2 ▼ Ju ly 3 . 1 9 9 7 ▼ j u s t o u t
just out
since 1 983
PUBLISHER A N D EDITOR
Renée LaChance
steppin’ out
contents
VOL 14 NO. 17 JULY 3, 1997
N EW S EDITOR
Inga Sorensen
FEATURE
CO PY EDITOR
Kelly M. Bryan
Bring on the
rainbow
REPORTERS
Bob Roehr
Rex Wockner
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans -
gender Pride shone through some
especially thick liquid sunshine
CALENDAR EDITOR
Kristine Chatwood
(p
PHOTOGRAPHER
Linda Kliewer
19)
DEPARTMENTS
OFFICE M A N A G E R
Will O ’Bryan
World news
Namibian gays organize, find
labor laws are on their side
(p. 4)
ADVERTISIN G DIRECTOR
Meg Grace
ADVERTISING REP
Marty Davis
National news
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
E. Ann Hinds
GRAPHIC D ESIG N
Rupert Kinnard
FORMATTER/TYPESETTER
Christopher D. Cuttone
DISTRIBUTION
Kathy Bethel
Lynette Boatman
Rachel Ebora
Jim Galluz/o
Karyn Leek bee
Donald Rogers
CONTRIBUTORS
Kelly M. Bryan
Darice Clark
Christopher D. Cuttone
Kerry Hart
Lee Lynch
Jeffrey L. Newman
Will O’Bryan
M. Jane Taylor
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Jay sen (center), a ka Ivana, surveys the competition at Peacock in the Park on Sunday, June 29, at the Washin gton Park
Amphitheater. Organizers estimate that more than 4,000 attended the al fresco drag performance extravaganza, which is
held every year on the last Sunday of June. And a sun day it was, thanks to the "sun circle ” rituals that planners did during
the week leading up to the event. “We’re going to patent and sell that sucker, ” jokes organizer Kimberlee Van Patten.
Emcees Maria and Poison Waters shepherded the performers, who came from as far away as Denver, Co. The event drew
in $5,000 (before expenses) from tips and concession sales, to be given to the Audria M. Edwards Scholarship Fund.
Edwards was the mother of Elwood “ Woody ” Johnson, a ka Lady Elaine Peacock, whofounded both the fund and the event.
guest editorial
Fcantasyland
Federal panel issues draft
guidelines for HIV treatment;
proposed Medicaid changes
threaten health care
for people with HIV/AIDS;
Black Lesbian and Gay Pride
Day draws 5,000 to D.C. festival
(pp. 5-14)
Local news
Local cyclists take part in Ride
for a Reason; Right to Pride hosts
its Garden Party on July 12;
ENDA is on death row in Salem
(pp. 15-17)
CO LU M N S
Stonewall baby
Happy New Year—
it’s 28!
(p- 33)
Amazon trail
The Southern Baptists who are boycotting Disney would like to
take the country back to a ‘simpler time
T
To prospective homebuyers,
grass is worth green
(P- 34)
by B o b R o e h r
ARTS
’
alking down the street 1 spied a fellow com
notice if her cute little stuffed Lion King just disappears. But
ing the other way, shaking his head and
Momma won’t be able to watch that Regis and Kathie Lee every
carrying on an animated dialogue with some
morning.” That jolted him to a stop. “God, she loves that Regis.”
invisible demons. Another crazed street per
A taxi horn blared, and he jumped back onto the curb. His
son beset by alien mind-control radio waves?
face brightened, “Oh well, there’s still lots of good stuff on TV,
Probably not, I thought, he was freshly scrubbed, like
the polyester
that Jerry Springer fella, he’s from Cincinnati. And that
faintly gleaming with the artifact of “springtime freshness”
Mafia miniseries with all the shootin’. And reruns of Married
known only through the magic of industrial chemicals.
with Children. Now that FOX, they’ve got some great family
“Boycott,” he muttered, “Snow White.” “Homosexual
entertainment.
agenda."
“Yessiree, them folks in Dallas got it right. It’s not poverty,
I caught only half-phrases. Intrigued, I turned on my heels
or drug abuse, or crime that’s important; we’ve got to make sure
and fell in, a half pace behind.
those ho-mo-sex-uals go back into the closet. And then it will be
“Ellen, it’s Ellen’s fault,” he grumbled. “If Disney hadn’t
the 1950s all over again.” His face was radiantly beatific. “Now
allowed her to come out of the closet, then the American family
that’s the Christian spirit. It makes me proud to be a Southern
would be safe from divorce and child abuse and all the other
Baptist.”
elements of the ho-mo-sex-ual agenda.”
We parted ways at the next comer and my mind slipped
He spit out each syllable with measured disdain.
decades back, to an image of Tinkerbell. She would flit around
“Imagine, treating them like ordinary people. Letting them
and, with a pinch of fairy dust, change drab black and white to
wear a Mickey Mouse shirt just like the one my little Bobbie
a whole new world of vibrant Technicolor. Disney told quintes
wears. Or letting them wait, and wait, and wait in the same line
sential American stories then, of Daniel Boone, and Mousketeers,
that I did to ride the roller-coaster. Or giving their employees’ and Goofy. America has changed since my youth, and so has
Disney. But it still tells the most American of tales, only now
queer partners the same health benefits that my Lureen gets,
that is, if the company hadn’t cut mine. It’s just too much.
they include you and me.
We’ve got to stop those gay activists. We’ve got to boycott
It seems the Southern Baptists have developed an allergy to
fairy dust. They want to go back to a supposedly simpler and
Disney.
definitely blander time. They want to play the game of “let’s
“I know it’s gonna be hard, but we can do it,” he said to
pretend” and imagine us away. But ya can’t, Blanche, ya can’t.
himself, his jaw flexing with tension. “Maybe Arleen won’t
W
Music
You ’ve heard of drinking songs,
now k.d. long brings you
smoking songs
(P- 27)
Books
Portlander Rodger Larson tells
a boy's story that will appeal
across generation lines;
Death in Equality is unbalanced;
short reviews of recent work by
Nicola Griffith, Sarah Van
Arsdale and Lucy Jane Bledsoe
(PP- 29-31)
Entertainment
La Femme Magnifique sets the
stage asparkle at Darcelle IV;
NLA Portland harnesses the
power of leather pride
(P- 32)