Promoting the GLBT Community
GLBT Years Book
Openly Gay Municipal Judge Appointed
Remove Those Pride Banners

Promoting the GLBT Community
Getting to know Coy Tow, the GLBT Chamber’s first-ever executive director
by Melanie Black

The Greater Houston GLBT Chamber of Commerce announced at its July meeting that James Coy Tow will be its first fulltime executive director. Tow was one of the founders of the chamber and served the organization as president for the first two years. As executive director, Tow will spend the majority of his time promoting the chamber and Houston’s GLBT community.

Tow says he came out in Houston 15 years ago and has a special fondness for the Houston GLBT community. What he likes most about the GLBT community, he says, is the high percentage of people who are active in GLBT activism and organizations. "Probably because of the AIDS epidemic and healthcare-related activities, it brings a sense of community. More than any other occurrence, the AIDS epidemic has caused the GLBT community to come together as one."

Tow certainly has the upbeat energy required for the job as chamber ED. The son of a New Mexico state trooper, Tow majored in political science and first saw the world in college when he toured with the international performing group Up With People. Not only did he perform, he also handled promotion, logistics, and host allocation as an advanced team coordinator. "I spent a year of my life traveling with a musical production, staying with host families and doing community service in various locations," he says. "It was a remarkable experience. . . . I learned that people all over the world are basically alike in desires and motivations."

Tow started serving on boards and being active in community service as a young adult; in the late 1980’s, Tow received the Outstanding American Award, although he was only in his mid-20s.

Tow pursued travel as a career, graduating from the Northwest Travel Academy in Phoenix, and working for Muse Air/TranStar Airlines. In 1986 Tow joined Uniglobe Travel, and moved up in the company–including a position as one of the first certified "Making Good Things Happen" trainers, and the Easter Seals "spirit" person–until he was able to open his own Uniglobe franchise in Houston in 1993, going on to become the Houston manager of agency development by 1997. Tow currently serves as Director of Continued Education for the USA operation of Uniglobe, is a member of the Houston Travel and Tourism committee and the International Speakers Bureau.

Tow says he finds it easy to work within the straight community and get beyond the walls that they have about the GLBT community. "Working with Easter Seals and my own company, I have always been very out and never apologized for my lifestyle," Tow says. "I give as much to the community as any of my straight counterparts. The bottom line is we all have to be accountable and have to stand up to those that do not think we deserve fairness. I have been very lucky because I have never had major struggles with people because of being gay. I am truly interesting in helping all kinds of people in all areas of the community. We are all one community and all moving in the same direction."

Even in leisure, Tow still includes a healthy dose of community service. His big love is music and theater and each summer he participates with Bering and Friends raising money for the Bering Support Network. "I get a lot of my energy from community organization and socials," Tow says.

Tow is also the current president of the Bellaire Democrats, a group which he helped begin last summer. "We needed to do something to organize the Democrats in the Bellaire area. The meetings are well attended with up to 95 people at a meeting at a time, and we are doing some great grassroots organizing," Tow says.

On the chamber education committee, Tow helps run the "Leading and Learning" leadership training program.

Tow feels his most important accomplishment in the GLBT community was founding the chamber. "The chamber really can promote a positive image of the different aspects of the community that often aren’t covered by the media."

The GLBT Years Book
You don’t have to be Melissa Etheridge, Ellen DeGeneres, or Elton John to be a role model
by Sally A. Huffer
PHOTO CAPTIONS
Brandon Wolf, graduate of Ben Lippen School, Asheville, NC, class of 1965
Roger Donley, graduate of Thornridge High School in Dolton, Illinois, class of 1986

Summer vacation draws to a close for students in just a few short weeks, bringing a myriad of different emotions for lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual kids as they get ready for the school year. Some say times have changed, and that GLBT youth don’t have things as tough as they did some 10-plus years ago.

But when you look into the eyes of this young man wearing a brown shirt in his school photograph, and then read the caption underneath –"1995, committed suicide"– it’s clear that isolation and fear are not buried in the past.

This one photo speaks volumes as to why the GLBT Years Book (www.gayyearbook.com) was created last year by PFLAG Reno and the Safe Schools Coalition of Northern Nevada. Designed to show today’s youth that it is possible to make it through those trying years, the GLBT Years Book is an online gallery of graduation photographs, listed without names, but with the current profession of the subjects. In showcasing average, everyday friends, family members, neighbors, and coworkers, its message is that GLBT people are normal folks with normal jobs and normal lives.

The photo of the anonymous young man from the class of 1995 was submitted by his mother, but the majority of the rest have been submitted by individuals who self-identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, like Houstonians Brandon Wolf (1965, Banker) and Roger Donley (1986, Lawyer). Both gay men are concerned that today’s youth know that they are not alone, and the future holds promise.

Wolf, now 53, painfully remembers feeling he didn’t fit in with his classmates. "Growing up in a very small town and being from a very religious family," Wolf says, "I never felt I related to the others throughout my school years." When his best friends became attracted to girls, he felt even more alone and isolated. Wolf says he was depressed and slept a lot during his teen years. He wished he had a switch he could flip to end his life, or even better, one to erase his existence in the first place. Those memories motivated him to send in his photo, to show others the perspective time has given him, something he didn’t have as a teen and before he found the courage to come out.

Donley, 33, also thinks the website could save lives, so much so he’s gone on a promotional spree. He asks others to submit their photos, asks organizations to include information about GLBT Years Book, their newsletters, and e-mail group listservs, or create links to the website. Exposure is the key, Donley believes, not only for those who can send in our pictures to help the website grow, but also for teens to know it exists. Though Donley is on the local PFLAG board, he has purchased advertising for the website out of his own pocket. He also made sure there was a rainbow flag with www.gayyearbook.com written in big block letters that was carried in the Pride Parade and at the PFLAG booth at the Pride Festival.

The school photos at the GLBT Years Book range from a sepia-tone photo of a retired man who graduated in1937 all the way to the color photo of a 2001 graduate. The retired fellow has created a small white banner on his photo, succinctly expressing the project’s mission–it simply reads, "HANG IN THERE, KIDS!"

Openly Gay Municipal Judge Appointed

Attorney Steve Kirkland has been appointed Houston’s second openly gay Municipal Court judge. Houston City Council confirmed Mayor Lee Brown’s nomination at the June 20 council meeting. Kirkland will serve as an associate judge to complete an unexpired term ending June 21, 2002. John Paul Barnich was Houston’s first openly gay municipal judge, being appointed in March 1999.

Kirkland, a longtime community activist, practices environmental and commercial law. He has been active in the Democratic Party and in neighborhood issues, such as affordable housing and historic preservation. He was a founding member of the Avenue Community Development Corp., which advocates for and provides low-income housing, and was vice chair of the Old Sixth Ward TIRZ. He served as Annise Parker’s campaign manager in 1991 and 1995, and as treasurer since 1991, as well as being the treasurer of the Gay and Lesbian Dollars PAC.

"Kirkland’s environmental expertise and legal experience will add a new dimension to city efforts to enforce environmental regulations. I believe he will make an outstanding judge," Parker said.

Kirkland graduated from Rice University and the University of Houston Law Center. After working as a senior attorney at Texaco until 1998, he is now in private practice and had been serving as a hearing officer in the Municipal Court’s Parking Administration.

Book, Bell, and Candle

Bering Memorial United Memorial Church has continued its interesting approach to ministry and GLBT outreach with the opening of a church bookstore, which is named Footnotes*. Opened April 1 by dedicated Bering members Larry Broughton and AlanYork, "It’s a safe haven for visitors to browse around," Broughton says. "It’s almost a visitors’ center."

Broughton got his leading to start a bookstore at Bering after visiting the bookstore at the MCC church in Dallas. The church approved his proposal after he developed a business plan and pulled together a bookstore committee. The bookstore is a work of love, and brings in about $1,500 in revenues monthly for the church.

Footnotes* offers a wide range of books on GLBT spirituality, relationships, and coming out. Gifts range from the fun to the contemplative, from "Go Against the Flow" T-shirts; to "Holy Bears" and "Unity Bears"; to CDs by groups like the Turtle Creek Chorale, the Dallas Women's Chorus, Janie Hall, and various praise and worship CDs by WOW Music featuring a variety of Christian vocalists. They have sun catchers, and James Avery silver jewelry, including a custom design of the Bering cross. Plus they have a fragrant and unusual selection of candles.

You don’t have to be a member to browse or shop. Staffed entirely by volunteers, the bookstore is mostly open around services and meetings at the church. Hours are Wed., 6—7:30 p.m.; Thur., 6—8 p.m.; and Sun., 9—10:45 a.m. & 12:15—1 p.m. Bering Memorial is located at 1440 Harold.

San Antonio Community Center Facing Changes

San Antonio’s Gay and Lesbian Community Center is facing major changes as its primary benefactor has decided to bow out. The center was basically made possible by Byron C. Trott, who served as director, major fundraiser, and who provided the property in which the center was located. Trott’s partner, political activist Michael McGowan, will also retire from his position as chair of the center’s board when his term ends.

"The daily job of running the center has become too stressful for me, both physically and financially," Trott said. "I need to focus now on my own health and retirement. I know it’s time now for a younger generation of men and women to step forward and lead the center at some new location. . . . It’s time for me to play the role of elder statesman–or maybe Bette Davis in her later years!"

The community center’s board has selected Martin Herrera as interim executive director, and they are actively looking for a new location, as Trott has plans to sell the property in the fall. The center functions as a meeting place for community organizations and provides services for a variety of groups. It includes programs for the HIV population, women with health problems, gay and lesbian veterans, and young people, among others.

Trott said that the community center in Los Angeles played a "life-changing" role in his own coming-into-his-own process as a young gay man, and he felt San Antonio sorely needed such a resource.

"The center has also served an important social role," Trott said, "because it’s a place where people can have dinner and watch television and just hang out without the necessity of sitting in a smoky bar or some overpriced fey cafe. It’s politically important for homos to socialize and network, and it’s just the thing that our enemies fear the most."

Happy Birthday, Tori!

Fans of Tori Amos have devised a creative way to honor their hero and help out with Amos’s social justice efforts. Amos will turn 38 in August (August 22, to be exact), so her fans are holding fundraising "Toribash" birthday parties throughout the month all around the United States and in 10 countries internationally that will benefit The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN); the nonprofit organization was founded in 1994 and has received support from Amos, along with other celebrities such as Sarah McLachlan, R.E.M., Natalie Merchant, Jewel, Sheryl Crow, The Dave Matthews Band, U2, Ani DiFranco, Paul Shaffer, Jennifer Aniston, Jennie Garth, Jamie Walters, and Michael J. Fox. RAINN operates the country's only national hotline for victims of rape and sexual assault.

"We fans, who like to refer to ourselves as Toriphiles, are wanting to show our love for Tori and her music," says Karen Rawlings, who is one of the coordinators of the Toribash. "We know Houston is a big-hearted city and will respond generously to this most worthy cause. There are many Tori fans in Houston, but you need not be a Tori fan to help support RAINN. All you need be is a compassionate, caring person. "

Houston’s Toribash will be held Saturday, August 19, at the Club Roxy, 5351 W. Alabama. For info about the event, call 281/824-9600 or e-mail toribash@hotmail.com or visit their website at www.toribash.freeurl.com. To call the RAINN hotline, call 1-800/656-HOPE or see their website http://www.rainn.org.

Teen Admits Killing Gay Friend

Jon Paul Marsh, who recently turned 17 years old, has told police he killed his friend Nathan Mayoral, 14, in March, savagely beating the younger boy to death because he considered their homosexual relationship "an abomination."

In his confession, Marsh said his religious upbringing at home made him feel horrible about his homosexuality. The Marsh family said Jon Paul had been depressed for more than a year and was at the time in therapy where he was trying to deal with his homosexual feelings.

Anthony Mayoral, the dead boy’s father, refuses to believe Nathan was involved in a gay relationship. "I mean, I love Nathan the same either way. I just don’t believe it ’cause I know he liked girls."

Marsh told authorities he had no plans to hurt the younger boy, but Mayoral fell and hit his head "pretty hard" and at that point Marsh got a heavy ceramic pot and beat Mayoral with it as well as banging the boy’s head on the floor repeatedly.

Finally, Marsh said, he stood on Mayoral’s neck and began beating him in the head with a hammer. He then drove the wrapped body to a remote area and dumped it in a ditch. About a week later the body was discovered.

In his confession, Marsh told police his sexual relationship with the younger boy "was the last thing keeping me hating myself. I didn’t want the relationship we had, and I just couldn’t, I just couldn’t be his friend."

Marsh is free on $75,000 bond waiting for a trial date.

Remove Those Pride Banners

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.–Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys asked city officials if Gay Pride banners that the city has displayed on downtown utility poles for several years during Gay Pride events can be banned as "controversial."

The banners are put up by the Cimarron Alliance Foundation to promote Gay Pride. Although Cimarron had permits when they put up the banners at 44 poles earlier this year, city workers took them down after the city received complaints. But city workers had to then put them back up when attorneys for Cimarron threatened to sue.

Humphreys said, "They [homosexuals] have a right to behave that way if they want to. But I don’t think they have the right to use public facilities to advance their philosophy, for the same reasons that Neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, and religious groups don’t."

The city attorney is considering what sorts of regulations the city can put on the banner program.

S. African Catholics Look at Condoms

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa–The Southern Africa Catholic Bishops Conference says it will discuss a proposal to support the use of condoms to fight the AIDS epidemic.

The proposal was included in a policy paper by Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenberg, S. Africa, after talks he had with local health officials who told him infection rates in some regions are as high as 50 percent.

The proposal flies in the face of Vatican policy that absolutely bars the use of artificial birth control methods and is expected to pit church traditionalist against more pragmatic clerics.

Wimberley Teacher Sues

DALLAS–Grady Roper has filed a lawsuit against the Katherine Anne Porter School in Wimberley because, his suit charged, he was fired after defending a student mural at the school depicting two men kissing.

Roper says the 30-by-10-foot mural was a student project at the private charter school that depicted, among other things, a two-foot-square section with two men kissing.

The painting created a stir at the school, but still got a unanimous vote of support by the school’s faculty. Then, during one weekend, the entire mural was painted over. Roper says when he complained to the school principal, he was criticized and then fired.

Roper’s lawsuit charges the school violated his free speech rights under the federal and state constitutions by retaliating against him when he spoke out in defense of the student mural.

NY Win for Same-Sex University Housing

ALBANY, N.Y.–The New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, has ruled that a lesbian couple could sue Yeshiva University for denying them access to housing it reserved for married graduate students.

The court reversed two lower court rulings that Yeshiva’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx violated New York City’s anti-bias laws covering sexual orientation with its policy of basing housing access on marital status.

Attorneys for Yeshiva argued that the policy didn’t discriminate because it had the same effect on unmarried heterosexuals as it had on unmarried homosexual students.

But James Esseks, the attorney who argued the case for the ACLU, said, "The court’s decision today says that if you make marriage the primary qualification for anything, you are likely going to wind up discriminating against lesbians and gay men."

The Court of Appeals sent the case back for rehearing to a lower trial court where the two women are now expected to prevail against the private school.

NJ Extends Protections to Transgendered

TRENTON, N.J.–New Jersey state Appeals Court Judge Steven Lefelt has ruled that the state’s existing anti-bias laws bar discrimination against transgendered individuals even though they are not specifically mentioned in the statutes.

Judge Lefelt ruled that it was "incomprehensible" that the anti-bias laws, which prohibit discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation, would permit bias against individuals who are changing or have already changed their gender.

The case was brought by Carla Enriquez who had been selected to be medical director of an outpatient facility in 1995. When hired, Enriquez dressed as a male and went by the name Carlos Enriquez.

Enriquez was fired, however, when starting gender-reassignment therapy that included living entirely as a female in advance of surgery and changing her name legally.

Coke joins to battle HIV/AIDS in Africa

NEW YORK–Peter Piot of UNAIDS has announced that the Coca-Cola Company has agreed to join the UN efforts to battle HIV/AIDS in Africa. Coca-Cola, perhaps to the surprise of some, is the largest single corporate employer in Africa.

Although there were few details in the announcement, UNAIDS said the giant bottling and soft-drink company would use its enormous marketing and distribution network in Africa to help spread information about how to avoid HIV infection, distributing test kits, and some limited care for people infected with the virus.

Piot said, "We are excited about this partnership and what it means in the fight against AIDS."

Interrupted AIDS drug treatment shows promise

BUENOS AIRES–A small federal AIDS study, known as structured treatment interruption (STI) has shown promise, Dr. Anthony Fauci told delegates at the International AIDS Conference in Buenos Aires.

Fauci, head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the study of 10 AIDS patients involving one week on medication interrupted by one week without the drugs showed no indication HIV levels increased and no signs of the virus mutating. Other studies have found one or the other problems resulting from longer-term interruptions in medications.

AIDS researchers said the study is promising, but they were concerned it involved such a small number of patients. Fauci said a larger study of STI is currently being prepared.

Lesbians could give birth to their own kids?

SYDNEY–Australian scientists say a genetic technique they’re working on to help infertile men may someday allow a lesbian couple to have babies that are genetically a product of only the two women.

Dr. Orly Lacham-Kaplan of Monash University in Melbourne said the sperm-free technique uses a gamete, a cell they’ve manipulated to strip out one set of its chromosomes. She said they have already succeeded is creating mice embryos using this technique with a gamete from male mice.

Lacham-Kaplan said that at least in theory a lesbian couple could also use the same technique to produce babies that were a result of their combined genetic material. She noted, however, that there are some aspects of development that are controlled by the paternal genes and this could be problematic.

"But we have no proof yet that it is or is not a problem," she said.

Bush denies Salvation Army agreement

WASHINGTON, D.C.–The Bush administration has formally denied it had any deal with the Salvation Army to get the national charity group’s support of its faith-based initiative in exchange for exempting some religious groups from anti-discrimination laws that prevent them from refusing to hire gays and lesbians.

White House press spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters asking about the agreement that was reported in the Washington Post, "No. Absolutely not. Never has been. Never has been."

The Post reported that the Salvation Army said in the agreement that it would support the Bush administration’s faith-based initiative in exchange for new federal regulations protecting it and other religious groups from having to hire gays and lesbians or provide domestic partner benefits.

Fleischer said the Salvation Army had misunderstood the administration’s position on the issue. "And they’ve been advised of that," he said. Fleischer said the Bush administration supports pending House legislation that adheres to existing federal civil rights laws.

The Bush proposal, however, says nothing about civil rights protections for gays and lesbians although it does cover existing federal categories of race, color, sex, age and disability.

Wimbledon winner doesn’t like "faggots"

LONDON–Homophobic remarks by Wimbledon champ Goran Ivanisevic got little news coverage despite his high profile.

At a news conference following the Wimbledon win, Ivanisevic was asked why he threw his racket and kicked the net after a judge made a call.

Ivanisevic said he didn’t like the judge’s call–or the judge. "And that guy, a little . . . you know, he looks like a faggot a little bit. This hair all over him."

He also called another judge who made a ruling he didn’t like "that ugly, ugly lady. She was really ugly, you know. Very serious. I was kind of like scared, you know."

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) expressed concern, not just about the tennis ace’s remarks, but also about the media blackout about the incident.

"GLAAD is concerned that an athlete can casually drop a word like ‘faggot’ in a high-profile media interview, and not only is there very little media coverage of his comment, but several reporters in the room can be heard laughing at it," said Scott Seomin of GLAAD. "If Ivanisevic had used the ‘n-word’ to refer to a linesman, I doubt that press reaction would have been this muted. I hope the media does not have a double-standard when responding to public expressions of bigotry."

ESPN also reported that it wasn’t the first time Ivanisevic had made such comments. Earlier this year he told a reporter "Hey, sometimes I watch the TV, and then I see the guys when they throw the rackets. They throw it like a faggot, you know. They throw it not to throw it."

Kenya president: no sex for two years

NAIROBI, Kenya–Apparently responding to pressures from Christian and Muslim clerics, Daniel arap Moi, Kenya’s president, has urged the nation’s residents to abstain from sex for at least two years in an effort to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Earlier in July, Moi announced plans by the government to distribute 300 million condoms to fight the epidemic. But Christian and Muslim clerics quickly attacked the condom plan as "committing suicide" because it would only encourage young people to have sex.

Now Moi says Kenyans should refrain from sex "even for only two years" as the best way to thwart the further spread of HIV. Some 700 people die every day in Kenya from AIDS and 2.2 million of the country’s 30 million population are infected with HIV.

Questioning the Utah Starzz

SALT LAKE CITY–Gay rights advocates in Utah are increasingly concerned that the management of the Women’s National Basketball Association team, the Utah Starzz, is shunning potential lesbian and gay fans.

Several of the fledgling WNBA teams, which have been struggling to increase their fan base since the league started, have recently begun actively wooing lesbians as part of their natural audience.

The Los Angeles Sparks recently showed up at The Girl Bar in West Hollywood, an enormous lesbian club with some 20,000 members, to promote the women’s team at a promotional event.

But in Salt Lake City, Michelle Turpin of Unity Utah, has written to Ron Goch, operations manager of the Starzz, saying there was a "growing perception among the lesbian community that the Starzz management and/or ownership are ashamed of its large lesbian fan base."

Turpin went on to write, "On several occasions, Starzz people were asked to make appearances at fund-raising events for gay and lesbian charities. It seems clear from the response that there is a sense of fear and intimidation, induced by management, about participating in such events."

Some rights activists have even discussed a possible boycott of Larry Miller, an automobile dealership owner who also owns the Utah Jazz and Starzz.

Belgrade Pride near riot

BELGRADE–Belgrade’s first Gay Pride parade turned into a near riot when far-right extremists, skinheads and Serbian nationalists began pelting marchers with rocks and then swarmed into the crowds attacking marchers.

Police at the event fired shots into the air to try to stop the attacks, but dozens of marchers were treated for injuries and at least four marchers had to be hospitalized. Six officers were also injured in the melee.

The city’s police chief, Bosko Buha, later said no one had expected such a larger and violent turnout by antigay elements and that only 50 officers had been assigned to the march.

Authorities said about a dozen of the attackers had been arrested at the time and that they expected more arrests shortly.

Presbyterians First Step to end gay ban

LOUISVILLE, Ky.–By a vote of 317 to 208, the elders of the Presbyterian Church (USA) have voted to remove the 2.5-million member denomination’s ban against gays serving as ministers.

The vote, however, still requires the approval of a majority of the church’s local governing organizations, or presbyteries, during the next year.

If the removal of the ban then finally does win approval, it would allow local churches to decide whether or not gay and lesbian pastors could serve.

Minnesota strikes down sodomy law

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.–Minnesota District Court Judge Delia Pierce has ruled that a recent decision striking down the state’s sodomy law applies to everyone in the state, not just the handful of plaintiffs who has legally challenged the law.

The ACLU has asked the court to declare the ruling a class action to remove any ambiguity about its impact, but the state attorney general had unexpectedly opposed that move.

The latest ruling, a simple technicality, removed any doubt.

"There can be no question now: Minnesota’s sodomy law has been struck down, and cannot be invoked anywhere in the state," said Leslie Cooper of the ACLU’s lesbian and gay rights project.

Sinead: Never agreed to be in tour–and she’s now straight

LONDON–Pop singer Sinead O’Connor lowered a double-whammy in Ireland when she told reporters that she had never agreed to be part of the Wotapalava, the gay pop music festival, that had been slated to start touring in the U.S. later in July and that, although she came out in 2000 as a lesbian, she is now straight and engaged in marry a man.

In addition to O’Connor, Wotapalava had been promoted as featuring the Pet Shop Boys, Soft Cell, Magnetic Fields, and Rufus Wainwright.

Earlier, Pet Shop singer Neil Tennant announced that without a suitable replacement for O’Connor, the 18-city concern tour would have to be canceled.

O’Connor said that she and Tennant had talked about her joining the Wotapalava tour, but that "nothing was ever signed."

Report: oral sex HIV risks greater than believed

LONDON–A report issued by Britain’s Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) indicates that the risks of HIV transmission via oral sex are higher than most public health officials had believed.

While the transmission risks remain comparatively small, research conducted in the U.S. and the U.K. among gay men in joint studies suggest that oral sex may be the route of HIV transmission in as many as 8 percent of the total HIV infections studied.

Dr. Barry Evans of PHLS said, "The picture that is emerging is that the risk is greater than previously thought."

Detroit cops "gay profiling"

DETROIT–Rights activists say that gay men have been the target of bias and gay profiling by Detroit police.

For more than an hour at a meeting of the Detroit City Council, activists and police gave their conflicting accounts of the issue that began in February when police began a citywide crackdown on prostitution. Police said they had received complaints about problems at Rouge Park and began patrolling the area.

But rights advocates said the police had been unfairly targeting gay men like Larry Gmerick, who told the council that while he sat in the park in his car officers "told me to get out of my car, put my hands up against the car, and handcuffed me." He said when he asked why he was being arrested, "They told me ‘You know what you did.’"

The Triangle Foundation, the state’s gay and lesbian rights group, took community complaints to the council and charged that a police crackdown on prostitution had been turned into a crusade to arrest gay men in the park.

But Inspector Curtis McGhee of Detroit’s sixth precinct disputed that charge.

"We are, in my opinion, not targeting anyone and our concern is with inappropriate behavior that the State of Michigan has deemed unlawful," McGhee said.

The Triangle Foundation hopes that the city council will help them put an end to what they believe is unlawful gay profiling by police.

Antigay Games opponents refused bank account in Montreal

MONTREAL–The Royal Bank in Montreal was refused to open an account for an antigay group that is trying to prevent the city being selected as the site for the Gay Games in the year 2006.

The No Committee 2006, a coalition of several antigay groups, formed shortly after the city of Montreal announced it would officially bid for the Gay Games. But when the No Committee went to the Royal Bank to open account, the bank said no because it didn’t want to be involved with discriminatory organizations.

"We refuse to support or oppose discriminatory activities of any kind," said Raymond Chouinard of the Royal Bank. "Since we want to stay outside, we think we should not be supporting an organization indirectly through the opening of an account."

Chouinard said the bank is reviewing its refusal, but added, "I doubt that we’ll be able to change our position on this because of the nature of the goals that the organization has."

Daniel Cromier, head of the No Committee, however, threatened to sue the bank if it refused to open the account. "If the bank doesn’t change its mind, we’re going to sue the bank," he said. "We feel the Royal Bank has no right to refuse the account and we’re going to fight this until we are allowed to open an account at this bank."

Montreal, Chicago, Atlanta, and Los Angeles are all bidding for the Gay Games in 2006. City officials expect the games would draw some 24,000 participants with an estimated 200,000 spectators.

Cross-dressing campers’ party upsets parents

NEW ORLEANS–Complaining parents have put a halt–at least temporarily–to a cross-dressing party for 11- and 12-year-old summer campers in New Orleans.

City recreation department officials say young campers came up with the idea for the cross-dressing party six years ago and it’s become a tradition at the annual summer camp since then.

But this year a parent complained to the new head of the recreation department, calling it "a subtle part of the overall homosexual agenda to progressively indoctrinate our society with specified efforts toward our children and young people."

Charlene Lowther, the new recreation director, isn’t amused. "The only thing we are trying to do is to give the kids a fun summer," Lowther said.

She has temporarily put a hold on the cross-dressing party while she reviews it.

Playwright John Herbert dead

TORONTO–John Herbert, who authored the highly successful 1964 play Fortune and Men’s Eyes died at his home in Toronto. He was 74 years old.

Fortune, which depicts a prison rape and "husband-wife" sexual relationships that some inmates develop behind bars, was too controversial for any Canadian theater company to put on and was first performed in New York in 1967.

Eventually the drama enjoyed a successful off-Broadway run, was made into a film, and was produced around the world.

Death threats against Zimbabwe activists

HARARE, Zimbabwe–Leaders of GALZ (Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe) say the organization is increasingly getting death threats. The group’s leader, Keith Goddard, said the organization had removed its membership lists and related materials from its offices out of concerns over violence.

The threats, Goddard said, began earlier in June and have continued, with death threats painted on the walls of the building where GALZ’s officer are located and warning to leave Harare, the capital city.

Robert Mugabe, the country’s president, has repeatedly attacked gays as "worse than dogs and pigs" and similar inflammatory language.

Surgeon General’s report urges frank talk about sex

WASHINGTON, D.C.–U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher has released a report two years in the making on American sexuality that calls for "beginning a mature, thoughtful, and respectful discussion" on the topic.

But Satcher, appointed by former President Clinton, acknowledged that with the nation’s range of attitudes, beliefs, and values, "finding common ground might not be easy."

Among the national problems Satcher notes as background for his report are: 12 million Americans infected by sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) each year; 40,000 new HIV infections annually; more than 100,000 children victims of sexual abuse each year; 1.4 million abortions annually with nearly half of all pregnancies unwanted; some 800,000 to 900,000 Americans currently infected with HIV; and one in every five women the victim of rape.

These, Satcher says, lead to a "call to action" about America’s sexuality issues. They also touch on some of the most contentious public policy issues the nation confronts.

One conclusion that’s certain to generate criticism of the report was its call to respect "the diversity of sexual values within any community." The report says there is no valid scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed and links the consequences of antigay harassment on the mental health of gays and lesbians.

UN AIDS Summit euphemisms

NEW YORK–With more than 22 million people around the world dead from AIDS and another estimated 36.1 million infected with HIV, some AIDS activists say the final communique of the United Nations World Summit on AIDS fails to address the most basic reality of the epidemic: a willingness to talk bluntly about the disease.

The UN document left out any reference to the most vulnerable groups in the epidemic–including gays and prostitutes–after conservative Islamic countries and the Vatican objected.

Instead of referring to homosexuality or men who have sex with men, the revised final document vaguely mentions people who are at risk because of their "sexual practices."

Prostitutes similarly are not mentioned and instead end up being glossed over as being vulnerable to HIV because of their "livelihood." Even prisoners aren’t mentioned directly as high risk populations and instead are covered in the document as being vulnerable because of their "institutional location."

"For many, there is a reluctance to recognize groups affected by HIV/AIDS including men having sex with men; much of that reluctance is based on religion and on culture," said Mary Robinson, the UN high commissioner for human rights. "A failure to recognize it means the numbers of those infected can only grow."

Israeli army shuts down weekly magazine

JERUSALEM–Senior Israeli officers have ordered the weekly army magazine Bamahane temporarily closed because of a cover story that featured a retired colonel who announced he is gay while still serving in the country’s military.

Recently made independent of any military prior review, Bamahane (which means "In the Camp") has done a number of other controversial articles, including one on unequal treatment of injured women soldiers, alcoholism among the armed forces, and even a shirtless cover photo piece featuring an Israeli paratrooper who has become a male model.

But the story about the gay colonel became "the last straw" and Brig. Gen. Elazar Stern, who oversees military publications, ordered the weekly magazine shut until further notice. Most army insiders think the magazine will probably be suspended only briefly, but will probably return under closer pre-publication scrutiny by the military.

Toronto HIV education posters launched

TORONTO–The AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT) has launched a $400,000 education campaign featuring cowboys in intimate poses together.

The ad campaign, which is running mainly at city mass transit shelters, on subway cars, on billboards and in restrooms, features the banner headline, "Welcome to Condom Country."

Canadian health officials say Toronto has a substantial gay male population and also has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the country and is on the increase.

Later this year, ACT will also begin airing a series of television educational spots aimed at reaching a greater number of the area’s non-English speaking men through ads in several languages.

AMA opposes antigay bans

CHICAGO–Without much debate or opposition, the American Medical Association has approved a formal policy shift that calls on youth organizations currently barring homosexuals to reconsider such policies.

While the new AMA policy doesn’t specifically mention the Boy Scouts of America, the Scouts’ antigay policy was the main force behind the AMA move for the challenge.

Some of the physicians objected that the Supreme Court had upheld the right of the Scouts to exclude whoever it wanted, and that Congress had been unable to challenge that antigay policy. The AMA, they said, shouldn’t therefore get involved in the issue.

But most of the MDs seemed determined to adopt the new policy and argued that the new policy wasn’t about politics but about the health hazards associated with institutional bias.

"Homophobia is a health hazard," said Dr. Thomas Hicks, a family physician from Tallahassee, Fla. He said that barring gays from groups such as the Boy Scouts increases a "sense of rejection [and] leads to increased incidence of suicide and other harmful risk-taking behaviors like drug abuse."

Antigay event pays for Gay Pride

REGINA, Saskatchewan–Lesbian and gay activists turned an antigay demonstration into a successful fund-raising event that raised more money that the city’s gay pride budget for this year.

A local antigay activist, Bill Whatcott, obtained a march permit for a "Family Pride Day" event at which he verbally attacked gays.

But activists had rounded up scores of people who pledged small amounts of money for each hour the Family Pride event lasted.

When activists began totaling up the money, they discovered they’d already gotten more than $1,000–above the city’s gay pride budget for this year. Even more encouraging, the first count doesn’t include a number of pledges that were being mailed in or hadn’t been collected on the first pass.

NYC fined in AIDS homeless battle

NEW YORK–Justice Emily Goodman of the N.Y. State Supreme Court has ruled that the city has to pay 17 homeless people sick with AIDS $250 each for every night they spent without shelter.

In 1999 state courts ordered the city to provide immediate housing for homeless people with HIV/AIDS or face fines for each infraction. AIDS advocates say the city has ignored that order, sending people seeking temporary emergency housing to incorrect addresses, or to shelters that weren’t capable of dealing with any kind of medical problems, or in some cases just leaving people "on the streets, in the rain, or in freezing cold."

The city says the cases involved in these fines were isolated cases and that the city would appeal Goodman’s decision.

Baptist National Convention tackling HIV/AIDS

CHARLOTTE, N.C.–The National Baptist Convention USA, the nation’s largest black religious denomination, drew some 60,000 Baptists to Charlotte, N.C., for its annual gathering.

The AIDS epidemic, which studies indicate is spreading rapidly among the country’s African-American communities, became a topic not only of workshops and discussions, but among ministers who say black churches have to take the disease seriously.

Tom Diamond, a Jacksonville, Fla., minister said that when he returns home he would begin a hunger strike to push local officials to pay greater attention to the epidemic’s increase in the city’s black population.

George McRae, a Miami minister, said black churches had to confront what he called a "triangle of death"–AIDS, drug abuse, and black men in prisons. He said the only way to do that is to get past a fear of dealing with real issues.

Nova Scotia high court rules same-sex couples can adopt

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia–Justice Deborah Gass of the Nova Scotia supreme court has ruled that laws in the province barring gay and lesbian couples from adopting children together illegally discriminate based on marital status and sexual orientation.

The provincial parliament will now have to rewrite its adoption laws so gays, lesbians, and unmarried heterosexual couples can adopt children. The province didn’t oppose the case in court and isn’t expected to appeal the ruling to federal courts.

Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario also permit gay and lesbian couples to adopt children jointly.

Right says summer camp for ‘recruitment’

NEWFIELD, N.J.–An antigay lobbying organization says a summer camp for non-traditional families leased from the Girl Scouts of America is "a recruitment camp for sexual deviants."

The Mountain Meadow Summer Camp has been around for years and for the past four years has leased the Girl Scouts Camp Sacajawea in New Jersey to operate its two-week camp for the kids of gays, lesbians, and other non-traditional families whose kids often feel ill at ease at most summer camps. Like other groups, Mountain Meadow simply rents the Girl Scout facility.

But Robert Knight, head of the Concerned Women for America’s Culture and Family Institute, said, "The Girl Scouts has welcomed lesbians for some time now, so it’s not at all surprising that they are looking the other way as their property is being used as a recruitment camp for sexual deviants. It’s clear that lesbianism is no barrier to being a role model for young girls, as far as the Girl Scouts is concerned."

But Karen Miller, who operates Mountain Meadow, said there’s no reason lesbians can’t be terrific role models for kids and praised the Girl Scouts for its anti-bias position. "I do feel positive about the way the Girl Scouts have taken a public stance against discrimination," she said.