| Transcript |
ISSUE 1005
Inside
Page S
The killing of James Tolbert. a 24-
year-old Mississippi gay man, led
to a massive, nationwide manhunt
for his alleged killers, and has
shaken a quiet gay community.
Page 15
A magazine publisher calls it
political satire; some gays call it
offensive. See what a columnist
for Inside Houston meant when
he wrote that young gay men
and lesbians have tender relationships
with small vegetables.
Page 17
Actor Jonathan Taylor Thomas,
who has discarded speculation
that he is gay, takes on a challenging
role in Showtime's
'Common Ground' as a gay teen
in the 1970s who turns to a gay
teacher for help after he is sexually
assaulted.
Got the
midwinter blues?
Whatever the
cause of your malady,
here's the
cure: the arts.
Take a look at our
sampling of the
highlights to hit
Houston in the
coming weeks.
Page 17
ALL THE NEWS FOR YOUR LIFE. AND YOUR STYLE .
Christine
Burchette wants
more d iversity
and more volunteers
for the
Texas Lesbian
Conference,
which comes to
Houston in May
with a variety of
noted speakers.
Page 25
JANUARY 28, 2000
Radio station quiet after alleged slurs
As debate about annual street festival heats up, a producer for KKRW
allegedly describes a city councilmember using anti-gay terms
by MATII IEW A I IENNIE
The producer of a local morning radio program
has come under fire for allegedly u."mg
anti·gay slurs to describe lesbian City
Councilmember Annise Parker dunng a
broadcJst bst Wl'l'k.
Kl•\·cn Dor.;ey, producer of "The IA-an and
Rog Show" on KKRW 93.7, allegedly called
Parker a "dyke" ,rnd "carpet muncher" during
the morning drive-time show on Jan. 21
during a discussion about Parker's involvement
with the Westheimer Stn.'C't Fl>stival.
And three days J,1ter, the show infw,cd new
lyrics to a Crosb); Stills and :--:ash song that
allegedly used ilnti-gay slurs and called
homosexuality a "strange lifestyle."
"While it is insultmg to me, it 1s an .iffront
to thl• lesbian communitv," Parkl'r said
"There are equi\\1lcnt term~ one would use
for othl·r minoritil>s that no other r.id10 station
in 1 louston would use. We don't h\'e ma city
that toll'rates thosl' kind of remarks."
Parker said shl• has rnntacted officials at
KKRW, but they ha\'l'n't met her rL"qUl'St for a
Fill 'er up?
anvone at KKRW.
\1ichael Hughes, KKRW's operations d.rector,
said that the station has fielded a few
phone calls about the commenb, but he hasn't
listened to the Jan. 21 "Dean and Rog Show."
"I ha\·e no idea of what, if anythmg, was
said. All I know is something was said that
offended people," Hughes said in a bncf
inter\'iew with thl· Houston Voice on
Wednl-sdav.
I lughl-s"callcd the comments "dISparaf;ing
remarks" and said the matter would be im·es·
tigated. But Hughes could not bl· rl'ached for
furthl'r comment at pn•ss time Thursday.
Dorsey did not respond to a request for
comment.
Keven Dorsey, procber of 'The Dem cnl Rog Show'
on KKRW 93.7, has come lllller fire for cl1ft-gay
sb-s he c6!gecly mode cmout City Colninan Allise
Peder ckmg a broadcast last weel
Parker has callrd on the station to b~ue a
public apology and an assurance th.1t the show
will not air anti-gav comments m the future.
:;.... Continued on Page 15
As gay men and lesbians prepare to rally today against Exxon Mobil, a survey
of the nation's major oil companies shows mixed results when it comes to gay
employees and customers
by CIP l'LASTFR
Organizers of a proll-st against l\xon :-..1obil
Corp. Wl'rl' scheduk·d to meet with company
officials early today, just hours before a rally in
downtown I louston to criticize the company's
dumping of policil•s that specifically protected
its gay and k'Sb1an emplO)'l'l'S.
A ml'l'ting bdWl'<'n company executi,·es,
Equality Rally organill'rs ,md elected officials,
includmg openly bb1an City Councilwoman
AnniSL• Parker, was sl'I for 10 a.m. toda;:
though both sides downplayed expt'Ctations
for thl• g.ithcrmg.
By-t p.m .. gay art1\·ists were cxpl'Chng hun·
drl'ds of pl'Ople to 1om a rally ag,1inst Fxxon
Mobil 111 a city park and then a march to the
company's Houston offices.
Equality Rally organizers said latl'
Thursday that today's meeting will open thl'
door to better communication with faxon
Mobil. The company adopted E\\on's
employment policies and benefits during ib
rl'cent merger with :-..1obil. which had policil
·s that specific.illy protcctl•d gavs from
discrimination and offered s.ime-sex
domestic partner be.1efits.
l'ohc1es of the new company, m.l' E\xon's
before it, don't specifically includl• gay men
and lesbians, nor docs the nl'wlv-crL·,1ted oil
giant offer doml·stic partner benl•fits.
"Company officials said they cannot
guar,rntee there will be any outcomt.' from
the meeting, but that it will at kast open up
the dialogue," said Dan DiDonato, .:in
organizer of today's rally
A company spokesman said Exxon :\lob1l
often meets \\'1th community orgaruzatmns,
and wants to ckar up any misinformation
about its policies sinn• the merger.
"Our policy 1s dl'ar and :;traightforward
\\'e do not d1~cnmmate on sexual orientation
and ha\•e establbhed a comprehens1\ e
training program to bl' sure this pohcy ts
followed throughout our worldwide organization,"
said company spokl•sman Tom
Cirigliano.
But local and natmnal gay nghts group~
ha,·e cnhCJzl'd thl' company for fa1lmg to
include sexual onentahon m Its non-dis·
:...- Continued on Page 14
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JANUARY 28, 2000 • HOUSTON VOICE
HOUSTON VOICE • JANUARY 28, 2000
WHAT YOUR PROTEASE
INHIBITOR CAN BE:
"
VIRACEPT IS POWERFUL It's tough on HIV. In many people, VIRACEPT lowered the
amount of HIV in the blood to levels below the limit of detection of the test used,
and substantially increased CD4 cell counts after 24 weeks of triple combination
therapy. (The clinical significance of changes in viral
for the treatment of HIV infection when anti-HIV drug therapy 1s warranted. It is
not yet known whether taking V1RACEPT will help you hve longer or reduce the
number of infections or other illnesses that can occur with HIV. Some common
medications and some HIV related medications
RNA levels in blood has not been established. The
virus may still be present in other organ systems.)
VIRACEPT IS EASY TO LIVE WITH Take it three
times a day with your normal meals or light
VIRACEPT
nelfinavir mesylate
should not be taken with VIRACEPT. For some
people, protease inhibitors have been associated
tahlct.5 and o al powdier with the onset or worsening of diabetes mellitus
snacks. VIRACEPT IS GENERALLY WELL TOLERATED People treated with VIRACEPT
may experience some side effects; the most common is diarrhea of moderate or
greater intensity in 20% of people in clinical trials. VIRACEPT WORKS It's indicated
*IMS NPA Prescription Data 8198 - 5/99
and hyperglycemia, and with increased bleeding
in patients with hemophilia Ask your doctor. For more information, call
toll free 1-888-VIRACEPT or visit www.agouron.com
{Refer to the important information on the next page)
3
4
VIRACEPI
nelfinavir mesylate
•be-ts and oral powde-r
Information for Patients About VIRACEP'r (Vl-ra-cept)
Generic Name: nelfinavir (nel-FIN-na-veer) mesylate
For the Treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection
Please read this information carefully before taking VIRACEPT. Also. please read this leaflet each time
you renew the prescription. just 1n case anything has changed This is a summary and not a replacement
tor a careful discussion with your doctor You and your doctor should discuss VIRACEPTwhen you start
takong this medicalion and at regular checkups You should remain under a doctor's care when taking
VIRACEPT and snoold not change or stop treatment without first tallong with your doctor.
WHAT IS VIRACEPT AND HDW DOES IT WORK?
VIRACEPT is used on the treatment of people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.
Infection With HIV leads to the destruction of CD4 T ceDs, whoth are unportant to the immune system.
After a large number of CD4 cells have been destroyed, the infected person develops acquired immune
defJCJency syndrome (AIDS).
VIRACEP1 works by bloclong HIV protease (a protein-cutting enzyme). which is requ11ed for HIV to
multiply VIRACEPT has been shown to s1gnof1cantly reduce the amount of HIV in the blood You should
be aware, however, that the ef!ect of VIRACEPT on HIV on the blood has not been correlated with Jong·
term health benefrts. Patients who took VIRACEPT also had s1gnifocant Increases m their CD4 cell count
VIRACEPT Is usually taken together with other antlretroviral drugs such as Retrovt,. (Zldovudme.
AZT). EPM,. (larruvudme, 3TC), or Zent- (stavudme, d4T). Talo119 VIRACEPT on combination with other
anbretroviral drugs reduces the amount ol HIV in the body (viral load) and raises CD4 counts.
VIRACEPT may be taken by aduns. adolescents, and children 2 years of age or older. Studies m infants
younger than 2 years of age are now taking place.
DOES VIRACEPT CURE HIV OR AIDS?
VIRACEPT IS not a cure for HIV mfection or AIDS The fong·term ef!ects of VIRACEPT are not known at
this lime. People taking VIRACEPT mar still develop opportunistic 1nfeclions or other cond1hons
associated with HIV infection Some o these cond•tJOns are pneumonia. herpes virus infections,
Mycobacfenum avium complex (MAC) mtections. and Kaposi's sarcoma
It IS not known whether VIRAC£PT will help you hve longer or reduce the number of ontect1ons or other
illnesses that may occur.
There IS no proof that VIRACEPT can reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to others through sexual
contact or btood contanuNtJon.
WHO SHOULD OR SHOULD NOT TAKE VIRACEPT?
Togetner with your doctor, you need to decide whether VIRACEPT 1s appropnate tor you In malung
your decision. the foDowing should be considered
Allergies: ti yo1 ~ave had a serious allergic reaction lo VIRACEPT, you must not take VIRACEPT.
You should also mtorm your doctor, nurse. or pharmacist of any known allergies to substances such as
other medocmes, f00cl6, preserva!Jves, or dyes
If you ara pragnanl: The ef!ects ot VIRACEPT on pregnant women or their unborn babies are not
known. If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. you should ten your doctor before !along
VIRACEPT.
ti you are breast·teed1ng: You should discuss w11h your doclor the best way to feed your baby You
should be aware that If your baby does nol already have HIV. there is a chance that 1t can be lransmrtted
through breasHeedong Women should not breul·leed If they have HIV.
Children: VI RACE PT 1s ava~able for the treatment of children 2 lhrough 13 years of age with HIV There
is a powder form of VIRACEPT that can be mixed wrth milk. baby formula, or foods like pudding
Instructions on how to take VIRACEPT powder can be found on a later section that discusses how
VIRACEPT Oral Powder should be prepared
If you have liver disease: VIRACEPT has not been studied In people with liver disease If you have lover
disease, you snoold tell your doctor before taking VIRACEPT
Other medical problems: Certain medical problems may af!ect the use of VIRACEPT. Some people
taking protease 1ntub1tors have developed new or more senous diabetes or high blood sugar. Some
people With hemophliia have had increased bleeding It Is not known whelher the protease inhibitors
caused these problems Be sure to tell your doctor d you have hemoph1ha types A and B. diabetes
memtus, or an lllC!ease in thirst and/or frequent urination
CAN VIRACEPT BE TAKEN WITH OTHER MEDICATIONS?
VlRACEPT ma'/ mteract with other drugs. including those you !alee wltllout a prescription. You must
doscuss w.lll your doctor any drugs that you are taking or are planning to lake before you take VIRACEPT.
Drugi you should !IOI take wltll VIRACEPT:
• Se dane" fterfenad ne, for allergies)
• H1smanal" (astem1Zole, for illerg•es\
• Propulsilr (cosapnde, lor heartburn
• Cordarone" (armodarone, for Irregular heartbeat)
• Ouinidine (for Irregular heartbeat), also known as Ou1naglute~Card1oqum~ Ouin1dex~ and others
• Ergot denvatoves (Galergot- and others, tor migraine headache)
• Halcion" (triazolam)
• Versed9 (m1dazolam)
Ta mg the above drugs with VIRACEPT may cause senous and/or life·threatemng adverse events
• Rifampm (for tubercutos1s). also known as R1mactane", Rrlad1n•, Rotate,., or R1tamate"
This drug reduces blood levels ot VIRACEPT
Dose reduction required ii you take VIRACEPT with:
Mycobutm• (nfabutm. tor MAC): you will need to take a lower dose of Mycobutin.
A change of therapy should be considered ii you art taking VIRACEPT with:
• Phenobarbllal
• Phenyto n (Oitantm• and others)
• Carba:nazepuie (Tegretol" and others)
These agents may reduce the amount ot VIRACEPT In your blood and make It less ef!ectrve
• Oral contraceptiVes ("the pill1
11 you are !along the p' I to prevent pregnancy, you silould use a different type of contraception since
VIRACEPT may reduce the ef!ecWeness ol oral contraceptives.
HOW SHOULD VIRACEPT BE TAKEN WITH OTHER AHTl·HIV DRUGS?
Tak ng VIRACEPT together with other anll·HIV drugs increases their ability to fight the virus. It a!so
reduces the opportunity tor resistant viruses to grow Based on your history of !along other anti·HIV
med1cme. your doctor will direct you on how to take VIRACEPT and other anti·HIV medicines These
drugs should be taken 111 a certain order or at specific tomes. This will depend on how man~ times a day
each medicine should be taken. U wtll also depend on whether rt should be taken with or without food
Nucleoside analogues: No drug 1nteract1on problems were seen when VIRACEPT was given w1t1i:
• Retrov1r (zidovudme. AZT)
• Ep1w (lam1vud1ne. 3TC)
• Zent (stavud1ne. d4n
• Videx9(d1danosone, ddl)
11 you ara taking both 'lldu (ddl) and VlRACEPT; Videx should be taken wrthout food, on an empty
stomach. Therefore. you should take VIRACEPT with food one hour after or more than two hours before
you take Videx.
Nonnucltosldt renr'H tranmlptase lnhlbttori (llNRTb):
When VIRACEPT is taken together with:
• Vonmune- (newaptne)
The amount of VIRACEPT in your blood may be reduced Studies are now taking place to learn about
the s.ifety of combining VIRACEPT With Virarnune
• Diiier NNRTis
VIRACEPT M5 not been studied wrth other NNRTls.
JANUARY 28, 2000 • HOUSTON VOICE
Other prot1u1 Inhibitors:
When VIRACEPT IS taken together With.
• Cnxiv.m• (1nd1navir)
The amount of both drugs in your blood may be increased Currently, there are no safety and ef!1cacy
data available from the use of this combination.
• Norvir"' (rrtonavtr)
The amount of VIRACEPT m your blood may be oncreased Currently, there are no safety and ef!1cacy
data avarlable from the use of this combination.
• lnv1rase• (saqu1navtr)
The amount of saqu1navor m your blood may be increased. If used m comb1nat1on with saqu1navor hard
gelatin capsules at 600 mg three limes daily, no dose adjustments are needed Currently, there are no
safety and et11cacy data available from the use of this combination.
WHAT ARE THE SIDE EFFECTS DF VIRACEPT?
Uke all medicines. VIRACEPT can cause side ef!ects Most of the side ettects experienced with
VIRACEPT have been mild to moderate. Diarrhea is the most common side ettect in people taking
VIRACEPT, and most adult patients had at least mild diarrhea at some point durinq treatment. In clinical
studies about 20% of patients receMng VIRACEPT 750 mg (three tablets) three times daily had tour or
more loose stools a day In most cases. diarrhea can be controlled using antid1arrfleal medicines, such
as lmod1um• A·D (loperarnide) and others. which are available w1th0ut a prescription.
Other side ef!ects that occurred in 2% or more of patients receiving VIRACEPT include abdominal pain,
asthenoa. nausea, flatulence. and rash.
There were other side effects noted 1n cllniCaJ studies that occurred In less than 2'f. of patients rece1v1ng
VIRACEPT. However, these side ef!ects may have been due to other drugs that patients were taking or to
the Hlness rtself. Except for diarrhea. there were not many d1f!erences in side ettects in patients who took
VIRACEPTalong wrth other drugs compared with those who took only the other drugs For a complete hst
of side ettects, ask your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist.
HOW SHOULD I TAKE VIRACEPT?
VIRACEPT 1s available only with your doctor's prescription. The hght blue VIRACEPT Tablets should be
taken three tomes a day. VIRACEPT should always be taken with a meal or a hght snack. You do not have
to take VIRACEPT exactly every 8 hours. Instead, you can take 1t at normal times when you are eating.
Take VIRACEPT exactly u directed by your doctor. Do not increase or decrease any dose or the
number of doses per day. Also. take this medicine for the exact penod ot tome that your doctor has
instructed. Do not stop laking VIRACEPT without flrit consulting with your doctor, even If you are
feeling better.
Only take medicine that has been prescnbed spec1hcally tor you. Do not give VIRACEPT to others or
take medicine prescribed tor someone else.
The dosing of VIRACEPT may be di He rent tor you than tor other patients .. Follow the dlraclions from
your doctor, nactly as written on the label. The amount of VIRACEPT on the blood should remain
somewhat consistent over tome. Mossing doses will cause the concentration of VIRACEPT to decrease;
t11erefore. you should not min any dons. However. 11 you miss a dose, you should take the dose as
soon as possible and then take your next scheduled dose and future doses as ong1nally scheduled.
Dosing In adults (Including children 14ltars ot age and older)
The recommended adult dose of VIRAC PT ts 750 mg (three tablets) taken three tomes a day Each
dose should be taken with a meal or light snack
Dosing In children 2 through 13 years of age
The VIRACEPT dose on children depends on theorwe1ght. The recommended dose is 20 to 30 mg/kg (or
9 to 14 mg/pound) per dose. taken three times daily wrth a meal or hght snack. This can be administered
either in tablet form or, in children unable to take tablets. as VIRACEPT Oral Powder
Dose 111structJOns wm be provided by the child's doctor. The dose will be given three times daily using the
measunng scoop provided, a measunng teaspoon, or one or more tablets depending on the weight and
age of the chffd The amount of oral powder or tablets to be given to a child is descnbed in the chart below
Pediatric Dose to Be Administered 'fhree 'flmes Dally -- -- Body Weight Number Number Number
of l"'el of l "'el of
Kg lb Scoops' r, . ,poonst T.bl•ts
to < 8.S 15.5 to <18.5 4
8. ~ 10 <10.S 18.5 10 <23 s "'· 10.S to <12 23 to <26.S 6 ,.,,
12 to <t4 26.S to <31 1v.
14 to <16 31 to <35 B 2
16 to <18 35 to <39.S 9 211.
18 to <21 39.S to <SOS 10 2'h 2
~23 :!50.5 15 J ~. 3
In measuring oral powder. the scoop or teaspoon should be le.-el.
• 1 level scoop contains 50 mg of VIRACEPT. Use only the scoop prolllded with your VIRACEPT bottle.
' 1 level teaspoon contains 200 mg ot VIRACEPT Note: A measuring teaspoon used for dispensing
medication should be used tor measuring VI RACE PT Oral Powder. Ask your pharmacist to make sure
you have a medication dispensing teaspoon
How should VIRACEPT Oral Powder be prepared?
The oral powder may be mixed with a small amount of waler, milk, formula. soy formula. soy milk.
dietary supplements, or dairy foods such as pudding or ice cream. Once mixed, the entire amount must
be taken to obtain the full dose
Do not mix the powder with any acidic lood or juice, such as orange or grapefruit juice, apple juice. or
apple sauce, because this may create a bolter taste.
Once the powder ts mixed, it may be stored at room temperature or refrigerated for up to 6 hours. Do
not heat the m•xed dose once it has been prepared
Do not add water to bottles of oral powder.
VIRACEPT powder os supplied with a scoop tor measuring for help m determ1mng the exact dose ot
powder tor your child. please ask your doctor, nurse, or pharmaast.
VIRACEPT Oral Powder contams aspartame, a fow-caJone sweetener. and therefore should not be
taken by children wltll phenylketonuroa (PKU).
HOW SHOULD VIRACEPT BE STORED?
Keep VIRACEPT and ao other medicines out of the reach of children. Keep bottle closed and store at
room temperature (between 59°F a~d 86°F) away from sources of moisture such as a sink or other damp
place. Heal and moisture may reduce the ettectoveness of VIRACEPT.
Do not keep medicine that 1s out of date or that you no longer need. Be sure that 11 you throw any
medicine away, rt 1s out of the reach of chlidren
Discuss all questions about your health with your doctor. It you have questions about VIRACEPT
or any other medication you are taking, ask your doctor nurse or pharmacist. You can also call
1.888VIRACEPT (1 888 847.2237) toll free. ' '
The following are registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers Retrovor, Ep1vrr/Glaxo
Wellcome Oncology/HIV: Zent. Videx/Bnstol·Myers Squibb Oncology; lnvirase. Versed/Roche Laboratories
Inc. Seldane, R1tad1n, R1famate, R1tater/Hoechst Manon Roussel; H1smanal. Propuls1d/Janssen
Pharmaceutica Inc; Halc1on. Mycobut1n/Pharmacia & Upjohn Co, Rlmactane. TegretoVC1baGeneva
Pharmaceutitals, V1ramune/Roxane L.aboratones. Inc; 01lant1n/Parke·Dav1s; Croovan/Merck & Co, Inc;
lmod1umA·DIMcNe1I Consumer Products Co. Cordarone/Wyeth·A.1yerst Laboratories: Ouinaglute/8er1ex
Laboratories. Card1oqu111/The Purdue Frederick Co, Ou1nidex/A H. Robins Co. Inc; Cafergot/Novarhs
Pharmaceuticals Corp Norvir is a trademark of Abbott Laboratories. I
Issued t 1113197 A......_.....
CAU 1.aaa.v1MCEPT ~""' L
YlllACEPT 11 1 l10iSllfM-al AGooronl'llartnateutic. 1tw; l'I - ho.
~ 01999,,_...~. lnc. Mnghll rt.......i La .Iola. ~--;;;~
HOUSTON VOICE • JANUARY 28, 2000 NEWS 5
INSIDE
NEWS
Around the South .• . •... .7
Gore meets with gay Houstonions ....... .7
Texas executes mentally ill gay killer ..... .7
Give Rocker a chance, Turner soys • . . . •.. 7
Georgia bases discharge gay soldiers . .. .. .7
Defense may test evidence in chnd killing .. .7
Around the Notion .................. 11
Sponish~anguage ads favor Prop. 22 ..... l l
Anti11ay remark unleashes campus debate . l l
Hearing set for 67 Methodist minmers .•.. l l
Murderer suspecl in three more killings ... l l
Colo. board votes to keep teacher ..•.... l l
Post Out: Brutal lesson in bathhouse etiquelle .13
VOICES & ECHOES
Editorial: Gaydor flop zeroes in •......... 8
Forsten: Self -love and a little sag .......•. 9
Sincere: Why gays should support Boy S<outs 9
OUT ON THE BAYOU
Weathering the winter blues . . ........ 17
Coming together on 'Common Ground' .... 17
Out in Print 'Breakfast with Scot' ....... 18
Bestsellers .. .. .. .. .. . .. . . ....... 18
Eating Out: A sublime old world .•.... ... 23
On Stage: A seat with an artistic view ..... 24
COMMUNITY
Lesbian conference needs volunteers ..... 25
Community Calendar .•......•.... . .. 26
Occasions • . .... 27
My Stars! . • .. . .. .. .. ........... 29
DIRECTORY
CLASSIFIEDS .
CARMART •..
Issue 1005
.... 28
.. .. 30
.. 31
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713 529-8490
Brutal killing shakes up Mississippi gays
Prosecutor says there's 'no evidence' of a hate crime,
but activists say it may be too early to tell, and
area gays say they remain afraid
by I.Au RA BROWN
J.:imie TolbL•rt, last ~n New Year's fa·e at
a Mbsiss1pp1 gay bar, was found dead Jan.
16 near Mobile, Ala. His bod\' was discovered
on a rural road after a lO~day manhunt
that ended when two suspects were arrested
in C.1hfornia.
TolbL·rt, 24, dit•d of strangulation and
"multiple blunt force in1uries" to the hl·ad,
authonhes s.1td
The Cahforn1a I lighway Patrol arrestL·d
Brt•nt Dil\ id Kabat, 19, and Jeremy Shawn
BL•ntley, 22, driving Tolbert's 2000 Nissan
XtL•rra. Investigators who tracked the two
men across the country as they used
Tolbert's credit cards s.11d they bl'l1eve thL'
motm.' was robbery
"We feel strongly the sole motJ\·e was
robbery," said ~1obile County (Ala )
Sheriff's Department spokesm.:in Chad
Tucker, asked if Talbert's murder may have
been a hate crime. "They v. ere lookmg for
this particular \-chick and waited for him."
The prOSC'Cutor who v.ill handle the Tolbert
case has s.11d she Jgn.'<'5 with that conclusion.
But Tolbert's friends and Jcqu.:imtances SJtd
lolbcrt was gay, and they fear his sexual oricnt,
1tion may have txoen a factor in the crime.
I hl• possibility has prompted fear from
gay residenb along the Mississippi and
Alabama coast, and concern from activists
who s.iy police may have dismissL'CI the
possibility of a hate cnmc too easily.
"Ihe Mtss1ss1pp1 gay community is not
likl' '111 your fan" gay, but we do stick with
c;Kh other," said Jody Renaldo, who maintains
the web-site for joey's on the Beach,
the Biloxi gay bar where Tolbert v. as last
S<'<'n on New Year's [·ve
''Withm our community, whether you are
m Gulfport, Jackson, Biloxi or even f\lobtle
[Ala.I .... we are all fam1.y, and 1t has hit us
pretty h.1rd " Rl•naldo said
Police and prosecutor:
'no evidence' of hate crime
Local prL"" rt.'Porb have not mentioned that
'folbcrt w.1s ga}~ or that Joey's on the Beachwhich
fcaturt'S rambow flags on its wd>-~lte,
and a regular ~hedule of dance music and
drag shows-GJtcr.; to a gay clientcle.
Acquaintances ~d Talbert's parenb, who
pressed police for help and mounted their
own st'.ln:h for their missing son, may not
have known he was gay until after the crime.
"The family did not know and they arc
finding out aftl'r the fact, and 1t must bt.• rrally
h.ird for thl'm to find out like that, but the
fart is, he is," said Renaldo, who postL><l a
ml'monal to jamtl' Tolbert on jocy's wl'b-site.
"l.ucl•d,1lt•, the little town \~·here J.:imie
was from, is really Chrbtian, re.illy H1blrtotmg
pl'ople," Renaldo s.11d "So [the family
I is h,1\·ing to deal with that issue on top of
the I.id thl'V have lost thm son"
l~<'naldo said he "defm1teh believes"
'lolbert's death is a possible hate crimt The
two suspects, both from orth Cnrnhna,
"said thev weren't familiar with the area,
but they ended up at the gay club," he said.
''Why Joey's on the Beach? It just doc.sn't
make any sl'n~."
But investigators said they belie\·e Kabat
and Bentley targeted Tolbert for hb new
Nissan Xterra, a car friends s.1y he had only
had for about four months.
"The information we have is thq had
been in the area looking for thL" parhcular
vehicle," said Tucker, the Mobile County
Sheriff's department spokesman. Th<' two
men were seen at othl'r loc,1tions in the arc.1,
apparently discussing stealing a car, he said.
Tucker dl'Clined to giH' drtaib on l'\'idt:
ncc for that condus1on, atmg the ongoing
m\'l'stigahon He also declined to
answer questmns on \\hat mve. tigators
behew to be the timehne of the cnmcwhl'lher
Tolbert met his assailants at the b.ir,
and how they were able to get mto his car
"It was not a \'1olent car-jacking, but at
some porn! in the evening he was kidnapped,
and taken out of Mbsbsippi into
i\ labama whcJ'L' he was killed," Tucker s:ud
George County Shenff George ~tiller,
whose offin· worked with Mobile County on
the inveshgahon, told the Bilo>.1 Sun-Herald
that investigators have talked with ~omeone
who claimed to ~e Tolbert talking with two
men at joey's the night he dis;ippcart:'CI
Tuckt·r declined comment on thl' theory,
but stressed that "nothing we have" mdiCJtes
Tolbert knew his assailants before the
night he was killed.
Prosecutor JoBeth Murphn'C declined to
answer any <]Uesbons relalL'CI to e\1dence or
the "facts of the cnrne," mduding when or how
police believe Tolbert met hb accused kill~.
'11wsc are two bad guys, and I don't
want to do anythmg that mtght jeopardize
thl• prosccu!ton," said ~1urphree, assistant
district attorney m Mobile C.ounty, Ala.
But \turphree said at thr:. pomt, e\•tdcncl.'
docs not i.uggest that Tolbert was the victim
of a hate cnme.
"Right now, there is nothing m the e\'1-
dence to mdirate that," she told Houston
Votee. "Howe\'er, as the investigation progrL'SSC:>,
tf we SC\.' anything that points m that
dirL'Ction, we certainly v. ill acknowledge 11."
Sheriff's departments in Mobile County,
Ala, and George Count), Miss., worked
together on the case, tracking Kabat and
Brntley across 18 states, from North
Carolina to California, as they used
Tolbcrt's credit cards.
California Highway Patrol officers am~ted
the two men dm·ing Talbert's Xterra and
carrying a large amount of weapons, the
Mobill' Register n·ported. Kabat and Bentley
told police wherl' to locate Talbert's body, on
a rural road off of U.S. 90 in Grand Bay, Ala
Both suspl'cts arl.' being held in the
S1sk1you County jail m California, awaiting
an extradition heanng before bemg
returned to Alabama. They are chargL'C!
with capital murder and could rcce1\e the
death penalty f com JCtt:d, Murphret. said
Jamie Talbert, 24, was last seen at a
Mississippi gay bar on New Year's Eve. His
body was found two weeks later, and some
say they fear the killing may have been a
hate crime.
Whtie Tolbert has been found and tht' I\\ o
suspects h~\e now been arrested, the caS<'
continues to pro\oke contrO\crsy among
Gulf coast law enforcement 1unsdictmns.
Mobile Countv ::,heriff Jack Tiiiman and
George County Sheriff GL'Orge Miller blast
ed the Biloxi police department for allegL'Clly
not following up on the ca~ when Talbert's
family contacted BPO to report him mis mg.
"If thL')''d ha\'C put out a mbstng person
rL·port, wed have been aflt'r thL'm faster,"
Tillman told the Mobile Register. "In the
meanltme, you've got a momma and .:i
daddy and a family that\ upSL'! because
their boy's been mi'<:>mg for h\ o <la}"'·"
~hller ic.<ud Tolbert's fanuly then contacted
his department, '' hich put out a m1ssmg
person report on Jan 5.
In an inter. IC\\ \\ th Houston Voice
B1lox1 Police Capt \\ 1lliam R Kirk den ed
that lus department did anything '' rong '.!l
its handling of the case
"When the) first came to ilS, the mformalton
they had did not :.>JY that [Tolbert] had
made 1t to B.lox11 so therefore the famih
wa~ told to file the report hack in Georgt
Count\'," Kuk ~1d . "It was later delt'rmmed
that he had bt't.'n here m Biloxi, but at that
time the rl'part had alrcad) been filed m
George County"
Kiri.; de:,cribed Joe) 'son the Beach as "a
gay bar," but joined other law enforcement
offinab m stating that the k1llmg doc.,, not
appear to be a hate crime.
Asked whether the fact that TolhC'rt was
la.,,1 5('Cfl at a gay bar contributt>d to the
Biloxi police's reluctance to ime-.t1gatt' thL•
case, "not at all," Kirk said
Activists divided on approach
\\'hen Renaldo, the Wl.'b-master for th<.'
bar, found out Tolbert was r<'ported mb-.ing
in CeorgL' County, he forwarded information
about the case to atmna!Ga} Lobby.org. an
on-hne ad\"OCJC)' group.
'\GL Fxecuh\ e Director \1Jchael
Romane1lo 1mmed1atelv branded the mcadent
.1 hate cnme
:.... Continued on Page 12
6 JANUARY 28, 2000 • HOUSTON VOICE
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HOUSTON VOICE • JANUARY 28, 2000 NEWS
Around the South
Gay Democrats from Houston meet with Gore over policies
WASHINGTOt\i-Three Texans, including
two from 1 louston, were among 20 gay
leaders of the National Stonewall
Democratic Federation who met pri\'atelywith
Vice President Al Gore at his residence
on Jan. 20. Gore, who had invited them IJst
month to discuss ci\'il rights and other policy
issues, and Btll Bradley, his lone ri\'al for
the Democratic presidential nommJtlon,
ha\'l' been fiercely competing for the gay
\'Ole in early primaries this year. Bradley is
to ml·N with the Stonewall federation's
le.1ders next month, according to the Neu
York Times. The group, which has about
10,000 ml•mbers <Kross the country, was
formed two years ago to counter the efforts
of the mon.' visible Log Cabin Republicans,
another gay group. Stonewall Democrats
Stonewoll officials Michael Milliken (left),
Francisco Sanchez and Ron Ennis (far right) met
with Vice President Al Gore last week in
Washington, D.C. as both Democratic presidential
contenders try to woo the vote of gays.
ha\'e yl't to endorse a candidate for president. The Vice President's campaign is considering
supporting a measure to grant two delegate seats to gays in Texas, Stonewall officials said.
During the meeting, Gore was also Jsked to look into an Immigration Naturalization Service
policy that doe, not recognize same--sex relationships. Stonewall officials from Houston
included Ron Ennis, the group's treasurer, and Francisco Sanchez, Jr., secretary of the Harns
County Democratic Party.
Texas executes mentally ill gay man who killed lover, four others
HU\ITSVIU.E, Texas (AP)-A gay man who killed his lover and four neighbors was executt'Cl
Jan. 21, ending a case that death penalty opponents SJy they used as a test of Go\'. George
W. Bush's "compassionate conser\'atlsm." Larry Keith Robison shot, stabbed and decapitated
his lowr, Rickey Lee Bryant, 31, then shot and stabbed a neighboring fa mily of four in 1982.
Death penalty opponents lobbied Bush to grant the 42-year-old Air force veteran a one--time
n·prieve bl>cause of his mental illness and called it a tl-st of Bush's presidential campaign theme
of "compassionate conservatism." But a Texas appeals court spared Bush from making the decision
by canceling the exl'Cution and ordering a competency exam. Robison was ruled compl'tcnt
and the l':l.l'(ution was rescht•duk•d. Robison, who was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrl'mt',
pk•a<k<l innocent b~· reason of insanity but was com·1ct<'Cl. The verdict was O\'t.>rlurnl'Cl,
but .1 1987 rl'tn;il also ended with ;i death sentence
Give embattled pitcher a chance, suggests Atlanta Braves owner
ATl..Ai'\1A (Al'} Atlanta Br.iH. owner Tl•d lurner said pitcher John Rocker should be
gi\•en ;i chance to redeem himself over his d1 paragmg comments about immigrants, minontics
and gay men with AIDS. "I ll''s 1ust ,1 kid," the C'\J;\.' founder and Time Warner vice chairman
said j,rn 19 on C'.\N's "~1oncyline" ol the 25-ycar-old Rocker. "J think he was off his rocker
when he said thOSl' thmgs. I !e's apologized I don't think we ought to hold it ag.iinst him
forl'H'r. I d's gin• him another chance I le didn't commit a cnmc," Turner said. Bra\'l'S management
h.i- s.11d 1t is awaiting J dl'<:is1on from Ma1or League Baseball on Rocker before detcrminmg
its own disciplinary actions. In an intl'r\'iew in Sports Illustrated last month, Rocker
said he would nl'\'l'r play for a New York te,1m bl>causc he didn't want to nde a tram "next to
some qulw with AIDS." I le abo said, 'Tm not a very big fan of foreigners."
South Ga. military bases discharge 42 last year for being gay
SAVJ\l\NAI I, Ca.-\11htarv bases in south (;eorgia discharged 42 soldiers and Mannes
in 1999 for being gay. the Sazmrna/r Morning New~ reported Jan. 23. It's unclear how many
of those ~ervice members openly acknowledged their homosexuality or whether commanders
inwstig.1ted their sexual orientation. Soldiers li\'e in fear of disco\'ery and expuls10n
said ,m unn.1med soldier, from I luntcr Armv Airfield, who had been tea~d for ha\mg
~lkmm.1te mannerisms. "There's so many g.iy"soldiers who would do a good job af they
didn't ha\'e to hw in fear," he told the newspaper. "I'm not scared to go into combat, but
I'm sc.rn.>d of the soldiers I scr\'l' with " fo ma kl· m.1 ttcrs wor~c. the !->Oldier said, the policy
prerents them from n'porting harassment "If we say soml'lhmg. we're going to be m\·estigntl'd,"
ht' told the ncwsp.1per.
Defense may test evidence in rape and killing of Arkansas boy
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Bl·N rONVILI r, Ark. (i\l')-Attorner for one of two gay men charged with the rape
,md rnunh·r of ,1 Ji'-yt'<lr-old boy want tests pl•rforml'd on bodily fluids gathered as l'VI·
dl'nll'. ·1 he ,1ttorncys for J),n 1s Don C.1rpentl'r Jr :ilso 5,1id Jan. 19 that they want more time
to im·pare .1rguments against presenting evidence to a 1ury. Carpenter, 18, .ind Jo,hua
~1.icave Brown, 22, are both chargl'd with \,1p1t,1l murdl•r and six counts of r.ipe m ksse
Dirkh1,ing's deJth Sept 2o. The boy \\'as allegl'dly druggl·d, bound and gagged, and raped
repeatedly at the men's ap.irtment m Rogl'rs, 1\rk. i\ coroner said the boy suffoc,1tcd
because of the po ition m \\hich he w,1s plact>d Detcnse attorney Tim Buckley s motion
asks the state medical exJmmer'<; offKe to sa\·e and prt-ser.l' bodily fluids from the autop705
East Houston St. • San Antonio, Tx 78205 • 210.225.8486
S\ c;o an mdepel'dent analys s c.in be conducted.
From staff nnd wire reports
8 VOICES AND ECHOES JANUARY 28, 2000 • HOUSTON VOICE
VOICe. Gaydarjlap zeroes in on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' 1· if ii I tA td I 'I EDITORIAL
STAFF
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Take a few moments for this Campaign
2000 pop quiz:
Which of the following would be the m~t
l'l'liable (not to be confu..;ed \\ith pred ctable)
tool to make ~ense of the US. policy on gays
m the military?
(a) the gaydar of .i 60-something cand1d.ite
for the WP presidential norrun.it1on,
(b) the PC-dar of the nabon':. largest g.iy
nghts lobby; •
(c) the brownnose-dar of gay Repubhcans,
or
(d) none of the above
If you gues...;ed (d), thrn you were mol'l'
than likely bemused, and a little annoyed. by
the mim-drama involvmg GOP presidential
c-.md1date John McCain that unfolded I.isl
week in New 1 lampslure, which holds ib
first-m-the-nahon primancs on Tuesday
It all started when McCain's campaign
bus-1romcally named the 'Straight Talk
l:.xprc:-.s'-made a routine stop at Calef's
Country Stol'l' m Barrington, N.11.
While ~kCain, .i Vietnam P.0.W. and genuine
war hero, purchased a block of cxtrasharp
cheddar, he made some cspeaally
cheesy remark.~ about the gays he':; convinced
served alongside him in the Navy.
I lis point was that these honorable gay
sailor; neH·r felt it necessary to reveal their
sexual oncntahon, and so would have thrived
under today's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Asked how he knew they were gay, if they
didn't "tell," McCam promptly stepped in it.
"Well, I think we know by behavior and by
attitudes," he said. "I think that it'~ clear to
some of us when some people have that
lifestyle. But I didn't pursue it, and I wouldn't
pursue it. and I wouldn't pursue it today."
A~kcd again 1f he can really tell when someone
is gay, McCain grabbed h1~ latnne shovel
and started d gging.
HI said I had suspicions, and I think that-I
was told that they wen'," he said. "But, look.
That, to ml', wa" somNhing-and shll is
something-that IS private. It's very different
from a manifestation of that behavior in the
line of duty"
Smelling the foul odor of a campaign gaffe
story, an intrepid reporter from the
Washington Post called the Human Rights
Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights
lobby, and asked for a reaction to McCain's
claim to aim.
HHe h.is one up on me, because I can't tell
1ust by behaVlor and attitudes," said David
Smith, I IRC's commurucabons director.
"He ts clearly stereotyping based on mannensms.
This is a form of prtjud1ce and illustrates
the strui;gle that gay people face,"
Smith added gravely, though he stopped
short of blaming McCain's rhetoric for the
murder of Matthew Shepard.
To balance the story, the Post l'l'ached Kevin
Iver!>, the sound-bite ready public affairs
director for the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay
GOP group.
"If then'' s a gay person anywhere who says
they can't walk into a room and tell who some
of the gay people arc, they're lying," Ivers told
the newspaper
"(At least McCain] has been thinking about
hb entue life and when gay people may have
played a role in it. He has reached a~ .md
said he wanb to understand gay prop le, even
though he doesn't always agrre with them,"
noted Ivers, reaching for the large box of Log
Cabin e.isy-w1pe hankies, always at the ready
Since then, McCain ha'i vowed he'll say
nothing more than the words "Don't Ask,
Don't Tell" when asked for his views on military
service by gays. And Post columnist
Gene\'a Overholser, siding with McCain and
Ivers, cited the brouhaha as an example of this
country's inability to deal honestly with the
issue of homosexuality.
As IS often the rase when knee-jerks at I !RC
and Log Cabin lock legs, the messy truth got
pummelled somewhere in the mushy in·
between.
Smith, from HRC, is fooling no one whrn
he claims no ability to at least sometimes tell
who is gay and who is not. [jke Ivers, from
I .RC, rightly points out, every self-respecting
homosexual has a functioning gJydar, even if
it occ.is1onally misfires.
1 (~tJUI~Jl~AT.1 .
\l:MACI-IISMCJ'
FERTILIZERC2· .
But John McCain is not a hom~ual, and to
imply as Ivers did that sailor John relied on
extmded eye contact and subtle vcrbJI and visual
cues-the prime evidcnc.'\' of gay-<iperated
gaydar-is a'i laughable as Smith's over!'l'adl.
lt;s far safer to assume, ,1s Smith did, that
like most straight men in the Navy some 30
years ago, McCain guessed which of his comrades-
in-arms were "that way'' by their hrnpwn~
ted mannCfl!>m.s
That's a stereotype that is sometimes right,
sometimes wrong. but almost always used to
degrade and deride, especi.illy in the IL'Stosterone-
charged ranks of the military.
In that SC'l'\.'iC, it's no diffen.'1'11 than guc-.'iing
th.it the money-grubbing. big-m~J SJilors in his
unit were Jewish Quite pos.sibly true, and quilt.'
p<~;sibly not; but quite definitely pn.iudici;il.
For th;it reason alone, Ivers ought to be
ashamed of himself for lauding McCain for
engaging in an honest inquiry into the complex
is.sue of gays m the military.
WhICh brings us back to McCain himself,
who was arguing in favor of the military's
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy by claiming
that he already knows which of the men (and
women?) who served alongside him, risking
their lives and limbs, were homosexual.
True to form in today's controversy·happy
press coverage, no reporter or pundit h.is
broached the merits of that line of argument,
which was after all the scnous policy issue
under discussion.
If McCain believes mO!>t gay service members
couldn't hide their sexual orientation if
they wanted to, then why for First
Amendment's sake can't they be open about 1t
and why would we kick them out for blowing
their non-cover?
The "Don't A~k. Don't Tell" policy has always
been a bastardl/.ed rompromise in se.:irch of a
rationale, and McCain's unexamined notions
an' typical of tfiac,c used to ju.stify it.
Even more popul,1r is the privacy ,1rgument:
Straight Army privates don't want gays
pecking at their privates.
That one makes even less sen~. because
under DADT, closeted soldiers and sailor.; (at
least those ~tealth enough to slip undl·rm•ath
straight-operated gaydar) may ped.: at will.
It's the openly gay service members who
no doubt wear blinders in the barrad,s and
the showers, for fear they'll be acnised of llX'T·
ing. And the more gays who self·1dmtify. the
easier it would be for shy heterosexuals to
shield themselves accordingly.
These counter-mtu1bve justifications really
add up to one conclusion: We can't St:'r\ e
openly because anh-gay bias would undermine
"umt cohesion," the other hut.zword in
the surfacL~m1ssile debJte.
C1tl•nng to prqudice is no more ncceptahlc
a justif1c.ition for d1scrimin,1tmn Jg.1inst gays
in the miht,1ry today than it w,1s to segregall'
black.~ into :>4.'parate units",1 half""(entury ago.
Th.it's the kind of plain t,1lk Wl' &houldn't
expect to hear from the Straight Talk faprcs.'i,
or the syooph.inL'i .it Log Cabin who've contnbuted
$40,CXXJ to a campaign opposed to
C\ery ba5ic gay rights position.
But it islhc type of honesty that O\erhol<>er
was correct in pointmg out is glaring m 1l~
absence without leave.
HOUSTON VOICE • JANUARY 28, 2000 VOICES AND ECHOES 9
VIEWPOINT
Self-love, and a little sag, help elude the booby trap
by MICHELE FOR~TEN
I wasn't surpn!i<.>d when
my cousin callt'CI to inform
me that his 54-year-old sister':;
breasts were larger than they us..'<i to
be and nl'Stled in her bikini top at a gravity·
defying angle.
What shocked me \\las when he .idded
that her 25-year-old daughter also had had
her brt>asts enlarged. I can better under·
stand my middlL'-aged cousin's decision to
alter her breasts-to counter physical
signs of aging and provide an illusory
hl'Clge against mortality-than I Ciln her
daughter's actions.
When I was the daughter's age, back in
the late '70s, the only women who had their
breasts enlarged, or so it seemed to me,
were models and movie stars.
Being well-endowed in the mammary
department had its drawbacks in real life
My full·breasted friends talked about
having back problems and being
harassed by men on the strel'I who
thought their ample chests were an inv1·
talion for slt~azy comments.
Glad to be an "AC upper," I didn't have
,1 dl'Slre to be more voluptuous, nor did any
of my flat<hcsll'CI friends, for that matter
But, thl'n again, I hung around k>sb1ans.
We <Jccepted wh<Jt we were given in the
milmmary gland depilrtment-l<Jrge or
small-and made the most of it. We knew
VIEWPOINT
there wa~n't a correlation between breast
mas.~ and breast sensation; nipples got erLxt
whether they were the apex of gentle riSl'S
or m<Jjor mountains.
Things are different now, at least for
straight women. Peg it to the bull market or
the cooling of the controversy o\·er the safL'ty
of silicone implants, today it\ your awrage
young straight woman and her mother
who are going under the knife.
During 1999, more than 120,000
American women, many in their teens and
early 20s, gave breast implant.~ a try. accord·
ing to a Ntw York T111u~ report.
It's not as though I don't do stuff to
improve my appearance, like pluck way·
ward eyebrow hairs. Still, this superficial
kowtowing to our society's \ision of beau·
ty, doesn't carry the possible repercussions
of breast "enhancement": painful scar tis·
sue, the unnatural feel of the enlargl>d
breasts, loss of sexual sensation, infections,
the llft.>d for additional surgery, leaking silicone,
to name a few.
1.ooking deeper into what wa~ !\'ally both·
mng me about young women h;mng breast
augmentation surgery, I realill>d that the
courting of potential health problems and the
vanity of it all mel\'ly scratched the surface.
At the core wa~ why women like my
cousin's daughter, with so much of life ahead
of them, would elect to "deform" their body
whm other women, including my mother,
are radically and brutally scarred by breast
surgery they didn't want to have.
In 1972, my 42-year-old mother had a
mastectomy and opted not to have n'Con·
struchve surgery. Where the fullm.>s.'i and
:;moothncss of her breast once was, there
was flalnl'Ss, broken by a long. thick angry
scar. The skin surrounding the :.car was taut
and thin, with the outlmes of her ribs \'l~ible.
The plateau became a shallow concave
bowl near her armpit, v. here her l)mph
nodes had been scooped out.
Four years later, she died from the cancer
th.it had metastasi.zt.>d. Dunng the la.~t days
of her life, 1 remember rubbing Alph.1-Keri
lotion into the area where her brt·ast had
hl't.'n, feeling some compassion but also
revulsion in seeing her chest so ravagl>d by
the cancer war she was about to lose.
Tree:; have rings that reveal their age; I
have visible marks that tell the storv of the
six surgeril':> (some to remow mt)rt· than
one growth-all, so far, benign) that I've
undergone since 1970 when I was 16 ymrs
old. Scars al\' etched around both of my
nippk>s and fadl>d incisions line the surfan'
of other parts of my breas~
In the late '80s, with scn:ral of the,e sur·
gml'S behind me and another looming. I
wmt for a second opinion. The doctor
asked, "I lave you thought of ha\ing prophylactic
mastectomies7 You'rt' at high risk.
Why take a chance?"
I lis flippancy about taking such a radical
skp that was, at best, of questionable value,
hornfied me \Vhy would 1 want to protect
myself from a di.Sfil~ I might never con·
tract? It was like deciding to commit suicide
now becau:-.e eventually I'm going to die.
Recently, my longtime breast doctor
cummented that my breasts ~l'CI less
dense and thu..s easier to examine. Th.is was
the nice, medical way of s<1ying that at the
age of 45, they haw started to sag.
Instead of getting dl'pre...'>t.>d and starting
to re.carch plastic surgL'Ort.s, 1 was elated by
thl' news. Breast exams will be easier and I'll
gL>f more accurate mammogram readings
I've liwd long enough to understand
that happiness is much longer la~ting if it is
ach1e\"l>d by developing self-love rather
than through my chest.
It "II.ill take a couple of dL>cadl'S for my
nipples to reach the \icinity of my belly button.
If I he that long and still have my
breasts, I think I'll throw a big party to celebrate
their reaching bottom.
And tf I live mto my 70s, m dt'Cellt health,
and don't have one or both breasts, I'll celebrate
being a crone, hopefully surrounded
by people 1 lO\'C.
Arc there any other "gravity embracer!>"
out there who might v.ant to celebrate
with me7
Midiele Farstcn i.; a CDIJesc ad111111istrator lwmg
111 New York City. Hcr play, "Winning'#
was staged last .;ummer by t/ie Luna St'll
Women':; Perfomumce ProJL'CI m San f mnosro.
Why gays should def end the Boy Scouts' ban
by RICI JARD I~ SINCERE, JR.
The U.S. Suprtme Court
has aa:epted an appeal from
the Boy 5.-outs of America ma New Jersey case
that made natioml headlines last summer.
In a unanimous decision, the New Jersey
Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts
could not exclude James Dale, an assistant
scoutmaster, and other gay men and boys
from membership or employment. Dale is
being represented in the case by the
Lambda Legal Defense&: falucation Fund.
The Garden State court rejected the Boy
Scouts' claim that such exclusion was
rt>quin.'CI by their moral code, and thus proll>
ctl>d by the First Amendment.
Liberals abhor the Boy Scouts' policy
of discrimination. Conservatives tend
to believe that discrimination against
gay people is justified regardless of
the circumstances.
Yet almost every commcnt<Jtor st'Cms
to miss the point of why the New Jersey
d('C1s1on is pernicious, and why 1t is
important that the U.S. Supreme Court
he.ir this case and, ultimately, rule in
favor of the Bov Scouts.
In a plurahsti~ society, there will never be
pcrfl>ct agr('('ment about qu tions of pt•r·
~onal morality, particularly sexual morality
and intimate associallons. There is
still not universal appro\·a), for instance,
for religiously or racially mixed mar·
riages, even though no legal impediment
to such unions exists.
So regard les.s of whether we approve of
the Boy Scouts' ban on gay members and
leaders, we should acknowledge their right
to act in ways they feel helps fulfill thm aim
to teach certain values.
The problem with the New Jersey
court's ruling is that it tries to establish
the principle that the go\'crnment can
define for a private organization what
that organization's beliefs are, and then
decide for that organization how it may
or may not act on those beliefs.
The New Jersey decision erodes the
liberties of everyone-gay or straight,
conservative or liberal, believers or nonbelievers-
who wishes to associate with
people who share certain values, beliefs,
or points of \'iew.
It extends government power that
already dictates who we may (or may not)
l'mploy, what wages we ma: accept from
an employer, whJCh cu,tomers we may
choose for our products or services, and
whom we may marry.
The Boy Scouts of America is a private
organization that should be allowt'CI to
set its own criteria for membership. Uke
many of my friends and colleagues, I dis·
agree with the Boy Scouts' policy that
excludes gays from membership and
leadership positions.
This is why it is important to encourage
the efforts of those individuals and groups,
such as gay former Scouts, working to persuade
the BSA to change its membcr.Jiip
requirements voluntarily.
Some argue that regulation of the Boy
Scouts is justified because the group
relics on taxpayers' money to subsidize
its activities. But the Boy Scouts' reliance
on government varies widely from place
to place, and m most cases uses predominantly
"private" space.
More than 60 percent of Cub Scout packs
and Boy Scout troops are spon.<.ored by
churches. Direct government sponsorship
of the Boy Scouts constitutes only a small
fraction of the BSA's acti\1tics
The question of whether taxpayers may
or should subsidize the Boy Smuts i.' Sl'parate
from whether the Bov S.:outs ha\,. a
right to engage in expres.,~ve conduct pn>llxll>
d by the First Amendment If taxpa) crs
who are dissatisfied v.;th the Boy , :outs'
policies wish to end their limited subs1·
dies on a community-by-community
basis, that is their privilege as the ones
who hold the pur.>e-strings.
We should also note that the ew Jersey
Court's expansive definition of the Boy
Scouts as "a public accommodation" could
have detrimental effects on all citiz.cns.
We should protect the pri\'ilte agamst the
intrusion of the "public." L~ privacy to be
respected only in our homes? Where is the
limit at which we will be forced to a_'soaate
with those who disagree with us, or with
those WC find disagreeable?
If we do not stand up for the principle of
freedom of as..-.ociation, soon we will see a
homogeruzed avil soacty, m which every
group looks like every other group, m
which robust debate cannot take place
lx'<'au.~ dL'iagrcement is forbidden.
Gay men and lesbians, who remam a
permanent minority in ttus country, cannot
afford this kind of assault on liberty and pri·
\ acy. Although it may St.'ffil countcnntu-
1tiw, we ~hould support the Boy Scouts in
their fight for freedom or e>.prt>s.~ion and
fr,'C'dom of a'sodation.
R1dU1Td Smcere 1.-; prrsulent of Gays and
l..t-:-bians for lndrrodual Liberty and om be
reac1U'd tfirougli t/ii, p11blu:at10n
10
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Come visit us in our new location this Sunday at
1311
Holman
across from
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Campus
For more info ••• 713-528-6756 or maranatha@ev1.net
MARANATHA FELLOWSHIP MCC HAS MOVED ••.
we will be sharing the home of
Central Congregational Church
at 1311 Holman
(across from the HCC-Downtown campus)
this Sunday, January 30, 2000
NEW! Worship time 6:30pm
Super Bowl party 5pm.
Offices are located at 117-A Tuam.
This week's message:
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l~iKilOliL BE PROJECT
Kolbe Prayer Line
713-861-1844
e-mail: Kolbe@neosoft.com
or visit our website at
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Euchar .t 7 30 pm
Thursday Feb. 3
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Annise Parker Speaker.
Friday Feb. 4
Morning Prayer 1 Oam
Monday Feb. 7
Eucharist 7 ·30 pm
Friday Feb. 11
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Movie Night 7pm
Out of Africa"
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Hospital Visitation
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HOUSTON VOICE •JANUARY 28, 2000 NEWS
Around the Nation
Spanish-language ads favor california anti-gay marriage effort
SAN FRA'.'JCISCO (AP)-Sponsors of a
b<1llot me;:isure banning recognition of
same-sex marriages began airing ,1 Spanishlangu.
ige ad Jan. 20 stressing family and tr.idit1on
whill' not mentioning the subject of
the intti.ittve. The 30-second spot is runnmg
on '>p.intsh-language stations around the
state, s.iid Robert Glazwr, spokesman for
the campaign backing Proposition 22 on the
\farch 7 ballot. A recent Public Polin•
Institute of Cilifornia poll showed
I lispanics favoring the ballot measure by
more than 2-1, while voters overall supported
it by about 3-2.
Meanwhile, openly gay rock star Melissa
Ftheridgt' is set to join a celebrity line-up
fighting Proposition 22. Etheridge will per-
Melissa Etheridge and Lily Tomlin are among
those slated to perform next month at a concert
to raise funds to light a canlornia ballot
measure against gay marriage.
form at a llt'verly I fills fund-raiser on Friday aimed at bringing in $250,000 to help defeat
thl' <1nti-gay ballot measure. She will be joined by Lily Tomlin, who acknowledged being
g<1y in a recent mterview.
And in San Diego, four leading Republican mayoral candidates joined forces at .i JOtnt
news conference to announce their collecti\·e opposition to the Knight initiative. Two other
candid.itl's, one Democrat and one Republic<1n, support the measure
Oregon professor's anti-gay remark unleashed campus debate
ORI GO:--: CITY Ore AP <\ remark about ga} s attributed to an instructor at
Cl<1ck,1mas Community College has prompted a formal complaint and sparked a campus
debatl' about academic freedom. Donald Epstl'in, a \'l'leran instructor of history and rl'ligious
studies, was giving an O\'ervicw of Judaic studic~ when he began discussing the history
of anti-Semitism, the relationship between Greeks and Jews, and tensions the two
groups l'\pt·rienced O\W homosexuality, student Joshua Alexander said. "Then ht' iust
jurnfWd in and said, 'You arc better off being dead than homosexual,"' said Alex.rnder, 21,
of Beavercreek. "1\nd he said, 'You can write that down."' Alexander has filed a complaint
against Fpstein and requested that he not be permitted to h.'Jch Judaic studies. The student
s.1id ht' made the request afll'r visiting Epstl'in's office to talk about the complamt.
Alt'xander said Epstein showed him a p<issage from the Bible supporting his opinion.
Fpstl'in rcfust'd to commt'nt about thl' complaint or the remJrks, which allegedly took
place in his course on the Holocaust.
Hearing set for 67 Methodist ministers who blessed gay marriage
SACRA\1F:--:TO-llcanngs will begin nl':>.t month Jgainst 67 United Methodist ministers
who arc chargt'd with violating church l.iw by bkssing last year's "holy unton'' of two
ksb1an church lradcrs, the S.icrammto lkl' rl'ported Jan. 22. The Committee on
Investigation h.is called the unorthodox hr,1rings for ft'b. 1-3 to glean testimony from
cxpL·rts on biblical iuipturr, Unitrd \1ethodist law, l'thics and other topics related to the
s.imt'-sex ceremony, said Re\' Ron Swisher, committre chairman. Swisher and six clergy
wlll'agu('S will decide the fate of the pastors, who could, face church trials and remo\·al of
tlwir ministries. Some 95 United Methodist clerics took part in the January 1999 service.
Convicted murderer suspected in killings of three gay men
DI TROIT (AP)- Wayne County, Mich. prosecutors plan to chJrge a Detroit man who
,1lre.1dy h.1s beL•n convicted of two murdl•rs with thl' murdl·r of a gay man. WilliL• Brown,
·H, was pilrolcd tn 1994 despite two murder connctions. Police now suspect Brown in the
Fl'bruary 1999 slaying of Eddie :vfatthl'Ws, 37, a Detroit nursing home employee. Inspector
Wilh,1m R!Ce, chief ot the Detroit Police Department homicide unit, silid Brown', DNA conmxted
him to \1atthews' murdl'r Poltn• s.1id ~fatthcws was strangled with a telephone
cord .111d a neck scarf, and that monev ,rnd othl'r ttems were missing from his .ipartment
Both of Brown's previous \'icllms werl' str.mgll·d in a s1m11Jr fashion. "The murders arc
1dl'!lt1c.1l," s.1id Rice. I lom1L,de dell'<'hws .md prosecutors said they also arc looking at
Brown in connection 1\lth two other unsoln·d killings. "I think he targets gay men, and he
may h.l\'c done more for all Wl' know, but at this point we cJn link him to three," SJ1d
Wa} m• County Assist.int Prosecutor Roht'rt Spada.
Colo. board votes to keep teacher under attack for test on sex
IWX:WAY, Colo. (1\1')-Biology tl'.Kher l),w1d Kl'nl1l'}', aiticizcd for a test th.it indudl•d
rdcrl'IKl'S to .in.11 SL'\, will keep his job. Tlw srhool bo.ird \'Oted 3-1 on Jan. 17 not to accept
his res1gn.1tion Kenne} I\ as rcprim.mded ,ind srnt ,111 .1pology to parents. "The boJrd .it
this time docs not feel that it is 111 thl' school's best tntl'rl'St to .JCcept the resignation of Dr
Kenney," aid ~hlhelle Kvnc>, bo,1rd pn•sidl•nt, reading .i statement prepared by the boJrd
I ht• wntro\ ersy empted Jan 6 I\ he11 Kc>nm•v g.n e his 10th grade b10logy students a test
th.it 1nduded tn1s queshon " 1} brother (an \1 I>) focls thJt one of the main rc,1sons AIDS
spreads 1s the \anous forms of ,mJI sex Dt•scnbe ho1\ vou would protect yourself .iga1:ist
tlus t\ pc of transm1sswn, as um mg that vou en1oy this tvpe of sexual bch.i\ 1or"
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WESTHEIMER R A .....
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LL. RICHMON
12 NEWS JANUARY 28, 2000 • HOUSTON VOICE
Activists say Miss. killing may have been hate crime
,.. Continued from Page 5
"Any posihon being taken by authontics
that tlus wasn't a hate crime, we feel to be a
smoke ~recn and a cover-up," Romanello
told Houston Vozre.
"It wal> :'\ew Year's Eve---not 1ust the tum
of the year, but the tum of the decade, the century
and the millennium-and to say that two
straight guys went to a gay bar and picked up
and murdered a gay guy, on that evening, and
it wasn't a hate crime, is bull~hit," he said.
Other local and national activists said
they arc very concerned. but taking a more
cautious approach.
Tolbert's body was found in Alabama,
and his alleged killers will be prosecuted in
Mobile. But the Alabama Gay & Lesbian
Alliance isn't currently pursuing the case as
a hate crime, said spokesman David White,
although the group is continuing to monitor
press reports and ralk with activists
about the ISSUC.
"Until I really know that for sure, I don't
want to pubhaze it and be embarrassed
later on," White :;aid
The National Gay & LesbLlll Task Force 1s
"very closely following the lead of the local
[activ1Sts]," said spokeman David Elliott.
"We don't have any independent information
that would suggest it is a hate crime, but we
are staying m contact with the local groups
because they arc the ones to make that dcterm1nabon
and that will need our support.
"We want 1t fully m\ csbgated, but we are not
brashly iumpmg to .:my conclusions," he said.
The ational Coalition of Anti-Violence
Programs 15 also monitoring the case, said
board member Jeffrey Montgomery, who also
;.crves as executive director of the Triangle
Foundation, Michigan's statewide group
addressing anb-gay violence.
"This looks a lot like an anti-gay motivated
crime, although I'm not saying it is or
it isn't:' Montgomery said, listing the fact
that Tolbert was killed-and the e<;pecially
vmlent way he was killed-as warning
signs prompting his concern.
Insisting that Tolbert was only killed so
Kabat and Bentley could steal his car
appears "wrong-headed," Montgomery
said. With most car-jackings, he said, "the
perl>On wants the car and doesn't want to
spend a lot of time with the victim."
In Tolbert's case, in contrast, "we have
what is typical of most gay killings-this
overkill aspect. where m this case he was brutally
beaten and strangled," Montgomery
said. "It takes time to do that, and car-jackers
don't take that much time."
If prosecutors take these factors into
account and still don't believe Talbert's
death was a hate crime, they owe the area's
gay resident.~ a more complete explanation
of "hy the pos::.1ble motive has been ruled
out, Montgomery said
A 'kind-hearted' friend
Almost three weeks after he went
out to celebrate New Year's with fnends
ill Joey's, Tolbert was buried last Thursday
in M1ss1ss1pp1
You_ doh't know f
Those who knew Tolbert remembered him
as an open, canng person who would do anything
for his friends.
"lie was always so kind-hearted to
everyone," said Jon, a gay Gulfport, Miss.,
resident who asked to be identified only by
his first name.
Speaking with Houston Voice the day of
Talbert's funeral, Jon recounted how he and
many friends fell too "shaken up" to attend
the memorial service.
'They buried him an hour ago. . . We were
hit pretty hard, and we decided to let them
spend that time with family," he said. "We're
going next week to visit him at his grave."
Jon said he first met Tolbert through
mutual acquaintances, and the two had
grown to be dose friends over the last
year and a half.
"I le was a very caring person, very
open-hearted. He had a large circle of
friends on the coast, and he would go out
of his way for anybody," Jon said, his voice
filled with emotion.
At the time of his death, Tolbert was living
with his parents while his home in
George County was being renovated,
according to Jon.
Renaldo, who is from Jackson, Miss.,
said he met Tolbert and saw him several
times at Joey's, where Tolbert was a regular.
"lie was really always smiling-he had
good vibes about him, fun vibes," Renaldo
said "I le was always laughing and stuff.
and he didn't say anything negative."
With Jamie Tolbert, 'we have what is typical
of most gay kilr.ngs-this overkill aspe<t,'
said Jeff Montgomery, a spokesman for the
Natianal Coalitian of Anti-Violence Proje<ts.
Both Jon and Renaldo said Talbert's
death had a profound effect on the area's
discrete but tight-knit gay community.
"Everyone is talking about 11, and everyone
is concerned, but in the same sense,
there is a spirit of support," said Renaldo.
Renaldo predicted Tolbert's death could be
the impetus to drive the community to
greater visibility.
"We all looked at the Matthew Shepard
thing, and it was shocking, but now 1t has
happened to one of our own," he said.
"We've dealt with a lot of stuff in
Missis~ippi, like the comments Trent Lott
made about homosexuals, and we sat here
and kept our mouths shut about 1t. I think
right now everyone is very upset and tirl•d
of it," Renaldo said
HOUSTON VOICE • JANUARY 28, 2000
Past Out 1981
GAY AND
LESBIAN HISTORY
by DAVID BIANCO
Brutal lesson in bathhouse etiquette
What were the Toronto bathhouse raids
of1981?
It wasn't the first anh-gay police action in
Canada's history, but ii was the biggest and
most brutal On Feb. 5, 1981, 150 plainclothes
and uniformed police officers staged violent
raids on four gay bathhouses in Toronto and
arrested almost 300 men.
City politics played a major role in the
raids. In the elections of November 1980,
right-wing municipal candidates for the
first time played the "gay card," raising the
threat of gay power to win \'Otes. Toronto's
gay-friendly mayor lost his bid for reelection
to an arch conser\'ative. The City
Council, too, shifted to the right.
The Body Po/1tic, the city's gay newspaper,
anticipated in December 1980 that "the
police [will) feel more comfortable" with
the new mayor and that would lead to
increased harassment of gays and other
minorities. On reb. 5 of the following year,
the prediction came true.
Al 11 p.m., police simultaneously raided
four of Toronto's five gay bathhouses-Barracks,
Club Baths, Richmond Street
I lealth Emporium and Roman Sauna
Baths. At Richmond Street, undercover officers
arrived first and asked for a room and
a locker. After they paid, they arrested the
cashier and the manager.
At Barracks, "a guy in plain clothes ...
shoved me up against the wall," one bathhouse
patron reported. Besides bloodying the
man's nose, the undercover cop repeatedly
punched him in the lower back while taunting
him verbally, "You're disgusting, faggot."
Physical and verbal abuse of patrons was
reported at all four bathhouses.
Police also used crowbars and hammers to
smash through doors and walls, causing significant
damage to the premises. Many of the
plainclothes policemen never bothered to
show their badge.. Police at the Richmond
Street baths allegedly answered the phone
dunng the raid with quips to callers such as,
"Michael's tied up right now"
The raids lasted three hours and caused
$.15,000 in damage. Canadian "bawdy house"
laws permitted the arrest of bathhouse
patrons on charge:, of prostitution or indecency,
and a total of 266 men were taken were
chargt'CI. Twenty employees were also arrested,
as well as a medic from a clinic that gave
free VD cht'Cks to bathhouse patrons
Community response was fast and furious.
By noon on Feb. 6, concernt'CI and angry rep·
rescntativcs from Toronto's leading gay
organi?.1tions bt'gan to slrateg1ze. In 1usl four
hours, ,1 coali tion of activists had rounded up
J sound truck and marshJls and had product'CI
4,000 flyers calling for a demonstration
that night against the police raids.
At midnight, at a busy intel'Sl'Ction in the
ht'Jrt of Toronto's gily neighborhood, protest·
t'rs bc-gan gathering. A few hundred led tht•
The steamy confines of fow Toronto bathhouses
were cSsrupted ii 1981 when po&ce rcids r~ed
ii 266 arrests, ignitilg a wave of gay protests.
way, blowing whistles and chanting "Stop the
cops!" Others soon arrived, and patrons of
gay bars joined the angry crowd. Within half
an hour, a crowd of about 1,500 surged
toward the police station where the men
arrested the night before had been held.
As the crowd neared, protesters met with
re:.istance from the police, who once again
resorted lo brutality. Several people were
injured and 11 demonstrators were arrested.
"It was our Stonewall," one participant later
declared. But, in fact, Canadian gays had been
forging a liberation movement for 10 years
Two weeks after the raids, community
anger had nor died down. On Feb. 20, the
largest gay demonstration in Canadian history
up to that point took place in Toronto's
Qut>en's Park, with at least 2,000 people.
The events of February 1981 mobilized gay
Torontonians to renewed and radical political
action. "I finally got angry," wrote Ken Popert,
editor of 11te Body Politic. "As long as sooety
continues to demand us as its victims and its
human sacnficcs, that anger is going to be
there, waiting to get into us, again and again."
The City Council later voted for an independent
inquiry into the raids.
In the months that followed, Toronto's gay
organi1.1tions grt·w in size and strength. New
ones formed to keep applying pressure to
local government. Anti-violence street patrols
werl' initiated. A print ad was created for US.
newspapers and travel agents, discouraging
vacationers. By the summer, the city had
fundl'CI a report on how to impro\'e relations
between gays and police.
"We finally may be getting ~mething
we've bt'l.·n s.1ying we've had for the la~t 10
years," one activist nott'CI: "a gay community."
Darid B11111co 1s the author of #Gay
E:~~cntmls,'' a collecllon of his history columns.
fie ran be rcaclred nt DmieBumro@aol.com.
13
Selling your life insurance I
is a · decision.
When you're gay. iving "'~h HIV end lhirbng of ~ ·ng rou
ife 1n1Ll'once. shOvldn'I you be g•ven o foce-to-foce
cornullohon"' o no-p-~Ll'e. no-obigohon en"' ,..,,menti
Shouldn't this option be •scussecl
Unked V(ltco1 Senefts is p-oud to be lhe only gay owned
ond epe<ated viotical b'aker wijh a IOCOl office on
HOuSton. After a~ "'e beieve111 p-oVlding you the
penonal attention \'QI. dele<Ve and ge!tng you the
1"1()1; ,,.,,,,. ' ~the Shortest time!
37 Krb) Dnve
Suo•e 1036
Houston. rx 77QQ8
713 528 6777
e-mail: itxfijhotmo~.com
Regis~~ in Texas
Member of
Nallonol Vla11col A.noclollon
Call 1·800-275·3090 today! LINKED VIATICAL BENEFITS
City of Houston
Community Enhancement Meetings
ch year, the City updates its r- - - - - - - - - - - - .- - ,
long-range plans for installing I District A Bruce Tatro I
new sewer lines, streets, police I February 3• . 7 • 9 p.m. I
d fire stations libraries and Scarborough ~tgh School . . • . I 4141 Costa Rica I
therproJectsmthecommuruty. I D. . t. t B Carol Mims Gallowa·v# I
I h I 'd ify . 1s nc _
ease e p 1 ent projects I February 8, 7 - 9 p.m. I
d city service needs in your Francis Scott Key Middle School
ea for the City's next Operat· I 4000 Kelley I
ing Budget and Capital Im· I District c Marl<' Goldtierji
rovement Plan (CIP), the five I February IO, i- 9 p.m.
ear schedule for constructing I The Rice School - Auditorium
d financing projects. I 7550 Seuss
Council members are holding a
ries of meetings on the annual
perating budget and the Capi •
Improvement Plan (CIP).
Come learn about City programs
d funding, and tell us your
ideas for improving your com·
munity.
District D
District F
Comment fonns- ~ill be avail- I District G
able at all meetings, the I
.Mayor's Citizens Assistance I
Office, Council offices and the I
Planning & De\·elopment De- I District H
partmcnt. Tu requo1 a form by
mail, call 713-837-7862. 1
Bilingual, sign language and/ 1
or captioning services are
available on request.
Call 713-837-7831,oneweek
February 29, 7 • 9 p.m.
Braeswood Assembly of God
10611 Fondren
February 15, 7- 9 p.m
Dobie High School • Cafeteria
11111 Beamer Rd.
February 21, 7 - 9 p.rn.
Creckwood Middle School· J
36Q~ W. ~.e Houston P~. I
Mark Ellis I
February 28, 7- 9 p.m. I
Sharpstown Recreation Center I
6600 Harbor Town
Bert K~llN ·· · .... .. · I
Ftbru•I') 24, 6:30- 8:30 p.m. I
Frostwood Elementary School I
12214 Memorial Drhe I
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February 22, 7· 9 p.m.
Jeff Davis High School· Auditorium I
I IOI Quitman I
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Febru•I') 17, 6:30 -8:30 p.m. I
Cape Center
4501 Leland I
before tbe mcetingyouplanto L - - - - - - - - - - - - - .J
attend. {TI'Y 713-837-7702)
14
Fill 'er up?
;.... Continued from Page 1
rnmmahon policy, and for dropping
domestic partner benefits Mobil once
offered to its employees.
Cirigliano said Exxon Mobil doesn't
want to hmit its policies to specific groups
and doesn't offer domestic partner benefits
because they aren't required by federal law.
As organizers of Equality Rally spread the
word about today's protest, they encouraged
people taking part to bring their Exxon Mobil
Credit cards, destroy them, and let the company
know 11 lost their business.
The rally was also scheduled to provide a
way for protesters to apply for credit cards
from more gay-friendly i;as and oil comparues.
But With gas stations on abn~t e\'ery corner,
gay and lesbian consumers face a variety
of ch01ces.
Some of those stations bear log~ of companies
that don't protect gay and lesbian
employees or recognize the buying of gay
consumers. To help consumers, the Ho11sto11
Voice surveyed maior oil and gas comparues to
see where each one stands when JI comes to
gay men and 16bians
The gay fnendliness of companies can be
gauged by looking at five criteria. according
to Kim Mills, education director of the
Human Rights Campaign, the nation's
large.~! gay civil rights group.
Mills said companies should have a nondiscrimmation
statement that specifically
includes sexual orientation, offer in~urance
and other benefits to sam~x partners of
employees. include sexual orientation in diversity
training, contribute to gay and AIDS related
charities, and have a gay employee group.
Offering the benefits is the m~t dramatic
step a company can take to show that it
understands gay and lesbian issues, Mills
said. It 1s not unusual to see se\'eral companies
in an ind us try begin offering domestic partner
benefits as soon as one steps out, she said.
San Francisco-based Chevron Corp. was
the first oil company to offer both a non-dis-oil
& gas company
BP Amoco
' : I' I' Ii
LOCAL NEWS JANUARY 28, 2000 • HOUSTON VOICE
crimination policy that includes sexual orientation
and domestic partner benefits. The policy
became effecti\'e in 1993. The benefits,
available to samMeX and opposite-sex partner.;,
were made available in 1997.
Chevron is the nation's No. 3 integrated oil
company, behind Exxon Mobil and Texaco.
Chevron operates 8,000 gas stations and
employees about 40,000 people
Susan Guerrero, co-chairwoman of the
company's gay and lesbian employee group,
5a.Jd she considers the company gay friendly,
althou~ the atmosphere for gay employees
varies \;y department.
"\Vithin Chevron, the O\'erall company has
very open and accepting policies, but that filters
down to individual attitudes," she said.
Like m many industries, the manufacturing
plants at Chevron arc generally less gay
friend Iv than the offices. Guerrero said.
The rompany's charitable donations to gay
causes arc m()';tly in the San Francisco Bay
area, where the company is headquartered.
Guerrero, who JS based in Houston, said she 1s
somewhat dL-;appomted by the lack of donations
bv Chevron here.
I louston-based Shell Oil Co., now part of
Royal Dutch/Shell Group, has had a non-discrimination
policy that includes sexual orientation
since 1996. The company began offering
same-sex and opposite-sex domestic partner
benefits in 1998.
Diversity training at the company is still
somewhat spotty, but sexual orientation is
included when the training is offered, according
to Rick Schroder, a diversity consultant for
the company and one of the co-founders of
Shell's gay and lesbian employee group.
Shell's contributions have helped fund the
Lesbian Health Initiative, PFLAG's national
organization, the Greater Houston Gay and
Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and other gay
and lesbian causes.
The company has participated in Houston's
AIDS walk and has sponsored gay pride
events in Atlanta. Shell also received a corporate
atizen award from HRC in 1998 and has
sponsored national events for the ~tion.
'The attitude is one of inclusion,' Schroder
said. NShell's policy is to value all people.
We're making progress in that area ...
A third company that has led the way on
gay and lesbian is.sues is in transition, but its
progressive policies appear certain to stay in
place. The 1999 merger of British Petroleum
and Amoco created BP Amoco, a Londonbased
company that is among the top integrated
oil companies in the world.
The company, which owns more than
28,lXXl service stations worldwide, is also
looking to buy Atlantic Richfield Co.
The former Amoco's policies provided for a
non-discrimination statement that included
sexual orientation and for same-sex and opp<r
site sex domestic partner benefil~. The merged Ii<
company plans to continue those poliaes, ffi
according to company spokespen;on llugh ~
DePland. ~
Di\'ers1ty training that includes gay and les- ~
bian 1ssuL'S is also likely to continue, DePland
said. I le said he did not know what pl.ms the
company has regarding charitable donations.
\'vhile not leaders in their industry, lexJco and
Sunoco have some progressive policiL'S in place
Texaco, based in White Plains, New York, 1s
the nation's 'o. 2 integrated oil company nnd
selb fuel at 38,lXXl gas stations worldwide. Its
25,000 employees are protected by a non-discrimination
policy that includes sexual orientation,
but domestic partner benefits arc not
offered, according to spokeswoman Kelly
McAndrew.
The 11,000-employee Sunoco operates
about 3,700 gas stations in 17 states, mostly in
the Northeast, under the Ultra Service Centers
and Aplus names. Sunoco is not a full-service
oil company like Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell,
BP Amoco and Texaco. Instead, the
Philadelphia-based company is the nation's
No. 3 refiner and marketer of oil products.
The company does not offer domestic partner
benefits, according to spokeswoman
Shannon Breuer, but its non-discrimination
policy and di\'ersity training include sexual
orientation.
Tosco Corp., based in Stamford, Conn., i~
the only company contacted that refused to
answer specific questions.
The company, the leader in the oil refining
and marketing industry and No. 2 in con-
Gay organizers of a rally against Exxon Mobil,
including Dan DiDonato, were scheduled to
meet with company executives early today to
discuss its employment policies.
vemence stores (behind 7-Elcven), owns
Circle K. It operates 2,400 gas stations and
con\'enience stores and another 2,600 under
license from BP, 76 and Exxon, providing a
presence in 36 states.
Two other companies answered "no" to all
five benchmark question~:
CITGO Petroleum Corp., which employl'\.'S
5,lXXl people, does not operate any of the stations
that bear its name. All 15,000 of its outlets
are independently-owned franchises.
Some 1,900 of those are 7-Eleven storl'S.
Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corp,
based in San Antonio, is No. 2 in the oil
refining and marketing business and operates
5,300 gas stations and convenience
stores in under the Diamond Shamrock,
Total, Ultramar and Beacon brand name,. It
employs 24,000 people.
Spokesman Jodie Carlson said the company
complies with all laws regarding non-discrimination,
noting that sexual orientation is
not a class protected by federal law.
ooes your noodiset1m1naaon
policy Include
Do you offer Does your d1Vers1ty Do you make ""''-•Pr
«dllllral&J contact information
Plffl
ClomestiC partner
sexual orientation? benefits?
yes yes
yes yes
no no
no no
yes yes
yes no
yes no
no answer no answer
no no
tramu~ Include donatlOllS to gay or
sexual orientation? ~OS organczations?
yes no answer
yes yes
no no
no no
yes yes
yes no
no no
no answer no answer
no no
no
no
no
200 E. RM!dolph Dr., Chlcll&O, IL 60601
312-8156-6111 • www.bpMloco.com
575 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94105
415-894-7700 • www.chevron.com
2000 Wntcllnter Ave., White Plllna, NY 10650
914-253-4000 • www.texaco.com
72 Cummings Point Rd., Stamford, CT 06902
203-977-1000 • www.tosco.com
6000 N. Loop 1604 Wt1t, s.n Antonio, TX 78249
210-592-2000 • www.udscorp.com
HOUSTON VOICE • JANUARY 28, 2000 LOCAL NEWS 15
Insult to gays, theater defended as 'political satire'
by MATII IEW A. f l[\J IE
A jab leveled in a I louston magazine
column at gay men and lesbians and a
gay-friendly movie theater has drawn
criticism from some gay activists, who
call it "insulting."
The column suggests young gay men and
lesbians have "sensual relationships" with
small vegetabb and asks whether a l()('al
theater should change its ad\·ertising campaign
to tout a permanent gay film festival
OO:ausc it shows gay-themed movies.
Frrelance writer Roger Gray's "In Your
Face" column in the January issue of in>1tit'
/1011>/011 includes the mention in an item
titled, "Thr Love That Won't Shut Up."
In the nine-hne paragraph, Gray takes
Greenway Theater to task for showing gay
and lesbian films, and suggests the theater
adopt an all-purpose advertising slogan
"The story of a young (man's/woman's)
exploration of (his/her) sensual other self,
e\pressed in a tender relationship with
another (man/woman/small vegetable) ."
Grl•enw,iy, operated by Landmark
Theatre Corp., takes part in the city's
annual g.1y film festival and schedules a
g.1y-theml'd or gay-friendly film at least
every month, or for about 30 percent of
its offerings in a year, said Sarah Gish,
Landmark's city manager
Gray also wrotl' that he hopes Log Cabin
Republicans, a gay group, wasn't planning ii
movies that larger theaters ignore.
l..Jndmark's Rh·er Oaks was the only theater
in I louston to show "Boys Don't Cry," a
critically-acclaimed movie about the murder
of transgendered teenager Brandon Teena
I hlary Swank, who portrayed Teena in the
film, won the Golden Globe for Best Actress
on Sunday for her performance
"We work hard to showcase gay and Jes·
bian films. It's if that's a problem, and it isn't
to me," Gish said. "W<' haw found the com·
munity here to be very supportive of whatever
Wl' play. I am just a big believ<>r in not
The Love That Won't Shut Up
llAjvSt"'l,O'l\thtlt•~~--._,~,...ft!MtianilftM ..
lGt•.,-..a ·yn.-...1... ,•.-,•.W _>J_g0"_"7cc_wl,< ,. !_ ___ .,__M j l1N_b-
.. ,.~ ... -.... -----~ .... ., . ._ .......... b«_ ... __, _1 t\.W o9ca.~---- ~,.,. ___ ..,........,_
..._Mod on._, h ,.,.,. • ..., i.. - - "'-"""" M -
brcJUW 11war.*:tCl'Nft'• '"Pt&u'~ • ...,_._.auw ~-RMit C'
tNr«t ._pvncNint., .. SDy""°"*'Wl"CtClillf MOdA/flltllf~'~
putting out negative information about
groups or communities. I 1ust didn't think
[the article] was necessary."
Laurette Veres, president and editorial
director of /11s1de J/011slon, dismissed the criticism
of Gray's column as misplaced "In
Your face" is political satire, she said, and
should be read that way.
Besides, Veres said, the column pokes fun
at Bush, not gay men and lesbians.
"This whole column by Roger Gray is definitely
J political column. We, in our political
columns, openly poke fun at c\·erybody and
don't pick at any one group of pt.>opll'
Nothing 1s targeted," Veres said.
Asked if the magazine would treat
AfricJn-Americans, Jews or ~1uslims in thL•
same manner in its columns, \'cres said it
would, if it was in the "context of what a
polihcal figure had done."
"It is political satire and that is the conic\!
people should 1udge it in," she said.
But Carter said the satire g~ too far.
"This is another good way for pL'Ople in
our community who want to pick up a
phone or write a Jetter and tell them that
c\·en the smalle:..t of jokes, you don't stand
;ind let them go b);" Carter !'aid. "You ha\·e
to be the one that :..tops and ~rs that you
don't apprt'Ciate 1t."
Gray could not be reached for comment.
Inside Houston
5959 Richmond, suite 410
Houston, Texas 77057
713·784-7575
www.insidehoustonmag.com
Radio jocks pull no punches inf estival debate
.- Continued from Page 1
But 1',1rkl'r ,1lso calkxl on thl•aty's gay and lt-:;b1an
n>mmunity to nood the station with Id·
ters ,ind e·ma1b to protest the rnmml•nts.
"l\e tned to dl'al \\1th 1t ma busme>s-like
manner, but l'\'l' h.1d a h.ird lime in gl'tting the
st,ition ,1t .111. At this point, ~X'(>ple who hL•.1rd
the romml'nts should call and let them know
thCJr opmions," l'arkl'r sud. "They 1wed to
apologizl' to mC' and S<l\' 1t won't happen agJin.
Anvth1ng ll..,s th.111 th.it is un.icceptabll'."
Tlw st.illon should ,ilso allow a ml'mlx•r of
till' g.1y community on thl' show to respond
to the anti-gay comments, SJid Se;in C.irll'r,
pre ... 1dmt of the 1 louston Gay & Ll'sbian
Politic,11 Ciucus.
"l.d us h.iw .i \'OICl' ;ind at lmst come b.Kk
,it the comments," C.1rll'r said. "We dolll'l.'d
to let thl'm know th.it they can't go on mak·
111g stuff like this h.1ppen"
fhl' alll');l'd .inti-gay comments and dis·
cussion of tlw \\'l'Sthl·iml'r Strl'et Fcsli\«il
Cilml' 1ust d.1ys aftl•r .i city hearing officer
rl'fuf.l-d to 1ssm' ,i permit for the 26-year-old
fl'..,ll\'al, sclwdull·d for ~1av 6-7.
In nwd1a n·ports this w~'l'k, P.1rkcr said the
fl•..,ll\',il 1s "too big for a n·sidential area," .ind
rL'(Omml'nd\·d to fl>stival organizers that thl'
l'\'l'nt bl' rl'U un•d in St-opl' or mo\·ed to anothl'r
Jo.:ation to ,idd rl'SS public safety concerns.
Citv off1ti.ils citl'l.l widl'Spread illq~.11 parking,
traffil: gndlock, litll·ring, noi~ and disorderli·
ness in l\fo.-.ing to grant the fl..,.,ti\'JI a pcnn1t.
fhl' l'\'l'nt, which draws an cstimatl•d
300,000 pl'opll' to J JO-block strip of
\\'L•sthl'iml'r m'ilr \1ontnisr, pits some neigh·
borhood ,N .. ooahons and local busme...,~
ag.iinst supportl'r:.. of the event.
During tlm'I.' davs of IL'shmony during a
recent pt'rmit heanng, 14 peopll'-!Ilduding
policl• officers-!-poke against thC' fe..,tival,
while <>nl' per~in spoke in favor, according to
the llousto11 Chromcte
fostiv.:il organizer John FlorC'z told the newspapt
·r !11.it tlw hmnng procl~ had been biased.
"We' re not going to sue thC' city, but we arc
gomg to appe;il to cooler heads if we can,"
l'lo1w told thl' C/110111de. "Therl.' were no
fights or u1inating or defecation. These arc
1ust normal people hanging out ha\'lng a
good time"
l'arkl'r s.1id she 1s attempting to brokl'r a
compromise bdween Florez and opponents
of the fest!\ al to a\·oid a confrontation
before Citv Counnl.
Flon·z h.1d 10 d;ip. to appe;il the permit
deni.11. Ill' can take the dl>cision to City Cou111.;J,
or m.1kl' changl'S to the e\·ent to addres..., thL·
public safl'ty concerns of city officials.
The permit denial, bv Assistant Director of
Public Works Gl'orge 13ra\'l'nl'C, was the first
undl'r ,1 rl'\·1scd city ordinance go\·eming
paradl's, bhvals and other public c\·cnts.
The new ordm.:incC' requires that a public
hearing be hdd on "ma1or" events before per·
milting, ,iccording to the Chro111cle.
Parker said hl'r :;ense of City Council col·
lmgues is that it won't support the fcsti\·al
unlll changl's are made by its organizers.
"Wl• .ire working with the fe:;ti\·a] organiz·
er and the neighborhood associations to work
out a compromise. I don't know if that is pos·
sibll·, Parker said.
But regardlr..,s of the outcome of thl' festtv.
11, Parker, who won a ~ond term on C.1ty
Council last :-\owmber, said the alleged anttg.
iy slurs on KKRW took a public 1s ..-. uc and
personali1L'<i 1t to her m ,1 negat1\·e way
i\ hile she has encountered gay bailing in
her po! tic.ii campaii;ns, Parker s..11d 'he's
ne\'t'r f.Kl'd anti-gay slurs.
"Calling me J bbian in a political sense
1s gay baiting, but it is not derogatory.
Lsing slurs is a completely differl.'nt situa·
tion, It has not happened to me before. It b
TakeJoY
really ~urprbing," Parker said
KKRW 93.7
P· st Oak Blvd., 12th floor
Houston, Texas 77056
71H!308000
www kkrw.com
"The Dean and Rog Show"
dean&rog@kkrw.com
keven@kkrw.com
Taking
Pride
The Pride Committee of Houston
unveiled its logo for Houston Gay &
Lesbian Pride 2000 during o community-
wide party Thursday. The logo,
on interpretation of the theme of
this year's event-"'Toke Pride, Take
Joy, Toke Action" -as designed by
local graphic artist Dione Jolley. The
.Jogo will be used on Pride 2000
' merchandise and pubrKotions related
to the event. The Pride parade is set
for June 24.
16
Now Accepting Medicare, PPOs
& Standard Insurances.
Exercise Programs
Personal Trainers
Nutritional Intervention
Massage Therapy
Stress/Pain Managment
Neuropathy Therapy
Peer Support
Workshops & Seminars
Steroid Education
Increase Self Esteem
Ed Kinser
BSMI, CRS
Director: Kinetic Sports
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
• "Fun· - The Advocate •
"CHI Siter - Ylhll •
"Best online matchmaker" •
- HX Magazine •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• ••
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
JANUARY 28, 2000 • HOUSTON VOICE
THIS YEAR
I will set out
to do something great
for myself.
MUSCLE MECHAN ICSSH
THE PLAZA
AT
RIVER OAKS
~
1920 W. Gray • 1945 W. Bell
713-528-5277
SEE THE CLA&5IFIED SECTIO\
Paving the Way
in Y2K
I have a11 oppo11c11t a11d we arc kicking off
Danb11rg Campaign 2000.
I appreciate a11d look forward to your
co11ti1111cd support.
Please call (713) 52-Dcbm a11d sign up
to volr111tccr. I need your help!
713.520.8068 District
512.463.0504 Capitol
tfie winter blues
The weather
outside might
not be frightful,
but use
our guide
as a rundown
on
some of the
upcoming
highlights in
Houston's arts
scene to beat
Depn•ssl•d?
In the Bayou
City it's difficult
to haw the midbl.:
ihs
sl..it>s clear
blul' With tlw no-show of the
, Y2K bug, m.1ybt> you're m ,1
lunl.. bel-.HISl' vou'n•' stuck
with all of that dm·d corn ,ind
l~ing you bought Or maybe
your p.irtm•r just appe.ired on "Who Wants to Ill> a
f\1illinn,1irl'" ,ind Rl•gis didn't intmdun• you as tlw
companion.
Wh,1tl'l'l'I' tlw c.1usl' ol your malady, lwre's tlw
nm•: tlw .irb. It':. gl>ml for you. ,ind you c,rn't O\'l'rdose.
SC'l' ,1s m.rn1 .is 1·ou hl..l• ,111d you'll bl•gin to
ll'l'I beltt>r imnwd1.itl''>·
HOUSTON VOICE • JANUARY 28, 2000
A GUIDE FOR YOUR LEISURE TIME
A dance combo to put you right back on your feet:
Houston Ballet's Sargeant Early's Dream
WIT by Margaret Edson (through Feb. 12).
You might think th.it .i play about a
caustic professor ol metaphysical
poetry laced with 01«irian cancer
would hasten you right mto your own sickbed, but
this mostlv adult drama is lull ol brittle humor with
life-allirming sensibility. It's no surprise that
Edson's end-of-life play gi1·es us all a reason to 1i1·e.
The lesbian and kindcrgartm teacher won the
Pulitzer Prize last year for the worl.. and it's easy to
see why.
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS by William
Shakespeare (Feb. 9 to March 5)
The most famous and rel'l'rl'd playwright ol all can
m.ike you laugh out loud m his youthful ad.iptahon
ol two ancient plays by Plautus. With Its dual sets of
twms, the complications of mistaken identity nse
exponentially, as should the laughs Upon its premiere
at the Chnstmas re1·el, for the randy gt•ntry
studying for London's law courts, Shakespeare's
grl•at comedy was stagt'<I following much drunken
debauchery. One participant said this: "it was thought
good not to offer anvthing of account." Critics.
HAY FEVER by oel Coward (March 1-25)
II you hear the sweet sw1shmg of silk smoking
1acl..e-ts, coupled with crackling wit bracing .ind dry
as a line martini and tlw high polish ol Deco
throml'-Wcar, vou know you're Mrived in th,1t ultra-
.- Continued on page 21
(/oclcwise: Donna Deitch, director of 'Common Ground'; Jonathan Taylor
Thomas plays a gay teenager in the 1970s; Andrew Arlie and James Le
Gros portray a longtime couple having a gay wedcing; Jason Priestley,
Brittany Murphy and Mimi Rogers play three gays in the Navy.
Coming together on
<V~®MM®rffi
(f/;(f ®J(g!J{ffjJ(jff
A Showtime movie premiering
Saturday spans six decades of hurt and
healing for gays in one small town
by DAVID GOLDMA 1
\Vh.it do you Jo \\hen you're gay and \Ou're stud, m Sm.lit
Town, U.S.A ?
For generabons of gay people, there's been 1ust one ans\\ er· 'Jou
leave home to settle ma big city.
The new movie "Common Ground " wh1..:h premieres on
Showhme tomorro\\, offers graphic evidence why so man} small
to\\ n ga\ s and I sbtans ha\ e for grnerallons quit the country;rdt:>
for the a hes. \\e see a } oung girl ostr.lnzed b\ her 111oth r and
unable to fmd \\ ork bcc.luse she 1s susp<'Ctcd of lcsb1.imsm \\c sa
.- Continued on page 22
18 OUT ON THE BAYOU
Out In Print BOOK NEWS
'Breakfast' breaks below stereotype's suif ace
by DEBBIE FRAKER
\\ow. Sometimes 1t"• hard to say much
more than that about a book that touches
you as profoundly .is this one did. But a
reviewer has to give it a shot.
On the surface, BREAKFAST WITH
SCOT is about a gav couple who find them·
seh-es the guardians of an 11-year-old boy
when his mother die~. Several years before,
Ed and Sam had agreed over dinner and
many glasses of wme to take custody of the
boy, Scot, if anything should happe~ to hLs
p.irents. Uke most people who make rash
prom1SCs on the spur of the moment, they
didn't .ictually believe they would ever be
expected to make good on their word
But they were, and they did. Ed and Sam
ne\ er planned to be parents, and the ex pen·
ence doesn't exactly fit into the lives they
ha\ e established. They are a fairly conservative
urban gay couple-not flamboyant m
any wa}. not sissies by any means. They are
accustomed to a sophisticated life.style that
includes small dinner parties with fnends
and quiet visit' to the local art gallenes.
When Scot comes mto their hvcs complete
with make-up kit and pant}'hose,
they arc forced to face queer issues thev
have never addressed head-on. ·
Michael Downing forces his
reader to look squarely in the
face of a sissy boy-child and
respect him for the fact that he
is the stereotype plus a
whole lot more.
"Having a child, I soon learned, is like
having an open wound," muses Ed.
"People ask you about it. They give you
advice and secret remedies. Friends tell
you to ignore it for awhile and ~ee if it
doesn't heal itself Everyone assures you
that it won't kill you And then thev show
\'OU their scars." •
But Scot isn't like their friends' kids, and
parenting him 1s a unique challenge \\"hat
do you tell a cluld who is being harassed at
school for the way he looks and acts if the
way he look.s and acts embarrasses you?
And what if you are embarrassed by the
fact that he embarrasses you' What do you
tell his teachers when they know you are
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gay and might th ink he 1s responding to
vour influence? What do vou tell vour
friends who don't hke finding their" son
playing cheerleader with your son?
To add another level of difficulty, Scot's
mother died of an overdose. As a result of
growing up with her, Scot has gathered
enough knowledge on needles and syringt's
to share with the neighborhood children
He shares other thmgs, too, but that can be
a surprise (it's not what you think).
Ob\·iously, Ed and Sam's lives becoml'
much more complicated in the wake of
Scot', am\al. Ed 1s forced to look more
closely than he 1s comfortable with at some
deep s1ss1fied tendenaes of h1~ own. S.1m 1s
forced to deal with some family problems
that he had pre\ musly been .:ibll' to avoid
fairly well But they both realm' at some
point that they lm·e Scot deeply as hl'
becomes an integral part of their hves.
0.o book 1s perfect, and this one could
use a bit more character development
Sam in particular, 1s not as well devdoped
as Ed, who is the narrator of the story, and
that fact leaves you wantmg to gl't to knm'
him a httle better. But overall, 11 1s one of
the best books to come out in the p.1~1 year
Michael Downing forces hb reader to
look squarely tn the face of a sissv bov·
ch1ld with all of his most embar;assi~g
stereotypical habits and respect him for the
fact that he Is the stereotype plus a whole
lot more. The novel is funnv and ht•art·
warming as well as complex a~d layered It
ts entertainment with an edge.
Breakfast w ith Scot
by Michael Downing
Counterpoint, S24
JANUARY 28, 2000 • HOUSTON VOICE
What your neigltbors
are reading . ..
Whole Lesbian Sex Book
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2 Don' t Get Me Started
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5 Best Little Boy in the World Grows Up
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6 Way to Go, Smith
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7 Welcome to World, Baby Girl!
by Fannie Hagg, $7.50
8 Cay Spirit Warrior
by John Stowe, $15.95
9 The Talented Mr. Ripley
by I'atnc1a I 1Ighsm1th, $13
JO Pussy's Bow
L \J~1r Dr:n.i: $23.95
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Best of the Superstars 2000
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1 Steven Underhill- Jeff
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4 Cybcrsocket 2000
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5 The !lours
by Michael Cunnmgh,1111, $11
6 ·1 he Book of Lies
b) Fl'hce 1'1cano, $24 91
7 I he Whole Le~bian Sex Book
b\ I d1lc l'\cwm.in, $2195
8 Outfoxed
bv Rita Mae Brm,n, $24
9 Don't Get !\.1e Started
by Kate Clmton, $14
10 This is What A Lesbian Looks Like
by Kn; Klcinrnenst, $18.95
LOBO
~i'"'''
3939 Montrose Boulevard
713-522-5156
HOUSTON VOICE • JANUARY 28, 2000
some
SUSTIVA" is the first HIV drug approved to be taken once-a-day
as part of your combination therapy. Just take three 200 mg capsules together oni:e da11y.
with or without food; high fat meal ohould be avoided.Your doctor may suggest taking SUSTIVA
at t.~1me to reduce "'Y ~1de effect. > >u may expeneni:e.
SUSTIVA, an NNRTI•, must be used in combination with other
just did!
Once Daily
SUSTl"*A
efav irenz
Pregnancy should be avoided 1n womel" recetVJng SUST1VA because birth defects have been
seen 1n pnmates dosed with SUSTIVA Barrier contracepuon should always be used in combination
with other riethrxls 'cont:acer•<0n.
Talk to your doctor when you start taking SUSTIVA. SUSTJVA may change the effect
o he r"' ines (Inch for HIV). Afw¥ tell your doctor rf
19
HIV drugs.
SUSTIVA is tough on HIV. I r-~uces the amount of virus 1n your blood
and ~· the numb! D4 ells. SUSTIVA can even be used in young
children. 3 year.; of age or older. This rs based on results from COl"trolled clinical
trials at 24 weeks. Presently. there are no results from controlled dinical trials
ii ""' t. 1e ng-term effects -' "iUSTJV A
N<)w listeq among
: 1pr~fe~r~danti~'HIY
·drμg~ Jtniovernmept
~· ::guid~lines.1 -
you are taking. starting or changing any prescnption or non-prescnpt:on
medicine when taking SUSTIV A Your doctor may change your l"'ledlCllleS
or change thl!lr dose You should dlSCUSS your pnor medical conditions
(such as mental 1 ness, substance abuse. hepat.t:s. etc.) With your doctor
before taking SUSTIVA
We know that coping with HIV IS difficult enough. Your treatment doesn't
SUSTIVA has manageable side effects. Most side effects are mild to have to be. Ask your doctor about SUSTIVA For more rnportant 1nformatJon
11' der .ile .md can be manag cJ. The most significant side effects associated wrth SUSTIVA therapy
have been nervous system symptoms (dizziness. trouble sleeping. drowsiness, trouble concentrating
and/or abnormal dreams) and rash. These usually subside within the first two to four weeks of
treatment. In a small number of patients, rash may be senous. Taking SUSTIVA at bedtime may
help make nervous system symptoms less notlceable.
•NNRT' - non-nucleoslde reverse transcnptase inhibitor.
fC< ,,.,,. lnlommion on SUSTIVA. al l-I00-4f'HAllMA or ¥lsO( ow wobsrte at ~-sustm.com
FC< ,,.,,. ll1lormWoo on cht ...,.t.ted OHHS Guodolinet • POf lie ol cht p!ollt>es " ~ at hapllwww hMos ors
see the next page for Patient Information about SUSTIV A.
FOR HIV
Finally, a once daily medication to treat HIV.
SUSTIVA. It's about time.
www.sustiva.com
I ~ forUloU.. ol-Af!rWs r> HV.WecfedA<lA!sinl-f>nlonQrcal Pr1ClicesforT,..,,_alttV r*<tion
~ olHU:ll n..,,,., ~ :>e:errber m
SUSTh'A'" and the~ Logo~ nclomlrlG olC>J\n ~ ~
~c 1m DulQit PNrmaceuta1s ~ ~
~ DuPont Plwmattuucals
20
SUSTIVA™ (efavirenz) capsules
Patient Information about SUSTIVA ·
.. ,. TEE-vah)
tor HIV (Human lmmunodefic1ency V-rus) Infection
Genenc name. efavirenz (eh-FAH-v1ll-rehnz)
Please read !Ills .nformation before you sta~ tak1~ SUSTIVA Read It aoam each t!?le you refill your
prescnpUon. n case !here IS any new infonml;on [knl treat this 1ea! et as your only source ol inlonmtion
aboUI SUSTIVA. Al~ disalss SUSTIVA Wl!h your dodOI when you start tak no your med cme and at
fMfY VISil You should rermin under a doctor's care when using SUSTIVA. You sl1ou d not cllar.ge or stop
treatment w thoul I rst ta;king to your doctor
What is SUSTIVA?
SUSTIVA •s a medlCllle used to help treat HIV the VlrUS that causes AJOS (aar. red unmune def11:.::T(
S'/lldlome) SUSTIVA IS a type ol HIV d"-~ called a "noo-nucteostde reverse transcnpt!Se inhibitor" (NNRTI)
How does SUSTIVA wort<?
SUSTIVA workS by lov;enng the amount ol HIV In the blood (called "Vllal load") SUSTIVA ITlJS!
be taken with other anti-HIV medicmes Whe!1 take!! with other anti-HIV medicines. SUSTIVA has been
shown to rewce Vlral oad and increase the number of CD4 cells (a type of mvnune cell m blood)
SUSTIVA iray not have these .... ,. - ~ patient.
Does SUSTIVA cure HIV or AIDS?
SUSTIVA is not a cure lor .Al People taking SUSTIVA iray still develop Oilier •n!cct1ons
associated w tr HIV Because 01 UllS. 11 is very impOrtant that you remam under the care of your doclor
Does SUSTIVA reduce the risk of passing HIV to others?
SUSTIVA has not been shown to reduce the nsk of passmo HIV to others Continue to practice safe sex.
and do not use or share dirty needles.
How should I take SUSTIVA?
• The dose of SUSTIVA 1or nits IS 600 'Ilg (tt>iee 200 mo capsules. taken togel!le!) onre a day by mouth.
The dose of SUSTIVA IOl ch ldren may be lower (see Can children take SUSTIVA?)
• Take SUSTIVA at the same ~me each day You Should take SUSTIVA at bed!Jflle dunng the f11st few wecl'.s
or K you !:ave Side effects, such as dimness or trouble concentra11ng (see What are the possible
side effects ol SUSTIVA?)
• Swallow SUSTIVA w::ii WJler, JUICll, mdk or soda You iray lake SUSTIVA wilh or w tlloul meats; however,
SUSTIVA should not be taken with a high lat meal
• Do not = a dose of SUSTIVA. II you forget to lake SUSTIVA. lake the missed dose nght away
W you do fl1ISS a dose. do not double the next dose Carry on with your regular dosing schedule
If you need help 111 planning lhe best times to take your mediCJne. ask your doclOI or pl!arfl13Clsl
• Take the exact amount ol SUSTIVA your doctor prescribes Never change the dose Oil YOUI ~Ml
Do not stop llus med cme unless yc:.r doctor tells you to step
• When your SUSTIVA supply starts to run low. get more lrom your doctor or pharmacy T~1s IS very
llllpOl!ant because the ar.iocnt of Virus m your blood iray Increase II the med are IS slopped 'or
even a short ume T'le VlrtlS iray develop resislance to SUSTIVA and become liar~ to treat
Can children take SUSTIVA?
Yes. childrm who are able to swallow capsules 131 take SUSTIVA Rash may be a senous problem
m some ch tlren Tell your ch d s doctor r ght 11<ay II you l10lice rash or any ottler side effects while your
child IS tJking SUSTlVA. The dose ol SUSTIVA tor ch ldren IJ\1y Ile ~ L'!an the dose lor arutts. ~es
ccnta rnng lowef doses of SUSTIVA are available Your chi d"s doctor wi I de!err.- ne t'le rght dose l1ased
on your child's weight.
Who should not take SUSTIVA?
Do not lake SUSTIVA " you are alleflJIC to SLSTIVA or any ol its Ingredients,
·susTIVA- and lhe SUNBURST LOGO ... Jrademarks
cl DuFall PllarmaceuOcall Company
~ ~ 1999 DuFonl PliarmaceuliCal Company
""Tho br.lnds lisled ... Ille regos!etod Jrademarl<s of their mpoclNe
~.,.., - .... - of Du!'bnl PtlannacelJtica Company
JANUARY 28, 2000 • HOUSTON VOICE
What other medical problems or conditions should I discuss with my doctor?
Talk to your doctor right OWO'f II you·
• Ale pregnant or want to become pregrant
• Ale breast-feeding
• Have problems w1th your liver, or have had hepat1t1s
• Start or change any medicine
• Have side effects while lai:mg SUSTIVA (e!avirenz)
• ~ve a history of mental Illness, substance or alcohol abuse
What are the possible side effects of SUSTIVA?
Many patients have dizziness, trouble sleepmg. drowsiness. trouble concentrating, and/or u~usual
dreaf'IS a few hours alter startmo treatment with SUSTIVA These leehngs may be less noticeable II you
take SiJSTIVA at bedtime. •hey also tend to go OWO'f after you ve taken the med1cme lor a Jew v.eeks
Rarely, patients have more senous side effects thaf iray affect mood or ab1!1Jy to think clea~y These side
effects occur more often 111 patiems with a ~1story of menial illness or substance abuse. Tel! your doctor
promptly d any of these Side effects continue or 11111ey bother you There 1s the poss1b1lify that these
~ may be more severe tt SUS11VA IS used with alcoho or mood altering (street) drugs. You should
avoid dr v111g Of cperat:~g machmery ii you are having these side ellects.
One ol lhe 'T10SI common side effects ts rash These ras.IJes usually go away without any change 1n
treatrrent.1~ a small number Gl pal1en1S. '3Sh may be serious II yt;u develop a rash. call your doctor promptly
Other common side ellects include tiredness. upset stomach. V011111ing, and d1arr~ea However, this
1s not a complete list of side effecls •eported with SUST!VA wller! take'.! w11h ott::1 anti-HIV drugs Do 'lOt
rely on this leaflet alone lor m!orrnat1c~ about side effects Your doctor can discuss a more complete list
of side ellects with you
Please contact )'C>!r doctor 1mmed1ate y before stoppmg SUSTIVA because ol side effects Tell your
doctor or other healthcare pcovuler 1f ye;; notice any side effects wtute takrng SUSTIVA.
What about birth control, pregnancy, or breast-feeding?
Women should not become pregnant wh1 e tak ng SUSTIVA Birth defects have bee.- seen m animals
treated with SlJSTIVA. It 1s not kncwn whether 1~1s could happen m rumans You should use a condom
or diaphragm 1r addition to other methods of birth control while lak1rg SUSTIVA. Inform your doctor
lllllV!diatefy II you are pregnant. I you want lo become pregnant. ta'k lo your doctor Do not lake SUSTIVA
11 yO!j are breast-feeding Talk to your doctor 11 you are breast-feeding your baby
Can I take other medicines with SUSTIVA?
SUSTIVA IJ\1y change the effect ol other medicmes (mclud1ng ones lor HIV) Your doctoi may change
your medicines or change their doses. For lhlS reason. 1t 1s very Important to
• Let all your doctors and pharmacists know thal you take SUSTIVA
• Tell your doctors and pharmacists about all medicines you take This includes lhose you buy
over-the-counter and herbal or nalural remedies
Bnng all your medicines when you see a doctor. or make a list of their names, how much you lake.
and tww onen you take them. This will grve your doctor a complete picture ol the med1c1nes you use.
Then he or she can decide the best approach tor your snuauon
The lollOWJng med anes may cause senous aro 11fe..lhrea1e111ng side effects when tat.en with SUSTIVA
You should not lake any ol lhese medianes .,.~,re taking SUSTIVA ••
• Hismanal® (astemizole)
• Propulsid® (osaprlde)
• Versed® (midazotam)
• Hataon® (lnazolam)
• Ergot medicatioris (for example, W1grame® and catergot®)
The lollowmg mediQnes may need to be changed or haV!l ltleir dose changed when taken with SUSTIVA ••
• Cr1xrvan® (indinavir)
• Fortovase® (saQUmaw)
• B1ax1n® (c111i1 ~r~oiyr··'
How should I keep SUSTlVA?
SUSTIVA IS va 1an a :ig 100 mg, and 200 mg capsules
Keep SUSTIVA at room lemperature (77"F) i~ Ille bottle given to you by your pharmacist
The 1emperature can range trOlll 59°·86°F
Keep SUSTIVA out of the reach of children
How can I learn more about SUSTlVA?
TJ • to your doctor or Olher healthcare provider 1! you have questions abou1 either SUSTIVA or HIV
For add1t1onal mtormatlC'.l you can VIS I the SUSTIVA Nllbs teat hllpJ/wwN sust1va com
This medicine was prescribed for your particular condition. Do not use
it for any other condition or give it to anybody else. Keep SUSTIVA out of
the reach of children. H you suspect that more than the prescribed dose
of this medicine has been taken, contact your local poison control center
or emergency room immediately.
<QUID DuPont Phannaceuticals
Wllmlng!on. DE 19880
Issued Seplombaf. 1998
HOUSTON VOICE • JANUARY 28, 2000
,_ Continued from page 17
sophisttcated fantasy realm known as
Cowardland. In this comedy, the oh-so-chic
gentility falls on its face, tripping over its
own blissful attitude. If you've got to
sneeze into your worn handkerchief, make
sure it's monogrammed.
Houston Ballet
WINTER MIXED REPERTORY (feb. 24
to March 5)
Now, here's a dance combo to put you
right back on your feet. Something old,
"Les Patineurs," and something new,
"Sergeant Early's Dream." Something borrowed:
Meyerbeer's music from his epic
opera "Le Prophete" to set the scene for the
ice skating couples in Sir Frederick
Ashton's joyous "Patineurs"; and lnsh and
American folk songs to guide the immigrants
into the American promised land by
choreographer Christopher Bruce in
"Dream." There's also something blue: the
glittering, spinning role of the Boy in Blue
as he twirls and leaps m the winter wonderland;
and in the sad yet stirring theme of
lrbh immigrants leaving the known for the
unknown.
CLEOPATRA (March 9-19)
Arguably the mo~t f.imous woman in the
world, the Sirm of the Nile arrives in
l louston by b.irge, b.ith, palanquin, rug
and, of coursl', on her toes. Accompanied
by thl' oriental exoticism of RimskyKorsal..:
ov'~ mu~ic, this eye-popping ballet
should out·Dc..,1ille them ,111 with its splen·
did evocations of ancient Alexandri,1 ,ind
Rome. Surrounded by evil courlll'rs,
haughty Senator!t' wi,·es, sla,·c girls,
Caesar, soldiers, Vl'ngcful Romans, an
1mpass1oned Marc Antony ,md an apprl'Cla·
live audienrc, Egypt':. last queen will survi\•
e kidnapping, an assassm.1ted lo\'er, an
orgy sccm•, ,1 world war and a fablcd love
affair to end her destiny by her own hand.
Houston Grand Opera
THE ELIXIR Of LOVE by Donizetti
(through feb. 12)
In thts bu bbl} ,11 fresco romp of an opera,
the poor peasant (the tenor) loves the rich
rc•sour(rful girl (thc sopr.ino) who owns the
farm on which lw works. :-\othmg will gt't
her ,ittenllon until he buys the snake-oil
m.1g1c love potion from the traveling salesm.
m ,rnd beg111s ,Ktmg like a bantorw
Although the potmn's a fake, aftl'r m.my
complit\itions ,md the bl'ltmg of thl· JUstly
famous ,1ri.1, "Un.1 f'urt1\'<l 1A1gnma," till'
tl'nor':; ardor ,md sinreritv win the d.iy, .rnd
thl' girl !'his sunny, brl't'7)' Italian conll'rhon
1s ,1 stt•rl1ng t'x.1mple of opcr.1's l'\Cf·
green powl'r to ~l·duCl'
TRISTA ' Al'D ISOLDE by Richard
Wagner (through feb. 11l
A much more potent, cxy cl xir flgurt•s
m \V<1gncr's mustvdrama Any stagmg of
OUT ON THE BAYOU 21
this great masterpiece is rare (singers who
can survive and prosper from the intense
five-hour ordeal don't grow on trees), so
expect the Wagner-heads to be out in force.
In an acclaimed production designed in primary
colors by David Hockney, Danish
hcldcntenor Stig Andersen and Austrian
soprano Renate Behle debut in the taxing
lead roles, conducted by Christoph
Eschenbach. The lush chromaticism of
Wagner's tone poem to sex is not for the
uninitiated, his murky philosophy of "love
as death" is penny-dreadful, but the music
is, in a word, sublime. Nothing compares to
it-full of lust, passion and eroticism.
UTILE WOMEN by Mark Adamo
(March 3-18)
If you have any fond memories of RKO's
Victorian valentine filmed in 1933 by George
Cukor and starring the youthful, over-thetop
Katherine Hepburn, this contemporary
opera will shred them up and spit them out.
Edgy, spiky and dissonant, Adamo's treatment
gives Louisa May Alcott's beloved
middle-class, family-values' posterior a
swift East Village kick and sends her screaming.
Unlike the warm comfort the original
supplied, this version, with its neo-feminist
spin, is unsettling. This musical shock therapy
iust might be the tonic you need for a
post-modern pick-me-up.
Stages Repertory Company
SHAKESPEARE'S R&J by Joe Calarco
(through feb. 13)
In this version, four young men at a
parochial school sneak into an unused
room and pt·rform "Romeo .ind Juliet,"
play111g all the parb
REFUGE by Jessica Goldberg (Feb. 23 to
March 19)
Where would drama be without the um·
vcrs,11 conflict in dysfunt lion.ii families? 'o
whl·rc. Think Adam and Eve, the I louse of
Atreus, that particular kmg of Dcnm.irk
and his ~on 1 lamlet, all those Little Foxcs,
evl'rything by O'Neill, and most work by
almost any contemporary dramatist.
Goldberg, one of the youngest voices in
tlwall'r, gets her turn to strut her literary
stuff l ler play, the struggle to build a fami·
ly after Mom and Dad have abandoned
their trio of misfit children and hightailed it
to M1,1m1, h.1s rt>cc1ved the 1999 Sus.in South
Blackburn ,1ward for outstanding quality.
VVith a he.ivy metal mJC'Clton dirt>ctly into
the bram, the manic, pill-poppmg, spastic,
kts-do-anvthing-to-prove-we're-alh·e jolt
shc gives this Gen X familv from Hell is libl!
r.1ting and, ulhmately, it:.' saving grace.
Theater LaB Houston
DIE! MOMMY! DIE! by Charles Busch
(through Feb. 13)
llw first 111 th!! theatcr's three-part
''C1mp Alamo." I he pecrbs Charil's Busch
mixrs the genders .1nd his ml'laphors-but
tht' seams in hts stockings .uc al\\ ,1ys
stratght-111 tlus scrcamingl~· funny colhsmn
bctw(!('n "Mcctra" and e\Cf\ m0\1e
Bdtc DJ\ 1s made aiter 1960. A mght out at
the theater will ne\ er seem the same agam.
THE BLAIR FELL PROJECT by Blair
Fell (Feb. 23 to March 26)
Commissioned by Theater LaB Houston
to supply it with a world premiere, Blair Fell,
who wrote "The Tragic and Horrible Life of
the Singing Nun," obliged. What he has
wrought is anyone's guess, but you can be
sure it's gomg to be wacky, wicked and witty.
ZOMBIES FROM THE BEYO D by
James Valcq (April 12 to May 28)
James Valcq's musical satire skewers
1950s paranoia, cheesy sci-fi flicks, female
aliens in D cups and Milwaukee, but not
necessarily in that order. The 'ew York critics
gushed rhapsodic and gave 1t better
notices than any other musical in years
Houston Symphony
AN ALL-AMERICAN EVENING (Feb. 4)
The conductor of the Boston Pops,
Kerth Lockhart, who has set hearts and
tongues wagging ever since his lithe figure
stepped onto the Beantown podium
to replace the rotund John Williams,
comes to town. Check him out yourself,
and as an added bonus, hear and sec the
dapper Andre Watts perform the ultraromantic
MacDowell "Piano Concerto
No. 2."
Other notable concerts include
Bruckner's SYMPI IONY NO. 7, conducted
by Eschenbach (Feb. 12-14), Carl
Orff's CARMINA BURANA, conducted
by Ii.ins Graf (March 17-20) Verdi's
REQUIEM, conducted by Claudio
Abbado (May 20-22).
Alley Theater
615 Texas Avenue
713-228-8421
www.alleytheatre.com
Houston Ballet
Wortham Theater Center
713-227·ARTS
www.houstonballet.com
Houston Grand Opera
Wortham Theater Center
713-227-ARTS
www.houstongrandopera.com
Stages Repertory Theatre
3201 Allen Parkway@ Waugh
713-52-STAGES
www.stagestheatre.com
Theater LaB Houston
1706 A1amo
713-868-7516
Houston Symphony
Jones Ha
615 Louisiana
713-224-4240
office@houstonsymphony.org
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www.houstonvoice.com
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22 OUT ON THE BAYOU JANUARY 28, 2000 • HOUSTON VOICE
Coming together on
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.- Continued from page 17
a !ugh school .ithlete who's believed to be
g.iy brutally beaten .ind sexu.illy a~aulted
mthegym.
But we also 'cc progres,, and in the third
of the movie's trilogy of stories, two men
m.ike a public decl.iration of love right m
their hometown-though !>Orne there take to
the streets m protest.
uwe see cl change for the better, definitely,
through the course of these 'tones," said
Donna Deitch, the movie's director. "We see
a progression m gay rights, and it does end
on a happy note "
!Jnowtime as~mbled a powerhouse team
of writers for its look at small-town gay life.
Gay playwrights Paula Vogel ("I low I
Learned lo Drive"), Terrence \k:-..ally
("Love! Valour• Compassion!") and Harvey
Fierstem ("Torch Song Trilogy") were
brought m to wnte the movie's three separate
stones.
Then: was no shortage of big names in
front of the camera, either, including Jason
Pne<;tley, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Enc
Stolz, Ste\·en \\eber, \'!argot Kidder, Ed
Asner ilnd Bnttany Murphy.
De1tch's directing credits includt• Oprah
Winfrey's "The Women of Brt:wster Place"
and numerous episode.~ of "0: Y.P D. Blue,"
"ER." and "Murder One." But in the gay
community she's best-known as director of
1986's "De:.ert Hearts," its bold depiction of
love between hvo women making it a lesbian
favorite
Deitch, 48, was involved in last-minute
post-production work on "Common
Ground" when she was interviewed recently
by Houston Vorce. She lives with her partner,
writer Terri Jentz, in Santa .'vlomca, Cahf.
"Clearly. I was right for the sub1ect matter,"
Deitch said of taking the as~ignment to
direct "Common Ground." But as a native of
San Francisco who attended college and
graduate school in California, Deitch knows
she was spared many of the indignities
borne by the characters in the movie's fictitious
I lomer, Conn.
Jn Paula Vogel's "A Friend of Dorothy,"
the character played by Brittany '.\1urphy
rl'lurns home from a shnt in the :"\avv in the
1950'. But after it becomes common "knowledge
that 'he was booted out with a S{'chon
8 discharge for sexual deviance, ~he finds
ht•rself unemployable and disowned by her
mother. A kind fr1{'nd (Helen Shaver) helps
her escape to :-Jew York.
In Terrence ~c."\allv's "~r Robt·rts," set
in the '70s, a torment~ gay teen Oonathan
Taylor Thomas) turns for help to a teacher
(!'lteven Weber) he believes to be gay. The
teacher at fir~t shuns the boy's friendship,
preferring the bitter security of his own closet.
But after the boy is sexually aSS<rnlted m
the locker room, the teacher finds he must
take a stand.
Final!}, in Harvey Fier~tem's "Amos &
Andy," two gay men in .1 long-term relahonsh1p
plan their union ceremony. But they
didn't plan on prote.sters, including one
It's a jungle out there!
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"I'll protect you ana hunt down the best aeal!"
man's veteran dad (Ed Asner).
The movie's three ~tories each stand
alone, though united by the image of the
town square and Johnny Burroughs (Enc
Stoltz), a disabled veteran who raises th |
