just out ▼ novom bsr 21, 1007 ▼ 7
Metcalf, who is campaigning for a third term in
Washington’s 2nd District.
“The Victory Fund’s No. 1 goal for 1998 is to
make history by electing the first open lesbian to
the U.S. Congress,” Bond said in the news state
ment. “We believe that fair-minded voters will
judge these exceptional women on their qualifi
cations— not their sexual orientation. All we ask
is that the Democratic Party do the same.”
We are family
A Minnesota Family Strength Project survey
released Oct. 20 found that gay and lesbian fami
lies are the healthiest and strongest family struc
tures in the state and families headed by unmar
ried heterosexual couples are the weakest, reports
the Washington Blade.
The survey relied on an admittedly unscien
tific sample o f 400 self-identified families, nearly
15 percent of which involved same-sex couples.
Researcher Dr. Judy Tiesel found that gay
people and their children are more likely than
heterosexual parents to report having “exception
ally” or “very” strong families, while at the same
time gay men and lesbians are more likely to
report having grown up in “weak” family situa
tions.
Tiesel postulates that sexual minorities “have
developed certain strengths— such as better com
munications skills or support systems” as a result
o f their “struggle to adapt in a relatively hostile
culture.”
The survey data is not considered scientific
because each person interviewed was asked to
provide her or his own definition o f the term
“family,” but the results are still useful, says
Terrance Steeno o f the state’s Family and
Children’s Services agency, which cosponsored
the research.
“We hope this is a catalyst for more research,”
he says. “This information begs for someone to go
further with it, to find out what makes a family
unit strong.”
Texas stands by lesbian
and gay foster and
adoptive parents
Texas child welfare officials are defending
their policy of allowing gay men and lesbians to
be foster and adoptive parents after a former
worker who opposed the policy threatened a law
suit.
The Dallas Morning News reported Nov. 11
that Child Protective Services spokeswoman Linda
Edwards said the primary criteria for qualifying
foster and adoptive parents is their ability to
“nurture and parent a child.”
Edwards’ defense came after former CPS su
pervisor Rebecca Bledsoe filed a grievance with
the state agency, claiming that she was demoted
Nov. 1 for removing a foster child from the house
of a lesbian couple.
Bledsoe said she told caseworkers to remove
the infant boy because “homosexual conduct is
against the law in Texas.” She also questioned
placing a black infant boy with two white lesbian
caretakers.
Supervisors say they demoted Bledsoe be
cause she did not follow the rules in moving the
infant to another foster home. They deny the
action was taken because o f a difference over the
policy regarding gay or lesbian families.
Edwards says the boy was returned to the
home o f the lesbian couple after the action was
taken against Bledsoe.
Bledsoe is threatening a lawsuit unless the
policy is changed.
T here ’ s N o T ime
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Filling the lesbian
health care void
Doctors held a health fair Oct. 19 to inaugurate
the Gay W omen’s Focus at Beth Israel Medical
Center in New York City.
GWF, a collection o f doctors dedicated to
lesbian health care issues, offers affordable pri-
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mary and gynecological care and mental health
services.
According to the New York Blade , Dr. Robert
Newman, now president o f Greater Manhattan
Healthcare Systems, got the project moving in
1995. The idea was timely, filling a void left
earlier that year when St. Mark’s W omen’s Health
Collective, a community health project for lesbi
ans, closed due to lack o f funding.
“Our goal is to make Beth Israel and every
other medical center a gay-friendly place,” says
Dr. Joan Waitkevicz, who was associated with the
collective from its inception in 1973 and ison staff
at GWF. “Not just to get them to accept gay
people, but to have a knowledge about their health
care issues.”
She and other GWF doctors have already made
presentations around the city to teach practitio
ners “how to unlearn homophobia, so that if a
lesbian comes through their doors, she leaves
feeling her voice has been heard and her needs
have been met.”
She’s still got it
The personal and professional life of everyone’s
favorite lesbian, Ellen DeGeneres, is still a hot
topic— at least Variety thinks so. Army Archerd,
a senior columnist at
the quasi-tabloid, re
cently dished up an
Ellen update and dug
up details on Ellen’s
date.
Archerd reported
that the Nov. ^ s e g
ment o f Ellen fea
tured g u est star
Emma Thompson as
a lesbian from Day-
ton, O h io, w ho
picked up an English
accent from watch
ing too many Julie
Andrew movies; and
that Sean Penn, no
stranger to coattails,
got in on the act by “coming out” on the show.
On a more personal note, Archerd revealed
that DeGeneres has been asked by Ron Howard
and Brian Grazer to play opposite Matthew
McConaughey in Ed TV, a film he said Howard
described to him as “Capra-esque.”
Word is DeGeneres had yet to read the script.
Compiled by Christopher D. Cuttone
Waddell
i* Reed
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