."
- e-mail from Nancy McClimen, Des Moines.

        "Every citizen is already protected under this ordinance, and
we do
not need any more favoritism to what the homosexuals are demanding.
Would
they vote to have Christians be designated as a protected class?  Not
quite.
..."
- e-mail from Buzz Rupp Johnston


Albany Times Union, June 19, 2001
645 Albany-Shaker Road, Albany, NY, 12201
(Fax: 518-454-5628 ) (E-Mail: tuletters@... )
( http://www.timesunion.com )
Letter:  Add sexual orientation to discrimination law
        It is high time the state Senate took a public stand on an
important
piece of legislation.
        Thirty years ago, the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination
Act was
introduced in the state Legislature.  This bill outlaws
discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation.
        It took the Assembly 21 years to act, but then it did pass the
bill.
And it has continued to pass it every year since then by larger and
larger
majorities.  Our state Senate, though, for nine years now, has
refused to
even bring this bill to the floor for a vote.  Wouldn't we like to
know
where our senators really stand on this issue?  I believe they simply
don't
want a public record of their stance.
        A long time has lapsed to wait for a law that guarantees gay
and
lesbian New Yorkers the same opportunities and protections that other
citizens of our state take for granted.  All this bill does is add two
words, "sexual orientation,'' to the existing law.  The existing law,
by the
way, already prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity,
religion and other categories.  Just as these groups have
historically been
denied equal treatment by landlords, employers and government
officials, so
too are gay men and lesbians.  So this isn't about special
protections.
It's about equal protections -- and nothing more than that.
        Our state Senate should act now before time runs out on this
legislative session.
- JAMES BELL, Albany


Schenectady Daily Gazette, June 19, 2001
Box 1090, Schenectady, NY, 12301
(Fax: 518-395-3089 ) (E-Mail:   gazette@... )
( http://www.dailygazette.com )
Letter:  Bill would ensure equality for gays
        Thirty years ago, the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act
(SONDA) was introduced in the state Legislature.  This essential bill
would
outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
        The state Assembly has passed SONDA every year since 1991, with
larger and larger majorities each year.  However, our Republican-
dominated
state Senate has refused to even vote on this bill.
        SONDA guarantees gay and lesbian New Yorkers the same
opportunities
and protections that other citizens of our state take for granted, by
adding
two words -- sexual orientation -- to the existing law.  It does not
grant
any special rights, only equal rights.  Existing law already prohibits
discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, and many
other
categories.
        Just as other groups have historically been denied equal
treatment by
landlords, employers and government officials, so too have gays and
lesbians.  This is a matter of equal protection under the law for all
citizens.
        The National Organization for Women - New York State, Inc.
urges Sen.
Hugh Farley to act now and support SONDA before time runs out in this
legislative session.
- KATHRYN LAKE MAZIERSKI, Niagara Falls
The writer is president of National Organization for Women - New York
State,
Inc.


Congressional Record, June 18, 2001
http://thomas.loc.gov
LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ACT OF 2001 -- (Senate)
        Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. President, I rise today to speak
about hate
crimes legislation I introduced with Senator Kennedy last month. The
Local
law Enforcement Act of 2001 would add new categories to current hate
crimes
legislation sending a signal that violence of any kind is
unacceptable in
our society.
        I would like to describe a terrible crime that occurred July
24, 1999
in San Diego, California.  Hundreds of gay-pride marchers and
spectators
were tear-gassed when someone threw a military-issue tear-gas grenade
near
the Family Matters contingent during the 25th annual Pride Parade.
Family
Matters is a social and educational group for gay and lesbian parents
and
their families.  The 70-person contingent included small children and
babies
in strollers.
        I believe that government's first duty is to defend its
citizens, to
defend them against the harms that come out of hate.  The Local Law
Enforcement Enhancement Act of 2001 is now a symbol that can become
substance.  I believe that by passing this legislation, we can change
hearts
and minds as well.
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19th June, 2001 (# 3) News Clippings Digest.

1.  ATHENS (OH) NEWS  Clippings readers Todd Tuttle and Marc Adams
tell Ohio groups about their outreach to gays victimized by religious
schools
2.  SARASOTA (FL) HERALD-TRIBUNE  Some bankers have a cow after being
entertained by -- gasp! -- female impersonators
3.  BELLINGHAM (WA) HERALD  Letter:  Everyone has right to pursuit of
happiness
4.  TACOMA NEWS TRIBUNE  Two letters about gay pastors
5.  THE OLYMPIAN (WA)  Two odious letters

Athens News, June 19, 2001
14 N. Court Street, Athens, OH, 45701
(Fax: 740-592-5695) (E-Mail:  news@... )
( http://www.athensnews.com )
http://www.athensnews.com/issue/index2938.php
Gay couple tell of break with Fundamentalist college, church
by Amanda Sledz
        To paraphrase Todd Tuttle, if fire and brimstone were the
agenda,
Thursday would have been a good day indeed.
        In spite of scorching heat and a broken air conditioning
system, Marc
Adams and Todd Tuttle managed to pack a room in Ohio University's
Baker
Center -- and keep an audience captivated -- for the duration of their
hour-long lecture about coming to terms with one's sexuality and
spirituality.
        Their story has an interesting twist:  both men are former
Fundamentalist Christians who realized during their stay at Jerry
Falwell's
Liberty Baptist University that they are gay, and in love.
        Adams began the lecture by reading an excerpt from his Silver
Pen
award-winning book, "The Preacher's Son," which is an autobiographical
account of his life.
        While any child growing up feels confused and frustrated,
Adams had
to deal with such feelings -- and consistently emerging questions in
regards
to his sexuality -- while living with a father who was an Independent
Fundamentalist Baptist minister.  Adams described the experience as
"a lot
like being Amish and in the military at the same time."
        In addition to being unable to speak freely about what he was
feeling
at home, Adams said he couldn't speak freely in his spiritual
community --
due in part to the fact that the church he attended stressed the
evils of
homosexuality -- which became synonymous with child molester -- and
how AIDS
was a suitable punishment for such offenders.  "I couldn't imagine
any of
the people in the whole church having the same evil inside of them,"
he
said.
        As Adams matured, he said he grew increasingly withdrawn and
overcome
by feelings of alienation.  "I felt I could only observe my life
instead of
participate in it the way I saw so many of my friends do with
theirs," he
said.  "The minister of my church kept talking about how it was a
choice; I
just couldn't remember ever making that choice."
        Because, at the time, Adams took his minister's word as law, he
became depressed.  A few years later, Adams discovered Moral Majority
founder Jerry Falwell, who claimed that one could be "cured" of
homosexuality.  Adams decided that he had to be cured as soon as
possible,
and left high school a year early to get into Liberty Baptist College.
        It was there that Adams met the man would become his life
partner,
Todd Tuttle.  In spite of their intense attraction and admitted
feelings
toward each other, Adams said that the two encouraged one another to
be
straight, to the point of making a promise to not be physically
intimate.
"That promise lasted about four days," Adams recalled.
        Though they were open in regards to their feelings for each
other,
Adams and Tuttle said their relationship remained hidden, both
because they
continued to perceive it as a sin, and because of the potential to be
expelled from college if the affair was discovered.  In spite of their
efforts to maintain secrecy, while at Tuttle's home over spring break,
Tuttle's mother discovered the nature of their relationship, and
promptly
shipped Adams out and removed Tuttle from the college.
        At this point, Adams said he became what he calls an "ex-gay,"
which
is a term used in certain Christian communities to describe people
wresting
with homosexuality.  They believe it can be combated the same way an
addiction is combated, one day at a time.
        In spite of these efforts, Adams said he discovered shortly
before
graduation that none of his attempts to be an ex-gay had been
successful,
and that he continued to love and be attracted to men.  Adams
realized that
he was desperately seeking outside approval and acceptance, while
"what I
really needed to do was accept myself."  Adams said he decided to
stop being
an ex-gay and start being an active one, and left Liberty Baptist one
semester shy of graduation to return to his hometown in rural
Pennsylvania.
        After four years of separation, Adams said he received a phone
call
from Tuttle just prior to a trip he was planning to Los Angeles.
Adams
learned that during their separation, Tuttle briefly became a
fundamentalist
Christian minister.  As a minister, he felt it was his duty to be
honest
with his congregation, so he confessed to them the true nature of his
sexuality.  His church quickly rejected Tuttle, and his ministry fell
apart.
After talking at length, the two agreed to renew their friendship,
and that
they would meet in L.A.  Once reunited, the two recalled, within
three days
they had agreed to commit to being life partners, and have now been
together
for 13 years.
        "Jerry Falwell," Adams said with a laugh, "wasn't very happy
that we
used his college as a gay dating service."
        After working and living with Tuttle in L.A. for a while,
Adams said
he stumbled upon an old notebook, detailing his early life as a
preacher's
child and his life as an ex-gay.  He decided to finish the notebook,
and
this collected information eventually became "The Preacher's Son."
        After receiving letters from students who had been helped and
encouraged by Adams' account, the two said they decided to further
commit
their lives to activism. Adams and Tuttle -- now Unitarians -- in
particular
wanted to reach out to students in religious schools who are still
being
persecuted in the way Adams and Tuttle were when they were growing
up.  So
the two formed the non-profit organization HeartStrong, which they
say is
dedicated to reaching out youths coming to terms with their sexuality
in
religious schools throughout the country.
        They began by setting up a web page, and traveling all over the
country speaking to "anyone that would listen."  Adams characterized
the
travels as "rescue missions."
        He described instances of students being outed by principals in
school assemblies after going to them for support; of people being
given the
option to turn in other suspected gays to escape punishment; of
people being
expelled and shamed and publicly humiliated.  "We feel pretty much
like
prisoners of war that escaped a war camp," Adams said of his and
Tuttle's
experiences in religious schools.
        In spite of their negative experiences in religious schools,
both
said they've used a lot of what they learned as fundamentalist
Christians in
their activism work.  For instance, they stick pamphlets into books in
stores and libraries; rely on the Internet as a powerful tool; and
leave
written materials everywhere from student lockers to local student
hangouts.
The two also send religious schools information about HeartStrong,
while
being fully aware that they will not be invited to speak.
        According to Tuttle, the two own the domain name "ex-gay.com."
They
purchased the name after they typed it into a search engine and found
it had
not yet been taken.  Once logged on to ex-gay, the seeker is
redirected to
the HeartStrong site and the personal story of Adams and Tuttle, and
is then
informed that he or she has been misled by those who have told them
that
such things are dictated by choice, and can therefore be turned on
and off
like a light switch.
        "We actually had ex-gay groups disband," Tuttle said, "because
they
go to this website and read our story and find out they've been lied
to."
        In regards to their activism, Tuttle stressed that "you have
to be
proactive, not reactive in order to get your message to people."
Part of
the program's strength is in the alternative approach it takes, he
said.
"We do not argue the Bible, we do not bring this into the moral or
religious
arena, because we feel that's their territory, and they're going to
try to
slay you," Tuttle said.  "If you take a secular approach, and you go
with
the civil rights perspective on this, it shuts them up every time."
        Interested individuals should keep their eyes peeled for more
from
Tuttle and Adams; after years of work, they seem to be in no danger of
slowing down.  "We're speaking the truth," Adams said.  "No matter
what it
costs us, we have to do it."
        Adams and Tuttle's talk was sponsored by PFLAG -- Parents and
Friends
and Families of Gays and Lesbians --, the Athens First Presbyterian
Church,
GLOBE, the Gay Straight Alliance, and the Safe Community and School
Coalition.
        [Marc and Todd are online at TODDTUTTLE@....  Todd is
recovering
from an emergency appendectomy.]


Sarasota Herald-Tribune, June 18, 2001
P. O. Box 1719, Sarasota, FL, 33578
(Fax: 941-957-5276 )
(E-Mail: editor.letters@... )
(http://www.newscoast.com )
Fund-raiser spurs resignations
By EILEEN KELLEY, eileen.kelley@...
        SARASOTA -- A prominent Sarasota banker resigned from the
city's
downtown association after a fund-raising event headlined by three
female
impersonators.
        Christine Jennings, Sarasota Bank's president, told fellow
members of
the Downtown Association of Sarasota that the June 7 event -- and the
male
entertainers dressed as Tina Turner, Diana Ross and Cher -- was not
good for
her institution's image.
        Jennings also pulled treasurer Jack Pilkington, one of her
employees,
from the group.
        And another prominent banker who didn't attend has fired off a
letter
to the association's executive director saying he was "appalled at the
choice of entertainment for a community event."
        "I understand that there were also children in the audience
and that
certainly created an uncomfortable situation for parents," said Ray L.
Sandhagen, chairman of SunTrust Bank -- Gulf Coast.
        Sandhagen, who could not be reached for comment Monday, said
he "can
not in good conscience suggest that we will provide further support,
financially or otherwise."
        Another SunTrust executive, marketing manager Patricia
Richmond, said
she is considering resigning from the association.  Richmond said she
didn't
like being surprised that three of the four performers were men
dressed as
women.
        "I think we should have been aware of it," she said.  "I think
the
general public should have been aware so they could make an informed
decision."
        In an interview with the Herald-Tribune, Jennings echoed
Richmond.
But she acknowledged that the association's board never votes on the
choice
of entertainment.
        Jennings said she didn't know how she might have voted had she
been
given the choice.  "I don't know.  I really don't know, and that is an
honest answer."
        The bank president declined to answer a question about whether
she
thought the entertainment was in poor taste.
        But others who attended the $35-per-person gala defended the
entertainment.  They said the three men -- all from Sarasota and all
performing for free during a 20-minute set -- were very professional.
        "There was not one vulgar word said, and there was not one
vulgar
thing done," said Lynn McDonald, a co-chair for the event.  "There was
nothing different than if the stars themselves did the show."
        Almost.
        While impersonating Tina Turner and singing "Proud Mary,"
Jasmine
Skiis walked into the crowd of 250 and lifted up Arch Bishop --
SunTrust's
new regional marketing manager -- and spun him around Skiis' sequined
back.
        Bishop, who sat at SunTrust's $500 table, said he spoke to
Sandhagen
about the event but had nothing to do with his boss's letter.
        "I thought she -- uh -- he, was going to ask me to dance," said
Bishop, who at the time of the event had been in Sarasota only four
days.
"I talked to Ray (Sandhagen) and I told him I wasn't embarrassed or
offended, I was just surprised."
        McDonald and others said that if critics were seeking to make
the
event into a homosexual issue, they lacked perspective.
        "I am flabbergasted that they were offended," said Sarasota
Vice
Mayor Carolyn Mason, who snapped a picture of Bishop as he was being
spun by
Skiis.  "I was sitting at a table with a friend of mine and he is a
pastor -- a reverend -- and he thought it was funny.  We thought it
was
good, clean fun."
        Skiis said he was saddened to learn about the backlash.
        "I'm shocked.  We had a good time," said Skiis, who has lived
in
Sarasota for five years and has been an impersonator for 10 years.
        Skiis is the reigning Queen for Florida Universe at Large
Pageant.
He will compete in October among impersonators for the crown at the
Miss USA
Universe at Large pageant in Dallas.
        "I thought we were having so much fun.  Everyone enjoyed it,
and we
met a lot of nice people," said Skiis.  "How can you criticize
something you
haven't even seen?"
        The event raised more than $30,000, money that will be used to
put on
the annual downtown Fourth of July celebration.
        "It was a very successful event from a financial point of view
and I
think from a satisfaction point of view," said Dick Lobo, the
association's
president.
        As for the furor over the impersonators, Lobo had a quick,
Shakespearean answer.
        "In the Elizabethan-era theater, men played all the roles."


Bellingham Herald, June 19, 2001
P. O. Box 1277, Bellingham, WA, 98225
(Fax: 360-647-9260 )
(Online Mailer:
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/contactus/frameset.htm )
Letter:  Everyone has right to pursuit of happiness
        This letter is in response to two letters printed in The
Bellingham
Herald on June 7 and 8, both written by conservative Christian
ministers and
parents.  These two letters are nothing more than fuel for the Rev.
Fred
Phelps' fire.  In turn, Phelps' fire gives life to the kind of hatred
that
killed Matthew Shepard and has destroyed the lives of many others.
These
authors are on the same slippery slope that Phelps has long ago
fallen down.
        They say "stay home, Fred," but only because they already have
his
job covered here with their words of rejecting intolerance for anyone
who
doesn't fit their small paradigm.  The group of concerned parents
stated
that Phelps is an "embarrassment to the Christian community."  I am
sure
they are embarrassed by Phelps as a parent whose child speaks family
secrets
out loud in public.
        They believe what Phelps believes but try to mask it by saying
they
love the sinner, all the while calling people who are different an
abomination to God.  The deeply misinformed and destructive personal
religious interpretations of the few will continue to clash with the
concept
that everyone has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness in
the United States.  These authors and Fred Phelps are fortunate to
live in a
country where they may express their beliefs out loud, and it is good
for
the rest of us to listen carefully and be reminded that the struggle
for
civil rights for all is still a critical one.
- Lisa H. Tatum, Cindy M. Taylor, Bellingham


Tacoma News Tribune 6/19/01  letters
Box 11000, Tacoma, WA, 98411
(Fax: 253-597-8451 ) (E-Mail: leted@... )
( http://www.tribnet.com/ )
Letter:  Gay pastors don't deserve hero status
        John Wesley, who founded Methodism, would be turning over in
his
grave at the sympathetic news coverage you have given two gay
homosexual
Methodist pastors, Rev. Mark Williams and Rev. Karen Damann.(TNT, 6-
16, 18).
They are no heroes.
        The News Tribune has reported the rise of HIV/AIDS cases in
America,
already killing 420,000 Americans with 10,000 new infections a day.
Perhaps
America's future can be seen in Africa, where 5 million have died
from AIDS
and another 25 million are infected.
        Steven Maynard's article on Williams make him appear to be a
kind of
superstar martyr.  He is a champion of a lifestyle that leads to
disease,
sickness, hospitalizations, suicides and death.  God is not mocked.  I
suggest that the young men and women listen to God, who through Jesus
can
deliver from the deadly lifestyle of homosexuality.
- EDDIE C. KARNES, Yelm

Letter:  Split in the Methodist Church is the real story
        Re: "Seattle pastor tells stunned Methodist group that he's
gay"
(TNT, 6-16).
        As a member of the United Methodist Church, I am disappointed
that we
have made front-page news over an issue that we have wrangled with
for more
than 30 years.  Some people will take public stands to prove their
commitment to a cause, and I have great respect for anyone who risks
jeopardizing their career in doing so.
        But the real issue for the United Methodist Church is that we
are not
united.  We have lost our focus on the real priority of introducing
and
winning people over to Christ.  Just imagine if we harnessed the time,
effort and money invested from both the Reconciling and the Confessing
movements within the church.  Instead, we get so caught up in a cause
of
advocating or protecting that we have lost our focus.  The end result
is a
declining membership.
        I am seriously considering advocating the splitting of the
church:
because this issue will never die; there will always be opposing
forces.
What we really need is a church that has spiritual leaders who can
respond
quickly in making decisions and be clear and concise in doing so.
        We could have two different Methodist churches:  The Quest for
Social
Justice Methodist Church and The Disciplined Methodist Church.  Then
maybe
you could write about something good from either one to share with
your
readers.
- ANDY SWEATT, Puyallup


The Olympian, June 19, 2001
P. O. Box 407, Olympia, WA, 98507
(Fax: 206-754-5408 ) ( http://news.theolympian.com )
(Online Mailer: http://www.theolympian.com/forms/lettrfrm.shtml )
Letter:  Taxpayers shouldn't have to pay costs of AIDS patients
        While it is unfortunate and patently unfair to the innocent
victims,
such as the small child on the front page of The Olympian, June 3, I
find it
very difficult to have sympathy for those who choose to have unsafe
sexual
relations with the distributors of HIV.
        After one discovers that he or she is HIV positive or has full-
blown
AIDS, they demand that the government take care of them.  I submit
that the
taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for someone's
indiscriminate
pleasure or ignorance.
        Yes, I consider it ignorant to take the chance of contracting
HIV by
one's own ignorant actions.  I liken the whole scenario to one who
decides
that the odds are in their favor in playing Russian roulette.  It is
inevitable that the person is going to lose, but he continues to pull
the
trigger, not once, but several times.
        There are those who shout that AIDS is not a homosexual
disease.
Indeed, today it is not.  It has crossed over the homosexual line,
where it
started, to a point where the general public considers it just another
deadly disease.  It's not unlike homosexuality that was once
considered to
be an abnormal lifestyle.  Some churches and other groups now
advocate that
it is just another way of life.
        I personally believe that the old way of thinking was not a
bad way
of thinking.
- Stanley F. Meyer, Olympia

Letter:  Bible condemns homosexuality
        Dave Sutton, spokesman for Reconciling Ministries, decries the
anti-homosexual stance taken by the United Methodist Church.
        He says, although the Old Testament forbids homosexuality,
"Jesus
himself said nothing about homosexuality."  Yet, Sutton must be
familiar
with 2 Timothy 3:16: "ALL Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for
teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness ... "
        If all means all, then the Apostle Paul's words about Rome
must carry
some weight: "... the men abandoned natural relations with women and
were
inflamed with lust for one another.  Men committed indecent acts with
other
men ..." Romans 1:26-27.  Are we to believe that the apostle's agenda
was
not approved by Jesus?
        Sutton says in the Methodist Church you can bless your house,
your
boat, your dog, but not your union, calling it a ridiculous
dichotomy.  But
most likely the church allows those blessings because the Bible never
says
not to bless house, boat, dog ... while it does condemn homosexuality.
Where is the dichotomy?
        Also, why does Sutton compare something that the Bible clearly
warns
against (homosexuality) with something the Bible does not?  (Jim Crow
laws.)
Morality/immorality are not racial issues.
        If one wants to support the acceptance of homosexuality, that
is his
right.  He is free to do so.  But he must leave the Bible out of it,
as far
too much on the topic will have to be deleted.
- Carol Larsen,  Olympia
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19th June, 2001 (# 4) News Clippings Digest.

1.  NEW YORK TIMES  Television Review:  'Scout's Honor': Opposing the
Scouts' Anti-gay Policy
2.  WASHINGTON POST  A Lesson in Cruelty: Anti-Gay Slurs Common at
School; Some Say Insults Increase as Gays' Visibility Rises
3.  WASHINGTON POST  Opinion by Reagan-era official Lawrence J. Korb
opposed to don't-ask-don't-tell:  A Policy for the Timid

New York Times, June 19, 2001
229 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY, 10036
(Fax: 212-556-3622 ) (E-Mail: letters@...  )
( http://www.nytimes.com )
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/19/arts/19SALA.html
TELEVISION REVIEW
'Scout's Honor': Opposing the Scouts' Antigay Policy
By JULIE SALAMON
        Steven Cozza is a natural for media stardom:  he's handsome,
well-spoken and knows how to pretend a camera isn't mercilessly
gauging his
performance.  He acquired national recognition three years ago at age
12
when he began a campaign to force the Boy Scouts of America to accept
boys
who were openly gay.
        What has made his dedication unusual is that while he is a Boy
Scout - an Eagle scout, in fact - he isn't gay.  Pains are taken to
point
out that he is a "real boy," the kind who chases dogs, zooms around on
skateboards, sasses his dad.  Dave Rice isn't gay either.  He's the
elderly
scoutmaster and lifelong scout who also led this fight and eventually
was
forced to leave the organization because of it.  You could call Mr.
Cozza
and Mr. Rice the righteous heterosexuals, advancing a cause that isn't
necessarily theirs because they think it's the right thing to do.
        Their stories are central to "Scout's Honor," a purposeful and
often
moving - if not artfully constructed - documentary about organized
efforts
to overturn the Boy Scouts' antigay policy.  It is the first of this
summer's films on "P.O.V.," public television's showcase for
independent
nonfiction films, now in its 14th year. The filmmaker, Tom Shepard,
may
recognize the public relations advantages of focusing on straight
advocates
as well as gays.  But the decisions of Mr. Cozza and Mr. Rice to take
on
this battle also illustrate how much broader the recognition of gay
rights
has become since Tim Curran first challenged the Boy Scouts policy in
1981.
        Mr. Curran appears as he was then, a clean-cut, idealistic 17-
year-
old scout, and as he is now, less trim, more rueful.  Though his
scoutmaster
and troop didn't object when they learned he was gay, the national Boy
Scouts leadership did (after discovering that Mr. Curran also
belonged to a
gay organization).  The national leaders expelled him from the Boy
Scouts,
despite his exemplary record.
        Like Steven Cozza after him, Mr. Curran was an attractive
spokesman:
articulate, good looking and nonthreatening, except to those who were
automatically threatened by his being gay.  As his case moved slowly
through
the courts, he became a fixture on the talk-show circuit, always
wearing
sports jackets or vests and ties as he answered insulting
assumptions.  No,
he would explain, gay scout leaders aren't child molestors.
        The California courts would eventually reject Mr. Curran's
argument
in favor of the Boy Scouts' assertion that private organizations can
exclude
whom they want.  But in New Jersey, James Dale, an assistant
scoutmaster in
Monmouth County dismissed because he was gay, got a different verdict
when
he raised a similar challenge several years later.  Last year, the
United
States Supreme Court agreed to resolve the issue and voted 5-4 in
favor of
the Boy Scouts' policy (which, the documentary notes, differs from the
nondiscriminatory Girl Scouts').
        This isn't a news documentary but a sympathetic examination of
the
personalities involved in trying to change the Boy Scouts' rules.
(The Boy
Scouts' leadership declined to participate in the documentary.)  Mr.
Shepard
abruptly moves from story to story and back again.  This may be a
deliberate
anti-style for authenticity, but it also makes the narrative seem
disjointed.
        Still, in addition to the issue, Mr. Shepard nicely conveys the
strong affection these men and boys have for the Boy Scouts in spite
of
everything.  He includes nostalgic scenes of boys on wholesome-looking
expeditions, with sentimental music underscoring the mood.
        This documentary's strongest moments are the interviews with
Mr.
Rice, an elderly man with sad, gentle eyes.  When he learned about Tim
Curran in 1981, he began to wonder what he would do if he found out
one of
his scouts or their leaders was gay.  "I wrestled with that for a
long, long
time," he says.  It wasn't until Steve Cozza organized his "Scouting
for
All" campaign that Mr. Rice took action and paid severe consequences.
        In the course of the documentary, Mr. Cozza's voice changes,
he grows
taller, he becomes an Eagle scout.  He also receives nasty telephone
calls
and e-mail messages from people who disagree with him.  Though he
admired a
counselor at his church camp who was gay, his reasons for adhering to
his
principles seem less passionate than matter-of-fact.  Like the other
scouts
and former scouts fighting the antigay policy, he says he believes the
honorable things the Boy Scouts purports to stand for, including being
"morally straight."

. POINT OF VIEW
        Scout's Honor, PBS, tonight, (Channel 13, New York, at 10)

Tom Shepard, producer and director; Meg Moritz, story editor and
writer; Jim
Klein, editor; D. Stuart Harrison, executive producer. A co-
presentation of
the Independent Television Service.


Washington Post, June 19, 2001
1150 15th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20071
(E-Mail:  letterstoed@... )( http://washingtonpost.com/ )
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15840-2001Jun18.html
A Lesson in Cruelty: Anti-Gay Slurs Common at School
Some Say Insults Increase as Gays' Visibility Rises
By Laura Sessions Stepp, Washington Post Staff Writer
        Emmett English, a cheerful, easygoing boy, started third grade
last
year at a new school, Chevy Chase Elementary in Bethesda.  On his
first day
he proudly wore a new red Gap sweat shirt and almost immediately
wished he
had chosen something else.
        "A girl called me 'gay,'" he remembered.  "I didn't know what
that
meant but I knew it was something bad."  His mother, Christina Files,
confirmed this.  "He came home quite upset," she said.
        "That's soooo gay."  "Faggot."  Or "lesbo."  For all the
outcry over
harassment of gays following the murder of college student Matthew
Shepard
two years ago, anti-gay insults are still the slang of choice among
children
and teenagers, according to teachers, counselors and youths
themselves.
Some say the insults are increasing in school classrooms and hallways
--
among children as young as 8 or 9 -- partly because gay youths and
their
supporters have become more visible and more active.
        "Schools are seen as a safe place to say things and get away
with
it," said Jerry Newberry, director of health information for the
National
Education Association, a teachers' union.  A recent survey of
students in
seven states backs up his impression.  Human Rights Watch, an
international
research and advocacy group, reported last month that 2 million U.S.
teenagers were having serious problems in school because they were
taunted
with anti-gay slurs.
        Young people use these slurs in two different ways, one
generally
derogatory and one referring insultingly to sexual orientation.
Schools
have a hard time policing either use.
        Taunts and slurs, particularly the words "fag" and "faggot,"
were
cited in more than half of the publicized schoolyard shootings of the
last
three years, according to Newberry.  Columbine shooters Eric Harris
and
Dylan Klebold were called fags.  So was Andy Williams, who sprayed a
San
Diego high school with gunfire last March, killing two people.
        Anti-gay language first appears on elementary school
playgrounds.
"Kids at our school say, 'That kid is sooo gay,'" said Julia Pernick,
a
classmate of Emmett's in fourth grade at Chevy Chase Elementary.
"They
think it means stupid or unusual or strange."
        The insults multiply in the emotionally precarious years of
early
adolescence.  "If you're too short, too tall, too fat, too skinny,
you get
targeted in middle school," said David Mumaugh, now a junior at Walter
Johnson High School in Bethesda.  "Kids sign their yearbooks, 'See
you next
year, fag.'"
        Sarah Rothe, an eighth-grader at Lake Braddock Middle School in
Burke, said such words "are as common as the word 'like'" at her
school.
Classmate Christina Jagodnick said "there's a big difference" between
anti-gay slurs and other derogatory terms.  "If we were to say other
words
which we all know are wrong," she said, "someone would stop us."
        At Lake Braddock this year, according to students, a boy was
targeted
by classmates who glued his locker shut, writing the word "gay" on the
outside.  No one knew the boy's sexual orientation, but the bullies
called
him names until, recently, he transferred to another school.  The
school
would not comment on the situation.
        Gay teens are reluctant to discuss personal harassment on the
record
for fear of attracting more.  But when they're offered anonymity,
they won't
stop talking.
        A junior at Magruder High School in Rockville said: "I have a
lot of
friends who say, 'Oh, that's so gay.'  They don't associate it with
homosexuality.  You could plant that word in the dictionary for
'stupid.'
Do I face a whole life of this?"
        At Herndon High School in Herndon, a junior said, "I was
walking with
a friend down the hall and this kid yells, 'Faggot.'  How am I
supposed to
defend who I am?"
        When straight students are bullied, they usually can count on
an
adult coming to their aid, counselors say.  Gays don't have that
assurance.
According to several surveys, four out of five gay and lesbian
students say
they don't know one supportive adult at school.
        "Teachers are aware they may offend someone if they speak about
homosexuality in anything other than negative terms," said Deborah
Roffman,
who teaches sex education in the Baltimore and Washington areas.
"They
don't know how to cross that street safely, so they don't even step
off the
curb."
        A Lonely Campaign
        Jerry Newberry and other educators suggest that anti-gay
insults are
increasing partly because gay youths and their supporters have become
more
assertive in trying to stop them.  Justen Deal, 16, has fought such a
campaign alone.
        A cherubic-looking blond kid from south of Charleston, W.Va.,
Justen
heard anti-gay words from the time he could talk, even used them
himself on
occasion.  But by the age of 12, when he first suspected he was gay,
"they
made my skin crawl," he said.
        Unlike children in other minority groups, he had no natural
support
group to comfort him.  His parents had relinquished custody of him to
his
paternal grandmother, Patty Deal, when he was born, and her only
knowledge
of homosexuals was what she had seen on the TV comedy "Ellen."
        She did her best once she found out in his eighth-grade year
that he
was gay.  He had written a letter to his school counselor that Patty
Deal
read.  She immediately sought psychiatric help for him, took him to a
hospital on the night he overdosed on antidepressants, enrolled him
in a new
middle school in Boone County.
        Neither she nor Justen knows how, but rumors started flying at
Sherman Junior High.  "I was asked eight times a day if I was gay,"
Justen
remembered.  "I'd say no, or not say anything.  That year is when I
learned
for sure that the things you hear about words not hurting is a fairy
tale."
        Justen thought he'd be safe from gay-bashing once he reached
Sherman
Senior High.  He knew principal Theresa Lonker, a tough-looking
administrator who sends students to detention for cursing.  When she
told
Justen, "We'll look out for you," she seemed to mean it.
        But she couldn't be everywhere.  Name-calling started slowly
in his
freshman year and picked up this year, according to Justen's friend
Lindsey
Light.  Fed up this past spring, Justen tried to do something about
language
in a very visible way.
        He drafted a new harassment policy for Sherman High to include
sexual
orientation and left it on Lonker's desk.  He lobbied the county
school
superintendent, Steve Pauley, to rewrite the county's harassment
policy.
        He visited West Virginia Gov. Robert Wise's office asking the
governor to convene a task force to investigate harassment.  He
testified
before the legislature on an amendment to the state's hate crime bill
that
would have included protection based on sexual orientation.  His
comments
made both Charleston newspapers, including the front page of the
Daily Mail.
        Some of his classmates were not exactly thrilled with the
attention.
They threw coins and paper wads at him on a school bus during a field
trip
and also one afternoon in a science class.  "Everyone [in the class]
heard
me tell them to stop, but the teacher was in his own little world,"
Justen
said.
        The science teacher, Robert Britton, said he didn't realize at
the
time there was any harassment going on.  "I heard [Justen] say
something
about stuff being thrown at him but I thought he was just talking
about
words," Britton said.
        Justen's one-person language crusade was rebuffed at every
turn.
Principal Lonker said she never saw the recommendation for changing
the
school's harassment policy.  Superintendent Pauley said he was
reluctant to
single out gay students for special mention.  Gov. Wise's office
declined to
appoint a task force on the needs of gay students.  The legislature
voted
against adding sexual orientation to its anti-harassment statute.  By
mid-April, Justen, feeling defeated, decided to change what he could:
his
school.
        He transferred to Huntington High, about 90 miles north.  The
school
has a sizable population of openly gay students, and friends found a
gay
couple with whom he could live.
        On his last day at Sherman High, his grandmother waited for
him in
her blue Chevy Impala.  She appeared both nervous and sad.
        "I've always taught Justen to tell the truth," she said.  "I
reckon
he just listened too good.  I knew he'd leave one day -- I just
didn't know
it would be so soon."
        Justen didn't want to leave his grandma.  But despite Lonker's
efforts to keep him safe at school, he said, he didn't feel safe and
thus
had a hard time keeping his mind on equations and Civil War battles.
His
pals had told him to shrug off the verbal digs, but he could not.
        "My friends don't understand that every time I hear the word
'fag' it
really hurts," he said.  "It reminds me that I'm so far away from
what kids
see as normal."
        Walking out of Sherman on that soggy Tuesday, buoyed by the
hugs of
several students and his principal, he said, "It was a good day.  I
only
heard the word 'faggot' four times."
        Debate Over the Debate
        School counselors say insensitive comments about gays could be
reduced through in-service training for teachers and age-appropriate
discussions among students.  The NEA recently distributed a video
with such
a goal.  Titled "Can't We All Just Get Along?," it shows the measures
some
school districts are taking to discourage verbal assaults against
gays and
other students.
        Religious conservatives, viewing homosexuality as a sin,
jumped all
over the video.  "The NEA is working diligently to bring gay activism
to
schools . . . using an appeal to 'safety for kids' as the vehicle,"
said one
online publication from Focus on the Family.
        Dick Carpenter, education policy analyst for Focus, said that
"if
students are being harassed in any way, principals and teachers
should stop
it, right there and then.  But that doesn't mean you go into class and
define homosexuality to 6-year-olds."
        Carpenter complained that classroom discussions frequently do
not
include the essence of the conservative opposition:  its belief that
young
people can choose not to adopt homosexuality just as they would
choose not
to use drugs or drink alcohol.  He gives little credence to studies
showing
that genetics play a role in homosexuality.
        Newberry of the NEA denies that his organization is promoting a
homosexual agenda.  "We welcome free and open debate. . . .  In fact,
we
encourage it," he said.  But debate must be accompanied by education,
he
added.  Otherwise, students remain ignorant of the facts about
homosexuality.  "Ignorance breeds fear, fear breeds hate, and hate
breeds
violence, including violent words."
        Phyllis Taylor, principal at Chevy Chase Elementary, the
school that
Julia and Emmett attend, wants no discussion of gays or gay language
in her
classrooms.  The children are too young, she said.  If she heard a gay
epithet from a student, "I would treat it as an f-word and call the
parents."
        High school teachers, with a more mature student body, can
treat the
issue more openly.  Centreville High School English teacher Susan
Tracy
agreed reluctantly this year when senior Robert Browning asked to
survey his
classmates on their attitudes about gays and then present the results.
        She gave Robert 10 minutes to summarize his findings, then
allowed
him to continue for 35 more minutes because she and the class were so
absorbed in what he was saying.
        "I was especially moved when Robert said the word 'gay,'
meaning
something annoying or stupid, was as hurtful for him as the N-word
was to a
black student," she remembers.  "I had never thought of it that way.
I told
him I would need to be more careful myself."
        Later, Robert heard his teacher chastise a student for saying
something was "so gay" and he knew he had made a difference.


Washington Post, June 19, 2001
1150 15th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20071
(E-Mail:  letterstoed@... )( http://washingtonpost.com/ )
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16155-2001Jun19.html
A Policy for the Timid
By Lawrence J. Korb
        In a string of recent speeches and appearances, President Bush
and
his foreign policy team have pledged to take the risks necessary to
create a
brand new, post-Cold War military fit for the 21st century.
        Bush told graduating officers at the Naval Academy that he was
"committed to fostering a military culture where intelligent risk-
taking and
forward thinking are rewarded, not dreaded."  Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld said recently in an interview:  "It's wrong to allow people
to
develop a zero tolerance for risk."
        How odd, then, that this same administration clings to a costly
military policy from the Clinton era that is mostly based on a timid
aversion to risk.  It is the law that covers gays in the military,
known as
"don't ask, don't tell," which bars acknowledged homosexuals from
serving in
the armed forces on the grounds that their presence "would create an
unacceptable risk to the armed forces' high standards of morale, good
order
and discipline."
        As Harvard University Prof. Janet Halley demonstrated in a
recent
book, risk aversion is not a trivial element of the gay ban.  On the
contrary, Halley shows that the government's primary rationale for
firing
gay and lesbian service members is to avoid the imagined risk they
might
pose to the military.
        But in fact the risks attributable to lifting the gay ban are
minimal.  For example, the CIA, FBI, Secret Service and National
Security
Agency have not experienced problems since they began allowing known
homosexuals to serve.  Twenty-three foreign armed forces, including
the
crack Israeli and British militaries, have lifted their bans on gays
without
trouble.
        Meanwhile, the Pentagon, even though it has a difficult time
retaining qualified personnel and meeting recruiting targets, fired a
record
1,231 service members for the crime of being gay last year -- the
highest
number since 1987 -- and now must waste more than $30 million
training their
replacements.
        Responding recently to a survey of enlisted personnel that
showed
widespread dissatisfaction, Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, the Army chief of
staff,
spoke of "things that needed to be corrected for years.  And the time
is now
for doing what's right."
        The "don't ask, don't tell" policy was hammered out as a
temporary
compromise when Sam Nunn, who opposed lifting the ban, chaired the
Senate
Armed Services Committee.  The new chairman, Sen. Carl Levin (D-
Mich.), has
been on record for years as an advocate of gays in the military.
        In addition, a blue ribbon commission has just recommended the
elimination of a military law that forbids sodomy.  Sponsored by the
distinguished National Institute of Military Justice, the panel of
legal
experts concluded this week that punishing sodomy can seem
"arbitrary, even
vindictive."
        Anti-sodomy law often has served as a justification for
excluding
homosexuals from the armed forces.  The panel's recommendation is yet
another indication of the growing consensus that the military is on
the
wrong side of history.  According to a recent Gallup poll, 72 percent
of
Americans favor letting gays serve in the military.
        If the Bush administration's promised commitment to the spirit
of
innovation and risk-taking implies an honest reassessment of an
outdated
fighting force, it should work with Sen. Levin to scrap the gay ban.
Doing
so would put the United States on a par with the free world by ending
the
final bastion of government discrimination against proven patriots.
        . The writer was assistant secretary of defense under President
Ronald Reagan.  He is currently vice president of the Council on
Foreign
Relations.
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19th June, 2001 (# 2) News Clippings Digest.

1.  NEWPORT (RI) DAILY NEWS  Opinion:  Virtual military dictatorship
exists for many Americans
2.  ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS  "Controversial" gay pride exhibit on
display at University of Alaska Anchorage Campus Center
3.  ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS  Today's letters about pride exhibit
controversy

Newport Daily News, June 18, 2001
Box 420, Newport, RI, 02840
(E-Mail: editor@...  )
Opinion:  Virtual military dictatorship exists for many Americans
by Bob Fulghum
        Amid recent news reports of increased expulsions of gay service
people from our armed forces, the U.S. Army has also rejected the
wrongful-death legal appeal of Patricia Kutteles, mother of slain
Pvt. Barry
Winchell.  The Army, not surprisingly, won't accept any
responsibility for
the atmosphere of hatred or conduct of two of "America's finest,"
trained
"professionals," who in a Ft. Campbell, on-base, beer-keg-induced,
drunken
stupor decided to prove their manhood by picking up a baseball bat and
crushing Pvt. Winchell's skull while he slept in his barracks.
Winchell had
been harassed for months because he was perceived to be gay.
Superiors
knew, yet did nothing.
        'Collateral damage'
        Rubbing salt in Barry's mother's wounds, the Army's terse
response
claimed that her son's death "was incident to military service,"
which is
equivalent to (Army-trained) Timothy McVeigh claiming the murder of
innocent
women and children in Oklahoma City was "collateral damage."
        Ft. Campbell, Ky., coincidentally, in recent years has kicked
out
more soldiers for the "crime" of being gay or lesbian than any other
base in
the entire Western world.  No skirt-chasing commander-in-chief was
going to
tell this commander, Major General Robert Clark, how to run "his"
Army,
though everyone who has ever served in the military knows that if
everyone
who ever committed adultery were kicked out, the nation would be left
defenseless.  As an ultimate insubordination to the president and
Congress,
a platoon leader at the same base, with the understood support of his
superiors, marched soldiers to the cadence of "faggot, faggot down the
street, shoot him, shoot him 'til he retreats" -- after Winchell's
murder!
        Victims of society
        Winchell and his family are not the only victims of this
horrific,
callous disregard for human life.  The perpetrators, too, are victims
of an
American society that has too long either condoned with silence or
encouraged the abuse and mistreatment of a whole group of people as
third-class citizens because we are "the other," different from the
norm
only in who we love.  We have fewer rights and protections than new
straight
immigrants who first step foot in this country today, though our
families
are part of our nation's fabric and history.
        Because hatred is learned, true justice would recognize a long
list
of moral accomplices to Winchell's perpetrators -- too long to be
all-inclusive here -- beginning with the killers' parents, then their
school
teachers and administrators who probably condoned name-calling and
bullying.
Probably there were coaches who taught that to be tough, to be a man,
you
couldn't be gay.  Probably there were pretentious "men of God"
claiming
supernatural religious certainty and supremacy who condemn all
homosexuals
as sinners.
        Damaging policies
        Perhaps there were Boy Scout leaders who echo their Mormon and
Catholic board of directors' damaging discriminatory policy.  (Once,
while
skiing in Utah, I met a young Mormon who thanked God for allowing him
to
escape Salt Lake City's oppressive "Zion Curtain" to live in Seattle.)
        For decades, there have been boot-camp drill sergeants, under
top
brass' orders or blessings, who molded boys into men, wrapped them in
a
flag, gave them guns and a license to kill -- "Krauts," "Japs,"
"Gooks,"
"Commies," "Faggots," -- they were all the same.  Our nation salutes,
pins
medals and ribbons upon the chests of men who have been commissioned
to
perpetrate some of most grisly, unspeakable acts imaginable against
humanity.  We make senators out of soldiers who, caught in war's no-
win
maelstrom of violence, murder innocent women and children.  We
produce John
Wayne movies, glorifying the same acts that we send other men to the
electric chair for committing.
        We, "The Ugly American," along with the Turks, are the only
Western
alliance peoples still sanctioning discrimination and criminalizing
private
relations between consenting adults in the military.
        The Domino Theory was right in this case:  One by one, other
countries of the world who value individual self-determination and
human
rights have told religious demagogues to take their intrusive,
Pinocchio
noses out of government!  Perhaps the religious right and their
Republican
lapdogs would feel more at home in Turkey or theocratic Iran than on
the
shores of this nation, one that has sent so many sons and daughters
to die
on some God-forsaken piece of soil so that we might all -- all of us,
of
every persuasion -- live in peace and liberty.  Indeed, in the latest
Gallup
poll, 72% of Americans believe that gay citizens should serve in the
military.  It is the military and Congress who are out of touch.
        Writing to Congress
        I have met with and written my senators -- John Chafee, and
Claiborne
Pell in '93, Jack Reed and Lincoln Chafee in '00 -- pleading with
them to
end this stain of military discrimination and bigotry upon our
nation's
reputation.  A dozen of us mostly gay and lesbian Rhode Island
veterans met
with then-congressman Reed in '93, and he was encouraging, stating
that he
had ridden into office on the coattails of President Clinton and would
support the president's noble, though feeble, effort to lift the ban.
        But for seven years, Sen. Reed, the West Point grad and former
Army
officer, was MIA (like our commander-in-chief), missing in action
while more
than 6,000 service men and women were purged.  More recently, last
year, I
joined a small group of parents with gay offspring in a follow-up
meeting
with Reed.  Most of us are also veterans.  The senior among us, a
distinguished octogenarian -- younger in spirit than most men half his
age -- a retired educator and Navy veteran wounded in WWII, a
contemporary
at Harvard with JFK and a lifelong Democrat, left the meeting with
same
impression as most of us:  Reed is not a leader, at least not on that
day or
in the previous seven years!
        Excuses are lame
        Reed's excuses were appallingly lame:  "Military leaders won't
accept
the president's recommendation (or orders)," he kowtowed.  In other
words,
we live in a virtual military dictatorship that even our U.S. senator
will
not challenge!  "More studies need to be done," though the military
and
their congressional lackeys have rejected every study from PERSEREC
to Rand
the past two decades because findings did not support any reasonable
basis
for continued discriminatory policy.  We asked the senator to
exercise his
prerogative of placing a "hold" on any subsequent promotion of (Ft.
Campbell's) Major Gen. Clark:  "We must be careful not to scapegoat
the Army
officer."  In other words, no one's fingerprints were on the bloodied
baseball bat but the perpetrator's!  No one else is held accountable,
though
many are clearly guilty!
        Reed warned that the gays-in-the military debacle might be
used as a
wedge issue in the presidential elections last year.  In other words,
covering up for the disappointing leadership and negligence of the
Clinton
White House was more important than the lives of thousands of gay and
lesbian troops who have pledged to defend the country with their
lives,
though not from "friendly fire" from their fellow troops.  Senator
Reed, let
go of the disgraced president's coattails and stand up like a man!
It is
one thing for a senator not to fully appreciate or exercise his
freedom for
which many have sacrificed; it is quite another to fail to mightily
defend
that freedom for fellow countrymen and constituents.
        When the lives and careers of fine and decent young men and
women are
on the line, who want nothing more than the right to pursue their
American
dreams, it's time to remember someone we can all respect:  "If you
can't
stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!"
        Playing politics
        With the help of a weak senator prone to playing partisan
politics,
Army brass will squirm their way out of culpability for the murder of
Pvt.
Winchell, but it is past time for Congress to undo the not-so-subtle
message
it telegraphs to deranged men it equips with guns.  Congress created
this
mess, and its fingerprints, too, are upon the bat that ended Pvt.
Winchell's
life.  Promptly repeal this un-American, deadly sadistic joke of a
policy
known as Don't Ask Don't Tell!
        Both Dick Cheney and Colin Powell, the press have reported,
know
first hand the experience of having gay children in homophobic
America.  If
these two respected men will not demonstrate real family values by
standing
up for the implied rights of sons and daughters like their own, then
shame
on them!
        It would be small consolation to Pvt. Winchell's mother, but
at least
it would be a token apology -- the least our country and Congress can
do.
If not now, before thousands more are severed from their dreams or
another
son murdered, when?  Gay service people have been gagged and obviously
cannot defend or change policy themselves.  They stand watch around
the
world allowing us to rest in peace.  They deserve a good night's sleep
without fear of losing their careers or worse.  They need our
compassionate
help; they/we cannot do it alone.  I call upon you, good neighbors
across
Rhode Island, to call Senator Reed (1-800-284-4200) and remind him
why we
sent him to Washington.
        . Bob Fulghum of Middletown served in the Air Force during the
Vietmam era.  Fulghum's grandfather was wounded in service in WWI,
and his
biological father died in WWII.
        [Contributor's Note:  To contact Bob, you can email him at
ralph.perry@... (the address he shares with his partner).
        And just in case anyone gets confused, the Bob Fulghum who
wrote the
op-ed is NOT the same Bob Fulghum who wrote those "Everything I Need
to Know
I Learned in Kindergarten" books.  It's just a coincidence that they
have
the same name.]


Anchorage Daily News, June 19, 2001
P. O. Box 149001, Anchorage, AK, 99514-9001
(Fax: 907-258-2157 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.adn.com/ )
http://www.adn.com/metro/story/0,2633,275708,00.html
Controversial gay pride exhibit on display at UAA
PRIDEFEST:  Mayor's office has no problem with its current location.
By Lisa Demer, Anchorage Daily News
        The gay pride exhibit banned from Loussac Library is now on
display,
in exile, at the University of Alaska Anchorage Campus Center.
        "We thought it was important to have it up so people could see
for
themselves what the controversy was all about," Jim Mohr, chairman of
Anchorage's PrideFest celebration, said Monday.  The exhibit is part
of
PrideFest.
        The display, described by organizers as family-friendly,
includes
posters and a rainbow-colored "Celebrate Diversity" banner.  The
message of
tolerance is intact, organizers said, but the integrity of the
exhibit's
design is not.
        "My heart just aches looking at it," said the Rev. Jan
Richardson,
whose Lamb of God Metropolitan Community Church helped create it.  The
exhibit was meant for a 30-foot wall at the library but is squeezed
onto two
panels at the Campus Center.
        "The display the mayor didn't want you to see," reads a new
sign.
        It was taken down June 5 after Mayor George Wuerch decided the
exhibit was not appropriate for the library.  Nothing in the display
is
sexually explicit.
        The UAA Student Affairs Division didn't hesitate to sponsor it
at its
new venue.  "We're a very inclusive educational environment," said
Linda
Lazzell, UAA dean of students.
        The Campus Center is open from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday
through
Friday.
        Wuerch has no problem with the display at UAA, said Dennis
Fradley,
the mayor's spokesman.  "If the university wants to put it up, it's
great,
it's fine, it's wonderful," Fradley said.
        Monday afternoon, a few people puzzled at all the fuss.
        "I don't see nothing wrong with this," said Darlene Fox, who
works in
the UAA residence life department.  Another university employee, Jared
Edgar, initially walked right past it.  "It's a very mild display,
really,"
he said.
        The Alaska Civil Liberties Union has sued the city to get the
exhibit
reinstalled at Loussac. At the city's initiative, the case has been
moved
from state to federal court.
        Gay and lesbian groups now are gearing up for the PrideFest
celebration, which kicks off Wednesday with a reception at the
library and a
party at The Raven, a downtown bar.  On Saturday, there will be a
parade
downtown and festival on the Delaney Park Strip. Librarians, the
AkCLU,
Bartlett Democratic Club and churches plan to march along with gay
groups.
      . Reporter Lisa Demer can be reached at ldemer@... and
907-257-4390.


Anchorage Daily News, June 19, 2001
P. O. Box 149001, Anchorage, AK, 99514-9001
(Fax: 907-258-2157 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.adn.com/ )
Letter:  Library has never been a forum for every possible viewpoint
        If the mayor of Anchorage had canceled an exhibit entitled
"Celebrate
the Aryan Race," would the Alaska Civil Liberties Union have brought
suit?
Of course, we will never find out, because such an exhibit would never
appear in the library.  No one wants libraries to be public forums
available
to all points of view, and the Anchorage library has never been such a
forum.  The "Celebrate Diversity" people merely found the assistant
librarian a more sympathetic censor than the mayor.
-- Dan Burton, Wasilla

Letter:  Conservative expression is assured of newspaper's support,
right?
        Mayor George Wuerch did the best thing for our community (gays
and
nongays).  Why?  Because it would have led to the request of opposing
groups
to put up a counter exhibit.  This would have led to our city once
again
being divided over the "homosexual issue."
        Now that the Daily News editorial staff is on record (June 9)
that it
believes the First Amendment prevents churches from being denied the
right
to have an exhibit at all public facilities, we can count on the
support on
the editorial page when a church is denied the right to put up an
exhibit
not promoting homosexuality.  Furthermore, a church can count on the
Daily
News to scream loudly when a church is denied the right to put up a
"sexual
abstinence exhibit" at a public school.  Now, does anyone really
believe it
will?
        If I am wrong, I would appreciate a call from the editorial
staff
letting me know it will defend my right to put up an opposing view of
the
gay pride exhibit in Loussac Library.  After receiving the call, I
will
immediately put in a request to do so (which I am sure will be turned
down
by the mayor), and then they will have the opportunity to take on the
mayor
for denying the right of "public expression" of a conservative
viewpoint in
a public facility.
-- Jerry Prevo, Anchorage

Letter:  Homosexuals contribute to city; 'gay agenda' is life as it
comes
        Call me silly, but I thought that, as mayor, it was George
Wuerch's
job to serve all of the people of Anchorage, not just the ones who
met his
narrow-minded criteria of "good" citizenship.  If he hasn't already,
Mayor
Wuerch will learn soon enough that he has opened a can of worms that
will
not fade away quickly, but fester and boil until it forces him to
lose the
perma-smile that graced his campaign commercials and face the music
-- music
that I highly doubt he can keep up with.
        I winced at the thought of losing a few colorful flower beds
under
King Wuerch's reign, but I am repulsed at the thought of his
squelching some
of Anchorage's most colorful people under the same rule.  In addition
to
helping pay Mr. Wuerch's salary, we homosexuals -- both out and
closeted --
make countless contributions to the vitality of Anchorage, many of
which
even the mayor is unaware.  And as for my so-called "gay agenda,"
today it
includes a trip to Fred Meyer for milk, bread and, oh yeah, flowers;
a bike
ride on the Coastal Trail; and perhaps a nice cold one on my deck this
evening as I, along with my devilish cohorts, plan to take over the
world.
Get real.
-- Chris King, Anchorage

Letter:  Gays equating selves with Jews, blacks is 'laugh of the
century'
        I support the mayor and his decision on the library issue; if
there
are other such items that are in conflict with library rules I hope
he will
take a stand on them as well.  As someone once said, "If you do not
stand
for something, you will fall for anything."
        For the gays to equate themselves with the blacks or Jews is a
laugh
of the century.  I am neither but find it disgusting that they could
even
wildly imagine that they have suffered any of the persecution that
blacks
and Jews have felt.
-- John Drashner, Palmer

Letter:  Christians, teach your family your values; leave the rest of
us out
of it
        I am sick and tired of the folks proclaiming themselves to be
Christians, dragging out their Bibles to inflict their opinion and to
mandate policy on everyone else as though everyone in this country
believes
what they do.  I thought one of the very basic tenets of this great
country
was freedom of and from religion.  I say that if you have moral or
religious
(i.e. personal) problems with homosexuality, deal with it yourself --
teach
your own family your values and leave the rest of us alone to make
our own
decisions about whether or not to be bigots.  Or is bigotry something
one is
born with?
        There are far too many people actually hurting other people to
waste
precious time and energy on hate and fear of law-abiding, taxpaying
citizens, no matter their gender, race, age, sexuality, physical or
mental
impairment, and yes -- even their religion or lack of religion.
Which is
all just a long-winded way of saying, live and let live with equality
for
all.
-- Kelley Griffin, Wasilla

Letter:  What happened to the generosity shown during the Winter
Games?
        This year I have seen the best and worst of Anchorage.  In
March I
volunteered for the Special Olympics World Winter Games and was
delightfully
amazed how Anchorage embraced the spirit of the Games.  We extended a
warm,
fun welcome to the athletes, coaches and fans.  My lasting thought
from the
Games was, "Why couldn't Anchorage apply this same attitude toward
its own
citizens?"
        Unfortunately, near the same time news broke of the paintball
attacks
targeted at Alaska Natives.  Some leaders were hesitant to quickly
condemn
the attacks as an inexcusable hate crime.
        Now, Mayor George Wuerch has prohibited the gay pride display
at the
library and, it has been reported that almost half of the respondents
support his decision, with many citing high morals or religious
beliefs.
These actions by the mayor and his supporters are symbolic paintball
attacks
on the gay and lesbian community by shooting bullets of bigotry and
oppression.
        What happened to the Anchorage of the Winter Games?  We can
achieve
so much if we are only willing to admit the prejudices we carry and
then try
to heal the wounds inflicted by ignorance and hatred.  Anchorage will
never
realize its full potential until all citizens are recognized for the
diverse
contributions they provide to our city.
-- Tina Altstatt, Anchorage

Letter:  Ask yourself: What if someone close to you was homosexual?
        I've been reading the numerous letters regarding Mayor George
Wuerch's removal of the gay pride exhibit from the library.  I, too,
am
shocked and also saddened by his decision.  The subject of gay rights
and
pride is close to my heart as my brother, who recently died, was
gay.  In
his honor I am submitting my opinion to these events.
        I strongly support educating those who question or disapprove
of
alternative lifestyles (gays).  My opinion is based on experience,
and I
question those who have no firsthand experience.  My father, a
conservative
Catholic, believed like so many people that gays had no place in
society.
After my brother announced his lifestyle, my dad accepted him out of
love.
Ask yourself this: "What if my brother, sister or child were gay?"
Would
you stop loving them and turn your back on them?
        My opinion on this subject is based solely on my personal
experiences.  I was proud of my brother for the wonderful person he
was.  He
was kind, thoughtful, and generous to others.  His death is a great
loss to
our family and his many friends.  I regret that my young daughter
will never
have the opportunity to experience her uncle's love.
-- Diane Ranuio, Anchorage
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Marsden wins A$525,000 defamation victory
  AAP

The NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday awarded solicitor John Marsden
more than half a million dollars in damages, saying Channel Seven was
motivated by malice to make false imputations about him.

Read the entire story at:
  http://afr.com/australia/2001/06/27/FFXU1DNZFOC.html

The NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday awarded solicitor John Marsden
more than half a million dollars in damages, saying Channel Seven was
motivated by malice to make false imputations about him.
Awarding Mr Marsden A$525,000, Justice David Levine ruled Mr Marsden
had a good and settled reputation before the publication of the
imputations, which suggested he had sex with underage boys.
Mr Marsden said after the ruling that although he had won he had
lost, and that his reputation would be forever tainted.
Outside court Mr Marsden said Wednesday's result totally vindicated
him from the allegations.
With his voice shaking with emotion, Mr Marsden said he despaired for
the future of law in Australia and the way in which "so-called
justice is administered".
Mr Marsden said the case took more than six years and cost him A$6
million in legal expenses.
Despite Wednesday's finding he said he would remain forever tainted
by the false claims.
"Although I have won I have lost," he said.
"But more importantly society has lost. This case should serve as a
warning to every person here today to every family and to every
politician that the price of justice in Australia today has become so
expensive that most people simply cannot afford it."
The ruling ended Australia's longest running and most colourful
defamation case.
The finding for the 59-year-old former Law Society President and
Police Board member comes after a jury found in 1999 Mr Marsden had
been defamed by two Seven Network broadcasts.
The judge said he was satisfied on the balance of probabilities that
the alleged events did not occur, adding Channel Seven was actuated
by malice.
The judgement comes after an extraordinary hearing which began in
November, 1999.
Channel Seven defended the case, submitting the claims were true.
In a statement issued after the decision, Channel Seven said it was
fulfilling a fundamental duty of the media to investigate and publish
reports on issues of public interest.
"Given Marsden's high profile, his public denials, the issues being
raised in Parliament and some brave witnesses coming forward to
reject Marsden's denials, Seven's public affairs programs decided to
pursue the story," the network said in a statement.

FYI: News Bookmarks added to the list.

I have now added some mainstream and GLBT news bookmarks
to the newsclippings home page.
More will be added shortly.

Links
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newsclippings/links

Also, postings are now available as a public archive.

Message Archive
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newsclippings

18th June, 2001 (# 9) News Clippings Digest.

1.  OMAHA WORLD-HERALD  Newsmaker: 'Suit With a Soul' Out Front for
Gays; Scott Winkler is first Grand Marshall of Omaha Pride Parade
2.  ST. PETERSBURG (FL) TIMES  "We don't want queers here":
Dissenting voices at Bush's supposedly public appearance should not
have been silenced
3.  PAWTUCKET TIMES  Rhode Islanders celebrate their pride
4.  TORONTO SUN  Letter:  "Imagine!  Public school tax dollars to be
used to promote this lifestyle as normal to young students."

Omaha World-Herald, June 18, 2001
World Herald Square, Omaha, NE, 68102
(Fax: 402-345-4547 ) (E-Mail:  pulse@... )
( http://www.omaha.com )
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_div=3&u_hdg=0&u_sid=158852
Newsmaker: 'Suit With a Soul' Out Front for Gays
BY SHANNON HENSON, WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
        Scott Winkler still thinks about one of his teachers in
Loomis, Neb.
        She was 6 feet tall, had a thick New York accent and was not
Christian.  In the south-central Nebraska town of 397 people, Janet
Denison
"stuck out like a sore thumb," Winkler said.
        He still pictures her parading around the Capitol in Lincoln,
opposing the death penalty.
        "She was not afraid to speak out about who she was," he said.
"She
was this incredible woman in Loomis, Nebraska."
        Winkler doesn't stick out like Denison.  He is a 44-year-old
life-insurance salesman.  He owns a townhouse in west Omaha.  He
likes to
read and work in his yard.
        But like Denison, he loves to speak out.  He is politically
active
and took a four-month leave of absence from his job to fight
Initiative 416,
an amendment to the State Constitution that bans same-sex marriage.
        And this Saturday, Winkler will be the first grand marshal of
Omaha's
Gay Pride parade.  The 12-block parade begins at 2 p.m. and runs
largely
through the Old Market.
        Roger Duitsman, parade coordinator, said the marshal was
chosen by
nominations and a community vote.  This will be the first time there
is a
marshal, and "it's because every parade needs one."
        Winkler knows he will say a few words but knows little else of
his
responsibilities.  He has yet to receive any grand marshal regalia,
and he
joked to a photographer that he could go to Burger King and grab a
crown for
his picture.
        The parade, he said, is a wonderful celebration with an
interesting
crowd.
        "The gay community is not monolith," he said.  "It's very
diverse.
There are suits," he said, laughing and touching his olive suit.
        After a pause, he said, "I'm a suit with a soul."
        Winkler was not always politically involved.  A March on
Washington
for Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights in 1993 changed everything.
        There were thousands like him who were there to celebrate and
make
sure that the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community was
not left
behind.  Part of the trip was spent meeting with legislators.
        Winkler said the experience opened him to the possibility of
change
and to a feeling that he had a responsibility to bring it about.
        When he returned to Omaha, he became involved with Citizens
for Equal
Protection, a nonprofit group dedicated to homosexual education and
legislative advocacy.
        That led to his involvement with the Nebraska Advocates for
Justice
and Equality, an affiliate organization that fought Initiative 416.
        The initiative won voter approval in November by a margin of 70
percent to 30 percent.
        Although Winkler was disappointed with the outcome, he said
good
things came from the fight.
        "There is now a network of people, and I really think we raised
awareness," Winkler said.  "I believe there were discussions at
dinner hours
that had never taken place."
        The small gains they made, Winkler believes, were reflected
this
legislative session, when a bill that would have protected
homosexuals from
housing discrimination passed.  Gov. Mike Johanns vetoed the bill.
        Ken Voorhees, a psychotherapist and a gay activist, said
Winkler is
someone the gay community can count on.
        "Scott is an intelligent, passionate man who is a tireless
worker for
gay rights in Omaha and the Nebraska community," Voorhees said.
        No matter what the outcome of 416, Voorhees said, Winkler left
behind
a network of new, inspired activists.
        Obtaining rights for homosexuals in Nebraska has proved to be a
challenge, but Winkler said he "has confidence in the people of
Nebraska.
They are fair-minded and listen to reason.  It's our responsibility
to get
information out there."
        He knows people who have left the state because they think
Nebraska
is intolerant.  Winkler does not want to leave his roots.
        He grew up on a farm outside Loomis, and his mother and sister
live
in the nearby "big city" of Holdrege, population 5,636.
        Winkler went to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, getting a
bachelor's degree in accounting and, later, a master's in information
systems.
        He came to Omaha in 1989 to work at the University of Nebraska
at
Omaha as an internal auditor.
        In March he changed jobs, starting as an agent for New York
Life
Insurance Co.
        The business was looking for someone connected to the gay
community,
which it felt was an unserved segment.
        Not all of Winkler's clients are gay, but he thinks those who
are
feel more comfortable when they don't have to explain their lifestyle
or
partners.
        When not working, Winkler likes to work in his yard near 108th
Street
and West Maple Road and to spend time with Michael Gordon, his
partner of
seven years.
        Gordon also is active in the political cause.  The two met
through
mutual friends.
        Winkler said he also likes to read and hang out with friends,
but
"politics is maybe my hobby."
        Although so much of that revolves around being gay, Winkler
said,
"sexual orientation is part of who I am, but it doesn't define me."

St. Petersburg Times, June 18, 2001
P. O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL, 33731
(Fax: 727-893-8675)(E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.sptimes.com/ )
( VOICE: To dictate a letter-to-the-editor call 813-893-8169 )
Counterdemonstrators' Brave Protest Deserves Protection
by Robyn E. Blumner
        I've only been a counterdemonstrator once and that was enough
to know
I don't have it in me.
        Oh, I've been to plenty of rallies -- pro-choice marches,
Martin
Luther King Jr. Day celebrations.  But the only time I've been the
outsider,
crashing someone else's party, was in demonstrating against capital
punishment outside a state prison in Utah.
        There, in 1987, a number of celebrators were whooping it up as
convicted murderer Pierre Dale Selby was put to death.  Standing a
few yards
away were a handful of protesters, myself included, there to remind
the
public not everyone agreed that killing in the name of the state was
okay.
        It takes a certain kind of mettle to be a counterdemonstrator,
there
to take the slings of a typically much larger crowd that has been
whipped up
by the emotion of the moment.  I didn't like the feeling of being at
potential physical risk for expressing my contrary views, so I
haven't done
it again.  But I have the utmost respect for those who do.
        This is what came to mind as I watched raw news footage of the
arrest
of gay rights activist Mauricio Rosas at President Bush's recent tax
cut
rally in Tampa.  As Rosas, 37, and two fellow demonstrators, both
older
women, were handcuffed and pulled out of the stadium by uniformed
Tampa
police, they appeared as tragic heroes.  A nearby crowd spat insults
at the
arrestees and cheered in celebration of the repression occuring
before them.
        After he had been charged with trespass and released from
police
custody, Rosas described his ordeal:  He had gotten a fistful of
tickets to
the June 4 Bush rally by simply requesting them at the Legends Field
box
office.  The event at the publicly financed stadium had been
publicized as
open to any member of the public who wanted tickets, and Rosas said
he was
handed tickets with no questions asked about his political beliefs or
affiliations.
        On the day of the event, as he and his friends walked toward
the
stadium entrance with protest signs written on letter-size paper, a
Tampa
city police officer called out:  "You can't go in there with those
signs."
But since he knew his First Amendment rights, Rosas said, he just
kept on
walking.
        Inside, on the stadium field, his small sign reading "June is
Gay
Pride Month," was dwarfed by the sea of large pro-Bush signs.  Still,
he and
his friends kept their signs raised.
        This is where the news footage picks up:  Rosas and his
friends are
nearly surrounded by pro-Bush ralliers with whom they are engaged in
heated
conversation -- something to be expected for counterprotesters.
Then, a
Tampa police officer arrives, and a man in a business suit with no
discernable authority directs the officer to the three
counterdemonstrators
by pointing and saying, "This one, this one and this one."  According
to
Rosas, the suited man told him, "Get rid of the gay sign, take a Bush
sign
and you can stay."
        Also on the tape, which is full of jostling and was
periodically
interrupted by Bush supporters thrusting their signs directly in
front of
the camera lens, a Tampa police officer can be seen calling for
backup and
telling the counterdemonstrators if they get rid of the signs they
can stay.
No one with a pro-Bush sign is similarly confronted.  As they are
arrested,
Rosas says the crowd taunts them by chanting, "We don't want queers
here."
        In the aftermath of this exceptionally poor and
unconstitutional
show, no one wanted to take responsibility:  Tampa police first
blamed the
Secret Service and then Legends Field security for directing them to
make
the unjustified arrests.  The Bush White House couldn't decide
whether its
open-to-the-public, taxpayer-supported rally at a publicly owned
stadium was
"public" and subject to the First Amendment or whether it was
private, like
a church wedding, where interlopers could be ejected.  And the New
York
Yankees organization, which runs Legends Field, avoided answering any
questions at all by aggressively cowering.  It simply refused to
respond to
press queries.  (Six calls from me alone.)
        Despite all this finger-pointing and all these excuses, the
fact
remains that Mauricio Rosas' gay pride sign went unseen for much of
the
rally.  He was silenced by police determined to remove anyone
indicating
dissent toward the president.
        Rosas is considering bringing a civil rights action.  He
should.
Counterdemonstrators are a brave lot, willing to be in a place full of
opponents in order to offer an alternative viewpoint.  Theirs is a
valuable
addition to our marketplace of ideas.
        And in a free society, the police have a duty to protect them,
not
arrest them.


Pawtucket Times, June 18, 2001
Box 307, Pawtucket, RI, 02862
(Fax: 401-724-8882 )
( http://www.pawtuckettimes.com )
Rhode Islanders celebrate their pride
Fred Kuhr
        PROVIDENCE -- Jude Tomasino and Frank Maher live in Pawtucket,
near
Slater Park, with their two Yorkshire Terriers, Roxy and Jake.  They
met
almost two years ago in a Providence bar when one "nudged" the
other.  (They
both claim that the other did the nudging.)
        They started dating, fell in love, and decided to make a life
together.  Now they do things that many couples do -- they work, they
pay
the bills, they travel, they socialize with friends, and they plan
for the
future.
        Of course, Tomasino, 28, and Maher, 29, are both men.  So in
some
circles, their love for each other is still controversial.  But they
say
that they are proud of who they are and the life they are building
together.
        That sense of pride is just one of the reasons the couple
joined an
estimated 10,000 others who took part in Rhode Island's 26th annual
Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Celebration in Providence on
Sunday.
        The daylong event began at noon with a festival in Station
Park,
across from the Statehouse and Providence Place mall, that showcased
an
array of musical and comedy acts from around New England and 85 vendor
booths selling everything from bumper stickers to jewelry.
        The celebration's annual parade kicked off from Station Park
at 8:30
p.m., after a short rally of speakers, including openly gay state
Rep. David
Cicilline, a Providence Democrat whose district reaches into
Pawtucket, and
Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, the parade's grand marshal.
        With the theme "Over the rainbow and under the stars," the
light-filled parade was chock full of floats giving a nod to "The
Wizard of
Oz," including nightclub Pulse with its giant papier-mache Mr. Potato
Head
dressed up as Dorothy.
        This was the first such parade in Providence to take place in
the
evening, instead of at its usual noontime kick-off.  This was also
the first
time that the festival was held downtown, rather than India Point
Park on
the waterfront.
        Organizers say that the changes were made in order to allow for
greater community participation and visibility.
        Rodney Davis, one of the co-chairs of the Rhode Island Pride
Committee, said that one of the goals of the event is to show that
gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender Rhode Islanders are "integrated
into the
larger community.  And you can't get more integrated than across from
the
mall."
        Davis joked that the festival site created an "aquarium
effect,"
noting that many shoppers and diners in the mall were looking down at
the
festival "seeing these people with their rainbow colors," making
reference
to the rainbow flag, a symbol of gay pride, "and probably saying to
themselves that we're not that different from them.  And that's the
mission."
        Event co-chair Alex Gorriaran noted that much has changed in
Rhode
Island since 1976, the year of Providence's first gay pride parade.
Not
only did the city initially deny a parade permit to the group, but
out of
the 100 or so people who marched on Kennedy Plaza that year, at least
25 of
them wore paper bags over their heads to conceal their identities.
        "They wanted to come out and support their community, but they
did
not want to risk losing their jobs," said Gorriaran.
        Today, he said, Rhode Island is a "progressive state" that is
leading
the nation on issues of equality for gays and lesbians.  In 1995, for
example, Rhode Island passed a law prohibiting sexual orientation-
based
discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, credit and public
accommodation.
        Gorriaran's mother Miriam, who was on hand to help make sure
the day
ran smoothly, said that she is "very proud" of her son.
        "I accept him the way he is.  He's my son," she said while
sporting a
button that read, "I love my gay son."
        She also had advice for other parents of gay or lesbian
children:
"Talk to your child.  Find out how they really feel ...  If you love
your
son or daughter, how can you turn away from them?"
        During his speech before the parade, Mayor Cianci praised the
city
for its diversity.  In honor of the annual event, Cianci noted that
for the
past two weeks the rainbow flag has flown atop Providence City Hall.
        "We in Providence raise the flag for individual dignity.  We
cherish
our diversity," said Cianci, to thunderous applause. "...  This city
believes in your inalienable right to be who you are."



Toronto Sun, June 18, 2001
Sun Media Corporation, 333 King St. E., Toronto, Ontario M5A 3X5
(E-Mail: editor@... ) (
http://www.canoe.com/TorontoSun/home.html )
Letter:
      On June 13, school trustees approved a motion to eradicate
homophobia
and direct the Toronto District School Board to participate in this
year's
Gay Pride Parade.  Imagine!  Public school tax dollars to be used to
promote
this lifestyle as normal to young students.  It's time for normal,
hard-working families to stand up and take notice of this perverse
action by
the board.  I have done my part by enrolling my children in an
independent
school, and have changed my tax support to the Catholic system.
Thank God
for choice.  The public system is doing itself in by these actions.
- Don Cummings, Toronto
(No money for playgrounds or pools, but always enough for pet
projects) <==
Toronto Sun comment
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18th June, 2001 (# 7) News Clippings Digest.

1.  CHICAGO SUN-TIMES  Jewish fund to help gays in need
2.  BALTIMORE SUN  Mayor welcomed at Pride Festival; Task force on
gay issues is created
3.  PORTLAND (ME) PRESS HERALD  Gays proclaim: 'We are families'
4.  BANGOR (ME) NEWS  Walkers support gay rights
5.  OTTAWA CITIZEN (Canada)  Missing man made monthly trips to
Montreal clubs with friends; Shawn Roy last seen early on June 2

Chicago Sun-Times, June 18, 2001
401 N. Wabash Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60611
(Fax: 312-321-2120 ) (E-Mail:  Letters@... )
( http://www.suntimes.com )
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/gay18.html
Jewish fund to help gays in need
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI, RELIGION REPORTER
        In a groundbreaking effort to reach out to Jewish gays and
lesbians,
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago is establishing a fund
today
to make grants in the community.
        The endowment fund, which will be supported by independent
donations
and not the federation's general coffers, is believed to be the first
of its
kind in North America.
        Organizers said they expect the fund to support programs such
as
counseling for Jewish elderly dealing with grandchildren who are
coming out,
kosher meals for Jewish HIV-positive people during Passover and other
religious holidays, scholarships for gay or lesbians students in
rabbinical
schools, and a Jewish gay and lesbian collection at Chicago's Spertus
Institute of Judaica.
        "When you look at the kinds of things you could do with these
dollars, how wonderful!" said Marcia Lipetz, a professional
philanthropist
and co-founder of the fund.  "It was just an idea whose time has
come."
        "It really signifies support on the part of the organized
Jewish
community for the gay and lesbian Jewish community," said Rabbi
Suzanne
Griffel of Congregation Or Chadash, a Reform synagogue in Lake View
that has
catered to gay and lesbian Jews for 25 years.
        "It is the recognition of the part of the organized Jewish
community
that there are gay and lesbian Jews who want to lead active Jewish
lives.  I
think it's very important, and I applaud the Jewish community for
setting up
this fund," Griffel said.
        The Jewish Lesbian and Gay Fund has already amassed $25,000
from
steering committee members, and organizers hope to raise $100,000 in
the
next year, said Bruce Lederman, co-founder of the fund.
        Lederman, who expects to present the first round of fund-
supported
grants next summer, said he hopes the fund will build relationships
between
the general Jewish community and gay and lesbian Jews who have felt
disconnected in the past.
        "It's a very opening, welcome, inclusive message on both
sides," he
said.
        The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago/Jewish United
Fund is
the pre-eminent Jewish philanthropy organization in Chicago,
representing
dozens of social welfare and community groups locally and
internationally.
        Federation President Steven Nasatir said that the fund, much
like his
organization's Women's Foundation and other special-constituency
funds, is
an example of how the federation tries to reach out to all members of
Jewish
communities.
        Rabbi Peter Knobel of Beth Emet the Free Synagogue in
Evanston, a
leader in the Reform Jewish movement, said the creation of the Jewish
Lesbian and Gay Fund is indicative of the greater acceptance of gay
and
lesbian Jews by the broader Jewish community in recent years.
        "I'm very pleased that the Jewish Federation is reaching out
to the
gay and lesbian Jews who are members of our community and deserve to
be
valued by the community and to have the community help meet their
needs,"
Knobel said.  "The very fact that we're doing this will be a signal
to gays
and lesbians that the power structure of the community is now
prepared to
address their needs, and that is symbolic of their moving from the
periphery
to the mainstream."


Baltimore Sun, June 18, 2001
501 N. Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD, 21278
(Fax: 410-332-6977 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.sunspot.net/ )
http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.mayor18jun18.story?coll=bal%
2Dlocal
%2Dheadlines
Mayor welcomed at Pride Festival
In wake of Graziano incident, task force on gay issues created
By Heather Dewar, Sun Staff
        The winter's chill that marred relations between Mayor Martin
O'Malley and his supporters in the gay community was all but
forgotten in
yesterday's bright sunshine at Druid Hill Park, where cheers and
applause
greeted the mayor at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of
Baltimore's
annual Pride Festival.
        O'Malley took the festival stage to announce the creation of a
Gay
and Lesbian Task Force, made up of eight community activists and
representatives of every city agency.
        The task force will meet four times a year to help frame city
policy
on issues raised by gay and lesbian activists, O'Malley said, and it
will
also serve "a trouble-shooting function" to prevent misunderstandings
between the gay community and City Hall.
        The administration is also planning task forces to act as
liaisons to
the city's Hispanic and Korean communities, the mayor said.
        O'Malley said the task force was inspired by a controversy in
January.  When newly appointed Housing Commissioner Paul T. Graziano
made
insulting and sexually graphic remarks about gays in a Fells Point
bar,
O'Malley rebuked the commissioner but did not fire him, saying that
alcohol
was a "mitigating factor" in his behavior.
        Many members of the gay community demanded Graziano's firing,
but
O'Malley instead ordered the commissioner to enroll in a monthlong
alcohol
treatment program.
        Graziano publicly apologized, and O'Malley apologized, too,
agreeing
with activists who said he should have condemned Graziano's behavior
more
publicly and forcefully.
        "When that came up, we all agreed there was a need to have a
group
like this task force," O'Malley said yesterday, "so we have a way to
communicate as problems arise."
        The mayor's fence-mending efforts appeared to have paid off.
Yesterday's crowd, estimated by organizers at between 22,000 and
25,000,
greeted O'Malley warmly with applause and cameras snapping away.
        "If you have friends around the country, tell them Baltimore
is a
city on the rise," O'Malley said to loud cheers.  "Please spread the
word
that Baltimore is a welcoming place."
        Task force member Cathy Brennan, who serves on the community
center's
board of directors, said gay and lesbian voters overwhelmingly backed
O'Malley in the 1999 mayor's race and still support him.
        She said most gay activists have gotten over their anger
involving
the Graziano incident.
        "That incident was a learning experience for the
administration,"
Brennan said.  "They've been very positive on our issues."
        Brennan said the task force will begin work by drawing up a
list of
the city services that are most needed in the gay and lesbian
community.


Portland Press Herald, June 18, 2001
Box 1460, Portland, ME, 04101
(Fax: 207-791-6924) (E-Mail:  letters@... )
( http://www.portland.com/news/news.shtml )
http://www.portland.com/news/local/010618met.shtml
Gays proclaim: 'We are families'
By JOSHUA L. WEINSTEIN, Portland Press Herald Writer
        Jennifer Doiron got choked up as she uttered the words Sunday.
        "I take you to be my partner," she said, looking into Lisa
Colpritt's
eyes.  "I promise to love and honor you all the days of my life."
        The vows are not legally binding -- Maine outlaws same-sex
couples
from marrying -- but for the couple, they are profound.
        "We just love each other and we appreciate the chance that we
had to
commit, just like a heterosexual couple, and we're just very happy,"
Doiron
said.
        The two do not merely consider themselves a couple, though.
They
consider themselves a family.  They plan to become pregnant -- through
artificial insemination, and both at the same time -- and to raise
children.
        Many gay and lesbian couples, with and without children,
consider
themselves families, and though Vermont is the only state that offers
anything like legal recognition, society is beginning to see them as
families as well.
        The city of Portland last month changed its definition of
family to
include gay and straight couples who register their relationships,
and on
June 13, the U.S. Census reported a significant increase in the
number of
same-sex people who reported living together as partners.
        "A family is where love is found," said Tim Higgins, a former
Catholic priest who left the clergy to marry a woman.
        On Sunday, Higgins blessed -- without the Catholic Church's
recognition -- the unions of four couples in front of City Hall in
Portland.
"I believe that celebrating the love that two people share is a
sacrament,"
he said.
        The event was one of the last events of Southern Maine Pride
Week.
        Another event, also Sunday, was the "Walk With the Ones You
Love."
In literature for the walks, which were in 10 Maine communities, the
Maine
Speakout Project invoked the word "family."
        "Join your friends and neighbors at this fourth annual
statewide
event for safe schools, safe streets, equal rights and legal
recognition of
our families," flyers said.
        "Gay and lesbian people make families," said Jonathan Lee, the
Speakout Project's executive director.  "They make commitments to each
other."
        He says family is fiercely important.
        "We want to be treated like everybody else," Lee said.
"There's no
reason to punish us or to deny us the same legal options, including
the
right to marry, the right to adopt children, the right to have the
same
basic social security and social recognition that marriage" offers.
        The Rev. William Leggett, of the First Parish Unitarian
Universalist
Church in Portland, sees it the same way.
        "Love makes a family," said Leggett, who has been in a
relationship
with a man for nearly 30 years.  "I disagree completely with anyone
who says
that a family has got to be made up of a mother and a father, because
first
of all, there are so many families out there that only have one
parent."
        He says he blesses couples, both gay and straight, who want to
have
loving relationships.  He treats same-sex couples the same as
opposite-sex
couples.  He meets with them before the ceremony, and counsels them.
At the
ceremony itself, he talks about love and about commitment.
        The pastor of the Church of the Holy Spirit, a Charismatic
Episcopal
congregation, says definitions are changing.  But The Rev. Jim King
says
that is not a good thing.
        "It is symptomatic of a more profound problem in my mind,
where we
have just lost a belief in any absolutes," he said.  "This is not
even a
shocking thing for Maine -- nobody's going to be shocked by this.
Thirty
years ago, we'd be shocked, and 30 years from now, we'll be doing
things
that would shock us today. . . .  People will be considering other
things
that are, right now, unthinkable.  We've lost the concept of truth in
our
culture."
        King said that "a society that has lost the truth can end up
with a
social vertigo," and that "from my perspective, there has to be a
higher
truth. . . .  We need somebody who created us to tell us that this is
the
way we should live."
        That means traditional families, he says.
        But Lisa Bennett, a spokeswoman for the Human Rights Campaign's
FamilyNet, said that "these families have always existed, and there
isn't
one particular form of family."
        Bennett, whose organization is one of the nation's leading gay
and
lesbian political voices, says there have always been single-parent
families, divorced families and gay families.
        She says cities such as Portland, New York and Paris, which
all have
registries for gay and straight unmarried couples, are responding to a
situation that has existed for quite some time.
        What's important, she says, is for those families to have legal
protections.
        "While some can argue about what they might think is the right
or
wrong form of family, the fact is, we all live in a lot of different
forms,
and what society needs to answer to is, are these families
protected?  Do
they have the legal protections that all these others do?"
        She said that FamilyNet began in late 2000 "to provide more
visibility and more support, and to provide something that people can
go to
and look at and say, 'OK, so let me learn something about these
families.'"
        . Staff Writer Joshua L. Weinstein can be contacted at 791-
6368 or
at: jweinstein@...


Bangor News, June 18, 2001
491 Main St., Box 1329, Bangor, ME, 04402-1329
(Fax: 207-941-9476 ) (E-Mail: bdnmail@... )
( http://www.bangornews.com/ )
http://www.bangornews.com/cgi-bin/article.cfm?storynumber=36417
Walkers support gay rights
By Diana Bowley of the NEWS Staff
        It was a small but supportive group that chose to spend Sunday
afternoon marching in the rain through Dover-Foxcroft in support of
equal
rights for gay and lesbian families.
        Elsewhere around the state, men and women, children, families
and
singles expressed support for the rights of others and to avoid
stereotyping.  About a dozen marched in Dover-Foxcroft; more than 50
in
Bangor, and more than 100 in Portland.
        "It's the role of people in the community to stand up for the
rights
of others," said Jayne Lello of Sebec, who organized the Walk with
the Ones
You Love march in Dover-Foxcroft for the Maine Speakout Project.
        Heterosexuals need to take a role in encouraging
nondiscrimination,
said Lello, a teacher at Penquis Valley High School.
        She supports the philosophy of the Maine Speakout Project
because the
premise is to talk one on one and to do away with stereotypes.  She
has
heard of discrimination in the schools, and that bothers her.  "It's
the
role of us as adults to lead the way of tolerance," Lello said.
        Walking with Lello in Dover-Foxcroft on Sunday were her
daughter
Molly, 12, and friends and neighbors, including Cindy, a lesbian from
Guilford.
        Having been in a lesbian relationship for more than four
years, Cindy
said, she has experienced discrimination in her community and in her
workplace.
        The health care professional asked that her last name be
omitted out
of fear for her job and her partner.
        It troubled her that she was uncomfortable giving her last
name.  "I
think it's a shame I can't stand up for an issue; that sends a
message of
shame and I'm not proud of that," Cindy said.  "I've had some mild
threats
at work and here that are enough to scare me.  But I moved here
knowing that
might be the case," she said.
        Even with the threats, she said, she doesn't live her life in
fear.
"I just live my life and do my job."
        She said she reported threats that came in a letter and a
video to
police, who categorized it as a hate crime.  But nothing has come of
the
complaint thus far, she said.
        The Piscataquis County region has a "strong handful" of gay and
lesbian residents as well as a group of heterosexual people who are
supportive, according to Cindy.  If anyone asked her about her
lifestyle,
she would not skirt the issue of her sexual preference because it
takes "too
much energy to hide in the closet," she said.
        Cindy said her co-workers know that she is a lesbian but that
does
not infringe on her professional relationships.  What is difficult,
she
said, is to sit in the lunchroom and hear her co-workers talk openly
about
their families and realize that she has to limit what she says about
her
partner.  "I have an extra layer of editing and censoring to do," he
said.
        Nothing would please her more than for lesbians and gays to
have the
same basic rights as others and the opportunity to legally marry their
partners.  "I think eventually it will become legal.  I'd like to see
it in
my lifetime, but I don't know if it will be," she said.
        In Bangor, the walk drew 56 participants, among them couples,
individuals and family groups from several area communities.
        Before departing on the walk, which took the group on a route
that
meandered through downtown, Bangor City Councilor Gerry Palmer read a
proclamation in support of the event, now in its second year in
Bangor.
        The proclamation was endorsed unanimously by city councilors
and was
signed by Mayor John Rohman, said Palmer.  As he read the
proclamation,
Maine Speakout Project volunteer Dan Williams interpreted his words in
American Sign Language for those unable to hear.
        As the group neared the end of its route, participants paused
at the
bridge on State Street to remember Charlie Howard, who drowned on
July 7,
1984, after being thrown from the bridge because he was gay.  Walk
participants, joined at the bridge by a friend of Howard's mother who
also
had a gay son, tossed small bouquets of wild daisies into the stream
beneath
the bridge in remembrance of Howard.
        In Portland, the annual Gay Pride parade was held Saturday,
along
with an interfaith service at First Parish Church, a rally in Monument
Square and a festival in Deering Oaks.
        "This is one time when we can display our pride," said Bob
Lebel, who
is a caregiver at Peabody House, a home for people with AIDS.
        Lebel decorated his bike with the rainbow flag that is a
universal
symbol for gay pride.  "It's my way of celebrating the gains we've
made, of
displaying our beauty," he said.
        The parade was meant to celebrate what many see as an
increasing
tolerance of homosexuality in Maine.
        Dianne Luce, 39, of Biddeford said she came to Saturday's
rally and
parade "to get people to understand we're sons and daughters, uncles
and
aunts, just like everyone else."
        . NEWS reporter Dawn Gagnon and The Associated Press
contributed to
this report.


Ottawa Citizen, June 18, 2001
1101 Baxter Road, Box 5020, Ottawa, Ontario K2C 3M4
(E-Mail: letters@... )(
http://www.ottawacitizen.com )
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/city/010618/5054065.html
Missing man made monthly trips to Montreal clubs with friends
Shawn Roy last seen early on June 2
Douglas Quan, The Ottawa Citizen
        Weekend excursions to Montreal have been a monthly ritual for
Shawn
Roy since last summer, says one of two friends who were with the
Ottawa man
before he vanished more than two weeks ago.
        Speaking publicly for the first time since Mr. Roy's
disappearance,
Will Brazeau said he, Mr. Roy and another friend named Patrick have
been
taking weekend bus trips to Montreal about once or twice a month for
the
last year.
        Club Unity, a popular night spot in the heart of Montreal's gay
village where Mr. Roy was last seen in the early hours of June 2, was
a
place the trio visited frequently, Mr. Brazeau, 22, told the Citizen.
        Mr. Brazeau, and other friends, described Mr. Roy as "quiet"
and
"introspective," not the type of person who would disappear without a
trace.
They all suspect the 30-year-old writer for the Department of National
Defence must have met foul play.
        "We're worried sick," said Mr. Brazeau.  "Shawn's happy.  He's
comfortable with himself -- no depression."  Mr. Brazeau said he and
Patrick, who has declined repeated requests for an interview, called
Mr. Roy
at home at around 6:30 p.m. on Friday, June 1 to invite him to go to
Montreal.  Mr. Roy agreed.
        But because of the short notice, Mr. Roy wasn't able to get on
the
same bus as his friends, who departed at about 7 p.m.  Instead, he
hopped on
the next bus, which left about a half hour later.
        By 10:30 p.m., all three men had checked in to the upscale
Hotel
Novotel, located near Ste-Catherine Street, in the heart of Montreal's
bustling entertainment district.
        The trio took a cab to the gay village, on the east end of
Ste-Catherine Street, where they proceeded to go bar hopping.
        By the time they reached Club Unity at around midnight, Mr.
Brazeau
says they each had consumed about five drinks.  They walked up to the
second
floor of the multi-level club to the Bamboo Lounge, where they blended
easily with the rest of the mostly twentysomething crowd.
        Amid the pounding techno music, the trio ordered Rev,
described by a
bartender as an "energy drink," popular with ravers, and consisting
of 7%
vodka.
        At around 3 a.m., the club announced it was shutting down for
the
night.  Mr. Roy ordered one more round of drinks for each of them.
Both Mr.
Brazeau and Patrick said they'd had enough.  Mr. Brazeau says Mr. Roy
then
offered the two drinks to a pair of club patrons nearby.
        The trio eventually joined the rest of the patrons who were
exiting
the club.  Mr. Roy was about 10 or 15 paces ahead of the other two,
Mr.
Brazeau recalled.
        However, when he and Patrick reached the front of the club,
Mr. Roy
was nowhere to be seen.
        The pair thought Mr. Roy had just decided to stay inside a
little
longer.  Not thinking anything of it, they left the club, figuring
they'd
see Mr. Roy in the morning.  The two then ordered pizza down the
street and
took a cab back to the hotel.
        When the two woke the next morning, Mr. Roy had still not
returned.
"We started to get concerned," he said.
        The pair left their cell phone on all day figuring that Mr.
Roy would
eventually call.  He never did.
        Nor did he show up to meet them at those same clubs later that
evening, as they had planned.
        Robin Bedard recalls bumping into the pair that evening near
Ste-Catherine Street.  "They were wondering what happened because
they had
his stuff (in the hotel).  They were wondering what to do because
they were
going back on Sunday."
        On Sunday, Mr. Brazeau and Patrick gathered up Mr. Roy's black
knapsack -- Mr. Roy had only planned to stay one night -- and boarded
a bus
back for Ottawa.  As they rode back, they wondered whether Mr. Roy
had met
someone.
        When Monday came and they had still not heard from Mr. Roy,
the pair
contacted Ottawa police, who instructed them to check whether Mr. Roy
may
have ended up in a hospital.  Their search came up empty.
        On Tuesday, Mr. Roy's parents, Pius and Evelyn, who live on
Manitoulin Island, were notified of their son's disappearance, and an
official missing person's report was filed with Ottawa police.
        "It's a mystery," said Mr. Brazeau on Saturday, shortly before
leaving for Montreal with a group of friends to distribute Missing
Person
posters.
        Eric Boucher, another friend of Mr. Roy's, was equally stunned
when
informed of Mr. Roy's disappearance this weekend.
        The former Hull resident said he had struck up a friendship
with Mr.
Roy over an Internet chat room two summers ago.
        The two kept in touch via e-mail over a period of several
months, and
would meet up on occasion for some drinks or to go to the movies.
        "He's not that type of person (to disappear without a trace),"
Mr.
Boucher said.  "I'm not going to sleep well tonight."
        Meanwhile, family members say they are becoming increasingly
frustrated with the apparent lack of action by Montreal police to
help them
locate Mr. Roy.
        In the last three days, they have travelled to Montreal three
times
in a desperate search for clues, relying not on the help of police,
but of
psychics.
        According to Wayne Roy, Mr. Roy's brother, street cops who
patrol the
gay village didn't even know about the disappearance until they were
shown
the Missing Person posters.
        "They went looking for a report number, but they couldn't find
one,"
he said.
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18th June, 2001 (# 8) News Clippings Digest.

1.  THE JOURNAL NEWS (White Plains, NY)  Community discusses
transexual teacher (Clippings reader Randey Michelle Gordon)
2.  THE JOURNAL NEWS  Teacher speaks out on sex change
3.  THE JOURNAL NEWS  How sex change is done

The Journal News, June 15, 2001
1 Gannett Drive, White Plains, NY 10604
(E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.thejournalnews.com )
http://www.nyjournalnews.com/westchester/061501/15gordon/
Community discusses transexual teacher
By ADAM SCOTT GERSHENSON AND ALISON BERT
        When the doors open next fall, Eastchester High School's
beloved Mr.
Gordon won't be Mr. Gordon anymore.
        Randey Michelle Gordon, 52, an art and jewelry teacher known
for
creativity and popularity with students, is undergoing $50,000 worth
of
gender reassignment surgery to effect a sex change.
        Eastchester school officials had a lively public meeting
Wednesday
night to discuss the transition with parents and students.  District
employees did not use Gordon's name, but parents and students
revealed the
tenured teacher's identity.
        Gordon, who took a paid leave this year and did not attend the
meeting, has identified herself as a transsexual on the Internet.
Though
Gordon did not respond to phone calls and e-mails yesterday seeking
comment,
a Randey Michelle Gordon submitted a May 1 entry titled "My Story" on
a site
called DreamBook.
        The author of the DreamBook story applauds an unnamed
Westchester
district for showing the courage to retain a transgendered teacher and
providing "my full salary, benefits, my art studio and office at the
(high
school), and no restrictions on my year off."
        On the site, Gordon said she would be the nation's first
teacher to
switch gender and continue working in the same district.  Gay
advocates said
yesterday that that might be true, but they could not be certain.
        At the meeting, before a local expert discussed gender issues
and
parents asked myriad questions, Superintendent Robert Siebert asked
for
tolerance and understanding.
        "This is what public education is all about,'' he said.  "It's
all
about inclusion.  It's all about tolerance for everyone.  This is a
unique
test for our district."
        Gordon's decision to return to the high school as a woman has
elicited a mixture of confusion, sympathy and fear.
        Parents and students asked everything from how the teacher
would
affect adolescents developing their own sexual identities to which
bathroom
Gordon would use.  Even residents applauding Gordon's courage
expressed
fears that a backlash could cause chaos in local schools.
        Donna Festa, a psychiatric social worker from the Westchester
Medical
Center, tried to soothe residents with scientific and psychological
explanations of transsexuality.
        "A transsexual is a person whose body may be one sex, but in
their
heart and in their mind they are the opposite sex,'' Festa said.
"They have
felt this way since they were two or three or four years old."
        Several parents said the explanation was presumptuous and
belittled
their intelligence.
        "Those are theories,'' said Barbara Urciuoli, a psychology
instructor
at Mercy College whose two children attend Eastchester Middle
School.  "It's
not a scientific fact."
        Ellie Giotas, whose daughter attends Eastchester High, said
she felt
she could not voice her opinion at the meeting without being accused
of
discrimination.
        Outside the meeting, she said she would never allow her
daughter to
take Gordon's art class.
        "Teachers don't just talk about class,'' she said.  "They talk
about
sex and their personal lives, and I don't want my child exposed to
this."
        Inside the meeting, while adults hardly attacked Gordon,
several
students stridently defended their teacher.
        Senior Dan Schudroff likened Gordon's return to Jackie
Robinson's
1947 debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and said parents had no choice
but to
accept Gordon's new identity.
        "If you have a serious problem with this, send your students to
parochial schools,'' Schudroff said.
        Senior Zack Sciarabba spoke even more forcefully on Gordon's
behalf.
        "You basically want to rail this guy out of town,'' Sciarabba
said.
"Do you even know this guy?  He's not a killer; he's not a child
molester.
He's a person who wants to live his life.  He was a great guy, and
there's
no doubt he'll be a great woman."
        Senior Allison Esposito said students were more comfortable
with
homosexuality and transsexuality than their parents.
        "The students are a lot more supportive than the parents are,''
Esposito said.  "If you talk to your kids about it, you'll probably
see
that."
        Yet, several students who left the meeting early said Gordon's
shift
made them uneasy.
        "He was The Man,'' said sophomore Chris Perugini.  "He made
the best
necklaces and did cool stuff in class, but not gay stuff.  He used to
tell
us about hanging out with his boys and drinking beer, and now he's
wearing
dresses."
        "Kids are going to feel uncomfortable," said sophomore Mario
Fernandez.  "And a lot of them won't go to his class."
        Gordon is apparently aware of the risks a teacher takes when
changing
gender.  The DreamBook story mentions Dana Rivers, a teacher from
Sacramento, Calif., who was banned from the classroom and initially
fired by
the school board after discussing her sex change with students.
Rivers
appealed her dismissal and eventually resigned.
        Superintendent Siebert said Gordon approached him last August,
and
there was never a thought of firing him.  Instead, Gordon was given a
paid
leave to handle the transition from male to female.
        In the DreamBook essay, Gordon appeared confident that the
students
would be able to accept the situation:  "The students I have taught
all
these years are resilient to change, and I gave them less than a week
for
the news to be pasE (sic), that Mr. Gordon is now 'Ms. Gordon.'"
        Although Eastchester is known as a staunchly Republican town,
it was
the first municipality in Westchester to offer domestic partner
benefits for
gay couples last year.  Still, many Eastchester residents voiced
concerns at
Wednesday's forum.
        One resident asked if local taxes would rise if the district
built
new bathroom facilities for Gordon and hired extra psychologists and
social
workers for anxious students.
        Superintendent Siebert said taxes would not increase, as the
district
plans to use its existing staff of social workers and psychologists,
and
Gordon will use the traditional staff bathroom.  Plans to expand
bathroom
facilities at the high school bear no relation to Gordon's operation,
Siebert said.
        Other parents questioned whether Gordon would be prepared to
discuss
the sex change and handle possible inappropriate comments.
        "I don't want a debate going on in class, and I don't want a
long
discussion about something that's not the curriculum," Siebert said.
"But I
do want people to be respectful."
        Siebert warned strict reprisals against anyone who
discriminated
against or abused Gordon.
        Parents wondered why Gordon wouldn't choose to start a new
career in
another district, where no one knew her past.
        Festa said transsexuals who move after switching genders have
to cope
with crushing loneliness in a difficult time.
        "They literally erase their life - and it's an extremely
painful and
lonely thing to do," Festa said.
        She said transsexuals who remain in their communities and
maintain
contact with family members and friends fare much better.
        By all accounts, Gordon has been an extremely popular teacher
at the
close-knit high school, which serves about 600 students.  Art club
president
Esposito said students from Gordon's class routinely displayed
dazzling
metal jewelry and intricate clocks they made for school exhibitions.
        Students felt especially comfortable around Gordon, she said.
        "His room was like a place kids would come after school,'' she
said.
"He always had food and soda, and his room kind of turned into a
place for
kids who didn't have anyplace to go."
        Esposito said students would still flock to Gordon's room,
though it
could take time to adjust their expectations.
        New York State Unified Teachers spokesman Carl Korn said his
organization would battle any discrimination against Gordon, and the
Eastchester teachers union has offered Gordon its full support.
        "Randey was a solid teacher before this operation, and we
expect
she'll be a solid teacher after this operation." said union President
Robert
Liftig.  "We support diversity.  And of course, so does the law."
        Liftig said the district already provided diversity training
for
teachers at Gordon's request.
        Liftig said he wasn't sure if Gordon's surgery was covered by
the
district's insurance policy.  Festa, who works with gay, lesbian,
bisexual
and transgendered patients at Westchester Medical's Gateway program,
said
most transsexuals pay for the operations in cash.
        As parents voiced concerns about a potential media circus,
Siebert
said Eastchester's response would determine the type of coverage it
receives.
        "In the year 2001, in our society, someone's personal choice
isn't
much of a story,'' Siebert said.  "How we react to it will be the
story."
        Len Pader, an Eastchester High School senior, said Gordon's
return
could help students and teachers fulfill the goal of a true education.
        "To a large extent," Pader said, "his decision to come back
provides
a great learning opportunity."
        [Randey Michelle Gordon is online at SANTAFEMS7@...]


The Journal News, June 16, 2001
1 Gannett Drive, White Plains, NY 10604
(E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.thejournalnews.com )
Teacher speaks out on sex change
By ADAM SCOTT GERSHENSON, THE JOURNAL NEWS
        Randey Michelle Gordon's friends recently received an unusual
birth
announcement.
        "Congratulations! It's a girl,'' read the card.  "Randey
Michelle
Gordon.  Weight: 165 pounds.  Height: 5'9''. Age: 52.  Cute as a
button."
        Gordon, an art teacher at Eastchester High School who recently
underwent gender reassignment surgery and plans to return to school
in the
fall as a woman, said yesterday the sex change has her feeling reborn.
        "It went beautifully," Gordon said.  "I've never been happier
in my
life."
        Gordon, now recovering in Sante Fe, N.M., said she can hardly
wait to
bring that joy back to Eastchester High, where she plans to educate
students
and parents about gender issues and start a group like the gay-
straight
alliances that recently formed in Chappaqua and Scarsdale schools.
        For now, she is tending to her garden of fuschias and palms
while
dealing with hormones and emotions that can leave her weeping at any
moment.
        Gordon was born in the North Bronx during a 1949 blizzard.  Her
father was a dairy worker who returned from World War II service on
Guadalcanal with malaria and dysentery; her mother was a homemaker.
        Yet, Gordon says her story probably began before birth.  She
believes
her brain was flooded with female hormones while she was still in
utero, a
medical theory advanced by some researchers.
        Gordon's confusion surfaced at the age of 5, when the young boy
envied his sisters' toys and dresses.  "I didn't really feel like
playing
with army men,'' she said.
        At 6, Gordon secretly started wearing women's underclothes and
bathing suits, wondering if he wasn't really a she.  "What I had down
there
was not really what I should have had,'' she said.
        Yet, for more than 45 years, Gordon said, she tried to fulfill
traditional masculine roles.  Gordon played center field on the
Yorktown
High School baseball team, dated women, got married and had a son.
        Neither friends nor family nor students suspected a problem,
but as
an adult, Gordon grew frustrated, angry and depressed.  He continued a
charade of masculinity to survive in society, but came close to
suicide,
once overdosing on pills and once holding a loaded gun to his head.
        "I wanted to unzip myself out of my body," she said.
        While his marriage suffered, Gordon said, he devoted himself
to his
work at Eastchester, arriving early each morning and staying as late
as 10
p.m.  Students flocked to Gordon's jewelry-making classroom after
school,
sharing their personal problems without ever suspecting Mr. Gordon was
hoping to become Ms. Gordon.
        Allison Esposito, president of the high school art club Gordon
ran,
said it was a credit to Gordon's professionalism that he never
revealed his
inner turmoil.
        "He was just an average guy,'' Esposito said.  "Totally
normal.  We
knew him really well, and there was nothing weird at all."
        By 1999, Gordon was driving into Manhattan, visiting gay,
lesbian and
transgendered support sessions.  He'd arrive as a man, slip into a
dress and
hastily apply makeup in the bathroom, then regain his masculine
appearance
for the trip home.
        "I was the only one there with a mustache,'' she said.  "But it
didn't matter.  It was a safe place, where no one giggled or smirked
at
you."
        Other venues were less kind.  Even after Gordon shaved his
mustache,
separated from his wife, moved to New City and took this year off from
school to pursue his transition, he encountered pockets of opposition.
        Doctors who perform sex-change operations typically require
patients
to live full time as the opposite sex for a year before surgery.
Gordon
took female hormone pills, but she weighed 230 pounds, and hardly
"dressed
to kill."
        Her first attempts met with some resistance.  On a trip to The
Home
Depot, cashiers giggled and pointed.  Rather than scream or yell,
Gordon
explained to a female cashier how hard it was to live as a
transgendered
person.  After a lengthy discussion in which the cashier started to
understand, Gordon asked what gave her away as a man.  "'Girl, your
lipstick
don't match,' she told me, and started giving me a makeup lesson right
there," Gordon said.
        Making friends with Eastchester parents could be far more
difficult.
At a public meeting this week, several parents voiced concerns over
Gordon's
return, and some questioned why she wouldn't move to a new district
where no
one knew her past.
        "Isn't the school district based on morality?" Ellie Giotas
asked.
"Just because it's 2001, does that mean we have to lose our values?''
Barbara Urciuoli commented.
        Gordon said she will try to explain gender issues to anyone who
insults or discriminates against her.  Yet, she is not afraid to
fight for
her rights.  Last year, after a New City post office worker insisted
on
calling Gordon "sir" and then refused to help her, Gordon called the
F.B.I.
and postmaster general.  In the end, she said, the employee
apologized, and
the post office added transgendered sensitivity to its diversity
training.
        "If they say something wrong once, I'll try to teach
students.  But
if it's continuous, I'll tell them, 'I will pursue it to the fullest
extent
of the law.  I will prosecute you,''' she said.
        Gordon, who is now divorced and plans to date women, did not
make her
parents, ex-wife or son available for comment.  Her parents did call
her
yesterday, and Gordon said her son recently made a mini-documentary
on her
for his New York University film class.  Gordon said her son has been
supportive, and still calls her "Dad."
        Wendy Gordon, Randey Michelle's younger sister, has been with
her
throughout her hospital stay.  Wendy, a psychiatric social worker and
the
first family member to learn Gordon's secret, said she saw the event
as a
"joyous occasion."
        "I felt what she felt,'' Wendy said.  "I didn't feel it was
painful
to be around or for me to be present.  I know she's going to live a
more
fulfilling life, and it's already pretty fulfilling."
        Some of that fulfillment comes from Gordon's rediscovery of her
Jewish roots.  Raised in a kosher home, Gordon has found spiritual
comfort
at Temple Beth Sholom, a Reform synagogue in New City.
        In the months Gordon attended temple services and functions,
Rabbi
David Fass said, other members of the congregation sometimes looked
askance,
since Gordon's features were masculine and her wigs less than ideal.
Fass
said Gordon never took exception.
        "I admire her, because she's incredibly open and comfortable,
and
especially because she's not at all angry,'' Fass said.  "Everyone
stares at
her, but she endures the mistreatment like she's an ambassador,
telling
people not to be afraid."
        Gordon said she planned to pursue her religious education in
her new
life.  "I've already had my bar mitzvah, of course,'' she said.  "And
in a
few years, I'll have my bat mitzvah."
        . Staff writer Alison Bert contributed to this report.
        [Randey Michelle Gordon is online at SANTAFEMS7@...]


The Journal News, June 16, 2001
1 Gannett Drive, White Plains, NY 10604
(E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.thejournalnews.com )
How sex change is done
By ALISON BERT, THE JOURNAL NEWS
        There's more to changing sexes than having an operation.
        After undergoing a psychiatric evaluation, patients should
begin
taking hormones and living as the opposite sex at least a year before
surgery, preferably longer, said Dr. Stanley Biber, chief of surgery
at
Mount San Rafael Hospital in Trinidad, Colo., and one of the pioneers
in
gender reassignment surgery.
        Some patients find this "transitioning" phase the hardest
part.  "The
surgery is in many respects the least of it," said Shannon Minter,
who had
surgery to become a man and who serves on the legal committee of the
Harry
Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association.
        The hormone therapy and lifestyle changes "have a much more
dramatic
impact on the person's life.  It's when you begin to live full-time
as the
other gender."
        Within a few months after taking the female hormone estrogen,
men
start to grow breasts and develop smoother skin and fatty tissue over
their
hips.  Within a few months after women start taking the male hormone
testosterone, their menstrual periods cease, they grow facial hair,
skin
becomes coarser, vocal cords may relax, and body fat shifts from the
hips to
the abdominal region.
        This hormone therapy tends to evoke more dramatic changes in
female-to-male therapy, "especially when you see them growing beards
and
developing a masculine physique," Biber said.
        "It's a huge relief," Minter said.  "That's when you start to
feel
more comfortable in your own skin."
        For the surgery itself, patients are typically hospitalized
for eight
days.  The genital surgery takes about two-and-a-half hours, Biber
said.
Male-to-female surgery may also involve breast augmentation; an
Adam's apple
shave, in which tracheal cartilage is removed to smooth out the neck;
and
aesthetic procedures of the face, nose, eyelids and chin.  Female-to-
male
surgery may involve a hysterectomy.
        Eastchester art teacher Randey Michelle Gordon said her
surgery cost
about $15,000, less than originally reported.  She did not pay for it
through health insurance, she said.
        Transsexuality is determined before birth, according to some
researchers.  Endocrinologist Louis Gooren of University Hospital in
Amsterdam, a leading researcher, has written that hormones in utero
can
affect the development of genitalia as well as femininity and
masculinity
after birth.
        . For more information:
        Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association:
www.hbigda.org
        Transgender law and policy: www.transgenderlaw.org
        Gender Education and Advocacy: www.gender.org
        . Staff Writer Adam Gershenson contributed to this report.
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18th June, 2001 (# 6) News Clippings Digest.

1.  PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE  Newsmakers: Pair to be honored for
pioneering roles in gay community
2.  LONDON TIMES  Glad to vote gay:  The homosexual mayors of Berlin
and Paris want to be judged on their politics, not their sexuality.
How will
the pink vote play in Britain?

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 18, 2001
Box 947, Pittsburgh, PA, 15230
(Fax: 412-263-2014 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.post-gazette.com/ )
http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20010618newsmakersreg6p6.asp
Newsmakers: Pair to be honored for pioneering roles in gay community
By Gary Rotstein, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
        Thirty years ago, Randal G. Forrester was on the regional
lecture circuit under a pseudonym, telling audiences what it was like
to be a gay man when that orientation still carried stigma as a
mental illness.
        Jim Huggins was a West Virginia University student then,
trying to
figure out how to "come out" as a homosexual at the same time he
planned a
career in social work.
        Their meeting led to a personal and professional partnership
that
would benefit the Pittsburgh area's gay and lesbian community and
enlighten
its heterosexual majority for the next three decades.
        Together, Forrester and Huggins founded Persad Center Inc. in
1972
and kept the community mental health center for sexual minorities
afloat
through periodic budget crises.  Persad has helped hundreds of HIV-
AIDS
patients confront terminal illness and delivered mental health
counseling to
thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people seeking
therapy.
        And together, Forrester and Huggins, who live as a couple in
Shadyside, will be honored by friends and colleagues Thursday at
Carnegie
Science Center.  The two of them in recent months stepped down from
their
respective leadership positions at Persad, located on Penn Avenue in
Bloomfield-Garfield, to pursue other career and personal interests.
        "So many people walked into Persad with nothing and walked out
with
their lives," said Avram Machtiger, a Highland Park Persad supporter
who is
organizing the retirement event.  "The party is to celebrate what
these guys
did.  They dedicated their lives to this community, and to fostering
openness and tolerance in our larger community."
        Forrester resigned as Persad's executive director April 30 to
go into
private consulting, three months after Huggins left to enter full-time
practice as a psychologist and sex therapist.  Both now 53 years old,
they
decided last year to leave the organization jointly while allowing
its board
time to find their successors.
        Persad was among the first such organizations in the country
targeting mental health services toward the homosexual community,
whose
members have psychological issues both similar to and distinct from
the
broader population.
        The pair left the organization with a $1.1 million budget and
more
than 20 staff members, serving more than 600 clients a year.  That's
a long
way from 1974, when a cutoff of county funding forced Forrester and
Huggins
to alternate six-month stints in which one would collect a paycheck
and the
other would go on volunteer status collecting unemployment benefits.
        The idea for Persad originated with Forrester, a savvy
administrator
who later became a 1979 candidate for county commissioner and
chairman of
Pittsburgh's Human Relations Commission in the early 1990s.  He has
been a
prominent spokesman for the homosexual community since the 1969
founding of
Mattachine, the first local gay and lesbian advocacy group, which
didn't
last long but made Forrester aware that many people felt they had
nowhere to
turn for nonjudgmental counseling.
        Once the two received some key foundation and religious
backing and
sufficient seed money to open Persad's doors, Forrester managed the
budget
and personnel.  Huggins became the clinical supervisor and spent
decades
training other clinicians, seeing clients and educating other mental
health
professionals about specific issues faced by sexual minorities.
        "Jim tends to be a little less prickly than I can be, a lot
less
prickly ... and we were very comfortable in our complementary roles,"
Forrester said.  "Technically, I was always the boss, but that was
ludicrous.  In many ways, he was my superior."
        Others describe the pair as complementary in both skills and
demeanor, to the benefit of both the organization and a long and
stable
personal relationship.
        While startup of their agency in a socially conservative city
was
surprisingly smooth, it faced financial trouble after two years.
Half of
its budget for educational and counseling services was initially
covered by
Allegheny County's Mental Health/Mental Retardation program, until
Commissioners Tom Foerster and William Hunt objected during a budget
review.
        Hunt said in 1974:  "You don't hire psychopaths to train
professionals who have to deal with psychopaths."  Foerster was not as
extreme.  He simply called Persad's contract "a waste of money," but
his
objection was the more influential because it blocked county funding
until
he left office in 1996.
        Today, Persad receives more than $200,000 annually through the
county, and no public officials are quoted disparaging the
organization's
work.  That coincides with the gradual increase in acceptance of
sexual
minorities since the early 1970s, among both the general public and
health
professionals.
        "Back then, the prejudices were just remarkable," Huggins said.
"Most mental health people were trained to view sexual minorities as
mental
illnesses.  They never expected clients to have functional lives and
thought
they had to cure people of their sexuality."
        Persad received a surge of clients during the 1980s from the
onset of
the AIDS epidemic.  Because of its staff's expertise with the
disease, it
also expanded its client base to include heterosexuals who had been
diagnosed with the virus.
        The 1990s have seen Persad affected like other health
providers by
the impact of managed care and HMOs, making it harder for individuals
to
qualify for insurance coverage of counseling services.  At least half
of its
clients have income below federal poverty standards.
        Forrester and Huggins last year reviewed what steps the
organization
would have to take next for the future and agreed their energy had
waned.
        Forrester had major heart surgery four years ago and wants to
slow
down enough to enjoy the rest of his life.  Huggins wants to be
responsible
professionally for just himself rather than a large staff, although
he still
does occasional training for Persad.
        No one expects either to disappear from assisting or
advocating for
sexual minorities in one way or another, even if their biggest impact
may be
behind them.
        "Randy and Jim were definitely thinking ahead at all times,"
said Jim
Fischerkeller, chairman of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center.  "My
feeling is eventually we would have gotten down the road, but we
wouldn't be
as far down as we are now, if not for them."
        . Newsmakers profile

Name:  Jim Huggins
        Date of birth:  July 3, 1947
        Place of Birth:  Wheeling, W.Va.
        Lives in:  Shadyside
        Education:  Graduate of Wheeling High School; bachelor's
degree in
English literature from West Virginia University in 1970; master's in
social
work from WVU in 1972; Ph.D. in counselor education from University of
Pittsburgh in 1988.
        In the news: Left supervisory position at Persad Center Inc. in
January to enter full-time practice as a therapist.
        Name:  Randal G. Forrester
        Date of birth:  Dec. 13, 1947
        Place of birth:  Pittsburgh
        Lives in:  Shadyside, with Huggins and dog Willy
        Education:  Graduate of North Allegheny High School. Studied at
University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne.
        In the news: Left position as executive director of Persad
Center
Inc. in April to become private consultant.


London Times, 19 June 2001
PO Box 496, London E1 9XN, United Kingdom
(Fax: +44( 0 )171-782 5988 ) (letters@... )
( http://www.thetimes.co.uk/ )
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,7-2001202475,00.html
Glad to vote gay
The homosexual mayors of Berlin and Paris want to be judged on their
politics, not their sexuality.  How will the pink vote play in
Britain?
BY ROGER BOYES, CHARLES BREMNER AND ROLAND WATSON
        Aloft on her chariot, Cleopatra was being pulled through
Berlin's gay
district around Nollendorf Square by a cohort of Roman soldiers
wearing
silly helmets, thongs and little else.  "Wowi!" shouted the crowd.
"Let's
go with Wowi!"  Wowi is the nickname of the Social Democratic
politician
Klaus Wowereit, and the gays were celebrating his appointment as
Mayor of
Berlin.
        Wowereit, 47 and sunbed-tanned, has just declared his
homosexuality,
and thus become the most senior German politician to leave a very
crowded
closet.  His statement to his Social Democrat colleagues - "I am gay
and
that's a good thing" - has been printed on T-shirts, which are now on
sale
throughout the German capital.
        The lawyer and slick political operator has little in common
with
"Cleopatra" - who is, in fact, a husky male mechanical engineer - or
the
other gay revellers.  He does not wear make-up or chains, leather or
peaked
caps.  But he has suddenly become a cult figure, shattering the glass
ceiling and the gay community is now counting the days before the
arrival of
the first openly homosexual German leader, a new variant of the Iron
Chancellor.
        Homosexuals have always played a role in German politics.  The
Kaiser
's chief of military cabinet, Count Hülsen-Haeseler, died of a heart
attack
while dancing before his colleagues in a ballet tutu.  Pink Prussia,
as it
was known, was concentrated on the Imperial court, and in modern post
war
Germany homosexuals often found a place in the new-found courts of
democratic chancellors.  Positive vetting by security services
ensured that
such men stayed firmly under cover.  Helmut Kohl was probably the
most open
of leaders; his basic rule was not to offer the foreign or defence
ministries to a homosexual - because of the blackmail potential by
communist
agents - but all other posts were available.
        One - perhaps two - cabinet ministers were gay, as were two -
perhaps
three - Chancellery advisers.  Volker Beck, an openly gay member of
parliament, urges other politicians to come out.  "It's an
anachronism when
colleagues treat their homosexuality as if it were a state secret."
        Klaus Wowereit has promised that he will be a gay man in
politics,
rather than a gay politician.  The distinction is important, says
Beck,
because politicians have to show that they will not be merely sexual
lobbyists.  The boundaries are fuzzy, though.  Beck, for example, is
the
Green Party's expert on slave-labour compensation.  When he gives
television
interviews on the subject he does so against a backdrop of
bookshelves in
his study brimming with the latest Spartacus albums and other gay
literature.
        Wowereit is in many ways typical of his generation:  his
mother, a
war widow, struggled to bring up a large brood by doing cleaning
work.  The
Social Democratic leadership is made up of fatherless children -
Chancellor
Schröder's father, for example, died on the Romanian Front.
        Wowereit learnt to cook and still makes his own biscuits and
cakes
for visiting reporters.  For correspondents in Berlin, there has
never been
much of a secret about his sexuality.  He is a music lover and can
often be
seen with his partner, a civil servant, in the Staatsoper listening to
Mozart.
        Wowereit is a moderniser who believes in a tighter city
budget, who
thinks that Berlin should reinvent itself and shed its Cold War image.
There is nothing gay about that vision, nor about the way he slipped
into
his post - in a carefully engineered plot that wrong-footed the
complacent
incumbent, Eberhard Diepgen.  Yet his gayness will undoubtedly be used
against him, wrapped up with his political dependency on the votes of
former
communists.  To be gay and to be on the left makes him vulnerable to
conservatives trying to mobilise the working class against him.
        When he first declared his homosexuality there was silence,
then
loud, genuine applause from the listening Social Democratic
politicians.
But ordinary Social Democratic voters may be less enthusiastic.  He
has 100
days to prove himself, then there will be new elections in the city of
Berlin and it will become clear how tolerant society has become.
        That, in turn, should be a signal for other increasingly
nervous,
sexually ambiguous politicians.  One Green politician came close at
the
weekend to outing the leader of the Free Democrats, Guido
Westerwelle, who
in the British cliché is a "confirmed bachelor".  An injunction has
been
issued against a gay magazine that described Thuringia's Prime
Minister,
Bernhard Vogel, as "one of us".  General elections are due next
year.  If
the Wowereit experiment works, there will be a rash of concession; if
his
popularity dips, the closet will be as cramped and as stuffy as ever.
        Certainly the overall climate is changing.  A gay couple -
"Holger
and Max" - is spearheading a television advertising campaign for
convenience
food.  "Love travels through the stomach. Tagliatelle, too" is the
slogan
flashed onto screens as the two men flirt over a piece of pasta.
Special
brochures issued by the Berlin Tourism Authority now promote the city
as a
paradise for gays.  A recent market survey showed that German
housewives,
pensioners and young people all agreed that homosexuals were
sensitive,
intelligent and good cooks.  The turnaround in attitudes may have
come with
the legal recognition of gay partnership.  The practice began in
Holland but
has been taken over by Germany's Social-Democrat-Green Government.
Homosexual partners can now officially register their union - and
gain a
degree of legal protection - by simply swearing an oath in front of
witnesses at the local register office.  The effect has been for
marketing
directors - and political campaign managers - to focus more closely
on the
potential of homosexual households.
- Roger Boyes

Paris gives a typical Gallic shrug about its maire homo
        The conservative shopkeepers and pensioners who read the Paris
municipal journal had a shock the other day.  Along with the usual
notes on
parking restrictions and libraries, the gazette gave the parade route
for
next Saturday's Lesbian and Gay Pride Day.
        The municipal blessing - unthinkable under Paris's previous,
Gaullist
council - was the work of Bertrand Delanoë, a declared homosexual who
in
March was elected Mayor at the head of a Socialist-Green council.
Delanoë,
50, is to march with the parade to show solidarity with the city's
big gay
population, which is centred mainly around the Marais district.
        For most of Paris - wealthier and more tolerant than the French
average - the advent of a gay Mayor has been a non-event.  During the
election campaign the only headlines about "Gay Paree" were in British
tabloids; Delanoë is being measured on his ability to keep promises on
property taxes, schools and the dog mess that blights the pavements.
Only
occasionally do you hear jibes by taxi drivers about le maire pédé,
the
Queer Mayor. Delanoë, a slight, chain-smoking opera-lover, is
studiously
unflamboyant.  With his permanently pained expression, he cuts a pale,
uncharismatic, figure alongside the big egos who usually run
metropolises.
Intensely private about his home life, he insists that being
homosexual is
only a "banal aspect of my nature".  He was not, he says, elected as
un
maire homo, but as the politician with the best programme.
        But Delanoë is a courageous exception in the still macho world
of
French politics.  While mistresses and multiple divorces have long
been
tolerated among presidents, ministers, MPs and mayors, no senior
politician
before Delanoë had dared to confirm his homosexuality.  Though their
identities are well known in the gay community, prominent homosexual
politicians usually take refuge in marriage.
        Delanoë's orientation was probably a factor in his failure to
break
fully into national politics after rising to high rank in François
Mitterrand's Socialist party in the 1970s.  A long-serving councillor
and
Senator for Paris, he became a mayoral candidate by default after the
withdrawal of Jack Lang, the colourful former Culture Minister of the
Mitterrand presidency.
        France's continuing anti-gay prejudice is illustrated by the
case of
Philippe Meynard, 29, who was forced out of his job of deputy mayor
of the
southern town of Barsac last year after he proclaimed his
homosexuality.  In
March he won the council elections at the head of a centre-right
team, but
was barred from the mayor's job to which he was entitled when his own
party
sided with his opponents.
        Delanoë's friends told him that he was committing political
suicide
when he decided to proclaim his sexuality on television in 1999 to
head off
trouble in his campaign for the Hôtel de Ville.  He was braced for the
worst, he recalls:  "I was persuaded that this was going to change
negatively my role in public life, that I would be stuck with the
label."
But "Parisians, thank goodness, didn't give a hoot about it".  Lionel
Jospin, the Prime Minister and a close friend for 30 years,
congratulated
him after the show.
        As Mayor, Delanoë has raised the profile of homosexuals,
approving
subsidies for community associations and appointing Christophe
Girard, a
Green gay activist, as the city's culture chief.  But he has upset
militants
by failing to be more overtly gay.  "He has adopted a low profile.  We
thought he would be more at ease with the gay world.  We get the
impression
that he's trying to erase his homosexuality," says Thomas Doustaly,
the
editor of Têtu, a gay magazine.  "Straight politicians appear in
public with
their wives.  Why isn't Delanoë more natural about this?"  Delanoë,
who
lives in a flat on the Left Bank rather than the official residence,
answered the question during the campaign.  "I'm a bachelor, but I
can fall
in love instantly.  It can last a week or ten years.  If I were in a
couple
now, I don't know if I would put it on display.  I might not talk
about it,
to save the tranquillity of the couple."
- Charles Bremner

Portillo's pitfalls
        Britain is about to discover how much its attitudes towards gay
politicians have changed.  Whatever the answer, many will be
disappointed.
        Michael Portillo's quest for the Tory leadership has ushered
sexuality closer to the front of the political stage than ever before.
Should he succeed William Hague, one subtext of the next general
election
will be whether the country chooses its first Prime Minister with an
openly
gay past.
        But there are many hurdles for Portillo to jump over between
now and
then, cultural as well as political.  Although homosexuality was
legalised
in 1967, it wasn't until the 1997 general election that Britain had a
real
watershed in the sexuality of politicians.  Chris Smith became the
first
openly gay Cabinet minister when he was appointed Culture Secretary.
Ben
Bradshaw and Stephen Twigg were elected as young Labour MPs who
happened to
be gay.
        For others, coming out was more painful.  Nick Brown, the
former
Agriculture Minister, announced his homosexuality to pre-empt a
tabloid
outing.  It was not the way he would have chosen to go public, he
said.  But
his standing with the public was enhanced.  Peter Mandelson's
sexuality
became the subject of a wrangle with the BBC, which banned any
reference to
it, though his homosexuality is now widely accepted even without a
formal
declaration by the former minister.  It may be no accident that while
Smith
represents metropolitan Islington, and came out more than a decade
ago,
Brown and Mandelson represent northern, working-class constituencies.
        The 1997 poll also saw Portillo ousted from parliament.  This
took
him on a journey of self-discovery that led to his confessing to gay
experiences in his youth.  Since then, the Tory membership of
Kensington and
Chelsea thought fit to select him as its by-election candidate in
1999.  But
it is the Tory party at large, including those thousands of members
from the
shires aged 60-plus, who will decide on his suitabilty to lead the
party.
        And that is a high hurdle to clear.  Many Tory activists seem
to have
homosexuality at the forefront of their minds when addressing the
leadership, even though the married Portillo has spoken of having had
gay
experiences only in his youth.
        There is a view among the grassroots that when Portillo talks
about
the need for the party to be inclusive he is "banging on about
gays".  No
one, though, said the same of John Major when he said the party
needed to
drop its censorious moral tone, show more tolerance and judge people
less.
Was it because Major, in Lord Tebbit's loaded description of Iain
Duncan
Smith, one of Portillo's rivals, is a "normal family man with
children"?  We
will soon see how much the modern Conservative Party cares about such
issues.  Hwyel Williams, who advised John Redwood until 1997, wrote
at the
weekend that "where once the 'grass-roots' Tories were tolerant in
their
ignorance, they now enjoyed a kind of awakened outrage".
        A MORI poll for The Times after Portillo's 1999 revelation
showed
that more than two thirds of the public would accept a Prime Minister
with a
gay past.  But a Times survey of local Tory chairmen last week
revealed that
almost a third believed that his gay past would damage his leadership
prospects.
- Roland Watson
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18th June, 2001 (# 5) News Clippings Digest.

1.  HONOLULU ADVERTISER  Letter:  Freedom of belief applies to gays,
too
2.  HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN  Letter:  Christians aren't at fault for
attack on gays
3.  GOTHAM GAZETTE  Gay Rights In NYC, 2001
4.  WASHINGTON POST  Gay Men's Chorus of Washington celebrates its
20th anniversary in concert at Kennedy Center
5.  ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH  Presbyterians here discuss question of
ordaining gays, lesbians

Honolulu Advertiser, June 18, 2001
P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, Hawai`i 96802
(Fax: 808-525-8037) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com )
Letter:  Freedom of belief applies to gays, too
        In defending his right to hold anti-gay attitudes in his June
13
letter, Robert Owen writes, "Hawai`i's citizens should have the
freedom to
have the belief system of their choosing and should not be made to
feel bad
about their beliefs."  We couldn't agree more.
        That right there is why we spent the better part of the last
decade
working for same-gender marriage and why we'll spend the next one on
civil
unions, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, schools in which gay
students
are safe and respected and anything else that will advance the
gay-lesbian-bisexual agenda, which is to shape a nation in which each
individual lives in equality, safety and comfort.
        We don't need you, Mr. Owen, or the 68 percent of Hawai`i
citizens
who voted to prevent same-sex partners from marrying to feel bad
about their
beliefs.  We don't even need you to change those beliefs.  What we are
asking - what all minority groups have asked and continue to ask - is
that
your inherent prejudices not dictate public policy.
- Carol Greenhouse, Former Chairwoman, Marriage Project Hawai`i,
Captain
Cook, Hawai`i


Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 18, 2001
500 Ala Moana, Ste 7-210, Honolulu, Hawai`i 96813
(Fax: 808-523-8509 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.starbulletin.com )
Letter:  Christians aren't at fault for attack on gays
        As I was reading the Star-Bulletin's June 1 article, "Mom
claims
mistaken ID in gay attacks," I couldn't believe that gay activist
Martin
Rice was blaming the assault on the gay campers on fundamentalist
Christians.
        If we look at the facts of the case, it is obvious that
fundamentalist Christians had nothing to do with this attack.  One
of  the
mothers of the accused stated that neither of the boys accused of the
attack
practice any religion and that they didn't hold any prejudice against
homosexuals.
        It seems probable that alcohol and drug use contributed more
than
anything to this senseless attack.
- Vanessa Birang


Gotham Gazette, 18 June 2001
c/o Citizens Union Foundation
198 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10038
(Fax: 212-227-0345) (E-Mail:  info@... )
( http://www.gothamgazette.com )
Gay Rights In NYC, 2001
by Andy Humm
        While New York culture sometimes seems as if it could hardly
be more
gay and lesbian, its gay politics still lag far behind the rest of the
northeast despite some major signs of progress in Albany in the past
year.
        In March, New York magazine did a "Gay Life Now" cover story
and had
trouble whittling down a "gay power" list to just 101 gays and
lesbians of
influence and accomplishment, which included playwright Edward Albee,
architect Philip Johnson, producer Scott Rudin, artists Jasper Johns
and
Robert Rauschenberg, real estate developers, political operators,
publishers, editors, judges, a member of the New York Stock Exchange.
        Gossip columnist Liz Smith finally came out of the closet and
the gay
lives of celebrities were covered by the tabloids more than ever
before.
The host for the Tony Awards was an out gay actor, Nathan Lane, who
hung all
over and declared his love for his married co-host and Producers co-
star,
Matthew Broderick.  (You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting an
out
gay or lesbian Tony nominee, including Lily Tomlin, Andre de Shields,
Terrence McNally and a cadre of choreographers and designers.)
        Huge lesbian and gay pride marches take place not just in
Manhattan
(June 24) on Fifth Avenue, but are big events in Jackson Heights,
Queens
(June 3), Park Slope, Brooklyn (June 9), and the Bronx (July 21).
(There is
no march on Staten Island where Borough President Guy Molinari once
called
Judge Karen Burstein, the Democratic candidate for NY State Attorney
General, "unfit for public office" because she is lesbian.)  There are
record numbers of lesbians and gay men running for public office this
year.
Virtually every candidate for mayor has made a strong pitch for the
gay
vote.  And yet New York will never be mistaken for San Francisco in
terms of
the clout.
        BREAKTHROUGH IN ALBANY?
        This spring, Maryland became the 12th state to enact civil
rights
protections on the basis of sexual orientation.  New York remains the
only
state in the region without such protections, though the New York City
passed its gay rights law (also belatedly for a major city) in 1986.
        Last year, the first piece of New York state legislation with
the
words "sexual orientation" in it, a hate crimes bill, got through the
Republican-controlled State Senate after years of overwhelming
support from
the Democrat-dominated Assembly.  This year, gay lobbyists are
cautiously
optimistic that the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA),
banning anti-gay bias in jobs, housing, and public accommodations,
will
finally pass after thirty years.  It cleared the Assembly by a record
113 to
31 vote in February, but has yet to have a full Senate vote.
        "Nothing is done in Albany until it is done," said Matt
Foreman,
executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA), who is
also a
grand marshal in this years gay pride march.  But he is hopeful
because he
believes that Republicans have learned "being supportive of gay
rights has
no downside at the polls."
        "Everything in Albany is mysterious," echoed gay State Senator
Tom
Duane (D-Chelsea), "but I feel that were going to get SONDA passed
this year
or definitely next year."
        What's changed?  The state Republican Party has a new leader,
Sandy
Treadwell, who is reaching out to the gay community.  And the Empire
State
Pride Agenda has put the lobbying firm of William Powers, his
predecessor as
Republican state chairman, on a $90,000 retainer to help get a gay
rights
bill through the Senate.
        Governor George Pataki , who first ran for governor in 1994
opposed
to gay rights, stated for the first time this year that he would sign
SONDA
if it comes to his desk.  Not yet at 50 percent in the polls and up
for
reelection next year, Pataki "realizes that this is a good position
to take
if he wants to appeal to moderates," said Duane.  And Senate Majority
Leader
Joseph Bruno, once a virulent opponent of gay issues, extended
domestic
partner benefits for Senate employees this year.  In a January radio
interview, Bruno said, "You get more comfortable with some things and
some
issues, and I guess that's where I am."
        The stumbling blocks to Republican cooperation on gay rights
used to
be the Conservative Party and the Catholic Conference, representing
the
state's bishops.  The Conservatives still take six anti-gay stands
among its
nine "Family Rights" issues, but none of these are listed among the
party's
19 "priorities" for 2001.  The bishops also have not changed their
stand,
but Foreman sees them as more focused on fighting late-term abortion
and an
insurance law that would require coverage of family planning.  He
also notes
that no Republican Senator needed Conservative line votes to prevail
in an
election last year.
        The gay lobbying group is also pushing Duane's Dignity for All
Students Act which calls upon schools to create safer schools for all
students, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students.
Similar measures have enjoyed success in Massachusetts and
California, but
while the Assembly may yet pass it this year, no Senate vote is
expected.
        Even if the state gay rights law does pass this year, New York
is
still far behind neighboring Vermont in recognizing same-sex
relationships.
Last year, Vermont instituted "civil unions" that accord gay couples
virtually every right that sex discordant spouses enjoy.  Duane has
introduced a same-sex marriage bill in the state legislature, but
even the
Marriage Equality lobby group here doesn't expect immediate action on
that
or a civil union compromise.  But legislation in Albany to ban
recognition
of same-sex marriages passed by most states has not gone anywhere in
New
York either.  Many New York couples went to Vermont to obtain civil
unions,
but the validity of their licenses has not been court tested here yet.
        The Netherlands became the first nation to recognize full
marriage
rights for same-sex couples just this April, but at least one member
must be
a Dutch citizen.  Eventually, a Dutch same-sex married couple may
seek full
recognition of their marriage here, but so far weve only had some gay
honeymooners.
        Deborah Glick (D-Greenwich Village) , the first out lesbian or
gay
Assembly Member when she was first elected in 1991, is worried about
the
state budget.  "It is not clear the Governor wants a budget," she
said, "and
money for many of the support services for gay/lesbian and AIDS
groups isn't
there yet.  The community could suffer a real setback."
        DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP AND TRANSGENDER RIGHTS IN NYC
        New Yorkers have been able to register as domestic partners
since
January 1993 and city employees won benefits for their domestic
partners in
a court settlement later that year.  A 1998 law codified those
rights.  But
New York has yet to follow the lead of cities such as San Francisco
and
Seattle that require contractors with the city to provide domestic
partner
benefits if they provide spousal benefits.
        While transgendered San Franciscans are protected by their
city's
human rights laws and city employees can get gender reassignment
surgery
covered under their health plan, New York has yet to enact such
policies.
Councilmember Christine Quinn (D-Chelsea) said that the Council has
made
"some positive steps" on these issues in 2001 "having a hearing on a
transgender rights bill [in the General Welfare Committee last month]
and
getting a commitment from the leadership for a hearing on the equal
benefits
bill which would mandate that any company with contracts with the
city for
over $100,000 provide domestic partners the same benefits that they
provide
spouses."
        Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Speaker Peter Vallone take the
position that
transgendered people have protection in the existing human rights law
under
the categories of gender and disability.  But transgender activists
and
Council sponsors of Intro 754 insist that it is necessary explicitly
to add
the category of "gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior or
expression."  Though the bill has 27 supporters, no vote is scheduled.
        The contractors bill may be supported "in principle" by
Giuliani and
Vallone, but they have taken no action to enact it.  It means taking
on
large corporations who have yet to join the many who already provide
domestic partner benefits, as well as religious contractors who have
traditionally opposed anything that hints of extending gay rights.
But the
Archdiocese of San Francisco kept their contracts simply by allowing
employees to name one other person to share in their benefits, without
specifying domestic partners.  Transgender activists in New York are
also
increasing their visibility in responding to the murder of Amanda
Milan, a
25-year-old African American transgendered woman, last June in front
of the
Port Authority.  The trial for her murderers gets underway in
Manhattan on
June 18.  A vigil is planned the night before and court monitoring
will
continue through the proceedings.
        CAMPAIGN 2001:  GAY VOTES, GAY CANDIDATES
        The gay and lesbian caucus of the City Council already includes
Christine Quinn, Margarita Lopez (D-Lower East Side), and Phil Reed
(D-Manhattan Valley) and they are all running for re-election.  Quinn
in the
Village/Chelsea/Hell's Kitchen/Midtown District 3 has an out gay
opponent,
AIDS activist Victor Mendolia, and gay candidates are seeking seats
in Lower
Manhattan's District 1 (attorney Brad Hoylman), the Upper West Sides
District 6 (school board member Larry Sauer), and Jackson Heights
District
25 (community activist Jimmy Van Bremer).
        No candidate for mayor can afford to ignore the gay
electorate, and
the Democratic hopefuls have been particularly active in courting it.
Comptroller Alan Hevesi came away with the most gay Democratic club
endorsements, though Public Advocate Mark Green has a substantial
following
among gay activists.  When Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer
did not
pick up any endorsements from the big gay clubs, a group of gay
people of
color coalesced around him and is preparing to form a distinct
Democratic
club for gays of color.  In 1997, Giuliani narrowly won the white gay
vote
over Ruth Messinger, but lost the overall gay vote because gay people
of
color overwhelming went with Messinger.  Council Speaker Peter
Vallone has
gamely sought out gay endorsements in forums this spring and features
a
whole page on gay/AIDS issues on his website.  But his hesitation on
issues
such as same-sex marriage and the contractors bill has seemed to
remind gay
voters that while he has grown since voting against the lesbian and
gay
rights bill in 1986, he still has a way to go.
        The gay Log Cabin Republican Club has two moderately pro-gay
candidates to choose from in Michael Bloomberg and Herman Badillo,
but these
candidates are unlikely to siphon off any other notable gay
organizational
support.  With the 2001 municipal and 2002 state elections, gay and
lesbian
political fortunes are poised to catch up a little with gay and
lesbian
cultural progress in New York.  But even though the modern gay
movement was
born here at Stonewall in 1969 and New York activists first conceived
the
idea of gay rights legislation in 1970, the city and state have become
followers in the movement for equality on the basis of sexual
orientation, n
ot leaders and innovators.
        . Andy Humm is a reporter for LGNY, co-host of "Gay USA" on
the Gay
Cable Network, and a former member of the City Commission on Human
Rights.


Washington Post,  June 18, 2001
1150 15th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20071
(E-Mail:  letterstoed@... )( http://washingtonpost.com/ )
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12922-2001Jun17.html
PERFORMING ARTS
Gay Men's Choruses
        This area is home to many choral groups, but perhaps only the
Gay
Men's Chorus of Washington would have its members do the twist wearing
poodle skirts.   The chorus's fully costumed salute to 1950s rock
songs was
one of several numbers greeted with standing ovations Saturday at the
Kennedy Center Concert Hall.
        The chorus's 20th-anniversary concert of show tunes and paeans
to
tolerance and love was presented as a retrospective of its career.
The
ensemble saluted the nicely blended arrangements of former director
Bruce
Trinkley, performed numbers such as the "Homecoming Hop Medley" from
its
fully staged musicals and surrendered the stage to a pair of smaller
ensembles drawn from its ranks.
        It is a huge chorus, and its articulation can get muddy.  Some
of the
highlights came when soloists dominated the stage.  Robert Boaz was
powerfully earnest but did not oversell David Maddux's setting of
"Michael's
Letter to Mama" from "Tales of the City."  Bob Wonneberger took a
classic
camp comedy turn as Maxi Starr, "the greatest singing sensation of the
silent screen," turning every gesture into affectionate parody as he
sang
"Down in the Depths."
        The group hosted the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, which had
inspired its foundation.  The guest singers had a richer, more varied
sound
as they performed bittersweet love songs, as well as rhythmic and
forceful
selections from Orff's "Carmina Burana."
-- Alan Greenblatt


St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 18, 2001
900 N. Tucker Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63101
(Fax: 314-340-3139 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.stlnet.com )
Presbyterians here discuss question of ordaining gays, lesbians
BY PATRICIA RICE Of the Post-Dispatch
        On church steps Sunday and over coffee and lemonade in
fellowship
halls, members of the Presbyterian Church (USA) discussed with
conviction
and sometimes with emotion whether gays, lesbians and transgendered
people
should be ordained.
        Sixty percent of the denomination's National Assembly approved
removing language from church law that in effect bans homosexual
ordination.
The vote came Friday evening at its annual gathering in Louisville,
Ky.
        Some St. Louis members of the denomination, which has 2.5
million
members nationally, favor lifting the ban.  Others are upset.  Some
believe
that forces outside the denomination, such as gay rights organization
SoulForce, have pushed religious leaders.
        "Everyone should be given a chance to serve," said Gary Lee of
Webster Groves and a member of Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church in
Ladue.
His denomination has been talking about ordaining homosexuals as
deacons,
elders and pastors for nearly 20 years, and Lee thinks the time has
come to
welcome them.
        Others say there is no time when this idea will be acceptable.
        "I think (the assembly commissioners) ought to read the
Bible," said
Frank E. Willis, of Chesterfield, a retired Air Force pilot and
member of
Bonhomme Presbyterian Church in Chesterfield.  "The Bible speaks very
clearly that homosexuality is a sin."
        Friday evening's vote, 316-208, is not final.  This democratic
denomination requires two more actions before homosexuals can be
ordained as
deacons, elders or pastors.  To become church law, a majority of the
church's 173 presbyteries, or regional legislatures, must ratify the
proposal by next spring.  Then, next June, the General Assembly must
affirm
it.
        The Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery, which governs the St. Louis
area,
has 27,400 members in 100 churches in St. Louis, southeastern
Missouri and
the Metro East area.  The presbytery will vote next winter.
        National leaders of both sides said they were guardedly
optimistic
Friday night at a news conference in Louisville.  Both sides have had
recent
victories.  The presbyteries first spelled out and approved a ban on
gay
clergy in 1997.  Last year, the assembly rejected a ban on same-sex
unions -- in fact, voting to allow them.
        Some believe denominations that welcome gays win younger
members both
heterosexual and homosexual.  Max and Fran Ayers of University City
work in
the theater and have many gay and lesbian colleagues and friends.
        "I know as many, or more, deeply spiritual people who are gay
and
lesbian as I know among straight people," said Max Ayers.  "People
who have
gifts should be able to use them."
        Lee, of Ladue Chapel, and the Rev. Thomas C. Pfizenmaier,
senior
pastor at Bonhomme Presbyterian Church in Chesterfield, have no doubt
that
the Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery will approve dropping the homosexual
ordination ban.
        In the same spirit, the presbytery voted in March against a
ban on
ministers conducting single-sex commitment blessing services although
the
presbyteries overall approved it, they noted.
        Other Presbyterians say that the assembly delegates who voted
last
week in Louisville -- half ministers and half lay -- abandoned
Scripture by
dropping the ban.
        "It's a move by pressure groups to change something we members
don't
want changed," said C. Bradley Hamilton of Town and Country, a
longtime
member of Bonhomme Presbyterian Church.  "I don't want to be on my
death bed
and have a gay minister."
        In 1997, Pfizenmaier was part of a group of pastors who
figured out a
way to insert the few sentences banning gays and lesbian ordination
into the
Presbyterian Book of Order, the church law.  The words allow
ordination only
of married people "living in fidelity" and celibate singles.
        The assembly and a majority of the 173 presbyteries approved
the
idea.  Now, this summer's General Assembly wants to delete those
sentences.
        Pfizenmaier thinks the issues are much wider than homosexual
issues.
He abhors what some theologians call "postmodern literacy."
        "In this approach, you place yourself in the text and
basically use
your imagination to decide what the text says," Pfizenmaier.  Since
early
Christian times, the faithful have tried to learn about Scripture
through
exegesis -- a Greek word indicating the generating of ideas out of
Scripture.
        "Now people want to understand scripture by eisegesis --
putting
themselves into Scripture," he said.
        In Louisville, the General Assembly established a 17-member
theological task force to build church unity.  Pfizenmaier would like
to see
church theologians develop a "Biblical anthropology."
        "With homosexual issues, other sexual issues, and abortion, we
need
to say, 'How do we use our bodies as Christians?'" he said.
        Immediately after Friday's vote, the Rev. Jack Rogers, the
denomination's top official, or moderator, said he hoped the task
force
would mend fences.
        Missourians in the John Calvin Presbytery in Springfield
introduced
the idea of the task force.  Its presbyter, the Rev. Paul Reiter,
advocated
the task force before the assembly last week.
        "We hope for a third way for unity," said Reiter, hours before
the
vote on homosexual ordination.
        He had hoped that the assembly might delay the homosexual
ordination
decision for a year or more until the task force could study it.  Many
discussed that third way, but it was voted down.
        Reiter will become the new presbyter in St. Louis in Giddings-
Lovejoy
in September.
        The Presbyterian Church (USA) is only one of three large
Presbyterian
denominations in this region.  Twenty-three churches and Covenant
Seminary
belong to the Presbyterian Church of America.  The region's largest
Presbyterian church, Central Presbyterian Church in Clayton, and five
others
belong to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in America.  Neither
body has
considered ordaining homosexuals.
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18th June, 2001 (# 4) News Clippings Digest.

1.  ASSOCIATED PRESS  American Medical Association considers asking
national youth groups not to ban gays because such policies could
drive young people to suicide
2.  CAPE COD TIMES  Guest opinion by 15-year-old gay student:
Dismayed by anti-gay petition in Harwich
3.  CAPE COD TIMES  Letter:  Burden of judgment skews views of gays
4.  WASHINGTON TIMES  PBS film on Boy Scouts slammed as one-sided
5.  WASHINGTON TIMES  Nat Hentoff:  Cut America's Boy Scouts a break

Associated Press, June 18, 2001
AMA Considers Youth Group Resolution
By LINDSEY TANNER
        CHICAGO (AP) -- With their sights trained on the Boy Scouts,
members
of the American Medical Association have proposed a resolution that
would
ask national youth groups not to ban gays because such policies could
drive
young people to suicide.
        AMA members proposing the resolution, discussed Monday at the
association's annual meeting, said reversing policies that exclude
gays
could help "lower the increased risk of suicide in the adolescent
homosexual
population.''
        The proposal does not explicitly name the Boy Scouts of
America, but
the member who raised the issue is a Scout troop leader in Rhode
Island.
Steve DeToy, government affairs director for the AMA in Rhode Island,
said
he knew of no other national youth groups with policies to exclude
gays.
        Patricia Dunn, public policy director at the Gay and Lesbian
Medical
Association, said several studies have shown that gay, lesbian and
bisexual
youths face an increased suicide risk.  A Massachusetts survey
published
this month in the American Journal of Public Health found that gay
high
school students were about four times more likely to have attempted
suicide
as heterosexual students.
        The AMA proposal also says that teen suicide rates are lower in
states that have anti-discrimination laws.
        While there was virtually no opposition among the several AMA
members
who spoke at the committee meeting, some said the health impact of
exclusionary policies goes beyond suicide.
        "Homophobia is a health hazard,'' said Dr. Thomas Hicks, a
Tallahassee, Fla., family physician.  He said gays who are left out
may feel
ostracized and suffer lifelong emotional scars.
        Gregg Shields, the Boy Scouts' national spokesman, said in a
telephone interview that the ban on gays -- upheld a year ago by the
U.S.
Supreme Court -- is driven by the Scouts' volunteer board of
directors, who
would probably not be swayed by any AMA policy.
        "We respect everyone's opinions and beliefs and values,''
Shields
said.  "We simply ask other people to respect our values and our
beliefs and
our opinions.''
        The proposed resolution was to be sent to the AMA's 547-member
House
of Delegates for a vote later this week.  The resolution would become
official AMA policy if approved.
        Dunn said approval would be "a major step,'' putting the
weight of a
"national credible organization'' behind the issue.
        . On the Net:  AMA: http://ama-assn.org
        Boy Scouts: http://www.bsa.scouting.org


Cape Cod Times, June 18, 2001
319 Main St., Hyannis, MA, 02601
(Fax: 508-775-7337 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.capecodonline.com )
My View:  Dismayed by anti-gay petition in Harwich
By Kyle C. Chaplic
        Several months ago, a great controversy started when two gay
men and
a transgendered person came into a Harwich High School upperclassmen
health
education elective class for an alternative lifestyle unit.  I find
it truly
amazing that this still continues, especially with 700 petition
signatures
from Harwich residents affiliated with Holy Trinity Church.
        The petition reads: "We the undersigned oppose the teaching in
any
courses, lectures, or instructions in the Harwich Public Schools which
directly or indirectly condones, approves, advocates, promotes, or
encourages the acceptance of the so-called gay, lesbian and bisexual
lifestyle and respectfully demand that reasonable and adequately
specific
written notice be mailed to the parents or guardians of every child
in the
system of the contents and identity of any course that may advocate,
condone, approve, promote or encourage the acceptance of the gay,
lesbian,
or bisexual lifestyle."
        For one, these classes do not promote homosexuality.  The gay
speakers were not trying to say "I'm gay; love me for it" or in any
way
trying to act as missionaries to bring the students over the rainbow.
        The purpose of these classes is to gain homosexuals
acceptance, which
the petition speaks against.  Not only is it the right thing to
accept all
people, but we are guaranteed equal protection under the law and yes,
equality is stressed in the Bible.
        I am a gay student at Harwich High School and I have never in
my life
seen such an ignorant community.  We have been described by the Cape
and
Islands Gay/Straight Youth Alliance as the Cape's most intolerant
school.  I
have received a good deal of harassment and have even been physically
threatened.  This is unacceptable.
        All students, regardless of who they are, are guaranteed a safe
learning environment by the Safe Schools Initiative passed by Gov.
William
Weld.  I'd not exactly call that safe.
        I find it appalling that those 700 individuals would sign such
a
petition.  Although the Bible says that a man shall not lie with
another
man, the tenets of Christianity stress that all people should be
treated
equally as God's children.  And if not for God, do this for your
country;
show a little nationalism. The founding documents of our nation state
that
all men are created equal.  There is full state and federal
legislation
backing all of this.
        Cape Cod, by nature, is a relatively non-diverse area when
compared,
for example, to New York City; but tolerance is a necessity for
survival in
today's world.  It must be encouraged.
        The purpose of the program is to overcome the atrocious level
of
ignorance.  The only way to conquer ignorance is with education.
Kids,
however, must learn from the community and be led by example, and
acts like
this petition do not set an acceptable standard.
        All that the gay community is asking for is equal treatment and
acceptance.  In the l960's, the black community made the same plea.
Treat
us, the gay community, no differently.  Homosexuals deserve the same
equal
treatment that other historically oppressed groups do today.
        These alternative lifestyle talks are only to gain us the
acceptance
we rightly deserve; please do not stand in the way of them.  We are
your
children.  All we ask is that we are treated and loved as such.
        . Kyle C. Chaplic, 15, just completed his freshman year at
Harwich
High School.


Cape Cod Times, June 18, 2001
319 Main St., Hyannis, MA, 02601
(Fax: 508-775-7337 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.capecodonline.com )
Letter:  Burden of judgment skews views of gays
        I write out of concern for people who perceive the petition
affiliated with Holy Trinity Church regarding gay topics in school as
condemnation of people with certain traits.
        Stop and think.  Is a lack of understanding or a conviction
about the
morality of being gay reason to compromise the well-being of someone
you
would generally risk your life to protect from harm, such as your
child or
grandchild?  Do not underestimate the power of rejection.
        If you are heterosexual, and need help gaining other
perspectives (it
is egocentric to believe that others, including your children, are
exactly
like you), find a bookstore with a gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender
section.
Try, for example, reading "On Being Gay" by Brian McNaught, a gay
Catholic.
        If you need to muster up courage to stand near the words "gay"
and
"lesbian," imagine the suffering impinged upon people (often students)
taunted by these words and their slang counterparts.  Offer your
momentary
discomfort for those tormented, sometimes daily, by homophobia.
Homophobia,
the irrational fear of gay people, or of being perceived as gay, is a
porous
blanket to cower under.
        Relax, smile, free yourself from the burden of judgment and
have a
good day.
- Meg Herbert


Washington Times, June 18, 2001
3600 New York Avenue NE, Washington, DC, 20002
(Fax: 202-269-3419 ) (E-Mail:  letter@... )
( http://www.washtimes.com/ )
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20010618-89432168.htm
PBS film on Boy Scouts slammed as one-sided
By Elianna Marziani, The Washington Times
        The Public Broadcasting Service tomorrow will air a
documentary that
reportedly takes issue with the Boy Scouts' policy of excluding
homosexuals.
But conservatives are determined to block it.
        Foes of the film say it is one-sided and misuses public money.
        "It's one thing if [the documentary's producer, Tom Shepard]
were to
produce a film on his private dime.  But when you bring the taxpayer
money
in, and are bringing taxpayer money in, to undermine the Boy Scouts of
America, it changes things.  Then it becomes a concern of taxpaying
Americans," said Peter LaBarbera, senior policy analyst at the
Culture and
Family Institute in Washington.
        Mr. LaBarbera and those who share his sentiments have
initiated a
grass-roots e-mail campaign, encouraging like-minded citizens to call
their
local PBS station and ask them not to air the show -- or at least, to
provide equal time for a similar film from the opposing viewpoint.
        More than half of PBS' funding comes from viewers and national
and
state governments -- and that is what has caused controversy.
        The documentary, "Scout´s Honor," examines the aftermath of
last
summer's Supreme Court ruling that the Boy Scouts may exclude
homosexual
members and leaders.  It follows the lives of 16-year-old Boy Scout
Steven
Cozza and 71-year-old Scoutmaster David Rice.  They are the
heterosexual
founders of "Scouting for All," an alliance of homosexuals and
heterosexuals
that is fighting the Boy Scouts' policy.
        People on both sides of the issue who have viewed the film say
that
it is done in such a way as to make the Boy Scouts appear homophobic
and
intolerant, while making Steven appear heroic and worthy of
admiration for
his conviction and tenacity.
        "It really showed the courage of Steven Cozza in a way that I
thought
was very heartwarming and very powerful," said Amy Koberta,
spokeswoman for
Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).  The
show will
air locally on Channels 22 and 26 tomorrow at 10 p.m. as one in a
series of
"Point of View" independent nonfiction films.
        "Scout's Honor" was produced by Mr. Shepard in association
with the
Independent Television Service (ITVS).  ITVS was established by
Congress "to
fund and promote programming that involves creative risks and
addresses the
needs of underserved audiences."
        Ms. Koberta says that the homosexual community is one such
underserved audience and lauds PBS' decision to air "Scout's Honor."
        Many religious and conservative groups do not.
        "If there was ever an overserved audience proportionally, it's
[homosexuals]," Mr. LaBarbera said.  "To say they're underserved is
the
height of ridiculousness."
        Pro-family conservative Guyla Mills of Kerusso Ministries, a
nonprofit organization in Newport News, Va., agrees, and says that as
a
public broadcasting network, PBS should make an effort to balance its
programming.
        "It was very one-sided," she said of "Scout's Honor."  She
said that
while the film included interviews with people supportive of the Boy
Scouts
policy, the film was slanted to evoke sympathy with Steven, not the
Boy
Scouts.
        Ms. Koberta says the film was "very well-balanced" and
includes the
opposing viewpoint.
        But Mr. LaBarbera says that any mention of the opposition was
"token."  He says Mr. Shepard, the film's producer, is a known
homosexual
activist and says the video has been shown at "Gay Pride" events in an
attempt to mobilize homosexuals against the Boy Scouts.
        Additionally, several homosexual activists, including Kevin
Jennings,
executive director for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
(GLSEN), are on the film's board of advisers.  Mr. LaBarbera says any
film
with that kind of track record is obviously slanted -- something he
finds
unacceptable in taxpayer-funded programming.
        "I don't think a documentary always needs to be two-sided, but
PBS is
supposed to serve the nation," Mr. LaBarbera said.  "I don't think the
purpose of PBS is to be used to spread propaganda against one of
America's
most beloved institutions."
        The Boy Scouts of America was chartered by Congress in 1916 as
an
educational program for boys to build character, train them in
citizenship
responsibilities and help them develop personal fitness.
        Scouts take an oath that says, "On my honor, I will do my best
to do
my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other
people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake
and
morally straight."  The Scouts say that while they do not make
efforts to
learn the sexual orientation of members, open homosexuality is
inconsistent
with the organization's values.
        James Dale, an Eagle Scout in New Jersey, was expelled from the
organization in 1989 when officials found out he was homosexual.  He
sued
the Boy Scouts in state court in 1992, but a Superior Court judge
dismissed
his claims in 1995.  A New Jersey appellate court overturned that
decision
in 1998 and the state Supreme Court upheld it in 1999.
        The U.S. Supreme Court overturned that ruling last summer,
affirming
that the Boy Scouts may make its own rules regarding membership and
leadership.
        Angered by the U.S. Supreme Court's action, Steven and Mr.
Rice began
a media campaign and petition in their hometown of Petaluma, Calif.,
attempting to change the Scouts' policy.
        "What's ironic is that the values and tenets that Steven Cozza
learned in Scouting about fairness, about sticking up for the rights
of all
people, and being honest and open in your relationships sort of
welled up in
him and moved him to take a stand," Mr. Shepard said.


Washington Times, June 18, 2001
3600 New York Avenue NE, Washington, DC, 20002
(Fax: 202-269-3419 ) (E-Mail:  letter@... )
( http://www.washtimes.com/ )
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20010616-26269174.htm
Cut America's Boy Scouts a break
Nat Hentoff
        A year ago, the Boy Scouts won a vital First Amendment victory
in the
U.S. Supreme Court, which declared that the Boy Scouts' right of free
association enabled them to remove James Dale from a leadership
position
after in violation of the Boy Scouts´ principles publicly declared his
homosexuality.
        Since then, the Boy Scouts have been treated like pariahs
around the
country. Cities have barred them from schools.  In some places,
police can
no longer sponsor Boy Scouts programs in areas where kids have no
other
after-school activities.  And "public-spirited" private organizations
have
stopped funding Boy Scout troops.
        The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) affiliate in San
Diego as
George Mason University law professor Peter Ferrara noted in the
Weekly
Standard "is suing the city to evict the Scouts from Balboa Park,
where they
built and have long operated excellent camping and recreational
facilities
open to the public."
        The national ACLU, in one of its excursions into extreme
political
correctness, opposed the Boy Scouts when Boy Scouts of America vs.
Dale went
before the Supreme Court.  In doing so, the ACLU, which was founded to
protect the First Amendment, ignored Supreme Court precedents.  One
such
precedent states: "The First Amendment guarantees the . . . freedom to
associate or not to associate."  It is the "freedom to identify the
people
who constitute the association, and to limit the association to those
people
only." (Democratic Party of U.S. vs. Wisconsin, 1981).
        Should the NAACP be forced by the courts or by the ACLU to
allow
adherents of white racist organizations to take leadership positions
in the
NAACP?  Should disability-rights groups be compelled to have
disciples of
Dr. Jack Kevorkian in leadership roles?
        In a significant Florida court decision, the Boy Scouts' First
Amendment rights have been upheld after they were evicted from the
Broward
County public schools.  The court said that once school facilities
are open
to other organizations, they cannot be denied to a group because of
its
views.
        Now, Rep. Van Hilleary of Tennessee has successfully
introduced in
the House an amendment to the large-scale education bill called the
No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001.  His amendment requires schools that receive
federal funds to give the Boy Scouts the same access that they
provide to
other groups.
        Says Mr. Hilleary: "Denying the Boy Scouts equal access to
schools
cuts against court precedent, the Bill of Rights and common sense.
This
amendment effectively ensures that schools won't be able to
discriminate
against the Scouts or force them to go to court to have their rights
upheld."
        The Hilleary amendment passed the House by voice vote, and a
companion amendment by Sen. Jesse Helms passed last week.  But on the
House
floor, during debate on the amendment, Lynn Woolsey of California
presented
a letter opposing the amendment.  It was signed by a long list of
organizations.  Their names reveal how pervasively political
correctness has
infected Americans who cherish their own right to associate with like-
minded
people, but would allow local school boards to deny that right to the
Boy
Scouts.  This is a list that exposes how much education in
constitutional
rights is needed in our schools and school boards.  Among those on
the list
opposing the Boy Scouts are the following organizations:
        The American Association of School Administrators; American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; AFL-CIO; American
Federation of Teachers; Anti-Defamation League; Council of the Great
City
Schools; Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; National Association
of
School Psychologists; National Association of Secondary School
Principals;
National Council of Jewish Women; National Council of La Raza;
National
Education Association; National PTA; National Rural Education
Association;
National School Boards Association; National Women´s Law Center; NOW
Legal
Defense and Education Fund; People for the American Way; Unitarian
Universalist Association of Congregations; United Church of Christ
Justice
and Witness Ministries.
        These are good, decent people, and they desire diversity but
not the
diversity of viewpoints that is guaranteed by the First Amendment.
They do
not understand what Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has
emphasized:
        "Protection of (an) association's right to define its
membership
derives from the recognition that the formation of an expressive
association
is the creation of a voice. And the selection of members is the
definition
of that voice."
        The Helms amendment passed the Senate on June 14, along with
another
amendment prohibiting discrimination against any youth group,
including the
Boy Scouts, on the basis of viewpoint on sexual orientation.  Both
amendments support the First Amendment.
        . Nat Hentoff´s column for The Washington Times appears on
Mondays.
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18th June, 2001 (# 3) News Clippings Digest.

1.  SEATTLE TIMES  Gay minister is barred as pastor, but congregation
rallies round him
2.  BREMERTON (WA) SUN  Fill-in-the-blank letter:  Hate ___, not the
____
3.  DENVER POST  Editorial about Scouts and schools
4.  BALTIMORE SUN  Letter:  Laws to protect gay rights are necessary
because of closed-minded and ignorant groups
5.  ROANOKE TIMES  Editorial:  But, Mr. Helms, what about states'
rights? (Scouts and schools)
6.  ARIZONA DAILY STAR  Isn't it rich?  Irony-free Boy Scouts ask gay
Rep. Jim Kolbe for help in fee dispute with U.S. Forest Service

Seattle Times, June 18, 2001
P. O. Box 70, Seattle, WA, 98111
(Fax: 206-382-6760 ) (E-Mail: opinion@... )
( http://www.seattletimes.com )
Gay minister is barred as pastor, but congregation rallies round him
By Caitlin Cleary and Frank Vinluan, Seattle Times staff reporters
        The Rev. Mark Edwards Williams, the Seattle minister who
recently
revealed he is gay, will no longer be able to serve as pastor of
Woodland
Park United Methodist Church, church officials said yesterday.
        During services yesterday at the annual conference of the
Pacific
Northwest United Methodists in Tacoma, Bishop Elias Galvan announced
that
Williams would not get an appointment to a church because of the
denomination's rules barring homosexuals from serving in the pulpit.
Williams had disclosed his homosexuality to the conference just two
days
earlier.
        Galvan announced that the Rev. Karen Dammann, Williams'
predecessor
at Woodland Park, who had earlier this year revealed to the church
that she
is a lesbian, will also not get an appointment.
        Another former pastor, Katie Ladd, also announced her
homosexuality
at the conference.  She has been on disability leave since April from
the
University Temple United Methodist Church and will remain on paid
disability
leave despite requesting an appointment.  Kathleen Deakins,
spokeswoman for
Galvan, said she is not sure how closely Galvan has reviewed Ladd's
situation.
        In making the decision, Galvan weighed two apparently
conflicting
church positions.  The Book of Discipline states that any ordained
elder in
good standing must be appointed.  But elsewhere, it also states that
"self-avowed practicing homosexuals" are not to be appointed to serve
in the
church.
        "They are good friends.  My heart goes to them at this point.
I
looked very hard trying to find ways to keep them in their
appointment.  But
that's not possible," Galvan told KING-TV.
        Although they cannot be pastors in the church, they are still
members
in good standing, said Deakins.  Both Dammann and Williams will work
in
other positions within the church until the Judicial Council resolves
the
conflict in church rules, Deakins said.  The Judicial Council meets
again in
October.
        During the service, most of the clergy receiving appointments
symbolically removed their stoles and placed them on a cross in
support of
Dammann, Williams and Ladd, according to a press release from Galvan's
office.
        Yesterday morning, before they got word of Galvan's decision,
parishioners at Woodland Park showed their support for their pastor.
        They ignored the man who stood out on the sidewalk with a
Bible, a
clerical collar and a sign reading "Repent, Pervert."  The
parishioners had
their own signs, which read, "My Pastor is a Person of Sacred Worth,"
with
the name and picture of the Williams.
        Some in the congregation distributed rainbow ribbons at the
front
doors and spoke in support of Williams.
        "He's wonderful," said Linda Southall.  "Very warm and open.
He's
done a lot to pull this congregation together in the last few years."
        Suzette Birrell said the children in the congregation love the
young
and energetic pastor, who enjoys snowboarding and whose sermons
usually
center on acceptance and standing up for people.
        Williams said in a recent letter said it was a struggle to keep
secret from them his intention to come out at the annual conference.
        "I chose to do this in order to live with more integrity,"
Williams
wrote.  "I chose to come out in order to bring more honesty and
openness in
my relationship with the Church that has nurtured me throughout my
life."
        Williams has been pastor at Woodland Park since 1999.
        Delegates to the national Methodist conference last year voted
to
reaffirm the ban against ordaining homosexuals.  But several local
Methodist
leaders have called on their church to end the prohibition.
        Outside yesterday, the man on the sidewalk in front of
Woodland Park
shouted, "I'm going to read out of the Bible.  You know, the book
we're
supposed to go by as Christians?"  The man railed against the church
for
allowing "dogs and sinners" behind the pulpit.
        "Aren't we all sinners?" asked Southall.
        The Rev. Arthur Campbell, a retired Methodist minister who was
conducting services in place of Williams yesterday, went out on the
sidewalk
and asked the man to please read the 13th chapter of Corinthians, in
which
Paul extols love and charity.
        Then Campbell went inside and sang, "What a Wonderful World,"
with
the congregation, asking that everyone pray for the man on the
sidewalk.
The man left.
        Inside, Campbell talked about the courage it took for Williams
to
come out.
        "It was probably not a joyous time," Campbell said, "except
for the
freedom which he can now experience.  But if it wasn't a party on
Friday, it
was certainly not a funeral.  Unless it was something that died that
needs
to change."
        There will be a church meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday.  But most
people
say they're in solidarity with their pastor.  "I don't know that
we'll go
quietly," said Cindy Rattray, the lay leader of the church.  "I don't
know
that we'll say, 'Bye, Mark, nice knowing you.'"


Bremerton Sun

Homosexuality
Letter:  Hate sin, not the sinner
        "I am a homosexual, perfectly happy but besieged by the
religious
community," Kevin Hathaway proclaims (May 25 letter).
        "It's not God I'm suspicious of, but His followers."  If he
refers to
those who claim "God hates homosexuals," I don't blame him.
        But no, God does not hate homosexuals or anyone who sins but
He does
hate all forms of sin.
        This seems so difficult for some to comprehend, but God does
love us
in spite of our sinful life and wants us to accept and follow Him.
        This must always be the message of the Christian community even
though it may make some uncomfortable.
        Attempting to put the church and morality in the closet and
take
homosexuality and fornication out and calling it "another lifestyle"
or
"living together" may make it easier on the conscience, but none the
less it
is still a sin in God's sight.
        What makes homosexuality or "living together" so obnoxious
today is
having it constantly thrown in the face of society in an attempt to be
accepted.
        When will we realize that being right or wrong is not decided
by a
popular vote, but by God only.
        Kevin, warning those in this lifestyle of the eternal
consequences
should not be misinterpreted as hate but concern of your eternal well
being.
        We all have temptations in our lives that we must suppress and
avoid.
        Sometimes it is hard to accept and heed even though we know
deep
inside we must.
- Gene Kougl, Bremerton


Denver Post, June 18, 2001
650 15th Street, Denver, CO, 80202
(Fax: 303-820-1369 ) (E-Mail:   Letters@... )
( http://www.denverpost.com )
Editorial:  Schools and scouts
        It was inevitable, we suppose, that Congress would be called
upon to
settle an issue that developed in the wake of last year's Supreme
Court
decision upholding the right of the Boy Scouts of America to exclude
gay men
from leadership positions.
        Late last Thursday, the U.S. Senate narrowly joined the House
in
attaching an important string to future federal education funding.
The
Senate voted to revoke federal education funding to any local school
district that denies the Boy Scouts of America the use of public
facilities
because of the policy on homosexuals.
        The Senate vote came in the wake of a number of local
controversies
in which individual school boards had voted to bar scouts from using
public
school buildings on the grounds that the organization discriminates
against
gays.
        We think the timing of the Senate vote is especially noteworthy
because earlier last week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a New York
school district couldn't pick and choose which groups could use public
school buildings.  The court said that some limitations might be
placed on
public forums, but that once the categories of acceptable activities
are
established there can be no discrimination based upon the viewpoint
of the
organization.
        It seems to us that the Senate and House votes are in general
harmony
with that principle.  The Boy Scouts -- however one feels about their
leadership policy -- have long been involved in the character-building
business for the nation's youth.  Isolated attempts to expel them from
public school buildings in the wake of last year's court decision
were, in
our view, little more than sour grapes.  Public schools shouldn't be
forced
into the middle of what is obviously an ongoing and complicated
cultural and
political battle.
        Once a school district's ground rules for building use are
fairly
established, the facilities should be available to any organization
that
qualifies.  As Congress has now made it clear, the phrase "any
qualified
organization" includes the Boy Scouts.


Baltimore Sun, June 18, 2001
501 N. Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD, 21278
(Fax: 410-332-6977 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.sunspot.net/ )
Letter:
        The laws passed to protect gay rights are necessary because of
closed-minded and ignorant groups such as takebackmaryland.org.
("What's
wrong with voters deciding gay rights issue?" letters, June 13).
        These groups seek to undermine the rights of a minority and,
in so
doing, abridge of all our rights.
        But I believe a referendum would support the gay rights law,
because
there are enough people in Maryland who respect the rights of all
people.
It would also prove that groups such as takebackmaryland.org are the
real
minority.
- Seth Appelbaum, Baltimore


Roanoke Times, June 18, 2001
P. O. Box 2491, Roanoke, VA, 24010
(Fax: 703-981-3204 ) (E-Mail: karent@... )
(http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes )
http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story113551.html
Editorial:  But, Mr. Helms, what about states' rights?
Sen. Jesse Helms has found federal meddling to his liking, after all.
Congress should slap his hand.
        Federal intrusion hardly covers it.
        An amendment to President Bush's education bill that would cut
off
federal funds to school districts if they deny use of their
facilities to
the Boy Scouts is an egregious assault on local control.
        Yet none other than rock-ribbed conservative Sen. Jesse Helms
-- the
biting horsefly on the rump of the federal government -- tacked on the
measure, which passed narrowly in the Senate Thursday.  The House
already
has approved a similar amendment.
        What could have caused so adamant a foe of Washington to
abandon his
abhorrence of federal interference in matters traditionally left to
states
and localities?  Fear of "the organized lesbians and homosexuals in
this
country of ours."
        Since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Boy Scouts' ban on gay
troop
leaders, gay-rights advocates have said they will try to get school
districts to stop sponsoring troops.
        As critics of the Helms amendment noted, however, the threat
to take
away federal funds from schools that bar the Scouts could put some in
conflict with their states' anti-discrimination laws.  The schools
could be
left in an untenable position as state and federal governments pull
their
strings in opposite directions.
        What business is it of Washington's what groups have access to
local
school buildings?
        Whatever members of Congress think of the Scout ban or of
efforts to
get the Scouts banned, they have no business trying to dictate the
outcome
of this dispute.
        Though both houses have passed versions of the ban on a Scout
ban,
the education bill still must go to a conference committee, where
House and
Senate negotiators will reconcile its provisions.  There, lawmakers
should
nip this piece of schoolhouse mischief in the bud.
        And they might want to think about keeping Mr. Helms after,
for a
review lesson on states' rights.


Arizona Daily Star, June 16, 2001
P. O. Box 26887, Tucson, AZ, 85726
(Fax: 602-573-4141 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.azstarnet.com/ )
Arizona Boy Scouts, Churches Protest U.S. Forest Service's Rising Fees
By Joe Salkowski, The Arizona Daily Star
        Tucson -- Nonprofit groups that help kids pitch tents atop
Mount
Lemmon are pitching a fit about an upcoming increase in the cost of
their
camps.
        The U.S. Forest Service has announced plans to dramatically
increase
the cost of leasing land along the mountain's Organization Ridge in
2003.
        Representatives of groups including the Boy Scouts of America
and
several local churches say the increases are too steep.
        "We just can't afford it," said Paul Abbott, director of the
Scouts'
Old Pueblo District.  The annual cost of leasing land for the Boy
Scouts'
camp would jump from $4,500 to $71,000 if the increases take place as
scheduled, he said.
        "We have to have camping -- it's part of our mission," Abbott
said.
"I guess we'd have to find some other methods to raise the money, but
it's
not currently in our budget."
        Forest Service spokesman Ken Palmrose said the agency is merely
complying with a federal law that requires it to collect fair-market
value
for leasing its lands.  "We have to do that to make sure the American
people
are getting a fair value for their land," he said.
        The increases are steep, he said, because the cost of leasing
land in
the Coronado National Forest and other federal preserves hasn't been
adjusted in decades.  "It's a reflection of the change in the
market," he
said.
        Bill Biggs, coordinator of a Mormon Church camp atop Mount
Lemmon,
said his organization was prepared for a reasonable increase of the
$1,300 a
year it pays to lease 10 acres.  "That is a low fee, and it could be
ramped
up a little bit," he said.
        But the announced increase to $21,000 a year caught him off
guard.
"That's
two-and-a-half times our current operating budget for the whole camp."
        Biggs, Abbott and other representatives of local nonprofit
groups met
Friday with U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, who inserted language in a recent
appropriations bill asking the Forest Service to reconsider its plans.
        "I don't believe that when Congress told the Forest Service to
operate more like a business that we wanted them to go after nonprofit
groups that are providing these kinds of services to communities,"
Kolbe
said.  "That's certainly not what we intended."
        Palmrose said groups that cater to children or the poor can
apply for
significant reductions in the cost of their leases.
        "We'd like to sit down with them to see if they could meet
those
discount requirements," Palmrose said.
        Kolbe said he hopes to at least scale back those increases for
nonprofit groups when the House and Senate convene a conference
committee to
hammer out details of the Forest Service budget.
        "We should not be putting a fee on these groups that could
literally
put them out of business," Kolbe said.
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18th June, 2001 (# 2) News Clippings Digest.

1.  DETROIT NEWS  Deb Price: United Nations starts to address abuse
of gays
2.  LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR  Letter from a state senator defending his
support of LB215 (real estate bill with a pro-gay amendment)
3.  SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE  Badge of 'Honor':  Documentary captures
story of Steven Cozza, who at age 12 took on the Boy Scouts' anti-gay
policy
4.  ST. PETERSBURG (FL) TIMES  Oral Majority anti-Bush protesters at
supposedly public event are arrested for holding up signs about Gay
Pride month
5.  TAMPA TRIBUNE  Gay anti-Bush protesters may sue over arrests

DETROIT NEWS, June 18, 2001
615 W. Lafayette, Detroit, MI, 48226
(Fax: 313-222-6417 ) (E-Mail:  Letters@... )
( http://detnews.com/ )
http://www.detnews.com/2001/editorial/0106/18/a11-237341.htm
UN starts to address abuse of gays
By Deb Price, The Detroit News
        Long ignored in the international human rights drive to avoid
repeats
of Nazi-style atrocities, gay men and lesbians recently advanced a
tiny bit
closer to being fully embraced as part of humanity's family.
        In the first of two unrelated developments, the United Nations'
human-rights arm announced it will start collecting reports on
torture and
other anti-gay activity that can be used to try to persuade countries
to
improve the lives of their gay citizens.  Separately, because of a
Clinton
administration decision, more than a half million dollars from an
international fund is being given to gay survivors of Nazi
concentration
camps and to fund efforts to inform the world about cruelties
committed
against homosexuals in Hitler's Germany.
        Together, the two moves are heart-warming proof that decades of
tireless work by international gay-rights advocates are paying off.
Slowly,
the UN community is starting to understand why protections against
discrimination based on sexual orientation need to be read into the
human-rights declarations signed after World War II.
        Shame is the stick the UN most often wields to bring about
change.
The first big gay breakthrough at the UN happened in 1994, when a
judicial
panel declared that anti-sodomy laws violate human-rights principles
and
chastised Australia for allowing Tasmania to keep the anti-gay
statute.
Australia, embarrassed that a Tasmanian gay man had appealed to the
UN for
help, successfully pressured its backward state to abolish its anti-
sodomy
law in 1997.
        Also in the 1990s, the largest international human-rights
groups --
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch -- expanded their
missions to
include protesting abuses against those of us who're gay.  That
followed
prodding by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
(IGLHRC), a group founded in 1990 that is the David facing Goliath in
the
effort to get the international community to treat abuses based on
sexual
orientation similarly to those based on gender, race or religion.
        Human Rights Watch has just put out a powerful report
documenting
abuse of gay American students.  Amnesty International will release a
report
on anti-gay torture June 22.
        IGLHRC's Scott Long calls the UN's decision to document anti-
gay
abuses
"groundbreaking."  Investigators with the UN Commission of Human
Rights have
broad powers to approach governments accused of human-rights
violations.
The investigators want to be informed of instances in which gay
people are
the victims of anti-gay torture, execution, false imprisonment,
censorship
or violence.  IGLHRC's Web site details how to report such horrors.
        "This is a big opening," says IGLHRC's Sydney Levy.  "Imagine
that
for the first time you are being allowed to present your complaints.
They
are now saying, Come and tell us what is going on.'"
        Meanwhile, Julie Dorf, a founder of the Pink Triangle
Coalition, said
the group has received more than $600,000 from the United States'
portion of
the International Nazi Persecutee Relief Fund.  The fund, created in
1997 to
distribute money from gold Nazis stole from occupied nations, gave
$72,000
last year to help gay camp survivors and $531,000 recently for films,
museum
exhibits, books and other educational materials about the Nazi
persecution
of homosexuals.
        Dorf said seven gay camp survivors, whom Nazis forced to wear
pink
triangles, have been located.  The search for more continues.  A 78-
year-old
survivor with heart problems who now lives in Poland called the
several
thousand dollars he received "a gift from heaven."  A 93-year-old
survivor
living in Australia said the money was a "generous testimony of
sympathy"
that gives him "fresh courage to know that there are friends and
institutions who remember me."
        Atrocities continue against people targeted simply for being
gay.
But the civilized world is moving to acknowledge and end them.
        . Deb Price's column is published on Monday. She be contacted
at
(202) 662-7370 or dprice@...


Lincoln Journal Star, June 18, 2001
PO Box 81609, Lincoln, NE 68501-1609
(Fax: 402-473-7291 ) (E-Mail: oped@... )
(http://www.journalstar.com )
Letter:  Uninformed opponent
        The letter from Merlyn Braunsroth criticizing Shelly Kiel and
me
(LJS, June 11) is so outrageous one hesitates to respond.  However, I
would
not want even one reader to be confused.
        He strongly implies that I am thinking of supporting laws to
encourage pedophiles and bestiality.  He obviously has no clue as to
what I
think about these matters, has not asked and has no evidence to
support his
innuendoes.
        Braunsroth equates a stand against discrimination of persons,
by
their looks, with opposing Jesus and supporting "despicable acts."
Again,
no evidence or logical connection is given.
        He states that Jesus opposed sin (no question there) but
ignores that
Jesus had not one word to say about same-sex activity as sin and that
there
is no verse of scripture that refers to homosexuality -- a concept
that was
developed in the 1800s.  The bill made no reference to sin or illegal
acts,
or any action for that matter.  It would have prohibited judging a
person
(who is seeking to rent) by his or her appearance.
        There is a bit of humor here.  One reads that Shelly and I are
"liberal"
like the Pharisees, whom Jesus opposed.  Some of the Pharisees were
the
right wing of that day and Jesus opposed them because of their
legalistic
anti-people views.  They did not allow "choice."  Liberal?
        It is difficult to find anything about opposing discrimination
that
is conservative or liberal.  Our public discussion of emotional
issues will
be helped if we are more precise in our definitions, if we do not use
our
imagination instead of facts, and if we omit name-calling.
-- Lowen Kruse, state senator, District 13, Omaha


SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, June 18, 2001
901 Mission St., San Francisco, CA, 94103
(Fax: 415-896-1107 ) (E-Mail:  chronletters@... )
( http://www.sfgate.com )
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/18
/DD620.DTL
Badge of 'Honor'
Documentary captures story of Steven Cozza, who at age 12 took on the
Boy
Scouts' anti-gay policy
Edward Guthmann, Chronicle Staff Writer
        When Steven Cozza was 12, a seventh-grader at Petaluma Junior
High,
he did a very brave thing.  While other kids were playing soccer and
looking
for ways to fit in crowd, Steven started a petition drive to pressure
the
Boy Scouts of America into dropping its anti-gay policy.
        Outside the Lucky supermarket in Petaluma, he gathered
signatures,
never expecting that he was laying the seeds for a grassroots national
movement.  In a matter of weeks, Scouting for All, formed by Steven;
his
dad, Scott; and former scoutmaster Dave Rice, had taken off.
        "It just went banzai," says Steven, who's now 16.  What's
remarkable
isn't merely the fact that Steven stood up for gay rights at age 12
-- but
the fact that he's not gay himself.
        Steven's story is captured in "Scout's Honor," a terrific
documentary
by San Francisco filmmaker Tom Shepard that airs at 10 p.m. tomorrow
on
Channel 9 when PBS launches its annual P.O.V. documentary series.
Winner of
the Grand Jury Prize and the Freedom of Expression Award at the
Sundance
Film Festival, the film will be screened simultaneously tomorrow at
the
Castro Theatre.
        In "Scout's Honor," Shepard interweaves Steven's story with two
others:  that of Tim Curran, a gay Eagle Scout from Berkeley who
became the
first to challenge the Boy Scout of America's no-gays policy in 1981;
and
James Dale, another ousted Eagle Scout who successfully challenged the
Scouts in the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1999 but saw his victory
overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.
        Both men are impressive, but it's Steven Cozza, a modest,
unaffected
kid with big eyes and a winning smile, who carries the film.
        "He's incredible likable," says Shepard, "and incredibly
levelheaded.
When he came to Sundance I just thought his head was going to grow
beyond
his body.  But he remains really even."
        And in most ways a typical kid.  Having finished his sophomore
year
at Petaluma High, Steven dates girls, hangs out with his buddies and
devotes
the bulk of his time to bike racing.  He'd like to be a world-class
cyclist
like Lance Armstrong, and this week he flies to Italy for a month to
race
with a junior Italian team.
        Steven reached the level of Eagle Scout but dropped out three
years
ago, after his father was ousted as assistant scoutmaster of Boy
Scout Troop
74 in Petaluma.  "I didn't feel too welcome (after that)," Steven
says.
        Three and a half years after starting Scouting for All, he's
still
committed.  "I'm the spokesman," Steven says in the home he shares
with his
dad, his mom, Jeanette, and his sister, Annie.  "My dad, who's the
president, does most of the work."
        When the media calls, it's Steven who does the interviews.  He
speaks
at rallies and at screenings of "Scout's Honor," and last year he
went with
his dad to protest the Boy Scouts' policy at the organization's
headquarters
in Irving, Texas.  Because he speaks from the heart -- rather than
intellectualizing or coming off like a firebrand -- Steven has the
gift of
connecting with a broad range of people.
        "I see myself more as a messenger," Steven says, "even though
the
message is more important than the messenger.''
        Steven credits his dad, Scott, a social worker and former AIDS
counselor, with inspiring his commitment.  When Steven and Annie, 19,
were
small, their dad introduced them to gay issues:  He took them to gay
pride
parades and brought home AIDS patients he had befriended through his
work.
Also important was Steven's friendship with Robert Espindola, a gay
man and
church-camp counselor he met when he was 7.
        Before Steven took on the Boy Scouts, he says, "it took quite
a bit
of thinking because I was worried about kids making fun of me at
school and
all the negative comments I'd be getting.  But I kept thinking about
my
friend Robert, who's been a great role model to me and a great friend.
        "I kept thinking, well, I have all these friends that are gay
and
here I'm allowed to be in the Scouts and they're not.  This just
isn't fair.
So I had to -- I just decided to take a stand."
        In the most touching scene from "Scout's Honor," the Cozza
family
goes to Espindola's house for dinner and Steven cries at his host's
words.
"I hope you know how proud I am of you," Espindola says.  "I'm no more
inspirational to you than you are to me."
        Fighting the Boy Scouts of America hasn't been easy for Steven
--
especially at first.  "He was ridiculed (at school)," Scott says,
"and he
had to deal with that.  And we supported him around that.  But it
wasn't as
great as he thought it might be."
        Death threats are also a problem.  In "Scout's Honor" we hear
an
answering- machine message in which a caller says that someone will
"get
whacked" if he doesn't shut up.  According to Steven's dad, "a major
death
threat" arrived in April, just prior to the "Scout's Honor" premiere
at
Herbst Theater.
        "At first I thought it was to me," says Scott, who denies that
he
ever pressured Steven to speak out.  "And I realized the death threat
was
really to Steven."  He arranged for police protection that night and
hired a
bodyguard to shadow Steven.
        The threats "don't really affect me," Steven says, "because I
know
that most of the time they just want to scare you.  It just
encourages me to
work harder on the issue."
        Recently, Steven got an offer from MTV to host a youth show
about
political issues.  But he still has two years of high school left and
doesn't want to sacrifice his road-biking career.
        When Scott Cozza considers what his son has accomplished, "it
brings
tears to my eyes.  It's an emotional thing to see a kid up there
speaking
for -- and with -- a segment of our society that's being hurt."
        DOCUMENTARY
        "SCOUT'S HONOR": The film airs at 10 p.m. tomorrow on Channel
9.  It
screens simultaneously at the Castro Theatre as part of the San
Francisco
International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.
        . E-mail Edward Guthmann at eguthmann@...


St. Petersburg Times, June 15, 2001
P. O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL, 33731
(Fax: 727-893-8675)(E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.sptimes.com/ )
( VOICE: To dictate a letter-to-the-editor call 813-893-8169 )
        Police reports released this week show Republican volunteers
at last
week's presidential rally played a key role in the arrest of three
sign-waving protesters.
        The reports and interviews by the St. Petersburg Times,
suggest it
was the volunteers who first demanded the three protesters surrender
their
small signs, which derided George W. Bush and brought attention to
Gay Pride
Month.  Summoned to the scene, police charged the protesters with
trespassing when they refused to give up the signs or to leave.
        Volunteers at the Legends Field event say they were just
following
orders given by event organizers that prohibited signs on the field.
        But video footage obtained by the Times appears to show the
rule was
selectively enforced.  Even as the disturbance unfolded, numerous
crowd
members were allowed to wave pro-Bush signs, some handmade, some
professionally printed.
        Questions remain about how the rule was intended to be
enforced.
Even a police officer confronting the protesters seemed unsure why it
applied to them but not to Bush supporters.  A taped exchange between
the
officer and a protester, 59-year-old Sonja Haught, captures the
confusion.
        Told by the officer she can stay on the field if she
surrenders her
sign, an angry Haught asks about the Bush supporters:  "Why can't
they lose
their signs?"
        The officer's response:  "You're talking to the wrong person."
        Two Republican volunteers were at the center of the action:
Bill
Bunkley and William D. Cordova.
        Bunkley of Tampa told the Times he was standing near the
podium when
he heard protesters chanting "Hail to the thief!" and other slogans.
He
noticed their signs.  At a hasty briefing before the event, he said,
he was
told that no signs of whatever political persuasion should be allowed
through the gate onto the field.
        "When I asked the folks they would have to give up their signs
because they had to be left at the gate, they started yelling about
their
First Amendment rights, and some curse words started to fly," Bunkley
said.
        Why were the Bush signs allowed to stay?
        "I did not see a single Bush sign prior to this confrontation,"
Bunkley said.
        Bunkley said he asked protesters to mind their language, since
there
was a group of little leaguers standing nearby.  The close-pressed
crowd was
growing increasingly hostile to the protesters, he said.  "I called in
security (and said), 'We've got some flaming tempers down here,'"
Bunkley
said, adding he stands by his action because he wanted to defuse the
situation.
        A Tampa Police Department report says that another Republican
volunteer, William D. Cordova, who was working as an usher, summoned
an
officer to the scene.
        "Cordova stated to me that the individuals were not complying
with
the event rules and would not relinquish their signs," the report
reads.
"Cordova repeatedly ordered the individuals to comply with the event
staff
personnel or face being ejected from the event."
        The more the protesters resisted giving up their signs, the
more
unruly the crowd became, with some grabbing at a sign held by
protester
Mauricio Rosas, the report says.  Volunteers, Legends Field security,
and
police all asked Rosas to leave.
        "Rosas was attempting to incite the crowd by his outright
disobedience and his encouragement to the individuals around him to
interlock their arms with him," the report says.
        The tape shows the crowd applauding as Rosas, 37, is dragged
away.
They cheer again when police lead Haught and the third protester,
Janis
Lentz, 55, off the field.
        The White House, which has not taken a position on whether the
presidential rally was a public or a private event, says the New York
Yankees organization was the event's host.
        The Yankees have not returned repeated calls for comment.
        "What happened here in Tampa is a total travesty of justice,"
said
Robert Kunst, president of the Oral Majority, a Miami Beach-based
political
action group that organized a small demonstration Thursday in front
of City
Hall.
        Kunst and the protesters are calling for an investigation into
the
police conduct, promising to sue.  They charge authorities committed
a hate
crime by asking Rosas to give up his gay pride sign. They hand
delivered
their complaint to Tampa Mayor Dick Greco's secretary.
        "Tampa, get ready to write a check -- we're going after you,"
Kunst
said.
        . Christopher Goffard can be reached at (813) 226-3337


Tampa Tribune, June 15, 2001
P. O. Box 191, Tampa, FL, 33601-4005
(Fax: 813-259-8080 ) (E-Mail: tribletters@... )
( http://www.tampabayonline.net/ )
Anti-Bush protesters may sue over arrests
WILLIAM MARCH, The Tampa Tribune
        TAMPA -- Mauricio Rosas, Sonja Haught and Janis Lentz don't
look like
a security threat.
        But when they went to Legends Field on June 4 for President
Bush's
speech, hoping to express their opposition, all three were arrested
and
taken out of the event before the speech started.
        In a news conference Thursday, they charged their free speech
rights
were violated by the Tampa Police Department.
        They demanded an investigation and vowed to sue.
        "First our government is stolen, and now our Constitution is
being
shredded," said Bob Kunst of Miami, head of Oral Majority, an
organization
that has been protesting at Bush appearances since his election.
        Rosas, Haught and Lentz, Oral Majority members, were arrested
when
they refused orders from Legends Field security staff to give up
small,
handmade protest signs they were carrying.
        Haught and Lentz also were charged with disorderly conduct.
All were
freed without bail.
        "We had tickets like everybody else," said Haught, a family
therapist
from Clearwater.  "We had a right to be there."
        Their signs charged that the 2000 presidential election was
fraudulent and asked Bush to proclaim June Gay Pride Month.
        Greg Mertz, head of the Tampa Secret Service office, said his
agency
doesn't consider such protesters a security threat.
        But, he said, it's routine for the event hosts -- Legends
Field --
and local police to handle any disturbance in the crowd not
considered a
threat.
        "I fully support what the Tampa police did," he said.
        Joe Durkin, police spokesman, said the protesters were arrested
because once they had been asked to leave by the Legends Field staff,
they
were trespassing.
        "We didn't arrest a protester, we arrested a person for
trespass
after warning," he said.  Even though the event was open to the
public,
asking the protesters to leave was the Legends security's
prerogative," he
said.
        Yankees and Legends Field officials didn't return calls for
comment
Thursday.
        Police reports say field security staff asked the Tampa
officers to
remove the protesters after a disturbance began around them on the
field.
        When the officers tried to arrest them, the protesters tried
to fall
to the ground and lock arms, then tried to pull away while being
taken off,
the officers reported.
        When an elderly companion who wasn't arrested fell to the
ground,
cutting his head, Haught blamed Officer Ruth Stephenson and slapped
her on
the shoulder, Stephenson reported.
        But the reports suggest the initial disturbance -- shoving,
kicking
dirt and grabbing the signs -- came from the crowd around the
protesters.
        Cpl. Robert Lovering reported "pushing and shoving" resulted
from
crowd members trying to take Rosas' sign.
        But he blamed Rosas, a gay rights activist, for "causing the
crowd to
act aggressive toward him" by refusing to give up his sign to
authorities.
        Officer Alexander Rahmings reported that crowd members kicked
dirt on
him and Rosas as he was trying to remove Rosas.
        Kunst has contacted a Philadelphia lawyer, Philip Berg, who was
involved in litigation disputing the outcome of the Florida
presidential
election and is considering taking the case as a lawsuit against the
city.
        Berg said protesters should have the right to demonstrate and
hold
signs at a public appearance by the president.
        . William March covers politics and can be reached at (813)
259-7761
or wmarch@...
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18th June, 2001 (# 1) News Clippings Digest.

1.  ASSOCIATED PRESS  Two Gay Pastors Suspended by United Methodist
Bishop
2.  PROVIDENCE JOURNAL  Nighttime version of Pride Parade draws more
marchers than ever
3.  GLENS FALLS (NY) POST STAR  Presbyterian ruling clears way to
install gay pastor
4.  THE OBSERVER (U.K.)  New battle for gay couples' rights
5.  DALLAS MORNING NEWS  Presbyterians are split on gay clergy; Local
pastors speak out after national vote

Associated Press, June 18, 2001
Two Gay Pastors Suspended by Bishop
        TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- Two gay pastors in the United Methodist
Church
who revealed their sexual orientation were suspended Sunday by their
bishop.
        The Rev. Mark Williams and clergywoman Karen Dammann, both of
Seattle's Woodland Park United Methodist Church, will no longer be
allowed
to have pastoral appointments, pending possible review of their cases.
        "They are good friends.  My heart goes to them ...  I looked
very
hard trying to find ways to keep them in their appointment.  But
that's not
possible,'' Bishop Elias Galvan told KING-TV.
        The suspensions were handed down on the final day of an annual
meeting of Pacific Northwest Methodist ministers representing 280
churches.
        Williams told church officials on Friday that he is gay;
Dammann made
her sexual orientation public in February.
        At the church's General Conference last year, United Methodist
leaders banned homosexual ordination of clergy and same-sex marriages.
        Some ministers want Dammann's case referred to the church's
nine-member Judicial Council, which decides church law.  Galvan said
he
would support such a move.
        Members of Williams' church wore ribbons Sunday to show their
support.  A meeting was scheduled Wednesday at the church to discuss
his
suspension.
        . On the Net: United Methodist Church: http://www.umc.org/


Providence Journal, June 18, 2001
75 Fountain St., Providence, RI, 02902
(Fax: 401-277-7346 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.projo.com )
Nighttime version of Pride Parade draws more marchers than ever
Sexual orientation and gender identity are in the spotlight for the
26th
annual event.
BY D. MORGAN McVICAR and MICHAEL CORKERY, Journal Staff Writers
        PROVIDENCE -- For the first time in its history, the Gay
Lesbian
Bisexual Transgender Pride Parade stepped off in darkness last night,
serving the city a mix of spotlights, rainbow-colored floats and lots
of
spirit.
        After years of marching in sunshine, the organizers of this
year's
parade decided they wanted to march at night, when they figured there
would
be more spectators and less heat.
        Last night, the marchers in the 26th anniversary parade were
not
disappointed, as hundreds of people lined the streets to cheer the
colorful
caravan as it traveled from the State House through downtown.
        "This is the biggest, best parade.  It's just so much fun at
night,"
said David Abbott, as he marched carrying a sign saying, "Conspire
with
Kindness."
        This year the parade was preceded by the Festival of Pride,
which in
the past began at the parade's end.  It was bigger and longer than
any of
the 25 earlier pride festivals.  From noon to 8 p.m., hundreds of
people
stopped by Station Park, across from the State House and the
Providence
Place mall.
        Alex M. Gorriaran, co-chair of the Pride Committee, said the
festival
was moved from India Point to Station Park "because this location is
so much
more visible.  And that's our goal."
        More than 20 musicians and dancers performed, offering a
smorgasbord
of song and dance, including alternative, folk, tap and Latino.  The
festival featured more than 80 vendors, including many activist
organizations offering T-shirts, baseball caps and informational
packets, as
well as 15 food vendors, ranging from Thai to burgers and fries.
        The festival included a Children's Pride Zone for the first
time,
where magician Roger Busquet was scheduled to perform, as were the
Roger
Williams Zoodabours.
        Kate Brock worked at a table with caps, bumper stickers and
other
paraphernalia emblazoned with the initials of an organization called
the
Human Rights Campaign, which Brock said is the largest lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgendered (known as LGBT) civil-rights group in the
country.
        "We're working to end hate crimes," Brock said, "pushing
Congress to
pass anti-hate-crimes legislation.  We're also lobbying for
legislation
including sexual orientation under civil rights protection."
        The Rhode Island Gender Community was also represented, with a
booth
offering informational documents.  Patricia Ross, who is in charge of
educational outreach, said the organization offers support and
education on
transgender issues.
        That includes trying to educate non-transgender people about
transgender issues, she said.
        "And we're lobbying the General Assembly," Ross said.  "We
want them
to give the transgender community the same rights gays and lesbians
have,
and to prohibit discrimination in housing, credit and employment for
gender
identity and expression."
        At the Youth Pride Inc. booth, Michelle Duso offered brochures
about
the organization, which she said provides support, education and
advocacy
for young people affected by sexual orientation and gender identity.
        Youth Pride, together with the state Departments of Education
and
Health, will hold its third annual public forum this fall.  The forum
aims
to educate school "administrators and policymakers on how they can
create
safe climates for all students, including LGBT students," Duso said.


Glens Falls Post Star, June 18, 2001

Box 2157, Glens Falls, NY, 12801
(E-Mail: poststar@... ) ( http://www.poststar.com )
Ruling clears way to install gay pastor
By VICTORIA R. SPAGNOLI, spagnoli@...
        SARATOGA SPRINGS -- The Saratoga Springs Presbyterian-New
England
Congregational Church will likely install a gay man as its associate
pastor
later this year, after an attempt to block the installation was
dismissed by
a Presbyterian judiciary committee.
        A fight over the installation of the Rev. Anthony Green as
associate
pastor began about six months ago, when 17 Presbyterian ministers,
sessions
and elders filed a complaint against the Presbytery of Albany,
objecting to
Green's installation.  But a regional judiciary panel for the church
ruled
last month that those objecting to Green's installation had no
grounds to
block it.
        The dispute over Green's hiring is partly the result of the
Saratoga
Springs church's unusual status as a "federated" church that combines
two
denominations, Congregational and Presbyterian.  The Congregational
church
is part of the United Church of Christ, which allows gay pastors, and
Green
is seeking to become an associate pastor in the Congregational church.
        The Presbyterian church does not allow gays to serve as
pastors, at
least for now.  On Friday, however, the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.), the highest decision-making body in the church, voted
317-208 to strike a ban on gay and lesbian clergy from the church's
constitution, The Book of Order.  The change to the constitution
still must
be ratified by a majority of the 173 presbyteries, the church's
regional
legislatures, in the next year.
        "This is a potentially favorable turn of events for the church
becoming more inclusive of gays and lesbians," said the Rev. Jay
Eckman, a
Presbyterian minister who is senior pastor at the Saratoga Springs
church.
        "We can't afford to block any viable candidate.  Gays and
lesbians
have to have the same right to succeed or fail in ministry as
heterosexuals."
        Although there is hope in the Saratoga Springs church that the
Albany
Presbytery will ratify the change, as the regional legislature
supported a
similar change last year, it is Green's victory that has the church
singing
alleluias, members of the local congregation said.
        "We're happy about it," Eckman said. "Basically we were
concerned
about ministry, and Tony's doing a good job."
        Green said he's pleased with the turn of events.
        "I'm very happy that our church family is now able to move
forward
and solidify the covenant for ministry that we entered into some six
months
ago," Green said.
        "Here in Saratoga Springs, we are blessed with a strong and
thriving
congregation that really seeks to live out God's inclusive love in
the midst
of adversity."
        The Presbyterian pastors who objected to Green's installation
were
led by the Rev. Robert Palisin, pastor of Cambridge United
Presbyterian
Church.  The group filed a complaint with the Permanent Judiciary
Committee
of the Presbyterian Church's northeastern synod, but the committee
decided
in early May that the complaint had no grounds.
        Palisin and his supporters had until May 31 to ask the
committee to
pursue the complaint, but no request was made, said Terry Diggory, an
elder
at the Saratoga Springs church.
        Efforts to contact Palisin for comment Sunday were
unsuccessful.
        Green will be installed Sept. 23.


The Observer, June 17, 2001
119 Farringdon Rd., London EC1 3ER
(Fax: 0171 713 4250) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/observer )
http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,508341,00.html
New battle for gay couples' rights
Gaby Hinsliff, chief political correspondent
        Gay rights campaigners will throw down the gauntlet to Labour
this
week with a major campaign for legal recognition of same-sex
partnerships.
The move comes amid fears that Ministers have pushed the repeal of
Section
28, which bans the promotion of homosexuality in schools, on to the
backburner.
        The new battleground will be over extending property, tax and
other
rights enjoyed by married couples to same-sex peers.  Lifelong gay
partners
have fewer rights than distant cousins:  there have been cases of
partners
losing their homes when their lover dies since they have no right to
inherit
property, or shut out of decisions over the treatment of seriously ill
partners because they are not recognised as next of kin.
        Liberal Democrats are ready to try to secure a change in the
law
through a private member's bill in the House of Lords.  Although it is
unlikely to succeed, the aim is to prod the Government into acting.
        The novelist Jeanette Winterson, the Labour-supporting
financier Ivan
Massow and other well-known figures are backing the campaign, which
is also
supported by a coalition of gay pressure groups, including
Stonewall.  It
will begin next week with the launch of a website,
www.gaypartners.org to
canvass opinion.
        Spokesman Mark Watson said partnership rights reform could be
more
acceptable to MPs and peers than the controversial battle over
Section 28
and the age of consent.  'We are not talking about 16-year-olds
having sex,
or sex in schools, which everybody gets nervous about,' he said.
'This is
about couples saying, "We have been together 15 years and we don't
have the
rights that a heterosexual couple who got married yesterday take for
granted."'
        Church leaders oppose any move towards so-called 'gay
marriage'.  But
Watson said the campaign would not necessarily push for legalised gay
weddings, but for a legal framework in which partners enjoyed basic
safeguards.


Dallas Morning News, June 18, 2001
Box 655237, Dallas, TX, 75265
(Fax: 972-263-0456 ) (E-Mail:  letterstoeditor@... )
( http://www.dallasnews.com )
http://www.dallasnews.com/religion/396693_presbyfolo_18m.html
Presbyterians are split on gay clergy
Local pastors speak out after national vote
By Katherine Morales and Susan Hogan/Albach, The Dallas Morning News
        On Sunday morning, Presbyterians came to their churches to
pray and
to hear what their pastors would say about the possibility of
noncelibate
gays and lesbians serving as clergy.  What they heard widely
reflected the
larger divide in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) nationwide.
        Emotion runs strong on each side of the issue.
        "We have the opportunity to be Christians at our best," said
Dr.
Blair Monie, pastor of Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church.  "There is
a way
to disagree in a way that is respectful to the people with whom you
disagree."
        Highland Park Presbyterian Church, one of the largest in the
denomination, heard a different message.
        This is a sad day in the life of the Presbyterian Church," the
Rev.
Ronald Scates, the church's pastor, said on Sunday.  "This is very
disconcerting."
        The General Assembly, the denomination's governing body, voted
Friday
in Louisville, Ky., to open the possibility of noncelibate gays and
lesbians
serving as pastors, deacons and elders.
        The decision won't become church policy unless it is ratified
by a
majority of the denomination's 173 presbyteries, or regional
districts.  The
voting isn't expected to be completed before next spring.
        If approved, the 2.5 million-member denomination would become
the
largest Christian denomination to welcome noncelibate gay clergy.
        Dr. Monie gave a synopsis of the situation to the congregation
of
Preston Hollow during Sunday services.
        "In general, I think people appreciated the fact that we were
open
about the news, and I have not heard a single human cry from one side
or
another," Dr. Monie said.  "But it's not finished yet."
        The denomination's current standard requires fidelity in
marriage and
chastity in singleness.  It also prohibits the ordination of
"practicing,
self-affirming homosexuals."
        Technically, the standard allows the ordination of celibate
homosexuals, the church's constitutional experts said.  But, in
reality, it
fosters a "don't ask, don't tell" atmosphere, supporters of change
said.
        "It's a double standard," said Chuck Weaver of Waco, who was in
Louisville and voted for the change.  "It holds gay people to a
different
set of rules."
        Members of Bethany Presbyterian Church in Dallas, which has a
strong
outreach to gays and lesbians, said they were pleased with the vote.
But
they said it would be premature to celebrate because of the vote that
awaits
in the presbyteries.
        "I think we've learned that the assembly's vote is certainly an
indicator, but not a prediction, of the outcome," said the Rev. Todd
Freeman, pastor of Bethany Presbyterian.
        "I think the fears about this issue are unfounded."
        The denomination has wrestled over ordination standards for
gays and
lesbians for more than two decades.
        "So many people have lost a lifetime of ministry because of the
church's stance on this issue," said Jean Martin, co-moderator of
More Light
Presbyterians in Grace Presbytery in northeast Texas and a member of
Bethany
Presbyterian Church.
        She was optimistic about the possibility for change.
        "It's going to be a struggle, and we have a lot of work to do,
but
there also needs to be a lot of healing within the church," Ms.
Martin said.
        Across the country, the opposition to change is expected to be
led by
members of the Confessing Church Movement, which believes in biblical
infallibility, in heterosexual marriage and that Jesus is the only
way of
salvation.
        Highland Park Presbyterian Church is among the largest and most
visible supporters of the movement.
        Mr. Scates said the congregation didn't "stand alone," adding
that
the church would fight the measure.
        He urged his congregation to act with graciousness and love
toward
those on opposing sides in the debate.
        "We should live our lives as witnesses to them," he said.
"Let's
hold out God's best for people, not what our culture calls for."
        For years, the church has seemed at an impasse on the issue,
with
little hope of reaching a compromise.
        Dr. Monie said that the ongoing discussion, pro or con, was a
good
example of the church's open dialogue on the issue.
        "I am proud of the fact that the Presbyterian Church doesn't
close
its doors to issues in society," he said.  "If it's an issue in
society,
it's an issue in the church.  To do otherwise is to close our eyes
and bury
our heads in the sand."
        . Staff writer Joel Thornton contributed to this report.
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FEATURES
The passion of John Marsden
Tomorrow is judgement day in John Marsden's bitter defamation battle.
David Brearley spent two years following the court spectacle, and
wonders if victory will mean much at all.

THE pot-smoking poofter keeps his Order of Australia in a display
cabinet on the bathroom wall. He packs his house with trophies, even
here, but it's the ducks that catch your eye. A ragtag army of ducks
is camped around his spa, tin ducks and rubber ducks and 100 other
ducks of uncertain provenance, and real live ducks scutter about the
lush green acreage outside.
"Duck-duck-duck-duck," he calls in his big gruff voice, but the
inscrutable little birds pay him no mind.
The ducks seem to be totems of one sort or another, and their owner
waddles when he walks. His legs are still coming to terms with the
extra weight that bunches about his middle these days, giving him the
profile and the gait of a Tellytubby. He once quipped that "rich,
generous and emancipated personalities" shared a "well rounded
silhouette", but that was in 1992, when his belly was still flat
enough for mirth, and all else in life was perfect.
In 1992, John Marsden was president of the NSW Law Society, proud
leader of 11,500 solicitors. He sat on the state's police and anti-
discrimination boards while resting between presidencies of the
Council for Civil Liberties, and his tiny legal practice at
Campbelltown in Sydney's south-west had spawned a chain employing 140
professionals. The trophies were piling up fast, and – a nice little
sweetener – his old mate John Fahey was premier.
The two men studied for the priesthood together, then Marsden
employed Fahey as his articled clerk. Later, he used to babysit the
Fahey children.
But that was then, and these days he's not welcome in the house – Mrs
Fahey won't have it.
These days, he is the pot-smoking poofter.
Of all  the vile and hateful epithets slung at him in recent years,
amid all the noise about nipple torture and whips and weeping boys,
it is these three words that really bring up the veins in Marsden's
neck.
They were first uttered in the NSW Supreme Court on April 10 last
year by Robin Small, a crusty Kings Cross copper of the old school
who would almost certainly be played by Bill Hunter, should anyone
choose to make a miniseries of that absurd melodrama, Marsden v
Amalgamated Television Services Pty Ltd.
The case concerns two Seven network broadcasts - `Today Tonight' in
March 1995 and `Witness' in May 1996 – which imputed that Marsden
paid boys for sex. These were the years of Justice James Wood's royal
commission into the NSW Police Service, when ranking MPs were using
parliament to name alleged paedophiles, and any whisper of the
subject could find a captive audience.
Marsden sued and was found to have been defamed – four days was all
it took – but the sewers erupted when he pressed his case for damages.
Seven defended its broadcasts as truth, producing 11 young men, ex-
rent boys mostly, to amplify its original slurs from the witness box.
From February 2000, the court became a forum for talk of riding
crops, anal relaxants, golden showers and worse. Two brothers
described a druggy threesome, with Marsden on hands and knees begging
for the whip.
Another man claimed he was buggered and belted at 15, but never paid.
Marsden was always the plaintiff, but Seven's aggressive conduct of
the case effectively made him the defendant.
In this context, Superintendent Small was a fringe witness at best, a
bit player called in to spice up Seven's case on credit and
credibility, which is what lawyers call a smear campaign.
Small told the story of a failed drugs raid on Marsden's house,
offered nothing on underage sex, and added with something like pride:
"[Marsden] was known in the police force as a pot-smoking poofter."
That Marsden is in fact a gay male who enjoys cannabis gives rise to
a profound question. "Does it mean," he asked the judge at the
business end of proceedings last November, "that because I am a pot-
smoking poofter then I am entitled to less damages?"
While Justice David Levine has spent a clear-headed summer applying
the strictures of law to this abstruse conundrum, Marsden has been
seething.
He quotes Small's words obsessively, spits them out as if they were
the worst thing anyone ever said about him. He repeats them
incredulously, as if they were untrue.
"Pot-smoking" demeans Marsden because it negates his thoughtful
position on drugs issues. He was a director for several years at
Odyssey House, a rehabilitation centre for addicts, and has delivered
lengthy speeches here and overseas on the case for decriminalisation.
"Poofter" is a story in itself, a semantic nightmare.
Gay men will apply it to each other, but rarely with any affection;
it's not like queen, or even bugger, in that respect.
On the tongues of straights it is loaded with latent violence.
Poofter is the preferred usage among poofter-bashers.
Of all the terms for male homosexual, only faggot can match its
offensive punch.
Put the words together and Marsden seethes.
He is of the suburbs, and he hears in their rugged poetry the
authentic voice of middle-Australian bigotry – the voice of
conventional wisdom.
Small's words remind Marsden that gay men still live in a hostile
world.
But it's worse than that, more personal. Pot-smoking poofter insults
his ego, for it is the antithesis of everything he believes himself
to be.

SINCE 1993, John Marsden AM, LLM etc., has furnished `Who's Who' with
a remarkably eclectic list of his recreations: "Art, ballet, reading
and rugby league". Throw in the CV and you have the raw stuff of
Renaissance Man – a man for all seasons; a man of substance, at the
very least.
It's an image he strives to reinforce.
He dresses for the boardroom, in sober suits with the obvious
flourishes: lapel pins, matching ties and handkerchiefs. His haircut
is a schoolboy's bowl, but it's a thick growth that looks suitably
severe when he slicks it back.
He drinks Johnnie Walker Blue Label neat, makes his own sambuca, and
keeps a magnificent table.
People find him charming or rudely engaging. He is a tireless gossip,
generous and young at heart, with an easy body language. He loves
company and keeps a colourful entourage, and there's always a
factotum nearby.
Much was made during the trial of his art collection, and he likes it
that way.
Star billing went to an explicit erotic lithograph by Brett Whiteley,
but Marsden surprised the courtroom one day by appearing with two
small
James Gleeson oils wrapped in newspaper.
His stated reason for this unsolicited exhibition was to resolve any
confusion between the Whiteley and the Gleesons, which also depict
the male member. In fact there never was any confusion: Marsden was
simply playing show-and-tell.
The art is just one part of the trophy collection.
Marsden is a keen observer of his own press, prized examples of which
hang framed in his home. These share wall space with caricatures of
himself, photographs of important house guests and lovers (including
some of Seven's witnesses in their glorious prime), and certificates
for everything from bungy jumping to membership of the Gay and
Lesbian Mardi Gras Hall of Fame.
Pride of place goes to a copy of Martin Luther King's "I have a
dream" speech. Marsden is a dreamer himself, a card-carrying
idealist.
He loves a good quote and litters his speeches with a typically
impressive selection: King, and Oscar Wilde of course, but; also
Cicero, the Oracle of Delphi, Shakespeare, Jerome K. Jerome and – a
personal touch –
one Joseph Choate, a 19th-century American jurist who celebrated the
legal profession in lofty prose.
This, then, is Art Marsden, rounded and refined, if not quite the
aesthete he suspects himself of being. You could fairly say he has
more style than class.
The flip side is Footy Marsden, a role he plays with comparative
ease.
Footy Marsden is your basic have-a-go Aussie, loud, reckless, reared
in the old man's pub. He's the sort of bloke who yells at boxers, but
rugby league is his passion, and he workshops the weekend's results
with Les Murphy, the youngest of Anita Cobby's killers, who calls him
from jail on Sunday evenings.
Marsden is a man's man – the father of a young adult, for what it's
worth – with the important qualification that he is gay.
There is nothing camp about him. He can be the most dreadful ham in
court, but you won't catch him mincing this side of six whiskies, and
even then it's low-level stuff. He's nobody's dandy.
His sexuality was hard won. Late adolescence was a commotion of
anguish and fear – active ingredient: Catholic guilt – and the middle
years seem to have been a succession of comings-out. He sometimes
gives the date as 1992, his annus mirabilis, when he slipped the word
"we" into a public statement on the HIV epidemic. Yet he nominates
1984 as the year he first took an active position on gay rights. He
told his parents in 1972, before a political enemy could beat him to
it. And then there was 1960, when Marsden, the blushing but (he says)
brilliant novitiate, fessed up to Cardinal Gilroy at Springwood
seminary. He was a teenager at the time and it's still one of his
favourite yarns.
He is almost 60 now and he has had many lovers: 100 was the figure
offered the court, but that seems modest. Promiscuous is a label he
will not deny, but predatory he will not accept. There were men  he
loved for years on end, and fast times in between.
He does beats and he fancies rough trade, manly men with hairy
chests, truck drivers and such, but only those with their own teeth.
Muscle Marys need not apply.
Finally, he is a top, meaning he likes to be the dominant party in
any sexual arrangement, within limits. Seven says his tastes run to
whips and other nasties; Marsden counters that he has a reputation in
gay circles for "lollipop sex", meaning no kinky stuff.
That such details are now a matter of public record is the price he
has agreed to pay, and not unwillingly, for his battle has become a
quest.
Messianic passions were stirring within him by 1997, if not before,
when he posed for photographer Moore Hardy. The crucifixion concept
was Hardy's alone, but it must have piqued something deep inside
Marsden, whose Christianity and civil liberties background commit him
to a creed of fearless passive resistance. The true enemy of
injustice, he told the judge last year, was the man who put his
principles above his person, whatever the cost.
Lately, martyrdom has become his preferred disposition.
Marsden sees himself in the tradition of Saint Sebastian, a man who
suffered greatly that other men might suffer less, and one of the
most enduring figures in all of gay culture.
While the case for Sebastian's homosexuality is circumstantial at
best, he enjoys a stellar afterlife as homoerotic pin-up boy.
He is commonly pictured not at the moment of his death – he was
bashed and dumped in a sewer in about AD 300 – but during an earlier
ordeal at the hands of Roman archers. Invariably he wears only a rag
about his loins.
His wrists are strapped high and behind, the better to display a
superb upper-body musculature, and his skin is flawless, save for the
wounds of the arrows, which are no less obscene for being neat.
Trussed and pierced, he averts his gaze to heaven, a model of
constancy.
This loaded image, a favourite with artists since the Renaissance,
exercises a powerful grip on the collective gay unconscious today.
The Beautiful Saint embodies the righteousness of the cause, the
cruelty of the persecution and the nobility of the suffering.
The martyr figure is a carefully nurtured motif in gay culture.
Harvey Milk, San Francisco's first openly gay elected official,
murdered in 1978, is enshrined in biography, documentary and opera.
More recently, Matthew Shepard, the angelic University of Wyoming
student killed in a horrendous gay bashing in 1998, has been
immortalised by Tectonic Theater in `The Laramie Project'.
But it is an earlier Tectonic production, `Gross indecency: The Three
Trials of Oscar Wilde', that best maps out Marsden's route to
martyrdom.
Marsden laughs off the analogy, but the parallels between his pursuit
of Seven and Wilde's prosecution of the Marquess of Queensberry 100
years earlier are beyond uncanny. Each case began with a sexual slur
against a prominent gay man. Each slur resulted in a civil suit for
defamation.
Each suit turned on the evidence of rent-boys whose calumnies fuelled
the fires of common prurience.
That Wilde's suit eventually found its way to the criminal courts is
a matter of legal interest only. His action and Marsden's are
identical in spirit: moral convictions, unfashionable ones at that,
tested in the hostile world of the courts; designs for martyrdom, in
other words.
Wilde succeeded, partly because the judgment went against him,
partly, too, because he conducted his great self-destruction with
such bravura.
Adopting the name Sebastian for an alias, he composed `The Ballad of
Reading Gaol', turning his incarceration into a potent symbol.
But Marsden is no Oscar Wilde. He cannot match the Irishman for
intellect or social graces, let alone rhetoric.
His final submission last November – was shambolic – emotional,
rambling, occasionally incoherent: "I suppose, Your Honour, in
summary, you look at a young man growing up at the plaintiff's age
where his life, up until 1984, was one of illegality because of the
way he was born, and it was difficult and encouraged people to live
double lives and remain in the closet, as people say.
"Then in [19]84, the law changed but the stress (sic) for the gay man
was only short-lived because, by late '84, early '85, the AIDS virus
hit and one became on a rollercoaster as to whether one was going to
die or not, and one was rushing off for tests.
"And as things started to pull out of that, in '93 and '94, Your
Honour, I was suddenly hit with [Seven's defamation]."
This is the Passion of John Marsden: outlawed by birth, hunted by
nature, hounded by men. injury piles upon injustice in an epic
continuum of suffering, with Seven squarely implicated. But is it
enough?
Edward Gibbon in `Decline And Fall' reasoned that vanity was the seed
of all martyrdom, and Marsden is a candidate on that score.
Conversely, a certain humility is required to wear the martyr's robes
with any style, and humility is one quality Marsden does not claim to
possess.
His temper is altogether wrong, too angry, and too flighty.
Broadcaster Phillip Adams testified to Marsden's "preposterous
candour", and it's true that he has the boastful sexuality common to
many gay men.
He imagines, for example, that his pillow talk is tremendously
thrilling to straight people.
A part of him is hurting, no doubt, but there's another part that's
not entirely uncomfortable with the notoriety.

SAINT Sebastian or pot-smoking poofter? Reputation is the prize here,
and tomorrow's Supreme Court judgment will not be the final word on
the matter. There is simply too much Marsden in the public arena
these days for one man's findings to tell the story.
Ultimately, it is homosexuals who will weigh Marsden's claim on
martyrdom and determine his place in the greater public narrative.
He has other constituencies, of course – the legal profession,
politics, the western suburbs – but these are hardly points of
popular interest.
It was as a proud gay man that he was defamed and as a proud gay man
that he hit back. It is therefore as a proud gay man that he will be
judged, in time.
But gays and lesbians are as fractious as the next demographic, maybe
more so, and they do not speak with one voice on the delicate subject
of Marsden. When the Mardi Gras potentates inducted him into their
Hall of Fame last year, 200 people gave him a standing ovation, but
200 more stayed in their seats.
Some say Marsden walks on water, others think he's a sham, and these
views can be held quite discrete from opinions on the truth or
otherwise of Seven's broadcasts. Put another way, two men who believe
precisely the same things about Marsden's private life are likely to
adopt radically opposed positions on the man himself.
Where straights reduce their thinking on Marsden to a simple question
– `Did he do those things?' – older gays in particular bring some
seriously heavy baggage to the reckoning. `Did he do those things?'
is only part of a highly complex equation.
These men were born outside the law.
They remember a time when Mardi Gras was a protest and all High Court
judges were straight, and they reckon they know a witch-hunt when
they see one. Moreover, they understand the legal subtext to
Marsden's prosecution – the NSW consent laws that say girls may sleep
with other girls at 16, while boys must be 18 before they sleep with
men.
This rich layer of context, which Marsden claims is beyond the
comprehension of straight people, creates a pool of residual sympathy
for him within the gay and lesbian community.
Still, many ask why he sued in the first place, knowing the dirt such
a tacky case was always going to generate. people feel exposed,
invaded.

`TODAY Tonight' and `Witness' said some creepy things about Marsden,
but it was not until he sued that the shit really rained down.
If the original slurs hurt, then the law's remedy has proved 10 times
worse. Because whatever reputation Marsden had on May 8, 1996, the
day after the second Seven broadcast, he has 10 times that reputation
now.
Jeff Shaw, who was NSW attorney-general during most of  this
business, spoke about the futility of defamation actions at a Law
Society function last year. His advice to the slandered: turn the
other cheek.
"Surely a decorous silence is preferable to a media hell," Shaw said
in a speech that covered some celebrated cases: the [rugby league
player]
Andrew Ettingshausen' penis photograph [taken in the shower after a
football match, and published in a women's magazine],
Abbott and Costello v Bob Ellis [Federal politicians, Tony Abbott and
Peter Costello were found to have been defamed in a book - later
withdrawn and pulped - by Australian writer Bob Ellis] and, of
course,
always Oscar Wilde.
Shaw never once mentioned the society's illustrious former president,
but clearly had Marsden in mind when he asked: "Why bother?
Why take your life in your two hands like water, then make a fist and
lose it all?" Why bother?
Marsden might be asking himself this very question today, sitting out
there with his ducks and his fine art, sweating on a verdict.
His name has taken a thrashing, yet his case never really became the
catalyst it might have been.
Her Majesty's courts proved an unwilling forum for a civil liberties
debate.
Or was it simply that the man the middle lacked the substance – the
gravitas – to elevate this whole sordid business above the level of
lewd curiosity?
Why the ducks, I asked him once, fancying there were too many of the
critters to satisfy a mere affectation. The answer didn't amount to
much,
at first.
It turns out somebody gave him a pair, then somebody else did the
same,
and so the joke went until the ducks were legion.
"So there's nothing to it," he said flatly. But then, in a very
Marsden moment, his eyes creased at the corners and a broad smile
crossed his face.
"Except that duck rhymes with - - ."
• David Brearley is a senior writer at `The Australian'.

SIDE BAR:
Battle over the truth
JOHN MARSDEN
Born January 3, 1942.
Educated St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill; De La Salle College,
Armidale; Sydney University. Seminarian, solicitor, networker.
Former president of the NSW Law Society and Council for Civil
Liberties,
sat on the NSW Police Board, NSW Anti-Discrimination Board.
Multiple memberships and affiliations.
Stood for parliament as Liberal Party candidate, maintains powerful
contacts across the political spectrum.
Order of Australia since 1994.

• November 1995: Deirdre Grusovin names Marsden as a pederast in NSW
parliament.

• March 1995: Channel Seven's current affairs program `Today Tonight'
implies Marsden paid boys for sex.

• May 1996: `Witness' on Channel Seven repeats the implications.

• August 1996: Wood royal commission into NSW Police Service
investigates Marsden. He is cleared.

• February 1999: Supreme Court jury finds Seven defamed Marsden.

• November 1999: Damages hearing begins, at which Seven defends its
broadcasts as truth.

• February 2000: Truth witnesses testify against Marsden.

• May 2000: Marsden testifies.

• June 2000: Marsden calls Anita Cobby killer Les Murphy to testify.

• November 2000: Hearing finishes after 214 days.

• June 27, 201: Judgment day.

• Photo Credit: C. Moore Hardy

17th June, 2001 (# 10) News Clippings Digest.

1.  BOSTON GLOBE MAGAZINE  For better, for worse:  Vermont's civil
union legislation has been a boon to gay couples.  But dissenters are
still pressing their case.

Boston Globe Magazine, June 17, 2001
P.O. Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107-2378
www.boston.com, e-mail: magazine@...)
For better, for worse:  Vermont's civil union legislation has been a
boon to
gay couples.  But dissenters are still pressing their case.
By Neil Miller
        When Brian Moore and Tom Robinson celebrated their legal union
last
July, it could have been a letdown.  After all, they had been a
couple for 6
1/2 years.  And they had really been "in the middle of history," as
they put
it, when they watched from the gallery a few months earlier as the
Vermont
House of Representatives narrowly approved same-sex civil unions.
        Now, here they were in a suburb of Burlington, standing on the
back
porch of the friend who had introduced them.  Moore's parents were
there,
too -- by coincidence, it was their 33d wedding anniversary.  The two
young
men, dressed casually in slacks and polo shirts, answered, "We do"
and "I
do," as the justice of the peace recited their handwritten vows.  And
then
came the momentous words:  "By the authority vested in me by the
State of
Vermont, I hereby join you in civil union."  The ceremony was over in
10
minutes.  Yet, says Moore, everything "felt different after that day."
        Moore, at 27-year-old Burlington graphic designer, and
Robinson, a
28-year-old graduate student at the University of Vermont, later
solemnized
their "spiritual union" at the University of Vermont chapel, with
relatives,
friends, and college teachers offering affectionate tributes.  And in
January, when the couple went to board a plane for Florida for a
belated
honeymoon, the US Airways ticket clerk recognized them from their
announcement in The Burlington Free Press.  She upgraded Moore and
Robinson
to first class.
        "I always wanted to get married," say Moore, who grew up in
Walpole
and met Robinson, a Sturbridge native, when they were undergraduates
at
Vermont's Saint Michael's College.  "'Coming out' as gay didn't
change that.
Tom and I discussed marriage almost from the beginning of our
relationship.
All our straight friends were starting to get married.  It makes you
feel
second class not to be able to do the same thing."
        Moore and Robinson had hardly been born when Lois Farnham and
her
partner, Holly Puterbaugh, first became a couple.  Not surprisingly
Farnham,
a 56-year-old school nurse, and Puterbaugh, a 55-year-old University
of
Vermont math professor, celebrated their civil union the day the new
law
went into effect, exchanging vows in a ceremony at the First
Congregational
Church in Burlington.  Their 19-year-old daughter, Kim, served as the
attendant, and a soloist sang "The Impossible Dream."  Farnham and
Puterbaugh, major figures in the campaign for same-sex marriage in
Vermont,
had waited more than 27 years for this moment.
        "If you were a lesbian in the 1970s and were falling in love,
you
never expected that marriage would be part of the experience," says
Puterbaugh.  "To have something close to that happen was amazing."

        Almost a year after the first-in-the-nation law sanctioning
same-sex
civil unions went into effect last July 1, the institution is
increasingly
becoming part of the Vermont landscape.  The civil unions law grants
same-sex couples the same rights and responsibilities as married
couples.
It is essentially "marriage without the name," as supporters and
critics
agree.  As such, it represents an unprecedented social experiment
that puts
the Green Mountain State, alone in the United States, alongside
countries
like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and France, which have adopted
similar systems.  (On April 1, the Netherlands became the first
country in
the world to permit full-fledged marriage between members of the same
sex.)
        In Vermont, all a male or female couple must do is apply for a
license from a city or town clerk and arrange for a justice of the
peace or
minister to pronounce them "joined in civil union."  Like married
couples,
partners in civil union have the right to automatic inheritance if
the other
person dies without a will, to make health care decisions for each
other,
and to refuse to testify against a partner in court.  And if civil
union
partners wish to end their relationship, they must file for
dissolution in
family court.  They can even ask for alimony.
        Still, the absence of the word "marriage" is significant.  It
means
that the relationships are not recognized outside the borders of
Vermont.
In addition, federal marriage rights -- like Social Security
survivor's
benefits -- don't apply.  As a result, gay marriage activists, while
they
support the new law, have their reservations.  "Separate but equal
institutions are not equality," says Dorothy Mammen, coordinator of
Vermont's Freedom to Marry Coalition.
        Those limitations haven't stopped same-sex couples from taking
advantage of the new law.  As of May 22 -- 11 months after the law
took
effect -- 2,043 civil unions have taken place in Vermont, according
to the
state's Department of Vital Statistics.  Some 430 couples are
Vermonters,
while 1,613 couples have come from out-of-state.  Two-thirds of them
are
female couples.  These days, The Burlington Free Press and The Rutland
Herald routinely print announcements of civil unions using the same
format
used for wedding notices, and community registers include listings of
civil
unions along with marriages, births, and deaths.
        However, the law has spawned a bitter backlash as well -- the
"Take
Back Vermont" movement that almost upended Vermont politics last
November.
Although passions have cooled somewhat, one recent poll showed that a
majority of the public remains opposed to the new law, and civil
unions foes
continue to press their cause in a politically divided legislature.
And
these opponents insist that the state's politics will never be the
same
again.

        Hawaii was where gay marriage was supposed to happen first.
While
that state was debating the issue, in April 1997, three Vermont same-
sex
couples -- including Lois Farnham and Holly Puterbaugh -- went to
their
local justices of the peace and applied for marriage licenses.  They
were
refused.  They then sued in Superior Court, and the case -- called
Baker v.
State, after one of the plaintiffs, Stan Baker -- eventually wound up
in the
Vermont Supreme Court.
        Once Hawaii voters overwhelmingly defeated gay marriage in a
1998
referendum, all eyes turned toward Vermont, a state with a famously
contrarian streak, a liberal reputation, and a series of gay rights
laws
already on the books.
        On the Monday before Christmas 1999, after 18 months of
deliberation,
the Supreme Court justices ruled that the State of Vermont was
obliged to
extend to same-sex couples "the common benefits and protections that
flow
from marriage under Vermont law."
        The decision put the Legislature on the spot.  Most Vermont
lawmakers
were reluctant to authorize full-fledged gay marriage.  But merely
approving
bereavement visits or health care benefits for same-sex couples wasn't
enough to satisfy the court's requirements.  So civil unions emerged
as a
compromise.  "The phrase 'civil union' didn't exist before this,"
says state
Representative Bill Lippert, a gay Democrat from Hinesburg.  "We made
it
up."  Despite tumultuous legislative hearings and passionate
opposition that
included the Roman Catholic bishop of the diocese of Burlington and
family-values groups nationwide, the House and Senate gave final
approval to
civil unions in April 2000, and Governor Howard Dean signed the bill
into
law on April 26.
        But the issue would not die, especially with elections for
governor
and the Legislature set for November.  Republican gubernatorial
candidate
Ruth Dwyer took up the anti-civil unions banner.  By summer, black-
and-white
"Take Back Vermont" signs dotted highways, barns, and houses.  In
addition
to resistance to civil unions, the movement embodied a variety of
grievances
over issues in which the courts and the Legislature were perceived as
making
law without public consent -- from restrictions on logging and land
purchases to an education funding law that many interpreted as
abridging
local control.
        Opposition was particularly strong among working-class
French-Canadian voters north of Burlington and rural constituencies
in the
Northeast Kingdom, along the Canadian border.  There was no violence,
but
the state's mood had clearly turned ornery, with fissures opening
between
small-town and suburban Vermonters and between traditionalist old-
timers and
liberal newcomers.  "Civil unions was the magnet [for Take Back
Vermont],
but it wasn't just civil unions," says Frank Bryan, professor of
political
science at the University of Vermont.  "It was a big-time cultural
clash.
It was a lot of people who felt, 'We have been ignored, and now we're
pissed
off.'"
        In the Republican primary last fall, five GOP legislators who
supported civil unions were defeated, and anti-civil union
Republicans later
won control of the House of Representatives.  (The pro-civil union
Democrats
narrowly kept the Senate.)  In the general election, the defeats of
15 House
members and one senator were attributed to their support of civil
unions.
An Election Day exit poll by Voter News Service showed a dead heat on
the
issue.

        The southern Vermont town of Chester is the perfect place to
get
married -- or its equivalent.  The main street is lined with brightly
painted houses with Victorian turrets and front porches, reminiscent
of San
Francisco's "painted ladies."  Shops sell antique furniture and
quilts and
kitchenware.  "The Vermont you've been hoping to find" is the way the
town
advertises itself.
        Over the past year, Jack Coleman, a Chester justice of the
peace, has
performed about 40 same-sex civil unions, all of them for out-of-state
couples.  Since the law went into effect, he says has officiated at
more
civil unions than he has marriages in all his 10 years as a justice
of the
peace.  The proceedings take place across the town green at the
Chester
House Inn, at a park in next-door Grafton, or in Coleman's well-
appointed
living room.
        At the ceremonies, Coleman always asks members of the couple
to speak
vows to each other.  It's the emotional quality of many of the civil
unions
that has particularly impressed him.  "I do not recall a bride or
groom
crying, but I've seen crying over and over again at these
ceremonies," says
Coleman, 80, a former president of Pennsylvania's Haverford College
who now
publishes The Black River Tribune, a local weekly newspaper.  "They
get a
tremendous feeling from receiving a degree of public approval."
        Many of the participants in Coleman's civil unions have come
from
socially conservative states, where gay relationships are frowned
upon.
(The first couple he joined came from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.)
He has
"married" two Arizona women in their 70s and a fire chief from a
Southern
city and her partner.
        For many couples, a weekend of antiquing or leaf peeping in
Chester
or a town like it, capped by a visit to the justice of the peace, can
give
the event a memorable, romantic quality.  Such visitors represent an
emerging civil union tourism industry.  In Chester, for example, the
Chester
House Inn has hosted some 30 to 35 couples in town for civil unions,
while
the Stone Hearth Inn, just outside of town, has entertained five or
six.
        The impact has been modest so far, since civil unions usually
don't
attract the large number of family members that weddings do, says
Randon
Guy, co-owner of the Chester House Inn.  "For us, it's certainly not
make or
break," says Guy.  "But it does give us additional business."  And he
notes
that the new breed of visitors has given an economic boost to other
businesses in town.  "People who come for a civil union know they're
not
spending what their sister did on her wedding," he says.  "So they
rationalize spending more on little things."
        Not surprisingly, there are some people in Chester who were
wary
about the new law.  Sandy Walker, the town clerk and treasurer, was
one of
them.  Couples who want to be joined in civil union are required to
obtain a
license from the town clerk, and Walker admits that, at her office,
"We were
apprehensive at first, as with any new thing."  But after the initial
couples arrived, "It was a piece of cake," she says.  "They are
polite,
friendly, funny, and very pleasant.  Like any new friendship, you
break the
ice first, and then you take it from there
."

        On a Saturday evening in April, a year after civil unions were
approved, some 150 opponents of the legislation are gathered in the
Emerald
Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton Burlington Hotel.  It is the second
annual
dinner of Take It to the People, or TIP, the organization that has
led the
fight against the law.  The theme of tonight's dinner is "Preserving
Traditional Marriage," and the dinner logo features the words "one
man" and
"one woman," each drawn inside a heart.
        Yet the rancor that characterized last year's legislative
hearings
and election campaign is absent.  As the foot soldiers of the anti-
civil
union movement -- ranging from evangelical ministers to abortion
opponents
to ordinary folks -- sit down to a turkey dinner, there is no red-hot
rhetoric or gay bashing, no admonitions about God's wrath and
Judgment Day.
The most heated that things become is when the Rev. Craig Bensen,
TIP's
executive director, tells the crowd:  "They tell us to get over it
and move
on.  Well, we're not ready to get over it and move on!"  The crowd
applauds
enthusiastically.
        The evening's main speaker is Maggie Gallagher, co-author of
the 2000
book The Case for Marriage.  Gallagher ticks off a number of
arguments based
on data compiled by her co-author, University of Chicago professor of
sociology Linda J. Waite, as to why marriage represents the ideal
state:
Married couples make more money; have longer lives and better sex; are
responsible for less welfare, crime, and suicide.  Yet some might say
that
the arguments she puts forth in favor of marriage could apply to
committed
civil unions as well.  As if suddenly realizing this, she asks
rhetorically,
"Why not extend it to [same-sex] marriages?"  Her answer is a firm no.
"Marriage," she says, "is about getting mothers and fathers for
children."
        The mild tone of the dinner reflects the personality of
Bensen, TIP's
executive director.  An evangelical pastor of the Cambridge United
Church in
Cambridge, Vermont, the bearded and nattily dressed Bensen resembles a
suburban Jeremiah, but he is measured, even-tempered, and definitely
no
rabble-rouser.
        "The Pat Robertson style is not appropriate to Vermont,"
Bensen says
over coffee at the Sheraton's restaurant before the banquet.  "We try
hard
not to attack individuals.  We deal in the realm of ideas."
        While TIP's goal is to repeal civil unions, Bensen realizes
that this
is unlikely while the pro-civil union Democrats control the Senate
and the
governorship.  Lurking in the background is the problem of what he
calls
"the Baker box" -- the court decision mandating that same-sex couples
have
the same benefits as married ones.  So Bensen makes frequent recourse
to
words like "healing" and "compromise."
        Bensen looks favorably on a bill proposed by the House
Judiciary
Committee chairwoman, Republican Margaret Flory of Pittsford, that
would
replace civil unions with "reciprocal partnerships," offering limited
financial benefits to a range of sexual and nonsexual relationships,
without
giving quasi-married status to gay couples.  "The Flory bill is a
good place
to start talking," Bensen says.  (Flory's bill passed the
Republican-controlled House by a 72-69 vote just before Memorial
Day.  Over
in the Senate, however, Richard Sears, Democrat of Bennington and
chairman
of the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated that he had no intention of
considering the bill this year or next.)
        Not all opponents of civil union exude Bensen's public
moderation,
particularly some of the newly elected members of the House who owe
their
seats largely to the civil unions issue.  They have introduced a
variety of
legislative initiatives, chipping away at civil unions, trying to
block
anything that might open the door to full-fledged gay marriage.
        One of the new members, Republican Representative Duncan
Kilmartin, a
trial lawyer from the working-class community of Newport, on the
Canadian
border, keeps the rhetorical volume high, charging that gay unions
elevate
"a forbidden sexual practice to the level of marriage, upsetting
3,400 years
of Judeo-Christian tradition."  Kilmartin advocates impeaching the
entire
state Supreme Court for "creating a blueprint for judicial tyranny."
        Right now, the anti-civil union strategy is twofold:  First,
force
legislators to go on record on a variety of bills that shore up
marriage and
undercut gay unions.  Then, try to use these votes to oust civil union
supporters and gain control of the Senate and governorship next time
around.
Should that occur, opponents would likely begin the difficult process
of
drafting a constitutional amendment to overturn the court decision.
But
that wouldn't begin until 2003.
        Whether opposition to civil unions can sustain itself as a
major
issue over the long term is questionable, however.  Governor Dean
insists
that most Vermonters want to move on to issues like taxes, health
care, and
education.  "The average Vermonter does not want to see civil unions
discussed anymore," he says flatly.  "It is a very emotional issue,
but when
you really take stock of it, it has no effect on 90 percent of the
people."
        David R. Moats, The Rutland Herald editorial page editor who
won a
Pulitzer Prize this year for his editorials supporting civil unions,
sees
the issue as essentially settled.  "It was tumultuous, but the
political
system has dealt with it, purged it," he says.  "If anyone tries to
make a
big deal of it in the 2002 elections, it just won't resonate except
with
certain people."  Still, a Vermont Poll taken on May 1 for The Rutland
Herald and WCAX-TV showed that 50 percent of Vermonters favor repeal
of
civil unions.
        As the Legislature in Montpelier tinkers with the law, other
states
are considering the Vermont model.  The Rhode Island and Connecticut
legislatures held hearings on civil unions this spring, and the issue
is on
the table in California and Washington state.  Dean predicts that,
over the
next 10 to 20 years, "civil unions will become the law of the United
States."
        At the same time, activists continue to push for full-fledged
gay
marriage.  In mid-April, seven Massachusetts couples filed a lawsuit
to
force the Commonwealth to recognize gay and lesbian marriages.  But if
Vermont is any guide, states that take up the issue will have to
confront
the same opposition that the civil unions debate in Vermont
unleashed.  "The
issue has brought folks out of the woodwork in terms of political
activism,"
says Bensen.  "They aren't going to go away."

        Almost a year after their civil union, Brian Moore and Tom
Robinson
still live in the same town house sandwiched between a couple of
dairy farms
on the edge of Burlington's suburbia.  But some things have changed:
The
couple have achieved a newfound stability and security.  They just
bought
the town house, for one thing, in part with money they received as
gifts at
their civil union.  Since their union, they worry less about how a
fight or
an argument might affect their relationship.  "We're hitting our
stride,"
says Moore.  "We always knew we were together.  Now it is
permanent."  Just
to remind them, their framed vows, signed by 160 witnesses, are
displayed on
their living room wall.
        The couple's new status has meant little in terms of financial
benefits.  Moore was covered under Robinson's health plan before
their civil
union.  Still, having a legal tie offers a greater sense of day-to-day
security.  Moore has Crohn's disease, a bowel ailment that can result
in
incapacitating hospitalizations.  Now, Robinson feels more confident
that he
won't be questioned or challenged if he has to visit his partner in
the
hospital.
        The fact that their legal tie is not recognized in other states
worries, though.  Robinson's hobby is biking, which he often does on
the
other side of Lake Champlain in New York State, and Moore is
concerned that
Robinson could be hit by a car.  If that happened, would Moore be
allowed to
visit his partner in the hospital as a family member?  Drawbacks like
this
make Robinson and Moore argue in favor of full-fledged gay marriage.
Still,
given the statewide trauma that even civil union has engendered,
Robinson
has concluded that compromise may not be so bad.  "Incremental change
enables people to adjust," he says.
        A year after civil union, Moore and Robinson may be hitting
their
stride.  But Vermont's period of adjustment isn't over yet.
        . Neil Miller teaches journalism at Tufts University.
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17th June, 2001 (# 9) News Clippings Digest.

1.  INDIANAPOLIS STAR  Rev. Howard Warren receives credit for vote by
Presbyterian church to end gay ordination ban; Now he is dying of AIDS
2.  THE SUNDAY AGE (Australia)  Welsh writer Sarah Waters was looking
at gay and lesbian historical fiction for a thesis when she realised
that she had
the material for a novel ("Tipping The Velvet")
3.  THE OLYMPIAN (WA)  Pride marchers say community is making strides
4.  PROVIDENCE JOURNAL  Rev. Jesse Jackson tells leaders of Gay Men
of African Descent that homophobia slows response to AIDS the same way
anti-Semitism did in World War II

Indianapolis Star, June 17, 2001
P. O. Box 145, Indianapolis, IN, 46206-0145
(Fax: 317-656-1435 ) (E-Mail:  stareditor@... )
( http://www.starnews.com )
http://www.starnews.com/print/articles/howard17.html
Minister's fight for gay clergy gains acceptance
Rev. Howard Warren receives credit for vote by Presbyterian church to
end
ordination ban.
By John Masson, Indianapolis Star
        Friends of the Rev. Howard Warren don't know if he's aware of
the
victory he helped win this week, when the governing body of the
Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) voted to lift a ban on ordaining gay men and lesbians.
        They've told Warren about the vote.  But the retired
Presbyterian
minister, who spent years fighting to keep his church from excluding
homosexuals from the clergy, has been losing his battle with a more
fearsome
foe: AIDS.
        And friends say his memory seems to be declining as sharply as
his
health.
        The retired pastoral care director for the Damien Center is
living in
a nursing home.  His caregivers sold his condominium to help finance
his
health care, and Saturday they gathered there to sell the art, knick-
knacks
and other items he had collected during a lifetime of travel and
activism.
        The beautiful things were inside the house -- alongside an
amazing
collection of tacky hats.  It's proof, his friends say, of what a
complicated guy Warren really is.
        Capturing his essence is a challenge, even for those who know
him
best.
        "He was a very visible, friendly, provoking and courageous
presence,"
said the Rev. Edgar Towne, who has worked closely with Warren over the
years.  "He's been referred to as God's glorious gadfly."
        This is a minister who would wear rainbow-colored stoles
around his
neck, a not-so-subtle reminder to churchgoers that a gay man could
serve God
if given the opportunity.
        But that opportunity was and is controversial.  Like other
mainline
Protestant churches, the Presbyterians have struggled with the issue
of
homosexuality among clergy during the past couple of decades.
Friday's vote
means the issue will go back to the church's 173 presbyteries, or
regional
legislatures, for final approval.
        Warren -- who acknowledged that he was gay and HIV-positive in
the
late 1980s, long after he was ordained -- helped lead the debate for
years.
        "There was a hard edge under it, but it was done with a great
deal of
humor," Towne said.  "Still, he was terribly hurt by the Presbyterian
Church."
        Once he'd been diagnosed with HIV, Warren retreated into the
Scriptures, Towne said.  He came away stronger, and went to work at
the
Damien Center.
        "It reaffirmed for him the love of God," Towne said.  "He felt
his
own hurt and his own confusion, growing up and knowing he was
different.
But he rediscovered the love of God and cleared the self-hate."
        Warren poured himself into helping others with HIV or AIDS
through
the Damien Center, created in 1987 by priests from Christ Church
Episcopal
Cathedral and the SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Cathedral.  He
helped
introduce concepts such as the "care team" -- a group of people who
volunteer to give intensive help to an individual HIV patient.  It's
an idea
from which Warren himself is benefiting today.
        "It's the poignancy of it.  Here's a person who gave so much
to care
for others, and now it's time to care for him," Towne said.
"Everybody
feels that in the gay community in Indianapolis."
        The four members of Warren's care team -- the Rev. Judith
Carson and
the Rev. Jayne Kercheval of The Church Within on the Northwestside,
plus
Carol Christopher and Kathryn Erb (who call themselves "the
ir-reverends") -- organized Saturday's sale.  They raised about
$5,000, or
enough to pay for about six weeks of Warren's nursing home care.
        They hope to finish clearing out the Far-Northside condo
Thursday,
when they'll have another sale from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
        Despite the somber undertone, Saturday's gathering felt more
like a
celebration of Warren's life and work than a preparation for his
death.  And
the number and variety of people who showed up for the sale was
testimony to
how beloved Warren is.
        "Howard Warren helped put a face on this disease, AIDS," said
Susan
Logsdon, who worked with him at the Damien Center in its early
years.  "He
went out into the world and said, 'I am a gay man with AIDS, and God
loves
me.'"
        More information about Thursday's sale is available by calling
Carson
at 1-317-475-8488.
        . Contact John Masson at 1-317-444-6387 or via e-mail at
john.masson@...


The Sunday Age, 17 June, 2001
250 Spencer Street, Melbourne, 3000. Australia
(Fax: + 61-3-9601-2414 ) (E-mail: letters@... )
(http://www.theage.com.au )
Coming out with a novel
Sarah Waters was looking at gay and lesbian historical fiction for a
thesis
when she realised that she had the material for a novel.
The Welsh writer spoke to Frances Atkinson.
        Sarah Waters doesn't think you can ever go back, certainly not
to the
place where you grew up.  The Welsh novelist thinks you can only move
somewhere similar and discover all the things that you never saw when
you
were a child.
        Home for Waters was Neyland in Pembrokeshire, on the south-
west coast
of Wales -- a place literally and figuratively on the margins of
British
life.
        "It was a place of contradictions, it was held in a mid-20th
century
timewarp.  It's given me a taste for small-town life, families, the
slightly
claustrophobic.  I remember all the women looking old."
        The family weren't big readers, but Waters and her Dad enjoyed
creating their own stories.
        As a teenager she developed an insatiable appetite for fiction.
        At 18, Waters left Neyland to attend the University of Kent to
study
English Literature, but the sense of the marginal never left her;
instead,
it gave her a peculiar Gothic sensibility that shaped her view of the
world
and Victorian England.
        Her first novel, 'Tipping the Velvet', made a quiet debut on
Australian bookshelves in 1998 but word of mouth crept around and the
book
suddenly took off.
        She was in Sydney last month for the writers' festival.
        The idea for 'Tipping the Velvet' emerged as Waters completed
her
thesis on lesbian and gay historical fiction.
        "I really got into the issue of what lesbians and gay men can
do with
history, whether you can reclaim it, recover it or invent it.  I was
finishing the thesis and I really began to think, there's a novel
somewhere
in here."
        She set out to develop a range of complex lesbian characters
and
identities that might have existed in the late Victorian era.
        On contemporary lesbian fiction, Waters recalls an exciting
time in
the '80s with the emergence of lesbian publishing houses.  "I remember
reading lesbian novels in the '80s that weren't brilliant, but it was
exciting that they were there at all.
        By the end of the '80s, lesbian fiction, says Waters, "had got
a
little tired".
        She credits authors such as Jeanette Winterson, Ali Smith and
Emma
Donoghue for invigorating the genre in new ways.
        'Tipping the Velvet' tells, in a completely infectious and
robust way
the story of Nancy King, an oyster girl who falls passionately in
love with
a male impersonator, Kitty Butler.  Eventually Nancy evolves into Nan
King
and struts the music halls from Kent to London dressed as a man.
        A change of fortune forces a loveless Nan to London where she
collides with a seedy underworld of predatory lesbians and
prostitution.
        The novel manages to satisfy both straight and queer audiences
because at its core it remains a compelling, well-crafted story.
        In less skilled hands, this lusty tale of a cross-dressing
lesbian in
Victorian England could have been the literary equivalent of a 'The
Benny
Hill Show' skit.  Instead, Waters produced a melodramatic novel about
lesbian desire, identity, and the length people go to in order to
find love.
        Waters admits to being fond of Victorian England.  "You can
look back
and really see the beginnings of modern lesbian and gay communities
happening.  All the naughty '90s and the queer underworld.  It made
me want
to look into other forms of lesbian passion and desire."
        In some ways 'Tipping the Velvet' outed her to her family and
home
town.
        "It's been very interesting.  I wasn't sure how that would
work but
my family loved the fact I was in the papers -- that kind of eclipsed
the
lesbian part, so they liked celebrity, more than they disliked, if
indeed
they do, the queerness."
        While much of the research for 'Tipping the Velvet' took place
during
the writing of her thesis, other details needed to be explored, such
as
quite a lot "about 19th century pornography, Victorian sex aids,
oysters,
music halls, socialism, suffragism and general details about Victorian
life".
        Asked how she would have coped being a lesbian during that
period,
Waters says it would have been a hard life, particularly if you were
struggling.
        "There were lots of ways to satisfy lesbian passion, but not
in ways
we identify with now.  The prevalence of women sharing beds, for
example.
        If you were a servant you'd probably be sharing a bed with
another
woman -- whether you'd actually want to have sex with them, I don't
know."
        Creating Nancy Astley was a pleasure for her.  "Her narrative
voice
is quite close to my own -- there's a lot of me in there, but she's
different to me in lots of ways, too, but we have a similar take on
the
world."
        With her second novel, 'Affinity', Waters again unleashed her
taste
for the Gothic to create a very different (but no less) entertaining
account
of Margaret Prior, a woman mourning the death of her father, and the
fact
that her former lover is now her sister-in-law.
        Margaret is a haunted woman and spends her days taking
draughts (on
the insistence of her pushy mother) to ward off a depression that
inspired
an overdose of morphine.  She decides to dedicate her time to a
worthy cause
and becomes a lady visitor at Millbank Prison.
        In a sense, she leaves behind one dark, oppressive, sexually
charged
place only to immerse herself in another.  Here she meets spiritualist
Selina Dawes, a beguiling woman charged with an erotic energy that
quickly
transfers itself to the willing Margaret.
        Waters has done such a good job of evoking gloomy Millbank
Prison --
the snaking corridors, the perpetual clanging of keys -- that it makes
reading 'Affinity' an almost multi-sensory, experience.
        Waters says "the claustrophobic feel to 'Affinity' was
inevitable.  I
found it hard to go back to this grim world every day, everything
sort of
closes in on you.  It's a book of interiors.  You get a sense of a
closed
room."
        Again, lesbian desire is central to the theme, but the novel
comfortably occupies a larger territory, ranging across subjects such
as
England's penal system, spirituality and notions of romantic power.
        Set 30 years earlier than 'Tipping the Velvet', Waters found it
difficult to write 'Affinity', partly due to the pressure of second-
novel
syndrome, and the depressing subject matter.
        "For one reason or another, they (the characters) can't take
pleasure
in the world.  Most of their experiences are grim and bleak.  With
Margaret
in particular, I was trying to get into the head of this upper-class
Victorian woman, with her own particular history of depression.  By
the end,
it was almost an act of ventriloquism."
        The possibility of supernatural involvement hovers over the
storyline
of 'Affinity' like an impenetrable fog.  Does Selina Dawes really have
mystical powers or are Margaret's quietly hysterical episodes the real
cause?
        Waters admits to having a "Gothic, take on the world.
        "It's queer in both the general and the specific.  I'm sure it
goes
straight back to my childhood.  I can take quite a lot of horror but
enjoy
the kind that verges on the melodramatic".
        Ask Waters what she find truly frightening and her reply is
surprising.
        Urban terror and the sinister elements that exist in city
living
scare her the most.
        "London is full of alienated people.  They can be pushed to do
macabre things. That kind of realism scares me.  The Gothic genre is
slightly more removed because it uses archetypes like 'the house',
that kind
of symbolism resonates for me."
        In 2000, the book picked up the Somerset Maugham prize, the
'Sunday
Times' Young Writer of the Year Award and was short-listed for the
Welsh
Book of the year Award.
        The BBC is currently negotiating television versions of
'Tipping the
Velvet', and 'Affinity' . Screen writer Andrew Davies, who adapted
'Pride
and Prejudice' and 'Vanity Fair', is working on the scripts.
        Waters was never tempted to try the adaptation, admitting "I
just
didn't feel equipped.  It's a completely different art compared to
novel
writing.
        Waters' fascination with Victorian England is far from sated.
        Her next novel (due for release around March 2002) is set in
the
1860s and promises even more melodrama, intrigue and Gothic
atmosphere.
        Wilkie Collins' Woman in White was an influential text "to the
extent
an heiress is cheated out of her inheritance and locked up in a
lunatic
asylum.  It's told from the villain's point of view and begins in a
thieves'
underworld and then moves in and out of London."
        Perhaps Waters is right, you can never really go back, but
when a
creative future looks this promising, maybe you don't need to.
        . 'Tipping the Velvet', and 'Affinity' are published by
Penguin Books
A$19.95


The Olympian, June 17, 2001
P. O. Box 407, Olympia, WA, 98507
(Fax: 206-754-5408 ) ( http://news.theolympian.com )
(Online Mailer: http://www.theolympian.com/forms/lettrfrm.shtml )
http://news.theolympian.com/stories/20010617/SouthSound/57215.shtml
Pride marchers say community making strides
JOHN GRABER, THE OLYMPIAN
        OLYMPIA -- Saturday was a good day to be out.
        The weather was warm and the skies were bright as a couple
hundred
marchers made their way down Capitol Boulevard from the Capitol
Campus to
Sylvester Park in the 11th Annual Pride Parade and Celebration.
        This year's theme was "2001, A Gay Odyssey."
        "A gay odyssey is the strides we've made for equal rights and
benefits for same-sex couples," said Greg Carpenter, promotions
director of
the parade's host group, Capital City Pride.
        Olympia and Tumwater city officials seem to be in an unofficial
competition to see who can do the most to end discrimination,
Carpenter
said.  He pointed to the cities' fair housing ordinances and
employee-benefits programs to prove his point.
        Sherry Pfeil, who watched the parade with her partner, figures
most
of the community still probably does not want to see gay pride
marches and
rallies.  But that is all the more reason to have them, she said.
        "The more people see us, the more they realize we're not just
some
stranger," Pfeil said.  "We could be your neighbor or your friend."
        A spokesperson for the Olympia police department estimated the
marchers at 200.
        River Ridge High School sophomore Carly Loyer, 16, marched to
show
her support for the community.  Most kids her age probably still have
unfounded fears of gays, Loyer said.  That may be in part because of
what
society teaches, but it may also be because they have not had enough
time
yet to figure out how they really feel, she said.
        "I think a lot of them still believe homosexuals are going to
go to
hell," Loyer said.
        Shirley Young marched as well, because to her it is not a
matter of
taking a stance on an issue; it's about supporting human beings.
        "To me, people are people," Young said.  "Whatever they are is
fine,
well and good.  We need to support each other."
        . John Graber covers law enforcement and the military for The
Olympian.  He can be reached at 360-754-5465.


Providence Journal, June 16, 2001
75 Fountain St., Providence, RI, 02902
(Fax: 401-277-7346 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.projo.com )
Jackson: Treat AIDS as global issue
While acknowledging that young, black men have been hit hard by the
disease,
the Rev. Jesse Jackson tells a Providence group that they should not
be the
sole focus.
BY JENNIFER LEVITZ, Journal Staff Writer
        PROVIDENCE -- The face on the poster for AIDS is becoming the
young,
black, gay man.  The Rev. Jesse Jackson yesterday told a summit of
black
activists to stop that from happening.
        Attaching the scourge of the virus to black men, or even
AIDS-devastated Africa, might lead people to forget that AIDS is a
global
epidemic, he said.  Characterizing the virus as a gay man's disease
allows
homophobics to dismiss it.
        Jackson told leaders of Gay Men of African Descent, an advocacy
organization meeting at Brown University this weekend, that he
believes
homophobia slows response to AIDS in the same way that anti-Semitism
went to
work in World War II. "We started fighting the Nazis too late because
we
thought it was all about Jews."
        "This is not a discussion of black, gay men," Jackson said,
"it's a
discussion of 'World War III,' of which black gay men and women are a
part."
        Jackson, the president and founder of the Rainbow Push
Coalition, is
leading a delegation to South Africa next week.  It will meet with
government leaders and pharmaceutical companies to discuss the
devastation
of AIDS there.
        He theorized that President Bush would encounter cheers in
Europe if
he spoke of protecting people in the world from AIDS, rather than
from a
missile attack.
        Jackson does not dismiss the recent Centers for Disease
Control and
Prevention studies that showed HIV infections are hitting young,
black men
at the highest rate of any group.  He called prisons the epicenter
for the
spreading of AIDS, and said three-quarters of the men in prison are
either
Hispanic or African-American.
        He challenges churches to open their minds and hearts, and
doesn't
want to hear ministers say that if people altered their lifestyles,
there
would be no AIDS.  He asked, "What about babies who are dying?"
        Youths see Magic Johnson living a long life with HIV, he said,
and
they sense that the disease no longer exists.  Many people won't get
the HIV
test because they assume they aren't at risk, or because of the taboo
and
fear surrounding it.
        Jackson said Rhode Island can do its part by helping to do
away with
the stigma or fear of taking the test.
        He challenged ministers to stand up before their congregations
and
take the HIV test, keeping the results private.  Jackson said he's
seen
other ministers do this.  Inevitably, he said, male parishioners walk
up to
the pulpit and commit to taking the test, too.  Women applaud.  He
said
radio disc jockeys, who play music that is often about sex, should
pledge to
publicly take the test.
        Gay Men of African Descent is centering part of its annual
conference
around the CDC study, which was released last month for the 20th
anniversary
of the start of the AIDS crisis.
        The study looked at six cities between 1998 and 2000.  The
results
showed 15 percent of black gay men -- between the ages of 23 and 29
-- were
infected, a rate five times that of white, gay men.  The CDC
cautioned that
the sampling of 2,942 men was small.
        This weekend's conference drew black leaders from all over,
including
Donna M. Christian-Christensen, D-U.S. Virgin Islands, and chairwoman
of the
Congressional Black Caucus.  Yesterday, some of the activists seemed
divided
between wanting to sound the alarm for young, gay, black men and
wanting to
make sure the study is not blown out of proportion.
        David Malebranche, an internal-medicine doctor from New York
City,
said the CDC polled too few men in New York City.  The results made it
appear that if you met a young, black gay man in the city, there was
a good
chance he was infected with HIV.
        "You can't make that leap," Malebranche said.
        Instead, the medical community needs to study why young, black
men
endanger their lives.  He reasoned, "it's an oppressive social
structure
that we as black men are living under."
        Marsha Martin, who was a special assistant to former U.S.
Secretary
of Health Donna Shalala, said the federal government should start an
anti-homophobia campaign, targeting the black community.  White gays
face
homophobia, she said, but the white community is further along in
accepting
homosexuality than the black community.
        Bishop Robert Farrow, of Holy Christ Church of God in Christ,
in
Providence, said churches need to be more open and to bind together to
reduce the deaths of black men.  They should be worried about AIDS,
he said,
not about lifestyles.  All should be welcome, he said.
        "Whosoever will, let him come," he said, quoting the Bible.
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17th June, 2001 (# 8) News Clippings Digest.

1.  ANCHORAGE PRESS  Gosh, Mom, are they legislating morality again?
"Hey hey, ho ho, censorship has got to go"
2.  ANCHORAGE PRESS  Two letters about library exhibit
3.  LONDON FREE PRESS (Ontario)  Gay father hasn't lost hope of
reuniting with his children
4.  CNN/AP  Some 200,000 expected for Brazilian gay parade
5.  WASHINGTON TIMES  Another surly anti-gay editorial from Moonie-
owned paper:  The end of Scouts honor
6.  PORTLAND (ME) PRESS HERALD  Gay Pride parade, festival cap week
of celebrations
7.  SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS  AIDS awareness key in San Jose's gay pride
festival

Anchorage Press, June 14-20, 2001
P.O. Box 241841, Anchorage, AK 99524-1841
(Fax: 907-561-7777 ) (E-Mail:  info@... )
( http://www.anchoragepress.com/ )
Press: Gosh, Mom, are they legislating morality again?
"Hey hey, ho ho, censorship has got to go"
By Emily Creely
        Men and women, gay and straight, young and not-so-young
chanted for
over an hour in front of City Hall Monday afternoon to protest the
Mayor's
recent decision to take down a display celebrating diversity from the
Z.J.
Loussac Public Library.
        Protesters argued the decision is a blow against the First
Amendment,
something all citizens should be concerned about.  The display had
aimed to
educate the public about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered
persons.
        Geoffrey Stewart of Anchorage said he came to protest what he
sees as
the Mayor's denial of free speech and the effects such a violation
has on
Anchorage's non-straight community.  "Gay people should not be second-
class
citizens," he said.
        Herman Coen, one of the organizers, said the idea for the
protest
came out of a loose coalition of groups who believed the decision
deserved a
public reaction.
        "It's something all of Anchorage should be concerned about as
it's
about one person deciding what we can or cannot see.  This exhibit
has to go
back up."
        Coen said he would've liked to see a bigger turnout, but "every
person's voice counts and that's what this issue is all about."  He
happily
pointed out the number of supportive honks from passing cars and the
fact
that a handful of passers-by picked up signs and joined in.
        Maria Hernandez, a protester visiting from Philadelphia, said
she's
considering moving to Alaska and seeing the demonstration was
encouraging.
"It's good to know there is a community like this here."
        Protester Barbara Wish said she simply wants the exhibit put
back up.
"It's a reasonable thing to insist."
        Wish said the Mayor's action amounted to "total censorship.
This
(decision) is not OK for gay people, and this is not OK for straight
people.
Discrimination is hatred."
        Norman Schittler, active member of Parents, Friends and Family
of
Lesbians and Gays (the display's co-sponsor), wondered "where else do
you go
to educate people on this aside from the library?"


Anchorage Press, June 14-20, 2001
P.O. Box 241841, Anchorage, AK 99524-1841
(Fax: 907-561-7777 ) (E-Mail:  info@... )
( http://www.anchoragepress.com/ )
Letter:  Heartwarming editorial
        This is a pat on the back for a heartwarming editorial.
        As the (straight) former leader of the charge for same-sex
marriage
in Hawaii, I was saddened to read of your mayor's actions on the gay
pride
exhibit at the library.
        While the message to the Anchorage community is dispiriting,
the good
news is the public discourse may accomplish many times the education
of the
planned exhibit.
        Your warm and sensitive editorial shows Anchorage's citizens
(and a
few others) that whether or not the mayor has their rights at heart,
the
Anchorage Press certainly does.
- Carol Greenhouse, Anchorage

Letter:  Wuerch a hypocrite
        A friend's son works for the Municipality.  He said that prior
to
Wuerch's censoring of the library exhibit, a personnel directive of
the
Municipality was that all supervisors are required to finish Diversity
Training within a 30-day period.  The Human Resources people at the
Municipality could confirm this.  I thought it was rather ironic.
Viewing
the tremendous support you gave President Hamilton of UA in his stand
against censorship, I hope you investigate Wuerch's actions.
- Wanda Seamster, Anchorage


London Free Press, June 17, 2001
London, Ontario, Canada
(E-Mail:  letters@... )
( http://www.canoe.ca/LondonFreePress/home.html )
http://www.canoe.ca/LondonNews/03n3.html
Gay father hasn't lost hope of reuniting with his children
By Allan Woods, Free Press Reporter
        Parked half a block away from his ex-wife's home in Toronto,
John
Gibson watched his youngest son, then seven, playing under a tree.
        Then he drove away for good.
        "I knew he wouldn't remember me, so I didn't approach him,"
Gibson
says of the encounter 15 years ago.
        The 56-year-old gay man hasn't been with his two sons -- now
25 and
21 -- since splitting up with his wife 20 years ago.
        "There was a very strong bond between us," Gibson says of his
children.
        He remembers the time his oldest son, then a rambunctious
four-year-old "suburban terrorist," raided his garden of daffodils and
tulips to give flowers to neighbourhood mothers.
        "You can't be angry at kids."
        Shortly after realizing he was gay and suffering a nervous
breakdown,
Gibson's wife moved with the kids to Toronto.
        He's stopped sending the letters and birthday cards and hasn't
tried
to contact them in years.
        Now, he's left with the hope that one day they'll find him.
        "In a sense I think of myself as a bank.  I'm saving my love
for when
they come down," he says.  "If they ever should come down."
        Gibson, who runs a gay radio show Monday nights on CHRW-FM
94.7,
celebrates Father's Day now with his lesbian friends in London and
with
their children.
        "I reflect on my role as a father and on my father's role as a
father," he says.
        Gibson says it's difficult to be a gay father because often
there are
few people he can talk to.  Many of his gay friends don't understand
because
they don't have children.
        But an organizer of Gay Fathers of London, a local support
group,
says there are gay men in the same position.
        "There's a lot of men who tried getting married and found out
they
were gay," says group co-ordinator Rob, who asked his last name not
be used.
        Other men simply don't need the support, he says.
        The 15-member group meets once a week to talk about their
experiences
and problems.
        He says Father's Day is no different for a gay father than it
is for
a straight father.
        "It's not more accentuated (within the gay community) than it
is in
any other community," Rob says.  "It's very much a contrived holiday."


CNN, June 17, 2001
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/americas/06/17/brazil.gayparade.ap/index
.html
Some 200,000 expected for Brazilian gay parade
        SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- About 200,000 gays and lesbians and
their
friends, families and sympathizers were expected to file through Sao
Paulo
Sunday in the city's fifth pride parade, one of Latin America's
biggest gay
events.
        Starting from the city's main business boulevard, Avenida
Paulista,
18 floats complete with music, rainbow flags, go-go boys and drag
queens,
were to head for the city center, where organizers set up a colorful
market
and stage show on a square that is home to many gay bars.
        Organizers said they were expecting a turn-out of 200,000,
compared
to 120,000 last year and a mere 2,000 in the first gay parade in 1996.
        "This week, Sao Paulo's GLS community will raise its profile
more
than ever during the gay pride week," wrote Andre Fischer, gay
columnist of
the Folha de Sao Paulo daily.  GLS is the Portuguese acronym for Gays,
Lesbians and Sympathizers, as the gay movement is known here.
        About 400 police officers were to be deployed along the route,
with a
heavy concentration on the Avenida Paulista.  Police feared possible
clashes
between marchers and supporters of Sao Paulo's Corinthians soccer team
playing in Sunday's Brazilian Cup final.
        Although the match is at the Morumbi stadium on the other side
of the
city, Corinthians fans traditionally celebrate victories on Avenida
Paulista.
        The match kick-off was scheduled for 3 p.m. (1800GMT), one
hour after
the gay parade was to start.
        The gay parade has received strong support from Sao Paulo's
new,
left-leaning mayor, Marta Suplicy, a psychologist and former
presenter of a
frank television talk show about sex.
        Suplicy was expected to accompany the parade -- and make her
opening
and closing speeches -- on board the official parade float.  Free
condoms
were to be handed out from the float of the Health Ministry, whose
program
to provide free drugs for AIDS patients has won admiration worldwide.
        "I came to the first parade and there were just a few
thousand, today
we are expecting 200,000," said Tatiana Calvo, a photographer who was
heading for Avenida Paulista before the parade.
        "The parade is important to show that gays are people just like
everybody else, we are not stereotypes, we don't just like to party,
we have
our rights and we are willing to march for them," she said.  "It's
important
to advance our rights as citizens."


Washington Times, June 17, 2001
3600 New York Avenue NE, Washington, DC, 20002
(Fax: 202-269-3419 ) (E-Mail:  letter@... )
( http://www.washtimes.com/ )
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20010617-242605.htm
Editorial:  The end of Scouts honor
        The fact that the Boy Scouts of America need official
protection from
Washington is a bleak measure of just how far off-course our cultural
compass has strayed.  The Boy Scouts have stubbornly refused to bend
to
passing fancy, i.e. the embrace of open homosexuality.  For this,
they have
been viciously attacked by the forces of political correctness,
branded as
homophobes and bigots.  They have been barred from the public school
facilities they depend upon for venues to hold their monthly
meetings.  They
have been forbidden from using public facilities or denied the use of
facilities, such as campgrounds, that were formerly made available to
them
at no cost.
        All of this because the Scout Law and Scout Oath represent the
moral
code and value system of a dying era -- one in which those things we
might
subsume under the term, "family values" have become inappropriate, in
bad
taste, even.  And more precisely, because the organization refused to
permit
an openly homosexual young man to continue in his capacity as a
leader/role
model for young boys.  Twenty years ago, such a decision would not
have
raised an eyebrow; today it is the emblem of hateful discrimination.
        Though the tide is against them, the Senate did manage to
throw the
Boy Scouts a lifeline last week by way of a rider in the just-passed
education reform bill.  It would provide the youth organization a
legal
remedy against public schools and other public venues that deny the
Scouts
equal access to facilities.
        Gay rights groups and the mainstream media took immediate
issue with
this salve.  Typical was the editorial in Friday´s editions of The
Washington Post, which sneered that the Senate's action was
unjustified
given that the Boy Scouts "gratuitously discriminate" against
homosexuals.
Well, no they don't.  What the Boy Scouts do is maintain they have
the right
to set forth and adhere to a venerable and sort of fuddy-duddy ethic
that,
among other things, does not embrace trendy notions about the moral
equivalence of homosexuality.  Liberals used to understand the idea
of live
and let live but this is not good enough anymore.  It's not enough
that the
Boy Scouts have never been accused of harming or disparaging
homosexuals.
They must accept them and every cannon of the gay agenda.  Only then
will
the shouting cease.
        Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott summed it up best when he
said, "I
don´t know quite how to react to the fact that in America now, even
the Boy
Scouts seem to be under attack . . . are motherhood and apple pie
next?  Is
nothing sacred anymore?"
        Unfortunately, the answer to that question appears to be that
no,
nothing is sacred anymore beyond blind adherence to whatever voguish
notion
the radical left decides to be the order of the day.  All else is to
be
swept away, including an organization whose old-fashioned ideas of
moral
certainty no longer fit the times.


Portland Press Herald, June 17, 2001
Box 1460, Portland, ME, 04101
(Fax: 207-791-6924) (E-Mail:  letters@... )
( http://www.portland.com/news/news.shtml )
http://www.portland.com/news/state/010617pride.shtml
Gay Pride parade, festival cap week of celebrations
By TED COHEN, Portland Press Herald Writer
         As a little boy, Bob Lebel remembers feeling different.
        "I wanted to play house with the girls and jump rope and dress
up in
high heels," Lebel, now 54, said Saturday.  "I didn't want to play
hockey
with my brothers."
        Only later, as he approached his teen-age years, did Lebel
realize
what was "different" about him:  He was attracted not to girls, but
to boys.
He came to realize he was gay.
        "I have a feminine nature," Lebel said.  "I am gentle."
        Lebel was among hundreds of gay men and lesbians who came out
Saturday as part of the 15th annual Southern Maine Pride Week.
        The event, recognizing gay men and lesbians, began Monday with
the
Peabody Film Festival, named for Fran Peabody, an AIDS activist from
Portland whose grandson died of the disease in 1984.
        Through the week, gay pride was celebrated - a way, said event
co-chairman Audrey Luce, "to show people that we're not that
different, that
we represent every economic group, every political group."
        The annual Gay Pride parade was held Saturday, along with an
interfaith service at First Parish Church, a rally in Monument Square
and a
festival in Deering Oaks.
        "This is one time when we can display our pride," said Lebel,
who is
a caregiver at Peabody House, a home for people with AIDS.
        Lebel decorated his bike with the rainbow flag that is a
universal
symbol for gay pride.  "It's my way of celebrating the gains we've
made, of
displaying our beauty," he said.
        The parade was meant to celebrate what many see as an
increasing
tolerance of homosexuality in Maine.
        This year's event was quite a change from Portland's first gay-
pride
week, held in 1987 by the lesbian and gay community.  Although more
than 200
people marched in the parade that year, they required a police
escort, and a
handful of hecklers shouted and screamed insults.
        That was well before Portland passed its civil rights
ordinance, back
when it was unheard of for employers to offer domestic partnership
benefits
to same-sex couples.
The first parade in 1987 lasted only 20 minutes but took a year to
plan. "It
took a set of individuals who would say, 'Fear no evil,' ''organizer
Michael
Rossetti said at the time.
        Nowadays, gay-pride parades are held in many New England
cities,
including Boston.
        Dianne Luce, 39, of Biddeford said she came to Saturday's
rally and
parade "to get people to understand we're sons and daughters, uncles
and
aunts, just like everyone else."
        Like Lebel, Luce said she realized she was "different" from her
girlfriends.  "I was always more attracted to women than to men," she
said.
        Then, 16 years ago, "I came to terms with myself," she said,
acknowledging privately and publicly that she was gay.
        Luce was among hundreds of gay men and lesbians who crowded
Monument
Square for Saturday's rally.  Others included Scott Foley, 21, a
waiter from
Portland, who said the event to him was about "reclaiming our
identity as a
group."
        Foley said he remembers liking boys instead of girls as a
youngster,
and it has been the same since.  Yet, though he prefers relationships
with
men, Foley said he still goes out with women, too.
        As they marked their similarities and differences, those who
came to
celebrate Southern Maine Pride Week said they wanted others to
understand
who and what they are.
        Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion, who spoke during the
rally, told
the crowd:  "You have taught us in the straight community that
humanity
belongs to everyone.  Today, we recognize no boundary."
        The weeklong festival resumes today with a 1 p.m. family
picnic at
Fort Williams in Cape Elizabeth, and concludes with a 4 p.m. walk
around
Back Cove.
        . Staff Writer Ted Cohen can be contacted at 791-6321 or at:
tcohen@...


San Jose Mercury News, June 11, 2001
750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA, 95190
(Fax: 408-471-3792 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.mercurycenter.com/ )
http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/gaypride11mo.htm
AIDS awareness key in gay pride festival
Activists take opportunity to promote message
Singer RuPaul, comedian Judy Tenuta entertain crowds of about 20,000
as
annual celebration of acceptance draws many for parade, food and fun.
By Anne Martinez, Mercury News
        On the heels of the 20th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic, San
Jose's
Gay Pride Parade and Festival on Sunday was as much about awareness
as it
was acceptance.
        Recently released statistics showing a marked increase among
young
gay men infected with the AIDS virus made this weekend's festivities
at
downtown's Discovery Meadow a perfect opportunity to step up outreach
efforts.
        Sandwiched between hot dog stands and jewelry booths, about a
half-dozen non-profit organizations distributed postcards, fliers and
condoms to promote safe sex and HIV testing.
        Omar Nuñez, an AIDS activist, said the informational campaign
is
increasingly targeted to youths, who are coming of age at a time when
contracting HIV does not necessarily mean death.
        "Now kids know there are drugs that could keep people alive
longer,"
said Nuñez, a coordinator with the AIDS Resources, Information and
Services
of Santa Clara County.  "They haven't experienced as many losses
because
they grew up hearing about AIDS; their guards are down."
        Twin sisters Kiely and Courtney Hosmon, 17, celebrated among
friends
Sunday, participating in the morning parade as founding members of the
6-month-old Gay Straight Alliance at Santa Teresa High School in East
San
Jose.  At least 13 high schools throughout the county have similar
student
chapters designed to promote gay and lesbian acceptance.
        But the sisters and their friends, all who are graduating next
week,
had other reasons to celebrate:  The results for their first HIV
tests came
back negative.
        "We were all pretty sure we were fine, but we got tested just
to have
a clear conscience," said Courtney, who plans to attend San Francisco
State
University in the fall.  "We're all going off to college, so we
thought now
would be a good time to do it."
        The 26th annual celebration drew a crowd rivaling last year's
turnout
of 15,000 to 20,000, organizers said.  As festivalgoers munched on
barbecued
chicken or took a spin on the square-dancing floor, headliners such as
singer RuPaul and comedian Judy Tenuta kept the crowd in stitches.
        Tenuta strutted across the stage with a feather boa,
showcasing her
Cher impersonation and taking jabs at her new Hollywood neighbor,
Calista
Flockhart.
        "There should be a law:  You have to weigh more than the baby
you
adopt," Tenuta said of the "Ally McBeal'' star's recent adoption.
        Sunday's sunny weather lured Nadia Castillo and her husband to
the
festival from their home in Richmond.  It was the first Gay Pride
Festival
for the couple, who came out simply to hear good music and soak up
the rays.
        "We were curious, and we've never been to one of these
festivals
before," Castillo said.
        And it won't be their last.  The Castillos already have plans
to
attend San Francisco's much larger event on June 24.
        . Contact Anne Martinez at amartinez@... or (408)
920-5445.
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17th June, 2001 (# 7) News Clippings Digest.

1.  ASBURY PARK (NJ) PRESS  Gay student activist fears hateful stalker
2.  HOUSTON CHRONICLE  Gays celebrate how far they've come; As city's
Pride Parade draws near, activists say rights crusade not over

Asbury Park Press, June 17, 2001
3601 Highway 66, PO Box 1550, Neptune, NJ 07754
(Fax: 908-922-4818 ) (E-Mail:  yourviews@... )
( http://www.injersey.com/app/ )
http://www.app.com/news/app/story/0,2110,407943,00.html
Student fears hateful stalker
By ERIK LARSEN, STAFF WRITER
        A message was waiting for Ed Drago when he returned to his
dorm room
after a Sunday night out with friends in February.
        At first, the 25-year-old college junior from Lacey thought
the flier
on the floor was a menu from a fast-food joint.  Pizzerias and Chinese
restaurants in Ewing often slip them under the dorm room doors at the
The
College of New Jersey.
        But he recognized this flier as one of his own.  Last fall,
Drago had
co-founded "The Haven," an on-campus support group for gay and lesbian
students.  He printed up sheets of paper on a computer to advertise
the
group's meetings.
        "Die Faggot," was scribbled on one side of the copy shoved
under his
door.  The word "Beware" was on the other -- accompanied by a
swastika.
        In the days and weeks to follow, Drago would endure more
harassment
from a faceless tormentor.  Home for the summer today, he is resolute
in his
determination to return to his school in the fall, though his
mysterious
stalker is still at large.
        Drago is one case in an increasing nationwide trend of bias
crimes
against gay and lesbian Americans throughout the United States,
according to
the FBI's national hate-crimes statistics.
        The figures have been extremely difficult to pin down because
police
departments across the country report hate crimes differently and are
not
always required to categorize them separately.  Further, the National
Gay
and Lesbian Task Force contends that such hate crimes are also still
"massively underreported."
        The U.S. criminal code doesn't even recognize anti-gay attacks
as
bias-motivated crimes, although many states do.  Still, crimes against
homosexuals appear to be the third-largest category of hate crime in
the
United States.
        'Scared to death'
        Security at Drago's dorm building was doubled last February.
But
that didn't stop his tormentor.  Elsewhere on campus, a second
message was
left for Drago more than one week after the first.
        This one was scrawled on an informational board outside the
office of
the Gay Student Union, hurling similar homophobic epithets directed
specifically at Drago.
        Then on the morning of March 9, what some believed was a
crudely
conceived bomb turned up on campus.  Someone's idea of a joke,
authorities
would eventually determine.
        The device was an 8-inch-long firecracker with a protruding
fuse.  It
was defused and sent to a State Police lab for analysis, according to
Sgt.
Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the New Jersey State Police.
        A freshman prankster at the college would be arrested more
than a
month later.  But rumors were rampant in the interim that "the bomb"
might've been intended for Drago.
        Not taking any chances, Drago said he felt he had few other
options
but to take a professor up on her offer to move in with her family
for the
duration of the semester.
        The threats, however, continued.
        In 1999, according to the most current statistics available
from the
FBI, a record number -- 12,122 law enforcement agencies from 48
states and
Washington, D.C., reported 7,876 bias-crime incidents.  Of those
incidents
4,295 bias attacks were based on race (54.5 percent of the total
incidents,
with blacks representing 37.5 percent of all victims); 1,411 were
based on
religion (17.9 percent of the total incidents, with three-quarters of
these
victims Jewish); 1,317 were based on sexual orientation (16.7
percent); 829
were based on ethnic or national origin (10.5 percent); 19 on
disabilities;
and five on multiple biases.
        A month had passed since the the first incident, when another
threatening message was found in the lobby of Drago's old dorm.
Written on
paper in blue marker, it said: "Hey Ed Drago get rid of security you
------
faggot!  Stay away."  The message also included an inverted triangle,
a
reference to the symbol of gay and lesbian pride.
        The paper was folded and left in the lobby, with a red swastika
facing up, and was found by another student who noticed it from the
stairs.
        "I was shaken," Drago recalled.
        A longtime epileptic, Drago said he began to suffer from
debilitating
seizures brought on by the stress of the hate messages.  He stopped
going to
classes.  He couldn't go outside, and he quickly began to sink into a
deep
depression.  He hadn't felt that bad since since he began to cope
with the
reality of his sexuality while a student at Toms River's parochial
Monsignor
Donovan High School
        "I was scared to death," Drago said.
        'One angry person'
        Are tensions over race, politics, religion and sexuality more
heightened at The College of New Jersey than any other college campus
in the
state?
        In the last few years, both the black and Jewish student
unions have
been targeted by hate groups, having been sent bigoted e-mails from
computers on campus.  That became the impetus for a large rally
against hate
on campus in April of last year.
        "The threats against Ed were not the first of their kind in
recent
times at TCNJ, but they were unique in that they were aimed at a
specific
person, as opposed to a group," said Conor Fortune, edi-tor in chief
of "The
Signal," the college's 116-year-old student newspaper.
        "In Ed's case, it was always my personal belief that someone
-- or
some group -- in particular was targeting him as an individual, not
just
because he's gay, but for personal reasons also," Fortune said.
        But despite these "isolated" problems, the campus still is a
comfortable environment for its diverse faculty and student body,
college
officials explain.
        "I'm not an expert, but I am a black woman," said Lisa Ann
Meyers, a
college spokeswoman who is also a 1992 graduate of what was then
called
Trenton State College.  "I've always felt comfortable in this
climate.  I've
always felt the college was accepting, and I've never felt nervous or
afraid
here.  Obviously, because I've come back to work here.
        "You get one angry person, and that's all it takes," she said.
        Meyers said students are required to take classes in diversity
throughout their four-year curriculum, starting with a course called
"Athens
to New York" in their freshman year.  That course deals with what it
means
to be human and what it means to be a member of a diverse society,
she said.
        At Monmouth University in West Long Branch, the campus has not
been
forced to deal with similar problems, but it has taken proactive
steps in
anticipation that such incidents could occur.
        "We have a zero-tolerance policy and attitude for these kinds
of
situations," said Susan Doctorian, a university spokeswoman.
        Monmouth requires all incoming freshmen to attend a diversity
workshop as part of their student-orientation session.  That training
promotes respect for people's sexual orientation along with race,
religion,
gender and other differences, she said.
        The university's administration even helps to promote a gay and
lesbian student organization on campus that's called, "All Lifestyles
Included."
        "The group works toward fostering an environment which helps
people
of all sexual orientations to feel comfortable with people from all
lifestyles in an effort to present an understanding on the Monmouth
University campus, where no one is made to feel that they have to
hide their
own sexuality," said Frank Di Rocco Jr., a university spokesman.
        "Whether it was sexual orientation or someone's racial
background, I
thought the campus did a good job of promoting diversity," said Holly
Chadwick, 23, of Toms River, who graduated from Monmouth this year.
"I
never heard of any problems, either.
        "It seemed like that there were plenty of organizations at
Monmouth
to promote different people," said the aspiring elementary-school
teacher.
        At Georgian Court College, spokeswoman Deborah Gilleran said
the
small Lakewood campus has not been affected by the The College of New
Jersey's woes ei-ther.
        "I'm not aware of any harassment," she said.  "Generally
speaking,
it's a pretty quiet campus."
        Two-thirds of the hate crimes reported to the FBI in 1999 were
crimes
against people, most often intimidation (35.1 percent of the total
incidents); simple assaults (19 percent); and aggravated as-saults (12
percent).  There also were 17 murders -- three of them against gay,
lesbian,
bisexual or transgender victims.
        The incidents took place at a variety of locations: 28.7
percent on
residential property; 18.5 percent on streets or in alleys; 10.2
percent on
college or university cam-puses; and the rest at miscella-neous
locales.
        "The gay community always seems to be taking one step forward
and two
steps back," said Dr. Karen Sciarasffa, a Union-based psychologist who
specializes in helping gays and lesbians cope with their
homosexuality.
        She said society is sending mixed signals about tolerance for
homosexuality.  While gays are becoming increasingly accepted in
American
popular culture, there is still a closed-door "heterosexual only"
policy in
most of middle America.
        "Throughout the country, civil rights legislation aimed at
protecting
gays has been stopped.  In most of the country, gays can't get
married or
adopt children," she said.
        That empowers those on the fringe who feel it's acceptable
behavior
to beat up on or torment homosexuals because mainstream society itself
largely confirms through its own attitudes that such people are social
deviants anyway, Sciarasffa said.
        "I know this has an impact on gay youth," she said.  "Out of
all the
teenagers who commit suicide, gay teen-agers are the highest
statistic."
        No one's been caught
        The College of New Jersey campus police department has not
apprehended anyone in connection with the bias attacks against Drago,
though
an investigation is on-going, said Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman for
the
Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.
        Meanwhile, Drago is spending a quiet summer with friends in
Dover
Township.  He is determined to return to the college in the fall,
threats or
no threats.  He is majoring in psychology.  He admits he fears for his
future, but he's not prepared to see his tormentor succeed in scaring
him
off.  Still, he said, he's haunted by the events of the past few
months.
        "There's someone out there who clearly knows who I am," he
said.
"And hates me."
        . Erik Larsen: (609) 978-4582, or at elarsen@...


Houston Chronicle, June 17, 2001
801 Texas Avenue, Houston, TX, 77002
(Fax: 713-220-6575 ) (E-Mail: viewpoints@... )
( http://www.chron.com/ )
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/944372
Gays celebrate how far they've come
As city's Pride Parade draws near, activists say rights crusade not
over
By CAROL CHRISTIAN, Houston Chronicle
        In the early days of Houston's Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade,
the
committee couldn't afford a permit.
        Professing poverty, organizers got the permit for free, said
Jack
Valinski, the committee's volunteer executive director.  Now the
event costs
about $100,000 to produce and has financial support from major
corporations.
        "Now that we've gotten bigger, we feel honored to pay the
($1,200)
fee," said Valinski, a parade organizer since 1982.  "We've come a
long way
and we're very grateful for that."
        Houston's 23rd annual Pride Parade begins at 8:45 p.m.
Saturday at
Westheimer and Woodhead and proceeds east on Westheimer one mile to
Whitney.
A festival is scheduled for 1 to 7 p.m. the following day, June 24, at
Garden in the Heights, 3926 Feagan.
        While gay pride events have earned international acceptance,
they
commemorate a rebellion against New York police who raided the
Stonewall
Inn, a bar frequented by homosexuals, transsexuals and cross-
dressers.  The
date -- June 27, 1969 -- is considered the beginning of the gay rights
movement.
        This year, Houston's Pride Parade is expected to draw 175,000
spectators.  Organizers say it is the largest gay and lesbian
gathering in
the Southwest and one of Houston's largest parades.
        Getting to this point has not been easy.
        Twenty-three years ago, when Larry Bagneris approached the
police
department about a parade to celebrate gays' coming out of the
closet, the
sergeant he talked to insulted both his ethnicity and sexual
orientation.
Bagneris, former president of Houston's Gay and Lesbian Political
Caucus,
now director of the New Orleans Human Rights Commission, said he
attributed
the slurs to lack of education.
        The sergeant restricted the parade to one lane to keep
Westheimer
traffic moving, Bagneris recalled.  The one-lane strategy broke down
when a
large float met an oncoming bus.  As the bus turned to avoid an
impasse, the
crowd of 10,000 to 15,000 erupted in cheers, Bagneris said.  The four
officers, expecting a much smaller turnout, were helpless to restrain
them.
        "They had no choice but to give us the whole street," he said.
        Now, about 80 officers are deployed and the Metropolitan
Transit
Authority reroutes the Westheimer bus.
        "It's amazing that with one permit, everything is done,"
Valinski
said.
        Most elected officials, however, have not embraced the gay
community.
Only last year, Lee Brown became the first Houston mayor to ride in
the
parade.
        Houston's sexual minorities -- gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgendered -- have not only grown in number and visibility, but
have
spread out from Montrose, the community's historic center.
        Westbury on the southwest side, for example, has had a gay
enclave
for seven to 10 years and now has two gay neighborhood associations,
said
Harry Livesay, who moved there four years ago with his partner,
Michael
Venator.
        "In our neighborhood alone, we've had four or five couples
move in
during the past four years," said Livesay, 42, senior writer at
Kelsey-Siebold Clinic.  "We're amazed every day."
        Other areas with concentrations of gays include Oak Forest,
Garden
Oaks, Maplewood and sections of Meyerland, activists say.  A
neighborhood
near Ella and T.C. Jester is known as "Lesbian Woods."
        Some of this is because Montrose has become too expensive, but
it
also has to do with increased acceptance, said Livesay, former
chairman of
Houston's Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus.
        Ten years ago, Westbury homeowners probably would have said
they
didn't want gay neighbors, Livesay said.
        "Now they say, 'We're so glad you're here.  You take care of
your
homes, and keep your yards nice.'  It's a big turnaround.  We're not
'those
people in Montrose.'  We're the people next door."
        Westbury is home to Phyllis Randolph Frye, a nationally known
attorney who is transsexual.  She has published articles about the
transgendereds' legal and social challenges.  Frye recounts her own
struggle
in a chapter she wrote for a textbook on public policy and civil
rights,
which is posted on the Internet at www.transgenderlegal.com.
        Born male, Frye was a member of Texas A&M University's Corps of
Cadets and became a military officer, husband and father.  In the mid-
1970s,
Frye made a commitment to become a woman and was promptly fired from
her job
as an engineer because her employers didn't want her to use either
the men's
or women's restroom.  Employment security has improved somewhat for
the
transgendered, Frye said, but more lose their jobs than keep them.
        The transgendered include transsexuals (people who change their
gender identity), intersexuals (people born with ambiguous gender),
cross-dressers and drag queens.  They face discrimination not only
from
heterosexuals but also from gays and lesbians, Frye said.
        Although the Stonewall Rebellion is cited as the beginning of
the gay
rights movement, it was transsexuals and cross-dressers who
challenged the
police that night 32 years ago, Frye said.
        Bagneris, who was at the Stonewall during a May 1969 raid,
concurred.
The bar's patrons, he said, were the community's outcasts -- Puerto
Rican
and black homosexuals, transsexuals and drag queens.
        "They were fed up with the graft and harassment," he said.
"Police
would arrest guys wearing pants with no zippers and women wearing
pants."
        As the movement began, gay and lesbian leaders saw cross-
dressers as
a liability, Frye said.
        "We were the people the cameras focused on and the religious
right
tried to stereotype," she said.  "But they always wanted us around
when it
came time to raise money."
        The tension in Houston peaked about 1990, when bisexuals and
the
transgendered insisted on recognition from gays and lesbians, Frye
said.
Since then, local organizations have been more inclusive, she said.
        The Houston-Galveston area has six different groups of
transgender
people, which three years ago formed an umbrella organization called
Unity
Committee.  The committee takes part in the Pride Parade and puts on
an
annual banquet, said Lilly Roddy, committee secretary.
        "Houston is one of the few places in the United States that
has as
much cooperation ... in the GLBT community," Roddy said.
        The Houston City Council is planning to consider an ordinance
that
would prohibit discrimination against city employees based on sexual
orientation or identity.  In 1985, voters resoundingly overturned a
similar
ordinance the council had passed the year before.
        In February, the council was expected to approve domestic-
partner
benefits for city employees, but gay leaders asked that benefits be
delayed
in favor of the anti-discrimination ordinance.
        Shortly after taking office in 1998, Brown issued an
anti-discrimination order.  Councilman Rob Todd promptly filed a court
injunction, claiming the order contradicted the 1985 referendum.
Todd's
lawsuit is before the Texas Supreme Court, and the city is waiting
for its
resolution before proceeding with the ordinance, said City Attorney
Anthony
Hall.  Brown is still "absolutely committed" to an anti-discrimination
policy, he said.
        Janine Brunjes, appointed in January as the mayor's gay-lesbian
liaison, said the ordinance is the biggest issue facing the GLBT
community.
        "All we want is protection not to be fired for sexual
orientation or
identity," Brunjes said.
        Houstonians' attitudes toward sexual minorities have changed,
but the
rest of the world has changed faster, said Councilwoman Annise
Parker.  For
example, the first openly gay American in public office -- Elaine
Nobel
[sic: Noble], a Massachusetts state representative -- was elected in
1976.
It was 21 years before Parker became Houston's first out-of-the-closet
elected official.
        In the mid-1980s, when she began advocating for the gay
community
with Houston police, there were no openly gay or lesbian officers,
Parker
said.  She attended a recent commitment ceremony for an officer and
her
partner.  Uniformed officers were in the audience.
        "More and more gays and lesbians are not content to be in the
closet," she said.  "Personal decisions are driving social change."
        Longtime gay activist Ray Hill agreed.
        "When I was growing up, my only role models were Walt Whitman,
an old
man with a white beard, and Oscar Wilde," said Hill, 60.  "In other
words, I
had no role models.  Now there are gay role models in every
neighborhood in
Houston."
        As part of Pride Month, Hill is performing A Stroll through
GLBT
History with Ray Hill at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Houston Lesbian and
Gay
Community Center, 803 Hawthorne.
        A major factor in gay history has been the AIDS epidemic, which
passed the 20-year mark this month.  According to a recent report
from the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1 million
U.S.
residents have been infected since the syndrome was reported in June
1981.
Of those, about 750,000 have developed AIDS and about 450,000 have
died.
        Michael Peranteau, co-founder of The Center for AIDS here, said
people with AIDS find it easier to get needed services than in the
past, but
the rising infection rate among young gay men worries him.  Peranteau
also
said he is disappointed in the city's lackluster prevention campaign.
        "The mayor declared a state of emergency (in December 1999)
and that
was it," Peranteau said.
        Porfirio Villarreal, spokesman for the city's Department of
Health
and Human Services, noted that the city continues HIV testing and
counseling
and funds grass-roots organizations working to reduce HIV
transmission.  On
June 29, the department is conducting a conference to mobilize
African-American churches to participate in HIV prevention,
Villarreal said.
        A step forward for AIDS research in Houston is an eight-year
government study of 6,000 patients nationwide, including several
hundred
locally.  Paul Simmons, information and advocacy director at The
Center for
AIDS, said the study will compare the effects of using drugs
aggressively
versus using them conservatively.
        "It's the largest trial in the history of the epidemic," said
Simmons, a nurse who formerly worked for the Houston Clinical Research
Network at Montrose Clinic.  "It's very ambitious and very exciting."
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17th June, 2001 (# 6) News Clippings Digest.

1.  MARCO (FL) DAILY NEWS  Fort Myers group hopes Pride Splash
energizes local gay and lesbian community
2.  SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS  PrideFest celebrates cooperation
3.  ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS  Today's letters about mayor's banning of
gay pride exhibit from city library
4.  LONDON SUNDAY TIMES  Gay couples join forces to have babies as
foursomes
5.  FEEDBACK   How to let Nebraska's governor know you won't be
coming to the state as a tourist.

Marco Daily News, June 17, 2001
Box 7009, Naples, FL, 33941
(Fax: 941-263-4816 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.naplesnews.com/ )
Fort Myers group hopes Pride Splash energizes local gay and lesbian
community
By ERINN HUTKIN, echutkin@...
        Kevin Mooney has lived all over the country, but when he moved
from
Chicago to Sanibel Island two years ago, it quickly became the first
place
he ever called home.
        But something was missing.
        Chicago had a large number of gays and lesbians - and
organizations
to support them.
        Here, there were none.
        That changed last year with the formation of the Gay and
Lesbian
Community Center of Southwest Florida.
        Now Mooney, a leader of the GLCC, hopes to help other gays and
lesbians find a community within Southwest Florida.
        The Gay and Lesbian Community Center was formed to serve as a
hub for
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered residents of Southwest
Florida.
The organization hopes to build bridges between itself and the
existing
community.
        That mission begins next Sunday with a daylong Gay Pride
celebration
at Sun Splash Family Waterpark in Cape Coral.
        Participants can enjoy the park's water sides, bring a picnic
lunch
or feast on hamburgers and hot dogs at a water park pavilion GLCC has
rented
from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
        The goal of the day, Mooney said, is to bring the area's
homosexual
and bisexual community together with the rest of Southwest Florida.
        "The gay and lesbian community is not real vocal in this area,"
Mooney said.  "Like any ethnic group, they don't have to be vocal to
be part
of the community."
        Other than bars - which he does not like going to - Mooney
feels
there are few places in Lee County where gays and lesbians can meet
one
another and congregate.
        He said he likes the idea of going to Sun Splash because
unlike a
bar, it's a place families and people of all ages can enjoy.
        Mooney hopes next Sunday's outing will become an annual
event.  He
would like to follow the Sun Splash event with a Labor Day activity.
Mooney
also envisions having a Christmas dance as a fund-raiser and possibly
hosting a film festival.
        "It is fulfilling a need in the community," Mooney said of the
group.
        The Fort Myers-based Gay and Lesbian Community Center formed
last
summer and fall.  Its ultimate goal is building its own facility.
Mooney
said the group is also trying to find "gay friendly" businesses in
the area
such as doctors and churches.
        Mooney said he realizes some residents might not like the idea
of a
Gay Pride event, but he said such thoughts are none of his concern.
He said
a group of gays and lesbians visited Sun Splash three years ago for a
similar outing and had only one protester.
        As for next weekend's event, city of Cape Coral spokesperson
Connie
Barron said she's excited the 12-acre water park with slides, a
volleyball
court and an arcade is hosting the day.
        "The point of Sun Splash is to provide enjoyment opportunities
for
everyone," she said.  "We are a diverse community.  We are becoming
more
diverse every day.  We welcome that diversity."
        Barron said while the event has received publicity, she has
not heard
complaints about the Gay Pride celebration.  She said the closest
she's come
is a phone call from a woman wanting to make sure the event was not
happening the same day she planned to visit the park.
        The day is being sponsored by Fort Myers Beach's Casa Playa
Beach
Resort, West Wind Inn on Sanibel and Chocolate Schmooze restaurant in
Fort
Myers.
        Chocolate Schmooze owner Fred Blumberg has let GLCC use his
eatery
for meetings.  Next Sunday, he'll donate his grill for barbecuing at
Sun
Splash.  He said he thinks it's good for businesses to support such
events.
        "Anything that promotes awareness is good for the community,"
he
said.
        Meanwhile, Mooney said he expects 150 people to spend next
Sunday in
the water and sunshine, perhaps finding a group in this slice of
paradise
that makes them feel more at home.
        "There are a lot of people out there who want us to be here,"
Mooney
said.
        . Tickets for Saturday's Gay Pride celebration, Pride Splash,
are $15
for adults and $10 for those 3 to 14.  Tickets can be purchased at The
Bottom Line, The Office Pub, Tubby's, Whispers, Chocolate Schmooze or
at the
GLCC pavilion the day of the event. Sun Splash Family Waterpark is at
400
Santa Barbara Blvd., Cape Coral.  For more information, call (941)
772-1603
or visit the Web site at www.glccswfl.org.


San Antonio Express-News, June 17, 2001
Box 2171, San Antonio, TX, 78297-2171
(Fax: 210-351-7372 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://expressnews.com/ )
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=180&xlc=252840&xld
=180
PrideFest celebrates cooperation
By Jaime Castillo, San Antonio Express-News, jscastillo@express-
news.net
        Emboldened by the presence of Sheriff Ralph Lopez and City
Councilman
Bobby Perez at PrideFest 2001 on Saturday, gay rights advocates
called for a
new spirit of cooperation with heterosexual politicians and city
leaders as
the best way to achieve true equality.
        "Until straight people give us gay rights, we're not going to
have
them," said Dan Castor of the San Antonio Equal Rights Political
Caucus, a
nonpartisan gay and lesbian advocacy group.
        The message, delivered to several hundred people at Crockett
Park
near downtown before a night parade attended by more than 1,000, was a
departure for the event.
        The PrideFest traditionally has been more of a celebration
than a
political statement.  But recent events have given hope to gay rights
advocates who believe their community is too often pushed to the
fringes of
public life.
        The city's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities
named
Lopez as grand marshal of the parade in appreciation of his public
support
of Lt. Brian Lunan, a Bexar County deputy who is undergoing a
transformation
from man to woman.  Lopez is the highest-profile politician to serve
as the
parade's grand marshal.
        "We pride ourselves on being a sensitive community," Lopez said
before the parade started.  "We pride ourselves on our diversity."
        Lopez, dressed in street clothes, rode a black convertible
Corvette
in the parade.  He was in the front passenger seat, while Christie Lee
Littleton Van de Putte sat in the back, both waving.  A transsexual,
she has
been at the forefront of battles to secure the right of transsexuals
to
change their legal gender in Texas.
        Organizers also honored Perez for his contributions.  Despite
criticism from a conservative Christian radio host and others, Perez
recently allocated $1,000 from his City Council discretionary fund to
pay
for the mobile stage used during the PrideFest 2001 picnic.
        The councilman, who also has pushed for two housing projects
in his
district for AIDS patients and their families, said his involvement
is a
matter of fairness.
        "I think we're all fortunate to live in a community that
celebrates
multiculturalism," Perez said.  "But sometimes that multiculturalism
doesn't
cross the line where it needs to."
        "What the sheriff and Councilman Perez have done is a
tremendous
breakthrough for San Antonio as a community," said Martin Herrera,
PrideFest
2001 co-chairman.  "These are heterosexual men who are respected in
the
community and have everything to lose."
        The parade ended on a serious note with a candlelight vigil to
commemorate the 20th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic.
        But the first entries in the parade delighted the crowd, which
cheered loudly when a sailor and a soldier marched past carrying the
Texas
and U.S. flags.
        Dee Villarrubia of Gay Veterans of America and Stonewall
Democrats
grinned when a group of women roared by on motorcycles as the parade
turned
from North Main Avenue onto East Laurel Street.
        "This is wonderful," enthused Villarrubia, one of the
organizers of
the event.  "We had a good day.  A lot of good people and, of course,
we had
some picketers, but overall it was a fun day."
        . Staff Writer Emanuel Gonzales contributed to this report.


Anchorage Daily News, June 17, 2001
P. O. Box 149001, Anchorage, AK, 99514-9001
(Fax: 907-258-2157 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.adn.com/ )
Letter:  Media should house exhibit until the controversy dies
        Re the letter concerning the homosexual exhibit, "If not the
library,
then where?" (June 10):  May I suggest that since the Daily News and
the TV
media seem to want to continue this subject ad nauseam, perhaps the
Daily
News would make available the use of its foyer until the subject
dies, or
until you find a new windmill for jousting practice.
-- Vern Roth, Anchorage

Letter:  Library space should be given equally to both sides of issue
        Instead of battling in court over the library space, why not
do this:
Let the Rev. Janet Richardson have her gay and lesbian pride display,
but in
all fairness and equal time/space, let Dr. Jerry Prevo promote his
boring
but healthy lifestyle as well.  It would give all library patrons a
chance
to reflect and perhaps choose if undecided.
-- Jan Stalmarck, Wasilla

Letter:  Mayor's decision to ban exhibits in library was seen
worldwide
        Mayor George Wuerch's decision to ban exhibits at the library
frightens me.  What happened to our First Amendment rights of free
speech?
What happened to the voting process in Anchorage?  I fear that
censorship at
the library will lead to further decline in Anchorage under his reign.
        At least when he shot himself in the foot this time, it was
truly a
shot heard around the world.
-- Jan Timmons, Recently resigned appointee of the Library Advisory
Board,
Anchorage

Letter:  Celebrating diversity is important in secular, religious
communities
        What a surprise to hear that God needed someone to "stand up
for
God's Word" ("Emotions flare over exhibit removal," June 13).  In the
midst
of the controversy over the Celebrate Diversity display removed from
the
library, there seem to be many voices speaking for God or defending
what God
has to say.  The One in which I believe certainly needs no help from
us.
        It is a mistake to assume that there is a single Christian or
religious voice in this matter.  People of faith will find themselves
on all
sides of this controversy.  While biblical passages can be found
around
homosexual behavior, many more passages are found that proclaim the
welcome,
hospitality and table fellowship of God.  According to Jesus, the
diversity
of folks invited in will even surprise the most liberal.
        As a new resident of Alaska, I was shocked and disturbed that
the
library administration is not independent of political pressure.  On
both
religious and constitutional grounds, I strongly object to the
decision of
the mayor.  Celebrating diversity is both a challenge and a blessing
that
calls us to see beyond our own narrowness or blindness.
        As there is diversity in the midst of the religious community,
let us
also celebrate and be open to the diversity in our own community.
-- the Rev. Michael F. Keys, Anchorage

Letter:  Mayor Wuerch needs to open his mind to the beliefs of others
        The groups who sponsored the gay pride display in the Loussac
Library
were not asking the government to "promote either religious beliefs or
alternative lifestyles."  The goal of the exhibit was education.
Education
is a gift, no matter what the subject.  The goal of education is to
learn
about all subjects.  All must put their biases behind them in order to
learn.
        All that is being asked of the viewers is to have an open mind
and
learn something new.  They are not being threatened.  Mayor George
Wuerch's
decision on behalf of the community shows that some people in our
city are
too caught up in their biases to learn.  Mayor Wuerch always
emphasizes the
importance of education in our community.  He has forgotten to put
aside his
own morals in order to make a choice for the good of everyone.
        One cannot have his morals perfectly set in stone because every
experience one has gives him a starting point from which to shape his
views.
The exhibit was a chance for people to become better informed.  Who
would
reject an opportunity to learn?  Those who do this do not learn
because they
have a passion for knowledge.  These people learn selectively,
comprehending
only things which justify their narrow way of thinking.  Anyone who
condemns
the library exhibit is condemning education and broader thinking.
-- Lara Nations, Anchorage

Letter:  Alaska Library Association wants new, inclusive policy for
exhibits
        Mayor George Wuerch recently asked the Department of Law to
review
and make recommendations on a clear, concise and fair exhibit policy
for
Anchorage libraries.  On behalf of the Alaska Library Association, I
urge
the mayor to approve an exhibit policy that is inclusive and
equitable to
all groups living in Anchorage.
        The mayor stated that because the diversity exhibit was
promotional,
the existing policy prohibited it.  Every display promotes ideas.  We
believe that the prohibition of promotional displays should be
removed from
the revised policy.
        The mayor also stated that the display might violate
separation of
church and state.  If this display has proselytized for a specific
religion,
it would have violated that separation, but it did not.  Current
policy
states that display space will be made available to organizations
"regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or
groups."  This
sound policy should be retained.
        Traditionally, libraries have served as repositories of diverse
ideas.  Today, libraries also serve as community centers, places in
which
those ideas can be expressed in a variety of forms.  We urge Mayor
Wuerch to
craft and approve a policy that is inclusive and encourages public
discourse
and constitutionally protected free speech from all sectors of the
community.
-- Patience Frederiksen, president, Alaska Library Association

Letter:  Library is a sanctuary, not a place to flaunt sexual
preferences
        Regarding the gay display at the library, the only problem is
that it
should never have been there in the first place.  It's not that I
don't
accept gay people, but I resent the flaunting of sexual preferences
in a
library as though it's an issue of suffrage.  Gays should be proud,
but why
do they need the signage, as if to say "We have pride, see, even the
sign
says so.  So there."  Come on.  Our library is our sanctuary.  Please
keep
it that way.
-- Skyler Kay, Anchorage


London Sunday Times, June 17, 2001
PO Box 496, London E1 9XN, United Kingdom
(Fax: +44( 0 )171-782 5988 ) (letters@... )
( http://www.thetimes.co.uk/ )
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/Sunday-
Times/stinwenws02010.html?
Gay couples join forces to have babies as foursomes
Tessa Mayes and Rosie Waterhouse
        Gay and lesbian couples are teaming up to "share" babies in a
trend
expected to spark a fresh debate about childcare.
        After a rise in the number of same-sex couples having children
in the
past decade, a growing number of gays and lesbians are getting
together to
produce a child and forming an "extended family" to raise it.  The
babies
are normally conceived via do-it-yourself methods of artificial
insemination.
        The move in Britain follows a boom in "co-parenting" in
America.
        Reaction to such families is sharply divided.  Some
traditionalists
fear that children may become confused about their sexual identities.
However, those advocating gay and lesbian parenting rights argue that
as
long as the relationship is loving and stable, children come to no
harm and
benefit from four devoted parents.
        This weekend, a four-parent gay and lesbian family from
Brighton
explained how they formed their association.  Almost three years ago
Sue, a
35-year-old primary school teacher, decided she wanted children with
her
lesbian partner, Kim, who had two children from a heterosexual
marriage.
Initially the couple planned to raise the child themselves.
        "We wanted the potential father to donate sperm and not have
any
other involvement, although we said we would send a photograph of the
children now and then," said Sue.
        Almost by chance Sue and Kim met John, 34, a gay doctor, who
donated
his sperm.  Two weeks later Sue was pregnant with baby Jack, who is
now two.
A second child, Kate, now three months old, followed "quite
naturally", said
Sue.
        When John offered to be a donor he also believed his
involvement
would stop there.  He changed his mind only after the baby was born.
        "I am ashamed to say that it was rather unthought-out on my
part.
However, one day I had a phone call saying 'it's a boy' and when I
saw a
10-minute old baby that was half mine, genetically speaking, I
realised I
couldn't keep my side of the bargain and stay away."
        John and his partner, Paul, a 36-year-old teacher, now share
Jack and
Kate.  They say the arrangement -- where the children spend time at
weekends
and some weekdays with John and Paul -- works well.
        The children know John as "Daddy", Paul as "Daddy's partner",
Sue as
"Mummy" and Kim as "Mummy" or "Mummy's partner".  The four doubt the
living
arrangement would in itself affect the sexuality of their children.
        "I don't think if you are brought up in a gay environment you
are
going to be gay.  I think being gay is due to genetics.  It would be
interesting to see if either of the kids are gay when they grow up,"
said
Sue.
        In America, Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere, a family
rights
organisation, estimates that there are between 6m and 10m American
daughters
and sons of lesbian, gay and bisexual parents in all kinds of living
arrangements, increasingly foursomes.
        Dr Gill Dunne, a senior lecturer in sociology at the
University of
Plymouth, who has studied 37 lesbian couples with dependent children
and
interviewed 100 gay fathers, said: "The trends are definitely towards
more
of these kinds of situations happening in Britain.  Before, gay men
were
just helping lesbian friends have children.  Now more and more gay
men want
to have families."
        Traditionalists such as MP Julian Brazier, president of the
Conservative Family Campaign, are unconvinced.  "This sort of social
experiment may be exciting for the people who take part in it but they
should ask themselves whether it is in the best interests of the
child," he
said.  "The evidence overwhelmingly is that children have the best
opportunities if they are raised in a conventional married family."
        Cornelia Oddie, of the Family and Youth Concern think tank,
also saw
problems:  "It must be extra confusing for the children.  With
homosexual
couples the majority of their friends would be presumably part of the
homosexual culture, so the children grow up with a skewed idea of
relationships.  This is bound to give children an unbalanced view of
social
and sexual relationships."
        However, Professor Susan Golombok, director of the Family and
Child
Psychology Research Centre at City University, who has studied
reports from
the past 25 years, disagrees.  She said data that refer to several
hundred
lesbian families from around the world show that such children "do
not have
a higher rate of emotional and behavioural problems, or have their
sexual
development affected".
        Angela Mason, of the gay campaign group Stonewall, added:
"The main
thing is to have parents who are loving and committed."


FEEDBACK from paulbarwick@...:
        Readers who wish to let Nebraska tourism officials know that
they
have taken Nebraska off of their list of vacation destinations due to
Governor Mike Johanns veto of the bill which would have outlawed
housing
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation might want to drop
a line
to:
        JoAnn McManus, the Director of the Nebraska Division of Travel
and
Tourism at: jmcmanus@...   A list of over 100 Nebraska Chamber
of Commerce offices, with e-mail or fax numbers can be found at
http://www.visitnebraska.org/chambers.html
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17th June, 2001 (# 5) News Clippings Digest.

1.  WASHINGTON POST  Two Men and a Baby:  At first, fatherhood seemed
like the unlikeliest possibility. Then it became the only logical
choice

Washington Post, June 17, 2001
1150 15th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20071
(E-Mail:  letterstoed@... )( http://washingtonpost.com/ )
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63386-2001Jun13.html
Two Men and a Baby
At first, fatherhood seemed like the unlikeliest possibility. Then it
became
the only logical choice
By Louis Bayard
        It's 2:30 a.m. in Ho Chi Minh City, and I am slumped at the
end of a
hallway in the Caravelle Hotel, wearing one of the white terry-cloth
bathrobes that the maids replace every day whether you use them or
not.
There's a bellhop standing over me.  Maybe it's the strange angle at
which
I'm sitting -- knees together, ankles apart -- or maybe it's the way
my head
is lolling back against the wall -- but something, something has
pushed this
look of deep misgiving onto his face.  "Are you all right?" he's
asking me.
And, with the calmness of a madman, I say: "Oh, I'm fine.  I'm just
running
from my baby."
        He backs away, slowly.  I don't know whether he's more afraid
to stay
or leave.  But he does leave -- turns a corner and is gone.
        At that instant, I know:  I need a road map.  Something, I
mean, that
will tell me whether this is the dead end it feels like or just
another stop
along the road to fatherhood.  To the New Fatherhood -- in all its
byzantine, multifarious complexity -- as practiced by men who never
expected
to be there in the first place.  But I'm the type who never reads the
guidebooks until the trip's over.  So, for any who choose to follow,
here's
the itinerary in advance:  a Step-by-Step Guide for the 21st-Century
Dad.
        Think Again
        Thinking again was very important, because I had long ago
given up on
parenthood.  The whole idea of parenthood.  I can even remember the
point
where I let go.  I was a junior in college, drowsing in and out of
consciousness on the dorm room sofa, in and out, in and out, and
finally
out, and just as my eyes closed for good, an image splashed across my
inner
lid.  A boy.  Five or six, I would guess, running across a muddy
field in a
down parka (which was unzipped) and stretching out his arms, as
though any
second he were going to propel himself against me.  Two or three
seconds, I
think, and then he was gone, and I was awake again.  It was
paradoxical and
unalterable at the same time.  This boy was my son . . . or he was
the son I
would never have.  And he was running toward me . . . except he was
saying
goodbye.  And every step I took from then on would lead me farther
away from
him, and as the years passed, I would have only this memory -- this
furtive,
almost illicit encounter -- to remind me of what I'd given up.
        Well, that's the way a lot of closeted young gay men thought
in those
days.  Not so long ago, really, the mid-'80s, but when it came to
that, it
might as well have been the '50s.  There were to be no running boys
in our
future, no stockinged girls, just a few well-chosen pets, spaced out
over
half a century, and a small cast of rotating nephews and nieces to
whose
college education one might appropriately contribute without
depleting one's
401(k).
        Childlessness was the only austerity program gay men consented
to,
and I suppose a part of me must have consented, too.  I went to bars,
I
dated a little.  When I was 23, I met a guy named Don, and after a few
months, we moved in together, and over the next decade we moved up
and down
Sixth Street on Capitol Hill, and once a year we went somewhere we'd
never
been before:  Vermont, Banff, Tuscany, Provence.  We lived in row
houses,
and we had dinner parties, and we got invited to dinner parties.
Elegant
affairs, many of them, with guests who specialized in the kind of
humor that
is puzzlingly called "brittle."
        One night, I was listening to one of those people.  He was
talking
about the vagaries of his Guatemalan cleaning woman.  And as I
listened, all
I could hear was the litany in my own head:  I don't want brittle.  I
want
something better than brittle.  Because . . . you have to understand
. . . I
had never given up on children.  Not completely, not ever.  There was
still
this little patch inside my chest, empty most of the time but growing
full
and molten every time a child walked past me.  Boy or girl, it didn't
matter, and the more of them there were, the more uncomfortable the
sensation.  There were so many kids at my brother's wedding I wasn't
sure I
would make it out alive.
        A friend of mine told me my perspective was all wrong.  "You
should
think of your books as your children," he said.  So I compared and
contrasted, and I realized there were things a book -- even one you've
written -- will not do for you.  Run toward you across a muddy
field.  Look
pleased when you come through the door.  Bring cold cuts to your
funeral
reception.  No, until they made books that were capable of catching a
gently
lobbed ball, it would have to be a child.
        Play Against Your Strengths
        "The one advantage to being homosexual, and you're throwing it
away."
That's another friend of mine speaking.  He's being facetious, I
think.  But
he does neatly summarize the attitude of quite a few members of the
gay
community.  As Don and I scooted further and further from the world of
brittle dinner parties, we began noticing something strange:  The
people who
were urging us to become parents were almost always straight.
        "Of course they are," another gay friend said.  "They want to
spread
the misery around."
        Follow Dad's Orders
        My dad's orders, circa 1970, were to report to Vietnam.  He
was a
career Army officer, and in 20 years of active duty, he had not yet
served
in a war.  So to remedy that, he shipped out to Can Tho in the Mekong
Delta.
The 12 months he spent there have trailed him for the rest of his
life --
mainly, I think, because they overturned his most basic assumptions.
        While he was over there, he helped raise money from U.S.
soldiers to
pay for schools and for local villagers' prosthetic limbs.  There's a
picture of him:  lean and grinning hard, surrounded by a wave of
hard-grinning Vietnamese children.  He was visiting a local Catholic
school,
and the children (coached, he now believes) swarmed around him as
soon as he
arrived.
        I wish I could say it was this picture that made Don and me
choose
Vietnam.  Or that some prospect of moral reparation took hold of us.
No,
there were more practical considerations.  Vietnam was one of the few
countries that would allow single American fathers to adopt.  And
Vietnam
had healthy babies.  Everyone we talked to said the kids there were
better
nourished and nurtured than their counterparts in Russia and Ukraine.
        So Vietnam it would be.  But as the date for our first trip
grew
closer, I began to see the symmetry between my father's quest and
mine.  We
were both going to Vietnam to become men.  I was the lucky one:  I
didn't
have to go to war; I just had to take home a baby.  The day before I
left, I
jokingly asked my dad if he had any message for the Vietnamese people.
"Tell them I'm sorry," he said.
        Shake Hands Like a Man
        That's the father of my sophomore-year roommate speaking.  I
was 19,
and I had just answered his out-thrust hand with an insufficiently
vigorous
grip, and this is what he barked back.  It worked:  I have never, in
the
ensuing years, given anyone a sissy handshake.  And far from
resenting his
advice, I have grown to regard it as the most suitable way to greet a
new
person -- or a new destiny, which is roughly the same thing.  Shake
hands.
Grip firmly.
        Don and I met our new son in a government-run pediatric clinic
in the
heart of Ho Chi Minh City.  We were brought there by our adoption
"facilitator," and we were seated in a long hallway in molded-plastic
chairs
that seemed too small for our American bodies.  Behind us were four
windows,
closed, and four fans, beating the heat away.  It was only a little
after 8
in the morning, and the day was already very hot.  Our facilitator --
an
unctuous fellow in designer knockoffs -- was demonstrating his
importance by
staring at his notepad and wandering in one room and out another.
After a
while, the adoptive parents were taking bets on which door he would
emerge
from.  And then, after about 20 minutes of waiting, a woman in a green
nurse's uniform came up to us and, with no ceremony to speak of,
lowered a
baby into Don's arms.
        He was dead asleep, our little Cao Minh Tri (soon to be, and
forevermore, Seth).  The only parts of him stirring were his
beautiful long
eyelashes, fluttering in the breeze from the fans.  But when I put my
index
finger in his palm, his fingers instinctively curled around it.  He
had it
already:  the steely masculine grip.  He was saying -- wasn't he? --
Nice to
meet you.
        Cover Your Ears
        He started crying pretty much as soon as we met.  By the time
we got
him in the cab, he was in full uproar.  Someone had dropped a half-
empty
bottle of formula in Don's lap -- Seth's bottle, we assumed, but when
we put
it to his mouth, he thrust it angrily away and kept crying.  Cried
all the
way across the hotel lobby, into the elevator, into the room.  Cried
when we
set him down, cried even more when we held him.  Napped for a few
hours,
played contentedly for an hour after that, then went back to crying.
Except
by this point, it was screaming.
        And it was only then that we realized:  At 6 months, our child
hadn't
been weaned from the breast.  Of course, our facilitator had assured
us that
Seth had been staying with a foster mother.  But no such woman ever
presented herself, and there wasn't a formula within a thousand miles
he
would accept -- not regular Similac, not soy Similac, not the
Vietnamese
equivalents.  Not warm, not cold.  Not even the bottle itself -- the
mere
press of a rubber nipple against his lips caused him to whip his head
back
and let loose with a new fusillade of sound.  By 3 in the afternoon,
he was
locked in a fathomless distress.
        Don and I got on the phone and started calling people -- the
woman
who had escorted us through government appointments, the young,
English-speaking pediatrician who had reviewed Seth's medical history
--
anyone, anyone at all.  The first to arrive were Nancy, another
adoptive
parent, and Nancy's mother, a registered nurse, cheerful and
mysteriously
competent women who went straight to work: patted and stroked the boy,
bathed him in the bathroom sink, laid him naked across the bed, tried
every
kind of bottle from every angle.  Nothing worked.  The screaming grew
louder
and louder, even as his dehydrated body slowly lost the capacity to
produce
tears.  Then Nancy hit on the idea of spooning water into his mouth.
And
for the first time, Seth's lips parted to admit the intruder.  For
the very
first time, those lips closed around something and attempted to
swallow it.
        "We've cracked the code!" Nancy cried.
        But only in part.  For the next five days, Don and I took turns
ladling food and water into Seth's mouth, and even as he accepted the
food,
he fought us, fought hard.  No longer able to get the constant stream
of
nourishment he was used to, he raged at us between spoonfuls,
sometimes in
mid-spoonful.  I remember once looking into his mouth and seeing the
rice
cereal we had just fed him vibrating with sound -- a synesthetic
effect,
like someone screaming underwater.  Every feeding session was a
battle we
were predestined to lose:  We could only go two to three minutes at a
time
before the wall of resistance became too strong.
        "He's so powerful," Don whispered.
        That was the amazing thing.  When he had reached his limit, he
would
arch his back and drop his head back, and his jaw would wire itself
shut,
and the screams would course through his skin, turn it the poached
red of
tandoori chicken, and his eyes would clench with fury.  And
confronted by
such a will, we felt insubstantial, unmanned.  We could find nothing
to
match it.
        Except, now and again, our own rage.  This was the part the
child-care manuals tend to gloss over:  how a child who resists you,
who
spurns your best efforts to comfort him, can make you angrier than
you knew
how to be.  My meltdown came on the fourth day . . . no, very early
on the
fifth day.  I can't tell you how long Seth had been crying by then,
how
often we had tried to feed him.  All I know is that, half an hour or
so
after midnight, I leaned into him and began yelling: "Shut up! Shut
up!"
You probably wouldn't even call it yelling.  I had, unconsciously,
mimicked
the strangled, clenched timbre that he assumed at his most enraged.
I'm not
sure he even noticed the perverse compliment I was paying him.
        That's when I left the room and stumbled down the hallway and
sat
there until the bellhop became alarmed.  And then sat a little longer
--
swamped, defeated by this 15-pound boy and his overwhelming need.
        Sing
        "Surfer Girl," when hummed, sounds exactly like a lullaby.
This is
the kind of epiphany that graces you when you're trying to soothe a
hungry
baby.  You go through all the stuff that seems infant-appropriate,
and when
you realize you really don't know the words -- the Muffin Man; where
the
hell does the Muffin Man live? -- you move on to the stuff you do
know.
        Old songs, inevitably.  "Pennies From Heaven."  "More Than You
Know."
"Some Enchanted Evening."  And, mixed in with that, eructations of the
childhood unconscious.  "Disco Inferno."  "The Morning After."  The
"Flipper" theme song.  The Good 'n Plenty jingle.  The words don't
matter
anymore.  It's just the resonance in the ear.
        Keep the TV Running
        I wasn't one of those silly parents who expect to keep their
child
television-free; I just hadn't expected to be immersing him so early
and so
often.  But our hotel offered MTV Asia, and a minute or so of Ricky
Martin
performing "She Bangs" had a significantly ameliorative effect on
Seth's
disposition.  Now and again I would steal a look at the screen and see
Ricky's hips working and feel twin pangs of desire and embarrassment,
as
though I'd been caught ogling my son's kindergarten teacher.
        At other times, I would find myself staring at these moussed,
muscled, flat-stomached men and women with their liberated pelvises,
and I
would think:  "You couldn't do that, you couldn't be that, if you had
an
infant 10 yards away, squalling himself hoarse."  A gloomy sort of
superiority, to be sure, and it always collapsed under the weight of
my
incompetence, which was always just a few seconds away.
        Keep Walking
        That was the thing that worked best.  Take him out of the
room, down
the hallway, down the elevator (show him his reflection in the
mirrored
panels), through the lobby, and if he was still protesting, push
through the
front doors and keep going until you felt the hot, damp city air
splashing
your face.  One night, as we were coming out the porte-cochere, a 6-
year-old
boy approached us.  One of the thousands of juvenile mendicants who
clog Ho
Chi Minh City's streets, wearing a tank top and shorts and, for good
measure, a mocking, precociously corrupted smile.  "You got money?"
he asked
me.  But in my mind, he was speaking directly to Seth.  He was saying:
"Stupid baby in your footsie pajamas, that American isn't going to
save
you."  And I wasn't strong enough then to contest the point.
        Call In the Women
        "Who's going to take care of the baby?"
        That's what a friend of mine had asked when I first told her
of our
adoption plans.  She couldn't help herself.  She was the mother to
three
mostly grown kids, and in her day -- not so long ago -- fathers
didn't mess
with child rearing.  No one expected them to.  Take that attitude and
multiply it many thousand times over, and that is Vietnam, where
children
are, for the most part, the property solely of their mothers.  Oh,
you might
see a couple of fathers at the pediatric clinic but almost never
outdoors,
almost never walking with their kids in the street.  Imagine, then,
the
shock of seeing a Vietnamese boy in the arms of not one but two men,
and not
just two men but two American men.  Everywhere we went, we were
followed by
unabashed staring, looks of clinical fascination, and embedded in
each look
was the same nagging question:  "Who's going to take care of the
baby?"
        There were plenty of volunteers.  Hotel maids kept turning
down the
air conditioning in our room because "Baby cold."  (In fact, he was
usually
sweating.)  A teenage girl, in the middle of hitting me up for money,
paused
to correct my feeding technique.  Women on virtually every corner --
absolute strangers -- made a rush for this boy, did everything but
fold him
into their bosoms.  "Beh-bee," they cooed.  "Beh-bee."  We couldn't
even go
to a restaurant without a waitress making a grab for Seth, swinging
him off
to the kitchen so the rest of the female staff could fuss over him.
The
message was clear:  Men don't dandle.
        In normal circumstances, we would have been offended, but I
think
part of us secretly longed for the women to take over.  We knew that
as soon
as the week was out, Seth would be handed over to a foster mother -- a
smiling, sturdy woman named Queenie who had already assumed a
mythological
potency in our eyes.  She would get him on a bottle.  She would make
him
laugh and smile and kick his legs in the air and do all those heart-
melting
things that babies do, other people's babies.  And so whatever Don
and I did
until then was just masculine blundering that would cease to matter
once
Foster Mom swept to our rescue.
        But then Seth started letting us hold him.  And before long,
he was
sitting quite willingly in our laps, grabbing for our clothes, our
hair,
holding them in his immaculately tiny fingers.  He stood on our supine
bodies -- raised himself to his full height, like a little emperor,
with our
hands bracing him from behind.  He traveled, happily, in our Baby
Bjorn
carrier.  He even smiled once or twice . . . or at least the natural
pout of
his mouth, under duress, lifted into something straighter, less
forbidding.
These were the seeds of hope we took back to the States with us, the
portents we huddled over during the government-mandated 40 days that
passed
between our first and second trips.  Forty days:  a biblical span of
time.
And Queenie did indeed work wonders.  By the time we got back, Seth
was
happily sucking from a bottle (it had taken him only three hours with
her to
adjust), his belly had swelled into a tiny and pleasing hillock, and
he was
sleeping through the night.  Why would he want to be with anyone
else? I
wondered.  She even took him to the zoo . . .
        Later that week, Queenie came to our hotel room for a reunion
visit.
As soon as she picked Seth up, as soon as she put him on his
shoulder, his
head swiveled around.  No matter where she took him, he kept swerving
back
to where he had just been, until finally, Queenie's head swerved, too
--
back to me.  And, with a voice located somewhere between bafflement
and
pain, she said: "He want you."
        Wait
        The second trip was supposed to be the anti-climax: a brief
giving-and-receiving ceremony with Seth's birth mother, another great
shuffling of paper, a passport and visa for Seth . . . homeward
bound.  For
most of the couples we'd talked to, it was just a few days' work.
        But there was a hitch.  To get a visa -- to bring our child
back to
America -- we needed approval from the U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization
Service.  And approval was no longer a sure thing.  Horrible rumors
were
floating from the INS office in Ho Chi Minh City -- of birth mothers
interrogated, adoption facilitators hauled before the police and, most
worryingly, parents forced to return home without the children they
had come
for.
        Something else was becoming clear:  The INS was drawing a
special
bead on adoption agencies that connected birth mothers directly to
adoptive
parents.  Agencies like ours.  Don was the official dad, so he went
to the
INS interview alone, sat for hours in a warm waiting room in one of
Ho Chi
Minh City's few high-rises before being called in.  Then a burly INS
official -- an ex-Navy investigator who, jarringly, played Gipsy
Kings music
in his office -- told him simply:  "We have problems with this case."
        He wouldn't say what the problems were -- INS officials don't
do
that.  But there would have to be an investigation.  And the
investigation
could take a week, or it could take two weeks or possibly three.  And
it
might well go against us.  Just last month, a Michigan woman had been
barred
from taking her baby home because she'd given the birth mother a cash
gift.
We hadn't done anything like that, but what about our agency?  Had
some
people there paid money to someone?  Someone they shouldn't have?
Somewhere
along the road?
        There was no way of knowing.  And so we would have to wait.
Wait for
weeks, if necessary, to see what the INS turned up.  And we would
have to
wait with this knowledge:  that with every passing day, Seth was
becoming
more inextricably bonded to us and the chances of losing him were
growing
ever higher.
        Swim
        Or, if nothing else, go and hang by the pool.  It was better,
certainly, than sitting in your room or the lobby or the restaurant.
At the
pool, there was always company, other parents who had thrown in their
fortunes with the same agency, guilty of nothing, really, but wanting
their
children to know their birth mothers, and for this offense were
condemned,
like us, to hard time on soft loungers.  We collected opinions and
impressions from one another, pored over every encounter anyone had
ever had
with an INS official, fired off e-mails and faxes and phone calls to
anyone
who had ever known anyone in a position of authority . . . and we
waited.
        And as the days passed, as one week bled into the next, we
began to
resemble a colony of expatriates, gathering round the pool at the
same time
every afternoon, sitting in the same chairs at breakfast, saluted by
the
same staff members day after day after day.  Except we had that raw,
rubbed
look under our eyelids; we had these stares that lingered a few
seconds too
long.  We looked like inmates of an exclusive sanitarium.  And always
this
half-spoken fear hovered over us:  What if they don't let us have our
baby?
        Cry
        Ten days now.  Ten days with no word, and we knew that unless
the INS
handed down a decision soon, we would have to stay through Tet, the
week-long New Year celebration, and stay another week after that,
perhaps,
and we could wait all that time and still be no closer to leaving.
Back
home, back in Washington, there was a nursery, only half-furnished
but with
an entire baby shower's worth of gifts:  a Diaper Genie and a
changing pad
and a John Lennon-designed wallpaper border and at least three copies
of
Goodnight Moon and stuffed bears and a Gymfinity set . . . an entire
museum,
and no one to visit it.
        I had spent much of our first trip tracking the variation in
Seth's
crying; I practically had a doctorate in the subject.  There was the
warning
cry: a slow, climbing sound that hung there unresolved.  Then a
series of
hot dry coughs, as though he were clearing his throat.  An ascending
siren
scale.  And finally the crescendo of wail, culminating in a descending
"hah-hah-hah."
        But now things were different.  We were, for the first time,
discovering our competence as parents, which meant that Seth was
crying less
and less each day.  And through some internal law of conservation, we
were
making up the difference.  One morning, we heard from a couple who'd
been
kept there even longer than we had.  The INS had just told them that
their
visa approval would be delayed two more weeks.  I turned to Don and
said,
"They're going to take our boy."
        As time went on, I discovered that my crying had just as many
colors
as Seth's.  The quiet sob in the sheets.  The angry welt of moisture,
smeared away by fists.  The chest-shaking rattle.  And a sudden
unleashing
of sound, no particular gender.
        Lift Off
        Twelve days now, with no word.
        On the morning of the 13th day, the INS told one of the
couples in
our group that they couldn't take their baby home because the woman
listed
as the birth mother was not, in fact, the birth mother.  And after
that, it
became waiting of a different order.  Waiting for the blade to fall.
And
when the phone rang at 4:45 on Thursday afternoon, I knew who it was,
and I
knew exactly what the message would be, and my only thought was:  We
won't
be the only ones.  That's our comfort.  There'll be other people
going home
without their babies.  "Please report to the consulate tomorrow
morning to
pick up your visa."
        That's what the voice told Don.  But because I wasn't the one
to hear
it, I made a private point of not believing it.  And even two days
later,
when the plane lifted the three of us off the tarmac, I didn't dare
believe.
For weeks afterward, I dreamed we were back there, snared in sting
operations, running through deer blinds, slipping bundles of cash to
faceless Vietnamese officials, jumping into black helicopters.  And
for
weeks afterward, I was haunted by survivor's guilt, thinking of the
couples
whose babies weren't coming home, and wondering why we should have
been
spared and finding no good reason.
        Shake Hands Again
        Seth stayed in a bulkhead bassinet for most of the 21-hour
flight
home.  He wasn't fond of it, kept trying to climb out every chance he
could,
but now and then his resistance would ebb and he would subside into
hour-long intervals of sleep -- literally drop from view, so that I
would
find myself periodically reaching into the bassinet to be sure he was
still
there.  And at some point over the Pacific Ocean, his hand met mine,
closed
around my index finger.  The grip was as firm as ever.  And his mouth
was
assuming that slightly less forbidding line, and he was studying me
with
what seemed a larger intent than usual.  It was so much more than I
had
allowed for:  to be seen with new eyes.
        . Louis Bayard is the author of two novels, including the newly
published Endangered Species (Alyson Books).
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17th June, 2001 (# 4) News Clippings Digest.

1.  SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE  David Ehrenstein on the Andrew Sullivan
controversy
2.  WASHINGTON POST  Boy Scouts' Policy on Gays Launches 14th Season
of PBS Documentaries
3.  CHICAGO TRIBUNE  'Scout's Honor' offers lessons on standing up for
personal beliefs
4.  ALLENTOWN (PA) MORNING CALL  8th Gay Pride event held
5.  LONDON SUNDAY TIMES  National Theatre faces anger over explicit
gay sex production, "Mother Clap's Molly House"

San Francisco Chronicle, June 17, 2001
901 Mission St., San Francisco, CA, 94103
(Fax: 415-896-1107 ) (E-Mail:  chronletters@... )
( http://www.sfgate.com )
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/17
/IN139160.DTL
ARGUMENTS
Private Lives:  When is 'outing' private lives acceptable?
Sullivan's travails
David Ehrenstein
        Neoconservative writer Andrew Sullivan has been on the firing
line
recently because of revelations that he - an outspoken critic of gay
promiscuity -- advertised for unprotected sex on the Internet. Was
coverage
of this issue fair game?  Joan Walsh of Salon and longtime Sullivan
adversary David Ehrenstein weigh in. .
        [Clippings note:  This item is a companion piece to the first
item
in Clippings 17th June, 01 (#3)]
        What you are about to read is not "objective" journalism.  It
isn't
"fair and balanced."  It is, however, true.  As a journalist and gay
activist, I never made my antipathy to Andrew Sullivan a state
secret.  I
have viewed with rising alarm the way this first-rate power-networker
and
second-rate reactionary political commentator has risen to a position
of
prominence at The New York Times.
        To be frank, I have for years longed to see his head on a
platter.
Imagine my surprise when Sullivan himself turned out to be the waiter
serving up this Blue Plate Special.
        About a month ago in a gay Internet chat room called
Datalounge, an
anonymous poster reported that Sullivan -- a ceaselessly vocal critic
of
what he has called the "libidinal pathology" of the male gay
community -- to
ok out a personal ad on a Web site for people who want to practice
unprotected sex.
        Ordinarily, Datalounge offers a setting for a lot of silly
chit-chat
about celebrities.  This was something else; if true, it was
explosive.  So
I began asking other journalists about it -- an activity
mischaracterized as
"shopping the story around."  At that point I had no idea if there
was a
story.  If true, it showed Sullivan to be not merely hypocritical but
potentially dangerous.
        Therefore I made sure to e-mail him with the Datalounge post.
He
never replied.  Finally, Sullivan admitted the whole thing was true
in a
piece he posted on his Web site, "Sexual McCarthyism: An Article No
One
Should Have to Write."
        Defending his AOL adventures, Sullivan declared: "My mini-
celebrity
often gets in the way of getting to know someone naturally -- and
personal
ads avoid the whole problem of preconceived notions of who I am and
what I'm
like.  It's also hard to know whether someone is HIV-positive when
you want
to date him."  As a friend remarked, "Sullivan acts as if he were
looking
for sensitive young gentlemen to hold hands while tea is served on the
veranda."  If so, they're not likely to be found at
"Barebackcity.com."
        "This seemed to me to be a text-book case, updated for the
Internet
age: the high-tech lynching of an uppity homo," wailed Sullivan --
evoking
his hero, Clarence Thomas.  While in "HardnSolidDC" mode, he indicated
"Brothers Welcome."  But this hasn't been the case in his recent
writings on
the worldwide AIDS crisis in which he passes over the death and
suffering of
thousands of Africans in favor of the plight of the drug companies
whose
financial "risks" are all-important.  Even more self-serving is
"Recount,"
his recent column in the New Republic, in which he challenges new
Centers
for Disease Control figures about the rising rates of HIV infection,
particularly among young gay African American men.  "Brothers
Welcome,"
indeed.
        Outside of that hallowed mainstream media realm known as
Sullivanville (a suburb of Alphaville), the picture is a lot less
rosy.  The
AIDS crisis is not only far from over, it may be getting worse.
Having
invasive sex-fluid exchange, without condoms -- can quite literally
kill
you.  Documentation of this is exploding in study after study.  Will
Sully
attack them all?  The argument that his "barebacking" doesn't matter
because
he was an HIV-positive looking for other HIV-positives to play with
(problematic in itself, as his AOL messages were far from picky on
that
score) doesn't hold water.
        This is not just because persons with compromised immune
systems are
open to all manner of sexually transmitted diseases other than HIV,
but
because re-infection creating new and tougher strains of HIV is not
only
possible, it's actually happening -- despite Sullivan's claims that
only a
"slim reed" of science is involved.  But I guess we all shouldn't be
concerned because "it's his choice."
        "Choice" is not the issue.
        Neither is Sullivan's "right to privacy."  He doesn't want a
"right
to privacy."  He wants the right to secrecy.  And he's sure to get it
from
his chief employers, New Republic publisher Martin Peretz and New
York Times
Magazine editor Adam Moss.  Whether he will get their continued
respect is
open to question.
        It may be best to leave it all where most of my thoughts begin
these
days -- at the deathbed of Richard Rouilard, the great and fearless
editor
of the Advocate, who died of AIDS in 1996.  It was late afternoon in
May,
and I was complaining to him about . . . Andrew Sullivan.  His rising
star
was a running joke to us as we talked about all manner of things, from
Catholic mysticism to Maria Callas to the finer points of Anne
Baxter's
performance in "The Ten Commandments."
        "Well, David," Richard said calmly, all laid out on his bed
like he
was going to high tea with Edie Wasserman, "Andrew Sullivan is The
Voice of
Gay America."
        "WHHHAAAATTT!!!" I screamed.
        Richard smiled and began to laugh.  Then I laughed.  And we
both
laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed.  I said, "I'll see you
tomorrow," waved to him and left.
        Twenty four hours later, Richard was dead.
        Five years have passed since that afternoon.  Andrew Sullivan
is
still alive.
        And so am I.
        . David Ehrenstein is the author of "Open Secret: Gay Hollywood
1928-2000."


Washington Post, June 17, 2001
1150 15th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20071
(E-Mail:  letterstoed@... )( http://washingtonpost.com/ )
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63470-2001Jun13.html
Boy Scouts' Policy on Gays Launches 14th Season of PBS Documentaries
By Harriet Winslow, Washington Post Staff Writer
        PBS's series "P.O.V./American Documentary" starts its 14th
season
Tuesday at 10 p.m. with a look at one boy's tireless efforts to
overturn the
Boy Scouts of America's anti-gay policy.
        This film, made by Tom Shepard, launches the summer series,
which
this year carries the theme of "the challenges of freedom."
        Steven Cozza, who is 12 at the start of the hour-long "Scout's
Honor," is not gay, but is offended by the notion that the
organization for
which he feels such an affinity should declare its discrimination for
one
group.
        Cozza also has a church counselor who is gay, and the boy is
bothered
that the Scouts, an organization he loves, would shun this man he
respects.
        Boy Scouts, after all, believe in doing what is morally right,
which
includes respecting others.  How does a discrimination policy, which
the
Supreme Court upheld, mesh with this?
        Cara Mertes, executive producer of "P.O.V.," oversaw the
selection of
this year's 12 films from about 600 submissions.
        "In the instance of 'Scout's Honor,' we looked at the film and
thought, people are talking about this," she said.  "There are 3
million
Scouts today and one million Scout leaders.  Those numbers made us
sit up
and take notice.
        "The Boy Scouts do wonderful things.  I think one of the
reasons
Steven Cozza started this movement was to send his notion of rights
for the
gay population, but also to share his wonderful experience with the
Scouts.
It's a really beloved organization and this has been really difficult
for
people to decide where to come down on."
        Filmmaker Shepard became intrigued with Cozza and his efforts
to
launch a movement called Scouting for All by mounting a petition in
suburban
Petaluma, Calif.  Shepard drove from his home in San Francisco to meet
Cozza, and was struck by the convictions of the boy and his family.
        The trip led him to Dave Rice, who also believed that a policy
of
discrimination didn't belong in the Boy Scouts.  During the course of
the
film, we learn that Rice is thrown out for speaking out, after 50
years of
involvement.
        Shepard realized that these two people made an excellent basis
for a
film.
        "There was a nice intergenerational thing going on between
these two
straight Boy Scouts who were willing to risk their standing within
this
organization," he said.
        The film reveals how much scouting means to its members and
leaders.
Rice recalls receiving his termination letter from BSA and is visibly
devastated.  Cozza strives toward his Eagle rank, the highest level a
Scout
can achieve, instead of abandoning the group.
        "I did think at one point we should call it 'Boys Do Cry,'"
joked
Shepard.
        The larger issue for Shepard, beyond learning about the BSA's
discrimination policy, was his awareness of gay-straight alliances in
schools.
        "Anti-gay prejudice is something worth addressing," he said.
To him,
Cozza personifies many contemporary youth who find discrimination
unacceptable.  "I hope the film will illuminate what these kids are
doing.
There have been a number of documentaries about gay people -- far
fewer
about what happens when non-gays speak out about gays," Shepard said.
        "P.O.V." is a series known for grappling with social issues,
and
Shepard's "Scout's Honor" is no exception.  Conservatives may bristle
while
watching it.
        The film makes clear that the Boy Scouts of America uses the
argument
in court that it is a private organization and therefore should be
free to
set rules for membership.
        "The Boy Scouts come into court looking like a private club,"
explained Shepard, "but they are entangled with all these public
entities --
fire stations, libraries, schools.  They even have a federal charter
made by
Congress when they were founded."
        Recently, some public entities including the city of Los
Angeles have
decided to sever ties with the group, he added.  The United Way,
which has
been a big supporter of scouting, is now under fire to cease funding.
        Scouting is an old institution that many believe needs
protection.
"George W. Bush even allotted some money for the Scouts in the latest
tax
package," said Shepard.
        It may be impossible to make a documentary that is not
subjective,
especially when it comes to a topic in which the filmmaker may have a
personal interest.  Shepard was able to draw a salary for nine months
of the
three years he needed to finish "Scout's Honor."
        The films chosen for "P.O.V." are "passionate expressions of
the
human experience," said executive producer Mertes.  Filmmakers "don't
want
to be objective at all."
        "This film is definitely not Ken Burns," agreed Shepard.  "If
the
[discrimination] policy changed, that's a good thing, but the film
touches
on looking at democracy in action -- understanding the differences of
people
in a pluralistic society.  The Boy Scouts could be a really useful
organization in the new century.  Are they going to cling to these
antiquated policies of the past or jump on board with contemporary
society?"
        Despite how viewers may feel about the subject, "Scouts Honor"
has
already won several awards.  It premiered at the Sundance Film
Festival
where it won the Audience Award and the Freedom of Expression Award,
and it
has been shown at festivals in Cleveland, Seattle and Torino, Italy.
The
highlight, said Shepard, was winning the grand prize for non-fiction
at the
USA Film Festival in Dallas, "a stone's throw from the Boy Scout
headquarters."
        "We only choose films that we think will start a dialogue in
one way
or another, or continue a dialogue that's already started," said
Mertes. . .
.
        [The rest is about other films in the P.O.V. series.]


Chicago Tribune, June 17, 2001
435 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60611
(Fax: 312-222-2598 ) (E-Mail: ctc-tribletter@... )
( http://www.chicagotribune.com )
http://www.chicagotribune.com/leisure/printedition/article/0,2669,SAV-
010617
0327,FF.html
'Scout's Honor' offers lessons on standing up for personal beliefs
Donald Liebenson
        It's a shame that "Scout's Honor," which will be broadcast
Tuesday on
WTTW-Ch. 11, airs at 10 p.m. and not earlier in the evening.  This
documentary offers families, particularly scouting families, much to
discuss
about responsibility, activism and the role individuals can play in
standing
up for what they believe.
        Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2001
Sundance Film Festival, "Scout's Honor" chronicles the controversy
surrounding the Boy Scouts of America's policy of excluding homosexual
leaders, a right upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.  It also tells the
remarkable story of 12-year-old scout Steven Cozza, who with 70-year-
old
Scoutmaster David Rice-neither of whom are gay-formed "Scouting for
All," an
organization dedicated to overturning the BSA's policy.  "Sometimes
you just
gotta do something," Rice states.  "You're there, you know, you can,
you
must."
        "Scout's Honor" is not a diatribe against the Boy Scouts.
Rather, it
examines the irony that the values Cozza took from scouting are what
inspired him to take his stand.


Allentown Morning Call, June 17, 2001
101 N. 6th Street, Allentown, PA, 18105
(Fax: 610-820-6693 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.mcall.com )
http://www.mcall.com/html/news/regional/b_pg003b3_5diversity.htm
8th Gay Pride event held
At Allentown festival, Steve Black says he will push for hate-crimes
law.
By DAN SHOPE Of The Morning Call
        Allentown mayoral candidates Roy Afflerbach and Bob Lovett were
there.  Lehigh County Executive Jane Ervin was there.  Even likely
gubernatorial candidate Ed Rendell made a late appearance.
        But the most popular political figure to take the stage during
the
eighth annual Gay Pride Festival at Cedar Creek Park Saturday
afternoon was
Steve Black.
        "It's a time for all of the persons from the Lehigh Valley to
join
together and celebrate with their gay and lesbian friends and
neighbors,"
Black told the 2,000 or more people attending.
        The soft-spoken Black is rapidly becoming a folk hero in Lehigh
Valley's gay and lesbian community.
        Black, 35, became the first openly gay person to win a local
election
last year.  The Wind Gap native was a top vote-getter in the race to
become
a delegate to the 2000 Democratic National Convention.
        He met Vice President Al Gore in Los Angeles at the convention.
        "It was great," said Black.  "He was very nice and polite."
        Black and gay activists said they were disappointed they had
not
gained President George W. Bush's support for Pride Month.
        In 1999, President Bill Clinton declared June as Gay and
Lesbian
Pride Month, a White House first.
        They also joked that Allentown Mayor William L. Heydt, a
Republican
like Bush, had yet to appear at one of their annual festivals at the
park.
        "We have come a long way since the 1969 uprising at the
Stonewall Inn
in New York, but we have not yet achieved full equality," Allyson
Diane
Hamm, president of Pride of the Lehigh Valley, said in her welcome to
visitors.
        Since 1969, gays and lesbians have made inroads into the
economic
sector.  There are gay financial networks, corporate outreach of
gays, major
gay magazines and gay police officers.
        Black, the group's grassroots politician, served as honorary
grand
marshal to the third annual Gay Pride parade, which formed at 10th and
Linden streets and marched on Linden to the festival grounds at Cedar
Creek.
        Tossing necklaces from his "throne" on the first float in the
parade,
Black's political agenda was simple:  He was demanding a state law
that
would fight hate crimes, as well as a bill of rights in Allentown.
        The political tone of the group's third annual parade was much
more
serious than the St. Patrick's Day and Halloween events on Hamilton
Street,
or even Allentown's Puerto Rican Day parade.
        But it did have its moments.
        A couple of men wearing leather outfits, including very short
leather
pants and army boots, walked along the floats, handing out cardboard
fans to
the audience.
        "Mr. Philadelphia Leather 2001 and Philly's first boy of
leather
welcome you . " was written on the cardboard fan.
        They were followed by a person in a Corvette who shouted to the
crowd:  "We're queer!  Get used to us!"
        More serious in the parade of 200 people were church groups,
such as
the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley, and major
companies
such as Just Born and Binney & Smith, which donated candy and arts
supplies.
        Event sponsor Pride is a Lehigh Valley gay rights activist
group
formed in 1993 by residents who took part in a civil rights march in
Washington, D.C., that year. It also sponsors a gay film festival.
        "It is hard to fully comprehend the power and importance of our
visibility," said Hamm.  "From a political standpoint, this
visibility is
crucial because there are still elected officials who think they have
no gay
constituents."
        . Reporter Dan Shope 610-820-6530 dan.shope@...


London Sunday Times, June 17, 2001
PO Box 496, London E1 9XN, United Kingdom
(Fax: +44( 0 )171-782 5988 ) (letters@... )
( http://www.thetimes.co.uk/ )
http://www.sunday-
times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/06/17/stinwenws02025.html
National Theatre faces anger over explicit gay sex production
Tom Robbins
        The National Theatre is facing the wrath of family values
campaigners
for its plans to stage a period comedy featuring graphic depictions
of gay
sex.
        The play, "Mother Clap's Molly House", set in London in 1726
in a
"molly house" -- a homosexual meeting place -- and interspersed with a
contemporary story line, is a new work by Mark Ravenhill whose first
play,
Shopping and F******, provoked outrage for its explicit content and
the
desolation of its characters.
        Critics fear his move to the National, which is part-funded by
taxpayers and whose most recent success has been Martine McCutcheon
in "My
Fair Lady" -- will prompt a row of proportions unseen since "The
Romans in
Britain" was staged in 1980.
        That play, which featured Roman soldiers raping a young Briton,
caused Mary Whitehouse, the taste and decency campaigner, to attempt
to
bring a private prosecution under the Sexual Offences Act.
        "Putting it [Ravenhill's play] on at our National with
taxpayers'
money seems to me to be designed to affront traditional family
values," said
Gerald Howarth, chairman of the Lords and Commons Family and Child
Protection Group.
        The National has recently come under criticism that with Trevor
Nunn's directorship it has staged too many "safe" and commercial
plays.
"Mother Clap's Molly House" seems likely to change all that.
        "There is sodomy, but I think National audiences can probably
take
sodomy on the chin, if that's where you take it," Ravenhill said last
week.
The play opens on September 4.
        John Beyer, director of Mediawatch UK, the new name for
Whitehouse's
National Viewers and Listeners' Association, said: "What goes on at
the
National is the face of modern Britain and I think people will be very
surprised."
        Despite his confidence in modern audiences, Ravenhill's mother
has
yet to see one of his plays.  "I haven't come up with one suitable
yet," he
said.
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17th June, 2001 (# 3) News Clippings Digest.

1.  SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE  Opinion column on the Andrew Sullivan
controversy:  When is 'outing' private lives acceptable?
2.  SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE  Saga of a 'lesbian serial killer':  Carla
Lucero's opera about the life of Aileen Wuornos proved to be a hard
sell
3.  SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE  Show of strength:  Lesbians put their
own stamp on gay pride with Dyke March

San Francisco Chronicle, June 17, 2001
901 Mission St., San Francisco, CA, 94103
(Fax: 415-896-1107 ) (E-Mail:  chronletters@... )
( http://www.sfgate.com )
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/17
/IN113839.DTL
ARGUMENTS
Private Lives:  When is 'outing' private lives acceptable?
        Neoconservative writer Andrew Sullivan has been on the firing
line
recently because of revelations that he -- an outspoken critic of gay
promiscuity -- advertised for unprotected sex on the Internet.  Was
coverage
of this issue fair game?  Joan Walsh of Salon and longtime Sullivan
adversary David Ehrenstein weigh in.

Sexual McCarthyism
Joan Walsh
        "You're not the Internet," White House press secretary Ari
Fleischer
told reporters as he warned them away from reporting on first twin
Jenna
Bush's second bust for underage drinking in just over a month.  I knew
exactly what he was trying to say: The Internet is a shadowy place
where
reputable people don't go, where rumor and innuendo and bile simmer
in the
darkness until they bubble up into unsavory news stories, stories that
reputable people, sadly, then have to answer questions about.  What I
didn't
know is whether that's what Fleischer actually believes, whether he's
missed
the fact that for most people, the Internet is not some fringe
obsession,
but the place to check stock quotes, sports scores and news
headlines, buy
books and CDs and Gap T-shirts (plus meet new friends).
        But it was hard not to miss an odd convergence.  The same week
Jenna
Bush's troubles made headlines, a news story did come bubbling up
from the
dark reaches of the Internet: the strange tale of gay conservative
Andrew
Sullivan, and the supposed "hypocrisy" of his lecturing on gay
politics and
morality while, apparently, he looks for kinky sex on the Internet.
His
critics have made public the details of Sullivan's online exploits.
Discovered on the Internet, published in print, the Sullivan story
then
became mainstream news.  The convergence of the stories raises the
toughest
and most fascinating questions in journalism today:  Why are we so
obsessed
with the private lives of public figures?  What kind of privacy, if
any, are
they entitled to?  And what's "private"?  Both issues have now become
"Internet stories" because they've taken on a life of their own.
Jenna Bush
has gotten considerable sympathy for suffering media overkill, while
Sullivan's humiliating sexual exposure has been widely applauded.
        The reaction is, of course, ass-backwards:  The Bush story is
news,
while Sullivan's is not.
        That Sullivan has made enemies is well known.  He and (gay
activist/journalist) Michelangelo Signorile have clashed before over
the
ethics of "outing" gay public figures who have stayed in the closet,
with
Signorile opting for exposing their hypocrisy and Sullivan defending
their
right to privacy.  That Signorile would decide that the public also
needed
to know about Sullivan's private sexual practices, in light of his
moralistic public statements, doesn't shock me.
        I am surprised, and a little sickened, by the reaction to the
story.
Sullivan's foes offer two lines of defense for outing him sexually.
One is
that he's preached a fairly (but not unrelentingly) conservative line
on sex
and AIDS and gay identity.  His New York Times Magazine article about
good
news on the AIDS-fighting front, "When Plagues End," is blamed for
creating
the illusion that the disease has been conquered, supposedly leading
to
public and private neglect of the issue.  So supposedly, the news that
Sullivan himself is practicing unsafe sex (though he and his partners
are
HIV-positive, they could be exposing one another to new, more virulent
strains of the virus) is of public interest, especially in this age of
rising HIV-infection rates.
        But if public health is the real reason for outing Sullivan's
private
sexual behavior, then the names of everyone we know, gay and
straight, who
practices unsafe sex should be revealed.  The real reason Sullivan's
critics
support his outing is payback, pure and simple.  And that's appalling.
        It seems as if there's a brand-new, very simple standard for
when the
private behavior of a public figure is news: when he or she writes
something
that makes enemies.  And that's indefensible.
        Sadly, Clinton's impeachment, rather than sobering the country
about
the costs of sexual witchhunts, actually made them more likely.
        One yearns for absolute standards:  The private life of a
public
figure is either always news or it's never news.  But that's
impossible.
The stench of hypocrisy will always draw the media's attention, and it
should.  I've found myself thinking a lot about Salon's decision to
run the
story of Henry Hyde's extramarital affair as Hyde, a harsh Clinton
critic,
was set to head the House impeachment committee.  I was torn at the
time,
and still am, a little.  But the almost exact correspondence between
what
Clinton was being impeached for -- and it was adultery after all, not
lying
about it -- and Hyde's own hidden past made it, in the end, a solid,
defensible story.  Sullivan, by contrast, has taken complex and
contradictory stands on gay sexual politics, and isn't standing in
official
judgment over anyone.
        I'm torn, too, about the Jenna Bush coverage.  Bush got elected
thanks to his promise to "restore honor and dignity" to the Clinton-
befouled
White House.  He got a pass on his own drinking, and even used his
daughters
as an excuse for not coming clean about his DUI.  On the other hand,
I was
once 19, and cringe at the extent to which Jenna Bush has lost her
privacy.
        But we're all on the verge of losing our privacy if Sullivan's
critics have their way.  Maybe the scariest thing about outing
Sullivan is
the extent to which they insist he has no rights to privacy,
especially when
he's been so foolish as to post personal information on the
Internet.  In
that sense, they sound a little like Fleischer, as though the
Internet is a
dark and scary realm where you can't complain about meeting dragons if
you're dumb enough to go there.
        Of course, some of these same left-leaning zealots no doubt
oppose
corporate invasions of Internet privacy.  That said, Sullivan and
others
probably have to accept that there is no privacy and anonymity on the
Internet anymore -- though Sullivan has paid a heavy price.
        What's most striking is the lack of sadness on this last point.
Privacy seems a little like oxygen to me, necessary for human life,
and
evidence of its ever-shrinking dimensions is a little like the hole
in the
ozone layer, ominous and depressing.  Payback feels good at the time,
but in
the end it really is a bitch.  For all of us.
        . Joan Walsh is the news editor of Salon.com, where a longer
verion
of this article originally appeared.
        [Clippings note:  The David Ehrenstein piece that was paired
with
this one has a link on the web that is not currently functioning.
We'll
check back later and see if we can get it.]


San Francisco Chronicle, June 17, 2001
901 Mission St., San Francisco, CA, 94103
(Fax: 415-896-1107 ) (E-Mail:  chronletters@... )
( http://www.sfgate.com )
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/17
/PK222116.DTL
Saga of a 'lesbian serial killer'
Carla Lucero's opera about the life of Aileen Wuornos proved to be a
hard
sell
Cynthia Robins, Chronicle Staff Writer
        In 1999, composer-librettist Carla Lucero participated in a
series of
"dog and pony" shows to get funding for the three-act opera she was
writing
about a woman named Aileen Wuornos, whom the media had dubbed the
"lesbian
serial killer."
        An abused child who turned to hooking to keep body and soul
together,
Wuornos was convicted of killing seven men and sentenced to die in the
Florida electric chair.  Her first killing -- of a reputedly paranoid
sexual
predator named Richard Mallory -- was, says Lucero, "most certainly in
self-defense.  After that . . . her boundaries moved."
        During her trial in the early '90s, Wuornos pleaded self-
defense for
all of the murders, even one in which the victim, a 56-year-old ex-
Alabama
police chief named Dick Humphreys, was found with seven .22-caliber
slugs in
him, an indication to the police that his murder was an act of rage.
"I
think after the first killing, a switch flipped in her head," says
Lucero,
who has lived with the Wuornos story for more than six years.  "In
actuality, she was no longer under threat of losing her life, but in
her
mind she thought she was.  We, with normal coping mechanisms,
wouldn't have
reacted that way."
        In 1999, Lucero was given access to an intimate two-year
correspondence between a California woman and Wuornos -- letters, she
says,
"that played an instrumental role in shaping Aileen's character.
They will
remain private, but what I gathered was:  She is someone who had
constructed
hopes and dreams with a childlike innocence, a belief that people have
inherent goodness even though she'd been dealt a terrible deck of
cards."
The irony of Aileen Wuornos' sordid story is that she was finally
brought to
ground to protect the woman she loved, probably the only person in
her life
who had ever shown her any tenderness.
        It was that particular point that attracted Lucero, a former
concert
pianist with a degree in composition from Cal Arts who was once asked
to
write an opera about a male serial killer -- Ted Bundy -- and who
categorically refused.  "We talk about nature/nurture," says Lucero,
whose
riotously curly hair and rosy brown complexion reflect her East
Indian and
Spanish heritage.  "I believe Aileen was someone who is intelligent.
She is
not a malicious serial killer like Bundy or John Wayne Gacy, who
committed
their crimes as thrill kills aimed at sexual gratification.  They
looked at
their victims as prey."
        Regardless of Lucero's high-minded view of Wuornos' "inherent
goodness," the opera was a hard sell within the lesbian community.
Costing
more than $300,000 to mount (and assisted by a $25,000 grant from
Wells
Fargo, a $50,000 grant from Charles Schwab and the backing of the Jon
Sims
Center for the Arts), "Wuornos" was an objectionable subject for
lesbians-with-checkbooks because, says Lucero, "they felt she would
not be a
good role model for the community."  Yet the production has been
staffed by
many gay and lesbian personnel, including an out lesbian producer
named
Laura Hewitt and an equally out lesbian soprano named Kristin
Norderval in
the title role.  Hewitt, who has had to raise a major part of the
opera's
funding, considers "Wuornos" a "bridge" project.  She says: "I've
watched
the gay and lesbian community build a philanthropic/political base.
And now
it is time to present to the world our work and use it as a bridge to
the
community."
        Less than a month before the opera's Friday debut, Norderval,
clad in
black jeans and polo shirt, with the strain of a recent car wreck
etched on
her strong-boned face, is conferring with Mary Chun, the musical
director.
They are working on a particularly affecting first-act aria called
"Bloody
Mess" in which Wuornos, her hands anchored to her sides by body-
hugging
chains and manacles, reflects on her lost child and her murderous
deeds.
"Dare I look into your innocent face . . . knowing what I'd soon
become,"
Norderval sings in a soaring, evocative line.  Even in mufti, her
performance, not as honed as it will be after another three weeks of
rehearsals, is riveting.
        Classically trained, with a big, muscular soprano, Norderval
has
avoided the usual spinto lyric repertoire for her voice -- the Mimis,
Toscas, Violettas and Manons.  "I have had my conflicts with those
operas
because they are museum pieces, not contemporary.  As a feminist, I
put my
heart into my roles.  I get angry with Mimi and Violetta with the
choices
they've made.  And I argue with directors to restage these roles."
        As for Wuornos, whom Norderval has been living with
emotionally for
the five months it's taken her to learn the part, she says: "This is
the
first role I've ever done about a lesbian, and you want to say, 'Look
at
this.  It's not so black and white.'  She is a different kind of
character.
I certainly would not want to live her life . . . but there are
aspects in
me that identify with the story.  I've been sexually assaulted and
raped,
and I can certainly understand her rage about it."
        'A CHROMATIC THRUST'
        The melodic structure that Norderval and a slate of singers
who have
been cast in multiple roles in the now two-act work is almost filmic
--
filled with lush coloration, off-dissonant chromaticism and romantic
lyricism.  Explains Chun (whose taste and forte runs, she says, to
"the
challenge of new music"), "In regular Western opera, there will be
major-to-minor key and tonality shifts, but with Carla's music, there
is a
chromatic thrust which makes it difficult to place the harmony or
hear the
key in the middle of it."
        Yet the score is something that film composers such as Lionel
Newman,
Max Steiner or Bernard Hermann might have written for "Wuthering
Heights,"
"Rebecca" or "Notorious."  All of which is not surprising.  At Cal
Arts,
Lucero studied with Leonard Rosenmann, who wrote the film scores for
"East
of Eden" and "Sybil."  But scoring films for a young not-yet-out
Latina
lesbian was not to be.  "It is pretty much an old boys club," says
Lucero
with no apparent bitterness.
        FORMED A ROCK BAND
        Instead of beating her head against the palace wall, she did
what any
other self-respecting female musician would do to keep heart and soul
together:  She formed a rock band.  Called Mozaic, it performed at
places
like the Roxy in Los Angeles.  And when that city got too toxic for
her and
the opportunity to write a full-length opera presented itself, she
left and
spent a year on the beach in Cabo San Lucas with her parents, writing
her
curls off.
        "Wuornos" has taken seven drafts and major structural revision
to get
to the production stage.  In the process, Lucero hired a dramaturge
named
Tony Kelly of the Thick Description Theater Company to provide an
independent perspective.  She also went through her own cycle of
epiphanies
as she delved deeper and deeper into the life and psychological
profile of
Wuornos.
        "In order to do her story justice and express all the feelings
I had,
I could not shy away from it or hold back," she says.  "But there
have been
dark periods.  Besides empathy for her, this has brought up a
multitude of
things for me.  For one: I was really a commitment phobe and I felt I
wasn't
living up to my potential as an artist.  I was still in the closet
and had
been in bad girl-girl relationships.  It was not healthy.  I found
that I'd
been pursuing money more than my art and that I was in the process of
losing
my soul."
        It was at one of Lucero's self-described dog and pony shows
for the
lesbian community that Lucero met the woman she shares her sunny
apartment
with, a 10- years-older pixieish blonde elementary school teacher
named
Livia Thomas who has never known Lucero when she wasn't working on
"Wuornos."  They have been together for 16 months and plan an extended
European jaunt after the opera premieres during gay pride week.
"It's been
an experience to watch Carla do this, to see this grow behind the
scenes,"
Livia says.  "I am awed by her commitment to her art."
        As Lucero is probably awed by her commitment.  Period.
        . 'Wuornos' The opera, with music and libretto by Carla Lucero,
premieres at 8 p.m. Friday at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San
Francisco, and continues at 2 and 8 p. m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets: $30-$60.  Call (415) 978-2787 or visit
www.yerbabuenaarts.org.
        . E-mail Cynthia Robins at crobins@....


San Francisco Chronicle, June 17, 2001
901 Mission St., San Francisco, CA, 94103
(Fax: 415-896-1107 ) (E-Mail:  chronletters@... )
( http://www.sfgate.com )
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/17
/PK117185.DTL
Show of strength
Lesbians put their own stamp on gay pride with Dyke March
Suzanne Pullen, Special to the Chronicle
        They didn't ask for permission nine years ago, and they aren't
going
to start now.
        In 1993, when Lisa Roth and a half-dozen Bay Area lesbians were
planning to go to gay pride parade in Washington, D.C., they realized
they
were tired of feeling left out.
        "We were concerned that it was going to be dominated by gay
male
issues," said Roth, 51.  "They'll put a mainstream lesbian up there
like
Ellen DeGeneres but no one who is going to speak to me and my issues:
the
radical, feminist, direct-action side of the gay movement."
        So they decided to have their own parade, and the Dyke March
was
born.
        "We wanted something that wasn't tokenism, and we didn't want
to be
marginalized," Roth said.
        Spreading information about the march only by word of mouth,
they
invited women to gather at Dupont Circle the Saturday before the pride
parade.  They were hoping that 1,000 people might show up.  According
to
Roth, D.C. police estimated a crowd of 20,000.
        Feeling that it had struck a nerve in the lesbian community,
the same
group organized a Dyke March in San Francisco six weeks later.
According to
Roth, close to 6,000 people came.
        "The police weren't too happy with us because we didn't get a
permit," Roth said.  "We still don't.  We aren't going to ask anyone's
permission to be here."
        In 2000, organizers estimated there were 70,000 participants.
This
year's San Francisco Dyke March, set for Saturday, will focus on the
conditions of women in prison.  Linda Sue Evans, recently released
after 16
years of what some consider political imprisonment, will be a featured
speaker in Dolores Park.
        Evans was sentenced to 40 years in prison for her part in a
conspiracy to stage a bombing at the U.S. Capitol in 1983 to protest
the
U.S. invasion of Grenada, as well as for illegally buying firearms.
She was
pardoned by President Clinton in the days before he left office.
        Other speakers include Sharon Smith and Trinity Ordona.  Smith
is the
partner of Diane Whipple, who was killed in a dog attack in January.
Ordona
is a Filipina civil rights activist.  Musical guests will include
Faith
Nolan, the Hail Marys and Tribe 8.
        Zulma Oliveras, one of the emcees for the Dolores Park
festivities,
says the march is a celebration, but it is also about bringing each
individual's strengths to help a larger community.
        "It's to remind people that women are powerful," said
Oliveras, 30.
"That we are still here.  That we have to stay consistent, stay
empowered.
It shouldn't be just about 'We're dykes, we're tough,' but 'How tough
are
you going to be to help your community?'"
        Oliveras, information and referral associate at the Women's
Building,
says the march is a statement of dyke power.
        "This year women should stand up and stop all the
oppressions," said
Oliveras.  "Not just in the U.S. but for those who cannot advocate for
themselves in other countries and for the women in prison who can't
speak
out."
        A contingent of 150 to 200 Dykes on Bikes will lead off the
march,
followed by women in wheelchairs and a clean-and-sober contingent.
Women
are invited to organize themselves into any contingent they want,
Roth said.
        There also will be a reviewing stand for older lesbians and the
disabled in front of Temple Sha'ar Zahav at Dolores and 16th streets.
        "We stop and thank them for blazing the trail for us," Roth
said.
        The costs for the march, including the events in Dolores Park
and the
closing party at Market and Castro streets, are funded entirely by
donations
and T-shirt sales.  The Straight Girls for Money volunteer group
collects
donations as the march passes the Women's Building, and a group of
male
volunteers breaks down the equipment in Dolores Park.
        "It's so great that they do that; otherwise we'd have to leave
50
women behind who would miss the march," Roth said.
        Hope Berry, 31, looks forward to the march every year.
        "It's the most sizable women's space in the city all year,"
she said.
"It's such a unique and nourishing feeling to be around all those
women.
It's important to preserve that space."
        The organizers emphasize that the march is for women only.
        "We love having men on the sidelines cheering us on," said
Roth, who
says men have tried participating in the past.  "For three hours of
the
year, can't they get that women just want to be with other women?
And if
they don't understand it, they need to deal with it anyway."
        For Roth, the march is as much a political statement as it is a
personal quest.
        "Forget being a dyke.  It's about being a woman in this
society and
not feeling safe.  But a-- won't f-- with you when there are 60,000
women
marching behind you."
        . Dyke March: The festivities begin at 4 p.m. Saturday at
Dolores
Park, 19th and Dolores streets, San Francisco, with entertainment and
speakers.  The march begins at 7:30 p.m. from the park and ends at
Castro
and Market, where a street party gets under way at 9:30 p.m.  For more
information or to volunteer, call (415) 241-8882 or go to
  www.dykemarch.org.
        . Suzanne Pullen is an editorial assistant for the Friday
editions.
E-mail her at spullen@....
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17th June, 2001 (# 2) News Clippings Digest.

1.  ALBANY (NY) TIMES UNION  Gays decry judge's remarks; He is called
"ignorant'' for saying inmate marriages will prevent homosexuality in
prison
2.  ALBANY TIMES UNION  Gay community parades its pride
3.  ASSOCIATED PRESS  Stamford, CT:  Jewish Center Cuts Its Ties to
Boy Scouts
4.  NEW YORK TIMES  Andrew Sullivan:  Who's Being Shut Out Of All The
World War II Glory?
5.  OMAHA WORLD-HERALD  Three more letters about Gov.'s veto of real
estate bill because of a pro-gay amendment
6.  SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE  A vision in pink:  Twin Peaks triangle
goes from insurgent to official

Albany Times Union, June 16, 2001
645 Albany-Shaker Road, Albany, NY, 12201
(Fax: 518-454-5628 ) (E-Mail: tuletters@... )
( http://www.timesunion.com )
Gays decry judge's remarks
He is called "ignorant'' for saying inmate marriages will prevent
homosexuality in prison
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
        Troy -- A judge's decision to perform 11th-hour inmate
marriages in
the hopes conjugal visits will help deter homosexual prison
relationships
has angered members of the gay community.
        State Supreme Court Justice James B. Canfield officiated at the
marriages of two convicted rapists on consecutive days this week just
after
they were sentenced to lengthy state prison terms.  One of them
married the
mother of his victim.
        Canfield was quoted in a Friday New York Post article saying,
"So we
should turn (inmates) into homosexuals? ...  Rather than getting
trapped in
deviant sexual behavior, I'd rather they have heterosexual, conjugal
opportunities.''
        Local gay and lesbian groups considered the judge's comments a
step
backward on the eve of the Capital Region's Gay Pride Parade.
        "I expected more enlightenment from Jim Canfield,'' said Libby
Post,
board president of the Capital Region Gay and Lesbian Community
Council.
"This notion is not only insulting ... it shows blatant ignorance
about what
goes on in prison.  Those of us who are out and proud know what he is
saying
is wrong and ignorant.''
        "These kinds of hateful comments really sting as we're
celebrating
Pride Week,'' added Sandy Carroll, executive director of the gay and
lesbian
council.
        Canfield, a nine-year Supreme Court justice and former
Rensselaer
County district attorney, stressed Friday that he is not "anti-gay.''
        "I've said or done nothing that I'm ashamed of,'' Canfield
said.  "I
just want to give inmates the right to have conjugal visits if they
want
them.  Not to provide them is against the law.''
        On Wednesday, shortly after Robert S. Gorghan, 51, of
Petersburgh was
sentenced by Rensselaer County Judge Patrick J. McGrath to 12 to 25
years in
state prison for raping a 21-year-old woman, he married his victim's
mother
in Canfield's chambers.
        The next day Canfield married John H. Yurewitch Jr., 39, of
Hoosick
Falls and his girlfriend immediately after Yurewitch was sentenced to
3 to
10 years for the rape and sodomy of four little girls.
        Canfield, the only Rensselaer County judge to perform such
marriages,
said Thursday that ministerial duties are a requirement of the job but
making moral decisions about the parties involved isn't.
        He said he didn't know the nature of the inmates' crimes -- or
in
particular that Gorghan was marrying the victim's mother -- until he
turned
on the nightly news.
        He said if he had known he might have thought twice about
marrying
the couples, but probably not: "Not to provide conjugal visits is
against
the Constitution.''
        Meanwhile, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct said
Friday it
had received no formal complaints about Canfield's remarks on
homosexuals.
Executive Director Jerry Stern said that without formal written
complaints
the commission would not consider any sanctions against Canfield.
        While Troy attorney Sharon DeBonis wasn't calling for any
sanctions,
said said: "I think his opinion about human sexual relations is very
uninformed.''


Albany Times Union, June 17, 2001
645 Albany-Shaker Road, Albany, NY, 12201
(Fax: 518-454-5628 ) (E-Mail: tuletters@... )
( http://www.timesunion.com )
Gay community parades its pride
Estimated 300 take part in parade down Lark Street that capped week of
events
By ANDREW TILGHMAN, Staff writer
        Albany -- Hundreds of people marched down Lark Street waving
rainbow
flags and colored balloons Saturday in the Capital Pride Parade and
Festival, the largest gay and lesbian community event in recent years.
        "It's a delight to see this event get bigger and bigger every
year,''
said City Council President Helen Desfosses, who led the parade
alongside
its grand marshal, state Comptroller H. Carl McCall and Richard
Conti, an
openly gay councilman from the 6th Ward.
        About 300 people marched through the Center Square
neighborhood,
which has a sizeable gay population.  Music, including Diana Ross's
disco
tune, "I'm Coming Out,'' blared from concert speakers and a group of
drag
queens whooped and hollered on the back of a flatbed truck as the
parade
wound its way toward Washington Park for a daylong celebration.
        The parade and festival, sponsored by the Capital District Gay
and
Lesbian Community Council, marked the end of a weeklong series of
events,
which began last week with a gay prom for young people last Saturday
at the
eba Theater on Hudson Avenue.
        The festival in the park featured booths set up by a number of
groups, including Project HOPE, an AIDS/HIV support group, gay rights
groups
and the Metropolitan Community Church of the Hudson Valley.
        Critics of the parade were hard to find.  Even Senate Majority
Leader
Joseph Bruno, one of the state's most powerful conservative leaders,
sent
for the first time a letter of support that was included in the event
brochure, an addition that underscored the belief that homosexuals are
gaining wider acceptance in the Capital Region.
        In 1997, gay rights activists marched wearing brown paper
sacks on
their heads and signs labeled "Joe Bruno Bagheads,'' because Bruno
blocked a
bill that would extend New York's anti-discrimination law to gays.
        "There are people in the past who would have been afraid to
come and
march in the parade and I think that is changing,'' said Maureen
O'Brien, a
CDGLC board member and psychotherapist in private practice in Albany.
        Libby Post, CDGLC president, said the Capital Region's gay
population
may not be much larger than it was a few years ago, but it has become
more
visible.
        "We're just more out than we used to be,'' said Post, who is
42.
"Kids are coming out earlier.  When I was in high school, you
couldn't even
think about coming out.  But now kids are coming out at as young as
16 and
they get the activist bug.''
        McCall, who is running for governor, said he was the grand
marshal at
a gay pride event in Queens last year and he plans to take part in a
large
gay parade in Manhattan next week.
        "I think more and more people are realizing that the gay and
lesbian
community is an important part of our larger community,'' he said.


Associated Press, June 17, 2001
Jewish Center Cuts Its Ties to Boy Scouts
        STAMFORD, Conn. - The Jewish Community Center of Stamford has
ended
its 50-year relationship with the Boy Scouts, citing the group's ban
on gay
Scout leaders.
        Last year, the United States Supreme Court upheld the national
Boy
Scouts of America's right to expel a gay assistant scoutmaster in New
Jersey.  In January, the National Reform Jewish leaders responded,
recommending that parents withdraw their children from Boy Scout
chapters
and urging synagogues to end sponsorship of Scout troops.
        Gary Stone, a member of the committee appointed by the Jewish
center
to oversee the troop, said that the troop itself had never
discriminated.
The troop's membership is diverse, including members of many ethnic
backgrounds, he said.
        A Jewish war veterans group in Stamford stepped in to sponsor
the
troop, which has about 12 Boy Scouts and 35 Cub Scouts.


New York Times, June 17, 2001
229 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY, 10036
(Fax: 212-556-3622 ) (E-Mail: letters@...  )
( http://www.nytimes.com )
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/17/magazine/17WWLN.html
Who's Being Shut Out of All the World War II Glory?
By ANDREW SULLIVAN
        My favorite character from the old sitcom "M*A*S*H" was
Corporal
Klinger.  Growing up, barely knowing what homosexuality was, I was
mesmerized by an ugly, hairy, little man in the Army wearing large
floral
dresses and boas.  It took a while, but eventually I figured out why
he was
doing it: he was trying to be discharged!  The United States Army
being a
relatively sensible place, at least in the "M*A*S*H" fantasy about the
Korean War, he was forced to stay.  In some inchoate way, I took that
to be
a feature of the way civilized people behaved -- even at war.
Eccentrics, I
mused, aren't always threats.  They can even be assets.
        Klinger (played by Jamie Farr) came back to me while I was
watching
yet another war epic in these peaceful times.  "Pearl Harbor," like
many
recent war movies, made an effort to look back at old times and see
individuals who were invisible in their day.  Cuba Gooding Jr. played
the
brave, segregated Negro, fighting back for his country.  Similarly, in
"Saving Private Ryan," the sensibilities of the 90's were projected
backward.  We didn't see just soldiers; we saw a Jewish American
soldier, an
Italian, a WASP and so on.  And our acknowledgment of military
diversity is
no longer restricted to movies.  On the Mall in Washington, we have
monuments to black soldiers and female soldiers.  There are even
moving
tributes to Japanese-Americans who fought and died for their country.
        Why no Klinger?  I don't mean that literally, of course.
Pumps and
pearls don't go too well on war memorials.  But I do mean some minor
recognition in today's war nostalgia of the role that gay men have
played in
the past in defending their country.  Their absence is yet another
sign of
the ingratitude -- that's a mild description, actually -- that we
still
accord those men who risked their lives for the rest of us and who
happened
to love other men.  Today Klinger would be expelled from the Army,
along
with countless others.
        The final figures of President Clinton's "don't ask, don't
tell"
policy were released recently.  Discharges jumped 17 percent from
1999 to
2000.  In fact, under the new policy, the rate of expulsion of gay
service
members has more than doubled in six years, from 0.037 percent of the
entire
armed services to 0.087 percent.  And this, paradoxically, as our
culture as
a whole has grown more accepting of homosexuals.
        The Pentagon says these soaring figures are a result not of
some new
jihad against gay soldiers but of "voluntary" departures.  Declaring
yourself gay no longer results in a dishonorable discharge, say the
top
brass, just a handshake and a farewell, so more and more gay and
lesbian
service members are up and leaving without suffering any penalty or
shame.
They don't even have to "prove" they're gay.  They just have to say
they
are.
        But if the Pentagon is right, if there truly is no lasting
shame in
these discharges, then what's to stop straight soldiers from seeking
them
also?  From "pulling a Klinger," you might say.  What easier way to
get out
of a job you'd otherwise be chained to?  There's no way of knowing
how many
of these supposedly voluntary exits were phony ones.  But as the
stigma of
homosexuality lessens, the numbers can only increase.  To be sure,
many gay
soldiers quit because they're harassed and physically threatened.  At
the
Army base where a soldier perceived to be gay was murdered with a
baseball
bat in 1999, about 120 soldiers quit the following year.  But when
quitting
is as easy as showing up one day with a rainbow flag, who can blame
many,
many others for leaping right through the gaping loophole?
        Other countries, worried about the Klinger Proviso, have simply
dropped their bans on gay soldiers -- and have found almost no
disruption or
morale problems as a result.  So is it possible the American armed
forces
could follow suit?  Don't bet on it.  President Bush has declared
that the
current policy is workable -- even though it was begun as a way to
protect
gays and has ended up expelling them at twice the previous rate.
        What few seem to get is that there is also a deeper issue
here.  At a
time when we are rightly celebrating the greatest generation, we are
deliberately excluding a part of it.  This is particularly odd
because the
Second World War, as the historian Allan Berube has shown, was a time
when
many American gay men came to terms with their orientation -- largely
by
meeting other homosexuals for the first time, in the military.  It
was, in
its way, the first gay revolution.  Back in the 1970's, we at least
paid
some sort of lip service to a diverse military, even in the comic
character
of Klinger.  Today we seem to be going in reverse -- against the
trend in
the country as a whole and among all our military allies.
        I remember being intensely moved by the Civil War movie
"Glory,"
about one of the Union Army's first black regiments.  It wasn't just
the
soldiers' courage but the realization that only when those soldiers
were
allowed to fight for America did it truly become their country.  So
many
decades later, isn't it time that gay Americans were allowed the same
privilege?  And even given, along with everyone else, a modicum of
thanks?
        . Andrew Sullivan is a contributing writer for the magazine.
He
writes daily for www.andrewsullivan.com.


Omaha World-Herald, June 17, 2001
World Herald Square, Omaha, NE, 68102
(Fax: 402-345-4547 ) (E-Mail:  pulse@... )
( http://www.omaha.com )
Letter:  Treat Gays Equally
        Gov. Mike Johanns erred profoundly when he chose to veto the
bill
that would have prohibited housing discrimination against gays and
lesbians.
In doing so, he effectively justified denying a person housing
because of
something so trivial as his or her sexuality.
        The governor claimed to be guarding against creating a special
class
for gays and lesbians.  He has apparently overlooked the fact that
gays and
lesbians are protected under Nebraska hate-crimes laws and that any
further
legislation passed on their behalf would not serve to establish them
as
"special," but merely protect them from a tangible bigotry that
currently
engulfs Nebraska.
        Governor Johanns also has aligned himself on the side of those
who
would discriminate, not those who are discriminated against.  How can
we, as
Nebraskans, achieve true social equality when the governor of our
state so
brazenly utilizes his vetoes to condone discrimination of an
endangered
minority whose rights are now restricted even further in Nebraska?
- Alex Garcia, Omaha

Letter:  A Matter of Choice?
        In agreeing with Gov. Mike Johanns, Jim Roberts (June 11 Pulse)
submitted that homosexuality is simply a behavior one chooses.  The
idea
that one chooses homosexuality as a behavior or way of life implies
that all
humans are in fact heterosexual and some simply choose to have sexual
relations with members of the same sex.
        Why they choose isn't clear, and neither Roberts nor Johanns
offers
an explanation.  I have two important questions for them and others
who
maintain a similar opinion.  First, when one feels sexual or emotional
attractions to another human, does one choose those feelings or are
they
automatic?
        Second, if all people are heterosexual, meaning they are
automatically attracted to members of the opposite sex, why would one
choose
to engage in sex with a member of the same sex?  Wouldn't a sexual or
emotional relationship with someone a person was actually attracted
to be
more satisfying?  Why, if a man were attracted to women, would he
choose to
be with men unless he were attracted to them in the same way that
heterosexual men are attracted to women?
- John Gill, Omaha

Letter:  Keep Sexuality Private
        A June 4 editorial ("Tolerance Isn't Special Treatment")
stated,
"last year, a statewide referendum added to the Nebraska Constitution
a
prohibition against state recognition of same-sex civil unions or
domestic
partnerships, although there was no known move afoot to allow such
formalizing of relationships."  The reason advocates gave for that
constitutional amendment was a law in Vermont that legalized "civil
unions"
between homosexuals.  The full faith and credit provision of the U.S.
Constitution requires each state to give credit to civil actions in
every
other state.
        Several years ago, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage
Act, which
allowed states to pass laws or amend their constitutions to avoid
giving
credit to certain "marriages" authorized in other states, such as the
kind
of civil union approved in Vermont.  As a result, a Vermont civil
union is
not recognized as legal in Nebraska.  By a sizable majority, the
people of
Nebraska made it clear that they want marriage to continue to be what
it has
been through all the ages: a union of a man and a woman.
        For a homosexual to avoid being discriminated against, he need
only
keep to himself the fact that he is a homosexual.  Unless he
announces the
fact that he is homosexual, he cannot be discriminated against by a
real
estate agent or an employer.
- Jim Ekstrand, Stromsburg, Neb.


San Francisco Chronicle, June 17, 2001
901 Mission St., San Francisco, CA, 94103
(Fax: 415-896-1107 ) (E-Mail:  chronletters@... )
( http://www.sfgate.com )
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/17
/PK154107.DTL
A vision in pink
Twin Peaks triangle goes from insurgent to official
Rona Marech, Chronicle Staff Writer
        It was 4 a.m., and the 1996 Pride activities were about to
begin,
when Patrick Carney and about a dozen friends drove to the top of Twin
Peaks.  They worked stealthily in the hushed darkness, then as the
sun began
to creep up, they raced down the hill for a full view of their
handiwork: a
giant pink triangle, a symbol of gay pride, smiling down at the city
of San
Francisco.
        "It was a goosebumpy moment," Carney said.  "We were
overwhelmed by
the impact."
        A couple of the renegades headed to a coffee shop in the
Castro, sat
in a corner window and gazed giddily upward telling anyone who passed,
"Look!  On the hill!  It's a sign."
        What started as an underground project intended to add a
festive,
proud note to the weekend has since turned into an official part of
the
celebration, ushered in each year with a formal dedication complete
with
politicos and pink champagne.
        "Where else but in San Francisco can you not only put a big
pink
triangle on a hill in the middle of the city, but the mayor and
supervisors
show up and take part?" said Carney, 45, a San Francisco architect
and head
of the project dubbed Friends of the Pink Triangle.
        Twin Peaks is a notoriously foggy spot during the summer, yet
it
seems every year the fog clears and the pink triangle shines upon the
city.
It's visible miles away -- a friend told Carney he saw it once from
the
Caldecott Tunnel.  This year, the triangle will be bigger than ever
-- with
each leg about 200 feet long -- and will be illuminated with
spotlights,
strings of lights around the edges and searchlights sweeping the sky.
        "It's not subtle.  There's no room for subtlety on Gay Pride
Day,"
Carney said.
        "It's a remarkable feat and a visual treat," said Supervisor
Mark
Leno, who has participated in the dedication each year.  "It takes
one's
breath away."
        The dual mission of the project, Carney said, is to celebrate
and
educate people about the history of the symbol, a badge gay prisoners
were
forced to wear in Nazi concentration camps, just as Jews had to wear
yellow
stars.
        "Pink triangle prisoners were treated as the lowest of the
low, apart
from the Jews," said Geoffrey Giles, a history professor at the
University
of Florida and scholar-in-residence at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Museum in
Washington, D.C.  "And their death rate was higher than other groups,
apart
from the Jews."  About 60 percent of the pink triangle prisoners
didn't
survive the war, he said.
        Gays and lesbians continued to be persecuted under Paragraph
175, the
German law barring homosexuality, until 1969.  Gay activists
appropriated
the triangle, transforming it into a symbol of defiance and resilience
sometime in the early '70s, Giles said.
        Carney's hillside monument, now 10 times as big as the first
year,
consists of a patchwork of 152 12-by-15-foot tarps painted "Mardi Gras
pink."  Each year a crew of workers, including a host of Carney's
relatives
and his 77-year-old mother, gathers early in the morning on the
Saturday of
Pride weekend to attach their pink tarps to the hillside with
thousands of
12-inch stakes.  (The tarps are saved and reused, but on the years the
triangle expands, volunteers also meet a few weeks beforehand to paint
additional tarps.)  With the usual 40 volunteers, it takes about 3
1/2 hours
to install.
        The yearly budget of Friends of the Pink Triangle is about
$4,000.
Originally paid for by Carney and his friends, the triangle is now
funded by
a small group including the Pride Celebration Committee, the Castro
Lions
Club, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and Gardner Pond, an
individual
supporter.
        First spotting the enormous triangle atop Twin Peaks "gave me
an
immense feeling of pride and context," said Pride Celebration
Committee
director Teddy Witherington.
        "This is why I'm down here in Civic Center dealing with Porta
Pottis," he recalled thinking.  "People are capable of the most
despicable
stuff and also the most beautiful stuff."
        . E-mail Rona Marech at rmarech@...
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17th June, 2001 (# 1) News Clippings Digest.

1.  ASSOCIATED PRESS  Presbyterian leaders know that the topic on the
minds of many parishioners will be the denomination's move toward
allowing gay pastors
2.  NEW YORK TIMES  Gays in the Writers' Room:  A growing number of
openly gay television writers and producers is influencing the way
America laughs at itself.
3.  NEW YORK TIMES  Jesse Helms' manipulative anti-gay pro-Scout
amendment may not make it into the final version of the education bill

Associated Press, June 17, 2001
Presbyterians May Lift Gay Ban
By BRUCE SCHREINER
        LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Leaders of the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.)
prepared for their Sunday sermons knowing that the topic on the minds
of
many parishioners would be the denomination's move toward allowing gay
pastors.
        A measure to strike a ban on gay and lesbian clergy from the
church's
constitution was approved 317-208 on Friday by the General Assembly
of the
nation's sixth-largest Protestant denomination.  It still must be
ratified
by a majority of the church's 173 presbyteries, its regional
legislatures,
over the next year.
        "I go back to a congregation that will rejoice,'' Tammy
Lindahl, a
gay Presbyterian minister from Minneapolis, said after Friday's
debate in
Louisville.
        Lindahl was ordained before the church adopted a policy in 1978
denying ordination to "self-affirming, practicing homosexuals.''
        The ban was inserted into the church's constitution in 1997.
It
requires ministers, deacons and elders to "live either in fidelity
within
the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in
singleness.''  Homosexuals are accepted as church members.
        Joe Rightmyer, executive director of Presbyterians for
Renewal, an
evangelical organization based in Louisville, said conservative
congregations were alarmed by the assembly's action.
        Rightmyer said he spoke with "pastors who with tears in their
eyes
have said, 'I don't know whether I can keep my congregation
together.'  It
is that serious.''
        Russ Ritchel Jr., a pastor from Winston-Salem, N.C., who
supports the
ban, said the debate exposed the split that exists in the church.
        "To a certain extent, we as Presbyterians are like one of those
British sitcoms where two or three people are handcuffed together and
they
see what it is like to live for three days handcuffed to another,''
Ritchel
said after Friday's debate.  "We are handcuffed together by our
property.''
        Conservatives defend the ban as a reflection of Scriptural
intent.
Liberals say the church should welcome diversity and that sexual
orientation
should not deny someone from fulfilling their calling into ministry.
        "Jesus would never categorically condemn a whole group of
people
based on their sexual orientation,'' said the Rev. Stephen Van Kuiken
of
Cincinnati.
        In coming months, the debate will shift to the church's
regional
governing bodies.
        Lindahl said that removing the barrier against ordaining non-
celibate
homosexuals might bring people who left, because of the ban, back to
the
church.
        "What has crept into the life of the Presbyterian Church is
not just
differences of opinion, but it's unbelief,'' Rightmyer said.  "A
failure to
understand and receive and appreciate the rich mercy of God, the
generous
grace of God that has been turned into licentiousness.''
        During its eight-day meeting, the assembly acknowledged the
deep
divisions by approving a task force that will spend four years trying
to
resolve differences.
        "I don't know if it's too late or not,'' Ritchel said.  "But
if we
who claim to have the word of God can't figure out a way to come
together,
we don't have a message to the world.''
        . On the Net: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):
http://www.pcusa.org


New York Times, June 17, 2001
229 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY, 10036
(Fax: 212-556-3622 ) (E-Mail: letters@...  )
( http://www.nytimes.com )
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/17/arts/17KIRB.html
Gays in the Writers' Room
By DAVID KIRBY
        Ever since Ellen Morgan - and the actress who played her, Ellen
DeGeneres - announced to the world four years ago that they were
lesbians,
gay characters have been popping up in the homes, offices and coffee
houses
of sitcom America, to the delight of some and the utter horror of
others.
But a quieter, though equally important, shift has taken place behind
the
scenes, in the production offices and writing rooms where television
characters of every sexual persuasion are born.
        A growing number of openly gay television writers and
producers is
influencing the way America laughs at itself.  Their impact is
obvious in
shows like NBC's "Will and Grace" and Showtime's "Queer as Folk,"
which have
gay leads.  But it is also felt in programs that have no major gay
characters at all.
        Not everyone agrees that gays are changing situation comedy,
and some
in the industry dismiss the notion that there is such a thing as "gay
humor."  But many people in television, gay and straight alike,
believe that
a gay sensibility has infiltrated American comedy, even when flying
beneath
the radar in an ostensibly heterosexual situation.
        It has gotten to the point, said David Ehrenstein, author of
"Open
Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-2000," "that the new way to come out to
your
parents is by saying, 'Mom, Dad, I want to write situation comedy.'"
        Among the writers, producers and critics interviewed for this
article, comparisons were often made to the influence that Jewish
writers
and performers have had over contemporary American comedy.
        "When it comes to humor in America, gays are the new Jews,"
said
David Drake, a New York-based writer, actor and director who wrote for
Comedy Central's gay comedy series, "Out There," during the 1995
season and
most recently starred in the film "The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me."
        "Jews influenced comedy from the days of vaudeville and
continued up
through 'Seinfeld' and beyond," Mr. Drake continued.  "Now, gay
writers are
bringing a unique and very funny viewpoint to television, and people
seem to
like it."
        Gay humor is a difficult thing to define, but as Mr. Drake,
who is
gay, said: "You know it when you hear it.  There's a certain biting
edge to
it; a rhythm and tone that conveys being an outsider looking in.
It's an
examination of irony, the discovery of humor in things overlooked by
mainstream society."
        Perhaps the best definition came from Jeff Weinstein, a former
cultural critic for The Village Voice and now an arts editor at The
Philadelphia Inquirer.  "No, there is no such thing as a gay
sensibility,"
Mr. Weinstein pronounced back in 1984, in a pre- "Ellen" panel
discussion.
"And yes, it has an enormous impact on the arts."
        Like openly gay men and women writing television comedy, the
Jewish
pioneers - Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Jack Benny, Mel Brooks, Carl
Reiner -
wrote from their experience as outsiders, framing their humor in
situations
that were somehow still "Jewish" beneath the surface yet easily
identifiable
to mainstream America."
        Hollywood always believed in making people fit the ethnic
form," said
Larry Gross, professor of communications at the Annenberg School for
Communication of the University of Pennsylvania.  "It goes back to
having
performers change their names, get plastic surgery, or stay in the
closet.
They had to seem Middle-American, and they tended to iron things out
into a
fairly bland form of ethnicity."
        For example, Mr. Gross said, "The Dick van Dyke Show" "was
built on
the experience of Jewish New York comedy writers" but given a
middle-American veneer.  Likewise, he said, gay men and lesbians "have
always been there, but they had to fly undercover, in disguise, so
that the
mythical, 'real' America wouldn't be upset."
        "Gay humor often goes right past your Aunt Ethel, while you and
friends are enjoying the game," he continued.  "There's lots of
nudging and
winking, like everybody's in on it.  It's called 'gay winking,' or
'gay
vague.'  You see it all over television."
        Gay winking or gay vague (a term most often used in the
advertising
industry, for messages aimed at both gay and straight audiences) can
be
found throughout the history of television, Mr. Gross said.  "It's
possible
to view Lucy and Ethel as a lesbian couple, or Laverne and Shirley,"
he
said.  And, he added, shows like "The Odd Couple" and "Cagney and
Lacey"
"were widely read as having a gay sensibility by many people, even
though
the characters were explicitly heterosexual."
        Scott Seomin, entertainment media director for the Gay and
Lesbian
Alliance Against Defamation, said a handful of gay writers from the
1960's
onward had influenced sitcom humor, even though "they weren't always
willing
to be out in the industry."
        Mr. Seomin said shows like "Bewitched," which he said employed
gay
writers and actors, are still "among the gayest on TV."  Edgy,
flamboyant
characters like Agnes Moorehead's Endora, Paul Lynde's Uncle Arthur
and many
other recurring personalities "clearly show a very gay-identified
humor,
even back then," he said.
        More recent examples he cited were "The Golden Girls," whose
sassy,
man-hungry Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan) reminds some of a
campy, arch
and archetypal male homosexual, à la "The Boys in the Band"; and
"Designing
Women," whose big-haired, self-centered, conniving Suzanne Sugarbaker
(Delta
Burke) could, as Mr. Seomin said, "have been a drag queen."
        Mr. Ehrenstein said the movement toward a gay-influenced
comedy began
to shift with "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."
        "Originally, sitcoms were entirely about families," he said.
"About
June feeding lunch to the Beaver, and how father knows best.  But
when that
ran its course and you had explored every niche you could, you
shifted over
to the workplace sitcom, where different people with different lives
were
dependent on each other, but not through blood ties."
        This, he said, "inevitably opened the door to dealing with gay
people."
        Show business, Mr. Ehrenstein said, "has always been a safe
harbor
for gay people."
        "And things have changed considerably over the last 20 years,
both in
show business and in the culture as a whole," he added.  "Gay is no
longer
covert."
        James Burrows, who has produced many hit comedies and is now
executive producer and director of "Will and Grace," said: "There are
more
and more openly gay writers all the time; it's a function of changing
American sensibilities.  On our show, of course, there is clearly a
gay
sensibility, and our gay writers inform how the character of Will
would
handle himself in certain situations."
        Though he believes in a gay sensibility, Mr. Burrows, who is
not gay,
questioned whether there is such a thing as gay humor.
        "Funny is funny, you've got to be born with humor," he said.
"But I
think the gay writers on our show see the world a little more skewed
than
others see it, and that's reflected in the jokes.  I think it would
hurt us
if we didn't have gays on staff."
        "Will and Grace" is the most successful series ever to feature
gay
characters.  But even on this show, the humor is kept mainstream
enough to
attract a wider audience.
        "We write good, solid humor, even if it is considered gay,"
said Max
Mutchnick, an executive producer and creator of the show, who is gay.
"Everybody can enjoy it and laugh at it, and that means the
sensibility has
arrived into the mainstream."
        Will Truman (Eric McCormack), the young gay lawyer, is a
pretty tame
fellow.  Earnest, down to earth and a bit staid, he is, comedically
speaking, a straight man.  It is his friend, the over-the-top Jack
McFarland
(Sean Hayes), who zips off most of the really gay zingers.
        "When we first wrote the pilot, they were one character; we
tried to
give Will both sides of the fence," Mr. Mutchnick said.  "Will is the
best
representative of the gay community, but I don't think the average
American
viewer was used to that.  They were used to Paul Lynde in the center
square."
        During development, Mr. Mutchnick said, the "gayer" side of
Will
Truman had some trouble manifesting itself.  "People were saying that
Will
wasn't gay at all," he said.  "Everyone was familiar with the
stereotype."
So Will's more flamboyant side was excised and given to the newly
born Jack.
        Still, there is a certain gay vague at play on the show, too.
Jack,
it could be argued, is not the gayest character.  Many fans give that
distinction to Karen Walker (Megan Mullally), the wealthy, married
alcoholic
who can be read as a very updated Suzanne Sugarbaker.
        "We think she's the gayest thing on television," said David
Kohan,
who is also an executive producer and creator but not gay.  "She
speaks her
mind and is very funny and very in love with her own shallowness and
artifice, whereas Jack is more wide-eyed, which to me is less campy."
        Other shows that dabble in gay winking include "Just Shoot Me"
and
"Friends" on NBC and HBO's "Sex and the City."  That series,
featuring four
very liberated women who like their drinks strong and their men
plentiful,
"has a very gay sensibility, of being sort of detached and somewhat
guiltless about sex," Ms. Gross said.  "It's a wonderful example of
gay-male
characters written as straight women."  The series' creator, Darren
Star,
who is gay, declined to be interviewed.
        On "Friends," which does have two lesbian recurring
characters, most
gay-themed jokes are aimed at the fussy, sardonic Chandler Bing
(Matthew
Perry).
        "We entertained the possibility that Chandler could be gay,
and the
pilot ends with a dream in which he's Liza Minnelli," said David
Crane, a
creator of "Friends" and its executive producer and only gay writer.
"But
we started pulling back, in a way."
        Chandler, whose father is a transvestite performer, is
routinely
mistaken for homosexual.  And his relationship with his pal Joey
Tribbiani
(Matt LeBlanc) "is about two straight guys behaving like a married
couple,"
said Mr. Crane.
        "If they were two gay characters, it would be considerably less
funny."
        Then there are those two brothers from Seattle, Niles and
Frasier
Crane, who, Mr. Seomin said, "are two stereotypical gay men, except
they
sleep with women."
        Chuck Ranberg, a former writer and producer of "Frasier" (at
one
point he was one of five gay writers for it), recalled that the
writers'
room "definitely had a gay sensibility, but it certainly wasn't the
exclusive domain of the gay writers."
        "If anything, it started with the characters," he continued.
"Frasier and Niles happen to fit into certain gay stereotypes: well-
dressed,
quick-witted and more interested in the arts than sports.  I know I
identified with them."
        Mr. Ranberg said it would be nice to think that characters who
are
"straight gay men" might make things "more tolerable for boys who
don't fit
the rough-and- tumble model, but the goal was always to entertain."
        Even so, he said the straight gay man is actually more
subversive
than an openly gay one, "because he embodies much of what we're about
in a
package that's palatable to someone who might otherwise be closed-
minded."
        And like the characters themselves, Mr. Ranberg said, "You
don't have
to be a gay writer to create gay humor, or a gay audience member to
appreciate it."
        Joe Keenan, a former writer and an executive producer of
"Frasier"
who is gay, agreed, insisting that there is no such thing as "a gay
joke."
He said that often, when people hear a joke on the show that they
think is
"witty, or sophisticated and somehow gay, they say to me, 'Oh, that
had to
have been yours.' "
        "Sometimes it was me," Mr. Keenan continued.  "But just as
often it
was written by straight writers.  So if the ability to say witty
things
marks one as a homosexual, then a lot of the guys writing for
'Frasier' have
some explaining to do to their wives."


New York Times, June 17, 2001
229 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY, 10036
(Fax: 212-556-3622 ) (E-Mail: letters@...  )
( http://www.nytimes.com )
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/17/politics/17SCOU.html?searchpv=nytTod
ay
Education Bill May Omit Its Provision on Boy Scouts
By EDWARD WYATT
        A provision in the education bill that would strip federal
financing
from school districts that deny Boy Scout troops equal access to
schools is
likely to affect few districts, if any, and may not make it into the
final
version of the bill, legislative and education officials said on
Friday.
        Both the House and the Senate have approved measures that would
withhold federal money from schools or districts that deny a fair
opportunity to meet or that discriminate against the Boy Scouts or
any youth
group "that prohibit the acceptance of homosexuals."  The amendments
were
sponsored by Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina, and
Representative Van Hilleary, Republican of Tennessee.
        But while school districts in at least a dozen cities,
including New
York, have taken steps to limit their support or sponsorship of the
Boy
Scouts because of the group's exclusion of gay members, only a
handful have
sought to bar meetings by Scouts on school property.
        The most notable instance was in Broward County, Fla., where
the
school board voted unanimously in November to ban the Scouts from
using
public schools to hold meetings and recruitment drives.  In March, a
federal
district judge ruled that the policy was discriminatory and issued an
injunction which allowed the Scout groups to continue to meet.
        Roughly 2,000 boys in 59 Cub Scout packs and Boy Scout troops
meet in
schools in Broward.  The district is reviewing its agreements with all
outside nonprofit and private groups and intends to draft a meeting
policy
"that would equitably charge everyone to use our facilities," said Joe
Donzelli, a spokesman for the Broward County Public Schools.
        Such a blanket policy would probably keep Broward and other
districts
from falling under the proposed law, said Elizabeth Birch, executive
director of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian group that
lobbied
against the amendments.
        Ms. Birch said she believed that another amendment, sponsored
by
Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, and passed by the
Senate on
Thursday, would supersede the Helms amendment when the conference
committee
takes up the differing House and Senate bills in the coming weeks.
The
Boxer amendment would prohibit discrimination against any youth group,
including the Boy Scouts, on the basis of viewpoint on sexual
orientation.
        In addition, a Democratic staff assistant said on Friday that
President Bush told lawmakers from both parties last week that he did
not
support the provision.  It is also opposed by the Democrats who will
dominate the Senate conferees.
        The Congressional Research Service, which prepared a
memorandum on
the issue for Mr. Helms, found no other school districts that have
explicitly barred Scouts from meeting on school property.  It named
several,
however, that had altered their rules after the Supreme Court
decision a
year ago upholding the right of the Scouts to exclude gay members.
        In North Carolina, for example, at least two troops that had
been
sponsored by schools in the Chapel Hill- Carrboro City Schools system
were
told they would have to find new sponsors by the end of June.  John
McCormick, a lawyer for the district, said that once the Scout groups
were
no longer sponsored by the school system, they would have to pay a
fee to
meet at the schools, as do all nonprofit or private groups.
        Mr. McCormick said he believed that the Scout groups would
find other
meeting sites rather than pay to use the school buildings.
        Gregg Shields, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, said
the
group wanted "only to be treated like every other organization."
        "Where we have a problem is if we're being charged and others
are
not," Mr. Shields said.
        School officials in Minneapolis, Iowa City and New York City
also
changed some of their policies regarding Boy Scouts activities in
schools.
In New York in December, the schools chancellor, Harold O. Levy,
barred the public schools from sponsoring most activities of Boy
Scout groups and
disallowed the Scouts from recruiting members during school hours.
They are still allowed to use schools for meetings, under the same
rules as other
community groups, district officials said.
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16th June, 2001 (# 4) News Clippings Digest.

1.  BOSTON GLOBE  Conferees target financial problems of straight, gay
unmarried couples
2.  NEW YORK TIMES  Making a Case for the Right to Be Openly Different
3.  SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE  Berlin's new mayor Klaus Wowereit is out
of the closet; Advocates hope announcement will encourage other gay
leaders

Boston Globe, June 16, 2001
Box 2378, Boston, MA, 02107
(Fax: 617-929-2098 ) (E-Mail: letter@... )
( http://www.boston.com/globe )
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/167/business/Conferees_target_financ
ial_pr
oblems_of_straight_gay_unmarried_couples+.shtml
Conferees target financial problems of straight, gay unmarried couples
By Dolores Kong, Globe Staff
        When an unmarried couple living together qualifies for domestic
partner benefits, owns a house jointly, or otherwise gets involved in
any
number of similar transactions, financial issues can complicate their
lives.
        But many of the millions of such couples -- whether same-sex or
heterosexual, young or old -- don't realize the implications, which
in the
long run can be costly, financial planners say.
        ''What someone doesn't know could hurt them,'' said Debra A.
Neiman,
a certified planner in Wakefield.
        For instance, if one partner buys a new car and transfers
title of an
old car worth more than $10,000 to the other partner, ''In the eyes
of the
IRS ... that's a gift, subject to all the consequences of giving a
gift that
size.''
        Or a couple who qualify for employer-provided domestic partner
benefits may be paying more than they realize, because of a little-
known
provision that such benefits are considered taxable income.
        To address some of these issues as they affect lesbian and gay
couples, what's billed as the first-ever national conference on this
topic
for financial planning professionals is being held today at the
Provincetown
Inn.  About 150 planners, investment advisers, lawyers, and insurance
agents
are attending, said Neiman, a member of Pride Planners, which
organized the
conference.
        Among the topics: employee benefits and retirement planning;
tax
planning; legal documents and asset ownership; estate planning; and
insurance planning.
        Man issues [?] are the same for unmarried couples, whether
they are
same-sex or heterosexual, but ''I maintain that straight, unmarried
couples
and elderly couples are less aware of this than gay couples,'' said
Lustig,
a financial planner in San Francisco.
        For instance, Lustig recounted a story his wife told him about
a
woman in her 50s.  ''She was living with this guy for 15 years.  He
says to
her, 'Honey, don't worry about it.  Everything is taken care of.  You
will
get the house if I die.'  The guy dies.  The house goes to the sister
he
hasn't spoken to in 25 years.  He had no will.''
        And even when legal documents are properly executed,
complications
arise.
        For instance, Nancy, a college professor, said she and her
partner
own their house jointly, but ''If my partner went into a nursing home
and
was going on Medicaid, I'd have to buy out her half of the house.''  A
married couple doesn't have to worry about joint ownership making them
ineligible for Medicaid.
        . Dolores Kong can be reached bye-mail at kong@....


New York Times, June 16, 2001
229 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY, 10036
(Fax: 212-556-3622 ) (E-Mail: letters@...  )
( http://www.nytimes.com )
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/16/arts/16YOSH.html
Making a Case for the Right to Be Openly Different
By KRISTIN ELIASBERG
        When the United States Supreme Court ruled last year that the
Boy
Scouts of America could exclude gays, Justice John Paul Stevens said
that
the majority had made a mistake.  The real issue in the case, Justice
Stevens wrote in his dissent, was that a respected longtime scout had
decided not to hide his sexual orientation.  "His openness is the
sole and
sufficient justification for his ostracism," Justice Stevens wrote,
which
amounts to "a constitutionally prescribed symbol of inferiority."
        His reasoning was based in part on an article by Kenji
Yoshino, a
32-year-old gay Asian-American law professor at Yale whose work is
influenced by queer theory and postmodernism and who is shaking up
the legal
establishment's approach to discrimination cases.
        Arguments that African-Americans have traditionally used to
win civil
rights cases may not be the best fit for gays and for other groups
facing
discrimination, Mr. Yoshino says.  After all, an African-American
scout
would be able to talk about being black without fear of reprisal.
        The idea that civil rights has to "trickle down" from race to
sexual
orientation is "bad for both groups," Mr. Yoshino said in an
interview in
his Yale office.  His familiar black jeans have recently been
replaced by
natty suits (after a Barney's warehouse sale).  "It's bad for gays to
have
to fit their claims into paradigms that were made without their
participation, but it's also bad for women and blacks because gays
have
something to give back to the civil rights movement."
        What they have to give back, Mr. Yoshino argues, is a different
approach to discrimination that grows out of their own experience.
Since
the anti-segregation cases of the late 1950's, courts have generally
required proof that a person was being denied the law's equal
protection
because of an immutable trait, one that was inborn or could not be
changed.
Women, ethnic groups, the disabled and gays have each tried to
demonstrate
that their situation resembled that of African-Americans in the
1950's, that
they were discriminated against because of who they were instead of
what
they did.  Success has been mixed.  Homosexuality, for example, is so
far
not considered an immutable trait by the courts.
        But Mr. Yoshino says that by focusing on immutable traits, the
race
model obscures other forms of discrimination that all groups - even
blacks -
may be subject to but that are not forbidden by the law.  Instead of
sidestepping behavior, he says, lawyers should call attention to it,
starting with assimilation.
        "Groups that can assimilate aren't protected" by the courts,
Mr.
Yoshino writes in a forthcoming article in the Yale Law Review,
"because
they are thought to be able to engage in the self-help of
assimilation."  In
other words, conform.  For gays this has meant masking overtly gay
behavior:
not talking about being gay in the workplace, not publicly supporting
gay
rights, and not living with a same-sex partner if you are divorced
and want
child custody.
        But what if coerced assimilation is itself discriminatory?  Do
you
really have rights if they are protected only when you hide your
identity,
but not when you reveal it?
        In the article, Mr. Yoshino describes the history of demands to
assimilate in society and in the courts: Minority groups experience
pressure
to change their identity, to convert, for example, from Judaism to
Christianity; to pass, as when light-skinned blacks present
themselves as
white, or homosexuals are closeted; and finally to try to cover or
play down
their identity, as when a divorced lesbian mother safeguards her
custody of
her child by not engaging in observable lesbian behavior.
        To Reva Siegel, a Yale law professor who specializes in gender
and
constitutional law, this article "could disrupt foundational or
settled ways
of thinking about what counts as a discrimination claim."
        Mr. Yoshino says that today's race and gender cases are more
and more
coming to resemble sexual-orientation cases.  As overt discrimination
becomes unacceptable, the pressure to assimilate replaces it.  He
points to
recent cases about a black woman who was fired because she wore her
hair in
cornrows, a Latino who was refused a seat on a jury because he was
fluent in
Spanish and a woman denied promotion for being insufficiently
aggressive.
        Darren Hutchinson, a professor of law at Southern Methodist
University, says these cases show "the inability of law to deal with
identity as an active concept, where speaking Spanish is different
from
being of Hispanic descent, as if the two things can be separated."
        "The court says that an employer discriminating on the basis of
cornrows is not race discrimination, it's something else, about
enforcing
dress codes or something," he added.  But Mr. Hutchinson and Mr.
Yoshino
argue that behavior - language, hair style, sexual orientation -
makes you
who you are and therefore deserves the law's protection.
        The idea isn't new.  Many legal scholars and others have
theorized in
this area of identity.  What distinguishes Mr. Yoshino's work, Mr.
Hutchinson explains, is that he is doing the nuts-and-bolts work,
taking the
theory and applying it to the law's conception of equal protection.
        Katherine Franke, a professor at Columbia University Law
School, said
that Mr. Yoshino's approach could help dislodge what she describes as
a
"logjam in the racial discrimination cases."
        But she adds a note of caution.  "For all stigmatized groups
it's
extremely important to recognize the discriminatory injury of
closeting or
passing, and that is what Yoshino is doing with this argument," she
said.
But "I would hate to think that the only lesbians and gays who get
protection are those who conform to the grossest stereotypes - the
butch or
the queen."
        Prof. Rick Hills of the University of Michigan Law School
points to a
bigger hurdle: a lack of constitutional grounding for theories that
try to
establish equal protection on the basis of conduct or behavior.
"Equal
protection doctrine has never been very good at dealing with the
claim that
difference should be recognized and respected.  What courts usually
say is
that differences - like race and gender - should be ignored.  So a
claim
that accommodation should be made for difference doesn't sit well in
the
equal protection tradition."
        He adds that "a lot of this will boil down to if the conduct is
essential to your identity or not.  How do you try to prove that?
Judges
can't make a ruling on whether something is an important part of your
identity.  I have a lot of respect for Yoshino's work, but I think he
tends
to overestimate what judges will accept."
        Whether the courts will ultimately agree with Mr. Yoshino's
arguments
is not certain, but he is not easily discouraged.  He remembers his
interview for a clerkship with a federal judge when he was a second-
year law
student.  Noticing that he had taken a course called "Queer Theory,"
the
judge asked him what queer meant.  Assuming the judge knew the answer
but
was testing him, Mr. Yoshino replied that it was a term originally
used to
denigrate homosexuals but had been co-opted by the gay rights
movement, much
as the pink triangle that the Nazis had forced homosexuals to wear
had been.
The judge then asked what the pink triangle was.
        "I had this feeling of total shock," Mr. Yoshino recalled.  "I
remember trying to rationalize, thinking, `Well, he's from a different
generation.'  But then I saw that he had just decided a case denying
gays
equal protection.  One of the things you consider in equal protection
cases
is whether there is a history of discrimination.  How far can you get
into
the history of discrimination against gays without encountering the
pink
triangle, the absolute symbol of that discrimination?"
        Mr. Yoshino ended up clerking for a different judge, but that
interview stayed with him.  "That's when I decided I really wanted to
write
in this area, the moment when I felt like, 'My god, even someone at
my level
of experience has something useful to say to a decision maker who is
making
extremely consequential decisions.'"
        That sense has pushed him to test the accepted thinking.  "I
think
many scholars have a self-critical voice within that says, 'You're
being too
utopian, no one is going to listen,'" he said.  "And it is good to
hold
oneself accountable but not good to rein yourself in because you can't
predict what people will pick up.  It may not only be limiting to
think no
one will listen, it may be wrong."


San Francisco Chronicle, June 16, 2001
901 Mission St., San Francisco, CA, 94103
(Fax: 415-896-1107 ) (E-Mail:  chronletters@... )
( http://www.sfgate.com )
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/16
/MN78341.DTL
Berlin's new mayor out of the closet
Advocates hope announcement will encourage other gay leaders
Jody K. Biehl, Chronicle Foreign Service
        Three little words have transformed Klaus Wowereit from a
little-known Berlin parliamentary leader into Germany's most talked-
about
politician.
        "I am gay," Wowereit told his fellow Social Democratic Party
members
last week.  "And that is a good thing."
        The news ricocheted around the country since Wowereit is the
first
German politician to come out publicly during the heat of a leadership
battle.  Today he will be sworn in as mayor of Berlin.
        The 47-year-old Wowereit (pronounced Vo-ver-rite) will be the
city's
first gay mayor, and his revelation took everyone -- even members of
the gay
community -- by surprise.  Gay leaders across the nation are already
pushing
for other homosexual politicians to follow his lead.
        "We need more such honesty in politics," said Gerhard
Hoffmann, a
founding member of Berlin's modern gay community and the host of a
weekend
talk show that discusses gay issues.
        "There are more of us out there than even we realize.  The big
question now is: Who is next?"
        Wowereit's ascension means that the mayors of two of Europe's
biggest
cities -- Paris and Berlin -- are gay.  In March, Parisians voted the
openly
gay Bertrand Delanoe into office.
        "I don't know if you can call this a trend, but it is a mighty
good
sign for European openness," Hoffmann said.
        In addition to being the nation's capital, Berlin is also one
of
Germany's 16 states and the mayor also serves as governor.
        An eloquent speaker with a polished style and an affinity for
gourmet
food, wine and golf, Wowereit makes a stark contrast to the city's
pugnacious and rather rumpled longtime mayor, Eberhard Diepgen.
        While Diepgen portrayed himself as a working class hero,
Wowereit, a
lawyer, embodies the kind of hip cosmopolitanism the rebuilt city has
been
struggling to attain.
        Wowereit's coming out could not have come under more chaotic
circumstances for Berlin, when the public and media are struggling to
digest
a series of rapid-fire political milestones.
        Two weeks ago, Diepgen's conservative coalition, which has been
governing since the Berlin Wall fell, dissolved over a financial
crisis that
has left the city with more than $35 billion in debt.  On Thursday,
Diepgen
was ousted by a vote of no confidence and a hasty coalition between
the
center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party was
formed.
        In order to attain a majority, the new coalition did something
unprecedented.  It bonded with what until now has been considered a
pariah
party -- the former communists, now known as the Party of Democratic
Socialism (PDS) and consisting largely of who is still left from East
Germany's ruling class.
        It is the first time that the former communists have been
included in
the government of any large German city.  The fact that they should
gain
power in Berlin, site of the Wall and a prime Cold War flash point
for 40
years, has stunned the country.
        "Red Berlin," screamed a headline in the Bild Zeitung, the
country's
most-read tabloid.
        "The SPD takes a big risk with Berlin," wrote the conservative
national daily Die Welt.
        The unusual coalition -- with a gay man at the helm and
communists in
tow -- will last until the fall, when new elections will be held.
Then it
will be up to the voters of Berlin to decide whether they will keep
Wowereit
or vote him and the coalition out.
        "The elections will be an open test of tolerance," wrote the
daily
Berliner Zeitung.
        Although the SPD's Gerhard Schroeder seems set to win a second
term
as federal chancellor in the fall of 2002, the Berlin vote will be a
good
litmus test of sentiments around the country.
        With the exception of the Nazi years, when gays were subject to
brutal persecution, Berlin has always been sexually frank and
welcoming of
cultural diversity.
        In the 1920s, it was the first city to openly embrace its gay
population and in the 1960s and 1970s, West Berlin became one of the
world's
homosexual meccas.  Today, the gay community is one of Europe's
strongest,
with 250,000 members.
        Germany as a whole also has liberal attitudes toward
sexuality.  Last
year, the Social Democrat-led government approved a law to grant
greater
rights to same-sex couples.  The law has been challenged in court by
the
conservative Christian Social Union but is still expected to go into
effect
in August.
        The federal government is also currently debating a proposal
to give
prostitutes full social benefits, including unemployment pay, health
insurance and pensions.
        This week, Wowereit said his coming out was neither planned nor
purely voluntary.  He said he did it because learned that a
conservative
Berlin tabloid was preparing to print a story about him and his
longtime
partner.  In order to cut them off, he made the surprise announcement.
        The public announcement has sparked a debate about media
coverage and
just how private a politician's private life should be.  For decades,
Europeans have scoffed at the invasive U.S. brand of tabloid
journalism, and
even today they are baffled that Bill Clinton's affair with White
House
intern Monica Lewinsky almost cost him the presidency.
        Still, with the capital moved to Berlin and local newspapers
anxious
to prove themselves on a world scale, more and more stories about the
private lives of German politicians are slipping into print.
        Although he is now "out," Wowereit has asked the media -- and
opposition leaders in the Christian Democrat Party -- not to pry into
his
private life or turn his sexuality into a political issue.
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16th June, 2001 (# 3) News Clippings Digest.

1.  PROVIDENCE JOURNAL  New center targets AIDS in minorities; The
OMEGA Project takes into account the stigma of homosexuality in
minority communities.
2.  SYDNEY MORNING HERALD  Letter:  Gay Games and priorities
3.  KNOXVILLE (TV) NEWS-SENTINEL  Hate crimes are issue of concern to
Southerners, survey indicates
4.  TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT  Column:  Father's Day from the perspective
of a gay dad
5.  ORLANDO SENTINEL  Pride Fest fight exemplifies divisiveness within
Orlando's gay community

Providence Journal, June 15, 2001
75 Fountain St., Providence, RI, 02902
(Fax: 401-277-7346 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.projo.com )
New center targets AIDS in minorities
The OMEGA Project takes into account the stigma of homosexuality in
minority
communities.
BY JENNIFER LEVITZ, Journal Staff Writer
        PROVIDENCE -- Black and Latino males hear it early on, from
rappers
to preachers in a culture where masculinity is king.  Homosexuality
is a
white man's world. It is also a white man's word.
        Many gay black and Latino men refuse to identify themselves as
homosexuals, instead calling themselves heterosexuals who step off
the path
here and there.  Or they are underground.  The term at alternative
bars and
on Web sites, one of which reads "underground and proud" and shows a
black
man hiding his face behind a hat, is living "on the down low," or "on
the
D.L."
        So great is the stigma that the OMEGA Project, Rhode Island's
new,
and only, community center for minority gay men, avoids references to
sexual
orientation.  Fliers for its June events, for instance, only tout
discussions about "healthy lifestyles for men of color," and a "man
talk"
roundtable.
        The Web site for OMEGA, which stands for Organization for Men
of
Ethnicity Geared to Advancement, strokes the ego.  It says: "OMEGA
wants to
know how many str8 men play?  We mean, have you ever done what you
needed to
do with a man before?  Why?  No woman around?  Would you do it
again?  And
YES, we know you're str8!"
        Luis Rodriguez, 31, is the secretary of the grassroots
project, which
opened yesterday in India Point Project, a building which holds
several
nonprofit agencies.
        Rodriguez knows the mission -- to get black and Latino men to
practice safe sex -- is challenging.  He is gay, and says he was
raised in a
Puerto Rican culture that is "very machismo" and "very, very tied into
family and church."
        He prayed in church, saying "I can't do this," because God
says it's
wrong and the community says it's wrong, he said.  His father did not
speak
to him for a year.  He knows of other Latino men who simply distance
themselves from their families, rather than tell them they are gay.
Their
parents wonder, he said, "What have I done?  Why isn't my child
talking to
me?"
        "In our fliers, we don't say 'gay' or anything that is going
to alarm
them and keep them from participating," he said.
        Rodriguez said he knows Latino or black men who have sex with
other
men, but who don't identify themselves as gay or bisexual because
they are
not in "the passive role" -- which they identify with females.
        "They really, strongly believe it, that they are not giving up
their
identity if they don't let themselves be passive," he said.  "A lot of
times, they may not be practicing safe sex either.  They think,
nothing can
happen.  I'm straight, more or less."
        That attitude could be one reason why HIV rates are rising
among
minority groups, he said.
        The Gay Men of African Descent, a New York City-based advocacy
organization, is a "mentor" for the OMEGA Project, which is a
nonprofit
agency staffed by volunteers, Rodriguez said.  Gay Men of African
Descent is
holding its national conference at Brown University this weekend.
The Rev.
Jesse Jackson is among those who will speak this morning about
statistics
showing that the number of new infections is rising fastest among
young gay
black men.
        Some 15 percent of young black gay or bisexual men are becoming
infected with the HIV virus each year, according to the U.S. Centers
for
Disease Control and Prevention, which surveyed six cities from July
1999 to
June 2000.  The rate of infection is five times that of white gay or
bisexual men, according to a CDC study released last month.
        Gay Men of African Descent wants to see more financing for
programs
that target black gay men, said Maurice Franklin, northeast director
for the
organization.
        Of the latest study, he said: "If the trend continues, we will
be the
walking dead in 10 to 15 years from now."
        In Rhode Island, the rate of AIDS is declining for all
groups.  But
the virus is disproportionately affecting blacks and Latinos.  Blacks
and
Latinos are 10.5 percent of the state's total population, yet they
account
for 40 percent of the total number of AIDS cases now documented in the
state, said Paul Loberti, Rhode Island's chief administrator for the
Department of Health's Office of HIV and AIDS.
        Since 1993, black males have contracted AIDS at a rate five
times
higher than the rate of white males, Loberti said.  He blames part of
it on
recklessness of young people, who might not remember the toll of AIDS
before
the cocktail drugs, and part of it on a prevention message that isn't
reaching minority groups.
        Black and Latinos, he said, face "an incredible stigma."  They
are
not going to run to an agency that has the word "gay" on the wall.
"They
would probably end up in the emergency room before doing that," he
said.
        OMEGA Executive Director James West said his hope is to
provide a
"safe space."  He also wants churches, the heart of black
communities, to
open their arms.  The project will hold discussion groups later this
month
at the Mathewson Street United Methodist Church.  Homophobia can be so
strong in black communities that some gay men "may never go back into
what
you call home, or the neighborhood, and feel free," he said.
        West said he thinks the rising HIV rates are not only related
to a
lack of knowledge, but "lethargy."  He also blames the new infections
on
denial, the attitude that "I'm straight, but I play -- I don't belong
to
them."
        "The common misconception is, 'black folks?  No they don't do
that
stuff,' " said West, who is black.
        A black man who attended a news conference yesterday to
announce the
opening of the OMEGA center agreed, later, in a phone call, to
describe his
struggle.  He gave his middle name, Alexander.  He was married for 25
years.
He divorced, and "came out" three years ago.  He joined a gay fathers
group,
in Boston.  He has a partner, who is male.
        He is not attracted to women sexually.
        "I don't consider myself gay.  I have problems with the term,
probably because of all the social hangups about what 'gay' is," he
said.
"I don't fit that definition, and I don't fit that lifestyle in terms
of
being flamboyant or feminine in any way . . .  I'm not in the picture
to
replace women."
        "I have to search high and low to define me," he said, "but I
don't
think 'gay' defines it."
        . Digital Extra:  Pay an online visit to Gay Men of African
Descent
to learn more about the group:  http://www.gmad.org/


Sydney Morning Herald, 16 June, 2001
GPO Box 506, Sydney NSW 2001 Australia
(Phone: +61/2/9282 2822) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.smh.com.au/ )
Letter:  Gay Games and priorities
        The organisers of the 2002 Gay Games are worried the Games will
tarnish the image of the gay and lesbian community ('Herald', June
14).
        That's because the outcome is more likely to be red faces than
pink
dollars.
        There are a lot bigger issues facing our society and the gay
and
lesbian community than the Gay Games.
        Support for the Gay Games is a question of priorities.
        Is our priority in ensuring the safety of young gays and
lesbians at
risk of suicide, or is it is subsidising a sporting contest/holiday
for
middle-class gays and lesbians?
        Is it more important to eliminate homophobic discrimination in
the
workplace, or in creating a gay corporate elite who can use taxpayers
and
the gay community to gain a boost up their own career ladder?
- Ryan Heath, Coogee


Knoxville News-Sentinel, June 16, 2001
Box 59038, Knoxville, TN, 37950-9038
(Fax: 423-521-8124 ) (E-Mail:  letters@...  )
( http://www.knoxnews.com/ )
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/31391.shtml
Hate crimes are issue of concern to Southerners, survey indicates
(excerpt)
By Cammie Tutwiler
        Fifty-four percent of people living in the South feel that hate
crimes should be a top priority of government.  Another 51 percent
feel that
protection of gays and lesbians is important.
        Those are some of the findings in a recent survey, called
"Taking
America's Pulse II," conducted by the National Conference for
Community and
Justice.  The survey concentrates on discrimination and racial
relationships
in America.
        The numbers "were surprising to me because I expected them to
be a
lot less liberal than they were," said Attica Scott, executive
director of
the Knoxville region of NCCJ. . . . [The rest is about racial issues.]
        . Cammie Tutwiler may be reached at 865-342-6322 or
tutwilerc@....


Tallahassee Democrat, June 16, 2001
277 N. Magnolia Dr., Tallahassee, FL, 32302
(Fax: 850-599-2295 ) (E-Mail: tdedit@... )
(  http://www.tdo.com/ )
http://web.tallahasseedemocrat.com/content/tallahassee/2001/06/16/opin
ion/06
16.oped.houghton.htm
Father's Day, from a gay dad's perspective
By Doug Houghton, KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE
        When Oscar's biological dad asked me to take his son, he
didn't ask
whether I was gay.  He wanted to know if Oscar would have a stable
home
where he would always be wanted and loved.
        That was almost six years ago, one week before Christmas.
Oscar was
3 years old, and I was working as a nurse practitioner in the
children's
clinic at a hospital in Miami.  Oscar's family had been bringing him
in
because of health problems since he was a baby.
        He had already been shuffled in and out of three different
homes and
was now living with his dad, who had just become homeless again.  His
dad
loved him dearly but knew he couldn't take care of all of his
children.
        When he asked me to take Oscar, I agreed right away.  I had
thought
about starting a family before, but that day my family found me.
        To the people who mattered -- Oscar, his birth family and me
-- my
sexual orientation had no bearing on the adoption.  But to the state
of
Florida, it was all that mattered.
        Twenty-four years ago this week, Florida enacted the nation's
broadest ban on lesbian and gay people adopting children.  A gay
person in
Florida could not adopt a child under any circumstance.  Two other
states --
Utah and Mississippi -- also have laws banning us from adopting, and
every
year, other state legislatures consider passing similar laws.
        In Florida's eyes, I am Oscar's "guardian."  But Sunday we will
celebrate our fifth Father's Day together -- because in Oscar's eyes,
and in
his heart, that's who I am.
        Later this year, Florida's ban on gay adoption will face its
toughest
challenge yet when a federal lawsuit challenging its
constitutionality goes
to trial.  I'm a plaintiff in the American Civil Liberties Union case
because I want to adopt Oscar.  My son has had enough uncertainty in
his
life, and he deserves better.
        Tens of thousands of children wait to be adopted in Florida,
and
hundreds of thousands more around the country.
        They are shuffled from one foster home to another, often until
they
turn 18.
        People who favor keeping Florida's ban (and passing others
like it)
argue that children need both a mother and a father.  But this doesn't
reflect reality.  Recent U.S. Census data show that millions of
children are
being raised by single parents, unmarried couples, gay people or
extended
families.
        I can't say what every child needs, but I do know what Oscar
needs:
attention, love, guidance and support.  That's what he gets from me.
        Not a single piece of credible evidence shows that being
raised by a
gay parent deprives a child of these things.  The Florida law that
prevents
me from adopting Oscar is based on animosity toward gay people.  It
does not
consider a child's welfare.
        For years, Oscar felt unwanted and feared being abandoned.
I've
tried to calm his fears, but adopting him is the only way to show him
that
nothing will happen to our family.  He needs that sense of security.
        This weekend, Oscar and I will celebrate Father's Day as we
have the
past five years.  We'll probably go to the beach and later go see a
movie.
        My wish this Father's Day is that it be the last I spend as his
"guardian."
        . Doug Houghton is a nurse practitioner in Miami.  He can be
reached
at pmproj@..., or by writing to Progressive Media
Project, 409
East Main St., Madison, WI 53703.


Orlando Sentinel, June 16, 2001
633 N. Orange Ave., Orlando, FL, 32801
(Fax: 407-420-5286 ) (E-Mail: insight@... )
( http://www.orlandosentinel.com )
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-loc-
pride061601.story?c
oll=orl%2Dnews%2Dheadlines%2Dorange
Pride Fest fight exemplifies divisiveness
Gwyneth K. Shaw, Sentinel Staff Writer
        On the day of a party that's supposed to celebrate harmony,
diversity
and strength, Central Florida's gay and lesbian community is showing
its
deep fractures instead.
        A squabble over the location of today's Pride Fest event --
being
held for the first time in Orlando's ViMi district, an enclave of gay-
owned
businesses along Mills Avenue -- exemplifies a larger problem.  While
local
gays are gaining in numbers and stature, it's a struggle to translate
those
inroads into political and cultural clout.
        "I think one can go out on a limb and say that the gay and
lesbian
community in Orlando is unusually, and almost distressingly,
complacent,"
said Tom Dyer, editor and publisher of the Watermark, a gay weekly
newspaper.
        "I don't think anyone can question that we're here and that we
contribute," he said, "but it is kind of amazing how quiet we are
politically."
        Things have been anything but quiet among the organizers of
today's
event, which begins around noon.  After several years at the Central
Florida
Fairgrounds -- and nothing at all last year -- the decision was made
to
bring the party to ViMi, and to anchor it around the Gay, Lesbian and
Bisexual Community Center.
        During the past six or seven years, many of the storefronts
have
become home to eclectic businesses owned and patronized by gays.
        Complaints about the location sprouted as soon as the
announcement
was made.  Some complained that by holding the celebration in a "back
alley," organizers were hiding the very community they were supposed
to be
highlighting.
        It may be an alley, proponents argued, but it's our alley.
And so it
has gone from there, leaving organizers such as Lil Barcaski, co-
owner of
Mad-Lyn's restaurant, a ViMi hangout, unsure about how today's event
will be
received.
        "There's so much dissension down here that you could cut it
with a
knife," Barcaski said.  "We're a minority fighting with itself to the
point
where we're going to lose a lot of people.  I don't want to fight.  I
just
want to make sandwiches."
        Beyond the success or failure of Pride Fest, the long-term
outlook
for unity is dim.
        Peter Pavich, installed as interim director of the community
center
less than a year ago, quit recently for health reasons that he admits
were
exacerbated by the tension at work.
        The Council of Presidents, conceived at the center as a way to
foster
community leadership by getting major interests together on a regular
basis,
is floundering.
        Political passions have all but gone dormant.  A large crowd
protested during a debate over whether Orlando would allow rainbow
flags to
be flown downtown during 1998's Gay Pride Month, but when the local
United
Way and the Boy Scouts of America battled over the Scouts' policy of
excluding gays, the response was muted.
        It's all distressing to Orlando City Council member Patty
Sheehan,
the first openly gay public official in Central Florida.  She wonders
how
the local gay and lesbian community can become a force when the
factions
have a hard time sitting in the same room together.
        "I think, as with a lot of minority communities, why do you
need
enemies from outside when you can pick on one another?" Sheehan said.
        While most agree there's a vacuum in leadership, no one can
put a
finger on why.
        A variety of factors seem to be at issue, some of which afflict
Central Florida as a whole.  For example, political apathy is common
here,
often because so many people are from somewhere else and might not be
staying long.
        Larger issues hamper efforts to create a more cohesive gay and
lesbian community.  For one, the industry that has helped nurture a
strong
gay presence -- Orlando's tourist attractions -- tends to become a
stronger
identifier for many employees than the city itself, a hometown within
a
hometown.
        Economic, social, ethnic and religious diversity also presents
a
problem, as does the broad range of ages and experiences among gays
and
lesbians here.  Central Florida's social and religious conservatism
also
plays a role.  Being a leader in the gay and lesbian community means
being a
high-profile homosexual in a town that hasn't displayed much of a
willingness to embrace such individuals.
        For example, during Gay Days earlier this month, Orange County
Chairman Rich Crotty and Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood both submitted
welcome
letters for the official program, but the wording was so vague a
reader
would never have known they were addressing an event that brings
125,000
gays and lesbians to the area, rather than an everyday convention.
        The letters were disappointing but typical, Watermark
publisher Dyer
said.  "I think you've got tons of people who have no ill will for
the gay
and lesbian community, but who are so afraid of a small vocal
minority of
conservative people that they temper their feelings and their
instincts to
kowtow to those people," he said.
        Organizers see today's Pride Fest as a back-to-basics event: a
chance
to relax, drink beers, shop, listen to music and dance -- and perhaps
find a
new sense of direction.
        "This thing with Pride Fest, it's a festival, supposed to be a
fun,
joyous time -- and because of infighting and truly a lot of
pettiness, it's
turned into a big joke, and that's very, very sad to me," Pavich said.
"Because I don't think we as a community are a big joke."
      . Gwyneth K. Shaw can be reached at gshaw@... or
407-420-5540.
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16th June, 2001 (# 2) News Clippings Digest.

1.  CONGRESSIONAL RECORD  Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Oregon) gives another
of his daily PSA's in support of national hate crimes bill
2.  BATON ROUGE ADVOCATE  Louisiana House unanimously rejects
proposal to revamp "sodomy" law
3.  HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN  Editorial says Lt. Gov. signed hate
crimes law because Gov. Cayetano was ambivalent about it
4.  THE GARDEN ISLAND (Hawai`i)  Editorial:  Hate crimes law is not a
cure-all, but it's not superfluous either
5.  THE GARDEN ISLAND  Letter from Articles reader Martin Rice:
Choice of sexuality doesn't really exist

Congressional Record, June 14, 2001
http://thomas.loc.gov
        Mr. SMITH of Oregon.  Mr. President, I rise today to speak
about hate
crimes legislation I introduced with Senator Kennedy last month.  The
Local
law Enforcement Act of 2001 would add new categories to current hate
crimes
legislation sending a signal that violence of any kind is
unacceptable in
our society.
        I want to describe a terrible crime that occurred June 20,
1993 in
Everett, Washington.  A gay man was stabbed to death by a hitchhiker
who
allegedly told friends he committed the crime because he hated
homosexuals.
Isaiah Clarence Enault, 24, was charged with murder and is a suspect
in a
stabbing assault of another gay man.
        I believe that Government's first duty is to defend its
citizens, to
defend them against the harms that come out of hate.  The Local Law
Enforcement Enhancement Act of 2001 is now a symbol that can become
substance.  I believe that by passing this legislation, we can change
hearts
and minds as well.


Baton Rouge Advocate, June 15, 2001
525 Lafayette St., Baton Rouge, LA, 70821
(Fax: 504-388-0371 ) (E-Mail: bbankston@... )
( http://www.theadvocate.com )
House rejects proposal to revamp sodomy law
By SCOTT DYER, Capitol news bureau
        An attempt to legalize oral and anal sex between consenting
adults in
private is apparently dead -- at least for this year.
        By a vote of 104-0, the House rejected an amendment to ease
Louisiana
's sodomy law that the Senate placed on House Bill 2047 by Rep. Danny
Martiny, R-Kenner.
        Martiny urged rejection even though he supported a House
effort to
revamp the state's "crime against nature" law last month.
        Martiny said the Senate amendment was poorly drafted and
didn't want
to put the House through another vote on the controversial issue.
        "That was a tough vote for a lot of people," he said of the
House
bill that failed by six votes last month.
        "But at some point in time, it is our duty as a Legislature to
look
at laws that are archaic and don't make sense," Martiny said.
        Martiny said the recent effort to ease the state's sodomy law
has
wrongly interpreted by some to be a gay rights' initiative.
        Martiny said the state's sodomy law could also apply to married
heterosexual couples for sexual acts performed in the privacy of
their own
bedrooms.
        "It applies to all of us," Martiny said.
        Martiny said he was concerned the sodomy provision might
jeopardize
his bill, which, without the sodomy amendment, would clarify the
state law
requiring the registration of sex offenders.
        Martiny's bill goes to a joint House-Senate conference
committee, but
he said he will fight any attempt to revive the sodomy revamp on his
bill.


Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 15, 2001
7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana, Honolulu, HI 96813
(Fax: 808-523-8509 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.starbulletin.com )
Editori's Scratchpad:  Governor passes the pen to Hirono
        The signing into law of the hate-crime bill approved by this
year's
Legislature appears to have been anything but extemporaneous.
        Governor Cayetano had expressed misgivings about the measure,
which
increases punishment for crimes motivated by race, religion,
disability,
ethnicity, national origin or sexual orientation.  The governor
expressed
concern about "distinguishing one category from another" in criminal
cases
and satisfaction with the ability of existing laws to "protect
everyone."
Not much enthusiasm there but not enough opposition to warrant a
veto, and
there's no ceremony in allowing a bill to become law without a
signature.
        However, Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono was a sponsor of failed hate-
crime
legislation in the early 1990s and remained an avid supporter.  When
Cayetano left the state for San Diego to promote Hawaiian Airlines'
new
connection, Hirono was more than happy, as acting governor in the
boss's
absence, to sign the hate-crimes bill into law.
-- Lee Catterall


GARDEN ISLAND, June 15, 2001
3137 Kuhio Highway, Lihu`e, Kaua`i, Hawai`i 96766
(Fax: 808 245-5286)(E-Mail: ginews@... )
( http://www.KauaiWorld.com/ )
Editorial:  Anti-hate crime law isn't all that it seems
        Hawai`i's new anti-hate crime legislation engenders some strong
emotions among people who support it and those who question its
worth.  Both
groups should realize that it's neither as strong nor as superfluous
as they
think.
        Senate Bill 951 was passed earlier this year by the
Legislature and
was signed into law Wednesday by Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, who asked to
wield
the pen instead of Governor Ben Cayetano because she pushed for the
measure
a decade ago when she was a state legislator.  The legislation
provides
tougher sentences for persons convicted of hate-motivated crimes tied
to
racism or differences in sexual orientation.   Included in the bill
are
procedures for tracking and analyzing hate-statistics from hate crime
in
Hawai`i.
        At least one outspoken Kaua`i activist for rights of
homosexuals
reportedly planned to attend the bill-signing ceremony yesterday in
Honolulu.  The activist was motivated partly by last month's allegedly
homophobia-driven attack on gay men camping at Polihale State Park,
for
which two teenage men are awaiting a trial on charges of attempted
murder.
        While that high-profile case gave the signing of SB 951 added
emphasis, the measure is only words on paper at this point.  By
itself, it
won't stop bad feelings toward or blatant hatred of homosexuals based
on the
latter's sexual preference, nor is it, as some critics of the new law
believe, extra baggage on top of prior laws covering persons of all
walks of
life.  The bill emphasizes that no one should carry out
crimes of hatred against minorities, a reminder that society wouldn't
need
if certain people more willing to live and let live.  It's that kind
of
attitude that ultimately is the only way to achieve the goal of the
new
anti-hate crime law.


GARDEN ISLAND, June 15, 2001
3137 Kuhio Highway, Lihu`e, Kaua`i, Hawai`i 96766
(Fax: 808 245-5286)(E-Mail: ginews@... )
( http://www.KauaiWorld.com/ )
Letter:  Choice of sexuality doesn't really exist
        Your Mother's Day article titled "Evergreen helps gays deal
with
same-sex attraction" (which, by the way, lacks attribute or author)
can be
classified as nothing more than a transparent attempt of Mormon
dogma-induced guilt.
        Have you ever stopped and asked yourself why it is that only
gays get
a "choice" when it comes to sexual orientation?  Why don't
heterosexual
people get the same "choice?"  The answer is simple:  There is no
"choice"
for gays or straights, except the choice to be open and honest or not.
        The only group of people who clearly have a "choice" are
bisexual
people, and then they don't have a choice of orientation, but
partners.  I
suspect that those people who sincerely believe that a "choice" is
possible
should be looking inward and seeing if they indeed might harbor
bisexual
tendencies themselves.
- Martin Rice, Kapa`a  [lambda@...]
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16th June, 2001 (# 1) News Clippings Digest.

1.  ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS  Column:  Mayor is still in the closet about
why he banned library exhibit
2.  ASSOCIATED PRESS  Presbyterian measure to remove a ban on
ordaining gay and lesbian clergy from the church's constitution was
approved 317-208
3.  WASHINGTON BLADE (glbt)  AARP takes some 'baby steps'; National
group for seniors urged to reach out to gay community
4.  NEW YORK DAILY NEWS  Mob informant describes murder of organized
crime boss when it was discovered that he had a secret gay life
5.  BARRE (VT) WORLD  Letter about Republican obsession with
controlling people's personal lives (attempted repeal of civil union
law)

Anchorage Daily News, June 15, 2001
P. O. Box 149001, Anchorage, AK, 99514-9001
(Fax: 907-258-2157 ) (E-Mail: letters@... )
( http://www.adn.com/ )
Mayor is still in the closet about why he banned library exhibit
By Mike Doogan, Daily News Columnist
        It's not every day you see history made.  But George Wuerch
did it.
He's the first mayor in the history of the United States to order the
removal of information about asthma, immunization and gardening from
a city
library.
        Well, we already know Wuerch has it in for flowers.  So you
can see
why he'd want all that nasty stuff about potting and planting
removed.  But
what does he have against asthmatics and public health?  Did he think
the
handout "Can Children with Asthma Go to Gym Class?" would make kids
want to
become asthmatics?  Or that the pamphlet "Where to Get Immunizations
in
Anchorage" would lead people who are confused about their immunology
to
become members of the vaccinated community?
        No, the information on asthma and immunization was simply a
casualty
of Wuerch's frantic efforts to cover his fundament, which he left
flapping
in the breeze by ordering the removal of an exhibit extolling
diversity and
gay pride.
        Why did Wuerch order the removal?  "I just said no," he said at
first, as if someone had died and left him king.  When he realized
that
wasn't going to work, he started rattling off excuses like a kid
caught
hitting his sister:  Uh, the exhibit advocated a viewpoint.  Er, it
might
have been disruptive.  No, it violates the separation of church and
state.
That's it, church and state.  No, no, it was promotional.
        None of these excuses is supported by the facts or the
library's
written policies.  Take the excuse that the exhibit was promotional.
The
policies say that "permission may be denied to, or revoked for any
exhibit
whose purpose is personal, commercial, promotional ..."
"Promotional" in
this context means promoting a product.  I haven't seen the exhibit
because
the mayor ordered it whisked down, but I've seen photographs, and the
mayor
is going to have a hard time pointing to the part of it that promotes
anything but self-esteem, tolerance and equal treatment.  Is that
what the
library's policies are designed to prevent?
        Wuerch, or somebody who works for the city, is going to have to
answer that and other tough questions in court.  That's why the mayor
is
trying to cover his tracks by banning information from outside the
library
about asthma treatment, immunization and gardening.  That's just part
of the
new policy he invented after he banned the exhibit.
        That dog won't hunt.  The Alaska Civil Liberties Union has
filed
suit.  There are no close questions or judgment calls here.  George
Wuerch
violated the constitutional rights of the exhibit's sponsors, and
he's going
to lose.  As a matter of law, he should.
        As a matter of morality, he should, too.  Because Wuerch is not
telling the truth about why he banned the exhibit.  He didn't ban it
because
it expressed a viewpoint or violated the separation of church and
state.  He
banned it because part of its message was that homosexuality is OK.
        Is Wuerch's problem with that personal?  Or is it political?
Is he
trying to keep his core constituents, the old and the religiously
zealous,
happy?
        His lack of candor invites speculation, which is fun but not
useful.
        So he should come clean.  Quit hiding behind excuses and half-
baked
legal stratagems, George.  Tell us what your real problem was with
that
exhibit.  Tell the truth.  Be a man.
        . Mike Doogan's opinion column appears each Tuesday, Friday and
Sunday.  His telephone number is 907-257-4350, and his e-mail address
is
mdoogan@....


Associated Press, June 16, 2001
Presbyterians May Lift Gay Ban
By BRUCE SCHREINER
        LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Homosexuals aspiring to preach in the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) inched closer toward the pulpit with the
blessing of the denomination's chief policy-making body.
        A measure to remove a ban on ordaining gay and lesbian clergy
from
the church's constitution was approved 317-208 on Friday by the
General
Assembly of the nation's sixth-largest Protestant denomination.
        The measure still must be ratified by a majority of the
church's 173
presbyteries, its regional legislatures, over the next year.
        Opponents of the ban celebrated the vote, which followed hours
of
debate on an issue the church leadership has been silent on for two
years.
        "This is a breath of hope for those of us who are fighting so
hard to
fulfill our calling,'' said Katie Morrison, a seminary graduate from
Oakland, Calif., who was denied a ministership because she is a
lesbian.
        Conservatives who defended the ban as a reflection of
Scriptural
intent said the vote would deepen divisions within the denomination
and
might lead people to leave the church.
        "This is a very, very sad time for our church,'' said Nancy
Maffett,
an assembly member from Colorado Springs, Colo.
        The Rev. Jack Rogers, the denomination's top-elected official,
would
not predict whether presbyteries would ratify the repeal.  But he
downplayed
the possibility of a split in the church.
        "Those are loyal Presbyterians,'' said Rogers, referring to
advocates
on both sides of the debate.  "They really want to stay in this
church.''
        Presbyterians' sexual-conduct standard for ordination requires
ministers, deacons and elders to "live either in fidelity within the
covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in
singleness.''
        The ordination standard was inserted into the church's Book of
Order
in 1997 and withstood a repeal attempt the next year.
        Ordination of gays is opposed by most of the nation's largest
Protestant groups, including Southern Baptists and United
Methodists.  The
Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the Anglican church, approved a
paper
years ago opposing homosexual behavior, but in practice it allows
bishops to
ordain gay clergy.
        The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) does not exclude homosexuals
from
the church, but the ban's foes said it unfairly bar gays and lesbians
from
the upper echelons of local church leadership.
        "Sex and sin is not up to us to judge or to condemn others.
This is
our own personal struggle with our lord,'' said Cathy Haley, an
assembly
member from Whitewater Valley Presbytery in central Indiana.
        The measure would not require ordination of homosexuals, but
would
leave those decisions up to local governing bodies, its supporters
said.
        The ban's backers said they feared that putting the issue
before
presbyteries might set off a backlash.
        "It will explode and do much damage to this church I love,''
said
Paul Nelson, a minister from the San Diego Presbytery.
        Russ Ritchel Jr., a minister from Winston-Salem, N.C., said
some
congregations might view the assembly's action as a sign that
Scripture is
no longer the authority for the denomination.
        "I will go home to members of my congregation who will be so
upset,''
he said.
        The ban's defenders vowed to continue the fight when the debate
shifts to the presbyteries.  They said those regional bodies tend to
be more
conservative than the General Assembly.
        In other action . . . [abortion, etc.]
        . On the Net: http://www.pcusa.org


Washington Blade (glbt), June 8, 2001
Washington, DC
(E-Mail: Bladeforum@... ) ( http://www.washblade.com )
http://www.washingtonblade.com
AARP takes some 'baby steps'
National group for seniors urged to reach out to gay community
by Eric Erickson
        Older gay men and lesbians called for greater inclusion in the
nation
's largest advocacy group for seniors as the organization puts in
place a
new executive director this week.
        William Novelli, the AARP's former associate executive for
public
affairs, started Monday as the group's new executive director.  He
became
the organization's 12th executive director in its 43-year history.
        With his appointment, some gay senior activists said it's time
for
AARP to step up its outreach to gay elders.
        "AARP's profile of GLBT elders is pretty much nonexistent,"
said Ken
South, who co-wrote Outing Age and is also director of the National
Gay and
Lesbian Task Force's aging initiative.  "[But] AARP has made some
baby steps
that have been impressive.  We're pleased."
        There are an estimated 2.8 million gay seniors in the country;
AARP's
rolls include 35 million members.
        One of those "baby steps," according to South, is the AARP
holding
instructional seminars for people who work with gay seniors on how to
handle
issues affecting that population.
        The AARP said Novelli was not available for interviews by
press time.
He is the co-founder and former president of Porter Novelli, a
marketing
communications firm. He also served as executive vice president of
CARE, an
international relief organization, and president of the Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids.
        The AARP released a letter Novelli wrote last November to a
gay man
who expressed interest in joining.
        "At AARP, we view diversity as a strength," Novelli said in the
letter.  "We are committed to serving all of our members to shape and
enrich
their experience of aging and to provide the  information and
resources they
need to make their own choices
and make the most of their life after 50."
        In the letter, Novelli also outlined collaborative projects
AARP is
in the process of launching with two groups for older gays, Senior
Action in
a Gay Environment and Pride Senior Network.  AARP also observes gay
pride
month and works with
NGLTF's Aging Institute.
        But some gay senior activists said participation in programs
isn't
enough.  Vera Martin, who started the national lesbian advocacy group
Old
Lesbians Organizing for Change 11 years ago, said she wants to see
more
exposure of elderly gay men and lesbians in AARP's publications and
newsletters.
        "It gives us a face and with that brings some acceptance," she
said.
        Both Martin and South said silence is one reason elderly gay
men and
lesbians have a difficult time gaining exposure, acceptance, and
inclusion
in the fight for seniors' rights.
        "[The] majority of older gay people are still very discreet,"
South
said.  "They lived through the Depression, World War II and
McCarthyism.
They learned how to survive by being quiet."
        South said he attended a recent conference with more than 250
gay men
older than 65 who complained about AARP and its outreach to gay
seniors.
South said the men were all members of AARP, but only a handful had
actually
ever communicated by letter or e-mail to express their concerns.
        Martin said this silence is based in fear and affects how she
and
OLOC deal with their more than 1,000 members.
        "The vast majority of people age in place," said Stephen
Karpiak,
executive director of the Senior Pride Network.  "They don't age
under a gay
flag.  They age in their doctor's office, in their financial banks,
whoever
provides services.  That's largely the mainstream community,
including AARP.
We have to sensitize them, because they have their hands on more
lesbian and
gay seniors than I'll see in a lifetime."
        Martin said he wants AARP to get involved in improving health
care
for gay seniors.  Something as simple as changes made to forms filled
out in
the doctor's office can make a difference  in gay seniors' experiences
visiting their doctor, she said.
        "They don't need to take for granted that everybody has a
spouse,"
Martin said.  "Some of [the forms] just say 'husband' or'wife.'  Why
take
that for granted?  There are many people in the heterosexual world
who didn'
t have them either.  I'd like to see
a campaign to get them to change those forms."


New York Daily News, June 16, 2001
450 West 33rd Street, New York, NY  10001
(Fax: 212-682-4953 ) (E-Mail:  voicers@... )
( http://www.nydailynews.com )
Mobster Killed for Being Gay
Crime boss' double life
By GREG B. SMITH, Daily News Staff Writer
        In the macho world of the mob, John D'Amato appeared to fit
right in.
He was close friends with crime boss John Gotti, hanging out every
Tuesday
in the all-male world of the Ravenite Social Club on Mulberry St.
        He rose to the top echelon of New Jersey's DeCavalcante crime
family,
becoming the acting boss and overseeing all the tough-guy rackets:
extortion, loansharking, the works.
        The married mob boss also had a secret gay life, a new mob
informant
recently told the FBI, according to sources.  And his sexual
preference
apparently cost him his life.
        The informant, Anthony Capo, has told the FBI that when the
DeCavalcante family learned of D'Amato's double life, they ordered him
murdered.  Capo told the FBI he personally did the job.
        Theresa D'Amato told the Daily News she knew nothing of her
late
husband's alleged homosexuality, and she said the FBI never informed
her of
what it knew about the circumstances of his death.
        "They never told me, and I don't want to know about it," she
said.
"That was a different life I lived back then."
        The revelation was made when the FBI began interviewing Capo, a
DeCavalcante soldier who turned informant last year.
        In 1990, Capo told the bureau, he was a protege of D'Amato, a
veteran
gangster with the usual mob resume: a 1963 arrest on gambling
charges, a
1971 burglary conviction and a 1984 forgery conviction.
        D'Amato was one of three DeCavalcante members present at the
wedding
reception of Gotti's son John A. (Junior) Gotti on April 21, 1990, at
the
Helmsley Palace hotel.
        Later that year, when DeCavalcante boss John Riggi was
convicted and
jailed, D'Amato, then 60, was made acting boss of that family because
of his
ties to Gotti, law enforcement sources said.
        Capo told the FBI that he'd learned from a "girlfriend" of
D'Amato's
that the mob boss frequented gay clubs and picked up male prostitutes
in
Manhattan's Meatpacking District.
        The "girlfriend" said D'Amato carefully hid his behavior from
other
members of the Mafia, Capo said.
        When Capo told his mob supervisor, a meeting of DeCavalcante
leaders
was convened.  It was decided that D'Amato had to be killed, Capo
said.
        He told the FBI he was given a gun with a silencer and told to
do the
job.  On an afternoon in 1992, he and another mob associate picked up
D'Amato near the home of the "girlfriend."
        D'Amato got in the backseat of the car, and Capo turned around
from
the front seat.  He shot him twice.  D'Amato moaned, "Oh, no," and
Capo shot
him twice more, killing him, he told the FBI.
        The body was driven to a nearby safehouse, where others joined
in
wrapping it in plastic.  Capo said he did not know what happened to
the
body.
        Law enforcement sources said D'Amato has not been found.


The World, June 13, 2001
82 Barre-Montpelier Rd., Barre, VT 05641
(Fax: 802-479-7916) (E-Mail: editor@... )
( http://www.vt-world.com )
Letter:  Republican Obsession (relevant excerpts only)
        I'm confused.  I thought Republicans stood for a general live
and let
live tolerance of others, less government regulation of property and
citizens' lives, and reduction of taxes and spending.
        As an extraordinarily long and non-productive session ends, the
Republican controlled House appears to have gone in the opposite
direction.
The "obsession," as one legislator called it, with regulating how
others
should live, and imposing government into people's private lives has
dominated this session in the House. . . .
        "Fixing" the civil union legislation (i.e., repealing it)
resulted in
a piece of legislation (H.502) that makes no sense when you try to
align it
with the Republican's "individual freedom" rhetoric.  H-502 is the
culmination of a year-long campaign to repeal last year's civil union
legislation granting rights and benefits to same sex couples.
Straight
repeal of the existing civil union law failed by a large margin.
        H.502 continues to give rights to gay and lesbian couples and
adds
marriage benefits to any family members who want them.  Supporters of
the
bill, at best, made the whole section of law dealing with marital
benefits
confusing and marriage meaningless.  At worst, they have passed a
bill that
may sanction incest.
        Groups like the Chamber of Commerce and the Department of
Banking and
Insurance cautioned the Judiciary Committee against the costs and
liabilities this bill might produce since anyone could enter into a
"marriage" with an ill child, parent or other relative simply to get
health
insurance coverage.  The Ways and Means Committee reported out the
bill with
an unfavorable vote (9 to 2), because it did not reflect responsible
spending practices.
        . . .The House priorities this session are far from the central
Republican values of tolerance and less government intrusion.  Sadly,
most
of the R's have gone along with this right wing agenda, and Speaker
Freed
has turned out to be its biggest promoter.
        Anyone who reads or hears the news is aware that we have a
serious
heroin problem ravaging our young people.  Our high school drop out
rate is
alarming.  Pressing concerns such as prescription drug prices, health
care
costs and coverage, farm supports, substance abuse and a mushrooming
corrections population have not even been given committee time by
Republicans in the House.  On these critical matters the Vermont
House is
silent.  I'm confused.
- K.C. Whiteley, Montpelier
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