In & Out Briefs

Houston LGBT Immigration Rights Group formed
"Across the United States, lesbian and gay couples are being torn apart because U.S. immigration law does not recognize their relationships."So says the nationwide Lesbian & Gay Immigrations Rights Task Force, who have just started a Houston chapter. Formed in 1994, the immigration task force receives hundreds of calls every month, and helps draft and lobby for legislation, such as the Permanent Partners Act of 2000, introduced into Congress by Representative Jerry Nadler of New York. To find out more about the Houston chapter of LGIRTF, call Shelby Robinson at 281/485-5097 or Chris Rigdon at 713/426-3128, or go to LGIRF-Houston subscribe@egroups.com. For information on the national organization, you can look at their website (www.lgirtf.org) or call 212/818-9639.

NOW Convention in Houston
Houston is the lucky host of the statewide convention of the National Organization of Women (NOW) on Saturday, Oct. 7. Starting with the Susan G. Komen "Race for a Cure,"the convention will have a variety of empowering workshops, speakers, and discussions, plus an election of state officers. To find out details, call 713-861-2553 or e-mail HoustonNOW@yahoo.com. You can join NOW by sending a check or money order for $35 to Houston NOW, P.O. Box 667522, Houston, TX 77266. NOW convention participants are invited to attend a panel discussion on "Where Goeth Feminism"at the Women's Group, a mainstay feminist group in Houston for 25 years "for all women where each woman defines her own feminism."10:45 a.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Church, 5200 Fannin at Southmore, in the Sojourner Truth Room. A group lunch at a nearby deli usually follows for those who care to attend.

Art for H.A.T.C.H.
Two idealistic and energetic art patrons have started a fun and worthy project to raise money for H.A.T.C.H. (Houston Area Teen Coalition of Homosex-uals), and promote emerging gay artists at the same time.

On Friday, Sept. 22, 6-10 p.m., Jeff Brown and Jerry Reeves are hosting "Art for H.A.T.C.H.,"a reception and art showing at their house at 703 East 7th Street in the Heights. Each room in the house will feature a different artist: Joseph Cullatta, Kermit Eisenhut, photographer Janet Roe, Wanda Tinsley, and David Wheeler. Some of you may remember Jerry and Jeff's house from when they opened it up to host Montrose Counseling Center's "Bringing in the Green."

Perhaps best known of the artists is Eisenhut, who has donated his work to a host of local charities, as well as helping to found the Voices for Life project. Roe gave up a career as a lawyer to pursue photography. She's gone to China, Guadalajara, Rome, and Tuscany in pursuit of her art. "I have a particular passion for capturing doors, windows, and emotion,"she says. Tinsley is relatively new to Houston, coming from Louisville, Kentucky, where she worked for 18 years as doing outdoor advertising art. "One of my assignments was to paint the image of Ray Charles and the Uh-Huh Girls for a Diet Pepsi billboard."Although painting signs is very different from painting on canvas, it has given her the love of large images, done in bold alive graphic-ness. Wheeler executes classical painterly treatments of "peaceful and poignant moments,"oftentimes in foreign settings. This is the first year for this project, and Brown is thinking big. He told us he'd love to use this as the springboard for a gay arts festival.

All proceeds from the requested donation of $25, plus a portion of the art sales, will go to H.A.T.C.H. For more advance tickets or more information, call 713/942-7002 or e-mail info@hatchyouth.org.

Texas A&M gets anti-bias policy ... for one day
Ray Bowen, Texas A&M University president, first approved-then immediately rescinded-new language in the school's anti-bias policies that included sexual orientation. After lobbying for 11 years, gay and lesbian students at the school finally thought they had won when Bowen on Aug. 15 issued a new student rule for the coming school year that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation.

But the next day, Bowen suspended the section of the anti-bias policy that included sexual orientation, saying it had been "misinterpreted."

In a press statement, Bowen said, "The intent of some of the revisions in the 2000-2001 Student Rules has been misinterpreted, so I am deferring the implementation of the rewording of the rule until we have achieved a better campus understanding."

A spokesperson for the school said Bowen had not intended to go beyond existing federal and state nondiscrimination laws. Neither federal nor Texas state anti-bias laws cover gays and lesbians.

Texas A&M is the fourth largest university in the nation-its rival, the University of Texas, began including sexual orientation in its discrimination policy in 1990.

The 1999 Princeton Review Guide ranked A&M as the third least gay-friendly campus nationwide. Texas A&M was also the home of the 1998 bonfire controversy in which football player Dan Campbell said he was proud to go to a school where "women like men, and men like women."

Other Texas colleges that the Princeton Review Guide gives an X for gay-hostile are University of Dallas in Irving and Austin College in Sherman, although the number-one gay-unfriendly school was University of Notre Dame. There were no Texas colleges among the top 20 gay-accepting schools. The top five were Pitzer College in Claremont, New York University in NYC, Wells College in Aurora, N.Y., Smith College in Northhampton, and Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

Animals' friend, Debra Danburg
Montrose State Rep. Debra Danburg has been chosen to receive the Cleveland Amory Humanitarian of the Year Award from Spay-Neuter Assistance Program (S.N.A.P.). Named after author Cleveland Amory, who is a champion of animals, S.N.A.P.'s annual award was created to honor those who make outstanding contributions to the causes of animal protection.

"Danburg made significant strides in the protection of animals as a state representative in district 137,"S.N.A.P. proclaims. "Her animal protection efforts have included attempts to help protect animals both wild and domestic. Danburg has valiantly tried to outlaw the use of steel-jawed leghold traps in Texas, and she has attempted to outlaw the action of animals being transported in an open bed of a vehicle."Perhaps most far-reaching was the 1992 bill that Danburg sponsored which requires spaying or neutering of animals adopted from shelters.

Providing affordable and accessible animal health services to Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, the nonprofit S.N.A.P. provides spay and neuter surgeries to more than 20,000 dogs and cats each year in Houston. They even operate the nation's first spay and neuter clinic on wheels, which travels to low-income neighborhoods and provides free services. Danburg will be honored Friday, Oct. 6, at the "Paws & Claws Under the Big Top"gala for S.N.A.P. at the Aerial Theatre, 520 Texas Avenue.

You can also support animals and S.N.A.P. most enjoyably by attending the one-night-only performance of the New Pickle Circus, which presents all the excitement and extravaganza of a circus, only with humans executing all the acts normally performed by animals. In their only Texas appearance this year, the "cruelty-free"New Pickle Circus will appear Oct. 7, 2:30 p.m. at Aerial Theatre. Tickets for $21 adults, $11 children under 14, are available through Ticketmaster, and all proceeds will go to S.N.A.P. For more information on either event, call S.N.A.P. at 713/862-3863.

Dr. Laura protest
Houston's Equality Rally activist group has scheduled a "candlelight vigil against hate"to protest talk show bigot Laura Schlessinger on Sunday, Sept. 10, 8 p.m., at Channel 2 (KPRC), 8181 Southwest Freeway. Channel 2 is scheduled to start airing Dr. Laura's homophobic show on Monday, Sept. 11.

In addition to attending the rally, the organizers urge the community to call KPRC general manager Steve Wassermann (713/222-2222) and tell him your objections. For more information on Stop Dr. Laura activities locally, call 713/862-3312 or e-mail equality@wt.net; nationally, visit www.StopDrLaura.com.

Taking it local: Gay Men's Health Summit
Over 400 health providers, activists, and others attended the second Gay Men's Health Summit in Boulder, Colorado, July 19-23. The summit featured over 100 workshops on health concerns like LGBT mid-life, holistic approaches to health care and HIV treatment, gay men under 30, and anal/prostate health.

"There are a lot of reasons to have this conference,"said Kirk Read, the summit's media coordinator, and a former Houston writer and activist. "Because we have paid a lot of attention to HIV and AIDS, a lot of other men's health concerns have not been addressed very well. The point is to address some of these things-a whole host of health concerns beyond HIV. We'll be talking about edgy things-circuit party drugs and barebacking-and formulating intelligent responses to those issues instead of the standard knee-jerk responses."

After having two highly successful national conferences on gay men's health, the organizing collective's next step is to hold over a dozen regional and local gatherings in 2001. The next national Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health Summit is planned for 2003.

Staff from the Bering Support Network have been taking the lead in getting the organizing started for a local health summit here in Houston in summer next year. Not limited to gay men's health, they intend to be inclusive of the LGBT spectrum. If you wish to become involved, you can contact Russ Robinett at 713/526-1017 or rbmumc@clearsail.net.