Singing Our Praises

• I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for the great article that Sally [Huffer] wrote. ["We Will Keep on Singing Until We’re Heard!" December OutSmart.] The guys were so excited and we appreciate so much the support that you have given us!

The concerts were very successful. We sold over 900 tickets (only 250 last year). Tuesday night SOLD OUT for the first time since 1993! The audience seems to really love it. Thank you once again for your support.

James Knapp
Director, Gay Men’s Chorus of Houston

• On the Pride Committee of Houston being included as one of the places to think about giving to during the season ["Ten Places to Share Your Wealth," by Ann Walton Sieber, December]:

As I have been working with the Pride celebration for almost 20 years and sometimes feel burned out, there always seems to be another wind that blows in to give me validation. I feel that our night parade has helped put our city on the map as something to be proud of, just as PVA, the Center for AIDS, and OutSmart.

We have been kicked around a lot: losing the referendum, seeing the thieves of Enron, really takes a toll.

We have to continue to do the best we can. Thank you and everyone at OutSmart for your continued support for Pride. From the most original floats, I will never forget the fish tank, to your great coverage and promotion of Pride to our community. You are truly a community treasure. Thanks again for all you do.

Jack Valinski
Volunteer Executive Director, Pride Committee of Houston

• Thanks so much for your column in the December OutSmart [OutRight, "Follies of the Antiwar Gay Left," by Dale Carpenter].

I am extremely active in Democratic politics but as a fiscal conservative and a bit of a hawk on defense issues, I get really tired of listening to all of my good liberal friends berate what we as a nation are doing right now.

Thank you for pointing out that the right to dissent that these folks use to make their comments would certainly not be tolerated in many of the nations they are effectively defending with their statements–and we won’t even talk about the price they would pay for their homosexuality. My boyfriend–while not a Muslim–is from an Arabic country [where] the penalty is effectively death.

Great job. It’s nice to know there’s at least one more patriotic queer out there.

Jimmy Wynn
Houston

• Thanks for publishing on your website Sue Null’s "Further Reminiscences of a Streetwalker" [OutSmart December website issue at www.outsmartmagazine.com/issue/i12-01/essay.html.] Sue is a treasure. I’m glad readers of OutSmart and subscribers to Han-Net now have an opportunity to find this out.

John Kellett
Houston