[2009] Metro Star Magazine, August 1, 2009; Volume 6, Issue 8

[2009] Metro Star Magazine, August 1, 2009; Volume 6, Issue 8

Politics, education, and social conversation over LGBTQ+ topics

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.

Star Media, Ltd

https://history.okeq.org/collections/show/19

Star Media. Ltd

August 1, 2009

Greg Steele
James Nimmo
Jeane Flanigan
Victor Gorin
Rex Wockner
Gerald Libonati
Michael W. Sasser
Robin Dorner,-Townsend
Romeo San Vicente
Andrew Collins
Donald Pile
Ray Williams
Jack Fertig
Devre Jackson
Victor Gorin
Judy G.

The Metro Star Magazine, July 1, 2009; Volume 6, Issue 7
https://history.okeq.org/items/show/133

The Metro Star Magazine, December 1, 2009; Volume 6, Issue 12
https://history.okeq.org/items/show/130

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Online text
PDF

English

magazine

https://history.okeq.org/items/show/129

Southwest Missouri
West Arkansas
Southeast Kansas
Eastern Oklahoma
The United States of America (50 states)

One million
people, including
Sarah Brown, wife
of Prime Minister
Gordon Brown,
took part in
London’s gay pride
parade July 4.
MORE on page 11
THE PREMIER SOURCE FOR G T OKLAHOMA
VOLUME 6 iSSUE 8 MetroStarN÷ws.com AUGUST 1,2009
S 0KLAHOMAAGAIN!
The crowd was about equally divided among those supporting her views
and those opposed. Those in opposition began shouting Shame on you!
repeatedly, alon~-with "Love-thy neighb6r!" -
By Victor Gorin
State Representative Sally Kern, Dis#qct 84 at the Oklahoma State Capitol, Gorin photo
$ 0,000
By Victor Gorin
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK On
Monday July 13 an emergency meeting and
press conference ofOKC Pride was hdd at
Epworth Methodist Church to deal with the
disappearance of a sum estimated to be within
the $10,000 to $15,000 range. This cash,
which was supposed to have been deposited
in the OKC Pride bank account, was derived
from contributions, T shirt sales and purchase
tickets sold on behalf of vendors. Apparendy
assumed to be deposited in OKC Pride’s
Chase Bank account by Treasurer Christine
Plante, OKC Pride Co-Chair Patti Thompson
was surprised to receive word from the bank
the following Wednesday after the Pride
Weekend that the OKC Pride account was
over $4,000 overdrawn, and thus learned that
An emergency meeting about this was
held by the Board of Directors Thursday July
9 at the Boom, and Ms. Plante was allegedly
contacted and asked to be at this meeting,
but she did not show up. Although offidally
scheduled to be at the July 13 meeting as well
Ms. Plante was again not present, and there
was no information as to her wherabouts
or situation, although a widely drculated
rumor was that she had checked herself into a
rehabilitation facility.
In her place, OKC Press Liaison Nathan
Thompson gave a report, stating that OKC
Pride had met with the Oklahoma City police
to report the incident July 10, but had no
further information. Despite the losses, at the
time of the meeting OKC Pride had paid all ~e cash money, which had been obtained their outstanding debts and had cash on hand
om about 3 ago weeks up to and including of around $2500 in 2 separate bank accounts,
the event~ hadn& be~n d~posiled ~er all J3y through assis~€~ byd~h0~ from the
that time Christine Ptante had disappeared as commtmity including John Gibbons (owner
well, leaving the community wondering what of the Boom), Dan Johnson, Jack Melisa, and
wen~ wrong and who was r~sponsible. ....... ContinUed See OKC PRIDE Page-4
OYA~ktOMA CITY, OK__ Around
250 people gathered at the Oldahoma State
Capitol for State Representative Sally Kern’s
presentation of her Proclamation of Morality,
about evenly divided between supporters
and those in opposition. The prodamation,
which does not have the force of law, blamed
the economic problems of our nation due
to America "forsaldng the rich Christian
heritage upon which our nation was built"
and because "our nation has become a world
leader in promoting abortion, pornography,
same sex marriage, sex trafficking, divorce,
illegitimate births, child abuse and many
other forms of debauchery."
It also criticized President Obama for
signing a proclamation recognizing June as
Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Pride
Month while not taking a more active role
in the National Day of Prayer, although
President Obama did issue a proclamation
supporting that event as well on May 7.
Ms.Kern, a Republican who represents
District 84, has garnered international
attention for her outspoken conservative
views, particularly concerning the GLBT
community. In a speech taped at a
Republican gathering last year that later made
Youtube, she stated that the gay community
was a bigger threat "than Islam or terrorism,"
and compared gays to cancer in "one’s big
toe" in their relationship to society,
However, unlike similar gatherings in the
past, the crowd was about equally divided
among those supporting her views and those
opposed. After she had given a short speech
........... Continued See SALLY Page-4
Senate approves hatecrimes
measure
xWASHINGTON, DC (PR) The
U.S. Senate approved a bill to add sexual
orientation, gender identity and other
categories to federal hate-crimes protections.
The final vote came July 20. The bill will
soon be on its way to President Obama’s desk,
where he’ll get a chance to make good on his
promise to sign it.
This vote came on the heels of tremendous
pressure from radical right-wing groups that
used every trick in the book.
They called the bill the "Pedophile
Protection Act," among other outrageous
claims. They dismissed the barbaric hate
crime that took Matthew Shepard’s life as
a "hoax." They flooded the Senate with
hundreds of thousands of letters and calls.
The measure, which passed on a voice
vote, was attached to a defense-spending bill.
A move to remove it from that bill failed
63-28.
The House of Representatives already has
passed a similar bill.
"More than 60 senators support the
Matthew Shepard Act, legislation that will
provide police and sheriffs’ departments with
the tools and resources they need to ensure
that entire communities are not terrorized by
hate violence," said Human Rights Campaign
President Joe Solmonese.
Both Oklahoma senators fel! for the
radical right’s ploy and voted against the hate
crimes bill failing to stand up for equali~
To contact both Oklahoma Senators call
their Washington office, Sen. James ’Jim’ M.
Inhofe (202) 224-4721 and Sen. Tom A.
Coburn (202) 224-5754.
Oklahoma Weather Forecast for August 2009
Aug 1-4: Sunny, hot. Hurricane
threat in Gulf
Aug 5-10: T-storms north, hot south
Aug 11-14: Scattered T-storms,
~ seasonable
Aug 15-21: Sunny, very warm
AUg 27-31: Scattered ~-storms, warm
Avg. Temperature: 83.5° (avg. norda, 3° above south)
Precipitation: 3.5" (1" above avg.)
N~YION
This year’s OKC
Pride Grand
just love being
with my friends
in Oklahoma
City,"
Page-6
L>> BILL (Lt" N"’tON= SJPPORTS~ /AYS
Diversity
Over 150
unique Shops
and galleries,
and many
parties for your
entertainn{ent.
Page 9
WO~ZLD >> ?R~DE 2009 I PLUS -~ LIFES";YLETR~ /EL ~ AR" ~ I
Beating victim
Chad Gibson,
who now has a
life-threatening
blood clot on
his brain goes
home. Gibson
xvants the
officers to be
prosecuted..
Page 8
#INE / SCOPES
a
ease pa
rP
Everyone who completes @e s#rvey by August 31, 2009
P~ease take the survey today, and te~ year
Tremendous strides toward fa~ equality have been achieved by oar tenth,unities ever the past decade. There’s
Power in ear Pride. Power te n~ake a difference:
Gay and [esbiaa su~ey studies have opened doers (and minds) in ~ea~ing corporations aria organizations, which in turn have
rec~gn~ze~ the va~ue of the~r LGBT employees through the es~b~shment of equa~ h~dng po~c~es an~ ~omest[c pa~ner
benefits. Th~s has been a catalyst, ~ea~[ng to sweeping changes ~n pofft~cal an~ social ~nc~usJvi~.
#e~egraph~c reports a~se ~nfluence ~arket~ng ~nvest~ent. V~ua~y absent unt~ recently, we now see a ~rowing variety ef
p[eaacts an~ services represente~ ia gay ~edia, celebrating oar ai~ersity. Aas keep LGBT pubiications an~ websites
~a business, serving their co.manatees with [aaependent news and infermatbn.
~eyen~ s~p~y a@e~s~ng, though, these ce~panies support as ~n ~any ways, ~nc~a~ng sponsoring cow.unity events
Community Marketi ~
@ 200g 8~a~uni~ ~arketing, ~nc., 584 Castro St. #834, San Francisco CA 9~114 L~SA ~.Cen~n~unity~arketing~nc.cen~
August 2009
STATE REPRESENTATIVE AL
MCAFF Y CALLS FORAN
APOLOGY
By Victor Gorin
State Rep. AI~fcA~’ey and Metro Star re oorter Robin Dornet:
Gorin photo
OI~ObcLR CITY, OK __ "I complete identifi/with
the cleep faith that many Oklahomans hold dear, but I’m
appalled that MrS.Kern chose to use a state proclamation to
attack the freedom ofmany Oklahomans xvho do not share
her faith or vices." ..... ....... ......
state Reprdsentative A1 McAffrey
State Representative Al McAffrey (Democrat SHD-88) is
calling upon fellow legislator Sally Kern (Republican-SHD-
84) to rescind her proclamation and apologize for many
discrepancies and misrepresentations of facts. "To blame our
economic woes on a national moral crisis is ludicrous. Our
economic woes are a direct result of bad financial practices
and a lack of regulation on Wall Street."
He pointed out that "Mrs.Kern uses her proclamation to
accuse President Obama of not recognizing the National Day
or Prayer, that is an absolute lie. On May 7~ 2009 President
Obama proclaimed a National Day of Prayer and encouraged
all Americans to ’come together in moments of great challenge
and uncertainty to humble themselves in prayer.’ "
McAffrey stated that he found that vwo of the quotes
used attributed tO James Madison ai~d Patrick Henry were
f-abricated, appearing nowhere in the writings or records of
either man. McAffrey pointed out that anyone knmvledgeable
ofAmerican history would kamw that James Madison and
Thomas Jefferson were avid Supporters of religious freedom,
and that it was Thomas Jefferson who coined the concept
"separation of church and state" traced to a letter he wrote in
1802 to the Danbury Baptists.
McA~}ey further stated " It’s pitiable that with all the
major challenges facing our great state some of our state
leaders are more concerned in mal~ng ne~vs headlines than
making strides toward strengthening our economy, improving
our public schools, and ensuring that all OHahomans have
access to qualig; affordable and sustainable healthcare. She
owes Oklahomans of all faiths a sincere apology:"
Tulsa Bowling Tournament a
Success
By Michael xyZ Sasser
JOLTBowling Tournament group at ~dsa Eagles reception party.
Staffphoto
TULSA, OK__ GLBT sports are already on the minds
of many in the community in anticipation of the Gay Games
2010 in Cologne.
In Oklahoma, sporting gay men and women have
numerous opportunities and it seems many are taking
advantage of them.
The Tulsa Lambda Bowling League’s second annual
weekend-long July Oklahoma Lambda Tournament (JOLT)
attracted some 120 participants from around the region to
the tourney, at Andy B Riverlanes and ldcked things offwith a
registration party at the Tulsa Eagle on July 17th.
. "Most of the people xvere from Oklahoma and Texas, but
we also had people from Kansas and Missouri," said Lambda
League President Rich Blankenship. "We consider it a big
success."
Blankenship said that there were 88 participants in last
year’s tournament and that it took most of the year to raise the
funds necessary to host this year’s. Included in the fundraising
was approximately $6,000 for charity.
"gC’e really need sponsors for next year since we are
growing so much," Blankenship said.
The Lambda League’s regular season runs from Labor Day
to April, with a 12-Week summer league also available, and
the July tournament. As a member of the International Gay
Bowling Organization (South Plains Region), the Lambda
League schedules its annual national tournament so as to not
conflict with other member’s tournaments. IGBO sponsors a
national tournament every Memorial Day weekend.
"Every city about Tulsa’s size or larger with a league has a
tournament," Blankenship said.
The success ofJOLT would have been unimaginable
just a few years ago, when, Blankenship said; the group had
dwindled down to around two dozen members. Today there
are around 67 members. Some teams rotate players so that
more people can play in the Tuesday night league. Already
there is a waiting list for next year, although Blankenship said
the,,League is, trying to negotiate, for,, more. lanes.,,
We dont want to be exclusive, he sa~d. We want
everyone to get involved to be able to play."
Blankenship attributes the growth of the Lambda Leagt,ie
to the recruitment efforts of former president and this years
JOLT Director, Rick Cox.
Other sports oriented community groups are lively around
the state also. Oklahoma City supports two bowling teams,
the Sunday Twisters and Tuesday Twisters. Oklahoma City
and Tulsa support GLBT softballs leagues. Both the Sooner
State Rodeo Association (SSRA) and the Oldahoma Gay
Rodeo Association (OGRA) are members of the International
Gay Rodeo Association (tGRA). The IGRA National Finals in
Albuquerque, New Mexico are expected to draw’participation
and large spectator support from OHahoma.
For more information on the Tulsa Lambda Bowling
League, visit w~w<lambdaleague.com.
Dale Gross ~ Randy Winrow
email: route66malf@att.net
8.836.3838
METROPOLITAN
COMMUNITY CHURCHES
Rev Steve T. Uric
Spirit of Christ MCC
2902 E 20th Street
Joplin, MO 64804
417-529-8480
Worship Sunday 6:00 PM
Community Meal Wednesdays at 6:00 PM
Have a God filled and Blessed DaV!
www.rnetrostarnews.corn #~>t~"oSTAR 3
others not named at the meeting. Nathan
stated that the investigation is still ongoing,
and there is a possibility the money or parr
of it may be recovered. It was also brought
up that according to the bylaws. OKC Pride
Board members could not be held liable for
this type of loss. Inquiries as to why nobody
knew why the cash had not been deposited,
or why, the bank account had not had more
oversight were not answered. Mr. Thompson
did promise that information would be put
on the OKC Pride website along with press
releases as soon as it was available
Guy Peters did suggest that in the future
that background checks be obtained for those
responsible for OKC Pride money. Male Co-
Chair Paul Thompson had suggested in the
past that these members be bonded, which
would cover losses caused by dishonest acts.
Mthough Chris Plante has not been
charged with any crime related to this
incident at this time. she was removed ftom
her Treasurer position for dereliction of duty,
the motion to do so made by Scott Jaggers
and passed unanimously. Until there is a new
Treasurer on duty- the duties of that oi~ce
would be handled by the co-chairs, currently
Paul Thompson and Latricia Olmstead.
The next meeting xvould be August 3, the
first Monday of August. During that meeting
membership in OKC Pride. which is required
to be eligible to vote in the upcoming election
~’or new o~cers and board members, could be
begun or renewed. Co-Chairs Paul Thompson
and Latricia Ohnstead announced that the7
will not be seeking re-election, nor will
Festival Coordinator T.J Mc~nsey.
A press confbrence was held following
the meeting attended by the Metro Star,
Oldahoma Gazette reporter Joe Wertz,
and Patricia Millel; the treasurer preceding
Ms.Plante,Ms. Miller, who resigned in protest
at the May" 4 meeting over what she stated
were lax and dishonest financial practices
ofOKC Pride had this to say," They are all
fteaking out over this, which I can agree, they
should be freaked out, but we slid the last
one about Miles Tompkins* under the rug. I
want to make sure this does not get slid under
the rug too. Whoever is responsible for this
should go to prison. My question is, will this
be treated like the last time?"
*Referring to a bounced check wdtten
by Miles Tompkim to Lee Burrusfor a Gala
Dinner on beha~%fOKCPride in 200g. Mr
Bu~us was reimbursed by OKCPride and
M~ Tompkim, thru an agreement with OKC
Pride, made restitution.
Drag een Bingo 2009
Bingo like your mother never played...
TULSA, OK (PRy __ This annual event
and fundraiser for Our House Too will be
held Friday, August 7th at Tulsa’s Cain’s
Ballroom. Female impersonators will welcome
you aboard the USS DQB cruise ship
for this, the fifth year, beginning at 8p.m.
and ending at t 1. There will be glamorous
costumes and prizes, a silent auction and,
of course, bingo! Female impersonators will
perform glittering numbers from cruise ship
showrooms to entertain the crowd.
isolation of people living with HIV and AIDS
in the Tulsa area. In addition to providing
monthly activities and holiday celebrations.
Our House Too offers food baskets, a toiletry
and household pantry and weeldy lunches.
Tickets for Drag Queen Bingo 2009 are $20
per person and can be purchased ar Reasor’s,
Cain’s Ballroom, Ida Red and Starship
Records.
Gay Man E]ec ed
Oklahoma County
Democratic Par v
Secretary’s O ce
By Victor Gorin
Tom Guild with well wishingfi’iend Esther
Bahierra. Gorin photo
OKLAHOMA CITY; OK__ Dr. Tom
Guild, a soon to be professor emeritus at the
University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond,
was elected July 14 to be Oklahoma Count~fis
Democratic Party Secretary. This was a special
election to fill that ot~ce which was vacated
with the resignation of the previous oI~ce
holder, Rosanne Jenny. A longtime human
¯ rights activist, Tom was a professor at UCO
for 27 years, where he taught political science
for 10 years and legal studies in the College
of Business for 17 years. He registered as
aDemocrat 5 years ago, and has since been
very active in the part), by hosting the weekly
Oklahoma County Democratic Party’s
Speakers Lunch at the Boulevard Cafeteria,
as well as other party activities. Along with
Dr. Joan Luxemburg and Keith Smith, he
co-wrote a chapter in the book ’Hn Oklahoma
I’d Never seen Before: Alternative Views of
Oklahoma Histo~ "published in 1994. Their
chapter was "Oklahoma’s Gay, Liberation
Movement," the first academic publication in
this area ever published.
Working with the Democratic Party he
will work to achieve full collective bargaining
rights and better wages and conditions for
Oklahoma’s workers, currently working on
passage of the Employee Free Choice Act,
which ,#could make it easier for workers
to unionize. He would also work for
GLBT rights and human rights in general,
working for passage of the Employment
Nondiscrimination Act ( proposed Federal
law prohibiting employment discrimination
against GLBTs) and repeal for the "Don’t ask
Don’t Tell" policy of the U.S. military.
W AT
those in opposition began shouting "Shame
on you!" repeatedly, along with "Love thy
neighbor!’while the other side simultaneously
began singing God Bless America, and later
both sides sang the national anthem. As
feelings ran high the event got very loud but
stayed peaceful. Ms.Kern did express her
view that "The people who preach tolerance
are not willing ro extend the same thing to
someone who disagrees with them. So ladies
and gentlemen, we are seeing a wonderful
illustration of intolerance."
Among those signing the petition was
Paul Blair of Edmond’s Fairview Baptist
Church, who also spoke at the rally. In spite
of the mention of divorce as being part of
our moral decline, it was likewise signed by
former State Representative Kevin Calvey, a
conservative Christian who is divorced. It was
also signed by Oklahoma City Councilman J.
Brian Waiters ( Ward 5), the lone OKC City
Council member who voted against a parade
permit for the OKC Pride Parade.
The constitutionality of the event was
questionable. As activist attorney Brittany
Novomy pointed out, "They used Capitol
grounds for this and that is an advancement
of a particular religious agenda that is
not necessarily representative of al! the
other religions or even al! the branches of
Christianity in Oklahoma. q£he LGBT caucus
of the Young Democrats canae out to stand
side by side with the ACLU to uphold the
Oklahoma Constitution (Article 2 Section
5) that clearly prohibits the use of public
property towards any sect, denomination or
system of religion." .
Brittany also gave,her angle about the
proclamation as well. q-his proclamation
suggests that the problems of our society are
bdfig caused somehow by GLBT people.
Frankly as a Young Democrat I believe
most of ourproblems are being caused by
economic problems, people not able to have
healthcare for their kids or themselves, people
filing bankruptcy because they lack healthcare
coverage. There are a host of prob!ems facing
every day Oldahomans, and I dont believe
demonizing a whole subset of Oklahomans
really accomplishes the goals of real working
Oldahomans who want to be able to feed
their families, have good healthcare, who
just want the opportunity to live their lives
in peace, and who believe in loving their
neighbor."
C.S. Thornton of the ACLU lamented,
"She ( Representative Kern) blames all
these things upon a great moral crisis, yet
nowhere does she mention greedy V&ll Street
executives or government regulators who
were asleep at the switch. The most alarming
thing about this proclamation is the level of
scapegoating that it promotes."
However, the Republican speaker of the
House, Chris Benge, does not plan to sign
the document, and State Representative Ryan
Keisel, a Democrat called the proclamation a
"divisive political stunt." State Representative
A1 McAffrey, the only openly gay member of
the legislature ( Democrat-District 88) has
asked for an apology.
There were otl-mrs that disagreed with Ms.
Kern as well. The Reverend Loyce Newton
Edwards, associate pastor of the Church of
the Open Arms UCC stated that she felt
Sally Kern was "one of the most hateful and
divisive persons in America. The right thing
is to respect people regardless ofwho they
choose to love. Homophobia is wrong, it’s
unGodlike."
300 ATTEND ENID’S
FIRST PRIDE
CELEBRATION
By Nate Bowen
Enid held their first Pride event Saturday
July 18, which was a fabtdous picnic &
festival at Meadowlake Park. Drawing over
300 people, the number in attendance set
a record for aW Oklahoma first time Pride
event. Starting offwith the Reverend J.E
Wickey of Crosswalk United Church (Enid’s
only open and affirming church), he spoke
about being gay and Christian followed by
a Q&A session. The band Blackwings gave
a great performance, followed by Stephen
Dillard-Carroll. This was followed by an
OKC speaker and activist from the Young
Democrats, Brittany Novotny.
Around 6:30 p.ra. the crowd was treated
to a drag show starring Raven Angel, Nikki
Star and Colby Richards. Booths and
vendors at the park ranged from Fulton’s
BBQ to the Garfield County Democrats.
Our House Too is a nonprofit
organization serving to elirainate the social .........Continued see ENID PRIDE page 6
4 August 2009
HoOoPoEo to Host 8th
A ual DIVAS Benefit
Concert
for people to learn their HIV status and can
connect clients to a variety of medical and
social support services. For more information
about HIV or sexually transmitted infections,
call 1-800-535-MDS (2437).
Openarms 4th Annual
Fashion Show
By Judy Gabbard
TULSA, OK (PR) __ On Sept. !2-13,
2009, Health Outreach Prevention Education
(H.O.E E.) will host DWAS 2009. at the
Tulsa Zoo. This year’s theme is DIVAS
Gone \.gild. Proceeds from the event will
help support H.O.EE. programs, such as
prevention education about HIV/AIDS,
hepatitis and other sexually transmitted
infections, the only statewide 24-hour
HIV/STD resource hotline, and the only free,
anonymous testing and counseling facility in
Oklahoma.
This year’s concert is produced by Rebecca
Ungerman, a popular Tulsa-based performer
who has graced numerous venues and events
in Tulsa, including the Oklal~oma Centennial
Celebration and the Tulsa Perfornaing Art
Center SummerStage series. The evening,
celebrated in the new H.A. Chapman Event
Lodge at the Tulsa Zoo, highlights Tulsds
diverse musical talent with local artists
covering dassic favorites. ~[hese acts come
together for this annual "one time onl~#
shm,~ and bring out their collective fans: This
year S performei:S ind~id~ Pxeb~c~ ung~rman,
Cindy Cain, Christy E. ofThe Red Alert,
Pare Wan Dyke, ~nie Ellicotr. Fiawna Forte,
John Sawyer, Darrell Christopher, Kelly
Morrison. and Janet Rutland. N~e combined
talent includes experience on Broadway,
national and international cabaret tours, and
!ocal Spot Music Awards. ~II~e evening will
also include a live and silenvauction, dancing,
hors d’oeuvres, and beverages.
The evening gala will take place on
Saturday, September 12. 7:30pm and a
no frills Sund~y matinee will take.place
September ! 3 at 4pro. Tickets may be
purchased, beginning August 1, by contacting
H.O.RE. a 918-749-TEST (8378). Tickets
are $25 and $40 for general admission
seats and $100 for individual table seats.
A table for ten is available for $1,000.
Cabaret table seats include: priority seating,
publicity, auction sneak preview, and private
reception with the performers which includes
complimentary wine and hors d’ oeuvres.
The matinee -will include the same show
and champagne, with tickets ranging from
$15-$50. Emcee for the event will be Mia
Fleming from Fox 23.
Supporters of DIVAS 2009 include
Williams, F & M Bank. The Metro Star and
The Gay and Lesbian Fund for Tulsa.
Raising awareness of HIV and other
sexually transmitted infections remains vitally
important. Young people and minorities are
disproportionately affected, but HIV does not
discriminate. By Imowing your status, you
are better able to protect yourself and others.
Prevention education and testing are keys to
decreasing the stigma and infection rate of
HIV. H.O.EE. provides a comfortable place
"First l ursday" Art
Opening and ey ibit
with Creations from
Local Artist - Nicholas
K. Clark
TULSA, OK (PR) __ Continuing
the monthly showcase of local artists at
the Equality Center (621 E. 4th Street in
downtown Tulsa), Oldahomans for Equality
(OkEq) will feature Tulsa Artist Nicholas K.
Clark with an opening show and reception
on Thursday, August 6th from 6-9pm and
continuing throughout the month ofAugust.
Nicholas’ work is a direct reflection of his
optimistic personality. From vivid oranges to
metallic silvers highlighted by passionate reds,
his art displays a mastery of color that cannot
be taught. His mediums vary from acrylics
to oils and focus on creating depth through
layering and application of rich texture. Nic’s
~vorks fall into three categories: contemporary
figure studies, pop art and expressionistic
co!or studies. "I pull nay inspiration from
fashion and music and I love working with
figures because they are al~vays so challenging
- the detail of a hand. the curves of a body
and the. capturing of natural movement and
expresslolt.
7~rn GilA.an Former Channd23 Reporter
Marianly Mendez andMiss OYP 2009: Alizay
Kardashian Judy G. photo
TULSA, OK Openarms Youth Project
Center, located at 2015 Sm,th Lakewood
Ave., Tulsa, OK, presented their 4th Annual
fashion show fund raiser on July 10 and was
a great success. Organizers Tim Gillean and
Jerrid Horton reported that the proceeds will
help continue the support of local GLBT
youth ofTulsa and surrounding area.
The nights title was ReFashionista.
Sports and formal wear were purchased and
redesigned for a splendid runway show.
The evenings host, xvas Kristin Dickerson
from KTUL, channel 8. Area talent added
spice to the evening along with tasty hors
d’oeuvres, wine and soft drinks. "Ihe silent
auction ~vas an exciting array ofitems that
were purchased by those in attendance.
Funds are still needed to support the
youth needs at Openarms. An), donation is
appreciated.
For more infbrmation call 918.838.7104.
www.metrostarnews.com ~®t~’oSTAR 5
AtJeanne Ma6e~ Champs
French connection
~sampled wines3~om all over the world.
I’m in this photo with nay partner
Lamont. For my birthday present, he
sent for me to join him in France where
he was a visiting professor in Marseille at
the University of Provence¯ ! was really
impressed with the wines of Provence, Cotes
du Rhone. Languedoc and Bordeauex.
The trip took on a different focus when
we traveled to Bordeaux for VinExpo, the "
international wine tasting event. We’re in
this photo with long time wine colleague
Gary Vance who caught a £1st train from
Paris to meet up with us. This was a huge 5
day/40 thousand people wine tasting event
with hundreds of wine makers & marketing
reps. ~aere was just no way to meet all
the wine raakers and taste as much as we
wanted.In this article, I’m highlighting some
of the grape varietals from the parts of
Atxendees included not just the GLBT
community, but fiunilies as well coming to
enjoy the fun and fellowship. The following
Sunday there was a forum held to discuss the
France that we visited. These are affordable
finds and the wines are in Oklahoma.
Brief history of the grapes
grown in these regions
Malbec grapes tend to have an inky
dark color and robust tannins. Long
known as one ofthe six grapes allowed
in the blend of red Bordeaux wine, the
French plantations~ofMalbec are now
found primarily in Cahors where the
Appellation Control4e regulations for
C~hors require a minimtiin content of
70% It is increasin ly ~elebrated as an
Argentine varietal wine and is being
gr~vn around the world.
The northern part of the Rh6ne
Valley; in France, remains one of the
undisputed reference points for the
~;rOdUction of wines made with the
ah grape. ~-he best examples of
varietal Syrah, are the ones produced with
the appellations Hermitage, C6te-R6tie,
Comas, St-Joseph and Crozes-Hermitage.
\Vgines produced in these areas have strong
fruit aromas, a good acidity, dry body and an
appreciable mineral taste.
Grenache is the dominant variety in
most Southern Rh6ne wines, especially in
Chfiteauneuf-du-Pape where it is typically
over 80% of the blend. It is generally spicy,
berry-flavoured and soft on the palate. In
Australia it is typically blended in "GSM"
blends with Syrah and Mourv~dre. Grenache
is also used .to make ros~ wines in France and
grmvn. The majority" of French Viogniers
are sold as Vin de Pays in the Languedoc. In
the Rhone wine region, the grape is often
blended with Roussanne, Marsanne and
Grenache blanc.
Mr. D’s 1/2 case
Red Bicyclette Syrah/Granche Rose ’07
(Languedoc)
Black Beret Grenache/Syrah Rouge ’05
(Languedoc)
Coussergues Viognier ’08 (Languedoc)
Beauv~gnac Sauv,gnon Blanc 08
(Languedoc)
Chateau Trocard Montrepos Merlot ’06
(Bordeaux)
Jean-Luc Colombo L~s Abeilles Cotes
du Rhone Blanc ’07/Viognier & Grenache
Blanc
Clos la Coutale Malbec (Cahors) ’06
And as always, I say go to your favorite wine
shop, ask questions and purcha~se a bottle or
t~vo. Share some food & wine with friends
and check this out for yourself¯
This writer is one ofthe managers at the Grand
Vin wine shop at Utica Square. He also bar tends
and hosts wine & food events around town known
as the Wine Enthusiasts ofTulsa.
Viognier [vee-oh-nay] wines are well-known
for their floral aromas, due to terpenes, which
are also found in Muscat and Riesling wines.
There are also many other powerful flower
and fruit aromas which can be perceived in
these wines depending on where they were
&affVohmteets Top Row Ka~e, John, Jesse, Brandon DJ Star, TJ, Kathy,
Angd A4ishalle,Bmndon "KoolAid’; bottom rowJamie Lisa Nate
future goals of Enid’s GLBTQA community,
but most of the discussion centered on
how great the Enid Pride Festival was and
the fun they had. That evening Crosswalk
United Church
hosted a showing
of "Prayers
for Bobby", a
landmark film
portraying
the true story
of a mother
who could not
accept her sods
homosexuality,
who became an
activist for gay
rights following
his suicide.
General consensus
was that the event
was not just a
historic first,
but a wonderful
occasion to be
celebrated every
year from now
on.
www.Foodand~Hne.com
ww~:~ikioedia.or~
www.2he~’VorldI4q~eI~ne.com
ww~:Epicurious.com
TULSA BALLET TO
PERFORM IN NEWYORK
CITY
Oklal~oma Governor Brad Henry and Tulsa Mayor
Kathy Taylor will attend Tulsa Ballet’s debut at the
Joyce Theater August 10 - 15. Special Big Apple
Preview Night in Tulsa on August 6 at Studio K
TULSA, OK (PR) It has been 25 years
since the Tulsa Ballet has performed in New
York City. This summer the company will
make its long awaited return to the Big Apple
for its debut at the Joyce Theater August 10
-15.
Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor, Governor Brad
Henry and First Lady Kim Henry are among
local and national dignitaries who will attend
the opening night performance and Patron
Gala on Monday, August 10 at the Joyce
Theater, located in the heart of Manhattads
Chelsea neighborhood. Tulsa Ballet will
give seven performances with special events
planned throughout the week fbr patrons and
supporters ofTulsa Ballet.
The company will present a program.
featuring Elite Syncopations by Kenneth
MacMillan, Por vos Muero by Nacho Duato
and This is Your Life by Young Soon Hue.
This is Your Life was commissioned by Tulsa
Ballet in 2008 and has since been performed
by the Aalto Theater in Essen, Germany and
the National Ballet of Ankara, Turkey.
....Continued see BALLET page 22
OKC Pride 2009: You be
the change
By Robin Dorner
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK The end of
June brought proud celebration to Oklahoma
City with the annual gay pride event.
year’s event was a huge success with more
than ! 5,000 people attending the festivities.
The party began on Friday evening at the
NW 39th Street Strip near Penn with the
first annual "Friday Night Block Part’);’.
The festival began Saturday morning and
continued through Sunday, the parade began
around 5 pm.
This year the OKC Pride Grand Marshal
was attthor andTV personality Ruby Ann
Boxcar. "I just love being with my friends
in Oklahoma City," Boxcar told the Metro
Star. "Anywhere there is a trailer park I feel
like I’ve got family!" Boxcar is known as the
Diva of the Double-Wide, a highly successful
entertainer and author who got her start in
Oklahoma City and is recognized in the US
and abroad.
Guests from across the city and state
came to join in the festivities in Midtown
Oklahoma City. "I am here because I am
bisexual, proud and I like the scene," said
18 year old Ruth Leila Blailock. "It’s a
celebration of diversity really."
"We are here today because we are
members of the Diversity Business
Association (DBA)," said Shawn Adkison,
JD of the Fortune Law Center in Midtown.
Adkison and his firm have been members of
DBA, the Oklahoma City LGBT business
organization, for more than three years. "We
think it is important ~o ne~ork together;
promote our business organizations as ~vell
as diversity in general," adds Adkison. "It is
a good thing to show our support for DBA,
Oklahoma and the U.S. You know, these
kinds of events are not permitted in every
country."
The mission ofOKC Pride, Inc. is
to stage a highly visible forum for the
organizations which serve the community
both nationally, regionally, and locally;
decrease external homophobia by generating
maximum media coverage to the reality
of our community; and diminish internal
homophobia by presenting organizational
and individual role models. Additionally, the
Board of Directors believe that as a civil rights
movement, gays and lesbians need an annual
forum where individually and collectively
they can consider where they have been,
where they are now and what direction they
need to set.
Several large corporations p,,articipated
in the festival and the parade. I think it is
just important that we embrace people with
different backgrounds and, quite frankly, it
helps our company," said Wesley Seymour
frown the Frito-Lay company. "We have a
philosophy; bring your whole self to work
and that is one reason I like working for
Fnto-Lay; Seymour has worked for the
company as a District Sales Manager for three
years.
National and local companies supt~orted
the event as corporate sponsors as well as
many local sponsors. There were also several
local churches represented, bike riding
clubs, entertainers, The Oklahoma City
Peace House and much more. For more
information about Pride OKC, contact www.
okcpride.org.
August2009
6
www,metrostarnews.com 7
Wockner News Service
Fort Worth beating
victim, Chad Gibson
goes home
Fort Worth police and agentsfi’om the Texas
Alcoholic Beverage Commission raided a gay
barJune 28 -- the 40th anniversary ofthe
Stonewall Riots -- and roughed up several
patrons, inckding Chad Gibson, who now
has a life-threatening blood clot on his brain.
Gibson wants the officers m beprose~ted. Photo
WFAA-TVscreen capmre
Chad Gibson has been released from the
hospital but still is in danger from a blood
clot on his brain that reportedly could break
loose and kill him.
Gibson allegedly was beat up by cops
during a June 28 raid of the Rainbow Lounge
in Fort Worth, Tex; Wimesses say officers
stami:ned his head into a ~vall, then into the
floor. ~¢¢o Other patrons ~dso were injured in
the raid -- one has broken ribs and one has a
broken thumb.
June 28 was the 40th anniversary of the
Stonewall Riots that kickstarted the modern
gay-rights movement.
¯ne violent raid -- purported to be merely
one of the state’s routine checks of bars to be
sure no one is too drunk -- brought heaW
condemnation from gay leaders, newspaper
columnists, bloggers, politicians and others.
It also received extensive national news
not lip service. I will meet with you
wherever you want to meet. I will go to your
restaurants, your house, we can eat barbecue,
whatever you want to do. But ~ve’ve got to
talk."
Gibson, for his part, wants the raiding
officers to be,~rosecuted and the city to halt
its "cover-up.
"You used excessive force and that’s why
I got hurt," Gibson told \~rFAA-TV. "~ey
have blamed it on me, that I was drunk,
(that) I fell and hit my head, I groped the
officer, I did this, I did that. You know ,vhat?
No. Accept responsibility."
In an interview with KTVT Gibson
added: "I was rubbed into the concrete.... I’m
just appalled that they took it to the level that
they did.... They need to accept responsibility
for what they did."
Obama invites 300
GLBT leaders to White
House for Stonewa 140
President Barack Obama -- under heavy
fire for talking the talk but not walking the
walk on numerous gay-rights promises -- had
300 GLBT leaders over to the White House
on June 29 to celebrate the 40th anniversary
of the Stonevcall Riots, which, in 1969, jumpstarted
the modern gay-rights movement.
"I know that many in this room don’t
believe that progress has come fast enough,
and I understand that," Obama said. "It’s not
for me to tell you to be patient, any more
than it was for othem to counsel patience to
African Americans who were petitioning for
equal rights a half-c~ntury ago. But I say this:
We have made progress and we will make
more. And I want you to know that I expect
and hope to be judged not by words, not by
promises I’ve made, but by the promises that
nay administration keeps."
Obama also defended his decision not
to issue an order stopping the military’s
expulsions of openly gay members,
suggesting, again, that such an approach
wouldu’t work out in the long run.
"As commander in chief in a time of war,
I do have a responsibility to see that this
change is adnainistered in a practical way
and a way that takes over the long term,"
he said. "That’s why I’ve asked the secretary
of defense and the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staffto develop a plan for how to
thoroughly implement a repeal. I know that
every day that passes without a resolution
is a deep disappointment to those men and
women who continue to be discharged under
this policy -- patriots who often possess
critical language skills and years of training
and who’ve served this country well. But
what I hope is that these cases underscore
the urgency of reversing this policy not just
because it’s the right thing to do, but because
it is essential for our national security."
coverage.
. Both the Fort Worth Police Department
and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage
Commission, which joined in the raid,
have launched interna! investigations of
the incident. The results of the city police’s
investigation will be reviewed by federal
authorities, Mayor Mike Moncrief has
promised.
Apart from the raid itselfl the most
controvers!al aspect Of the incident has
been Police ChiefJeff Halstead’s assertions
that Gibson groped one of the officers
and that other patrons made what the
Police Department called "sexually explicit
movements" toward uniformed officers --
claims that bar patrons and gay leaders have
called preposterous and "lies."
"You’re touched and advanced in
certain ways by people inside the bar, that’s
offensive," Ha!stead said shortly after the raid.
"I’m happy with the restraint used when they
were contacted like that."
After facing ridicule for those improbable
assertions, Halstead has since adopted a more
conciliatory tone, telling gay people at a
public meeting: "We’ve got to work together.
Be patient, and you wil! see that this is just
8 August 2009
77 members o£ Congress
ask Obama to suspend
As national gay leaders continue to beat
up on President Barack Obama for moving
too slowly- on his myriad campaign promises
to tile GLBT community, 77 members of
Congress have written to the president asldng
him ro immediately suspend en[brcement of
the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy pending its
repe,,a~! by Congress.
Tile letter outlines a new, two-step repeal
plan which begins with a request that the
president ’direct the Armed Services nor to
initiate any invesrigarion of service personnel
to determine their sexual orientation, and
that [he] instruct them to disregard thirdparty
accusations that do not allege violations
of the Uniform Code of Military Justice,’"
said the Palm Center, a think tank at the
University of California, Santa Barbara, that
has focused extensively on the militaw’s ban
on open gays.
~°The letter signals renewed efforts to
stop gay discharges immediately while repeal
legislation moves through Congress at a
slower pace," the center said.
On June 23, Obama rejected the proposal.
The White House said: "President Obama
remains committed to a legislative repeal of
Don’t Ask, Dofft Tel!, xvhich he believes will
provide a durable and lasting solution to this
issue. He welcomes the commitment of these
members to seeing Congress take action."
Episcopal Church OKs
gay- clergy, bishops
7he Anglican Communion has been deeply
mired in gay angst since the Episcopal Diocese
oflVew Hampshire consecrated openly gay and
partnered V. Gene Robinson as its bishop in
2003. GLAADphoto
The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops
and House of Deputies declared in mid-July
that open gays and lesbians --celibate or
not -- call serve as priests and bishops in the
church.
At thee church’s triennial general
convention, held in Ana~heim, Calif., July
8-17, bishops voted for the policy 99-45 and
deputies voted for it 155-40. Deputies who
are clergy voted 77-19 and lay deputies voted
78-21.
The move may well lead to a full rupture
between the Episcopal Church and the
worldwide Anglican Communion, which
has been deeply mired in gay angst since
the Episcopal Diocese ofNew Hampshire
V. Gene Robinson as its bishop in 2003.
Tile Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of
Anglicanism.
"The Anaheim move was seen as. in
essence, a flip-off by the Americans of the
Anglican hierarchy and Anglican provinces
in Africa and South America that strongly
opposed Robinson’s consecration.
De facto international Anglican leader
Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury,
England, had urged delegates,to the U.S.
convention not to make any decisions in
the co,~ing days that could push us further
apart. He later said he regretted that the
convention had done just that with its gayclergy
decision.
Delegates also voted to allow local
dioceses to bless same-sex marriages and civil
unions if they want to, and launched a project
m creare official liturgies for the blessings.
Gay Pordand mayor
cleared in Breedlove
affair
There is no credible evidence that Sam
Adams, the gay mayor of Portland, Ore.,
had inappropriate sexual contact with Beau
Breedlove before Breedlove turned 18,
Oregon Attorney General John Kroger said
June 22.
Adams, 45, and Breedlove, 22, have
acknowledged having sex in 2005 after
Breedlove’s 18th birthday, but Breedlove
also had claimed the pair passionately made
our prior to his reaching file age of consent,
which Adams denied.
"There are serious questions about the
credibility of Breedlove’s account, dueto
his prior inconsistent statements, the lack
of corroborating witnesses or evidence, his
attempt to gain personally from matters
related to his involvement with Adams and
his prior criminal record," Kroger concluded.
"There is insufficient evidence to charge,
let alone convict, Adams with illegal sexual
contact with a minor."
The attorney general’s office interviewed
57 people and sifted through Adams’ and
Breedlove’s e-mails and text messages in
arriving at its conclusion.
Breedlove later posed for the gay porn
magazine Unzippea~ In 2006, he pleaded
guilty to felony 2nd degree theft in a case that
involved $750 worth of clothes ftom a Macy’s
store in Haxvaii.
The revelation of the brief affair nearly
ended Adams’ career earlier this year, in part
because he had lied about it when asked
about it during the mayoral campaign, stating
that it never happened.
Summer Diversi y ’09
Eureka Springs.
Augus 7-9
~ DOMESTICATE
Say "I DO" and register your love with a
Domestic Partner Certificate
One day these certificates will be highly
sought after collector items on E-bay.
Tile Courthouse is closed Saturday and
Sunday...City Clerk’s office is in the City
Hall, lower level of the Western Carrol
Count), Courthouse, 44 S. Main.
Office hours are 9:30 AM - 12 Noon and
1:30 to 4:40 PM.
® YARDS AND YARDS OF YARD SALES
Money Tight? Pennies on the dollar: Tile
Eureka yards sales are a top stop for the
bargain hunter and antique queens. Tile 15~n
annual Eureka Yards and Yards ofYard Sales.
Friday and Saturday 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
Find locator maps at shops and restaurants.
Sponsored by the Greater Eureka Springs
Chamber of Commerce.
~ HEY GIRLS... LET’S iVlAKE
HERSHEY’S CHOCOLATE SMORES!
THEN GO SNIPE HUNTING!
Camping for Summer Diversity has become
an annual event for many. Stay dose to title
City and book your weekend with the gay
friendly Kettle Campground. (479) 253-
9100, 4119 E. Van Buren.
° DIVA SHOP!
Over 150 unique shops and galleries. Be sure
and shop the Sponsors of Eureka Pride--aBens
Door, Mountain Eclectic, Fusion Squared,
Byrds Eye View, Antique Affaire, Tile Tourist
Shop, the Inn Convenience Store, Eureka
Scents. Avery and Special DW DISCOUNT
from Tinmaker & Glitz, 69 S. Main.
~ MIX & MINGLE
The Pizza Sluts are hosting their second
Diversity Welcome Mixer. The Pizza Bar, 13
N. Main, Friday, 6-8 PM. $5.95 pizza buffet.
Beer specials. All ages admitted. Come feel
the ~varmth...feel, touch, hug, squeeze, grope,
claw, whip...Mix and mingle with the locals
and visitors from around the globe. Free City
p~arking after 6 PM.
ERIC HIMAN DISCOVERS EUREKA
Henri’s Just One More. 19 1A Spring Street.
Friday Night Only! 9 PM. Eric goes solo with
his first Eureka acoustical performance.
® CHER SOME TIKI LOVE
~e always popular Glam-aphonic,
E lectronic, Disco Babee, Tiki Torch Dance
Party! 75 S. Main Street. Homo to the
exotic, diverse crowd of celebrities, beauties,
rock stars, dance divas, and some good ole
fashioned Str8t Bait! Cher and Cher Alike to
perform LIVE on Saturday. Shmv times will
be posted.
MORTUARY SERVICE, =¢
o SPEED DIAL YOUR GAY SPIRITS
~Exrot Speed reads with Mistress Lynne. Yes,
speed readings --Lynne will do a 10 card
reading for 10 buclcs. Just takes a few minutes
as opposed to the full deck 30 minute
reading. Lynne uses Gay, and Lesbian ~Tarot
cards for amazing GAY readings. DaBen’s
Door, 45 1/2 Spring Street, across from Jack’s
Place.
~ NEW DELHI
Friday & Saturday live music 6:30 9:30
PM. 2 North Main. Al! ages are welcome at
the New Delhi. Atmosphere aplenty. If you
never dined at the New Delhi, you really
should.
~ START YOUR ENGINES: SUMMER
DRAG RACES
Eureka Live’s Duck Tape Divas will host
Drag Racing Friday & Saturday 9PM. Special
Guest performer Drag King Billy Badass and
the Amazing Magic of the Tinman. 34 North
Main, Underground
FATZ 59 CLASSIC ROCK AT JACK’S
PLACE
37 Spring Street, Friday and Saturday, 9 PM
Midnight. High Octane Jell-O-Shots for a
Buck!!!Legendary ’HANDSOME LEE’ On
The Door. It’s all happenin’ between Center
and Spring.
o HARDWARE AT THE YARD
Lumberyard, 105 East Van Buren, The Yard
has yet to disclose what they have in store.
Whatever it is, they always find some way to
celebrate!!
EXORCISE THE HANGOVER
DEMONS
You want crazy? We’ll give ya crazy! A
Diversity Breakfast you will never forget.
Play" Name That Tung’ With Sandy at the
Smokehouse Cafd, 580 West Van Buren,
Saturday & Sunday, 8:30 A.M tol l:30ish,
biscuits as big as your head. WIN Fabulous
Prizes. Highly Recomended.
o RAMPANT STREET SEX!
Not really: Just some amusement for the
tourist and to annoy the fundies.
The Summer Diversity Public Display Of
Affection Photo Shoot..12 noon, Basin
Park band shell, downtown. A G-rated
opportunity to smooch your sweetie-or the
perfect stranger-for posterity. Eureka Pride
has treats to pass out for the first to come,
first to get. Park Music Stylings, ! 2 - 2 PM
Jones Van Jones, 2-4 PM 2 - 4 Cletus Got
Shot, 4-6PM 4 - 6 The HillBenders.
OPEN ARMS SPIRITUALITY
Saturday.Discussion on the spiritual path
of the Sufis with Sufi Master: Don Kitz at
Eureka Springs Library Annex 2 - 4 PM
Sunday Discussion on the spiritual path of
Wicca with Wiccan Priest: Tymythy Aieran at
Eureka Springs Library Annex 1 - 3PM
...... Continued See EUREY,~k Page-20
~wcvv.metrostarnews.com #~®t~°oSTAR 9
N
Wockner News Service
gay sex ban struck down
GLBTs decriminalized
17% of
Following an @t-year court battle, India’s Delhi High Court legalizedgay sextidy 2 in aforcefid
andpoetic ruling that had GLBTactivists ~ying in the courtroom. Marchersprotested the sodomy
ban at lastyear’s Delhi gay prideparade. Wockner Newsphoto by Sonali Gulati
Following an eight-year court battle,
India’s Delhi High Court legalized gay sex
July 2 in a forceful and poetic ruling that had
GLBT activists crying in the courtroom.
The ruling took effect immediately --
nationally -- and will remain in effect unless
the Supreme Court reverses it. Several major
Western media outlets erroneously reported
July 2 that the ruling only applied in New
Delhi.
The court decision "read dowff’ Section
377 of the Indian Pena! Code so that it no
longer applies to the activities of consenting
adults. The section bans "carnal intercourse
against the order of nature ,vith any man,
woman or animal" under penalty of 10 years
to life in prison.
The court smashed 377’s application
to gay people in myriad ways, finding
it violated a constitutional guarantee of
equality under the law, a constitutional
ban on discrimination based on sex, and
constitutional promises of personal liberty
and protection of life.
The ruling is chock-full of soaring
statements in support of India’s GLBT
population, including:
* "The critninalisation of homosexuality
condemns in perpetuity a sizable section of
society and forces them to live their lives
in {he shadow of harassment, exploitation,
humiliation, cruel and degrading treatment at
the hands of the law enforcement machinery.
... Section 377 IPC grossly violates their right
to privacy and liberty embodied in Article
21 insofar as it criminalises consensual sexual
acts between adults in private."
* "Section 377 IPC targets the
homosexual community as a class and
is motivated by an animus towards this
vulnerable class of people.... It has no
other purpose than to criminalise conduct
which fails to conform vdth the moral or
religious views of a section of society. Tile
discrimination severely affects the rights and
interests of homosexuals and deeply impairs
their dignity."
* "When everything associated with
homosexuality is treated as bent, queer,
repugnant, the whole gay and lesbian
community is marked with deviance and
perversity.... The result is that a significant
group of the population is, because of
its sexual non-conformity, persecuted,
marginalised and turned in on itself."
* "We hold that sexual orientation
is a ground analogous to sex and that
discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation is not permitted by Article 15 ....
A provision of law branding one section of
people as criminal based wholly on the State’s
moral disapproval of that class goes counter
to the equality guaranteed under Articles 14
and 15 under any standard of review."
.... [R]ight to personal liberty’ and ’right
to equality’ are fundamental human rights.
which belong to individuals simply by virtue
of their humanity: ... A Bill of Rights does
not ’confer’ fundamental human rights. It
confirms their existence and accords them
protection."
"~ "Indian Constitutional laxv does not
permit the statutory criminal law to be held
captive by the popular misconceptions ofwho
the LGBTs are. It cannot be forgotten that
discrimination is antithesis of equality and
that it is the recognition of equality which
will foster the dignity of every individual....
We declare that Section 377 IPC, insofar it
criminalises consensual sexual acts of adults in
private, is violative of Articles 21, 14 and t5
of the Constitution."
What happens next?
The national government could appeal
the ruling to India’s Supreme Court, though
that is considered unlikely; the national
government could both accept the ruling
and use it as ammo to introduce a bill in
Parliament to duplicate the ruling in national
law; and/or anti-gay parties to the lawsuit
could appeal to the Supreme Court.
But until such time as the Supreme Court
overturns the Delhi ruling, India’s GLBTs
-- who comprise more than 17 percent of all
GLBT people on the planet -- are no longer
criminals. India has a population of nearly
1.2 billion people.
The erroneous reports that the ruling did
not apply outside ofNew Delhi appeared in
The New York Times, The Washington Post,
the Los Angeles Times, on the Associated
Press ~vire and elsewhere. (For correct
information, see bit.ly/WeX,vO and bit.
ly/7su4o.)
"Every major media outlet in the ~vorld
got this wrong because they don’t understand
how the Indian courts work," said journalist
Vikram Doctor of India’s Queer Media
Collective. "It will apply nationally until
somebody challenges that at the Supreme
Court, which is where this case is going to
end up anyway."
In most common-law court systems,
including India’s in this case, the decision of
an appellate court binds lower courts within
its territorial iurisdiction and also is the ’last’
word on the subject nationally unless a court
of equa! authority elsewhere makes a contrary
decision or the supreme court reverses the
decision. An appellate decision also binds the
parties in the case (which include the Indian
government in this case) r~gardless ofwhere
they are in the country.
Meanwhile, gay pride parades were
staged in four Indian cities June 27-28
-- New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and
Bhubaneshwar.
At least 2,000 people marched in New
Delhi. Marches are still to come in Mumbai
and Kolkata.
300 march in Sofia
Around 300 people marched in the
second gay pride parade in Sofia, Bulgaria, on
June 27, twice as many as last year.
Police and private security officers, hired
by pride organizers, protected the marchers
to prevent a recurrence of last year’s violence,
when sldnheads and right-wing extremists
attacked the parade with bottles, rocks, eggs,
firecrackers, smoke bombs and Molotov
cocktails, resulting in 80 arrests.
This ),ear’s march, which traveled from the
National Palace of Culture~to the Red House
debate club, encountered nothing more
serious than some booing.
Organizers called for a law to bail anti-gay
discrimination in employment.
Liza does Paris Pride
Singer andgay icon Liza Minnelli danced on a
float in Paris’gayprideparadeflme 2Z To her
left.: Gay Paris Mayor Bertrand DelanM. Photo
by Nikolai Alekseev
Singer and gay icon Liza Minnelli danced
on a float in Paris’ gay pride parade June 27.
Minnelli is the daughter of gay icon Judy
Garland, whose death five days before the
Stonewall Riots 40 years ago is thought to
have contributed to the foul mood of the gays
who decided to fight back against the police
raid of the Stonewall Inn.
"Freedom," Minnelli shouted from the
float. About 700,000 people took part in the
festivities.
"We knew that she (Minnelli) had a
concert this evening in Paris but when
her agent told us that she could come, we
thought it was a joke," Pride spokesman
Philippe Castel mid Agence France-Presse.
Berlin also held Pride on June 27. About
550,000 people turned out, reports said.
Gay pride goes well in
Jerusalem, for a change
About 2,000 people marched in
Jerusalem’s gay pride parade June 25 without
incident, but for one tossed egg.
Previous years’ marches have been met
with violent protests, stabbings and the arrest
of a man carrying a bomb.
Police protection was reduced this year, to
a mere 1,600 officers.
No matter who you are o
are on life’s journey,
-Re~ere~d Dr. K~hy
3131 hi. Pennsylvania,Oklaho 405.525.9555
10 ~>{~’oSTAR August 2009
New group forms to help
gay refugees
A new organization in San Francisco aims
to help GLBT refugees ~vho are fleeing sexual
or gender-based violence in their native lands.
Only through raising consdousness of
LGBT refugee issues to governments, refugee
organizations, communities and the media,
will help come to these individuals, who are
among the most persecuted people in the
world today," the Organization for Refuge,
Asylum & Migration said in a statement.
The group provides free legal counsel
for GLBT refugees who have escaped their
home countries, and it will conduct ’\videranging
international advocacy to advance the
protection of all LGBT refugees and asylum
seekers."
"LGBT refugees often fall through the
cracks of the international refugee regime,"
said Executive Director Neil Grungras.
"They have escaped systematic hatred and
violence at home, and their LGBT identity
brings serious new threats to their safety
and protection in countries of first asylum.
MaW live in a toxic mix of destitution and
desperation.
"The recent surge in homophobic violence
in Iraq has shone a spodight on the painful
truths we’re dealing with first-hand in the
Middle East. LGBTs are the most persecuted
people in many regions of the world today.
For every reported execution, there are
likely tens of judicially or family-sanctioned
murders."
In recent months, several Iraqigays have
been shot to death by militias and anti-~ay
family or tribe members; Some have h~dtheir
anuses glued shut by deah squadsi arid there
have been allegaions of executions by the
government.
Reports in April said gay men were being
captured and their anuses superglued with
something called "American gum," after
which they were being forced to ingest a
diarrhea-causing substance and sometimes
died.
Scott Long, director of Human Rights
Watch’s LGBT Rights Division, visited Iraq
in April and "collected several accounts" of
the practice, which reportedly can be seen in
mobile-phone videos that have been passed
around inside the country.
Massive abuses are taking ~lace ~
Baghdad, and apparently in other cities in
the center and south," Long said. "XWe may
never know the full sweep and scope of the
killings so far, amid a pervasive insecurity
that brutalizes innumerable people and
devastates multiple communities, but we ate
,d°ing everything we,.,.can to,, determine and
ctocument accountability.
Poles hate same-sex
Seventy-five percent of Poles oppose
legalization of same-sex marriage and 87
percent say gay couples shouldn’t be allowed
{o adopt chi]’dren, a Gt~ Polonia poll has
found.
~e poll is the latest example of the wide
gulf on _~ay acceptance that separates Western
Europe ~rom the European nations that used
to be part of the Communist bloc.
Same-sex marriage is legal in Europe in
Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and
Sweden -- and most other Western European
nations have civil-union laws for gay couples.
Saudis arrest 67 crossdressers
Police arrested 67 mostly Filipino men for
wearing women’s clothing June 13 in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia.
The roundup took place at a private
residence during a Philippines Independence
Day party.
The men were charged with imitating
women and possessing alcohol.
Similar arrests in the past have led to
imprisonment and floggings.
"If the police in Saudi Arabia can arrest
people simply because they don’t like their
clothes, no one is safe," said Human Rights
Watch researcher Rasha Moumneh. "Arresting
and charging people simply because the police
decide that their appearance is unacceptable
strikes at the heart of human freedom."
Ukraine bans Briino
Sacha Baron Cohen’s new gay flick Br~ino
has been banned in Ukraine for alleged
immorality, obscenity and impropriety.
The Culture Ministry said it was
displeased with the movie’s "artistically
unjustified" gay-sex scenes, obscene language,
nudity, graphic homosexuality, sadisra and
anti-soc.ial behavior.
In the U.S., the Gay & Lesbian Alliance
Against Defamation also has dissed the film.
"The filmmakers wanted to use satire to
highlight and challenge homophobia," said
GLAM) President Jarrett Barrios. "But their
film also reinforces troubling attitudes about
gay people in ways that run counter to the
intentions ofthe filmmal~ers.
"The movie repeatedly builds entire scenes
around stock stereotypes and situations that
make gay people and families the butt of
crude jokes. I can’t help but think of all the
teenage kids already getting bullied, beat
up and ridiculed for being -- or for being
thought to be -- gay. For these kids, this
movie will give their tormentors one more
word in the anti-gay lexicon of slurs: Br~no."
Some gay bloggers and Facebook users
who have seen the film say GLAAD is
humorless and needs to find its funnybone
-- a charge the group occasionally has
encountered before.
Group says GLBT
activists targeted after
Honduran coup
~he International Gay and Lesbian
Human Rights Commission on July 17
condemned "the recent murder and arbitrary
arrests of... LGBT activists in Honduras."
"IGLHRC has learned that these human
rights abuses have occurred as a direct result
of the military coup on June 28 ... which
ousted that country’s democratically elected
government," the group said.
A transgender activist xvas shot dead June
29 a block from the gay community center in
the city of San Pedro Sula, IGLHRC said.
"Local activists in Honduras claim she
was killed by military police patrolling the
streets," the organization reported.
Five other GLBT activists -- Hdctor
Licona, Donny Reyes, Patrick Pav6n, Claudia
......Continued see HONDURAS page 20
I million & prime minister’s wife at London Pride
One million people, including Sarah Brown, wife of
Prime Mimster Gordon Brown, took part m Londons
gaypridepamdeJuly 4. ScotsGayph~to
One million people and Sarah Brown,
xvife of Prime Minister Gordon BroWn, took
part in Londoffs gay pride parade Jnly 4.
Mrs. Brown carried a red, white and pink
Union Jack flag.
Members of the military marched in
uniform, as did firefighters and a contingent
from British Airways.
Prior to the march, Mr. Brown met with
organizers at his residence and said theUnited
Kingdom has made "massive strides"
in the march toward gay equality.
Marriage is almost the last thing on the
agenda for British GLBTs. An existing civilpartnership
law grants registered same-sex
couples all the rights of marriage.
Noted gay activist Peter Tatchell carried
a sign in the parade that read: "Gordon &
Sarah can marry, gays can’t. End the ban on
gay marriage." He wore a T-shirt that said
"Homo Libertd, Egatitd, Sexualit&"
1 million at Madrid Pride, 35,000 at Barcelona
Pride
About 35,000people marched in Barcelona’sfirst large-scale gayprideparadeJune 28. Photo by Yves Bohic
A million people turned out for Madrid’s
gay pride parade July 4.
With same-sex marriage already legal and
little left to fight for, organizers put forth the
theme of greater freedom for GLBT young
people in schools.
In Barcelona, about 35,000 people
marched June 28. It was the city’s first largescale
pride parade. The procession began at
Plaga de la Universitat and ended at Plaga
d’Espanya.
www.metrostarnews.com ~®t~oSTAR 11
p t the °°gay"
in Christian,
12 ~;~STAR August 2009
AUGUST TH 2009
H O M A
~ENTER TO WIN
BANTA
www.metrostamews.com ~etroSTAR 13
14 #~troSTAR August 2009
We have found Heaven and it is
BOOTHBA¥ HARBOR, MAINE
by Donald Pile and Ray Williams
Photo: From a room with a viw~ Topside Inn
Onour recent 4 week driving trip to
the east coast we visited a lot of cities, towns
and villages and had a wonderful time at
each of them. All were fun, interesting and
exciting to visit however our stay in Boothbay
Harbor, Maine was "beyond fabulous"! We
first checked into the Topside Inn. It is
located on the tallest hill in the city and was
a 19th century sea captain’s home. They also
have guest cottages to the side of the main
house. They have a total of 21 guest rooms.
The owners, Brian Lamb and Ed McDermott
have mvned the Inn for several years and they
certainly know how to do everything PJGHT
!!!!! The views of the harbol; ships, seals,
birds and the flora and fauna from the Inn
are absolutely incredible! ~le view from our
room looking out into the harbor was just
like a movie set! This truly was Heaven! All
guest rooms have their own private in-suite
bathrooms, cable TV and dial-out telephone.
King, queen, or two beds are available. All
rooms include hair dryers, irons and ironing
boards.
Brealdqast is something that is a "DO
NOT MISS". A fabulously scruraptious si~-
down breal’~ast is served every morning in the
breakfast room which overloolcs the bay.
It iust doesn’t get any better! We me~ a lot
of wonderful gnests from all over the country
while staying there. Many guests return
time and time again because of the great way
that Brian and Ed makes all of their guests
feel a~ home. Everything about this Inn is
perfect! The owners should open a school for
innkeepers on the right w~ay to run an hm.
And did we mention the incredible views that
we had from our room at the Iun? There’s the
sunrise and the famous footbridge over the
inner harbor, to the lighthouses, islands, out
to sea, aud the western sunset. Their website
is: http://www.topsideinn.com/and their toll
free phone is 1-888-633-5404 or you can
emait them at info@topsideinn.com.
Downtown Boothbay is just a couple
of blocks down the hill and it is filled ~vith
quaint restaurants, galleries, shops and the
the waterfront piers. You can take excursion
boat trips ranging from an hour cruise to a
full day at sea. Visit the Historical Society
in Boothbay Harbor and the Museum in
Southport to learn about ice cutting and ship
building in days gone by. See the handiwork
of local boat yards, which continue the
tradition in
state-of-the art
materials, and keep
aliv~ their heritage
ofworld-class boat
builders. Watch
the lobstermen
tend their traps,
or put to sea for
a close enconnter
with a barnacleencrusted
whale.
Actually, Boothbay
Harbor has been
around since the
1700’S when it was
a fishing village
and shipbuilding
center. By 1900
over 500 vessels
had been built in
the region.
Tl~e first morning we visited the Botanical
Gardens which was a real treat. Check it
out at va*av.mainegardens.org. It is New
England’s largest botanical garden on 248
waterfront acres with beautiful gardens,
waterfront trails, sculpture and much, more.
Enjoy collections of roses, native plants,
rhododendrons and thousands of other
perennials, ornamental trees, shrubs and
spring bulbs. It is a ,vonderful walldng tour
and you can either take a guided tour on visit
it by yourself. They are open 9 to 5 everyday
and all year long.
No trip to Boothbay Harbor would
be complete without taking a Schooner
Eastwind cruise. Herb and Doris Smith have
built six schooners and have sailed around the
world t~vice with their children. They
offer a 2 V2 hour cruise in the harbor where
you can visit several small islands, birds,
seals and other sea life and a lighthouse.
They have 3 or 4 cruises everyday. Call
207.633.6598 to make a reservation. This
is the finest Schooner cruise that we have
ever taken. Herb and Doris really enjoy
telling people about their travels and explains
everything about the Schooner. This is the
only cruise to take!
And now, the best of the best when it
comes to dining. In our travels from coast
to coast we have never had such a fabulous
dining experience as we had our last night in
-Boothbay Harbor. Ports of Italy is a family
owned and operated restaurant. Chef Davide
Rossi and his wife Christa are the owners.
We used taste buds that we have not used in
years! We are NOT talking spaghetti and
meatballs here, but a full range of northern
Italian cuisine that is mouth-watering
tasty. Between courses be sure and try their
Intermezzo to cleanse your palette with the
fabulously, delicious Lemon Sorbet and Vodka
Slush. Just be sure and save room for some
of the wonderful desserts. Their website is
www.portsofitaly.com. As we said, in all of
our travels, this is the finest dining experience
that we have ever had! We had a 7 course
meal that night and everything that we had
was "beyond" fabulous and we know that we
will never, ever have a dining experience so
grand as this one. That is, until we return to
Boothbay Harbor again. Boothbay Harbor
is a wonderful place to spend a week or two
and just relax, enjoy the sights and sounds
of the area. Forget going to the Red Door
for a complete rejuvenation ofyourself.
Instead iusr go to Boothbay Harbor, and
don’t forget to stay at the wonderful Topside
Inn. Owners Brian and Ed are the best of
the best. For more information go to ,vww.
boothbayharbor.com.
Always remember to have fun ,vhen
traveling, meet new people and talk to
everyone!
UCAN, INC TO
FOCUS ON HIV/
AIDS PR£VENTION
By Victor Gorin
Reverend Loyce Newton Edwards ofChurch of
the Open Arms UCC. Gorin photo
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK In 2008
UCAN Inc. ( United Church of Christ
MDS/HIV Network) was formed under the
Health and Wholeness Ministry of the United
Church of Christ to establish a program
for people of faith to address the issues of
HIV/MDS. This will feature a special focus
on HIV prevention.
Among 8 members of UCAN’s Board
of Directors, one is the Reverend Loyce
Newton-Edwards of UCC’s Church of the
Open Arms in Oklahoma City, and another
is the Reverend Leslie Penrose ofTulsa’s
Community of Hope UCC Church. States
Reverend Loyce, " I’m excited about this
new ministry because through the United
Church of Christ we can work vdth local
community partners to develop HIVIMDS
programs, including a focus on prevention.
\Ve want to do something positive, to expand
our territory of ministry to include a specific
outreach to those infected and affected by
HIV/MDS. "
UCAN has applied for a grant from
the Federal Center for Disease Control which
would be over 2 million dollars, but as of
press time it has nor yet been approved. This
outreach would bring needed services to
people in need wherever UCC churches are
located, throughout the United States and
abroad.
www.metrostarnews.com }~®{~’oSTAR 15


@Club 209, Tulsa @ The Ledo, Oklahoma City @ Tulsa Eagle, Tulsa
@ Finishline, Oklahoma City @Angles, Oklahoma City @ The End Up, Tulsa
18, August 2009
ARE YOU WONDERIN WHEI
EVERYONE ItAS BEEN LATELY?
Open Every Day 4pro to 2am
836 - 09q 5
Monda.y
Friends and Family @ 6pm
Dancers @ 10pm
Tuesday
$0.50 Draught Beer Night
Dancers @ 10pm
Wednesday
Pool Tournament @ 8pm
Dancers @ 10pm
Thursday
Bin" Bingo with E-Lyra St. James @ 7pm
Dancers @ 10pm
Friday
Dancers @ 10pm
Saturday
Dancers@ 10pm
Sunday
Free Pool All Day
DanCers
Open Every Day at 2pro
{9"!8} 437 -0449
Monday
Movie Madness - Showtimes 7pm and lOpm
Tuesday
Drama Lite- All the Gay, Half the Drama
Wednesday
A Night in Vegas Drag Show @ 10pm
Thursday
$0.50 Draught Beer Night
Friday
Cabaret Night @ 8pm
Saturday
Big Gay Dating Game w/Daphne Rio @ 10pm
Sunday
Disco Night @ 9pm
The Hideaway Tropical Lounge becomes
the World’s Smallest Disco
ww~v.metrostarnews.com @etroSTAR 19
By Camper English
q-he Mixer Mix-up
Much as I love the name, I can’t bring
myself to consume what the kids today are
calling the Skinny Bitch. This cocktail is
usually made with a flavored vodka, Diet
Coke. and a squeeze of lime. My issue with
the drink doesfft involve the liquor, but with
the artificially flavored and sweetened soda.
But the Skinny Bitch is not really a drink
focused on the Coke: it’s a drink focused
on the Diet. Also focusing on the diet is a
really they may as well be swilling cola.
Now that I’m a fully functioning cocktail
snob, I don’t drink the tonic water, sodas and
juices that come out of the cocktail squirter
in bars at all. I like fresh juices and mixers
without artificial sweeteners - and it turns out
these typically have less calories than do the
sugared-up cranberry juice and sodas you’ll
get in most bars anyway. At home. you can
buy high quality mixers with natural and
organic sweeteners for your cocktails: Out at
the clubs though, you probably won’t have
that option, so you can opt for diet soda or
soda water as mixers. Or better yet, opt for
that sugar-laden Apple-Cosmo-Choco~Tini at
the bar. and then spend the night worldng off
writer named
Teresa Marie
Howes, who
wrote a whole
book on diet
drinks this year
called Skinnydnis.
Most of the
recipes in the
book cut calories
in cocktails by
adjusting the
amounts of
liqueurs and
mixers. ,as distilled
spirits like gin and
vodka all have
about the same -~
number of calories
per volume. Her
drinks call for
light or diet iuices
and sodas, and
flavored water
and other mixers
instead of sugar- ~ ~:~ ~
laden liqueurs in ~_o~
recipes. She makes
crab/placements
like swapping out the orange liqueur in a
Margarita with light orange juice and Sweet
’N Low.
those calories on the dancefloor.
Camper English is a cacktails and spirits
writer andImblisher ofAlc~mics.com
Census Bureau will
count married gay
couples as married
The U.S Census Bureau said June
19 it will count married gay couples as
married in the 2010 census.
The prior plan had been to retabulate
such couples as "unmarried partners," an
existing census-form category, because of
the federal ban on recognition of samesex
marriages.
Gay activists, as part of their recent
broadside against President Barack
Obama’s inaction on gay issues, had
srepped up their criticism of the plan to
skew the data.
Gay marriage is legal in three states
and wil! be legal in five, six or raore by
the time of the census.
One set of mixers that are often mixed
tip are soda water and tonic water. They,
both have water in the name so you can
understand the confusion, but the two
are vastly different liquids. Soda water is
carbonated water, and mixes well with
vodka. (Gin not so much.l Tonic water pairs
well with more spirits, and is consumed in
different countries with vodka, gin, rum.
tequila, and even Port wine.
But tonic began as a tonic - a medicine
used to prevent and cure malaria. It gets its
flavor from the very bitter quinine that was
once harvested from the bark of the cinchona
tree, niclmamed the "fever tree" as it cured
the malarial fever. To make the powdered
bark palatable, explorers and soldiers in
mosquito-intense countries around the world
added sugar to the solution. Later, gin was
added and the G&T was born. Hooray for
medicine!
The important thing to note in that last
paragraph is the use of sugar. Its presence
(or more commonly, the presence of high
fi’ucmse corn syrup) in drinks means it has
those calories you’ve been trying to avoid.
Many people think they’re sipping a diet
drink when they choose tonic water, but
TABC says Texas bar
raid was a big mistake
By Rex Wockner
The head of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage
Commission told the gay newspaper Dallas
Voice on July 16 that his officers committed
multiple "clear violations" of agency policy
when they and local police raided the gay bar
Rainbow Lounge in Fort Worth on June 28,
the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
The violent raid put patron Chad Gibson
in a hospital intensive-care unit with bleeding
on his brain. Two other patrons sustained
lesser injuries and several patrons were
arrested for the crime of having drunk too
much.
"I don’t think you have to dig very deep to
figure out that TABC has violated some of
their policies," Alan Steen said. "XTqe know
that and I apologize for that.... It’s real dear
that however it is that ~ve were doing business
that night is not the typical TABC."
"You can read (our) policy and you can
figure out really quickly, TABC shotfldn’t have
even been there," he said. "If our guys would
have followed the damn policy, we wouldn’t
even have been there.... We don’t participate
in those kinds of inspections when there’s
not probable cause or reasonable suspicion or
some public safety matter to be inspected."
* THREE IMPROMPTU POOL PARTEAZE
ON TAP FOR SATURDA~
The guests of the TRADEWINDS, home of
the "HIDDEN POOL" are welcome to host
their own s~vim party. Invite your friends
over for an impromptu after dark ........dip
in the pool Reserve your Tradewinds themed
room nmv by calling David or Terry (479)
253-9774, request the Summer Diversity
Weekend rate.
Land O Nod aka:The Pink Palace, POOL
PART~. Guests are welcorne to invite their
new friends, old friends, and even the Xfriends
over for a swim... No glass...Plenty of
towels...Pool honrs will be extended until 12
midnight... Toll Free: 1-800-526-3263 Local
Phone: (479) 253-6262. Rooms as low as
59.00 a night...mffst request DW rate.
Alvin & Charlie are hosting a PRIVATE
MEN ONLY POOL PARTY at their private
residence. MUST drop by the Byrds Eye
View, 36 North Main or Contact EurekaPride
Sponsors Alvin & Charlie for an invitation
and details. Toll Free: 888 210-8401
° STRADDLE THIS...
For those who enjoy the thrill of wrapping
your legs around a tornado of pounding
pistons, THE DIVERITY BIKER’S
OZARKS FUN RUN’ Sat. August 8, 11 AM,
Planers Parking Lot Hwy 23 N. (Main St.)
and Hwy. 62. This ride will require a helmet.
Also, bring a bathing suit, ifyou want to take
a dip. There will be a lunch stop during the
ride.
~ NOWWE’RE HUNGR~q
FREE GOURMET BUFFET & ARTIST
RECEPTION at the new Dreamweaver
Gallery, 184 N. Main. Gallery owners David
artd Melanie go top chef with a full dinner
buffet. Drop by for a culinary adventure,
art, and meet their featured guest, art
photographer Matt Johnson. Check out all
the Eureka art during the "2ND Saturday
~Gallery Stroll~,’ on Saturday from 3-8 PM.
SHAYdN NOT STIRRED!
Henri’s Just One More. 19 V2 Spring Street.
Saturday Night Karaoke Dance Party with
DJ’S Shakin" not Stirred.
IMPORTA_NT REMINDER- BE
COOL, BE SEEN, BE SAFE: avoid those
Diversity buzz-killers like getting a DUI or
trying to find a parking place downtown.
Eureka Springs Limousine. $5.00 point to
point. Call 479-363-6055 for your PICK-UP!
Cervantes and Lizeth iivila -- were arrested,
detained and beaten June 29 in Tegucigalpa,
the capital, IGLHRC said.
"Nae arrests occurred while the activists
were participating in a demonstration
in support of the democratically elected
government," the group said.
The five activists are well-known GLBT
leaders.
"The recent coup in Honduras is an illegal
assault on democracy that violates the rights
of all Honduran citizens, including those ,vho
identify as LGBT," said IGLHRC Executive
Director Cary Alan Johnson. "We especially
deplore the vicious murder and arbitrary
arrests ofLGBT people in the wake of this
crisis."
20 August2009
by Jack Fertig August 2009
"Keep it light, Sagittarius"
Mercury in Leo trine to Eris provokes
bold partisan assertions. There’s
healthy room for that, but it can go
overboard. Mercury then opposes
Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron in
Aquarius. leading through confusion,
perhaps to improvement in ideals and
philosophy. "You stand a better chance
of improving yourself, not othe rs.
ARIES (Narch 20-Apri~ 19): Culture
clash can give you a better sense of
who you are and who you’re not, but
that will be challenged again when you
reassess political ideals. Confusion and
change are necessary steps to growth.
Just walk through it.
TAURUS (Apri~ 20 - Nay 20): Pride
in home and family can clash with
honesty about sameness. Ask yourself
the hard questions that have never
been answered. "Your insights could
lead to reconsidering career goals. New
answers there would also be helpful!
GEN~NI~ (Nay 21- June 20): Your
brilliant ideas can be very helpful in
political long-range planning, but they
wil~ start up arguments over principles,
A real world approach may be needed
to get idealist notions down to earth, but
grounding will not come easily.
CANCER (June 21o Ju~y 22): Know
your worth and hang out with the
right people in your profession, those
whose level you should be at. Strutting
you~ Stuff in the Sack - maybe some
exhibitionism?, can open up new
channels for fantasy and exploration.
LEO (July 23 -August 22): The
simplest observation can quickly
become an ideological or academic
thesis. That could be good, clarifying
your own sense of where you stand. In
relationships, however, your position
may baffle you. Enjoy the mystery; it
won’t last long.
V~RGO (August 23 - September
22): That buzz in your brain, perhaps
about mortality or sexual identity, could
prove enlightening. See where it leads.
Worries about health should motivate
you to better exercise and hygiene.
(There’s always room for improvement!)
LIBRA (September 23 - October 22):
Playful banter with friends can lead you
into a situation, pushing you to take
sides, or you mig ht be able to negotiate
a common ground between opposing
camps. Solutions may defy logic.
Creativity and intuition serve much
better!
SCORPIO (October 23 - November
21}: You can make an effective gobetween
for colleagues and bosses.
Being clear about which side you’re
on will make you more effective. Your
focus on career can be a distraction
from problems at home. Your distraction
could even be the problem.
SAGITTAR~US (November 22
- December 20): You need a forum for
your opinion. Keep it light and playful
and more people will listen. Appeal to
emotions more than logic. Sticking to
ideals and principles may be safer than
citations that you’re "reasonably sure"
of.
CAPRICORN (December 21 -
January 19): Leaning on your
own ethnic identity, or your ethnic
preferences, can help you strut your hot
stuff. Sexual preference for a certain
skin color may be racist, or not. It’s all in
the context and attitude. Checking your
own couldn’t hurt.
AQUARIUS (January 20 - February
18): Arguments with your partner are
inflamed by a sense of competition.
Remember, you’re on the same side!
Together you can be unbeatable. Selfdoubt
can be a good thing if it leads you
to better answers.
HSCES (February 19 - Narch 19): If
you must argue with colleagues, make
sure it’s about something important;
remember you’re ultimately on the
same team. Is it really something at
work that’s bothering you? Take time
out, and meditate to find the real
problem.
Community for
People living
HW/A DS
A 50’! c (3) Non Profit 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 HIV+
and or living with AIDS who cannot
afford to purchase these items 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-rnail
ourhousetoo9865@sbcglobal.net
Across
1
12 3
4
33
58 }59 60
Island of Diamond Head Beach
Come-on after following a gay guy?
6 7 8
~
9 10 11
’12 !13
15 !
~
16
~ 39 40
~
DovTI3
t Figure skater Doug
2 Nuts 0fa tall one
3 It’s deep in a movie title
4 Hall ’Universi~
5 ~tflavor for gin
6 Shining examples
7 Prefix with physics
8 ~]ite~ A Boys Own
9 Frank of the House
10 Jaclde~ designer
1t Liza, to Lorna
12 Sept. follower
13 Month in Madrid
2l Dish nanie
22 Not in the pink
25 Antigay prejudice, e.g.
26 Phil of folk music
27 Home ofth~ Buckeyes
30 Be under the weather
32 Yellow-bri& way
nd_
45 Day before saying "~GIF"
~7 Halfofa pair 0fballs
Solution page 23
evidence
59 Way cool
60 Hydrocarbon su~x
w~vw.metrostarnews.com ~’ ~troSTAR 21
Another artistic aspect ofTulsa Ballet is its
commitment to create art in Oklahoma and export
it to the world. With this concept in mind, the
compaW built Studio K: a 300 seat, $6 million
theater, dedicated to the creation of new art.
This Is Your Life vcas among the first works to be
presented in the new theater. Created loosely on
the concept of the 1950’s television show that bore
the same name, this work merges drama, humor,
acting and stunning dancing to tell the stoW of its
characters.
Tulsa Ballet will perform according to the
fi~llowing schedule at The Joyce ~neater in
New’~%rk City from August 10 - 15: Monday
- \Vednesday at 7:30 pro, Tnursday- Saturday
at 8pm and Sunday- at 2pro. Tickets for these
performances are $19; $29; $39 and can be
arranged by calling JoyceCharge a 212-242-0800 "
or online at "~mv.joyce.org. NOTE: Ticket prices
are subject to change. %e Joyce Theater is located
at 175 Eighth Avenue at I9th Street in Chelsea.
If you can’t make the trip to see the company
in New York, Tulsa Ballet is hosting a Big Apple
Preview- Night in Tulsa on N~ursday, August 6 at
Studio K, 1212 East 45th Place. Tickets are still
available for this special event featuring a wine
and hor d’ouevres reception at 6:30 pm followed
by the performance at 7:00 pm. Tne evening will
culminate with champagne and desserts on stage
with the compan> Tickets can be purchased by
contacting Amy Miller, Director of Development
at (918) 392-5933.
The 2009-20 I0 Tulsa Ballet Season begins
in October with the Oklahoma premiere of Ben
Stevensoffs spectacular production of Dracula
that will be performed in Tulsa and Oklahoma
City during the Halloween season. Subscription
packages are on sale now and can be ordered by
calling the Tulsa Ballet box office at (918) 749-
6407. For more information about Tulsa Ballet,
please visit ~.~xvw.tutsaballetaorg.
New Rainbow Sweater
............................................................................w~,w~thega)mar{oonsite.corn
by Greg Fox
SCANDINAVIAN
Webs#e - wvs~c.kylecornics.com E-Mail- KylesBnB@~ol.com
22 fi%t~"oSTAR August 2009
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Oklahoma City, OK
405-528-2221
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Certified Public Accountant
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4624 E. 1 lth Street
Tulsa OK
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VALERIE W]LLIFORD
625 N.W. 13th Street
Oklahoma City, OK
405-226-8585
NATH_AN BLACK
PRIMERICA 10820 E. 45th #305
Tulsa, OK
918-615-8177
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OKC MORTUARY
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Oklahoma City, OK
800-913:1310
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Oklahoma
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BAMBOO LOUNGE
7204 E. PINE
Tt~sa, OK
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CLUB 209
209 N. BOULDER
Tulsa, OK
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CLUB MAJESTIC
124 N. BOSTON
Tulsa, OK
918-584-9494
www.ctubmajestictulsa.com
FINISHLINE
2200 >FW 39TH EXPRESSX~TAY
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405-525-2900
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THE COPA
2200 NW 39TH EXPRESSWAY
Oklahoma City, OK
405-525-0730
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HIDEAWAY LOUNGE
11730 E. 11TH
~I~Isa, OK
918-437-0449
Open Sun thru Sat 2pro to 2am
THE END UP
5336 E. ADMIRAL PLACE
~Asa, OK
918-836-0915
Open 7 days a week 2pro to 2am
Oklahoma City, OK
405-525-0730
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TULSA EAGLE
1338 E. 3RD
Tulsa, OK
918-592-1188
Open 7days week 2pm to 2am
CHURCH of the OPEN ARMS
3131 N. PENN,
OKC, OK 405-525-9555
Service Sunday 10:45 AM
HOPE TESTING CLINIC
3540 E. 31st
Tulsa, OK
800-535-2437
Oldahoma’s HIV/STD Hotline
SPIRIT OF CHRIST MCC
2902 E. 20TH STREET,
Joplin, MO * 479-529-8480
Service Sunday 6pro
MCC UNITED
1623 N. Maplewood, Tulsa, OK
918-838-1715
www.mcctulsa.org
OY~AEIOMANS for EQUALITY
621 Ei 4d~ Street
Tulsa, OK 74120
918-743-4297
wv~aokeq.org
OUR HOUSE, TOO
203 N. Negates Ave
Tulsa, OK741~7 :
918-585-9552
IGRA
Aurora, CO
www.igra.com
202-957-6187
JUDY G. PHOTO’S
Tulsa, OK
judygphotos@sbcglobal.net
918-743-8636
ARMANDO AMOR
Keller Williams Realty
1624 SW 122nd
Oldahoma City, OK 73170
405-473-6870
CENTURY 21 GOLD CASTLE
3627 NWEXPRESS\gAy"
Oklahoma City, OK 73112
405-840-2106
vc~w¢.c21 goldcastle.com
CHUCK BRECKENRIDGE
Keller Williams Realty
Tulsa, OK
918-706-1887
GUSHER’S RESTAURANT
2200 NW 39TH FA’~PRESSW’AY
Oklahoma City, OK
405-525-0730
Located inside Habana Inn
THE KITCHEN
2218 NW" 39th
Oklahoma City, OK 73112
Located inside the BOOM
THE MARI~ET PLACE ON 39th
2235 N.W. 39th
°
oming Out
Armando Amor
Phone: 405-473-6870
Fax: 405-691.2708
THE
K~TCHEIN
2218 NW 39th
, : Oklahoma City, OKC 7311’,~
Open Tues.-Sun 12
Noon to 11PM. Featuring
Chef Susie Lopez.
BUY GI Joe Action Figures
(12" size Only)
Located inside the "BOOM"
Oklahoma City, OK
405-528-5555
NOW OPEN !!in iae
Marketplace on 39th
Eureka Springs, AR
www.eurelcasprings.org
KING OF MASSAGE
In or Out Calls
Oklahoma City, OK
405-882-6127
THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE
In Calls Only, NWOKC
405-822-7378
nwokcmassageguy@aol.cim
nformation
Ca[[ 8-549-8090
based.
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t~etro Star
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Start building a business
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Call Robin @
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Excellent instruction.
Set your own hours.
Call NATHAN BLACK
918-615-8177
SAVE & FILL YOUR PIGGY
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Chuck 8reckenridge
Wl~ether buying or selling
1’11 work hard for you.
w4w~.metrostarnews.com ~letroSTAR 23
300 San Pedro NE, Albuquerque
for ~n
The Demented
Divas
in Totally Plowed
From Truckers to
Nascar, from Trailer
Parks to Dollywood,
the Divas Poke Fun
at the Most
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in a Tribute to
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See the Award Winning,
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MTV, and VHI.
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Call 800-252-7772 ~onday - Friday, 8 a.~. - 5 p.m. (MS~
for the ~ntem~t~on~ Gay Ro~eo ~ssoc~t~o~ R~te of $85/n~g~t
August2009

magazine