Hollyfield Sells Its Building

The Hollyfield Foundation announced September 12 the sale of their monumental melon-colored building on Albany for an undisclosed amount to the HHN Homes LP Investment group.

The Hollyfield Foundation was founded at the request of Jay Hollyfield, who willed the historic DePelchin Faith Home building to the foundation when he died of AIDS-related conditions in 1994. It housed the Hollyfield Conference Center, which leased space to tenants from Houston’s GLBT community, including the Progressive Voters’ Alliance and the Gay Men’s Chorus. The Hollyfield board decided to sell the building, so they might put the money from the sale to good use in grants to the community.

When asked about the dislocation of so many community organizations, Janine Brunjes, president and chairman of the board of the Hollyfield Foundation, said, "It was a gnarling decision that the board made. The board realized we could be a greater gift to the community with more cash assets."

Hollyfield tenants knew a sale was imminent and have been searching for new homes since the first of the year. The Hollyfield Foundation itself will lease back an office until the end of this year, but hopes to relocate before that time.

The Hollyfield board was to have held a planning retreat in October to decide what to do with their newfound financial assets. Brunjes said the retreat was to have been held in San Antonio to help the board "think outside of the current facility. The Hollyfield Foundation will exist as a true foundation, and we hope to take a broad paintbrush [to future activities]."

The group that bought the building plans to turn it into residences. As constrained by the restrictions governing registered historic buildings, such development will preserve the exterior of the building, so the spirit of Hollyfield will both continue to thrive through its increased community presence, and in the friendly presence of the great pink mansion. – D.L. Murphy

New CEO at AFH

After seven years as chief executive officer of AIDS Foundation Houston, Sara Selber has resigned, "in the spirit of change."

Effective October 1, the new CEO will be Michael Mizwa, who has been an integral part of AFH for the past 13 years, most recently as the organization’s vice president of community resources. Mizwa founded Camp Hope and Camp HUG, the AIDS Foundation’s programs for HIV-positive children and their families. He also created a prison-based HIV education and prevention program and initiated the recent collaboration with Habitat for Humanity. Regarded as an international expert in the area of HIV prevention, he has made presentations at several World AIDS Conferences, and this year received a fellowship from the Centers for Disease Control.

"Sometimes being an activist is just being yourself…"

October 11 is National Coming Out Day. The decision to come out is both a triumphant and scary one, and also something that everybody does at their own pace and time. We asked some members of our community to share their experiences of coming out, and this is what they told us:

"Coming out was the best thing I ever did with my life. It is amazing how easy and enjoyable life is when you aren't spending tremendous energy on trying to be something you're not while hiding your true self." –Melanie Black

"Simply the most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life. It definitely has changed my life forever. I am just sorry that I did not make this decision 35 years ago. Why did I wait so long? The degree of acceptance that I have felt is wonderful." –Brenda Thomas

"My coming out was rather boring in some ways. Heck, I didn't know myself until I was 28: My mother was cool but concerned about my stepfather . . . who was cool but concerned about AIDS. My brother and I were already ‘rocky’ so it didn't change things. My younger sister's husband refused to let me in their house for over 10 years . . . till she divorced him and is now in Houston and very active in our community . . . teaching her four kids tolerance as best she can." –Judy Reeves

"1982: Cruising Westheimer's fabulous weekend parade, overwhelming impulse makes me scream never-before-said words: ‘I'm gay!’ Fierce drag queen screams back: ‘Honey, you sure are!’" –John Nechman,

Pride Includes Bi & TG

Pride in Houston is now fully bi- and trans-inclusive.

At the first meeting of the new Pride year, staunch TG supporter Ray Hill stood and proposed that the official name be changed from "The Pride Committee of Houston: Houston Gay and Lesbian Pride" to "The Pride Committee of Houston: GLBT Pride."

Although the Pride Committee had long included the bisexual and transgender community in its mission statement, the tag line was still only "gay and lesbian." Hill’s motion passed with little discussion.

"It was long overdue," says Jack Valinski, executive director of the Pride Committee. "But it needed to be brought up by the membership, and at the first meeting everyone who is there is a member. I am proud of the community in asking and the committee responding."

Get Empower-ed

After Pride month, Empower is no doubt the greatest concentration of GLBT Houston in one place at one time. The star project of Houston’s GLBT Chamber of Commerce, Empower brings together most of the gay community’s businesses, both small and large, as well as our nonprofit organizations. If you’ve never been, it’s really worth a trip. Last year’s Empower brought out 7,000 people, according to Coy Tow, the executive director of the chamber.

New this year will be an art show sponsored by the gay-friendly Art League of Houston, and a "nonprofit relay" sponsored by the Montrose Athletic Association in which community organizations can compete for pledges. Budweiser has become a corporate sponsor for the first time this year, joining such perennial sponsors as Chase, Shell, and Equiva. The Classic Chassis cars will be on hand for you to admire, as will Basic Brothers fashion show models, and a full day’s worth of entertainment and seminars.

This year brings visits from representatives of other cities’ gay chambers of commerce–including Boston, Chicago, Austin, and Toronto–who want to come check out Empower to see if they want to copy our success, says Tow.

Empower will be Sunday, Oct. 14, 11 a.m.—5 p.m. in the George R. Brown convention center, Exhibit Hall A (the one closest to Enron Field). In addition, there will be a VIP evening, Sat., Oct. 13, 6—9 p.m. with Mayor Brown, Annise Parker, and Debra Danburg among the expected guests. The public is welcome at both events. Call the chamber’s hotline at 713/523-7576 for information, or check their website at www.ghglcc.org.

Empower also continues the Regional Roundtable, in which all community nonprofit organizations are invited to send members to discuss how we all might coordinate together. Held Sat., Oct. 13, the roundtable will start at 2 p.m. and be held upstairs from the exhibit hall.

Groups can sign up for booths up until the last day, Tow says, although they will not be included in the program book.

Coming Together as African-American Men

The Men’s Gathering of Houston is presenting a "Black EXPLOsion Weekend" which is expected to bring members and allies from all over the state, and even the country.

Founded in Houston by , The Men’s Gathering is a dynamic group of African-American gay and bisexual men who meet for dialogue and community. "We are reaching out to all our black brothers across the United States and the world. The purpose of the Men's Gathering of Houston is to come together as African-American gay, bisexual, and same-gender-loving men to dialogue about issues that are important in helping us to form healthy relationships with ourselves and others, and join in walking the journey of self-understanding to live a more empowered and authentic life." The Men’s Gathering meets Saturdays, 7—9 p.m. at the Community Gospel Church, 4305 Lillian. They also have a spirited e-mail discussion group at groups.yahoo.com/group/themensgathering , with more than 1,000 members contributing from all over the world.

Although the regular meetings are only open to black men, everyone is invited to join with TMG on their "explosion" weekend Fri.—Sun., Oct. 5—7. The weekend starts with a Friday night "men’s night out" at such clubs as E.J.’s, Nick’s Café, Club Illusions, and Incognito.

Saturday schedule is full, with a 1 p.m. poetry reading led by Aaron Coleman and A.J. Bowie; a talk and discussion on "Empowerment and Spirituality of Imperfection" by Paul Guillory at 2 p.m.; a financial planning session with LaVera Twine of American Express Financial at 3 p.m.; "HIV and the Black Community" led by John Humphries of the WAM Foundation at 4 p.m.; and a (closed) dialogue meeting, 5:45—9 p.m., on "Why The Men’s Gathering? And What’s on Your Mind?" followed by dinner at Bennigan’s on Kirby. All seminars are at the Hawthorn Inn and Suites, 4020 Southwest Freeway @ Weslayan.

The weekend will continue at Resurrection MCC at 9 a.m. & 11 a.m., with TMG as the guest of Rev. Carolyn Mobley, followed by TMG Second Annual Picnic "Feast in the Park," 2:30—7 p.m., Tom Bass Park, $15.

For more information on the weekend or on TMG, call 713/528-4461 or 713/529-7978 or 713-880-9235 or e-mail Themensgathering@yahoo.com.

Spiritual Incorrectness

"The true purpose of our spirituality," according to gay spiritual writer Joseph Sharp, "is not to guarantee us a blissful life, but a meaningful one."

The author of Spiritual Maturity: Stories and Reflections for the Ongoing Journey of the Spirit, Sharp is known for confronting the spiritual path in a way that is accessible, pertinent–and a tad impertinent. To wit, he will be conducting a workshop, Sunday, Oct. 14, at Bering Memorial United Methodist Church on "Daring to be spiritually incorrect."

"As we as gay people realize our own internal stashes of homophobia, we have to start giving ourselves permission to be wonderfully, fearfully human," Sharp said in an interview with Whosoever, an online magazine for GLBT Christians. (To see the complete interview, go to http://www.whosoever.org.)

"Authentic spirituality is something more than words and theories to help us escape life's pain," said Sharp, who has been HIV-positive for almost half of his life. "Authentic spirituality has to be something that helps us be present and alive and move through the pain and love one another during it."

The workshop is open to all, lunch is provided, and there is no fee, although donations will be accepted to cover the costs. Bering Memorial, 1330 Harold; register at 713/526-1017.

Hepatitis Updates

The Montrose Clinic announces they are now offering a new combination vaccine that protects against both hepatitis A and B at the same time. Both of these infectious liver diseases are especially dangerous to anyone participating in anal sex.

A recent survey involving men having sex with men found that fewer than one-quarter of those interviewed had been immunized against hepatitis A, and only one-third against hepatitis B.

The Montrose Clinic is offering the new combination vaccine at a reduced rate of $45. The vaccine will be available at the clinic, 215 Westheimer; call 713/830-3000 to make an appointment, Mon.—Thu., 1—7 p.m., and Fri., 1—5 p.m.

In addition, Hepatitis magazine is sponsoring their annual conference, Fri.—Sat., Oct. 26-27, co-sponsered by the American Liver Foundation and the Texas Liver Coalition. The conference is open to patients, their families, support group leaders, medical professionals, and anyone interested in obtaining the latest information about hepatitis B and C. The program will include presentations on treatments, research, depression, and complementary and alternative medicine. Hepatitis magazine is a bimonthly magazine based in Houston begun in 1999. For more information or to receive a complimentary copy of the magazine, call 281/272-2744, or e-mail info@hepatitismag.com.

Houston Chronicle to Offer DP Benefits

On August 1, the Houston Chronicle announced to its employees that it plans to add domestic partner benefits to its employee healthcare package as of January 1, 2002.

"Congratulations to the gay and lesbian employees of the Chronicle, who never gave up in their requests for fair benefits and finally have them four years after the paper's parent corporation, the Hearst Corp., directed its divisions to try and incorporate DP benefits," says Sherry Boschert of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists’ Association. "And kudos to the Houston Chronicle management for instituting these benefits in a year when some media companies plead that the downturn in the economy won't allow them to do the right thing."

The Chronicle joins 40 media companies in Texas and at least 33 non-media companies (including five Fortune 500 companies) in Texas that currently offer domestic partner benefits, according to Boschert.

There must have been a fair-minded breeze blowing through the newspaper world, because both Gannett and Scripps announced August 29 that they will offer DP benefits at the beginning of the new year. This is quite a triumph, because Gannett Co. Inc. is the largest newspaper chain in the country with 99 newspapers, 23 television stations, and 53,400 employees, while Scripps is the ninth largest chain. Unmarried heterosexual employees are also eligible for Gannett's benefits.

With the addition of Gannett and Scripps, now over half of the top 100 newspapers in the country offer DP benefits, and only two of the top 10 do not–Associated Press and NBC (a subsidiary of General Electric) are the hold-outs, according to Boschert.

Gannett's decision is the result of some seven years of lobbying by industry activists and Gannett staff, according to the NLGJA.

Our Gay-Friendly Library

Always gay friendly (as well as largely gay-staffed, of course), Houston Public Library has been making some wonderful strides in the arena of GLBT-inclusiveness. As an outgrowth of the library’s first-ever entry in the Pride parade–spearheaded by Montrose Branch head librarian Karen Vargas, who led the staff in transforming her Saturn into the little bug from the Power Card–librarians from around the city have formed a Pride committee to work on future GLBT projects.

In addition, the GLBT Interest Group of the Texas Library Association has started collaborating on projects with the Lesbian and Gay Community Center, such as their Banned Books Readathon on September 29.

And for Teen Read Week in October, the Montrose branch library is bringing in photographer Adam Mastoon, author of The Shared Heart: Portraits and Stories Celebrating Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young People. (See article p. 60.)

"I just think the library should be a safe place to be," says Vargas.

On the national arena, you may not be aware that the American Library Association has a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table. Founded in 1970 as the Task Force on Gay Liberation, the Round Table claims to be the nation's first gay, lesbian, and bisexual professional organization. With a website at calvin.usc.edu/~trimmer/ala_hp.html, the Round Table gives out an annual book award.