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Sorry, Wrong Number!
Family Research Council, the Christian Coalition and Americans for Truth About Homosexuality took a full page ad in the New York Times (and other publications) to tell homosexuals that faith can make them straight. The toll free number given in the ad to help Gays and Lesbians was misprinted.
The error caused Gays and Lesbians with "an attitude" to contact the offices of Byron Griffin, an Alabama electrical contractor. Griffin is the vice president of the company and exclaimed, "It's strange for Dothan, Ala. to be involved in this kind of thing. We're not as liberal here as they are in New York City."
$200,000 had been budgeted for the ad campaign featuring a photo of Anne Paulk telling her story. Paulk says that she is a former Lesbian whose faith in God made her a loving wife and mother. Similar ads will continue to run in newspapers with the corrected telephone number.
Davies of Exodus International explains that this is an umbrella group for organizations that "help men and women deal with homosexuality in a Christian way." Birch of the Human Rights Campaign said, "It also perpetuates the myth that Gay people are not people of faith."
Black Lesbian & Gay Forum
Outraged Over Anti-Gay Ad CampaignThe nation's largest Black Lesbian and Gay organization expressed outrage over the anti-Gay ad campaign waged by a coalition of conservative and Christian-right groups.
"Reggie White's quote saying he has been called a "nigger" by Gay activists seems a despicable attempt to obscure the homophobia in this ad campaign by playing the ultimate race card," said Willa J. Taylor, Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum.
"Why is the religious right-which is predominantly white-using black stars and spokespersons to spew its anti-Gay rhetoric in the press? This is just the Right's latest outrageous attempt to split the Black community along Gay and straight lines. And it is too dangerous a time for our community to be divided when African Americans are dying from HIV and AIDS at a greater rate than in any other community, when poverty and joblessness are destroying our families, when the educational system is set up to ensure the failure of our children, and when discrimination and racism are being coalesced into laws."
This is not the first time Black organizations or performers have been highlighted in an anti-Gay campaign. In 1997, Alveda King, founder and CEO of King for America, compared Gays and Lesbians to "liars, thieves, murderers and child molesters" and warned that protecting homosexuals from discrimination would "give a death sentence to civil rights." She did not disclose, however, that her organization had ties to the white radical right wing.
Earlier this year, Angie and Debbie Winans appeared on Black Entertainment Television to promote their song, "It's Not Natural," with its homophobic lyrics.
Rights Group Links
Religious Fundamentalists
To Anti-Gay AttacksA new People For the American Way (PFAW) report links fundamentalist political extremists to almost 40% of 170 events described in "Hostile Climate," which chronicles 1997 incidents targeting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people. Incidents catalogued include anti-Gay hate speech and hate-inspired violence, job discrimination, harassment and beatings of high school students and attempts to pass anti-Gay laws. One example of last year's hate speech cited in the report was from Frank Simon, who said, "There are hundreds of children in America who are dying of AIDS because they were sexually abused by homosexuals." The report also shows that just four states-California, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Washington-accounted for more than 25% of the incidents. PFAW President Carole Shields said, "The religious right has poisoned the public dialogue about Lesbian and Gay rights and, as a result, our public discussion of these issues is often stuck in the dark ages. The religious right is playing a destructive game of blaming the victims of anti-Gay and -Lesbian discrimination." The report groups discriminatory incidents among six categories: employment, arts and entertainment, marriage and family, education, religion and general intolerance. For more information or to receive a copy of the report, contact Nancy Coleman (PFAW) at 202.467.4999. [GLAAD]
Task Force Receives Kellogg Grant
For Youth Leadership InstituteThe National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) was recently awarded the Kellogg Foundation's first ever grant to a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) organization. The grant is for $44,500 and will help fund the Task Force's Youth Leadership Institute.
"We are honored to have our work recognized and supported by the Kellogg Foundation," said Kerry Lobel, NGLTF executive director. "It's fitting that the Task Force receive this award in our 25th anniversary year."
NGLTF's annual Youth Leadership Institute is in its fourth year and offers a week of intensive leadership development, grassroots organizing, training and skills-building workshops to 25 youth selected from around the country. This year's training will be held outside of Washington, D.C. on Aug. 5 - 9. When graduates of the training return home, they will get follow-up support and assistance from NGLTF's field department and be paired with an organization in their community to work on Equality Begins at Home, coordinated actions in state capitals across the country planned for March, 1999.
"Lesbian and Gay concerns represent the full spectrum of issues facing other disenfranchised groups in the United States," said Nancy Cunningham, executive director of the Working Group on Funding Lesbian and Gay Issues. "However, less then 0.1 percent of total philanthropic dollars are awarded to Lesbian and Gay projects annually. Support from the Kellogg Foundation is a significant step toward advancing the rights and conditions of Lesbian and Gay men," she added.
Couple Buy Sperm On Internet
British media are gaga over the discovery of a Lesbian couple who have purchased sperm on the Internet. While inevitably the group Concern for Family and Womanhood objects to the whole idea of parenthood for an unmarried, same-gender couple, the United Kingdom's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is warning that Internet sources may not screen for HIV and other diseases as do the clinics it monitors (and the Authority promises that those clinics do not discriminate against Lesbians). But "Jane" and "Sarah" of Winchester, Hampshire, who've been together six years, insist that after three years of trying other approaches, this is the best option for them. They forked out $12/month to view California-based NewLife's catalog of sperm donors online and another $457 (280 pounds) for delivery of frozen ejaculate. The Authority says that artificial insemination in clinics averages only about 9% effective and that do-it-yourself insemination with frozen sperm is even less likely to take.
"It sounds very clinical and not at all how a child should be conceived in the traditional sense, but it is the most feasible option and we are grasping at the opportunity," Sarah told reporters. Sarah and Jane had asked Gay male friends to father their child, but the men wanted to participate in the child's upbringing, which the women didn't want. They say that although there is not supposed to be discrimination in fostering and adoption, they had seen friends go many years without success trying those routes, and that they really wanted a child biologically their own. From the catalog they selected a reportedly tall, dark and handsome 30-year-old American (donors' names are not revealed to purchasers); subscribers can select donor traits including sexual orientation, height, weight, income level, educational background, age, nationality, race, and even personality characteristics.
"We have as much love as a man and a woman starting a family and we have plenty of male role models in our own families for its childhood to be as stable as any other child's. We both have a yearning deep inside to have a child and nothing is going to stop us," said teacher Jane. Solicitor Sarah added, "I have wanted to have a baby for as long as I can remember. For Jane and me to have a baby would make my world complete. We have so much love to give it would be a shame for it to go to waste."
Jane said, "Our parental roles will be equally devoted and neither of us believe this to be abnormal or morally wrong, contrary to critics. People who criticise Gay people for wanting a family are, in my opinion, narrow-minded. Hundreds of children across the UK are currently being raised by Gay parents and they are not disturbed or abused because there are no fathers or mother figures.... However long it takes, though, we are both certain this is the best way for us."
Gay Games Exhibition Program Has Begun
by Nellie Voss & Paul Van YperenDutch Courage" wrote the British magazine Gay Times enthusiastically in their preview of the exhibition "From The Corner of The Eye," one of the highlights of the exhibition program of Gay Games Amsterdam 1998. Many members of the international press were present at the official launch of the ambitious Gay Games exhibition program. During the press presentation of "From The Corner of The Eye" in the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art Margaretha Louwers, Director of the Cultural Program, opened the Gay Games exhibition program officially and presented the Exhibition Guide published by Gottmer. In her speech Louwers said that "The Gay Games have already started," referring to hot debates in The Netherlands as to "What is queer art ?" This debate is also a central theme in "From The Corner Of The Eye," which presents works of Catherine Opie, Nicole Eisenman, Collier Schorr and a dozen other young international artists.
Twelve museums and more than 30 Amsterdam galleries are cooperating in this program. They are organizing exhibitions which are related to Gay Games and have a connection with their own regular program. The famous Rijksmuseum recently opened their exhibition "Olympic Gods" with prints, drawings and early photographs of works of art of Michelangelo, Raphael, Duerer, Goltzius, Rembrandt, Picasso and many others. Artoteek Oost recently opened "Lesbian ConneXion/s." Sixty photographers from fifteen European countries created a mosaic vision of Lesbian connections.
"The Garden of Mirrors" is a special exhibition in the Hortus Botanicus garden. In collaboration with the Hortus staff, members of the Gay Garden Club designed and planted a lush and colourful tropical flowerbed. Predominantly situated are a number of large mirrors. Between the planted areas three pink triangles have been created. From 3 to 7 August a professional photographer will be present to make souvenir pictures of Gay Games participants and vistors. Proof that you have been at this unique event!
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