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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 5, 1996)
ju s t o u t ▼ july 5 . 1 9 9 0 ▼ 5 national briefs CALIFORNIA The National Endowment for the Arts awarded a $100,000 grant to the NAMES Project Foundation’s AIDS Memorial Quilt Project. The quilt, the world’s largest community art project, currently includes nearly 34,000 memorial pan els. When displayed in its entirety, it covers a space the size of 13 football fields. The grant will enable the NAMES Project Foundation to photograph and catalog the entire quilt. The project will also provide electronic images of the quilt on line and in multimedia packages. T T Y “Young, Loud and Proud,” a conference for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and question ing youth is scheduled to take place July 13-14 at Marina Middle School in San Francisco. Over 300 youth, ages 25 and under, are expected to attend. The conference is a special project of San Francisco’s Lavender Youth Recreation and In formation Center, which provides support and information for queer and questioning youth. The conference encompasses workshops, cau cuses, artistic opportunities, shows and a dance. Workshop topics will include advocacy, coming out, health and homelessness. The conference is free to all youth. For infor mation, call LYRIC at (415) 703-6150, ore-mail lyric@thecity.sfsu.edu. T T Y Since 1993, when cross-country coach Eric Anderson informed Huntington Beach High School students and school staff that he is gay, members of his team have been subjected to various forms of harassment from other students. Recently, a team member’s jaw was shattered during a beating he allegedly received from a football player. Jeremy Negrete, 18, told The Los Angeles Times that his assailant repeatedly called him “faggot” while pounding his head. The school’s principal characterized the inci dent as a fight between two teenage boys. He said the football player is an “excellent” student who scored 1300 on his SAT test. Negrete’s mother told the Times that her son and others on the cross-country team have re ported numerous instances of anti-gay harass ment since their coach came out. Negrete said he and his teammates respect Anderson, whom they affectionately call “Gumby.” He said his team believes that school officials are not doing enough to resolve the situation. CYBERSPACE Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, a national organization that promotes the health and well-being of lesbians, gay men, bi sexuals and their families and friends, is now on the Internet. PFLAG launched its very own home page on the World Wide Web on June 7. Among the features available to Web-surfers are information on chapters throughout the United States, international affiliates, and local and na tional PFLAG events, as well as membership information and press releases. The URL is http://www.pflag.org. DISTRICT O F COLUMBIA Despite the fact that Congress has already put in place plans to phase out funding within two years for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, opponents made one more stab at what they termed “obscene” art projects. Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) offered an amendment to the fiscal 1997 Interior Depart ment spending bill that would have cut $31,500 from the NEA’s appropriation. Coincidentally, that was the same amount that the NEA gave to lesbian filmmaker Cheryl Dunye last year for her film The Watermelon Woman. Hoekstra insisted the film was “obscene.” The bill’s $12 billion package covers funding for national parks, museums, the environment, the arts and “Indian affairs.” Hoekstra eventually withdrew his amendment. IDAHO A Nampa city councilman who made a dispar aging remark about homosexuals at a June 3 meeting now faces a recall campaign, reports the Associated Press. Councilman Tom Dale, speaking at a meeting regarding a proposed plan to recognize same-sex couples in the city’s Fair Housing Plan, said, “Homosexuals gaining status is morally abhor rent.” At a city council meeting that took place after Dale’s remarks, Phil Summa, spokesman for Citi zens for a Better Nampa, asked Dale to apologize. Dale responded by stating that he was sorry Summa had chosen to be offended by the remarks. Summa, who did not consider that an apology, launched a recall campaign against Dale. Summa must collect 3,000 signatures to force a recall election. IOWA A 62-year-old man serving a life sentence at the State Penitentiary for first-degree murder, lost his lawsuit to force prison officials to provide him with women’s clothing and makeup. Merlin Long said prison officials took away his women’s clothing and makeup in 1981. Since that time, according to Long, the prison has de nied him counseling for his gender identity disor der. In rejecting Long’s claim, the federal appeals court noted that he had refused counseling for many years and frequently did not cooperate when officials tried to address his disorder. U pcom ing A u t h o r s & Events Harry Hay W ednesday, July 2 4 th 7:30 p m MAINE State Sen. Dale McCormick lost a tough Demo cratic primary for Maine’s First District seat in the U.S. Congress in the June 11 election. Had McCormick won, she would have been the first out lesbian to win a major party primary for the U.S. House of Representatives. McCormick was defeated by former Portland (Maine) Mayor Tom Allen. She has now en dorsed Allen and called for unity in the fight to defeat ultra-conservative Republican candidate James Longley. that he has already had conversations with con servatives about the ratings system while exclud ing gay men and lesbians from the discussion. GLAAD requested a meeting with Valenti to discuss inclusion in the process, and also wants to hear from Valenti how his committee will deal with lesbian and gay content and images on tele vision. Y Y Y Not to be outdone by San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples exchanged vows in New York City in June at a “Wed-In,” reports the Associated Press. Pastors from different Christian denomina tions and a rabbi from Manhattan’s gay and les bian synagogue presided over the ceremonies, which took place behind the main branch of the New York City Library. Activists for same-sex marriage attended the ceremonies, including Gloria Steinem who spoke at the rally. She called the fight for same-sex marriage inseparable from the pro-choice and feminist movement. New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and New York Gov. George Pataki have both an nounced their opposition to same-sex marriage. Y Y Y NEW YORK A color sketch showing two male sailors em bracing in a passionate kiss in Times Square graces the cover of the June 17 issue of The New Yorker. The sketch is a take-off on the famous Life magazine photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt that shows a World War II sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on V-J Day. The Associated Press, in a related article, suggests that the sketch by Barry Blitt, titled “Don’t Ask,” may be a comment on the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. T T Y Concerned that conservatives are wielding undue influence over an entertainment industry committee charged with developing a ratings systems for television programming, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has written a letter to Jack Valenti, who is leading the effort to develop the rating system. Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Associa tion of America, admitted to The New York Times Seven AIDS activists were arrested June 10 after storming and occupying the office of state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R- Rensselaer). The activists, who were organized by ACT UP and Housing Works, demanded full restoration of funding for the AIDS Drug Assis tance Program. Three protesters chained them selves to Bruno’s furniture. After three hours they were removed by state police wearing rubber gloves. During the occupation, Gov. George Pataki placed a call on the Pataki-Bruno hot line, which was intercepted by ACT UP member John Riley. When Riley informed Pataki that Bruno’s office was currently occupied by activists protesting the removal of 70 percent of the drugs formerly provided by ADAP, an annoyed Pataki replied, “Call me back in a few minutes, Joe,” and hung up. TEXAS Log Cabin Republicans of Texas won its battle with the Texas Republican Party when a judge ordered the state GOP to allow the Log Cabin group to put up a booth at the state party conven tion. The state party had refused to rent exhibit space to the gay Republican group, claiming that Log Cabin endorses illegal behavior. State District Judge John Dietz issued a tem porary injunction ordering the state GOP to pro vide the Log Cabin Republicans with a booth and to let them advertise in the convention program. Compiled by Kristine Chatwood Are you ready for H o nest A nswers about protecting your financial future? A c tiv ist, a u th o r a n d te a c h e r H a rry H ay is a n A m e ric a n o rig in a l. H e h a s left h is m a r k o n so m e o f th e m o s t s ig n ific a n t so cial a n d c u ltu ra l m o v e m e n ts o f th e tw e n tie th c e n tu ry , fro m tr a d e u n io n is m to N ew A ge s p iritu a lity . 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