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15 Years ago in ‘OutSmart’

July 15–Aug. 14, 1995

“Being queer is really fun because the rules are up to us!” was among the “gratitude list-starters” in A Few Tricks Along the Way: Daily Reflections for Gay Men, Queer Boys, Magnificent Queens, and the People Who Love Them, a new book by Gary J. Stern that reviewer Jeffrey C. Phillips found to be “quite wonderful.”

“The gift is to receive,” wrote relationship therapist Patrick J. Vachon, adding that judgment and criticism are major forces of destruction in individuals, couples, and communities.

Guests wore funny hats to comic Nancy Ford’s pre-birthday party at Ms B’s, where she presented a safer-sex-for-lesbians seminar for those who heeded Ford’s advice (with Kelly A. McCann) and advised guests that “girls don’t make passes at snatches with scratches.”

Ever-exotic disco legend Grace Jones headlined a fundraiser at Rich’s that benefitted the Human Rights Campaign Fund. Guest speaker was Candace Gingrich, out sister of then-U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

Aug. 15–Sept. 14, 1995

Outside of the “disco” Kroger on Montrose Blvd., and JR’s on Pacific St., OutVote registered voters for the upcoming fall city council races.

The Miss Camp America Foundation chose “Planet Hair: A Spray in Time” as the theme for its annual spoof of the Miss America Pageant, and designated The NAMES Project Houston, the PWA Coalition, Colt 45’s, and Bering Dental Clinic as its beneficiary charities.

Ben C. Crump was elected president of the Diana Foundation, along with vice presidents Earl E. Krieger and Ogden Robertson, treasurer Kurth Brown, secretary Parker Witt, and board members Gary Evan, Tom Mays, Bill Poplin, and Royce Wall.

A gay and lesbian readers group began meeting each month at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore at 3003 W. Holcombe. The first book discussed was A Place at the Table: The Gay Individual in American Society by Bruce Bawer.

At the cinema, Paul Rudnick’s sweet gay comedy Jeffrey tickled audiences at the Greenway 3, where more adventurous moviegoers checked out Love and Human Remains. The Canadian film was based on Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love, the Brad Fraser play that had christened Gerald LaBita’s Theater LaB Houston (TLH) in 1993, proving its claim of bringing “dangerous theater” to the Bayou City.

Donalevan Maines also writes about the Emmys in this issue of OutSmart magazine.

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Don Maines

Donalevan Maines is a regular contributor to OutSmart Magazine.

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