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[Sub-Series] Newsletters & Publications > Tom Neal Newsletters > Tulsa Family News
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New AIDS Vaccine
To Be Tested In Tulsa
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Tulsa’s participation in the
national test of a vaccine that could help prevent infection
from the virus that causes AIDS puts that city at the
forefront of science, according to one doctor.. Homosexual
menat high risk of contracting the HIV virus will
be recruited for the study as will womenin relationships
with men who are HIV-positive. Candidates could
begin enrolling as early as October.
"It puts Tulsa on a
top levelin terms ofnew
science," saidDr. Ralph
Richter of St. John
Medical Center. "Here
is the development of a
new science - a potential
breakthrough that
could protect millions
of individuals from de-
"It puts Tulsa on a
top level in terms
o~ new sclence~
- Dr. Ralpla Richter
St. Jolm Medical Center
¯ Serving Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual + Transgendered Tulsans, Our Families + Friends
! Tulsa’s Largest Circulation Community PaperAvailable In More Than 75 City Locations
¯ Pride Center VandalizedAgain Calling all Lesbians!
TULSA - A new activities-related group, GALAVanting,
wants you to come out and play. Recentl y
formedby local poetandTFNDo-It- YourselfDyke,
Mary Schepers and one ofher friends, Joan, GaLAVanting
will host a variety of activities for Tulsa
area women throughout the year.
"Not to disparage the bars, but there aren’ t many
social activities for women outside the clubs,"
explained Schepers. "If you prefer a different environment
or entertmnment, your options are limited.
Gal-A-Vanting is going to change that. And we’re
planning our activities before the regular bar hours
to avoid competition with those longtime community
institutions."
Gal-A-Vanting emerged from a conversation in
which Mary and Joan bemoaned an apparent lack
of Lesbian community in the area. They decided to
roll up their sleeves and provide those opportumties
they themselves would be interested in. "It
does sound like ’Hey kids, let’s put on a show,’ "
Schepers acknowledged, "but if we sat around
waiting for the situation to magically change, it
would be a long wait. We are the community, we
should do something about it."
Two activities are in the works for the balance of
this year: an Arts Night and a Dance. The Arts
Night is scheduled for Friday, October 23, 7:00:
9:00 p.m. at the Pride Center 1307 E. 38th on
Brookside. Featured will be works of art for display
and sale, poetry readings, and music. There is room
available to showcase more talent; call Mary at
743-6740 if you are interested. Schepers emphasizes
that, while this event is by and for women,
"our brothers are welcome, too." Most subsequent
events will be for women only. Light refreslunents
will be served and a two dollar donation, to benefit
the Pride Center, is requested.
The dance will be in November, before holiday
madness sets in. The date, nine and place haven’t
been~ s_et y,eL but the eny~ronment will be to~acc~_~
Events will be scheduled frequently throughout
1999, and Gal-A-Vanting wants to know what
activities women would like to attend. "We’ re here
to help people get together, have fun, meet new
friends. Joan and I are doing this as a non-profit
- service," Schepers said. "No agenda except a good
¯ time - come join us for a little Ms-adventure!’"
Holy Spirit Rev,val to
¯ Feature Rev, AliceJones
¯¯ TULSA -The Rev. Alice Jones, longtime Tulsa
commumty leader and former pastor of the Metro-
" politan Commmunity Church of Greater Tulsa
¯ (MCCGT) will lead a mini-revival for spiritual
¯ renewal on Sept. 23-25, Wed.-Fri. at 7pm at the ¯
House of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is located at
~ 3210e South Norwood, just south of Mall 31. Rev.
; Jones will also conduct services Sunday, 9/27 at
¯ 10:45am and the church will host a potluck lunch
after the service.
Holy Spirit will also hold a garage sale at the
church on Fri. & Sat. Sept. 11 & 12. For more
information, call 224-4754.
TULSA, Okla. (AP/TFN)-Vandals targetedacenterhererunby
aGay civil rights group again, smashing the facility’s glass door,
authorities said. The door at the Pride Center, operated by Tulsa
Oklahomans for Human Rights, was broken in with a bat or a
stick of some kind after 9:30 p.m. Thursday night, said Greg
Gatewood, a volunteer at the center. The glass door was also
smashed the night of Aug. 7, and was later replaced.
The buiIding in which the center is located also houses several
other businesses, none of which were vandalized. The center
caters to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender groups,
Gatewood said.
State law does not classify
crimes motivedby hatred toward
sexual orientation as "hate
crimes," but vandalism statutes
wouldapply to the incidents. The
police were called both times
and Pride Center organizers said
they will implement additional
security measures. Gatewood
said that in addition to a bomb
threat last fall, the center has
seen its signs taken down and
thrown away and several Pride The door ofthePride Center
flags stolen, prior to theglass replacement.
However, activities continue
at the Center with a number of organizations meeting regularly.
The Center also is now showing Lesbian and Gay-interest video
every Thurs. evening at 7:30 pm. For more info., call 743-GAYS.
’99 Parade Planning Begins
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Officers of Tulsa Oklahomans for Human
Rights (TOHR) are calling all interested community members to
come to a Lesbian/Gay Pride Parade planning meeting onThnrsday,
Sept. 22 at 7pm at the Pride Center, 1307 E 38th, 2nd ft.
While Oklahoma City has had a Gay Pride Parade for more
veloping HIV infection or AIDS." Tulsa will be among than 10 years, Tulsa had its first Pride March in 1997 with 65
nearly 40 clinical sites nationwide to participatein the people marching from Gilcrease Museum Road to the Tulsa
study. Other sites include New York, Chicago, St. ~ Pride Picnic at Owen Park.
Lo,ui~s~ ~en~~7~ PhiladelPhia and s~e~ in H-°rid~,.Tcx~ : -..~year t~e .M~ch ~i.~ a_bo..ut double..~~ip~ats~went -
Between 125 and 150 people will be recmited for the ]
Tulsa trial, Richter said. Local AIDS groups and the ]
Tulsa City-County Health Department are working on
the project and will help recruiting participants.
march can be held on the sidewalk, neither event required street
closings nor a permit. However, if there is suffioent commumty
interest,TOHR will organize a parade with street closings and the
opporttmity for community organizations to have floats. For
more information, call 743-GAYS (4297) or attend on 9/22.
Methodists: Apartheid - Yes!
¯ DALLAS (AP) -The United Methodist Church early last month
¯ elevated a guideline against same sex marriages into church
¯ canon [church law] and saidministers who perform the ceremonies
could be removed, The Judicial Council of the church, the
nation’ s second largest Protestant denomination with 9.5 million
members, ruled that ministers who violate the ban on Lesbian and
Gay Holy Unions are "liable to be" brought to church trial.
The decision of the nine-member council, which heard testimony
"in Irving, Texas, affects one sentence in the Social Principles.
It reads: "Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions
shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be Conducted
in our churches." That statement was added by the 1996
General Conference, the denominati0n’ s top policy-making body.
The council decided the conference delegates "’were enacting
legislation that would be binding as the law of the church."
"The specific prohibition is law," said Bishop George W.
Bashore, president of the Council of Bishops of United Methodist
Church. The gmdeline, which was part of the congregation’ s
Social Principles, states: "Ceremonies that celebratehomosexual
unions shall not be conducted by our manisters and shall not be
conducted in our churches."
Social Principles serve as moral standards for the congregation.
The ruling has .the effect of transforming the standard into
church law, and pastors who violate the law may be.reprimanded
or even defrocked. "It has all of the potential for a minister to lose
his or her credentials in the Methodist Church," Bashore said.
The issue arose with the case of the Rev. Jimmy Creech, former
pastor of the 1,900-member First United Methodist Church of
Omaha, Neb. He was accused of disobedience after performing
a Lesbian wedding ceremony last September in defiance of his
bishop. Creech was acquitted six months later by a church jury.
The acquittal prompted the regional bishops to appeal to the
Judicial Council for a formal ruling on whether the guideline was
merely a moral standard or church law. see Apartheid, p. 3
The Food and Drug Administration approved testing
of the vaccine by a California company, VaxGen Inc., ,
in June. The AIDSvax vaccine alre?ady has been tested
in preliminary trials that included 1,200 people. Those
tests, which began in March 1992, showed that 99
percent of those-vaccinated produced strong levels of
antibodies. Final testing of the vaccine will include
5,000 U.S. volunteers at high risk of contracting the
AIDS virus and 2,500 high-risk people in Thailand.
In the "blinded" trial, two-thirds of the U.S. volunteers
will receive the vaccine, while the rest will receive
a placebo: Volunteers will participate for three years
and will receive HIV counseling about the dangers Of
unsafe sex. "We don’ t want to encourage people to go
and become more reckless," Richter said.
Volunteers will receive three injections of the genetically
engineered vaccine over several months. Those
will be followed by a series of booster shots. The
vaccine uses-engineered copies of the gpl20 protein,
which is found on the Outer coating Of the HIV virus.
Once injected, the vaccine is supposed to prompt the
immune system to make antibodies, which can attack
invading viruses before they infect healthy cells.
Opponents doubt the vaccine will be successful,
arguing that earlier tests showed the vaccine boosted
only one 15artoftheimmune system and therefore would
not be effective in large numbers of participants. Some
also question whether new strains of theAIDS virus
might render the vaccine useless.
MJ ° DIRECTORYILE’I-I’ERS P. 2/3
US & WORLD NEWS P. 4 ~ HEALTH NEWS P. 6
ENTERTAINMENT NOTES P. 8
~ COMMUNITY CALENDAR P. 9
BOOK REVIEW P, 10
DO-IT-YOURSELF P. 11
DYKE PSYCHF_JGAY STUDIES P. 12/13
---, CLASSIFIEDS + WEERWOLF P. 14
Brookside Jewelry &
TNT’s To Host Benefit
TULSA- Two Tulsa businesses will host a benefit
for Oklahoma Indian HIV/AIDS activist, Lisa Tiger,
on Saturday, Sept. 19 at TNT’s on the NW
corner of 21 st & Memorial, The evening event will
feature music and other entertainment as wall as
Tiger posters and copies of the book, Voices From
the Next Feminist Generation, for $15.
Ms. Tiger has adopted 50glala Sioux children
from South Dakota’ s Pine Ridge Reservation and
greatly needs help to care for them. Anyone unable
to attend the benefit may help by sending any
donation to Lisa Tiger, c/o Tiger Blair Gallery,
2110 East Shawnee, Muskogee, Oklahoma.
For more info. call Mdody at 743-5272.
Tulsa Clubs & Restaurants
*Bamboo Lounge, 7204 E. Pine 832-1269
*Boston Willy’s Diner, 1742 S. Boston 592-2143
*Concessions, 3340 S. Peoria 744-0896
*Empire Bar, 1516 S. Peoria 599-9512
*Full Moon Cafe, 1525 E. 15th 583-6666
*Gold Coast Coffee House, 3509 S. Peoria 749-4511
*Interurban Restaurant, 717 S. Houston 585-3134
*Jason’s Deli, 15th & Peoria 599-7777
*Lola’s, 2630 E. 15th 749-1563
*St. ,Michael’s Alley Restaurant, 3324-L E. 31st 745-9998
*Margaret’s German Restaurant, 10 E. Fifth 583-1658
*Silver Star Saloon, 1565 Sheridan 834-4234
¯ *Renegades/Rainbow Room, 1649 S. Main 585-3405
*TNT’s, 2114 S. Memorial 660-0856
*Tool Box, 1338 E: 3rd 584-1308
*Umbertos Pizzeria, 21st west of Harvard 599-9999
Tulsa Businesses, Services, & Professionals
Advanced Wireless & PCS, Digital Cellular 74%1508
*Affinity News, 8120 E. 21 610-8510
Dennis C. Arnold, Realtor 746-4620
*Assoc. in Med; & Mental Health, 2325 S. Harvard " 743-1000
Kent Balch & Associates, Health & Life Insurance 747-9506
*Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 8620 E. 71 250-5034
Body Piercing by Nicole, 2722 E. 15 712-1122
*Borders Books & Music, 2740 E. 21 712-9955
*Borders Books & Music, 8015 S. Yale 494-2665
Brookside Jewelry, 4649 S. Peoria 743-5272
*CD Warehouse, 3807c S. Peoria 746-0313
CherrySt. Psychotherapy, 1515 S. Lewis 581-0902,743-4117
Community Cleaning, Kerby Baker 622-0700
Tim Daniel, Attorney 352-9504, 800-742-9468
*Deco to Disco, 3212 E. 15th 749-3620
*Devena’s Gallery, 13 Brady 587-2611
DQghouse on Brookside, 3311 S. Pei~i’ia 744-5556
*Elite Books & Videos, 821 S. Sheridan 838-8503
*Ross Edward Salon, 2447 E. 15th 584-0337, 712-9379
*Floral Design Studio, 3404 S. Peoria 744-9595
Cathy Furlong, Ph.D., 1980 Utica Sq. Med. Ctr. 628:3709
*Gloria Jean’s Gourmet Coffee, 1758 E. 21st 742-1460
Leanne M. Gross, Insurance & financial planning 459-9349
Mark T. Hamby, Attorney 744-7440
*Sandra J. Hill, MS, Psychotherapy, 2865 E. Skelly 745-1111
*international Tours - 34t’~6866
Jacox Animal Clinic, 2732 E, 15th 712-2750
*Jared’s Antiques, 1602 E. 15th 582-3018
David Kauskey, Country Club Barbering 747-0236
*Ken’s Flowers~ 1635 E. 15 599-8070
Kelly Kirby, CPA, 4021 S. Harvard, #210 747-5466
Langley Agency & Salon, 1316 E. 36th P1 749-5533
Laredo Crossing, 1519 E. 15th 585-1555
*Living ArtSpace, 19 E. Brady 585-1234
Mingo Valley Flowers, 9720c E. 31 663-5934
*Mohawk Music, 6157 E 51 Place 664-2951
*Novel Idea Bookstore, 51st & Harvard 747-6711
David A. Paddock, CPA, 4308 S. Peoria, Ste. 633 747-7672
*Peace of Mind Bookstore, 1401 E. 15 583-1090
~he Pride Store, 1307 E. 38, 2nd floor 743-4297
Puppy Pause II, llth & Mingo 838-7626
Rainbowz on the River B+B, POB 696, 74101 747-5932
Richard’s Carpet Cleaning 834-0617
Teri Schutt, Rex Realtors 834-7921,747-4746
Christopher Spradling, attorney, 616 S. Main, #308 582-7748
*Scribner’s Bookstore, 1942 Utica Square 749-6301
*Sedona Health Foods, 8220 S. Harvard 481-0201
*Tickled Pink, 3340 S. Peoria 697-0017
*Trizza’s pots, 1448 S. Delaware 743-7687
*Tulsa Bookl~change, 3749 S. Peoria 742-2007
*Tulsa Comedy Club, 6906 S. Lewis 481-0558
Fred Welch, LCSW, Counseling 743-1733
*Whittier News Stand, 1 N. Lewis 592-0767
Tulsa Agencies, Churches, Schools & Universities
AIDS Walk Tulsa, POB 4337, 74101 - .579-9593
*All Souls Unitarian Church, 2952 S. Peoria 743-2363
Black & White, Inc. POB 14001, Tulsa 74159 587-7314
Bless The Lord atAll Times Christian Center, 2207 E. 6 583-7815
*B/L/G/T Alliance, Univ. of Tulsa Canterbury Ctr. 583-9780
*Chamber of Commerce Bldg., 616 S, Boston 585-1201
*Chapman Student Ctr., University of Tulsa, 5th PI: & Florence
*ChurchoftheRestorationUU, 1314N.Greenwood 587-1314
*Community ofHope United Methodist, 2545 S. Yale 585-1800
*Community Unitarian-Universalist Congregation 749-0595
*Council Oak Men’s Chorale 743-4297
*Delaware Playhouse, 1511 S. Delaware 712-1511
*Democratic Headquarters, 3930 E. 31 742-2457
918.583.1248, fax: 583.4615, POB 4140, Tulsa, OK 74159
o-mail: TulsaNews@ earthlink.net
wobsito: http://users.aol.com/TulsaNews/
Publisher + Editor: Tom Neal. Writers + contributors: Adam West,
James Christjohn, Jean-Claude de Flambeauchaud, Barry
Hensley, J.-P. Legrandbouche, Lamont Lindstrom, Esther
Rothblum, Mary Schepers, Member of The Associated Press
Issued on or before the 1st of each month, the entire contents of this
p~blication are protected by US copyright 1998 by T~u~ ~:..’~W
Nta,4 and may not be reproduced either in whole or in part without
written permission from the publisher. Publication of a name or
photo does not indicate a person’s sexual orientation. Correspondence
is assumed to be for publication unless otherwise noted,.oaust
be signed & becomes the sole property of T¢ff.~ ~,o~.’. h/tag,.
Each reader is entitled to 4 copies of each edition at distribution
points. Additional copies are available by calling 583-1248.
Dignity/Integrity of Tulsa- Lesbian & Gay Catholics &
Episcopalians, POB 701475, 74170-1475 355-3140
*Family of Faith MCC, 5451-E So. Mingo 622-1441
*Fellowship Congreg. Church, 2900 S. Harvard 747-7777
*Free SpiritWomen’s Center, call forlocation &info: 587-4669
Friend For A Friend, POB 52344, 74152 747-6827
Friends in Unity Social Org., POB 8542, 74101 582-0438
*HIV ER Center, 4138 Chas. Page Blvd. 583-6611
*HIV Resource ConSortium, 3507 E. Admiral 834-4194
*Holland Hall School, 5666 E. 81st 481-1111
HOPE, HIV Outreach, Prevention, Education 834-8378
HIV Testing, Mon/Thurs. 7-9pm, daytime by appt. only
*House of the Holy Spirit Minstries, 3210e So. Norwood
Interfaith AIDS Ministries 438-2437, 800-284-2437
*MCC of Greater Tulsa, 1623 N. Maplewood 838-1715
NAMES Project, 3507 E. Admiral P1. 748-3111
NOW, Nat’l Org. for Women, POB 14068, 74159 365-5658
OK Spokes Club (bicycling), POB 9165, 74157
*Our House, 1114 S. Quaker 584-7960
PFLAG, POB 52800, 74152 749-4901
*Planned Parenthood, 1007 S. Peoria 587-7674
*The Pride Center, 1307 E. 38, 2nd floor, 74105 743-4297
Prime-Timers, P.O. Box 52118, 74152
*R.A.I.N., Regional AIDS Interfaith Network 749-4195
Rainbow Business Guild, POB 4106, 74159 665-5174
*Red Rock Mental Center, 1724 E. 8 584-2325
O’RYAN, support group for 18-24 LGBT young adults
O’RYAN, Jr. support group for 14-17 LGBT youth
St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, 4045 N. Cincinnati 425-7882
*St. Dunstan’s Episcopal, 5635 E. 71st 492-7140
*St. Jerome’s Parish Church, 205 W. King 582-3088
*Tulsa Area United Way, 1430 S. Boulder 583-7171
TNAAPP (Native American men), Indian Health Care 582-7225
Tulsa County Health Department, 46 16 E. 15 595-4105
Confidential HIV Testing - by appt. on Thursdays only
Tulsa Okla. for Human Rights, c/o The Pride Center 743-4297
T.U.L.S.A. Tulsa Uniform/Leather Seekers Assoc. 838-1222
*Tulsa City Hall, Ground Floor Vestibule
*Tulsa Community College Campuses
*Rogers University (formerly UCT)
BARTLESVILLE
*Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S. Johnstone 918-337-5353
OKLAHOMA CITY/NORMAN
*Borders Books &Music, 3209 NWExpressway 405-848-2667
*Borders Books & Music, 300 Norman Center 405-573-4907
TAHLEQUAH
*Stonewall League, call for information: 918-456-7900
*Tahlequah Unitarian-Universalist Church 918-456-7900
*Green Country AIDS Coalition, POB 1570 918-453-9360
NSU School of Optometry, 1001 N. Grand
HIVtesting every other Tues. 5:30-8:30, call fo~ dates
EUREKA SPRINGS, ARKANSAS
*Autumn Breeze Restaurant, Hwy. 23
*Jim & Brent’s Bistro, 173 S. Main
DeVito’s Restaurant, 5 Center St.
*Emerald Rainbow, 45 &l/2 Spring St.
MCC of the Living Spring
Geek to Go!, PC Specialist, POB 429
Old Jailhouse Lodging, 15 Montgomery
Positive Idea Marketing Plans
Sparky’s, Hwy. 62 East
*White Light, 1 Center St.
FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS5
*Edna’s, 9 S. School Ave.
501-253-7734
501-253-7457
501-253-6807
501-253-5445
501-253~9337
501-253~2776
501-253~5332
501-624-6646
501-253-6001
501-253-4074
501-442-2845
* is whereyou can lind TFN. Notall are Gay-owned but all are Gay-friendly.
¯ Spending Commission has lifted the donation
limit of $1000 per person for an
"issue" campaign. The sky is now the
¯ limit, and North American religious ex-
¯ tremists arepouringmoney into Hawaii’s
vote on a proposed constitutional amend-
" merit. Dobson’s group [Focus ontheFam-
¯ ily] may be spendingthe most in Hawaii,
but the ChristianCoalition is raisingmoney
~ worldwide as well to use in Hawaii.
; The key team standing up to this on-
, slaught is: Protect Our Constitution,
¯ PO Box 235704, Honolulu, HI 96823.
Donations to Protect Our Constitution are
¯ not tax deductible. Donations are reported
¯ to the campaign spending commission.
¯ Protect Our Constitution is affiliated with
~ the national Human Rights Campaign.
¯ Other Players:
¯ Supreme Court- silent; no news on the
¯ final appeal of the Baehr case
¯ Legislature -not in session; most of ¯
them runniug for re-election
." Governor - running for a second term;
: uphill battle against a charismatic woman
¯ Republican who might even be Lesbian ¯
but vigorously denies it publicly
¯ Constitutional Amendment- ffthe vote
¯ were held today; the "no" would win. A
¯ "no" vote protects the equal civil rights of
Gays and Lesbians. However, the amend-
" merit is confusing to many voters and
¯ many more have yet to realize that itis on ¯
¯ the November ballot.
Call for a Constitutional Convention -
~ more and more people realize that such a
¯ convention, held under the shadow of
¯ hysteria over same-gender marriage,
¯ would be a disaster for environmental
¯ protection, native Hawaiian gathering
¯ - rights, the right to strike, the freedom tochoose
as well as the freedom to marry.
The only question is whether this broad o
coalition of interests can deliver the votes
on November 3rd[
The exact constitutional question [is]:
"Shall the constitution of the State of
Hawaii be amended to specify that the
legislature shall have the power to reserve
mamage to opposite-sex couples."
Note that it doe-s not directly ban samegendermarriage,
butmoves the topicaway
from protection of the bill of rights in the
constitution. Note also that it is a power
grab by the legislature at the expense of
theiudependentjudiciary. As mostpeople
in Hawaii learn this, they decide to vote
"no". Can they be educated fast enough,
in 72 days? In the meantime, the opposition
is working hard to make this amendment
a referendum of whether one supports
same-sex marriage (vote "yes" if
you oppose same-sex marriage is their
campaign focus).
The Role ofMarriage Project Hawaii
- MPH is operating under a tax-deductible
status that limits its lobbying and
election activities. It continues to support
the Baehr case, to educate the public on
issues related to same-gender marriage,
and to build a. network of supporters in
Hawaii. It’s address is PO Box 11690,
Honolulu, HI 96828. - Tom Ramsey
Hawaii Marriage Update
TheBIG change- Hawaii’s Campaign
Letters Policy
Tulsa Family News welcomes letters on
issues which we’ve covered or on issues
you think need to be considered. Youmay
request that your name be withheld but
letters mustbe signed&have phonenumbers,
or be hand delivered. 200 word letters
are preferred. Letters to other publications
will be printed as is appropriate.
Creech, who now lives on Ocracoke Island, N.C., and
makes his living cleaning cottages, bitterly criticized the
nding. "I am grieving for the United Methodist Church,"
he said. "I am encouraging pastors to go ahead and
celebrate a covenant ceremony in defiance to this nding."
Creech toldTheLincolnJournal Starin aphoneinterview
that he feels the ruling is "evil." "It’ s still an unjust and,
I think, evil decision in the impact on people who are
Lesbian or Gay."
Nebraska Bishop Joel Martinez, who removed Creech
from the Omaha church, praised the Judicial Council’s
decision. "All ministers in the covenant of ordained
ministry in the United Methodist Church now have Clear
direction on this matter," Martinez Said. "I continue to
urge all United Methodists in Nebraska to berespectful in
dialogue and prayerful in attitude toward all others who
may hold opposing views on this matter."
Mel Semrad, a spokesman for church members who
left the Omaha congregation in protest over the wedding,
lauded the decision Tuesday. Semrad and about 450
others are working to start theirown Methodist church in
Omaha, saying they believe the Bible and church tradition
do not allow Gay weddings.
Mike McClellan, an Omaha attorney and member of
First United .Methodist, said he does not agree with the
Judicial Council’s decision. He called the decision a
political one, made under pressure from Methodist bishops.
"I think that they’ vejust r~ally made an unfortunate
decision," he said. "More than anything itjust sends abad
message to Gays and Lesbians. "It’ s difficult to convince
(Gays and Lesbians) to be apart of our churches.., when
the institution itself sends out such awful messages to
them, and hateful messages."
The Rev. Charlotte Abram, new ~issociate pastor of
First United Methodist in Omaha, said she was disappointed
by the nding. "First United Methodist Church
will continue to work toward the time when the United
Methodist Church will be a place where there is equality
for all God’ s children, including Gaymenand. Lesbians,"
she said. The Rev. John Thomburg, senior pastor for
Northhaven United Methodist Church of Dallas, which
has a congregation that is one-third Gay, saidhe will obey
they ruling but is disappointed.
Impact on Northern California Churches
The United Methodist Church’ s ban on Gay marriages
could have a big impact in Northern California, where
seyeral Methodist ministers have pledged support for
same-sex unions. The decision puts Northern California
Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert between a theological
rock and an ecclesiastical hard place. Ten Methodist
ministers are among 150 Christian, Jewish and Buddhist
clergy in the regionwhohave signed a declaration stating,
"I have officiated or would be willing to officiate at the
religious marriage of a same-gender couple." In May,
Talbert said he would not discipline any minister who
performed Gay rites ",until instructed otherwise by our
Judicial Council."
But Rev. Alan Jones said he doesn’t expect Talbert to
start cracking down on clergy who perform Gay marriage.
’qThose clergy who support holy tmion will continue
to do them," said Jones, executive director of San
Francisco-based United Methodist Mission. "For me it’ s
a pastoral issue. Either I respect the integrity ofmy sisters
and brothers, or I don’ t. I don’ tbdieve in ’love the sinner,
hate the sin.’ I either love someone, or I don’t."
Still, last month’ s ruling by the church’ s equivalent of
the Supreme Court gives Talbert’s opponents more ammunition:
Local bishops like Talbert "don’t have the
authority to overrule this decision," said Thomas
McAnally, a spokesman at the United Methodist Church
headquarters. "The decision is final."
Other Christian Groups
Joe Leonard of .the National Council of Churches,
which represents 34 Protestant and Orthodox churches in
the US, said the United Church of Christ is the only
mainline Protestant church that approves of Lesbianand
Gay ceremonies. Andon Aug. 5, an international Anglican
meeting, the Lambeth Conference, declared homosexuality
to be "incompatible with Scripture" and said
Gays should not be ordained. However, declarations at
Lambeth are not binding on national Episcopal Churches
and these statements are in conflict with positions taken
by the Episcopal Church, USA. Some US bishops do
ordain openly Gay persons and do sanction Holy Unions.
by Kerry Lobel
Wehear their names again and again, like a litany from
a relentless bad dream: GOP Senate Majority Leader
Trent Lott, GOP House Majority Leader Dick Armey,
Family Research Council President Gary
Bauer, Focus on the Family President Dr.
James Dobson, California Republican Congressman
Frank RIFFS, and Colorado Republican
Congressman Joel Hefley. Together,
these men and others are controlling
the agenda of the Republican Party. Together,
they’ve launched an unprecedented
attack on the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and
transgender community.
With the 1998 Congressional elections
only months away, the Presidential primaries
will be here in a heartbeat. As expected,
the extreme right-wing is literally and figuratively
using homosexuals as their favorite
poster children in an effort to consolidate
their voting base and raise funds from them.
Several extreme right-wing groups includingChristianCoalition,
Family Research
Council, and ConcernedWomenforAmerica
ran ads last month in the New York Times,
Washington Post, andUSAToday proclaiming
"We’re standing for the truth that homosexuals
can change." The ads offer a beguiling
elixir of "hope and healing." We’ re not
fooled by this kinder, gentler bigotry. These
ads arenot aboutreligionandhealing, they’ re
about politics and intolerance. Homosexuality
is not the problem. Homophobia and
the hatred and the discrimination it fosters is
the problem. Last month the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force and Equal Partners
in Faith gathered over 30 national religious
leaders from many faith traditions. These
"We’re standing for
the truth that
homosexuals
can change."
The ads offer a
beguiling elixir of
"hope and healing."
We’re not fooled by
this kinder,
gentler bigotry.
These ads are not
about religion and
healing, they’re
about politics and
intolerance.
Homosexuality is
not the problem.
Homophobia and
the hatred and the
dlserimlnation
it fosters is the
problem.
¯ Twenty-five years ago NGLTF was also involved in
~ effort to remove homosexuality from the American Psy-
¯ chiatricAssociaOon’ s listofmental disorders. This change
~ removed an important obstacle to our freedom, one that
the right-wing hopes to roll back. Year after
year, a growing number of Americans have
supported equality for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual
and Transgendered people. The extreme
right-wing recognizes this and has
desperately attempted to solidify their donor
and voter base by trying by selling
America the lie that Gay people need redemption.
Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual people do
not need hope, healing or prayers to change
our sexual orientation. We need our adversaries
to hope for our equality and to pray
for our civil rights. Weneed them to understand
that the only thing that needs to be
changed is the bigotry that continues to
divide our country across lines of race,
class, gender, religion and sexual orientation.
We don’t need to dignify the statements
of our adversaries by claiming that
sexual orientation is genetic or that we can’ t
change. This implies that most of us would
change if we could. Whether genetic or
chosen, sexual orientation is a deep-seated
part of our identity. One day, and I hope it
comes soon, we’ll live in a world where
people are free to explore their sexuality,
and free to live without discrimination and
violence. Until then, I’ 11 keep my eye on the
real prize, freedom, justice, and equality,
and not always focus on defending myself
from our adversaries.
Founded in 1973, the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force works to eliminate
leaders expressed their support for Gay, Lesbian, Bi- " prejudice, violence and injustice against Gay, Lesbian,
sexual and Transgendered (GLBT) peoplein the wake of ¯ Bisexual and Transgendered people at the local, state
the recent ad campaign. They also vowed .to speak out ¯ and nationallevel. Aspart .9~a i~roader socialjustice,,~ ,.~, ~ .....
together froma f~ith~persp~fiV~’ito challengethe reli=~-:: ~mO~ifo~fr~dr~;j~’~d~’~i~u&ii~),~lqdL~’7~~
gious right’ s manipulation ofreligion to promote a political
agenda, and to affirm the spirituality and equality of
GLBT persons and supporters all across the nation.
by Tom Neal, editor &publisher
Kudos to PFLAG
Last month, I attended the PFLAG (Parents, Families
¯and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) meeting to hear and
meet the remarkable Allen Family who’d spoken recently
on The Today Show about the harassment that their
son, Will Allen,_had experienced in a local high school.
They were smart, brave and articulate. I highly commend
thelia for their willingness to witness to our nation about
the inherent dignity of Lesbian and Gay lives and what
being a family is really, really about. And of course,
PFLAGandits boardpresident,TulsanNaneyMeDonald,
deserves praise for helping to arrange this appearance.
Another Brave Family
Also, during this same time, longtime community
activists Ric & Kelly Harrison Kirby, also made their
lives public (in major stories in USA Today, Hard Copy
and I’m told onNationalPublic Radio) to help respond to
the "ex-Gays" or "Gay conversion" messages that national
ultra-extremist religious/political groups were promoting.
Kelly&Ric have served Tulsa for years, as Tulsa
Oklahomans for Human Rights (TOHR) officers and as
HIV/AIDS activists. Kelly has also served on boards
related to the Disciples of Christ denomination and is
treasurer of the national board of PFLAG.
Sometimes in our community, we don’t do a goodjob
of recognizing the gifts which community members give
us, so if you see Ric or Kelly, thank them. It’s no little
thing to give up that much of their privacy and that oftheir
four children.
Good Cop - Bad Cop
While at the PFLAG meeting, Mrs. McDonald, made
a remark some work she’ s been doing with the National
Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ, formerly
the National Conference of Christians and Jews) to
¯ creating a world that respects and celebrates the diver-
¯ sity ofhuman expression and identity where all people
mayfullyparticipate in society.
make that organization more sensitive to Lesbian and
Gay issues. I may be mistaken but the comment about not
~ pushing people into a comer seemed to have a little barb
¯ to it and it was delivered while she was looking right at
¯ me,
¯ Regular readers may recall that TFN has written several
times over a multiple year period about the failure of
the Tulsa chapter of the NCCJ, a human rights organization,
to include Lesbian and Gay issues, or Lesbians or
Gay men on its board of directors.
Iamdelighted to share thatnotonly has Mrs. McDonald
been in dialogue with the Tulsa chapter of the NCCJ but
they have invited her to be on their board of directors.
While it’s hardly a secret that Mrs. McDonald and I
frequently disagree about methods of creating social
change, she & I likely completely agree about our goals
for America’s, and Tulsa’s Lesbian/Gay/Bi and Transgendered
communities. I havefaith that she will represent
our commumty’ s interests well. And I have no doubt that
Mrs. McDonald will be as stem in correcting the NCCJ
board when she thinks they need it as she is with me ;-)
About Town is a new editorial column which will
appear occasionally. It, obviously, is an opinion piece.
Readers are welcome to call with information about
which they think this newspaper needs to know. Readers
are also welcome to respond by letter or by e-mail.
Kelly Curtis Ford, formerly of Tulsa and longtime
companion of Roger Morris, died suddenly on August
15th at the age of 52. Ford grew up in Duncan, attended
Cameron University and taught in Oklahoma schools in
Waiters and in Oologah for 23 years where he was
selected as Teacher of the Year in 1991. Ford is survived
by Morris and also by three brothers in Duncan. A
memorial service will held at 7pm on Wednesday, Sept.
3 at All Souls Unitarian Church, 29th & Peoria.
Hawaii: Wide Opposition " Phi!ly Partners’
to Same-Sex Marriage Benefits Challenged
shows more~a 2 l/2-tod m~n ,oppos~ to v~ues advo~tes have fil~ alawsuit ag~nst ~e city,
legMi~ng s~e-sexm~age. ~epoll conduct~for timing ~e institution of m~age will be i~ep~a- ~ ~ G~l~zr~~7~fyff~rts~7~n~
~e Honol~u S~ B~ledn ~d ~NL~TV fo~d 63 bly~edby a new or&n~~fing city workers
% o~os~ to legMifing m~ageS between two men wi~ s~e-sex p~ers ~e s~e benefits ~m~ I ~. burdem. ~me sMre ~ ~e~W0f ~’s
or twowomen, wi~ 24% in favor ~d 13% ~de- p~ple. ~ a battle~ck~~o~d ~e co~y, ~e
cid~. smt states ~at City Co~l&~’t have ~e au~ofi~ ~__ ~~ Cbi~renAreAlwa~sWelco~!
~en ~e s~e question w~ ~ked in Feb~y to extend h~ ~d pension benefits to Gay ~d
1997, 70% of ~e respondents voi~ op~sifion to ~sbi~p~ers~dto~o~bit&s~nafion~e h
s~e-gender ~ons, wi~ 20% in favor ~d 10% wor~la~ b~ed on m~ s~ms. "~i~ Co~ ~mm~
~s~e. Pollsters have ask~ ~e question five times ¯ shoed be uplff~g m~age, not r~efi~ng m~-
sin~ J~e 1993. ~e~ghest levd of op~sifion w~ " fiage," sMd ~e Rev. ~c~,a p~tor at Be~el
r~rd~ in M~ch 1996, when 74% of ~ose ask~ " Ddiver~Ch~chin~laddpMa.Thed~s-acfion
opposed same-sex marriage, 21% for and 6% undecided.
The poll did not ask voters how they would
vote on a November ballot question about whether to
limit legal marriages to those between one man and
one woman.
Supporters of same-sex marriage say they are not
surprised by the poll numbers, with David Smith of
the Washington-l~asedHumanRights Campaign saying
similar opposition would have been recorded in
polls 30 or 40 years ago if people had been asked
about interracial marriages. "But the U.S. Supreme
Court decided that the Constitution allows peopleto
marry who they choose in terms of race," Smith said.
Rev. Marc Alexander of Hawaii Catholic Conference
called the poll results gratifying, and said efforts
to win support for same-sex marriage .are failing.
’°Ittose figures are solid," he said. "Even with the
push to get same-sex mamage, it hasn’t made a
significant dent."
The telephone poll of 417 vote/s was conducted
from Aug. 4-7, and has a margin of error of plus of
minus 5% points.It was conducted by Mason-Dixon
Political/Media Research of Columbia, Md.
.Fayetteville
Anti-Bias Law Debated
was filed in Philadelphia County Court by the Urban
Family Council and 10 individuals~ including Lam-
Mayor Edward G. Rendell, a supl~orter of the
measdres,immediately dismissed thele~al challenge.
"It has no chance of being successful," Rendell said.
"All wedidis recognizewhatcities all across America
are doing - that ~ommitted relationships come in
different shapes and sizes."
At issue is a package of three bills passed by the
council in May that culminated a five-year battle by
Gay and Lesbian activists. Under the legislation, any
of the city’s 24,000 unionized workers with same-sex
. partners would qua~.ify for benefits after meeting
certain criteria proving that they are involved in a
"life partnership," including shared bank accounts,
dual property ownership and beneficiary designation.
The ordinance also exempted same-sex partners
from the real estate transfer tax.
More than 100 mtmicipalities across the country
give similar allowances to same-sex partners, according
to the Philadelphia-based Center forGay Law and
Public Policy. Boston MayorThomas M. Menino last
week signed an executive order to extend health
benefits to domestic partners and dependents of Gay,
Lesbian and unmarried city employees. Last month,
New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani signed a
similar measure that activists called one of the most
comprehensive in the nation.
Opponents charged that the Philadelphia measure,
¯ especially the life partnership designation, created
¯ a new legal definition of marriage that benefits samesex
partners. State law does not allow individual
¯¯ communities to amendthat definition.WilliamDevlin,
director of the Urban Family Council, said thelawsuit
¯ is not intended to be anti-Gay or anti-Lesbian. ¯
"We’re saying,’ City Council, you redefined family,
you redefined marriage - that’s inherent in the
¯ (law).’ If anything is’ anti-’, it’s City Council, being
anti-family, anti-child and anti-marriage," Devlin
¯
said. "We have come to stand for what we believe.is
¯ right today," said Mary Campbell, a Philadelphia
¯ residentwho is a plaintiff in the suit. "We believe that
we are representative of many, man?,, people in this
, city, and hope that they will join us.
Gay and ~Lesbian civil fights activists disagreed.
: "The extension of workplace benefits to G.ay_ and
: Lesbian couples denied the right of marriage is loga-
¯ cal," said Rita Adessa, executive director of the
¯ Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Task Force." "We’re
dealing with at/issue of fairness," she said. "When
: you deny the people the right to marry, and attach
¯ benefits to marriage, it sets up a system where hetero-
¯ sexuality and marriage is privilege." ¯
Rendell said opponents to the measure should
concentrate their efforts in another direction. "The
(critics) will lose," the mayor said. "They should
probably spend their efforts promoting the values
they care ai3out rather than trying to stop this. This is.
not a big threat to our way of life."
SPRINGDALE, Atk.’(AP) - Opponents of an anti~
discrimination item on the fall ballot in Fayetteville
say the measure would affect surrounding communities
if it passes. The proposal would prohibit businesses
in One city from discriminating in hiring on the
basis of sexual orientation or family status. It also
says the city won’t discriminate on the basis of race,
sex, disability and other reasons. "When Fayetteville
sneezes, Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville all get
wet," said Kirk Hartness of Rogers, coordinator for
the Citizens Aware Group.
Fayetteville’s city council approved the resol.ution
in April, but Mayor Fred Hanna vetoed it. The city
council overrocle the veto May 6, and a group called
. theCitizens Aware committee collected enough signatures
to put the measure on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Hartuess said that there is more to .the resolution
than meets the eye. He said businesses would be
"’forced to cave-in to hiring and benefit policies
catering to homosexuals."-He also said there would
be access to the public schools with an agenda t
teach children 5, 6, and 7-year-olds their bizarre and
. destructive sexualpractices arejustanotherlifestyle."
Hartness spoke after Christian Coalition chairman,
Brent Watson of Fayetteville, yielded the floor at a
candidate’s forum attended by about 20 people:
Hartness saidhewas asked by Rev. Gene Fulcher and
Rev. Charlie Brown, the co-chairmen of the Citizens
Aware steering group to head the campaign.
He said the group had struggled for a name of the
resolution, but "we have to be careful with these
things in the public though because we don’t want to
identify this specifically as a piece of homosexual
legislation- however you should be aware for the
purposes of discussion- that is what this is really all
about." He said similar resolutions hadbeen passed in
communities onor near college campuses and that the
resolutions are not about equal access to jobs or
education.
Citizens for Fair Government, a local political
action group, says ithopes to educatepeople about the
issue so they will vote for the resolution.
San Francisco Still
Leads in Civil Rights
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Despite a Republican
offensive against Gays, San Francisco is poised today
to solidify its stance on civil rights by asking private
businesses to extend special deals to domestic partners.
A year after the city inaugurated its domestic
partners ordinance, the Board of Supervisors is ex-
MARK T. HAMBY
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panding the controversial law. Approved unanimously
last week, the proposal gets a second vote tonight and
Mayor Willie Brown is expected to sign it.
It would make San Francisco the only city in the
nation to require private businesses - such as gyms, car
rental companies and insurance agencies - to extend
discounts they offer to married couples to domestic
parmers as well.
The vote follows on the heels of a political backlash
against Gays that may cost San Francisco millions in
federal housing funding and a prominent Gay philanthropist
an ambassadorship. Less than two weeks ago,
the House voted 214-212 - most of them Republican
votes - in favor of blocking San Francisco from federal
housing money because of its civil-rights policy.
The pioneering EqUalBenefits Ordinance requires
businesses with city contracts to extend health benefits
to its workers’ partners. Since its introduction a year
ago, the city has battled corporations unwilling to recognize
Gay partnerships - including major airlines,
Catholic Charities and the Salvation Army.
"We should not force or coerce (businesses) to adopt
policies they find morally objectionable," Rep. Frank
Riggs, who represents the rural North Coast in Congress,
said in a heated debate.
Not long before that, Senate Majority Leader Trent
Lott, R-Miss., - who likened homosexuality to a treatable
condition like alcoholism or kleptomania - said it
was unlikely James Hormel wouldbecome the nation’ s
first openly Gay ambassador. Hormel, a San Francisco
philanthropist who has supported Gay causes, has been
criticized for what opponents call his "Gay agenda."
And Republicans -unsuccessfully - sought to overturn
President Clinton’ s orderbarring discrimination against
Gays and Lesbians at federal agencies.
.-Still, supervisors are expected today to send the
newest domestic partners proposal to the mayor in.an
act that suggests a determination to set a standard for
human rights. "Banning discrimination is. no new concept,"
supervisor Mark Leno, the proposal’s sponsor,
told the San Francisco Examiner last month. "We’re
talking about inalienable rights here."
tian groups paid $35,000 to buy the ad, which will
be published in a section of the Sunday paper
prepared by the San Francisco Examiner. The
Sunday paper also contains sections produced by
the San Francisco Chronicle.
The full-page ad suggests that Gay men and
Lesbians can change their sexual orientation if they
pray and get help from "ex-Gay ministries," groups
of people who say they once were Gay but became
heterosexual. It is one of four such ads that the
groups have placed in the New York Times, Washington
Post and other papers over the last month.
Some members of San Francisco’ s Gay community
considered running an opposing ad in the same
section, which is what other groups have done in
other cities. Some said the ads were distasteful, but
said First Amendment rights come first.
"It’s frightful, it’s horrific, it’s completely disturbing
to see these ads," said Supervisor Mark
Leno. "But I think we as a Gay and Lesbian and
progressive community would belittle ourselves
and lower ourselves to our opponents’ standards if
we were to deny them this most American right of
freedom of expression, as they are denying us the
most American rights - our malienable rights of
life, liberty and pursuit of happiness."
The Christian groups, led by Janet Folger of the
Florida-based Center for Reclaiming America, first
approached the San Francisco Chronicle - which
rejected the ad. "We reviewed it, and we had
several concerns about the ad and made the decision
that we were not going to run it," Chronicle
Publisher John B. Sias said. The San Francisco
Newspaper Agency, which sells advertising for
both the Chronicle and Examiner under a joint
operating agreement, suggested the ad could run in
the Sunday news sections, which are produced by
the Examiner.
Examiner Publisher Lee J. Guittar accepted the
ad. "We do not like to censor ads or suppress the
free flow of information," Guittar said. "This is an
issue up to debate. The Examiner’ s position is that
Commerce and theSmall BusinessNetw0rk, has faced ¯ fion is espousing, we oeneve mey nave me nglat to
little opposition from business owners. "It makes good express their opinion." The newspaper will also
business sense," said Leno. "It g~ves business an additional
marketing tool and could help them compete With
other businesses."
It’s expected to have more impact as a symbolic
gesture than as a business measure. Most car rental
agencies in the city do not offer special rates to married
couples, and some gyms already include domestic partners
in its "family" categories.
At 24 Hottr Fitness near City Hall, domestic parmers
already fall under the club’s "couple membership"
category. But there’ s a hitch: live-in couples - straight
or Gay - have to bring in proof that they’re more than
just roommates looking for a good deal. "Joint bank
accounts are nice, and (City Hall) certificates are nice,"
said Rick Hernandez, a sales manager. "(IDs) that show
both names are nice, too."
¯ 24 Hour Fitness, which has clubs up and down the
coast and in other states, is simply adjusting to San
Francisco lifeby recognizing Gay couples, he said. "We
sponsor the Gay Pride Parade. We’re pretty big in the
community," Hemandez said. ’qt just makes sense.
Otherwise we’d be shooting ourselves in the foot."
Laura Gilleran, 23, says she and her live-in girlfriend,
T.C. Myers, are more excited by the import of the
ordinance than by the discounts. "It’ s important, since
(Gay) marriage is not legal. It’ s.important to do what it
takes until it becomes such," Gilleran said outside a bar
in the Castro District, the heart of Gay San Francisco.
And it was Gay pride - and the chance to live in city
that recognizes Lesbian partnerships - that brought
Myers, 20, to San Francisco. She, her brother and their
mother, who i~ also a Lesbian, were moving from
Arizona to Oregon when they stopped in San Francisco.
"My morn got into San Francisco and said, ’We’re
staying here. This is the Gay city of the world!’ "
Anti-Gay Ads in SFCA
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Christian groups are bringing
their national anti-Gay advertising campaign to San
Francisco’ s Stmday newspaper, causing concern in the
city’ s large Gay and Lesbiancommunity. Fifteen Chrisprint
an editorial that will challenge the ad. The
Examiner’s decision means that although the
Chronicle refused the ad, its readers will see it
Sunday. The Chronicle, which splits revenues with
The Examiner, also will get half the profit.
Examiner Executive Editor Phil Bronstein said
running the ad was a business decision and had
nothing to do with the newspaper’ s commitment to
coverage of Gay and Lesbian issues. "It is also our
responsibility to cover the controversy over these
ads, which we are doing," Bronstein said, "and to
deal with the deeper issues the ads raise, about
claims made in the ads, and about the obviously
contradictory, views people hold."
Candidate for Hawaii
: Gov. Says She’s Not Gay
: HONOLULU (AP) - The Republican gubernatorial
candidate in Hawaii claims the incumbent’s
¯ campaign is spreading false rumors that she is
homosexual. Linda Lingle’ s allegation was denied
¯ by Democratic Gov. Ben Cayetano, who has been hurt in the polls because of Hawaii’s slumping
¯ economy. A crowd member asked Lingle during a
¯ recent campaign stop whether she was Gay. "No, I
¯ amnot,"repliedLingle, themayor ofMaul County.
¯ Lingle then told The Honolulu Advertiser that a
¯ Democrat had given her a copy of a report from a
Cayetano campaign committee that raised questions
about her sexual orientation. Lingle cam-
" paign chair Bob Awana declined to release copies.
¯ Cayetano said his campaign does not discuss the
¯ private lives of any candidate:. He demanded that ¯ Lingleproduce evidence t0 substantiateher charge.
: "If they are going to make accusations,.they have a
: responsibility to back themup,’"he said.
¯ .Republicans believe they have a solid chance of
." w]nmng in Hawaii, where Democrats have held the
¯ governor’s office since 1962.und dominated the
¯ Legislature since 1954.
BALTIMORE (AP) - The first time Dr. ¯
Joel Gallant laid eyes on Michael Willis, :
he was struck by how truly awful his new :
pafientlooked. Askinnylittleemaclated ¯
creature" is what the doctor remembers. "
Willis was in the full grip of AIDS, coy- :
ered with eczema, partially paralyzed by ¯
aherpes infectionofthe spine, 140 pounds
and falling~ Death within a
year seemed almost cerlain.
Thatwas 21/2 years ago.
Now Willis, at 37, exudes
energy. He is-toned and
trim andhandsomeenough
tomodel two or three times
a week at the Maryland
Institute College ofArt. As
stunning as Willis’ turnaround
seems, it is hardly
unique. He is one of the
thousands of Americans
rescued from the edge of
death by the AIDS cocktail,
the combination of
pills that changed a uniformlylethal
disease into a
treatable one.
However,Willis’ storyis commoii~lace
for another reason as well. Despite his
look of health, he clearly has not escaped
HIV. In the brutally precise language of
medicine, Willis is a treatment failure.
Estimates vary, but perhaps 30 percent
to 60 percent of all people taking the
AIDS cocktails are considered treatment
failures, because HIV can still be found
on standard tests that are sensitive enough
to spot as few as 20 copies of the virus in
a milliliter of blood. Either their viral
levels never g.o.t thatlow or they rebounded
after a prormslng start.
When Willis first learned of his disease,
600,000 bits of virus circulated in
every milliliter of his blood. At the time,
he had been sick for a year, often so
exhausted he could not get out of bed. He
felt oddly relieved to learn the cause, even
though it turned out to be HIV. While he
steadily got better on a combination of the
protease inhibitor Crixivan and two other
drugs, the lowest his virus level ever fell
is around 1,000 - far from the zero that
defines success.
Most of his friends.with HIV have seen
- their wrus vanish. The failure of treatment
to do the same for him is obviously
di,s,a,ppointing. "Sometimes I cry about
it, he admits. But mostly he focuses on
his good fortune. He enjoys the pleasure
of playing and singing withhis rock band,
the Radiant Pig, enjoys feeling wall, enjoys
being alive. "I just try to ignore it,"
says Willis. "I wish somebody would tel!
me what is going to happen, but I don’t
want to ask, either."
But even if he asks, there are no clear
answers. No one knows for sure what will
happen, to those whose virus stays stubbornly
visible despite all~out .treatmen~
Fromthe Start ofthe epidemic, me amount
of virus has been the surest barometer of
the diseaser s course. Thehigher the level,
the faster it kills. Experts believe that if
there’ s enough HIVto measure, it’ s probably
continuin~ to damage the immune
system, even ~f more slowly than befor .
"Right now, we are seeing people like
Michael who are having less than satisfactory
virological responses. Yet clinically
he is doing wonderfully and is as
healthy as he has been in years," says
Gallant, anAIDSexpert at Johns .Hopkins
University. "We don’t know how long
that will last. But our assessment is that
without complete viral suppression, it
won’ t last forever." The doctors wonder:
Will these people start to go downhill in
two years? Five? Ten or even. l,o.nge.r?
They worry that the dramatic aecnne m
AIDS deaths of the past
... without
complete viral
suppression . ¯ ¯
[we] wonder...
will these
people start
to go. do lall
in two years?
Five? Ten
or even longer?
two years is a honeymoon,
a lull beforethe epidemic
reawakens.
"We are winning many
more battles than we won
before, but we still haven’ t
won the war," says Dr.
Michael Saag of the University
of Alabama at Birmingham.
His program
averaged 10 to 15 deaths a
monthamongits 700AIDS
patients in 1995. Then
came the cocktail. In 1996
and 1997, there were just
one to three deaths amonth.
But this year, the figures
are creeping up again, averaging
five to eight deaths a month. For
now, though, many like Willis continue to
thrive despite stable or even rising viral.
levels.
"You still see wonderful, wonderful
things happening with this therapy," says
Dr. Lori Fantry of the University ofMaryland.
"People come into the clinic and
they think you’ re God. Their symptoms
melt away before y,our eyes. The people
aren’.t failing yet. It s the numbers."
The Numbers
Scientists estimate that for every unit of
virus in a milliliter of blood, somewhere
in thebody between 100,000 and 150,000
infected cells are making HIV. A viral
load of 1,000, like Willis’, suggests between
100 million and 150 million virusmaking
cells.
Over time, these viruses may elude
AIDS drugs.by doing a sloppy job of
reproducing themselves. No unit of HIV
is exactly like its parent. With each copy
it makes, HIV introduces an average of
one error into its~genetic code. Chances
are, everyone with HIV carries a virus
with a random mutation that makes it
capable of resisting whatever drug comes
along.
When patients start treatment, doctors
give them three drugs - typically a protease
inhibitor and two older medicines -
that they have never taken before. The
idea is to hit the virus hard, knocking its
production so low that lurking resistant
versions never have a chance to be made
¯ in quantity.
¯ Whentreatment pushes the virus below
~ detectable levels and keeps it there, doc-
~ tors feel fairly certain that patients will
stay healthy for several years. If treatment
" fails, it’s because swarms of drug-resis-
: tant viruses have been produced.
¯ Doctors listthreemainreasons for treat-
" meatfailure: Patients neglect to take their
~ medicines on schedule; they already have
: lots of resistant virus because of earlier
: exposure to medicines, or their doctors
, treated them inadequately.
" Failure to take medicines consistently
." is probably No. 1. Missing just a few
¯ dosesallows resistant viruses to grow
explosively. Once that happens, there is
: no guarantee that switching drugs will do
: any good, seeHIVDrugs, p. 14
Medical
Excellence And ¯ Compass. onate
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ST: JOHN MEDICAL CENTER
Medical Excellence ¯ Comptssionate Care
Free & Anonymous Finger Stick Method
By &for, but not exclusive to the Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Communities.
Mon. & Thurs., 6-8 pm, Daytime testing Mon-Thurs. by appt.
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745-1111-
The
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1307 E. 38th, 2nd floor
in the Pride Center, 743-4297
6-9 pro, Sunday - Friday
12-9 pm, Saturday
all sales benefit the Pride Center
Gifts ¯ Cards ¯ Pride Merchandise
http://members.aol.cong
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please call
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Nonoxynol 9 May
Not Protect
BOSTON (AP) - A study challenges the
popular belief that spermicides protect
against AIDS and other sexually transmitted
diseases. The research, conducted
onprostitutes in Cameroon, found no sign
that combining the common spermicide
nonoxynol 9 with condoms worked any
better than condoms alone. The findings
were first reported in Washington last
year. They are now being published in a
recent issue of the New England Journal
of Medicine.
Thestudywas conductedon 1,292 HIVnegative
prostitutes and directed by Dr.
Rohald E. Roddy of Family Health International
of Durham, North Carolina.
The women were given condoms and
were randomly assigned to get either a
spermicide film or an inactive placebo
film. They were told to insert the film into
their vaginas before, intercourse and to
require their sex partners to use the condoms.
The._study~. was conducted between
March i994 and December 1996. Just
under7 percent ofwomen in both groups
became infectedwith theAIDS virus during
thecourseofthestudy. Thespermicide
also didnot reduce the risk of gonorrhea
or chlamydia infection.
The research contradicts earlier work
suggesting that nonoxynoi 9 is moderat~
y effectiveagainstgohorrheaandsome
~other sexually transmi~edinfections. Tests
in animals and test tubes have also shown
signs that spermicides can inactivate the
AIDS viruS, but studies in people have
: track people, eitherby name or by code, it
would seek permission to notify past and
: present partners of those infected with
¯¯ HIV. Parmersatriskwouldbeurgedtobe
tested. "If we continue to focus only on ¯
AIDS and not HIV, more broadly, werisk
: failing to do everything possible for prevention
and care," added Daniel Zingale,
i executive director of AIDS Action, a ha-
: tional AIDS advocacy groupin Washing-
" ton, D.C.
¯ Ms. Forbes said studies show "people ¯
will avoid getting tested altogether if they
¯ believe theirnameis going tobereported."
¯ Texas Looking at
: HIV Reporting
: AUSTIN (AP)-A Gay and Lesbian civil
~ rights group is raising concerns about a
¯ proposal that would require health-care
¯ providers to report the names of pep.pie
: who test positive for the AIDS vmm.
:’ oDfiathnee LHeasrbdiyan-GaanrdeiGa,ayexReciguhtitvseLdoibrbeyctoorf
¯ Texas, saidher organizatio~has not taken.
: a formal position against the propos~
¯ pending before the Texas Department ot
: Health.
¯ Butshe saidmanypeopleonthe group’ S
¯ 17-member board of directors are con-
" cerned about possible discrimination
¯ agaiusf those who test positive for the
: Human lmmunodeficiency Virus.
¯ Health department officials said the
: names of people with AIDS and other
¯ sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) al-
: ready are reported. But those who test
¯" ies because stringent testing meant the
¯ clinics did not carry the same risks as
¯ private donor insemination, notably the
¯ possibility of AIDS contamination.
¯ However,the state SupremeCourtover-
: turned the decision, after the clinic ap-
¯ pealed, saying it had the right to refuse
¯ treatment because the woman was not
¯ infertile:
¯" The Court of Appeal upheld the Su-
: preme Court f’mding on Tuesday, saying
¯ thewomanhadnotbeen direcdy discrimi-
: nated against on the basis of her Lesbian-
" ism.
¯ Justices Bill Pincus, Geoffrey Davies
: and James Thomas found the Lrib,nal
: president, Roslyn Atldnson, erredin find-
" ing that Lesbianism was thereason for the
¯ refusal of treatment. ¯
However, the court sent back to the
: tribunal issues of indirect discrimination
¯ and a possible exemption under the Anti-
" Discrimination ACt. "
~
: The issue of indirect discrimi_nation re,
: lates to whether the clinic: acted reasonably
in its imposition of a condition that
all women t~eated must :have a consent
: form signed by a male partner.
i Conn. City-Debates
Needle Exchange
." NEW BRITAIN, Conn.. (AP) - Heroin is
: the drug ofchoice in thisdepressed,Work-
¯ ing-class city, where addicts sharing dirty
: needles have pushed the HIV infection
_" rate to four orfive times the state average.
: The mayor acknowledges that drugs are
positive for HIV are reported to the de- - far and away the city’s the biggest law
p.ro.au.c.ea.c.om.u.c.un.g.re.su.tt~...A.~.tuu.,y.. u_f .; paa:r,,tm, .e.n.t.via 12-digit numbers. The 12- : enforcement heada$he,. ~.o h.... ~,,’,’- ,,sed for four ’ Yetsevenvearsatter~ew navenesta0-
the contracepUve sponge,, conducted on .,~. D....1.~,4,~.~..t,~,~..t~.irlth~vstem .... lish_e~dComke~ef!cuf slurs
pmsttmt.esAn Kenya, :was s:tpp~ e._arl~ : .hfi~5if~;h-t~bfllv.26 tier~entof the~gtat~’ s " ..program, ~ew B~n tias
bi~museiisefS-actuallyhadahigberrateoI : Hi---V-ca--se~’-~- " - ." r-esisted following suit. The reason can be
AIDS infection. "Weneed a more accurate and reliable " summed up m a word: Politics. "’This is
Family Health International is a non~
profit research group that focuses on improving
reproductive health, primarily
through contraception and the prevention
of sexually transmitted diseases.
Penn. Looks at
HIV Tracking
HARRISBURG, PA (AP) - The state
Health Department already tracks AIDS
cases and now is considering monitoring
HIV cases in hopes of treating people
earlierandmoreeffectively, officials said.
Monitoring HIV, the virus that causes
AIDS, has been overlooked in the past,
saidDeputyHealth Secretary Gary Gurian.
Pennsylvania is one of 19 states that
doesn’ t trackHIV cases. Thirty-two states
already track the number of people with
HIV, two of which use codes instead of
names to record HIV-infeeted people.
Thenew state.plans arebeing applauded
by AIDS advocates and officials with the
Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
"Tracking HIV cases is important because
it helps us to understand how the
epidemic is moving and where resources
need to be allocated," Anna Forbes, an
AIDS activist and policy consultant in
Philadelphia said. In Pennsylvania, more
than 8~200 people haveAIDS, statehealth
officials said.
Within the next few months, the CDC
will establish guidelines forPennsylvania
and other states on HIV surveillance and
reporting, said Dr. Helene Gayle, director
for the CDC’s National Center for HIV
STD and TB Prevention.
But it is not known when the system
will be in place, Gurian said. The Health
Department said once it decides how to
¯ way to link populations affected by HIV,,
¯ with preventive and medical services,’ said Dr. Sharilyn Stanley, head HIV and
¯ STD-Prevention for the department. "If ¯
¯ wehavenamereporling ofHIV,wewould
be able to help a lot more people earlier."
: Ms. Hardy-Garcia said her group feels
: caught in a tough position. While they
¯ wantmore accurate counts ofpeople with ¯
HIVfor medical treatment and funding
¯ purposes, they don’ t want those people to
¯ be exposed to discriminati6n, she said. "I
think one thing that we have talked about
¯
is maybe there should be civil penalties
¯ for disclosure," she said.
¯ Ms. Stanley said the names of people ¯
with AIDS and other STDs are confiden-
: tial. Those with HIV wouldbe treated the
¯ same way, she said. "More than 45,000
¯ casesofAIDS havebeenreportedinTexas
: with no breaches of confidentiality," Ms.
~ Stanley added.
¯ The Texas Board of Health will for-
~ really consider the proposal in Novem-
¯
beg.
: Aussie Lesbian
: Loses Sperm Case
¯
BRISBANE, (AP) -Queensland,
¯ Australia’s highest state court ruled re-
. cendy that a donor sperm clinic did not
¯ discriminate against a Lesbian when .it
; refused to inseminate her.
: LastJanuary, the QucenslandAnti-Dis-
¯ crimination Tribunal found the 24-year-
¯ oldwomanhadbeendiscriminated against
: by the clinic on the basis of her sexuality.
¯ The woman, who is now a mother of
¯ two, has gone on record as saying she led
the crusade for Lesbian access to the din¯
still a very conservative, very blue-collar
kindof town," MayorLucian Pawlak says.
¯ "People are very divided on this issue."
¯ Pawlak says the prevailing sentiment is
¯ that drugs are mostly a Latino problem. ¯
Other issues, such as revitalizing the city
: andlowering the tax rate, are seen as more
¯ pressing.
¯ Hudson Birden, the city’ s health direc- ¯
tor, is more interested in stopping the
¯ spreadofAIDS than political demograph-
: its. He’ s pushing for a needle exchange
¯ program and says his seven-member
board, appointed by the mayor, is behind
¯ him. At present New Britain’s AIDS
¯ awareness program is funded strictly by ¯
state and federal money. Birden and Gail
¯
Ide, who runs the program, note that fed-
: eral funds may not be used for needle
¯ exchange programs. They hope to fund ¯
¯ their proposed program with a combination
of state and private money. Birden
¯ sa.vs he may ask for as little as $25,000, or
¯ evenhalf that. It depends on the program.
¯" "It’ s a local decision as to whether or
¯ not a city has a needle exchange proi
gram," said Kenneth Carley, an epidemi-
¯¯ ologist in the state Health Department.
"The research indicates that the program
¯ is effective in reducingtherisk ofHIV by
¯ 33 percent a year. It also gets people into
¯ drug treatment."
: Birden expects thathe will face opposi-
¯ tion in theNew BritainCommonCouncil,
~ buthe says itis very important toholdthe
¯ line against HIV. Mayor Pawlak, mean-
: while, says he’ s not sure that the program
: doesn’ t make it easier for drug addicts to
¯ shootup."I needmore informationbefore
¯ I decide... It could be that I 11 decide not
¯ to spend my political capital on such an
¯ emotionally charged issue."
=1
T
TULSA PERA
Carol I. CrawfoM
General Director
TULSA
PHILHARMOIIIIC
Marcello Angelini
Artistic Director
Kenneth Jean
Music Director
CINDERELLA
Sept. 18-20, 1998
h sweeping tale of prince gets gift. Where between
"once upon a time" and "happily ever afteh" we discover
love and romance, greed and envy, beauty and ugliness.
hnd the realization that timing is everything.
DEATH AND THE MALDEN
Light Fandango ¯ Mare Nostram
Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 1998
Matters of death and life, From t~o cho~ogr@hers.
ha established American, Robert North, takes on mortality.
The upstart Italian, Luciano C~mnito, explores irranortality.
Contempora~] ballet in classical terms. The real spice of life.
Season Special
THE NUTCRACKER
Dec. 18-27, I998 ~
Relive the holiday magic. It’s the stuff memories am
mute from. For you. For your~or your chil&,m’s
children. The Nutcracker is not a p~of the season package,
but subscribers get fimt choice on d_~ and sere. Surely
you have room for sugar plums this holiday season,
som~ere bet~en the egg nog and ~ fruit cake!
THE GREEN TABLE
Equinoxe * lardi Tancat
Feb. -5-7, 1999
From combat, bloodshed, sWaggles, disputes to movement
redefined, stretching the limits of the dances and taking
motion to untouched depths of expression to the most
beautiful shapes the human body can make in dance.
SWAN LAKE
Apr. 9-11, 1999
Ali’s fair in love. The only emotion over wtiich countries
are won and losL Hearts are broken and mended again.
For the fLrst time eve~; TuLsa Ballet presents the four-act
Swan Lake in its entirety. With Artistic Director
Marcello Angelini re-staging the sto~ line in 6.cts I
and Ill to be more accessible to.contemporary audiences.
FOR
Emotion and Melody. Donizetti’s
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR
Oct. 17, 22 & 24, 1998
Emotionally heartbreaking. Musically sensual and noble.
Vocally breathtaking, Olga Kondina and Eduardo Villa
follow in the legacies of Suthefland and Pavarotti.
Conviction and Drama. Poulene’s
DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES
Mar. 6, 11 & 13, 1999
Faith, courage and grace in the settings of "Ave M~a,"
"Ave ~mm," and "Salve Regina_" One of the most powerful
theatrical opera productiom ever conceived.
Love and Magic. Mozart’s
THE MAGIC FLUTE
May 1, 6 & 8, 1999
and beauty dtree love. A fairy tale stor~ for all ages.
Season Specials
CAROL & FRIENDS
Sept. 12 & 19, 1998
Indulge ~ot~elf in a night of oi~ra’s
HiNSEL & GRETEL
Nov. 27-29, 1998
Exploro the powr of imagination.
h special treat awaits.
Subscribers get first priority
on seating availability!
Three grand operas for one low price.
Subscriptions start at $35. Subscribe now!
1998-1999
NATIONSBANK POPS SERIES
Peter Nero
Jules Styne’s Broadway
Doc Severinson
Great Loves of the
Silver Screen
Roberta Fl"ack
Ray Charles
Sept. 25 & 26 1998
Nov. 6 & 7, I998
Jan. 22 & 23, 1999
Feb. 12 & 13, 1999
Mar. 19 & 20, 1999
Apr. I6& 17, 1999
TULSA WORLD
MASTERWORKS SERIES
Kenneth Jean, Music Director
Music of Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Berlioz and Bemstein
Bernard RubensteJn with
Colin Carr, cello
Oct. 3, 1998
Alison Gaines, Principal Bass
Nov. 14, 1998
Ion Kimura Parker, piano
Jan. 16, 1999
Ida Kavafian, violin
Feb. 20, 1999
Kenneth Jean with
Tulsa Oratorio Chorus
Mar 26. & 27,1999.
Verdi, Messa da Requiem
.Peter Serkin, piano
May 22; 1999
SEASON
Pops and Masterworks concerts
hem at the Tulsa PAC.
Subscribe today for as little as $50.
BROCHURES CALL
Sponsored by: KCFlV~94.1
Tulsa’s CiVic/m
the Great’s Chalice,
Czarina Alexandra’s Wedding Crown and more...
THE PHILBROOKMUSEUM OF ART
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W6athlAknnFuoalrALIDiSfeW’a9lk8
Saturday,Sept. 26
Veteran’s Park, 18th & Boulder
8:30 Registration, 9.’30 Kick-off
All funds raised will be matched 50% by
Tulsa Community AIDS Partnership (TCAP)
& will benefit most Tulsa-area HIT/AIDS care providers.
This advertisement donated to Walk for Life by ~ulsa Family.News.
Licensed Realtor~
Just csll 918-742-1971.
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SUNDAYS
Bless the Lord At All Times Christian Center
Sunday School - 9:45am, Service - 11 am, 2207 E. 6th, 583-7815
Community of Hope (United Methodist), Service - 6pm, 2545 S. Yale, 585-1800
Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation
Service - 11am, 2545 S. Yale, 749-0595
Church of the Restoration Unitarian Universalist
Service - 11am, 1314 No. Greenwood, 587-1314
Family of Faith Metropolitan Community Church
Service - 5pm, Childrens Ministry - 5pro, 5451-E S. Mingo, 622-1441
House of the Holy Spirit Ministries, Inc.
Sunday School - 9:45am, Service - 10:45am, 3210e So. Norwood.
Metropolitan Community Church of Greater Tulsa
Service, 10:45am, 1623 North Maplew0od, Info: 838-1715
Parish Church of St. Jerome (Evangelical Anglican Church in America)
Mass - 11am, 205 W. King (east of No. Denver), lnfo: 582-3088
University of Tulsa BisexuaFLesbian/Gay/Transgendered Alliance
6:30 pro, Meets at the Canterbury Ctr., 5th & Evanston, 583-9780
Council Oak Men’s Chorale, rehearsals at 5pm, Info: 743-4297
~ MONDAYS
HIV Testing Clinic, Free & anonymous testing. No appointment required.
Walk in testing: 7-8:30pm, 834-TEST (8378) 3501 E. Admiral (east of Harvard)
HIV Rap Sessions at Bless the Lord At All Times Christian Center
7:30pro, 2207 E. 6th, 583-7815
PFLAG, Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays
2nd Mon/each too. 6:30pro, Fellowship Congregational Church, 2900 S. Harvard
Mixed Volleyball, Hdmerich Park, 71st & Riverside, 7pro, call Shawn 491-2036.
Women/Children & AIDS Committee, 9/28, noon, United Way, 1430 S Boulder
~" TUESDAYS
3507 E. Admiral (east of Harvard), Info: Wanda @ 834-4194
Multicultural AIDS Coalition, 9/1, 12:30pro, Urban League, 240 East Apache
Rainbow Business Guild, Business & prof. networking group, Info: 743-4297
PrimeTimers, mens group, Pride Center, 1307 E. 38th
Coming Out Support Group (TOHR/HOPE)
Tuesdays, 6 pm, Pride Center, 1307 E. 38th, info: 743-4297
~WEDNESDAYS
Bless The Lord At All Times Christian Center
Prayer & Bible Study, 7:30 pm 2207 E. 6th, 583-7815
Fanfily OfFaith MCC Praise/Prayer - 6:30pro, .5451-E S. Mingo. 622-1441
House of the Holy spirit Ministries, Inc. Service - 7pro, 3210e So. Norwood
Tulsa Native American Mens Support Group, more information, call 582-7225
TCC Gay & Lesbian Association of Students (GLAS), Call for info: 595-7632.
Lambda A-A, 7 pro, 1307 E. 38th, 2nd ft.
~THURSDAYS
HOPE, HIV Outreach, Prevention, Education
Anonymous HIV Testing, Testing: 7 - 8:30pm 834-8378, 3507 E. Admiral
Oklahoma Rainbow Young Adult Network (O’RYAN)
Support/social group for 18-24’ s, call Red Rock Mental Health at 584-2325
Substance Abuse Support Group for persons with HIV/AIDS, Info: 834-4194
l~" FRIDAYS
SafeHaven, Young Adults Social Group, I st Fri/cachmo. 8pm, Pride Ctr., 1307E. 38th
~ SATURDAYS
Narcotics Anonymous, 11 pm, Community of HopeA703 E 2nd, Info: 585-1800
Lambda A-A, 6 pro, Pride Center, 1307 E. 38th, 2nd ft.
~" OTHER GROUPS
T.U.L.S.A. Tulsa Uniform & Leather Seekers Association, info: 838-1222
Womens Supper Club, Call for info: 584-2978
OK Spoke Club, Gay & Lesbian Bike Organization. Info: POB 9165, Tulsa 74157,
Short tides, 6:30pro, Long rides, 7am. Meet at Zeigler Park, 3903 West 4th.-Pride
Rides from the Pride Center, 3749 S. Peoria. Write for dates.
Ifyour organization is not listed, please let us know. Call orfax 583-4615.
Read All About It
Reviewed by Barry Hensley
Tulsa City-County Library
This book includes "hundreds of ways
to get hooked up, communicate effeetivdy,
discover unusual web
sites, understand privacy is- There are many
sues, learn about health concerns
and resources, and f’md
out everything you want to
know about sex on the Net." If
you’re unsure about what the
Internet can do for you, then
this is the book for you!
AuthorLaermer,whois well
known for his Gay travel in
New York books, starts out
.simply explaining what the
Internet is and how to get
¯ .online. Unfortunately, as with
any book on computers, -this
one (copyright 1997) has some
parts-that are already out of
date, however, there is enough
Valuable information to make
it worthwhile.
There are chapters on E-
- Mail, chat lines, Lesbian sites.
andcommercial services, such
as CompuServe. There is a
scathing chapter on America
of you,
youn~ an(] old,
w]lo are not
eo.Jo~t~l,le
with the
f.t move.
~o,ld of
computers and
t~e Internet.
T~
an a~wer [or
you] A~t
Ll~ra~ ]~o~
oiler~lnternet
e~
[or
.Online (AOL). and some of
their past problems with the Gay commu~
nity. For youth, there is ~o~mation on
some young adult sites, such as Youth
Action Online and OutProud! The Advo-
: cate and Outmagazines, along with some
¯ other print publications, have websites as
: well. The Advocate site has some neat
: n.ewsgroup selections, including Small
¯ ~own Queers andGetting RidofthePeople
in Congress. There is also .a
good chapter on health, not
"only for HIV, but for mental
health, subsiance abuse and
other general topics. For newcomers
to the Net, there is a
handy glossary in the back.
GetOnwith/twill be ahelpful
tool for anyoneusing the net.
There. are many of you,
young and old, who are not
comfortablewith thefastmoving
world of computers andtheinternet.
Thelibrary has an
answer for you! Almost all
Tnlsa~ City-County Library
locations offer free interaea
-classes for bbe"gimaers. Also, ff~- .
y01i"re miabl~io have aece. -
~ ..to the interact at home or at
work, Visit the library, where
you can sign up for one hour
per day on the free public access
interact computers. The
library does have afilterwhich
will block the sex sites, but
you can still access Gay and
Lesbian sites for news, travel, politics .and
several sites oncomingout. Checkfor Get
On with It, and be sure to ask about the
free intemet access at local libraries.
¯ thatHGChasbeen acceptedinto theTulsa-
Oklahoma City singer Julia Robinson : area UnitedWay family of organizations.
by James Christjohn
and comedian Jeri James have teamed up
to offer a unique style of Lesbian and Gay
entertainment. The comedy
and singing duowill be taking Julia and Jerl
their Show on the road and
will appear in Tulsa on September
4 at Renegades, 1649
S. Main, at 11 p.m.
"Julia and Jeri are fantastic
performers and crowd
pleasers. Having thembothin
the line-up is like the proverbial
’cherry on top.’ It just
couldn’t get any better," says
Sandy Eades, owner of Oklahoma
City’s Sandman’s Coffee
Grounds.
Robinson has been singing
professionally for more .than
three, years. She has a voice
oftencomparedto AnitaBaker
with the ability to touch the
very soul of her audience.
James is an Oklahoma City
are fantastic
performers and
e owd pb. ers.
Havln~ them
both h the lineup
is like the
proverbial
’cherry on top.’
It ~ust couldn’t
~et any better,"
says Sandy
Eade~,
San,l~an’s
Coffee Grounds.
favorite witha style ofcomedy that brings
tears-of laughter while delighting both
Lesbians and Gay men. Her rantings on
"How to Tell if You,re a Lesbian,’" are
whatlegends are madeof. Formoreinformation,
contact Jeff James Productions,
405~755-4916.
Ken Johnston supervis~xl the production
ofa series of notecards to be sold to
benefit Tulsa’s only nonprofit hospice
organization, Hospice of Green Country
(HGC). His artwork is featured on one of
the cards. These cards are premiering this
September, to coincide with HGC’ s 1 lth
anniversary. Hospice is also announcing
¯ Philbrook has "A Taste for Splendor:
" Treasures from Hillwood Museum", a
display of the treasures of
Marjorie Merriweather Post,
the heiress to the Post Cereal
fortunes, who liked to collect
objets d’art, particularly those
of Russian decorative art. She
Sl~Cifically purchased Hillwood,
a neo-Georgian man-
"sion on 25acres adjoining
Washington D.C.’s Rock
Creek Park as a showcase for
her collection. The exhibit,
never before seen outside of
Hillwood museum in D.C.,
runs September 6 - November
1. Sunday September 13 at
2pro, the Archduke Geza von
HabSburg will lectureonPeter
Carl FabergeandtheHillwood
Collection. OnSaturday, September
26 at 6:30pm, Janet
and Jack Zinc will host the
¯ Philbrook Gala, and evening in the spirit
¯ ofMM Post.
: On Sunday, October 4 at 2pm, a lecture
¯ entitled "Marjorie Merriweather post:
; Collector with a Passion for Beauty" will
: be given by Frederick J. Fisher, director
¯ of Hillbrook Museum. Thursday, Octo-
~ bet 29 at 6pm, Anne Odom will present
~ "A Taste for Splendor: Luxury Art in
~ Imperial Russia". Info: 748-5330.
¯ Thefirst show ofthe Tulsa Ballet’ s new
; season is Cinderella intoning September
: 18 - 20, for tix call 749-6006. The next
¯ production willbe"Death&TheMaiden",
¯ October 30 - Nov 1.
IGTA member
Call 341.6866
international
Tours:ormoreinformation.
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Does the overt heterosexuality of your
neighbors get you down? Tired of the
bucolic voyeurism that occurs whenever
you host the Annual Miss Gay Croquet
Tournament? Do you long for privacy in
yoOx own yard? Does
thatold chainlinkfence
clash with your fabulous
landscaping?
Then, gentle reader, it
is time to install that
privacy fence. The
DIYD whimsically envisions
a barebreasted
dtaimming circle.., but
we digress.
Privacy fencing is a
majorinvestment, even
when you do it yourself,
although taking on
the labor, as always,
results in a substantial
savings. If you can persuade
yourneighbors to
help defray the cost (after
all, you are enhancing
their privacy and
property too), the
projectwillbe evenless
painful; however, a caveat
is in order. If the
guy nextdoorhelps pay,
he will be tempted-
Does the overt
heterosexuality of your
neighbors get you down?
Tired of the bucolic
voyeurism that occurs
whenever you host the
Annual Miss Gay
Croquet Tournament?
Do you lon~ for
privacy in
your own yard?
... Then, ~ent]e reader,
it is time to install
that privacy fenee.
The DIYD whlmsleally
envlslons a ]~arehreasted
drummln~ elrele
... hut we alltess.
fence. Now, for your picket choices, in
order of expense: white wood pickets
have no protection, can be easily stained
any color you want, and will not last more
thanfiveyears or so, dependingonweather
conditions. If money is tight, go with that
optionnow,use screws
to attach them, then replace
them out later
when you can afford
to, but this is wasteful
of time, money and resources.
There arenow
pre-treated pickets,
same as above except
that you didn’ t have to
stain them. They cost
slighdy more.
Next option is pressure
treated pickets,
which have been
soaked in pickling
compounds topreserve
the wood long-term.
TheDIYDdoesn’ tcare
forthese chemicals and
strongly urges you to
use gloves when handling
them, and a dust
mask when sawing the
wood. Thepickets were
trees only a couple of
weeks ago, so they will
be heavy and damp
no, obliged-tostickhisnoseinandoffer " when you first get them and may warp
advice ad nauseum. Usually, this doesn’t ¯ when they dry. Cedar is the creme de la
extend to his actually digging a post hole : creme of pickets - beautiful, fragrant,
or hel in in an other hysical way. : enduring, lightweight, tough and expen-
P g Y" ’ " P " the ¯ ivel It is the DIYD’s oicket of choice,
Your next decision is where to put . s
u ly side ot me......, ~.................... . . ¯
<~.g;. ~.~a~ ~ho ," ¢ This may seem been ongoing - the htfle lottery fairy h.as
~ike ~no-brainer, but consider your secu- : not blessed her yet, the neighbor.s aren t
rity need~. With the stringers on the out- ¯ helping to pay, but what is up is most
side, anin,truder has an easy leg up. If your " beautiful.
neighbor s yard is secure enough, then by
:
Once you’ ve chosen your picket type,
you can determine your spacing betwee..n"
posts. Assuming a six foot fence, you wall
need to have eight feet between them for
pressure treated pickets and ten feet for
the cedar and white wood pickets. Depending
on the length of the fence, reducing
the number of holes you have to dig
may influence your picket choice! Measure
the length tbbe fenced, calculatehow
many posts you’ll need (don’t forget that
lumber length isas nominal as the width
mentioned above), andthen calculatehow
many stringers you’ll need. Stringers will
be 2x4’ s, and there will be three per section.
Calculate how many pickets you’ll
need. and add a few for a fudge factor.
For fasteners, you will use either nails
(frown, frown) or screws, and you will
use about five per picket. If you choose
cedar, be warned that only stainless steel
fasteners will work. Cedar has volatile
oils and acids that corrode metal and will
bleed’black goo down your lovely fence
otherwise. We 11 discuss thi alittle more
next month and a source will provided for
buying a superior fastener.
Ifyouhave donethe mathonthis project
already, theDIYD will fetch her smelling
salts post haste. Wood security fencing is
one of the more expensive fencing options,
after masonry-and cast iron, but it
will increase the value of your home. and
¯ the quality of your life if privacy is an
: issue, so do consider the investment until
¯
next month, when we get down and dirty
¯ with our PHDs. And learn that posthole
¯ diggers aren’t your only 0pti,o,n,, either.
¯ Stick with the DIYD, doll; she 11 see you
¯ through the rough times.
all means, let them have the homely side
of the fence - even if they help pay. After
all, you are the poor schlepp out there ¯
doing the donkey work, so reap your ben- ~
efits where you may. ¯
How much privacy do you need? No, ¯
this isn’t your mother questioning you --
through the bathroom door. If you have a ¯
pool orare surroundedby twostory houses,
an eightfoot fencemay be more appropri- ¯
ate than the standard six-footer, but keep ¯
in mind that you will be adding substantially
to your materials costs, ff you decide
to space artistically between your
fence pickets, that too is a privacy issue.
Decisions, decisions -wait, there are
more! You have choices to make about
the width of your pickets and the type of
wood. Standard widths are4 and 6inches,
nominally. Sawmills are allowed to be
scandalously generous withwhatis lostin
the milling, so a 6 inch board may only be
5-5/8 inches wide. The DIYD personally
prefers the wider picket; it is aesthetically
more pleasing, it covers more area, and
you use fewer fasteners. Woods range
from untreated white wood to pressure
treated lumber to cedar. Posts and stringers
(theboards runningbetween thepost.s)
can and shouldbe pressure treated, but the
externals are up to you.
There is now a metal po.st option, butbe
warned that the posts will cost more than
double, so think long and hard about
whether it is worthwhile. Also, part of the
workmustbe done on the other side of the
fence, so if you and the Fundies next door
detest each other, stick to the wood posts
- and stick them with the ugly side Of the
by Esther Rothblum
There has been a lot of recent media
focus on crimes that take place based on
victims’ membershipin oppressedgroups.
To find out more about anti-Lesbian and
Gay hate crimes, I phoned Dr. Jeanine
Cogan, apsychologist whohas conducted
research and influenced federal policy on
this issue.
¯¯Hate crimes are defined legally by
specific !egislations," saidJeanine Cogan,
"howeverthecommonality across the different
pieces of legislation is that hate
crimes are crimes that are based on real or
perceivedgroupmembership. Usuallythat
includes race, ethnicity, national origin,
and religion. Sometimes it also includes
sexual orientation, disability and gender.
Thatmeans you were specifically chosen,
sometimes out ofa crowd, because you
belonged to or were-thought to belong to,
one of the above groups."
Along with Drs. Gregory Herek, Roy
Gillis and Eric Ginnt at theUniversity of
California at Davis, Jeanine worked on a
long-term grant funded by the National
Institute ofMental Health (in fact, the first
grant ever funded by that organization
about Gay and Lesbian issues that did not
focus on AIDS). The purpose ogthe re=
search study was to look at the psychological
consequences of having survived
an anti-Gay or anti-Lesbian hate crime.
The researchteam also predicted that experiencing
a hate crime would have more
serious consequences than experiencing a
crime that was not based on the group
membership of the victim.
They surveyed more than 2,500 people
in the greater Sacramento, California area,
including people who lived up to 100
miles away in rural areas. "When we were
recruiting participants we never said
¯ please takepartin astudy ofhate crimes,’
because we didn’t want to bias the kind of,
personwho wouldparticipatein the study,"
said Jeanine. Instead, they referred to the
study as one examining a range of experiences
important to Lesbians, Gay men,
and Bisexuals with a focus on health and
well-being All members of the research
team were familiar members of the Gay
and Lesbian communities that-they studied.
The research team found that one in
four Gay and Bisexual men and one in
five Lesbians and Bisexual women had
experienced a hate-motivated crime since
the age of 16. Jeanine said: "We found
that individuals who experienced a hate
crime against their person - a physical or
sexual assault, an attempted assault, a
robbery - had more psychological distress
after such a hate crime-than people
who experienced a crime of Similar severity
that was not aimed at them because of
their sexual orientation. We also found a
time factor. We know that people who
experience a crime tend to be psychologically
distressed. And; over time, people
recover. In our study, we found that those
who had experienced a crime that was not
abate crime tended to feel better after two
years. But people who experienced a hate
crime took much longer - five years on
average- for their symptoms to dissipate.
So if you’re around someone who experienced
a hate-crime years ago, you may
still see some symptoms ofdistress."These
symptoms of distress could include depression,-
post-traumatic stress, anxiety
~ and anger.
¯ Thentheresearch teaminterviewed450
¯ of the 2,500 respondents. They compared
" those who had experienced a hate crime,
¯ those who had experienced a crime un~e-
¯ lated to their sexual orientation, and those
¯ who had experien,c,ed no crime. "We got a
¯ lot of information about hate crimes,"
¯ Jeaninesaid, "and those people who had
¯ experienced a bate’crime often defined it
¯ as such based on tangible evidence. For
, example, the language that was used -
¯ being called adyke while being assaulted.
¯ Or, the vandalism indicated a hate-moti-
¯¯ vated crime, such as having the word
’Lesbian’ smearedontheirdoorwithpaint.
¯ Or theirs was the only car with a rainbow
flag, and the only car damaged in a park-
. ing lot."
." Jeanine found that listening to the re-
" spondents’ stories was quite frightening
¯ to her. She counseled the other interview-
¯ ers about this fear, a phenomenon that has ¯
been termed "indirect trauma" (for ex-
¯ ample, Lesbians feeling victimized just
¯ by hearing of hate crimes happening to ¯
¯ other Lesbians). She also found a difference in the way
¯ Lesbians and Gay men were victimized.
¯ "SomeLesbianswerephysically assaulted ¯
by a formermale partner, suchas aformer
; husband, when the Lesbians came out to
~ these men," Jeanine recalled, "We ended
¯ upcallingit’heterosexualrevenge.’ Some
~ -Gay men, on the other hand, were lured to
¯ have sex by other, presumed ’straight’
] men and then assaulted by these men.
"And this. was a pattern we found only
; amongib’~ff.’,.....
¯ Jeanine is now working at the Ameri-
; can Psychological Association in Washington,
D.C., where she is involved in
~ changing hate crime policy at thenational
¯ level. "I’ve been working with Sharon
¯ Shaw Johnson, who is the director of ¯
GLOVE-Gay Menand Lesbians Oppos-
: ing Violence- and they collecthatecrimes
: dataand do interventions. Both ofus have
¯ noticed that it is the butch woman and the
; ’effeminate’ man who are at particular
¯ risk for hate crimes because they defy our
; ideas of gender."
¯ Jeanine’ s policy Workfocuses onbroad-
; ening the definition of hate crimes. As
¯ part of a hate "crimes coalition, she is
¯ ; attempting toamend a current civil rights
¯ statute that canbe used against aperpetra-
-" tor who bashes a person based on that
¯ person’s group membership. Sheis trying
; to include sexual orientation~ disability
¯ andgenderinthedefmition ofhatecrimes. ¯
’q’he real hot pOtato is gender," she says.
~ ’qqae FBI is concerned that if every rape
¯ against a woman is a hate crime, they
¯ don’t have the personnel to cope with the
¯ huge numbers." With a broad-based hate
¯ crimes coalition, Jeanine had many con-
¯. versations with.the Department of Justice
abotit the inclusion of gender as a hate
¯ crime. In the end, they supported adding
¯ gender, and President Clinton has en-
¯ dorsed the:Hate Crime Prevention Act ¯
and has put fundsinto the budget formore
: FBIagents t6 work on hate crimes.
¯ Jeanine is also thrilled to have been
¯ successful in combining research with
: policy. The Bureau of Justice Statistics
: conducts an annual survey on criminal
i
victimization. TheySample 50,000 households
in the Lr;S. about crime experiences
] in the past year. see Psyche, p. 14
Timothy W. Daniel
Attorney at Law
An Attorney who will fight for
justice &equality for
Gays & Lesbians
Domestic Partnership Planning,
Personal Injury,
Criminal Law & Bankruptcy
1-800-742-9468 or 918-352-9504
128 East Broadway, Drumright, Oklahoma
Weekend and evening appointments are available.
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THE TOOL BOX
Saturday, September 12, 1998
10:30 pm
by Lamont Lindstrom
Someone left amessage onmy answering
machine the other day and a friend,
who heard it, said that the voice sounded
like a"real woman." This was no complimerit.
My friend was disgusted
that any guy could
sound that much like a gift.
This set me thinking about
Americancultural categories
- the basic opposition we
make between masculinity
and femininity.
These categories occupy
our minds and have wormed
their way deep enough into
our bodies so that, like my
friend, we often feel emotionally
queasy when they
are challenged: When, for
example, we overhear a person
who looks boy but talks
girl.
Male and female, black
and white, on or off, dot/
dash, 1/0, straight versus
Gay. Even though the world
presents us with continuums
of difference, we often tidy
up these endless chains of
variation by squeezing everything
into two opposed
states or categories.
",in America, despite our
Crayola mix of skin colors
not to mention our promiscuo.
usancestries, many ofus
are forced to identify ourselves
in terms of a simple
For many
Americans,
trapped wit]fin
a cultural order
that permits
only pink girls
and blue-boys,
Homosexuals
are not kosher.
Like ancient
Israelites, they
define Gays
who mix up
their categories
to be unholy,
polluted,
unclean, or just
downright icky
abominations¯
opposition black or wlaite,..., _: _ .. i(-;.~~-. ’-.~.
~m~larly, despite the ~a~ ~om~ s~me
geneticists propose the existence of.five
or more "real" genders (as defined by. the
mix of an individual’ s sex chromosomes,
e.g., XY, XX, XXY, XYY, and soforth)~
all of us find ourselves slotted eithermale
or female. Just one or the other. You can’ t
be neither, and you can’ t be both at once.
Binary oppositions of this sort are ubiquitous
in human culture. Dualistic structures,
certainly, are easy and efficient
ways of breaking down the world’ s.complexity,
even if nuance and variability get
lost beneath gross simplification.
The French anthropologistClaude IMvi-
Strauss made a career of investigating the
basic binary structures he saw as inhabit:
ing human culture-and as shaping individual
thinking. Dualism almost always
demands the existence of a third category;
of something in the middle to "mediate"
relations between the two opposed sides.
Gray stands between black and whitethough
with ethnicity, the pertinent color
hereis "red," or "high-yellow," or"bright."
And many cultural orders admit a variety
of "third sexes" or hermaphrodites, real
and symbolic, positionedbetween thetwo
male/female gender poles.
The mediating position is rarely a comfortable
one. Individuals who fall through
the cracks of dual structures of understanding
inhabit a realm of anomaly and
abnormality. On the one hand, they are
neitherfully malenorfemale; ontheother,
they are both male and female. This has
positive and negative consequence. Positively~
people who are neither man nor
women can serve to bridge the two categories
that they fall between.
Homosexuals, for example, mediate a
series of oppositions in Western society
that build on a fundamental masculine/
; feminine opposition. Thesebinaries range
¯ ~rom agent/patient to culture/nature and
¯ sacred/profane.
¯ -, Cultural theorists find important sym-
¯ bolic functions for intermediateindividuals
as’well. Their existence
shores up ruling understandings
ofmasoflinityandfemininity
- to remind people of
how tO be "normal" by presenting
them with examples
of the abnormal.
The boy learns how to be
a real man by fearing the
sissy. But those who fall
between cultural crackshave
to struggle against cognitive
structures that positively
value the normal (the real
man and true woman) by
devaluing the categorically
deviant (the sissy boy, the
rough girl).
Anthropologist Mary
Douglas offers an apposite
analysis of food taboos demanded
by the Old Testament,
the so-called"Abominations
of .Leviticus." She
asks, "Why should the
camel, the hare and the rock
badger be unclean (or unholy)?
Why should some
locusts, but not all, be unclean?"
Her answer is that, in old
Hebrew culture, "holiness
was exemplified by com-
.pleteness. Holiness requlred::!~i, :
° the class to which they belonged. And
¯ holiness required that different classes of
¯ things not be confused."
: The model of good eating, for ancient
Israelites, was the cud-chewing ungulate:
- herd animals such as cattle, sheep, and
", goats. Other creatures, like the hare and
¯ rock badger, appeared to be ruminant but
¯ were anomalous in that they had paws
instead of cloven hooves. And other am-
" mals - notably the pig- walked on cloven
feet but did not chew cud. Therefore,
because pigs and hares violated categorical
definitions of the"normal" cud-chew-
" ing cloven-hoofed animal, they were un-
¯ clean.
Jewish food taboos reflected a cosmo-
¯
logical system that defined as unholy and
¯ inedible any animal who appeared abet-
¯ rant or "mixed" in terms of ruling cat-
¯ egorical structures.
¯
Insofar as wecontinue to slice the world
¯, up into male versus female, we too may
¯ feel queasy when we come across bits of ¯
reddity that escape our structures ofunder-
¯
standing. For many Americans, trapped
: within a cultural order that permits only
¯ pinkgirls and blue boys, homosexuals are
¯" not kosher. Like ancient Israelites, they
¯
define Gays who mix up their categories
¯ to be unholy, polluted, unclean, or just ¯
downright icky abominations.
¯
This comes fromliving inside theprison
¯ house ofculture-ofmindlessly accepting
¯ dualistic constraints on thought and emo-
~ tion. But cultural systems do change over
¯
time, and they may be challenged and
¯ restructured. Shake up those cultural cat-
: egones a little and pigs become good to
¯ eat. And so do delicious boys who can
¯
sound like girls.
¯ Larnont Lindstrom is a professor of
¯ anthropology at the University of.Tulsa.
since the virus.may be immune to them,
too.
However, staying on treatment isn’t easy.
It often means taking 15 or 20 pills a day
on a precise schedule. Some must go
downonanempty stomach, some onafull
one. They must be taken at just the right
time around the dock. Many trigger nasty
side effects, such as diarrhea, h~daches,
insomnia, stomach pains, numbness in
the fingers and toes and an odd-looking
rearrangement of body fat that leaves
people with potbellies and wasted arms.
As the medicines do their job, HIV
symptoms disappear. In time, people feel
perfectly well except for the side effects
of their pills. This makes sticking with
them evenharder. "It was never so easy to
be adherent as when I yeas on the brink of
serious illness," says Scan Strub, 40, of
New York City. "I couldn’t wait for my
next dose. As I felt better longer, the
treatment became more of an intrusion,
and the side effects were more bothersome."
Strub, who is publisher of Poz, a
magazine for HIV-infected people, went
on a trip andforgothis pills. So he decided
to stop taking them for a couple of weeks,
just to see what would happen. Within 10
days, he felt sick again. A blood test
showed his virus level, which had been
undetectable, spiked to over a million.
Backon therapy,it’ s now downto 30,000.
"I definitely made a mistake," he admits.
Some people are resistant to individual
components of the AIDS cocktail, often
because they took them as single drugs
before the cocktail was created. Many are
1ong-infected treatmentpioneers, eager to
try each new drug that comes along.
For instance, Nick Houpis, 43, of Boston,
has taken 10 ofthe 11 approved AIDS
medicines. The lowest his viral load ever
dropped was 37,000. Now it’s 440,000,
and this summer he had his first bout with
an AIDS-related illness. ’q’hcre arc an
awful lot of us who are just a little bit too
late," he says. "I don’t think they will
come up with something that will make
miracle stories out of us."
¯ S.om.e appear to suffer because of phyr
Slclan incompetence, too. For instance,
doctors may err by adding a protease
inhibitor to two other medicines their pa-
¯ tients are already taking, instead of starting
themon three fresh drugs. This greatly
increases the risk of rampant resistance.
AIDS-care has become so complicated,
many believe, that it now should be done
¯ only by specialists who know how to
: avoid such potentially fatal mistakes.
¯ Once someone fails AIDS treatment,
: the next step is what doctors call salvage
therapy - the art of crafting a second
¯ attempt to knock down the virus. They
¯ may prescribe five or six drugs at once.
: "You end up with a kitchen sink ap-
¯ proach," says Dr.. Kenneth Mayer of
¯
Brown University. "You try to pull to-
" gether every possible combination to keep
¯ the virus in check."
Willis is an extreme example, of this.
Gallanthas himonsevenanti-AIDS drugs,
plus an assortment of others to ward off
AIDS-related infections.
Once aweek, Willis hauls out an orange.
crate of big white pill bottles and counts
outhis week’s dosage. Hetakes afistful of
pills with breakfast, another handful with
dinner; anda couple.more at bedtime, 35
in all. "I’ve just made it part of my life,"
Willis says. "I don’t really have any options.
If I’m dead, I know that my options
are limited."
Along withmany other advocates, Jeanine
was successful¯in getting this survey to
includequestions about hate crimes. This
will allow for. national statistics about
hate crimes over the next years. Documenting
the prevalence of an issue is an
essential step for receiving an appropriate
government response. So this will be all
important contribution.
EstherRothblum teachespsychology at
the Univ. of Vermont and. edits the JournalofLesbian
Studies. Shecan be reached
at John Dewey Hall, UVM, Burlington,
Classifieds - how to work them:
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Dublin Core
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Title
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[1998] Tulsa Family News, September 1998; Volume 5, Issue 9
Subject
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Politics, education, and social conversation toward Tulsa’s Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual communities.
Description
An account of the resource
Tulsa Family News was a monthly newspaper; No. 1 issued December 1993-January 1994. The final issue available was published in September 0f 2001 (Volume 8, Issue 9).
The newspaper brings up important, evolving topics of marriage, Pride, TOHR, HIV/AIDs, events, advice, and politics all at the local and national level.
This document is available in searchable PDF attached. It is also available to be seen at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center with permission.
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Tulsa Family News
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https://history.okeq.org/collections/show/24
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Tom Neal
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September 1998
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Adam West
James Christjohn
Jean-Claude de Flambeauchaud
Barry Hensley
J.P. Legrandbouche
Lamont Lindstrom
Esther Rothblum
Mary Schepers
The Associated Press
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Tom Neal/Tulsa Family News
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Tulsa Family News, August 1998; Volume 5, Issue 8
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English
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newspaper
periodical
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Tulsa(Oklahoma)---newspaper
Tulsa---Oklahoma
Oklahoma---Tulsa
United States Oklahoma Tulsa
United States of America (50 states)
Identifier
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https://history.okeq.org/items/show/551
1998
AIDS/HIV
AIDS/HIV drugs
AIDS/HIV reporting
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Alice Jones
anti-bias law
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Barry Hensley
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Comic Strips
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Dave Fleischer
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Dyke Psyche
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fencing
Gay Studies
gender
hate crimes
healthcare
homophobia
internet
James Christjohn
Kelly Kirby
Kerry Lobel
Lamont Lindstrom
marriage
Mary Schepers
Metropolitan Community Church
Mr. Tulsa Leather
Nancy McDonald
National Conference for community and Justice
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Native Americans
needle exchange
Obituary
parade
Partner Benefits
performing arts
PFLAG
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Read All About It
representation
restaurants
Ric Kirby
Ric Poston
San Francisco
Tom Neal
Tulsa Family News
Tulsa Gay Community Services Center
Tulsa Oklahomans for Human Rights
Tulsa Two-Spirited Indian Men's Support Group
United Methodist Church
vandalism
Walk for Life
-
https://history.okeq.org/files/original/26f854c3995f27a23db06ea81fb3892c.jpg
73fe64901f21242a27312157b458f4ea
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a1966cf0dd310fea9ec011cc64385b4f
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[Series] Newsletters & Publications > Ozarks Pride, Ozarks Star, Star, Metro Star Newspapers, 2004-2011
Subject
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Politics, education, and social conversation over LGBTQ+ topics
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Ozarks Pride
Ozarks Star
Star
Metro Star
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2004-2011
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English
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magazine
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Ozarks Pride's first issue began in January of 2004. Then follows Ozarks Pride (2004), The Star (2005), and The Metro Star (2008).
This magazine discusses topics of AIDs, education, politics, local and national civil rights of the LGBT community, and advice for relationships and places to visit.
This collection is PDF searchable. Physical copies are also available to be seen at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center with permission.
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Southwest Missouri
Western Arkansas
Eastern Oklahoma
Southeast Kansas
The United States of America (50 states)
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Ozarks Pride/Star Media
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C.D. Ward
T.J. Kelly
Chaz Storm
Marion Wilson
Greg Steele
Randy Vineyard
Steve T. Urie
Chaz
Lady Bunny
Romeo San Vincente
Steve T. Urie
Donald Pile
Ray Williams
Michael Hinzman
Jack Fertig
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https://history.okeq.org/items/browse?collection=19&page=1
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THE PREMIER SOURCE FOR GLBT OKLAHOMA
VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3 Twi~er.com/MetroStarNews e MetroStarNews.com
U,S, Census being Conducted for 2010 Same Sex Marriages and
There is a particular need and focus
on the LGBT community and the
census. This community is one of
those that has been undercounted.
Many don’t feel a connection to
the government and how it affects their
lives. An inaccurate count could negatively
affect their lives and community fro7 the next
ten years or longer."
Emmet Morris, Partnership Coordinator U.S.
Census Regional OfFice, Kansas City, Missouri
By Victor Gorin
Contributing writer
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK __ For the last
220 years the U.S. Census Bureau has been
counting the people of the United States of
America, recording numbers that reflect many
great changes. When the first census was
taken in 1790, it was administered by the late
our 3rd president. At the time it showed
the population of the United States to be
3,929,326 people, ofwhich 697,681
Emmett Morris, U.S, Census Partnership
Coordinator with Fran Dozz ofChurch ofthe
Open Arms in OKC. Gorin photo
were African American slaves ,who counted as
3/5 of a person for purposes 0f taxation and
representation. New York City, then as now,
was our largest municipality, but 0nly had
around 33,000 people.
Over two centuries later our 2000 census
showed a population of 281,421,906 people,
and 16% of those counted received a "long
form" with over 100 questions, going into far
more depth including inquiries about home
ownership, finances, relationships and other
data. Then as now there were no inquiries as
to sexual orientation, but for the first time it
did provide a way for gay and lesbian couples
to be counted. Asking the sex of the residents
of a household with the corresponding
relationship, among the options listed for
the first time was "unmarried partner."
If two persons of same sex at the same
address answered with that option, it would
statistically record a same sex couple. At that
time legal same sex marriage did not exist.
~is has changed since then as same sex
marriages became legal in 7 countries, the
first being the Netherlands in 200!, followed
by Belgium, Sweden; South Africa, Norwa~
Canada and Spain. It became legal in the US
~nfive St~t~s, the first being ,M~achusetts in
004,followed by Vermont~ Ne~v Hampshire,
COnnectiCut, and I6wa; plus marriages that
took place in California ~lufing a brief period
MARCH 1, 2010
cann0wbec0 d!
it was legal there during 2008. As dais is
the first census since same sex marriages
have gained legal status, this is the first
time that same sex couples will be counted
as married partners if they indicate that
is their relationship.
But for the GLBT community as well as
all Americans, the census affects far more
than that. Numbers from the census impact
almost every aspect of our lives, which
makes it imperative that there is an accurate
count of all the people in our country and
where they are. It affects over 170 Federal
allocations of money to states and localities,
including money for transportation,
healthcare including HIV grants, education
induding money for school lunch and
breakfast programs, Medicaid assistance,
money for housing and nutrition assistance,
grants for drug education and treatment,
Head Start and child care programs, crime
prevention assistance and much more. Data
~rom the census also determines how you are
represented politic~11); affecting government
operations from the Federal level all the way
to local School districts.
........Continued See CENSUS Page-4
Gay vet: military is ready for openly gay servicemen
By Michael W. Sasser
Contributing writer
Photo: Navy Lt. Everett "Earl"Morrow
While President Barack Obama’s call for
the end of the military’s ’Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell’ (DADT) policy is stalled in bureaucratic
neutral, one recent NaW veteran tells Metro-
Star that he believes servicemen are ready for
out comrades.
"Once the decision is made (to end
DADT), I think the transition will be quick,"
said former NaW Lt. Everett "Earl" Morrow.
"Troops don’t get enough credit. They will
be supportive of it. I’m not saying that there
won’t still be homophobes. There are still
racists and sexists out there."
However, Morrow said, his experience
taught him something about servicemen.
"I was surprised that more people than
not said they didn’t care ifsomeone serving
with them was gay," Morrow said.
Morrow, who granted his first interview as
an out veteran on the subject to Metro-Star,
said that he has plenty of experience on which
to base his experience. He had a successful
NaW career for five years, leaving active duty
in April 2008 in part because of
the DADT policy. The
to repeal the
policy recently
prompted his
to speak out on
the subject.
........Continued See DADT Page-9
State Senator Russell Introduces a Bill restricting
Oklahoma cooperation with Federal prosecution of
Hate Crimes
By Victor Gorin
Contributing writer
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK As he
had promised to do earlier, State Senator
Steven Russell (Republican District 45) has
introduced legislation ( SB 2165) that among
its provisions would greatly limit Oklahoma
state, county and !ocal law enforcement
from providing evidence or assistance to
Federal authorities prosecuting hate crimes. It
proposes that "law enforcement agencies shall
deny access to law enforcement records to any
Federal agency when such request is made
relating to a case handled and completed
by a law enforcement agency of this state,
and the purpose is to attempt to investigate
or prosecute the individual or individuals
pursuant to 18- U.C.S. Section 245 (the
Federal Hate crimes law with protections
added in 2009 for sexual orientation, gender,
gender identity and disability- Matthew
Shepard-James Byrd act). Exceptions are
basic information that is available for public
inspection and records of those convicted
pursuant to Section 850 Tide 21 of
Oklahoma Statutes, which are Oklahoma’s
Hate Crimes laws which do not cover sexual
orientation or gender identity.
What this entails is that if an Oklahoman
was victimized by a hate crime, and Federal
authorities deemed the case to be under
their jurisdiction, loca! authorities could
not provide data beyond the most basic
information available to the public, witness
statements, physical/forensic or other any
other type of evidence or assistance. This
would prohibit providing as evidence to
Federal authorities a bloody baseball bat or
gun used in that type of crime to assist in
their prosecution of that hate crime. Since
crimes committed due to a victim’s sexual
orientation/gender identity are not Hate
Crimes under Oldahoma state law, and this
restriction ~votfld make Federal prosecution of
this type of crime in Oldahoma very difficult
if not impossible, this would greatly impede
Hate Crimes protection for the GLBT
community in Oklahoma.
Senator Russell has stated, "Oklahoma
has tough good laws that include hate
crimes laws. Any murder or brutal assault is
hateful. That is the problem with singling ,,
out something more with this Federallaw.
However A1 McAffrey, Oklahoma’s only
openly gay legislator, (Democrat-District
88) has a different opinion, considering
this legislation a publicity stunt stating,
" Preventing crimes against Oklahomans
because ofwho they are is in no way an attack
on free speech. This is nothing but emp,ty
rhetoric used to scare and mislead folks.
D ion School District
retains gay-friendly book
By Michael W. Sasser
TULSA, OK__ ~adter a flurry of
controversy in January, the Union Public
School District ofTulsa County has retained
a gay-friendly book available to students.
By a 3-1 vote, the District Board of
Education decided that "Buster’s Sugartime"
would remain on the shelf. The book, by
author Marc Brown, is a simplified version of
a 2005 episode of the PBS series "Postcards
from Buster." It is ostensibly about Buster
the Rabbit’s exploration of how maple syrup
is made in Vermont. However, the bulk of
this particular episode revolves around Buster
hanging out with the children of a same-sex
couple. Despite only a pair of Very gentle
allusions to same-sex parents, the content did
prompt many stations to pull the episode.
Last year, some parents argued that
the book was inappropriate and took their
complaint to the district’s Materials Review
Committee. That committee backed the
book’s presence by a 6-1 margin. At least one
set of parents appealed the decision to the
Board of Education, which then confirmed
the decision with the January 3-1 vote.
Oklahomans for Equality (OkEq)
President Toby Jenkins said that he wasn’t
surprised by the decision.
"When I first heard about it, I didn’t
know what would happen,’~ Jenkins said. !~But
I wasn’t surprised by the decision because this
is one of the more progressive school districts.
They have a non-discrimination policy and a
strong Gay-Straight Alliance."
Old~q board members include a couple of
out Union District employees, Jenkins said.
"I knew what the background of the
school board was," he said. "Still you can
never be too sure. Boards often cave to
pressure."
Jenkins praised Union for a positive
experience interacting on the issue and
for even setting up an emait contact for
community advocates to express their
opinions.
"They were very good to work with,"
Jenkins said.
According to Jenkins, stirring the
controversy were some advocates who
apparently went so far as to express dismay
at the bigotry and homophobia expressed by
some school parents.
"In no way was that something that
we did and no statement from us cast any
dispersion on parents," Jenkins said. He
suspected that some advocates got carried
away in their emails to the dedicated address
with the District.
The more virulent commentary prompted
a comlnent from a Union District official
defending parents. Its theme was that
complaining parents were protesting because
gay marriage is "illegal" in Oklahoma - a
position Jenkins said is unfortunate and not
true.
"Gay marriage is not legally recognized in
Oldahoma, it is not illegal," Jenkins said. "If
a couple marries outside Oklahoma and then
comes home, no one comes to arrest them.
It’s just that the state doesn’t recognize the
marriage."
Still, Jenkins was pleased with the
outcome and with the District’s handling of
the mattm:
"I don’t lmow if there will be another
appeal but for now it seems resolved," Jenkins
said. "Now is a quiet time, but before long
it will be something else. There is always
something else."
The Union Public School Board did not
reply to an email seeking comment.
Group Forming
At OSU-OKC
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (PR) __ A
new social/activist group has formed at
OSU-OKC called Diverse Partners, Family,
& Friends. Organized by Kyle Moore, the
group plans to focus on educational goals and
equality for GLBT students at the university.
As it is a student group recognized by the
university, only enrolled students can vote,
but meetings are open to everyone interested.
They will meet every Tuesday at 6:15 PM in
the Conference Room North on campus. For
more information contact Kyle Moore at 405-
209-6340.
uptcv * CiVil Ricjhts *Criminal
’ment o Family Law * Liticjation
N.W. Street
city, OK 7SlOS
To Haiti with love meeting was called February 15 to determine Sooner State Sofi ball nights. Contact HSR at: 405-521-
ifOGLPC had a future and if so, was the 9696, herland@herlandsisters.org or
community ready to make it happen, herlandsist~rs.0rg.
Presided by co-chair Jeanne Flanigan, International Women’s Day (IWD) is a
that meeting was held at Church of the global day celebrating the economic, political
Open Arms, attended by around 15 people, and social achievements ofwomen past,
some of~vhom were longtime activists and present and future. ~e IXWD ~vebsite lists
some newcomers. Ms. Flanigan agreed to events worldwide celebrated on or around
continue serving as co-chai~; and Secretary March 8 each year. For more information
Victor Gorin also agreed to continue in that about IXYgD: ww~c.internationalw0mensday.
position. Co-chair Paul Thompson resigned com.
his position, Enough interest was shown
for another meeting which would be at the
regular time, the second Monday of March
which would be the 8th at 7 p.m. ~at.
meeting will happen at the usual place, the
Neighborhood Alliance Building located at
1236 N.W. 36th Street of Oklahoma City.
A benefit to supply HIV
reeds for Haidans
By Robin Dorner
Contributing Writer
O~OMACITY, OK On January
!2 a magnitude 7.1 earthquake shook Port au
Prince, Haiti. The earthquake left hundreds
of thousands dead, millions were homeless
and left without food, water or resources.
Many of trs thought, "What can I do to
help?" XTge sent money, food, water, medical
supplies and many of our own citizens went
to help in rescue efforts. As the cleanup
continues, there is still much needed help.
"When the earthquake first hit Haiti, I
asked Robin [Dr. Robin Meyers, Mayflower
Church pastor] ifwe could do a Haitian
benefit concert at Mayflower," said Rev. Loyce
Newton Edwards, an associate at Mayflower
who has a Masters Degree in Divinity. "Dr.
Maria Lupe, another Mayflmver member and
I had a shared vision for this event because of
the devastation in Haiti."
Edwards is committed to helping HIV
+ people stay alive and she lost a sister to
the disease in 1999. On the UCC (United
Church of Christ) national level she serves
in three areas related to HIV/AIDS: UCAN.
Inc., UCAN Inc. Leadership Team, Wider
Church Ministries Board of Directors HIV
AIDS Ministries.
Haiti has the highest HtV/AIDS rate
in the western world. Tl~e UCC Common
Global Ministries has a longstanding
~dationship xvith a communion of 6.000
chucches in Haiti. The UCC Haitian Relief
Fund had raised over $650,000 for Haiti
relief ofwhich 100% of the proceeds go ro
our partners in Haiti.
By design, this event falls on the first
day of"The National Week of Prayer for
the Healing ofAIDS" for ~vhich UCC is a
co-sponsor. That week starts Sunday March
7th, which is the day of the benefit. "To
Haiti with love" wil! include one great hour
of sharing, filled with music, poetry, and
inspirational spealdng. At the end of the
benefit donations ~vill be accepted for Haitian
relief efforts for HIV medications.
Please make plans to attend this great
event on Sunday; March 7th at Mayflower
UCC Church located at 3901 NW
63rd Street in Oklahoma City. For more
information or to make a donation, please
contact Rev. Loyce Edwards at 405-642-0124
or email her at loycee@sbcglobal.net.
O ahoma Gay and
Lesbian Political Caucus
Holds Re-organizational
Meeting
OFRAHOMA CITY, OK (PR) __ It was
a turning point for the Oklahoma Gay and
Lesbian Politica! Caucus, an organization first
incorporated in 1985 that ~vorked to register
and educate voters of the GLBT community,
and also to educate elected officials about
issues of the community as well. During
recent years OGLPC had faced difficulty due
_to lack of partic_ipation, and a special
Democracy for America
to Host Grassroots
Training in Tulsa
Locals to participate in voter contact,
fundraising, organizing and messaging
sessions
BURLINGTON, VT (PR) Hundreds
of local activists, campaign staffers and
candidates wil! receive hands-on training at
an upcoming Campaign Academy hosted
by Democracy for America. The two-day
interactive worlcshop will be held March
13-14 at the Tulsa County Democratic Party
headquarters 907 S. Detroit Ave, Tulsa, OK.
Experienced campaign professionals will
lead sessions in voter contact, fundraising,
communications, online organizing and
much more to empower progressive activists
with ~he skills to win electiofis in November
and beyond. Attendees will also have a chance
ro meet with localprogressive Candidates and
learn about job andvolunreer opportunities
in their area.
"Our Campaign Academy trainings
empower citizens with the tools to change
their communities," said DFA Training
Director Matt Blizek.
The DFA Campaign Academy aims to
focus, network andtrain grassr0ots activists
in the skills and strategies to take back our
country, manage successful campaigns or run
for office themselves. Since 2004, DFA has
held more than 100 trainings throughout the
country.
For more information visit: www.
democracyforamerica.com.
Obituary
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK __ Dennis
Allen Dohm aged 48, passed away at OU
Medical Center January 7 due to massive
organ failure caused by a heart infection and
damage to an aortic valve. He was a well
known entertainer in Oklahoma City, best
known in his drag persona as Danae Daniels.
Performing in regular shows and benefits
at Tramps, PhoenLx Rising, & the Hilt, his
wild wit and outrageous humor wowed his
audiences, showing he was truly special.
Oklahoma Tobacco
Free help
Association
Opens their 2010 Season
By Victor Gorin
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK Once again
Oklahoma’s Sooner State Softball Association
is opening up for their biggest season ever.
During 2009 3 of their teams represented
Oklahoma at the NAGAAA ( North
American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance)
g[orld Series held that year in Milwaukee,
with the Oklahoma Chaos team achieving
the best results with a 7th place finish. Now
comprised of 12 teams, the League is working
on recruiting players, coaches, sponsorships
and other support. Based on their growth
last year, they feel they can look forward even
better times ahead.
Now into their 7th season, the league was
formed in order to provide those interested
in the GLBT community a place for
camaraderie and to play ball! Recreational
players are welcomed as well as serious
competitors.
On Friday March 19 Angles will host
a Recruitment Party for the League at 9
p.m. This event is a great chance for those
interested to learn about the league, have
a few drinks, get to know some of the
players and learn what it’s all about. Past
and current players are encouraged to wear
their team shirts/jerseys, and there will be an
informaional booth for learning more and
signing up.
For more information contact
Recruitment Director Chad Previch at
soonerstatesoftball@hotmail.com.
Herland Celebrates
International Women’s
Day
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (PR)
__Herland Sisters Resources will celebrate
International \Women’s Day with an "All
That Jazz Party" on Saturday March 6th at
The Boom Club and Restaurant, 2218 NW
39 th Street. The Jazz Party is a fund-raiser
for Herland bookstore, their lending library
and events for women, in cooperation with
Cimarron Alliance Foundation. The party will
feature music by the Dynamics, a local jazz
band, playing standards and original music.
This is a come-and-go event, beginning
at 6 PM with drinks, hors d’oeuvres by
Chef Suzie Lopez, and music until 9pm.
Guests will be asked for a donation at the
door, encouraged to wear gay attire, and
will be offered wonderful art work to buy
at the silent auction. The auction includes a
beautifully framed poster signed by the artist
Native American Dana Tiger, art glass, and
jewelry along with gift certificates from local
businesses.
Herland Sister Resources (HSR) is a
non-profit organization, and one of the few
U.S. women’s bookstores/lending libraries in
operation for over 20 years. The bookstore
is located at 2312 N\V 39th St., and is open
from 1-5 PM each Saturday. HSR also
sponsors Spring and Fall Retreats at state
parks, monthly supper clubs, a poetry group,
the Annual Pride Picnic and game
Ron Harwood &
Cathy Hill Seeking
International Leather
By Victor Gorin
Contributing writer
Cathy Hill and Ron Harwood. Gorin photo
OKJ_At-IOMA CITY, OK It was a hot
Friday night at Angles February 12 when a
fundraiser was held to send two of our major
tideholders of the leather community ro
international competition.
Ron Harwood, our current Oldahoma
Mr.Leather, who also holds the title ofTulsa
Mr. Leather 2009, will be competing in
Chicago for the International Mr Leather title
May 28-Junel.
Ms. Cathy Hill, who currently holds the
title of South Central Leather Woman 2009 is
seeking the title of International Ms. Leather,
and that competition will be held in San
Francisco on April 15-18.
The next upcoming leather contest in
Oklahoma will determine our new Tulsa
Mr.Leather, and that event will take place on
Saturday, March 20 at Tulsa’s Club Maverick’s
at 8 p.m. ~is will follow a meet and greet to
be held the preceding Friday night, March 19,
at t the Tulsa Eagle.
Tulsa Metro SoRball
League’s Spring 2010
Season Starting
TULSA, OK (PR) __ Tulsa Metro Softball
League (TMSL) will hold their spring clinics
March 14-20 at Hicks Park, 3443 S. Mingo
Rd, Tulsa. They may only have one spring
clinic. The spring clinics are for new players
looking for a team and returning players who
want to change teams. Team Coaches ,vill be
present to scout the local talent and to recruit.
For more information visit:
vmwv.TulsaMetroSoftball.com
~<,.metrostarnews.com M{~TI~OSTAR 3
I Low Change
Looks Like, but M1 I
Can See Are Two Faces.
Constitutional Rights Are Not a
Raffle Ticket Prize
by James Nimmo
OKI~HOMA CITY, OK __ In this
article from the Salt Lake City Tribune,
http://tinyurl.com/ygpfl~6u we’re told that
support for LGBTs has "shot up" over the
past year following passage of a bias ban
approved by the Salt Lake City Council that
includes sexual orientation/gender iden’tity in
housing and employment.
How- many time, have I heard that
legislatures and courts must not get too far
ahead of the "will of the people" or there will
be some ill-described chicken-little type of
reaction among the voters, respect for the la~v
and morn and apple pie will diminish and
Gee-sus himself will come to earth and....
well, you get the drift.
AaCter reading the article I’m again
reminded that so many people, such as
toe-the-line Mormons, can change their
opinions merely because their leaders in
effect tell them to, either directly through the
legislative process or by leading xvith their
own behavioral change.
If this SLC Tribune poll is close to
accurate in its description, just how accurate
is the dreadful prediction that if United States
Supreme Court rules in fa~vor of same-gender
marriage on appeal of the currently litigated
California Prop 8 trial~ ,~x~erica ~vill fall into
total oblivion with Joe Six-Pack hubbies
divorcing their long suffering wives to run
offfor a gay fling with Ted Haggard, and
Sally Soccer rooms running off to pal around
with Ellen Degeneres for free samples of
Cover Girl make-up? Just how far in front
of public opinion does the Supreme Court
need to be ifa majority of Mormons in Utah,
which led the fight with Roman Catholics
against Prop 8 in California in 2008, can
increase by a range of 10% to 45% their
approval and acceptance of gay/lesbian civil
rights in their own state?
By the way, the recognition ofmy
civil rights is inherent with my birth as
an American citizen and in no way needs
approval from anyone, let alone those who
believe in golden tablets from the sky, magic
underwear, and ancestral baptism. The denial
of my civil rights because I’m gay is what’s
wrong, not my desire to have the same social,
financial, and legal benefits which I’m paying
for with my taxes. No one’s Constitutional
civil rights should be held up as the prize for a
rafl]e ticket in the lottery of public opinion.
What I’m coming around to is this: If
America had a national spokesperson who
led using the force of law as well as his own
example and not just by mere words of fierce
advocacy, and who had led by his presence
in Maine in its recent vote on same-gender
marriage, or even farther back, to the
California vote in November 2009 on Prop
8--both votes having a devastating setback
on civil rights fiar gay/lesbian taxpayers--can’t
you imagine that successful votes would
have reinforced the legislative and judicial
decisions that were already in place at the
time, decisions that fully recognized our
rig!~ts of citizenship?
What if that person was the president of
the United States, one who prides himself
on his commitment to changing the tone of
government in Washington?
I know what change-I-can-believe-in
looks like, but all I can see are two faces.
Oklahoma Man Sues Tax
Commission Over "IM
Gay" License Plate
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (PR) __
Oklahoma taxpayer Keith Kimmel has filed
a civil lawsuit in Oklahoma County
District Court against the Oklahoma Tax
Commission, continuing a battle for freedom
of speech on vanity license plates. The suit
seeks to have part of the Commission’s rules
regarding the issuance of personalized license
plates declared unconstitutional.
Keith Kimmel, who filed the suit
through his attorney provided the following
statement: "The Oklahoma Tax Commission
is continuing to subject Oklahomans to a
subjective decision making process in issuing
personalized vanity license plates. Under our
state Constitution, all Oldahomans enjoy
the right to freedom of speech and an equal
opportunity to express their viewpoints.
Previous testimony in the administrative
proceedings held on this matter have
shown that the Commission is sdectively
granting and denying applications based
on Commission employees’ own personal
prejudices and viewpoints. The Constitution
requires that state rules are ;¢iewpoint neutral,
with an objective standard that puts the
taxpayer on notice ofwhat is legal and what
is not. This suit is intended to put an end
to the Tax Commissions unconsntunonal
practice of subjecting taxpayers to the whim
of individual employees."
The case is Keith Kimmel v State
of Oklahoma, ex rel, Oklahoma Tax
Commission, Oklahoma County Case No.
CJ-2010-1072.
Federal law requires that the count
include all U.S citizens, all legal residential
noncitizens, long term visitors, and illegal
aliens. There are many groups that have
been undercounted in the past, including
African Americans, Native A~mericans,
Latinos, the poor, and the GLBT community.
Discrimination and prejudice against people
in these communities have made many feel
bitterness and distrust of government in
general, causing them to avoid cooperation
with the census either out of anger and/or
fear.
Although we can be reasonably certain
that there have always been GLBT people in
America, there is little recorded history about
them until the 20th century, and considering
the legal status of the GLBT community until
the late 20th century, this would hardly be
surprising. Sodomy laws, which prohibited
same sex activity, were in affect in all 50
states until 1962 (when Illinois was the first
state to repeal their state sodomy statute),
and some, including Oklahoma’s, were in
effect until 2003 when the U.S. Supreme
Court invalidated these statutes (Lawrence
vs. Texas). Currently there is still no Federal
protection for the GLBT community against
job and housing discrimination, nor is there
in 29 states even today, including Oldahoma.
There was no Federal Hate Crimes law until
late 2009. Understandably there are many in
the GLBT community who feel, like others
in similarly challenged groups, resentment
and!or fear of government which could cause
them to avoid participation in the census.
In order to ensure an accurate count,
legislati.on has made the process safe for all
to participate. Information obtained by the
Census Bureau is confidential by Federal
law (Title 13 U.S. Code). Any employee
that divulges confidential information
outside the agency could face up to 5 years
imprisonment and be fined up to $250,000.
Census information about an individual
cannot be used in a court of lave, nor is that
information subject to disclosure under the
Freedom of Information Act. No individual,
private business or government authority
can obtain personally identifiable data from
the Census Bureau, including the ~]hite
House, Internal Revenue Service, U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services, the
military, welfare agencies, CIA or the FBI.
The rule even supersedes the Patriot Act. Yet
despite these protections there is still fear and
mistrust that impedes cooperation and causes
~ndercounting. The bureau realizes that
these protections wofft serve their intended
purpose of ensuring an accurate count unless
people know about and understand them.
Therefore, combined with these safeguards is
a massive educational effort, and the GLBT
community is now included among those
groups they want to reach out to.~
X~orldng with this effort is Emmett
Morris, a Partnership Coordinator with the
Census Bureau worldng in the Kansas City
Regional Office that oversees Oklahoma. He
met with the Metro Star to inform the GLBT
community about the 2010 census and its
importance, and also to gather ideas about
hmv to work with the Oklahoma GLBT
community to ensure an accurate count. As
he put it, "We want the GLBT community
to know that the census is really about them,
as it is with everyone. It’s about their future,
and ,ve live with everyday tangible aspects of
our lives that come about because of census
numbers including roads, jobs, bridges,
companies locating here and more. It’s not
a bunch of numbers that live in abstract
in Washington D.C. in some computer.
These numbers actually come back to serve
community needs, prosperity and our quality
of life."
In mid March 90% of U.S. households
will receive a U.S. Census form to fill
out. This will be preceded by a postcard
letting the, residents know in advance. ~xe
questionnaires will sent out by address and
not to individuals by name. The form has
only 10 questions, is easy to fill out and can
be returned by mail with the provided postage
paid envelope. If there is no response it wilt ’
be followed by a second form, and if there is
still no response a census worker will attempt
to get the information in person. In
the interest of an accurate count at the lowest
possible cost, recipients are encouraged to
fill out the form and mail it back as soon as
possible.
The Census Bureau will be worldng with
various communities in this effort, setting up
centers to help people with the forms, answer
concerns they may have, and gathering
information. Bi or multi lingual people will
especially be needed, as they are planning
to provide assistance in 59 languages. They
will need workers to staff these centers,
along with field workers to do follow up
inquiries door to door and to count people
in unconventional housing, including the
homeless. In this effort they will attempt
to hire personnel from their respective
communities, realizing that people who have
familiarity with a certain community, group
or ethnicity can do a better job reaching out
to those who need to be counted. Currently
the U.S. Census Bureau has 5 Oklahoma
offices, located in Oklahoma City, Tuls~l,
Tahlequah, Enid and Lm~on. They are many
job openings, so ifyou are interested in what
could be a quite interesting endeavor that
could lead to other opportunitieS,~please call
toll free 866- 860-2010. It’s a chance that
comes once every 10 years.
"First t sday" Art
Opening and Exhibit of
New and Original Works
by Robb Conover
TULSA, OK (PR) __ ~ne March
Oklahomans for Equality (Old,q) showcase
and exhibit of local artists at the Dennis R.
Neill Equality Center (621 E. 4th Street in
Downtown Tulsa), will feature a new and
unusual "Progressive Display" of works by
artist Robb Conover; the show begins with
a reception on Thursday, March 4th from
6-9pro and continues throughout the month
of March.
The March exhibit at the Dennis R.
Neill Equality Center Gallery will feature a
catalogue ofworks by Robb Conover which
will create a progression of art from one
side of the gallery to the other. This is an
exciting acrylics on canvas display; it is unlike
anything that has been in the Gallery before
and promises to be an unusual and visually
stimulating presentation. Robb lived in Tulsa
in the 1970’S and 80’s; He currently resides in
Dallas and is represented io several galleries
there. Please join us to visit with Robb at
the Opening Night Reception on Thursday,
March 4, from 6to ,9pm. Refreshments
will be served. Robb s art will be on display
through March 20 t 0.
4 ~ttET~:~,OSTAR March 2010
Gays arrested at NYC marriage license bureau
Four members ofa newACT UP-like group known as Queer Rising were arrested in Manhattan On
Feb. 12 after chaining then~elves to the entrance ofthe New York Ci{y Marriage Bureau. Photo by
Jamie McGonnigal, www. TalkAboutEquality.org
NEWYORK, NY__ Four members of
a new ACT UPdike group known as Queer
Rising were arrested in Manhattan on Feb."12
after chaining themselves to the entrance of
the New York City Marriage Biireau.
Alan Bounville, Jake Goodman, Justin
Elzie and Gabriel Yuri Bollag sought equal
marriage rights for same-sex couples.
Dozens of gay marriage supporters
cheered them on.
Twenty same-sex couples went inside and
tried to obtain marriage licenses. ~ey were
rebuffed.
A gay naan and a lesbian then presented
themselves as a faux couple, asked for a
license and were given one.
"New York City is home to the Stonewall
Riots and in that tradition we are here to say
that equality doesn’t arrive through the
ballot box," said Queer Rising spokesperson
Spring Super.
"~e bankrupt strategy of putting all
efforts into electing so-called friendly officials
has failed," Super said. "We must shift to
building a grassroots, national movement
that demands full equality by any means
necessary.
New York state recognizes same-sex
marriages from other jurisdictions but does
no~ allow them itse!£
Same-sex marriage is lega! in Connecticut,
Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and
Vermont. It also is legal in Belgium, Canada,
the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa,
Spain and Sweden -- and in Argentina’s Tierra
del Fuego province. It will become legal in
"Washington, D.C., in March and in Portugal
later this year.
S.F. Chronide says iud e
federal Prop 8 ca e
gay-
Vaughn Walker, the judge heariflg
the federal same-sex marriage case in San
Francisco, "is himself gay," the San Francisco
Chronicle reported Feb. 7.
The case, featuring famous lav~Ters Ted
Olson and David Boies on the gay side, seeks
to overturn Proposition 8, California’s voterpassed
constitutional ban on gay marriage,
as a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s
guarantees of due process and equal
protection under the law.
"Many gay politicians in San Francisco
and lawyers who have had dealings with
Walker say the 65-year-old jurist, appointed
to the bench by President George H.W. Bush
in 198% has never taken pains to disguise --
or advertise -- his orientation," the Chronicle
said.
Asked by the paper if he had "any
concerns about being characterized as gay,"
Walker responded, "No comlnent."
Right after the interview was conducted,
however, another judge contacted the paper,
identified himself as ~d~lker’s friend, said
he had spoken with Walkeh and expressed
concern that "people will come to the
conclusion that (\Nralker) wants to conceal his
sexualiD:"
"He has a private life and he doesn’t
conceal it, but doesn’t think it is relevant
to his decisions in any case, and he doesfft
bring it to bear in any decisions," said the
second judge, who agreed that Walker’s
sexual orientation is "newsworthy" -- in the
same way it would be newsworthy if a Jewish
judge were hearing a case involving the Anti-
Defamation League, the Chronicle said.
A lawyer for the pro-Prop-8 side, Andy
Pugno, said his team won’t do anything with
the revelation.
"We are not going to say anything about
that," he told the Chronicle. "
The National Organization for Marriage,
however, might feel less restrained.
In a letter to supporters about the
Chronicle article, Executive Director Brian
Brown alleged: "We do lmow one really big
important fact about Judge Walker: He~
been .an amazingly biased and one-sided force
throughout this trial, far more akin to an
Wockner News Service
activist than a neutral referee. That’s no secret
at all."
The trial is expeqted to resume sometime
in March or April for closing arguments.
Gay lmaTers, activists and others who
followed the testimony have.asserted, nearly
unanimously, that the gay side won the case
in a landslide.
Walker’s ruling likely will see appeal to the
9th U.S. Circuit Court ofAppeals and then
to the U,S. Supreme Court.
If successful, the lawsuit could bring
about tlxe legalization of same-sex marriage
nationwide. If unsuccessful, it could have the
effect of stopping the movement for same-sex
marriage, which now is legal in five states,
dead in its tracks for possibly a generation.
Moves to repeal samesex
marriage in Iowa and
NH fail
Iowa legislators opposed, to same-sex
marriage vcere unable to force resolutions
out of House and Senate committeds Feb. 9
in support of a statewide vote to amend the
constitution to re-ban gay nuptials.
Nineteen senators signed a petition to get
the Senate measure out of committee, but 26
signanires were needed.
In the House of Representatives, a vote to
push the measure out of committee failed 45
to 54. "
A recent poll found that 62 percent of
Iowans don’t think the Legislature should
tackle the issue.
Same-sex marriage became legal in Iowa
in April 2009 courtesy of the state Supreme
Court.
A spokesman for the state’s main gay
rights group, One Iowa, expressed relief at
the developmeffts but warned against the g~,
side’s letting down its guard.
"Our opponents are ruthless aped will
stop at nothing to take away the freedom
to marry," said Communications Director
Justin Uebelhor. "There were four legislative
attempts to undermine the Supreme Court’s
ruling last year and we expect more political
attacks this year. We don’t want to take
anything for granted and are communicating
this message to our supporters and media on
the ground. In addition to the constitutional
amendment, a religious-exemption bill has
already been proposed and we have to be
vigilant of any attempts to chip away at the
ruling."
Also on Feb. 9, a committee of the
Ne~v Hampshire House of Representatives
overwhelmingly killed t~vo bills aimed at. rebanning
same-sex marriage.
One bill called for a public vote on gay
marriage. The other would have repealed the
la~v that legalized it.
In addition to being allowed in Iowa
and New Hampshire, same-sex marriage
is legal in Connecticut, Massachusetts and
Vermont. It also is legal in Belgium, Canada,
the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa,
Spain and Sweden -- and in Argentina’s Tierra
del Fuego province. It will become legal in
Washington, D.C., in March and in Portugal
later rkis year.
www.rnetrostarnews.com g~ET~,# STAR 5
Stress Test
By Ronald Blake
Contributing V&iter
Photo: RonaM Blake, Certified Fittwss
I~zstructor ~hrough ISSA International Sports
Sciences Association
You have vowed to lose 30 pounds before
your niece’s wedding in September. Your
trainer and doctor are recommending an
exercise stress test before you lace up the
sneakers and start sweating. What’s that and
who needs one of those?
These tests can also be called graded
exercise stress tests or GXT’s. Affix whatever
title you want to this procedure but it
simply measures how your heart performs
with and without exercise. Nae American
Heart Association (AIq_A) has stated that an
individual under 40 years old can forego this
test if he or she has had a normal physical
exam, doesn’t show signs of cardiovascular
disease, and has no coronary risk factors.
The captain’s turned off the caution sign and
you’re }}ee to roam around the exercise
However ifyou are a man or women over
40 years old, have an abnormal physical exam
and/or have two or more coronalT risk factors
then it’s time to schedule that exercise stress
test. This just means your fitness flight has
been grounded until the medical tower dears
you for takeoff.
The GXT can be done in a doctor’s once,
a hospital, or a specialized hea~Ith cam facility.
Talk with your doctor and decide where this
should take place. Nae .AH~ guidelines call
for there to be professionals trained in CPR
to administer these tests. Furthermore, one of
the techs in the testing area should be advance
cardiac life support certified with a doctor iri
the building. You’re not in Haiti after the big
quake so it’s safe to assume this is all in place
when you go for your exam. It’s just nice to
know for peace of mind!
The test is usually done on a treadmill
wtaile you are hooked up to devices that’ll
give you a feeling of Pinocchio and Geppetto
attaci~ment. The test with its tracking
equipment wil! check your blood pressure,
heart rate, and the electrical activity and
rhythm of your ticker. An analysis will be
performed before any stress or exercise i~
started and an additional analysis will be
gathered as exercise is introduced. Your heart
could show signs of adequacy at rest but not
after exercise. There are maW possibilities and
the results will show this.
Tr~e nurses, doctors, and techs
administeting this exam will gradually
increa~se the speed and incline on your
treadmill to assess your cardiovascular limits.
~{Then symptoms of exhaustion and fatigue
appear the testers will cease their period of
sadistic glee and record the findings.
The findings should be discussed with
your doctor. About 15% of these results will
be false positive which indicates there is a
problem when there really isn’t a problem.
About 30% of the results will be false
negative reports which show you are OK
when you really aren’t. This is ~vhen you look
at your doctor with your best confused face
and beseech his advice. Another GXT might
be requested or other testing methods might
be called upon for further explanation of your
situation.
When in doubt always make the decision
to err on the side of safety when starting a
fitness program. That might mean taking
the GXT. Tixese tests are just as important as
buying the correct training shoes, workout
clothes, and health club membership. Join
my masochistic readers who called their
physicians to inquire about graded exercise
tests several minutes ago!
This column is brought to you by that
guy who once challenged George Bush
to a spelling bee. That orthographist who
never heard back from the \ghite House is
Ron Blake and he can be reached at wv~v.
myblalcefitness.com.
Oklahomans for
Equality Tulsa opens
Health Clinic for the
uninsured.
TULSA, OK (PR)~ __ OlcEq has opened
a Health Clinic in collaboration with Dr.
Jeremiah Rutherford, M.D., PC for the
uninsured. The clinic will be held at the
Dennis R. Nell Equality Center, 621 E. 4th
Street, Tulsa, OK each ~ursday from 6 pm
to 9 pm.
The dinic also offers free HIV testing
Tuesday through ~ursday, 6-8 pm and
Saturday, 4-7 pro.
For more information: 918-743-4297
Tramps, OKC Have a
Heart Benefit--Love at
its finest
By Victor Gorin
Designer Keith Reding with emcee l~aven Del
Ray at Have a Heart Benefit at ~’amps. Gorin
photo
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK__ It is rare
to see a more festive expression of love than
what happens at Tramps every Valentine’s
weekend when they hold their Have a Heart
Benefit. It began over 20 years ago as a team
effort of the late Larry Crosby, then a coowner
ofTramps, and Sister Gall Addis who
was then with Catholic Charities’ Loaves and
Fishes program which provided meals for
those living with HIV.
Since then it has become a wild yet sacred
Okflal~oma City tradition. Although Larry
has passed away; his sister Camille Rohn still
is a part owner ofTramps. Ms.Rohn and the
staff ofTramps, along with many othe[s of
the community who share their time, {alent
and money, have made this event a proud
tradition in her brother’s memory.
~xis year it was special as the celebration
was held on Valentine’s Day itsel}] giving it
a special bonus, although as Camille puts it,
’This is giving back to the community, and
we look forward to it every year." This time
over $8,000 was raised, and Tony Sinclair
is already shopping for fabulous items to
auction off next year!
6 March 2010
Week three is a charm on RuPauFs Drag Race.
most recer t cor testant to a hay away talks £ood,
com try Western and the beauty
By Bebe Zahara Benet
I was surprised to learn Mystique ~vas
ecstatic over RuPaul switching out their script
with the one being used by the other team.
"For us, it got easier because the script was
easier," she explained. "I was happy. It was
actually fun." I also wanted to know what she
thought of Raven, and her sometimes very
cutting comments about Mystique and food.
"Out of everybody on the show, Raven is the
only one I have not heard from," Mystique
told me. "Haters are everywhere, but haters
make my life easier, because I work harder
just to make you hate on me even more."
Mystique stands by her decision to go
with a very modern interpretation of country
wear for her runway walk, and argues what
the other girls presented was more a Western
look. "I don’t like making fun of people," she
explained, noting that if she had gone for a
stereotypical look it may have offended her
most dedicated fans.
When I think Mystique, I think splits,
more splits, which leads to additional splits.
And then remember Mystique? She’s the one
who nails the splits! I can barely lift my leg,
and here is a big girl making it look so easy.
"My signature is my eyes and my spins," she
said. But when she really wants to shock, she
breaks out a split. Mystique must get into
the zone, because when she watched her solo
on TV last week, she didn’t even remember
she did a death drop! Now that’s a girl who
knows how to work for a crowd.
Mystique, thank you for your inspirarion,
thank you for your self-integrity and thank
you for being yourself.
~~ello all you beautiful people!
Can you believe it is week three of RuPaul’s
Drag Race already? So much is happening
- let’s get right into my conversation with
Mystique Summers Madison, the Texas
beauty who went out with a bang!
I was impressed how well Mystique did in
the third episode’s opening challenge, when
she just dove right in and swallowed down
all those mystery foods she had to eat. "I
was like, ’Oh no, it’s fried food,’" Mystique
remembered. "I hadn’t had fried food in four
months. Oh my God, I just went for it. I
was just swallowing, I wasn’t tasting." Even
though she looked like a cool cucumber,
Mystique was nervous. "It was the scariest
thing evel;" she revealed. "Zl~at was drag Fear
Factor["
~at win made Mystique one of the
group leaders for the Disco "Extra Greasy"
shortening TV commercial exercise, and
I wanted to know what her strategy was
for pictdng which gifts would be on Team
Mystique. "Pandora did work editing
TV commercials, and Jessica is a dancer,"
Mystique explained. "Everybody else had
pretty makeup and were people I got along
with."
Catch RuPaul’s Drag Race at 9 p.m. (ET/
PT) every Monday night on Logo and visit
LOGOonline.com to find out about viewing
parties in your area. Until next week, kisses
and splits!
NOTE: Ifyou missed weeks 1 &2
Metro St[zr News online will cover all
12 weeks and it will beposted on out"
website at: www. metrostarnews, corn
www.metrostarnews.corn ~t~oSTAR 7
3131 ~. Pennsylvania,Oklaho 405.525.9555
put the °°gay°°
in Christian,
CC Un
A ~etropoli~n Co~uni~ Church
Chuck greckenridge
Whether buying or selling
I’ll work hard for you.
8 March 2010
"%q~en t watched the initial Senate
hearing. I was offended by what the
opposition said - that [gay servicemen]
undermine units," Morrow said. "The
policy already does that. You can’t build unit
cohesion because people cafft be honest.
There are a lot of traditions in the military, a
lot of social situations that really help create
camaraderie. People bring their wives and
girlfriends to events."
Morrow said that he believes most of the
men with whom he served would have been
able to handle his coming out if it had been
possible. It was not; and a promising career
was cut short to the Naw’s detriment.
"There were other reasons as well, but
certainly the policy was a big part of it,"
Morrow said. "I did not think there was
any way for the two parts of my life to work
together."
Morrow grew up in a small town in
Connecticut, graduated high school and then
opted for the US Naval Academy. He was
keenly aware of his orientation from an early
age but said he had no struggle to come to
terms with it. Still he decided to head to the
Naval Academy where he effectively had little
social life for the following four years.
"It didn’t occur to me what a challenge
it would be being gay and going to the
Academy;" Morrow said.
Morrow’s social isolation continued for
the bulk of his active duty career, which
included periods ashore as well as serving
on submarines. It was during the long time
underwater that he had the opportunity to
learn about the sensibilities of those with
vchom he served.
"We had a tot of time to discuss just about
eveD~hing and the subject ofhomosexuality
came up," Morrowsaid. "It really surprised
me that most people said they really didn’t
care."
Had he been able to serve openly, Morrow
believes it would have helped serve the cause
of understanding and acceptance. Once
people find that they lmow someone who is
gay, it is much more likely that they would
be accepting. In many cases, Morrow said,
prejudice is just a matter of unfamiliarity.
Morrow said that he was pleased to see
Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assert recendy that
servicemen were not being given the credit
for acceptance that they deserved.
Still, after years of being afraid of being
identified and even though he was offered
the exact position and assignment he most
coveted with the Nav~ he left active duty and
today works in the medical equipment field
in New York. He said that were DADT not in
effect, it was likely he would have stayed with
the NaW.
"Ultimately DADT is discrimination,"
Morrow said. "It fails to recognize that
homosexuality is the same as race and sex.
Tl~e military doesn’t recognize that. In general
if that was recognized the policy would end
tomorrow. As a consequence of that, the
military is losing good people."
Today, Morrow remains in the Reserve.
lie’s a member of SAGALA -- Service
Academy Gay & Lesbian Alumni -- and he
participated in an off-camera interview for
the documentary film "Out ofAnnapolis,"
which is expected to premiere this spring,
likely on the independent film circuit.
Morrow said that gay men aa~d women
will oneday be able to openly serve in the
military - it’s only a matter of when. He said
that the potential for the repeal ofDADT is
"as real" as it has ever been.
"~xe Chairman of the Joint Chiefs,
Secretary of Defense Gates...the highest
military officers all agree...I think it’s come a
long way," Morrow said. "Since it was passed
by Congress, it must be repealed by Congress.
I think there are currently 180-something
congressmen willing to effectively eliminate
DADT. Hopefully it will be sooner than
later."
LGBT Lobby Day to be
hdd at state cap to1
By Robin Townsend
Contributing XX~riter
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK__ The
Equality Network is hosting a lobby day at
the State Capito! and you are invited, in fact,
encouraged to attend. The event is geared to
visitors telling our representatives that citizens
care about LGBT equality in Oklahoma.
There xvill be a brief training, networking,
and visiting with representatives as well as
having lunch together.
"From its inception last year, TEN (The
Equality Network) identified an annual
LGBT Lobby Day as one of its top priorities,"
said Laura Belmonte, Vice President and Co-
Founder ofTEN. "We believe a consistent
presence at the State Capitol is critical to
increasing and maintaining the visibility
ofLGBT Oklahomans and their allies, to
putting forward a proactive program for
LGBT equality, and to giving individuals
the knowledge and confidence they need to
engage their representatives effectively."
Belmonte’s personal advocacy experience
spans almost twenty years and has entailed
public speaking, creating and organizing
e-advocacy campaigns, writing op-eds, media
monitoring, and lobbying public officials
directly. She is a professional historian and
lifelong news and politics junkie - those
traits also help shape and inform my activist
endeavors.
"Our most important goal is to secure
passage of pro-LGBT legislation and to block
passage of bills that are detrimental to LGBT
Oldahomans," adds Bdmonte. "This will be a
continual, long-term effort. It is going to take
time and effort to move Oklahoma toward
more inclusive and just public policies for
LGBT people."
TEN would like to have people from
as many of Oklahoma’s political districts as
possible participate in LBGT Lobby Day. If
concerned citizens from any district register,
appointments will be made with those
representatives, including Rep. Sally Kern.
"In the current session, Senator Steve
Russell has introduced a bill highlighting the
inadequacies of Oklahoma’s
hate crimes law," furthers
Behnonte. "Sen. Russell’s
bill makes it impossible for
law enforcement officials to
work with federal agencies
in prosecuting hate crimes
targeting people because of
sexual orientation or gender
identity’. In essence, the
senator’s bill attempts to
lock in place Oklahoma’s
current weak hate crimes
statute and to prevent the
state from enforcing the
LGBT-inclusive federal hate
crimes law, the Matthew
Shepard and James Byrd, Jr.
Hate Crimes Prevention Act
enacted in October 2009.
Passage of this bill would have
a terrifying impact on LGBT
Oldahomans."
To register for LGBT lobby
day, please go to http://
theequalitynetwork.org. There
is no fee for the event. For
more information, contact
Laura Belmonte at lbelmonte@
theequalitynetwork.org or
918.906.2134. For more
information about TEN, see
the art*de in next month’s
Metro Star.
Deep Inside
Hollywood
By Romeo San Vicente
Susan Sa andon entering
Valley
PoiSed to re-enter pop-culture
consciousness as a feature ilhn, The Big Valley
is justthe right sort of remake candidate: one
that’s had time to exit public consciousness
first. It has no other cast
yet, but Romeo would
love to see a gay cowboy
subplot somewhere in
the mix. Nothing major,
just something where the
quiet "special friends" get
to live happily ever after.
Susan Sarandon Paramount Pictures Photo
Whorehouse to
reopen for business
Back in the 1960s, Barbara Stanwyck
(who may or may not have been bisexual - as
was rumored during her career - but who
was a favorite of lesbian and gay audiences
all the same) played Victoria Barkley, sturdy
matriarch ofthe wild west TV drama The
Big Valley. So it’s fitting, in a way, that Susan
Sarandom about whom no one creates
sexuality rumors because her early career
choices (The Hunger and The Rocky Horror
Picture Show) more or less cemented her
position as a queer screen icon, may be
stepping into Stanwyck’s ladylike boots~
So Nine tanked at
the box office. Oh well.
We’re now back at a
point in the moviemaking
landscape where
one failed big-budget
musical doesn’t derail the
genre’s viabilit~ which
is great news for fans of
that heightened reality
where breaking into song
and choreographed dance
moves is commonplace. Here come two
more: The Song Is You, from Dreamgirls
director Bill Condon, is about a man who
turns to music as a refuge, connecting it to
key moments in his life (or as Condon has
described it, "(falling) into his *Pod Shuffle").
In turn, the man also falls into a romance
with a singer he hasn’t even met. At the
same time, the remake ofThe Best Little,
Whorehouse in Texas is or;the horizon. No
cast yet, no release date yet, no nothing yet,
...Continued seeHOLLYWOOD page ~ 12
~.metrostarnews.com ~{ETROSTAR 9
March 2010
Room Rates
From ~2.95
A~About
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Photo’s by Victor G. & Judy G.
Out &Aboua in OKC & Tulsa
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Deep Inside Hollywood-continued from page -9
just a teasing promise. So, a biopic about the late gay artist Robert
message to people responsible: Mapplethorpe, she probably knew tl~er&l
obviously she’s not going to be clout-and cash-collecting detours along
play the lod, but there must the way. And here they are: the horror film
be a liberal infusion of Dolly Zoe, slated for 20 ! 1 a~nd Co-starring James
Parton into this
movie all the
same. Anything ~
tess wilt be
blasphemy. Now
go r~ake i~ work.
Anyone who
fbllows the man recently ejected
from a Southwest Airlines flight
for taking up too much seat
space knows that Kevin Smith
is a bear. A heterosexual one,
but }till a bear. ~d his gay
bear colleague, documentau
fihmnaker }v~alcolm Ingrain
(Small %wn Gay Bar, which
Smith producedX has enlisted
the help of Silent Bob to get
his new project offthe ground.
Smith has executive-produced
and also makes an appearance in
Bear Nation, a doc from Ingram
about the bear subculture (for
the still-uninitiated, they are that niche Van Der Beek and Freddie Prinze, Jr. (is it
market of gay" men who refuse to Shdve, xvax, set in the ’90s too?} in which Dushku play,s
or say no to seconds at the buffet} and all the a small-town waitress terrorized by... -,veil...
ways they’ve begun to make their presence
known in the larger gay" world. 7fhe film
premieres any minute now at Austin’s South
By SoUthwest Film Festival. Non-Ausdnites
will have to wait for a local lest or cable
airing, all ofwhich are highly likely to follow.
Prep now by growing that fiacial hair.
Ehza Dushkus road to Mapplethorp
something; you’ll see when it opens. And
then there’s the future mega-event ka~own as
Ghostbusters III, a project sh& been circling,
one that would pretty nmch catapult her to
the A-list, with all th’e production shingle
perEs that status tends to dole out. Hope so.
And really, what’re a few slimed ghosts on the
road to making art?
Romeo San l~cent&J~vorim thing about
Actors with ambition to produce and bea~s # thdrproximity toj}ied chicken
direct knoW that tO make d~ir dream projects and wa~s. He can be reached care ofthis
come true there are dues to be paid. So publication or at DeepInsMeHollywood@
whenDollh0use star Eliza Dust~ku announced qsyndicate.com.
her intentions to n’lake ~lhe Per~?ct Moment,
@Club 209, Tulsa
12 March 2010
by Jack Fertig March 2010
"Tweet, ScorpioV’
Mercury in Pisces sextile to Pluto in.
Capricorn offers very deep insights that
seem illogical, but go with your gut.
Your subconscious may be catching
rational connections that your conscious
- mind doesn’t see.
ARIES (March 20- Apri~ 19): Folks in
charge have a hidden agenda. Reading
between the lines isn’t necessarily
paranoiac. Confide in a close friend
to keep that in proportion. If you must
choose between loyalty and ambition,
think ahead and remember who you
are,
TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): Hints
of the future and conversations with
friends challenge some of your beliefs,
triggering inner conflicts. You like life
more certain, but accept the challenge
to be truer to yourself and more ready
for what’s coming. Resistance to
inevitable change only makes it harder.
GEM~N~ (May 21- June 20): Sharing
a confidence with your boss could
open him or her up to letting you in on
some secrets. The road to power r~eed
not pull you away from your friends,
but your goals may-challenge you to
choose or reconcile.
CANCER {June 21- July 22): Ideals
and religion should offer guideposts,
not strict instructions. The way to
effective partnership in love and work
needs some improvisational detours
from those marked paths. Independent
thought and extrapolation breathe real
value into.old faith and wisdom.
LEO (Ju~y 23 - August 22): There’s
a time and place to show off your
sexual prowess. At work that energy is
best sublimated to focus on practical
techniques to get powerful results. Go
slow and steady at exercise. Trying too
hard could get you hurt!
VIRGO (August 23 - September 22):
Identifying strongly with a sexuallydefined
community can strengthen or
limit your individuality - or do both.
Discuss this with your partner or a
Iongtime friend. Be very clear about how
your milieu affects your own creative
spirit.
LIBRA (September 23 - October 22):
Service to your community does give
you deep insight; respect that it does
so for others, too! Sharing your insights
will help everyone; try to keep the
corn petitive urges entirely friendly to build
cooperation.
SCORPIO (October 23 - November
21): "Your wonderfu, wicked wittiness will
delight your friends, but could make big
trouble at work. Keep a journal handy or
Tweet your pals in those moments when
you can hardly suppress yourself, but it
is neither the time nor the place!
SAGITTARIUS (November 22
- December 20): Pluto in Capricorn
until 2023 means that financial worries
will be with all of us for awhile, and that
you will tend to worry way too much.
Your biggest challenge is to keep
perspective. That takes practice. Easy
does it!
CAPRICORN (December 21
-January t9): If you’re not careful you
may reveal some very personal secrets.
If you are careful you could learn a few!
Assert yourself in a mature way - being
responsible and independent- to shift
your status in your family.
AQUARIUS (January 20 - February
18): A shopping list or receipt could be
a meditative focus. Consider what you
eat, what you use, what you need, what
you don’t and how this reflects your
habits and goals. Compare the reality to
your ideals and see what you can learn
about yourself.
PISCES (February 19 - March 19):
Even if a bit pessimistic, your foresight
will be appreciated. Times are tough,
and a thoughtful assessment is much
more valuable than false optimism.
Ruthless honesty could still upset some
friendships; try to be diplomatic.
METROPOLITAN
COMMUNITY CHURCHES
Rev Steve T. Urie
Spirit of Christ MCC
2902 E 20th Street
Joplin, MO 64804
417-529-8480
Worship Sunday 6:00 PM
Community Meat Wednesdays at 6:00 PM
www.socmcc.org
Have a God filled and BleSSed Day!
Across
Hemsley sitcom)
38 Pointless
39 Milita~, policy
Farewell"
musical
theme from a Sherman
Down
10r~sm, e.g.
2Top
3 Lady’s title
4 iWriter Calvino
5 Audeffs adieus
6 Cabaret’s "Mein . "
7 Name that rhymes w~th dtck .
8 Sex Pistols singer Vicious
9 Take care of
10Home of the WNBA’s Lynx
11 Gay vide~ directory name
12 Da Vinci~ Lig~
i3 GUmming on tl~estage
21,Basi~,0fB~
25 Gangster niclmamed Scarface
27 Bend over and grab them
28 Home swle
30 Chop
31 Lesbos, for one
32 Slippery swimmers
33 Cheese in red
34 Petv 0fA League of~eir Own
35 %e I in IHO# (abb~0
36 Supporters of~ome drag queens
40 Bryant, but not Bear
41 Bosie, to Alfred Dougi~
47 ~ternative to HBO
49 Rods of drivers
5 ! Intercourse while surfing?
52 Keep an the ground
53 Rest atop
54 Lingo
55 Woody~dley
56 Garfeld s wNpping boy
57 Beau, barely
58 Nickelodeon ~plorer
59 Force;that ~mes you to go down
52
Soludon page 15
be mailed
www.metrostarnews.com ~7 oSTAR 13
AXDSWALK OKC
Holding their First
Fundraiser of2010
Each Step Brings Hope
By Victor Gorin
Contributing writer
OI<LAHOMA CITY, OK __ AIDS Walk
OKC began in 1998 with a mission to raise
money and consciousness about HIV, to help
those infected and affected, promote prevention,
and raise awareness and understanding through
education. Since then this annual event has raised
over $400,000 for various nonprofit groups
working in these areas including RMN, Other
Options, Guiding Right, and many others.
~is ?Tear the Walk has been moved up to
September 19 and the route has changed, now
beginning at the Sonic Plaza in Brickto~vn.
Although the route has changed it still is a Sunday
afternoon event with preregistration beginning at
12:30 P.M. with stepoffat 2 p.m. Likewise tables
~vill still be available for vendors and for various
groups to give out information. The Walk will also
be preceded that day by the 5K run, which will
begin on John Carter Drive and Rent Avenue,
with registration for that event beginning at 11
a,m.
Participation in that race costs $20 in advance,
$25 the day of the race, and the runners are offat
12:30 p.m.
Now chaired by John Greer MDSWalk OKC
has 5 new board members, Dwayne Jones,
Scott Hines, Cindy Cabrera, Diane "Wood &
Maria Srouiji, who share a vision for the future.
This year’s theme for the ’,Walk is "Each Step
Brings Hope", and their first fundraiser will
be at Partners, March !9 at 9 p.m., featuring
entertainers John Beebe, Sonja Martinez and other
great local entertainers. It’s a chance to get this
event off:to a strong start for 2010!
For more information www.aidswalkokc.org
"Gay? I though you "1 got an upgrade.,’
were bisexual."
\ !
& by Greg Fox
lVebsite -
... WITH My
www.kylecomics.com E-Mail- KylesBnB@aol.com
bitter gid
March 2010
Suppo~ those who suppo~ us. Their ads allow us to distribute your community news FREE to you.
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www.habanainn.com
TULSA EAGLE
1338 E. 3RD
Tulsa, OK
918-592-1188
Open 7days week 2pro to 2am
CENTURY 21 GOLD CASTLE
3627 NW EXPRESSWAY
Oklahoma City, OK 73112
405-840-2106
www.c21 goldcastle.com
CHUCK BRECKENRIDGE
Keller Williams Realty
Tulsa, OK
CHURCH of the OPEN ARMS
3131 N. PENN,
OKC, OK 405-525-9555
Service Sunday 10:45 AM
DIVERSITY CHRISTIAN
FELLOVTSHIP
637 S. 131st East Ave
Tulsa, OK
v~vw.realacceptance,com
HOPE TESTING CLINIC
3540 E. 31st
Tulsa, OK
800-535-2437
Oklahoma’s HIV/STD Hotline
GUSHER’S RESTAURANT
2200 NW 39TH EXPRESSWAY
Oldahoma City, OK
405-525-0730
Located inside Habana Inn
SPIRIT OF CHRIST MCC
2902 E. 20TH STREET,
Joplin, MO * 479-529-8480
Service Sunday 6pm
MCC UNITED
1623 N. Maplewood, Tulsa, OK
.................918:838~1715 ....................
x~-ww.mcctulsa.org
OUR HOUSE, TOO
........ 203 N. Nogales Ave
ANGLES
2117 NW 39th St.
Oldahoma City, OK
www.anglesclub.com
BAMBOO LOUNGE
7204 E. PINE
Tulsa, OK
918-836-8700
w~.v.bambooloungetulsa.com
CLUB 209
209 N. BOULDER
Tulsa, OK
918-584-9944
CLUB MAJESTIC
124 N. BOSTON
Tulsa, OK
918-584-9494
,a-a-~aclubmajestictulsa.com
FINISHLINE
2200 NW 39TH EXPP,£SSWAY
Oklahoma City, OK
405-525-2900
xw~,v.habanainn.com
THE COPA
2200 NW- 39TH EXPRESSWAY
Oldahoma City, OK
405-525-0730
vavw.habanainn.com
USED EVENING GOWNS
Tulsa, OK 74127
918-585-9552
OKLAHOMA STONEWALL
DEMOCRATES
Oklahoma City, OK
www.okstonewall.org
OK_LAHOMANS for EQUALITY
621 E. 4th Street
Tulsa, OK 74120
918-743-4297
www.okeq.org
Chuck Breckenridge
8o70 o 887
~XPnether buying or selling
I’ll work hard for you.
Northwest Arkansas
Center For Equality
"Linldng Together as One"
For more information:
888-391-9222
v#¢~¢¢,nwacenterforequality.org
179 Church Ave, Fayetteville, AR 72703
A~kansas~ Bxdasive
597 Magnetic Road
Eureka Springs, Arkansas
www.magneticvalteyresort.com
info@magneticvalleyresort.com
800-2!0-8401 479-244-682J_
Creating
Community for
People iving
with
H V/A DS
A 501 c (3) Non Picofit Organization
Our House, Too offers a variety of
activities for people who are HIV+ and
or living with AIDS to help combat the
social isolation that many of our
people live through each and everyday.
We provide a Toiletry and Household
Pantry for those who are H1V+
and or living with AIDS who cannot
afford to purchase these itenqs for
themselves. We invite anyone who
would like to volunteer or provide financial
assistance to please contact
us by phone 918-585-9552 or e-mail
ourhousetoo9865@sbcglobal.net
Tulsa, OK 74158
w~v.metrostarnews.com ~ETROSTAR 15
its biggest impact since Roosevelt, because the conservative
movement has been thoroughly repudiated through
"What matters, as always, is not what we can’t do,
it,s what we can and must do."
Stonewall Democrats is a recognized group o~ the
Oklahoma and national Democratic Pariy.
Working to educate voters and politicians about issues o~ the
community, we are working to make change and shape history.
T | ,2 7
We mee~ ~he I s~ Tuesday ofevery month a~ ~he
LAHOMA STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY HEADQUARTERS
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
[2010] Metro Star Magazine, March 1, 2010; Volume 7, Issue 3
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 01, 2010
Subject
The topic of the resource
Politics, education, and social conversation over LGBTQ+ topics
Description
An account of the resource
The Metro Star’s first issue began in August of 2008. Before this issue was Ozarks Pride (2004), The Ozark’s Star (2004), and The Star (2005).
This magazine discusses topics of AIDs, education, politics, local and national civil rights of the LGBT community, and advice for relationships and places to visit.
This collection is PDF searchable. Physical copies are also available to be seen at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center with permission.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Star Media, Ltd
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Star Media, Ltd
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
James Nimmo
Victor Gorin
Rex Wockner
Michael W. Sasser
Robin Dorner-Townsend
Judy Gabbard
Romeo San Vincente
Andrew Collins
Jack Fertig
Lisa Keen
Steven Petrow
Keith Orr
Chris Azzopardi
Victor Gorin
Judy G.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Image
PDF
Online text
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
magazine
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Southwest Missouri
West Arkansas
Southeast Kansas
Eastern Oklahoma
The United States of America (50 states)
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
https://history.okeq.org/collections/show/19
Relation
A related resource
The Metro Star Magazine, February 1, 2010; Volume 7, Issue 2
https://history.okeq.org/items/show/188
The Metro Star Magazine, April 1, 2010; Volume 7, Issue 4
https://history.okeq.org/items/show/186
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
https://history.okeq.org/items/show/193
advertisement
Advice
AIDSwalk
Bitter Girl
Buster's Sugartime
classifieds
Democracy for America
Don't shop-Adopt
First Thursday Art Exhibit
Fitness-stress test
funnies
gay friendly book
GLBT Student group-OSU OKC
Grassroots Training
Haiti-HIV
hate crimes
Hate Crimes-Federal Prosecution
International Leather
International Women's Day
Kyle's Bed and Breakfast
LGBT Lobby Day
Metro scene
Military-Don't Ask Don't Tell
National news
Nightclubs and Bars
NYC marriage license bureau
Obituary
Oklahoma Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus
Oklahoma News
Oklahomans for Equality
Prop 8
QPuzzle
Qscopes
Rainbow Pages
religion
RuPaul's Drag Race
same sex marriage
same sex marriage repeal
Sooner State Softball
Steven Russell
Tax Commission lawsuit
Tulsa Metro Softball League
Union School District
US Census
US Census-LGBT