ON UNITING OUR COMMUNITY

Certainly, Black History Month in February should not be the only time we consider the state of race relations in our community. After all, the GLBT nation reflects American society as a whole, and early in the 21st century much work remains.

For this issue, we asked a couple of outspoken individuals to comment on working and living together as a community, and how we can reach that point. Ron Helaire is a member of the Human Rights Campaign Business Council. Aaron Coleman is a writer and poet.

Helaire: "We've made great strides with race relations in this country. However, there is a great deal of work still to be done. The rhetoric from some members of the white community regarding the [Houston City Council] panel simply to discuss slave reparations shows that we've got a great deal of emotion to work through. It's not about the money, yet that's what everyone focused on."

Coleman: "In my opinion, we have to be, literally, thrown together in a variety of situations in order to get to feel one another. Poetry readings are one way. Sensitivity sessions, as in regards to race, music, art, and history and culture are another. Vendor fairs, discussion groups, art confabs, whatever way possible to bring people together. How about black-and-white-and-brown-and-yellow night at South Beach? Bring in someone of another persuasion, get your ass in free!"

LOCAL GROUPS ON THE MOVE

Several service organizations welcome the new year with new homes or affiliations.

On February 1, the Houston GLBT Community Center moves into a suite of offices at Montrose Boulevard and Hawthorne. The Houston Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus, Parents, Friends & Family of Lesbians & Gays-Houston, the Texas Human Rights Foundation, and Q-Patrol, Inc. have joined the center in the new second-floor space. "Besides our tenant partners, the many other organizations that used the center at 803 Hawthorne continue to use the center at 3400 Montrose," new center president Clarence Burton Bagby said. "We are also negotiating with another prominent nonprofit organization interested in moving in with us."

The new physical address is 3400 Montrose Blvd., Suite 207. Recently renamed to include the GLBT designation, the center left its original facility after five years at that location.

In December, the organization launched a new website, www.houstonglbtcenter.org.

A long-time tenant at the center, the Pride Committee of Houston moved last month into new offices at 1415 California.

In November, H.A.T.C.H. (Houston Area Teen Coalition of Homosexuals) became a program of the Montrose Counseling Center. The organization has a new phone number, 713/529-3590.

H.A.T.C.H. continues to offer programming for young people 17-21 on Friday and Sunday nights. Beginning February 29, the counseling center and H.A.T.C.H. will begin offering a regular life-skills program.

Until late November, the H.A.T.C.H. administrative office was housed at the community center. The counseling center moved those functions into its facility at 701 Richmond. At the same time, the Gay & Lesbian Switchboard Houston, which is also a program of the counseling center, moved out of the community center. At the request of the counseling center, OutSmart agrees not to disclose the switchboard location for the safety of the volunteers.

COME OUT, COME OUT

Beginning February 24, the Montrose Counseling Center will offer a 10-week support group focused on coming-out issues. Open to all GLBT individuals, the group will meet every Monday, 6:15-8 p.m. at the counseling center. Participants may attend as many sessions as they wish. There is no fee, but donations are requested. More info: 713/529-0037.

NOBEL MAN

Swedish statesman Dag Hammarskjöld, the second United Nations secretary general, died in a plane crash while on a peace mission to the Congo in 1961. That year, he received the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously. His diary, Markings, published in 1966, alluded to homosexual longings, perhaps never fulfilled. "The more faithfully you listen to the voice within you," he once noted with no doubt unintended irony, "the better you will hear what is sounding outside."

In 1973, Patrick White became the first openly gay writer to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. The Australian's novels include The Aunt's Story, The Tree of Man, and Voss.

Beginning February 7, the Houston Museum of Natural Science features Hammarskjöld, White, and more than 700 other laureates in the exhibition Cultures of Creativity: The Centennial Exhibition of the Nobel Prize.

12-STEP GROUPS MEET ON ISLAND

Lambda groups for 12-step programs from Houston and Galveston both sent representatives to the January 17-19 Southeast Texas AA Convention on the Island.

Offering 40 group meetings 7 days a week, the Lambda Center Houston is located at 1201 West Clay. The telephone number is 713/521-1243, and the website is www.lambdahouston.org.

Lambda Galveston meets four times weekly at 1407 39th St. The telephone number is 409/684-2140.

FEB 22 AUSTIN EVENT COUNTERS ANTIGAY FORCES

On February 22, two Austin conferences will illustrate opposing views of Christianity and homosexuality. Love Welcomes All, which grew out of a community response to Love Won Out antigay nationwide events, will bring together clergy and laypeople to counter misinformation from groups that purport the pseudo-science of homosexual conversion.

Love Won Out, organized by fundamentalist leader James Dobson's Focus on the Family, will take place in Austin on the same day. Focus on the Family is well known for its antigay stance. (See "LookOut," page 9.)

"A large showing at Love Welcomes All will be a powerful way to make our voice heard and stand up to the misinformation and untruth that will be spoken about us at the Dobson conference," Love Welcomes All chairman Jeff Lutes said.

University Baptist Church will host the Love Welcomes All event, sponsored by the Austin Alliance for Social & Spiritual Justice

Speakers will include The Church and the Homosexual author James McNeill and Rev. Mona West, pastor of Cathedral of Hope in Dallas. The singing duo Jason and DeMARCO will conclude the day with a free concert.

In June 2002, community activists in Kansas City, Missouri, organized the first Love Welcomes All action in response to a Focus on the Family event in that city.

For Love Welcomes All details and registration information, log on to www.lovewelcomesall.org.

ON THE RADIO

When Guglielmo Marconi sent the first transatlantic radio message one hundred years ago this year, he could not have imagined the growth of GLBT broadcast media. Nonetheless, a century later Houston has not one, but two programs dedicated to the community, both on listener-supported KPFT-FM. "Queer Voices" and "After Hours" will solicit pledges during the station's February 12-25 winter fundraising drive. More info: www.kpft.org.