Quest Vol. 13 No. 7

*Quest News* Volume 13 No. 7 April 27, 2006 Compiled & written by Mike Fitzpatrick Top Story: Battle Against The Ban Gains Momentum Support For The Ban Drops, Power Summit Energizes, Sulu Soars, Thompson Blasts Bigots & Canvasses Count Up Opponents Statewide Milwaukee, Madison – Momentum against Wisconsin’s proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriages and civil unions appears to have strengthened in the last two weeks. Several surveys now suggest a closer referendum vote. The largest power summit in the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s history focused on the Wisconsin campaign. Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu Took his UW audience the the final frontier of marriage equality. Former gubernatorial candidate Ed Thompson characterized amendment supporters as “worse than bigots.” And as Quest goes to press, the first series of door-to-door canvasses identifying voters who will oppose the ban were held statewide. Support For Civil Unions & Marriage Ban Dips 9% In the last eighteen months voter attitudes toward an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution banning same sex marriage and civil unions has dropped sharply, a full 9%. Those the results of a Quest analysis of two polls asking likely state voters their opinions on such a ban that used the exact wording of the amendment. A UW-Milwaukee poll released April 13 reported 53% of the respondents would vote for the amendment when offered the exact wording of the proposal. 37% opposed the ban. A Tarrance Group poll released November 18, 2004 and sponsored by the Wisconsin Coalition For Traditional Marriage, a political action arm of the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin (FRI-WI) showed 62% supported a similarly worded question that included the amendment language. 31% opposed the measure in the Tarrance survey. The proposed amendment reads: “Only marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state.” The Quest analysis was prompted by FRI-WI Executive Director Julaine Appling’s response to A Wisconsin Public Radio-St. Norbert College poll that also showed a 5% decrease in support for the the marriage and civil unions ban. “The results of this poll are somewhat confusing and even misleading,” Appling’s press release said, citing the Tarrance Group survey. “Until there is another survey in which respondents are presented with the exact wording of the amendment, I think we must view the St. Norbert/WPR survey somewhat skeptically.” The UW-Milwaukee apparently was released shortly after the FRI-WI press release. Both Appling and Fair Wisconsin’s Mike Tate noted in responding to the St. Norbert poll that massive voter education will be critical in the run-up to the November ballot. “This poll is a reminder that there is a great deal of education that needs to be done between now and November so that Wisconsin citizens know the truth about this amendment,” Appling’s press release said. One day later, on April 14, results of a poll conducted by the UW-LaCrosse political science department showed only a plurality in favor of the ban. In the survey, 45.5% said they would support the amendment, but 36.1% said they would vote against it. 18.4% were undecided. The poll was commissioned by WKBT-TV and the La Crosse Tribune. Largest Ever NGLTF Power Summit Finds Fair Wisconsin Friends In Cream City Canvass The large number of undecided in the LaCrosse poll mirrored the results of a large voter canvass held a week earlier in Milwaukee. After knocking on over 2,000 doors, the nearly 150 participants in the canvass found 26.6% of the registered voters they talked to were undecided on the ban. Most were unaware the referendum was even going to be on the ballot, canvass participants reported. A heartening 49% opposed the ban and only 25% went on record in support. However, the purpose of the canvass was to identify potential voters, rather than to scientifically poll opinion on the issue. The canvass site was selected for its proximity to the Clarion Hotel, site of the three-day NGLTF Power Summit April 7-9. Local activists told Quest the neighborhood was considered to be “blue collar and Democratic.” The Saturday canvass was the highlight of the “field track” of a two track summit which focused on fund raising techniques. Both tracks also received some cross-training in opposite area. Though over 165 attended the summit, and the Task Force had selected a Wisconsin site because of the Fair Wisconsin campaign, about two out of five were activists from other states who were facing ballot measures ranging from equal rights ordinances to affirmative action, in addition to marriage and civil union bans. HRC Starship Equality Tour Beams Into Madison Marriage equality supporters also were energized by a visit from George Takei, “Star Trek’s” Mr. Sulu, who stopped in Madison April 18 as a part of his nationwide tour working on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign. Takei spoke to a standing room only crowd at UW-Madison in an effort to focus students’ attention on the importance of “being out and equal.” Though students dominated the audience, Takei told Quest there was a “good number of ‘Star Trek’ fans, Asian-Americans and older people in the crowd.” Takei compared his experience as a Japanese-American and his experience as a gay man to approach the issue of discrimination. Native-born Takei and his family were interned by the U. S. government at the Manzanar concentration camp during World War II, along with thousands of other Japanese-Americans. “What happened to Japanese Americans back then was an irrational hysteria,” Takei said. “What the LGBT community is facing today is the hysteria of a different kind - it is something that is un-American.” (See excerpts from Quest’s in-depth interview with Takei in this issue. The full interview will be available online at www.quest-online.com) Ed Thompson Blasts Amendment Supporters As “Bigots” A week earlier, on April 10, in his weekly radio commentary “A Little Common Sense” former gubernatorial candidate Ed Thompson came out in polite opposition to the ban. That following weekend he spoke at the Libertarian Party convention in Madison and was far less polite. “The No. 1 issue in Wisconsin this year is defeating a Republican-backed constitutional amendment that would emphatically ban same-sex marriage and similar civil unions,” Thompson told the convention. Thompson added that the proposed amendment is an “evil thing that is so incredibly wrong it (amounts to) lunacy.” “The GOP-run Legislature is attempting to pass laws of prejudice against people,” Thompson said. “If you can accept that, you’re not a Libertarian. You’re not even an American. You’re a bigot.” Thompson, who garnered 10% of the vote in his 2002 run for the governor’s mansion - the largest ever for a third-party candidate in the state’s history, joined his former opponent Governor Jim Doyle and Senator Russ Feingold on the growing list of Wisconsin politicians in high-decibel opposition to the ban. Statewide Shoe Leather Campaign Scores New Amendment Opponents High decibel opposition from high-profile politicians may change some voters’ minds, but the real key to winning in the 195 days that remain before the ballot is identifying those voters. As Quest went to press, local action networks organized by Fair Wisconsin sponsored the first of a series of canvasses of registered voters statewide. Canvasses were held on Dodgeville, LaCrosse, Madison, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Platteville and Superior April 22. Over 150 volunteers knocked on over 8,000 doors to speak to and identify registered voters opposed to the ban. Appleton, Eau Claire, Green Bay, Kenosha, Milwaukee and Stevens Point also will hold canvasses on April 29. Trained volunteers will identify ban opponents from lists of registered voters by talking one-on-one with the voters. Future canvasses are planned in Sheboygan, Wausau and dozens of other cities. Fair Wisconsin hopes to replicate statewide the successful program of canvassing run for the last two years in the Milwaukee area by campaign partner Center Advocates. Fair Wisconsin’s Mike Tate cautiously cheered the momentum against the ban in an April 18 email message to opponents. “All of this is good news, but to win in November, we still have a mountain to climb,” Tate wrote. “The same polls that show dropping support for the civil unions and marriage ban, show us behind overall.” One Sentence Federal Marriage Amendment Proposed Man-Woman Definition Of Marriage “Litmus Test” Vote Expected in June or July Washington, DC - With the mid-term elections just a half a year away, the religious right has conjured up a new litmus test for incumbent politicians to pass: a vote on a one sentence Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. And gay Beltway insiders have told Quest that the Republican leadership is now expected to schedule votes as early as late June in both houses of Congress. Word of the new FMA strategy first broke in early April, buried the latter half of a story in New England’s largest LGBT newspaper. Bay Windows reported that the the national religious right has its sights set on the November elections, based on a political report penned by conservative journalist Robert Novak. The Bay Windows story referred to a March 28 Evans-Novak Political Report newsletter in which Novak in wrote that the Arlington Group, a national coalition of religious right leaders including Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins and American Values founder Gary Bauer, had met in February and voted to change the wording of the Federal Marriage Amendment. The wording change would retain the ban on recognizing same-sex marriage but eliminate the second sentence preventing courts from granting civil unions or other protections to same-sex couples. Arlington Group members did not expect the one-sentence amendment to pass, but they felt it would produce greater electoral results. “The legal implications of this change are hotly debated, but the move is unusual because it represents a dramatic change of course politically,” Novak wrote. “Divisions have emerged among conservatives as to the merits of last year’s two-sentence amendment. Some believe that it actually encourages or sanctions “civil union” laws. It is also believed that it will be easier to gain votes for the one-sentence amendment, and its near-passage would put many of its opponents on the spot in November.” Focus on the Family declined to comment to Bay Windows for their story, and FRC did not return a call to comment. However, Quest was able to confirm the revised one sentence FMA plan with Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay And Lesbian Task Force during his visit to the Task Force’s Milwaukee Power Summit April 7. Quest’s follow-up inquiries with other gay political strategists attending the power summit yielded reports of a late June vote being scheduled in the House of Representatives. An April 15 Washington Post story later suggested a July vote. “House Republican officials close to the scheduling process said the marriage amendment is headed for a House vote in July,” the Post story said. No mention was made of the one sentence version of the FMA however. The original FMA, sponsored in the Senate by possible presidential candidate Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), the measure would have the Constitution in effect rescind a 2004 Massachusetts law that made gay marriage legal. However, a one sentence version would not effect the Vermont or Connecticut civil unions statutes. However, the revised one sentence version would take away one key argument against the original FMA: the second sentence barring “legal incidents” such as civil unions or domestic partnerships is too vague and will cause unintended consequences. That logic is also a key argument in the fight against Wisconsin version of the amendment. Gay Beltway strategists confided that Democrats looking to the open White House race in 2008 may be hard pressed to vote against a one sentence FMA. “It’s going to ‘put up or shut up’ time on marriage equality for every Democrat in the House and Senate,” one strategist told Quest. “And I’m afraid there a lot fewer ‘Feingolds’ out there than we would like (to think).” The final wording of the 2006 version of the Federal Marriage Amendment has not been announced as Quest went to press. World & National News: U. S. Supreme Court Sides With Gay Man In Falwell Internet Flap Washington, DC - A gay New York man won a big Supreme Court victory April 17 in his long-running Internet battle against Moral Majority founder Rev. Jerry Falwell. Christopher Lamparello, 36, won the right to keep his fallwell.com site, which criticizes Falwell’s views on homosexuality - and often snares Web surfers looking for the reverend’s online ministry at falwell.com. “Rev. Falwell is completely wrong about people who are gay or lesbian,” Lamparello’s site says - under a red disclaimer that offers a link to Falwell’s site. The Supreme Court - without comment - said it would not hear his appeal of a lower-court ruling that went against him. The appeals court ruled last year that Lamparello was not violating Falwell’s trademark because he was not running the website to make a profit. Lamparello, who lives in Greenwich Village and has not spoken publicly about the case, has the free-speech right to run the “gripe site,” his attorney Paul Levy said. “A domain name is not just the source of a website, but the substance of a website. You can say the name of the person you’re criticizing, and you can put their name in the domain name of your Web site.” Levy’s group Public Citizen took the case for free. Falwell’s lawyer had argued it was a simple case of trademark infringement - which disturbed many of the reverend’s supporters, who went to the site by mistake - and that it opens the door to more abuses. This is the second time Falwell has lost a free speech case at the Supreme Court. In the 1980’s Falwell unsuccessfully sued Hustler publisher Larry Flynt for an ad parody that used Falwell’s name and likeness. The case was later the subject of the award-winning dramatic film The People Vs. Larry Flynt. Minnesota “Marriage Defense” Ads Get Offensive St. Paul - Three newspaper advertisements featuring doctored photos of elected officials making what some consider obscene gestures have heightened tensions in the already bitter battle over a proposed Constitutional marriage and civil union ban here. The state’s DFL Party called a press conference on April 19 to express outrage over newspaper ads containing doctored photos of three DFL Senators who voted against the Marriage Amendment bill. The ads were created and paid for by Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage, the primary group supporting the legislation. The bill, authored by Senator Michele Bachmann (R-Stillwater), seeks a referendum on amending the Minnesota constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman and prohibit any “legal equivalents” to marriage. The photos in the ad have been altered to show senators, Don Betzold (DFL-Fridley), Satveer Chaudhary (DFL-Fridley) and John Marty (DFL-Roseville), sticking out their tongues and thumbing their noses. The DFL called on Governor Tim Pawlenty, Senator Bachmann and the Minnesota GOP Party to re-evaluate their ties to a group that uses such outlandish tactics. “As if distorting the facts wasn’t bad enough, now they’re distorting Senator Betzold’s features,” Minnesota DFL Chair Brian Melendez said. “Doctoring photos takes their already divisive campaign to a new low. They can not win on the merits, so they’re turning to libel and misinformation.” Jeff Davis, president of Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage, defended the use of doctored pictures in a press release. “I find this ironic coming from the party that doctored a photo to put John Kline in a Nazi uniform,” Davis wrote. Davis was making reference to a blog created by a volunteer in Democratic congressional candidate Colleen Rowley’s campaign. The satirical photo attempted to make a humorous comparison between Congressman John Kline, a retired Marine colonel, and a character in the Hogan’s Heroes TV show known as Colonel Klink. After Kline’s campaign and Republicans called attention to the Kline-Klink photo, Rowley had it removed and apologized. The pro-amendment group declined to pull the print ads and has continued on its website to equate an internet blog entry with a paid advertisements in mass circulation print media. Fort Bragg Soldier To Plead Guilty To Gay Porn Charges Fort Bragg, NC - A Fort Bragg paratrooper charged with engaging in sex acts on a military-themed gay pornography website plans to plead guilty. Spc. Richard Ashley accepted a plea deal with prosecutors, but the terms of the deal were not immediately known. Ashley had been charged with pandering, wrongfully engaging in sexual acts with another and sodomy. The plea will be finalized in court the week of April 24. If he were to stand trial, the maximum sentence he could have received would have been one year of jail time and a bad conduct discharge. Two other soldiers, Pfc. Wesley Mitten and Pvt. Kagen Mullen, also await trial in the case. Four other soldiers agreed to leave the U.S. Army without courts-martial. State News: Expanded Milwaukee Pride Parade Plans Set Milwaukee - An expanded route filled with colorful banners, major corporate sponsorships, greater cooperation with PrideFest and the theme of “Pride Not Prejudice” will mark the 2006 edition of the Milwaukee Gay Pride Parade to be held Sunday, June 11. That’s what organizers announced at the April 17 meeting of the Milwaukee Gary Pride Parade Committee (MGPP) held at the G/L Community Center Trust building here. Line-up for the parade will begin at Noon with a 2 PM step-off. The route has been expanded to cover most of Walker’s Point area along 2nd Street, from Greenfield to Lapham Avenues. The city of Milwaukee has authorized the display of large gay pride banners will be hung along the parade route beginning May 24 through June 18. The banners will feature the pride parade’s logo. The MGPP committee also announced that all necessary permit and insurance fees have already been paid. Major sponsorships thus far include the Miller Brewing Company, Joseph Pabst, American United Taxi Co. and the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center. Media sponsors include Quest, Outbound and Queer Life. The committee is continuing to seek additional sponsors. The MGPP committee also has raised over $1000 to date through the sale of pride parade “flags” at area businesses. Participating bars are currently involved in a contest for selling the most $1 flags. The winning tavern will receive a keg of beer for an after-parade party. The MGPP committee also stressed greater cooperation with the PrideFest committee. “The parade remains separate but is coordinating with PrideFest this year,” MGPP founder and outgoing chair James Kuchta told Quest. “Both groups want the parade to enhance PrideFest weekend. The parade is another means to draw people to the area and to PrideFest on its closing day.” Kuchta also reported that the MGPP committee has asked 12th District Alderman James Witkowiak to serve as Grand Marshall of this year’s parade. “He has been very supportive of the parade since our first announcement of its return last year,” Kuchta said. The MGPP committee is also seeking additional volunteers to help with parade coordination and route maintenance. “We know from early registrations that this is going to be a much larger parade this year and its going to take a lot of extra help,” Kuchta said. “Last year Si Smits and I personally swept every inch of the route following the parade. Business owners told us the area had never looked cleaner and we’d like to continue that tradition as well.” Kuchta believes the MGPP committee’s goal of 100 parade units is reachable. The entry fee is $50 per unit. Applications will be published in Quest and are also available on the parade’s website at: www.prideparademke.com. The MGPP committee’s next meeting will be held on May 9 at 7 PM at City Light Chill & Grill, 111 W. Howard Ave. In addition to finalizing plans for this year’s parade, the board for the 2007 parade will be chosen. Interested members of the community are invited to attend. Margaret Cho To Kick Off PrideFest 2006 Milwaukee - PrideFest weekend will open with a no-holds-barred performance by outspoken comedienne Margaret Cho. The performance will set the stage for a weekend of celebration and great entertainment. Cho will be the headlining performance following a community rally on the PrideFest grounds. PrideFest will kick off Milwaukee’s summer lakefront festival season June 9-11 at Maier Festival Park. Cho joins previously announced headliners En Vogue, Berlin, Martha Wash, Cascada and Bow Wow Wow in the PrideFest entertainment lineup. Margaret Cho is one of the most prolific and critically acclaimed comedians of our time. In the past five years she’s launched four sold-out national tours, turning each into a concert film. In 1999 her groundbreaking one-woman show, “I’m The One That I Want,” was turned into a best selling book and a concert film that grossed more per print than any film in history. Cho has been honored by GLAAD, American Women in Radio and Television, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), PFLAG and the National Organization for Women (NOW) for making a significant difference in promoting equal rights for all, regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender identity. It would be hard to imagine adding any more spice to this show, but we’ve done it! The show will be hosted by the incomparable Lady Bunny and will feature a performance by Lisp, the self- described “Greatest Gay Rapper in the World.” Saturday night at PrideFest will feature Berlin, Martha Wash and Bow Wow Wow singing all of their greatest hits. Pop/R&B superstars En Vogue and current dance princess Cascada will close out festival weekend with an energetic show on Sunday evening. In addition to the headline entertainment, PrideFest will feature more than 50 daytime performances, including indie and regional favorites like Jill Sobule, Jinx Titanic, Tret Fure, MorrisonPoe, Pamela Means, Cathy Richardson Band, Dropmore Scarlet and comedians Bruce Daniels and Michele Balan. In addition, the PrideFest dance pavilion is annually one of the biggest outdoor dance events of the summer. A discount weekend pass soon will be available online at www.pridefest.com. The 3-day weekend pass will be only $25. General admission tickets will be $12 per day. For the most recent news about PrideFest, visit www.pridefest.com. PrideFest hours for PrideFest 2006 will be as follows: Friday, June 9 from 6 PM- Midnight; Saturday, June 10 from 11AM - Midnight; and Sunday, June 11 from 11 AM - 10 PM. PrideFest is Wisconsin’s largest celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture and community. PrideFest features entertainment, exhibits, lectures, art, and community outreach that fully displays the diversity of LGBT culture. Milwaukee LGBT Funding Partnership: $25,000 In Grants Distributed in 2006 Milwaukee - The Board of Directors of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation has approved $25,000 in grants to more than a dozen local nonprofit organizations that serve Milwaukee’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. The grants were awarded through the Milwaukee LGBT Funding Partnership a collaborative fund created by the Cream City Foundation and the Greater Milwaukee Foundation along with National Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues to help encourage giving to LGBT communities in the area. “On behalf of the community, the Milwaukee LGBT Funding Partnership was pleased to be able to grant $25,000 as part of our approach of strengthening and supporting valuable programs affecting LGBT individuals,” Jim Marks, Vice President of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation told Quest. A dozen local nonprofit organizations received grants, including The Counseling Center of Milwaukee and Diverse & Resilient ($2,500); For Ourselves: Reworking Gender Expression ($4,000); Galano Club ($500); Lesbian Alliance ($2,000); Milwaukee LGBT Community Center ($5,000); Seniors in a Gay Environment (SAGE), support for the Milwaukee Aging Consortium ($5,000); Oral History Project ($3,000); and the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center and Woodland Pattern Book Center in support of LGBT writers and workshops ($3,000). “The Fund was honored to make grants to nonprofits that provide critical and necessary services to Milwaukee’s LGBT community,” Grants Committee member Len Iaquinta said.. “With the help of our donors, we are able to support a wide range of programs impacting LGBT seniors, LGBT youth, and substance abuse prevention and treatment programs, as well as the arts projects with a unique LGBT focus.” The Foundation received fourteen applications requesting more than $65,000 in support. “The Fund’s grant committee conducted a thorough evaluation of the proposals, before recommending organizations that are receiving funding,” Maria Cadenas, Executive Director of the Cream City Foundation said. “Our goal was to support a variety of organizations throughout our community, including collaborative efforts between LGBT and non-LGBT organizations.” The Grants Committee was composed of: Neil Albrecht, Maria Cadenas, Jennifer Gryniewicz, Len Iaquinta, Jim Marks, Sernorma Mitchell, and Melissa Nimke. Funds for the Partnership have been received from several individuals within the Founder’s Circle, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, the Brico Fund, and the National Lesbian and Gay Community Funding Partnership. The next funding cycle for the Milwaukee LGBT Funding Partnership is yet to be announced. For more information on funding guidelines, please visit the Cream City Foundation website at www.creamcityfoundation.org. The mission of the Milwaukee LGBT Funding Partnership is to expand funding of non-AIDS related programs that respond to the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in Southeastern Wisconsin. The partnership addresses community diversity, health, civil rights protection and the special needs of LGBT youth and older adults. It also increases service collaboration between LGBT groups and traditional community organizations. Spring Cleaners Asked To Hold Off Tossing Unwanted Items LaCrosse - If you’re doing any Spring cleaning - or perhaps you’re thinking about Spring cleaning, live in the LaCrosse area and don’t know what to do with the stuff you no longer want or need, the folks at the 7 Rivers LGBT Resource Center have an idea for you. Board President Cindy Killion wants to remind area supporters of the center that the organization will be hosting it’s second annual garage sale in August. “So don’t throw anything out,” Killion asked recently. “Please consider stashing it in the corner for another month or so and donating it to the center’s sale.” Donations will be sought during June. “If you can’t stash stuff until then, please contact me and I’ll see if we can make arrangements to store it,” Killion said. Potential garage sale donors are asked to contact Cindy by phone at the LGBT Resource Center for the 7 Rivers Region, Inc. at 608-687-8294 or by email at: ckillion@winona.edu. Harmony Café Awarded $7500 For LGBT Youth Support Groups Grant Part of Community Foundation’s $2 Million Awarded To Fox Valley Non-Profits Appleton – The Community Foundation For The Fox Valley Region has awarded the Harmony Café a grant for $7,500. The grant will be used to develop support groups for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth. The award was granted from the Community Foundation’s Opportunity Fund. Harmony Cafe is a supporting organization of the Foundation. More than 250 not-for-profit organizations received $2 million in grants approved by the Community Foundation’s board of directors during the third quarter of the 2005-6 fiscal year. The total includes $1.6 million in grants recommended directly by individual donors and donor organizations, $171,000 from separate foundations that operate from within the larger foundation, and $245,000 awarded through the quarterly competitive grant process. The Harmony Café offers a welcoming coffee house environment celebrating the diversity of people in the Fox Valley through arts, social interaction and community involvement. For more information call 920-734-CAFE (2233). Harmony Café is a program of Goodwill NCW. Among the other cultural, community development, health, human services and educational groups that received a grant of $1,000 or more were the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra, the American Red Cross chapters of Neenah/Menasha and Outagamie County, Leaven, the Sexual Assault-Crisis Center - Fox Cities and Habitat For Humanity. Legendary LGBT Novelist Felice Picano To Appear at Outwords Books Milwaukee - Felice Picano, who according to The New York Times Book Review is “a word machine who approaches the page with a newcomers joy” comes to Outwords Books Gifts & Coffee on Saturday, May 13 at 2 PM.. Felice Picano has just recently published a collection of science fiction short stories entitled, Tales From a Distant Planet (French Connection Press). With typical stylistic mastery and daring, Felice Picano delivers seven groundbreaking stories in “Tales From a Distant Planet.” In “The Perfect Setting,” landscape paintings give clues to the different crimes they depict, crimes that occurred in the past, unbeknownst to the artist creating them. People of different epochs experience fragile encounters and love affairs in the novella “Ingoldsby,” a unique time-travel story. And future interplanetary explorers find themselves caught up in a seductively dangerous planet in “Food For Thought.” All seven stories are gripping experiences that will not only take readers out of this world, but on a literary journey that far surpasses the usual mundane read. Considered a founder of modern gay literature, Picano along with Christopher Cox, Robert Ferro, Michael Grumley, Andrew Holleran, Edmund White, and George Whitmore formed the legendary Violet Quill which helped create the post-Stonewall renaissance of American gay male writing. Picano also founded two publishing companies: the SeaHorse Press and Gay Presses of New York. He’s been a regular writer for the San Francisco Examiner, The Lesbian & Gay Review and The Lambda Book Report. Felice Picano is the author of 20 books, including the best-selling novels Like People in History, Looking Glass Lives, The Lure, as well as the literary memoirs Ambidextrous, Men Who Loved Me, and A House on the Ocean, A House on the Bay. He is also the co-author with Dr. Charles Silverstein on the bestselling The New Joy of Gay Sex. He has won the Ferro-Grumley Award for best gay novel (Like People in History), the PEN Syndicated Fiction Award for best short story and has been nominated for three Lambda Literary Awards. A native of New York, Felice Picano now lives in Los Angeles. Felice Picano will read from Tales From a Distant Planet beginning at 2 PM on Saturday, May 13 at Outwords Books, Gifts & Coffee. This is a free event and all are welcome. Outwords Books, Gifts & Coffee is located at 2710 N. Murray Ave. in Milwaukee. For further information, please call 414-963-9089 or check the store’s website at www.outwordsbooks.com. Collaboration Among Milwaukee LGBT Groups Eyed Milwaukee - For the past few months, more than 40 individuals, including a wide array of organizational leaders and business owners serving Greater Milwaukee’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender communities have gathered to create the Greater Milwaukee LGBT Visioning Project to discuss a unified collaboration among LGBT communities and allies. During the two initial community meetings in February and March, the Greater Milwaukee LGBT Visioning Project realized that building stronger LGBT communities requires respect, trust and inclusively. Participants also recognized that the process needed to be taken on thoughtfully to ensure its success, and that it should be led and guided by as many members of the community as possible. “It was important for me to be reminded that in order to succeed we needed to be patient,” Joseph Pabst, a supporter and philanthropist of LGBT Communities told Quest. In order to move forward, the participants created a fluid Catalyst Committee in charge of leading the efforts. The Catalyst Committee has open membership and any community member can join at any time. The mission of the group is to provide a forum to determine shared interests and effect collaboration among LGBT communities. “Quite often, many of us in LGBT communities are so focused on our own immediate needs and personal affiliations that we overlook our community as a whole, and how all of us can be bettered through collaboration and a stronger sense of community,” Scott Schmoller, a participant in the Catalyst Committee’s activities said. To determine these shared interests and develop a community vision, the group is initiating information-gathering efforts to determine individuals’ perceptions of the Greater Milwaukee LGBT communities and resources. This will be done through widely disseminated survey, interviews, and listening sessions at PrideFest. The Catalyst committee will review all the information gathered to determine strategic goals and action plans. Finally, these action plans will be implemented in order to mobilize and empower presence that fosters equality and well being for LGBT people. The Greater Milwaukee LGBT Visioning Project is eager to grow and prosper through the inclusion of as many in the voices as possible. For more information regarding the project, or to volunteer, please contact Maria Cadenas at 414-225-0244. Feature Story: “Star Trek’s” Mr. Sulu Tackles The Final Frontier: Marriage Equality Quest’s Mike Fitzpatrick Interviews HRC’s Equality Celebrity George Takei For the last forty years he has been known to literally billions of “Star Trek” fans as Mr. Sulu. For nearly half as many years friends in the Los Angeles LGBT community have known him as the celebrity half of “Brad and George.” But it has only been since last October that America at large learned that 69 year old classically trained actor, human rights activist and Howard Stern sidekick George Takei also happened to be gay. The national struggle for marriage equality - and what he considers a personal slap in the face by another famous film celebrity - have sent the sonorous-voiced Takei on his new mission where no Star Trek actor has gone before: a spokeperson for the Human Rights campaign. The HRC starship landed at UW-Madison Tuesday, April 18 for Takei’s latest stop in his month long equality lecture tour. Quest’s enterprising Mike Fitzpatrick arranged what was to have been a brief, “five minutes with”-type interview the morning after the speech. However when a long time Trekker has a close encounter with a fan favorite and discovers they both share an unrequited love for gay equal rights anything can happen - and did. What follows is just a portion of the in-depth conversation Mike and George had on a variety of issues. The full interview is available online at the Quest website: www.quest-online.com. Quest: For those who could not be there, tell us about your lecture experience at UW-Madison last night. Takei: “It was a tremendous reaction. I suspect that there ware a good number of ‘Star Trek’ fans in the audience. But I was also taken by the sprinkling of Asians and more mature people there. It predominantly young people, but there was very good mix of people from the Madison area. “It was also a standing room only crowd. And when I finished the was - and we actors love it - a standing ovation. The people that were standing just remained that way - they didn’t sit down. It was very gratifying. “What I did essentially is talk about my childhood in two U. S. internment camps. We were rounded up with no due process - no charges, no attorneys, no trial - simply because we happened to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor. There was no rationale for it. It was hysteria that put us behind those barbed wire fences. In many respects its that same kind of hysteria today that puts (gay people) behind legalistic barbed wire fences. “What is the core value of marriage? It’s two people who love each other, who care for each other, who take responsibility for each other. “Yet our adversaries talk about being ‘in defense of marriage.’ What are they being so defensive about? “Let’s look at their marriages. I guess they feel its very fragile. About 50% of the marriages between a man and a woman wind up in divorce. There’s lying, there’s infidelity, there’s spousal abuse. “That’s not what we’re talking about - the core value of marriage (I mentioned before). If anything, we are affirming the true, real values of what marriage is all about...” Quest: As someone who personally has worked for over a decade with Action and Fair Wisconsin, I truly believe that we have an excellent shot at being the first state to defeat a constitutional marriage and civil union ban at the ballot box this November. What do you think would be the national impact of such a victory? Takei: “You know, that would be fantastic. But I am reluctant to talk about that because it gives people too much confidence. You always run scared in an election because we can sluff off if we think we’ve won before the fact. In an election campaign I always believe in running scared - even if the numbers are with us.” Quest: What motivated you to come out publicly at this point in your life and to speak on LGBT equality issues? Takei: “People call my talking to the press (last October) my ‘coming out.’ But you know I’ve been together with Brad Altman for almost 20 years now - 19 years. We’ve been ‘out’ with our families and also with our friends. We’re active in various (LGBT) community social and civic affairs. We’ve contributed to various non-profits. Our names are literally carved in granite on donor walls. So we’ve been ‘out’ in that sense. “The only thing I had not done was spoken to the press... The reason I spoke to the press last year was (because) the California legislature did an amazing thing, a historic landmark. They passed the same-sex marriage bill, something even the Massachusetts legislature had not done. “All that was required was the autograph of another actor who happens to be the governor of the state of California - Arnold Schwarzenaeger. “When he campaigned for office, he made all those ‘political sounds.’ Those political moderate sounds. You know, he’s ‘from Hollywood,’ he’s ‘worked with gays and lesbians’... You know the old cliché: ‘some of my best friends are...’ “And a few that I know voted for him in part because of those statements. Well, he betrayed them when he played to the reactionary right wing segment of his base. He vetoed that bill. “It’s then I felt I needed to speak out to the press. For me to do that, my voice had to be authentic. “Brad and I discussed it and I spoke to the press for the first time about our lives. Speaking to the press is considered by most people to be ‘coming out.’ But its not true...” Quest: Star Trek has always had a huge gay following. What has been the response to your decision to come out publicly in the Trekker community? Takei: “It has been fantastic, across the board. My computer just exploded! The overwhelming majority (of emails) have been very positive. Of course a good number of them were ‘Star Trek’ fans. They dais that my being gay has added just another dimension to their passion for ‘Star trek.’ “There also some touching letters that I got. Fans who revealed that they are gay or lesbian but are still closeted. They were profoundly grateful that someone that they had watched over the last forty years was ‘like them.’ They shared the anguish and their pain of their lives with me. It was very moving. “Yes, I got some hate mail. The interesting thing was that they were unanimously anonymous. I got first hate mail that was actually signed last week... “Their grammar was so bad I couldn’t understand what they were saying! And the vulgarity was just repulsive.” Quest: Your decision to speak out for our equality has caused your celebrity star to burn in places where no man has gone before. Takei: (laughs) “We’re boldly going!” Quest: Has that had any impact on your partner Brad? Takei: “Well, I’m on the road but Brad is equally, vicariously ‘on the road.’ He’s managing all the media requests and various arrangements from Los Angeles. Brad is very much a partner in this activity as well as in my life...” Quest: What has been your worst experience on the road thus far? Takei: “The worst part of it is the exhaustion at the end of the day. The unpleasant things have been some of the emails we’ve gotten as I mentioned before... Quest: What’s it like to work with Howard Stern? Takei: (laughs) “Well, I really believe in reaching out beyond our (LGBT) community - not just talk to ourselves. And Howard certainly provides me with a different audience! That’s proved very effective. I’ve heard from many of Howard’s listeners. “Howard had an Arnold Schwarzenaeger imitator call me. And I’m so easily bamboozled. I took him seriously and had a very lively debate this Arnold imitator on the radio. I made all the usual argument that I make. People listening called in and said ‘You know? You make sense!’ These are people from places like North Carolina, Oklahoma, Nebraska saying that is he issue comes up in their states they will support us... Quest: Any final words for Quest’s readers? Takei: “I just want to express my appreciation for their dedication to the cause. I think if all of us - in whatever capacity, in whatever activity we’re engaged in - share our lives, that’s the best campaign capacity for us to win full equality. Top of Page Quest Home QNU Home

Battle Against The Ban Gains Momentum
Support For The Ban Drops, Power Summit Energizes, Sulu Soars,
Thompson Blasts Bigots & Canvasses Count Up Opponents Statewide
Milwaukee, Madison – Momentum against Wisconsin’s proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriages and civil unions appears to have strengthened in the last two weeks. Several surveys now suggest a closer referendum vote. The largest power summit in the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s history focused on the Wisconsin campaign. Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu Took his UW audience the the final frontier of marriage equality. Former gubernatorial candidate Ed Thompson characterized amendment supporters as “worse than bigots.” And as Quest goes to press, the first series of door-to-door canvasses identifying voters who will oppose the ban were held statewide.
Support For Civil Unions & Marriage Ban Dips 9%
In the last eighteen months voter attitudes toward an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution banning same sex marriage and civil unions has dropped sharply, a full 9%. Those the results of a Quest analysis of two polls asking likely state voters their opinions on such a ban that used the exact wording of the amendment.
A UW-Milwaukee poll released April 13 reported 53% of the respondents would vote for the amendment when offered the exact wording of the Julaine Appling

proposal. 37% opposed the ban. A Tarrance Group poll released November 18, 2004 and sponsored by the Wisconsin Coalition For Traditional Marriage, a political action arm of the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin (FRI-WI) showed 62% supported a similarly worded question that included the amendment language. 31% opposed the measure in the Tarrance survey.
The proposed amendment reads: “Only marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state.”
The Quest analysis was prompted by FRI-WI Executive Director Julaine Appling’s response to A Wisconsin Public Radio-St. Norbert College poll that also showed a 5% decrease in support for the the marriage and civil unions ban. “The results of this poll are somewhat confusing and even misleading,” Appling’s press release said, citing the Tarrance Group survey. “Until there is another survey in which respondents are presented with the exact wording of the amendment, I think we must view the St. Norbert/WPR survey somewhat skeptically.” The UW-Milwaukee apparently was released shortly after the FRI-WI press release.
Both Appling and Fair Wisconsin’s Mike Tate noted in responding to the St. Norbert poll that massive voter education will be critical in the run-up to the November ballot. “This poll is a reminder that there is a great deal of education that needs to be done between now and November so that Wisconsin citizens know the truth about this amendment,” Appling’s press release said.
One day later, on April 14, results of a poll conducted by the UW-LaCrosse political science department showed only a plurality in favor of the ban. In the survey, 45.5% said they would support the amendment, but 36.1% said they would vote against it. 18.4% were undecided. The poll was commissioned by WKBT-TV and the La Crosse Tribune.
Largest Ever NGLTF Power Summit Finds Fair Wisconsin Friends In Cream City Canvass
Summit

The large number of undecided in the LaCrosse poll mirrored the results of a large voter canvass held a week earlier in Milwaukee. After knocking on over 2,000 doors, the nearly 150 participants in the canvass found 26.6% of the registered voters they talked to were undecided on the ban. Most were unaware the referendum was even going to be on the ballot, canvass participants reported. A heartening 49% opposed the ban and only 25% went on record in support.
However, the purpose of the canvass was to identify potential voters, rather than to scientifically poll opinion on the issue. The canvass site was selected for its proximity to the Clarion Hotel, site of the three-day NGLTF Power Summit April 7-9. Local activists told Quest the neighborhood was considered to be “blue collar and Democratic.”
The Saturday canvass was the highlight of the “field track” of a two track summit which focused on fund raising techniques. Both tracks also received some cross-training in opposite area. Though over 165 attended the summit, and the Task Force had selected a Wisconsin site because of the Fair Wisconsin campaign, about two out of five were activists from other states who were facing ballot measures ranging from equal rights ordinances to affirmative action, in addition to marriage and civil union bans.
HRC Starship Equality Tour Beams Into Madison
Takei

Marriage equality supporters also were energized by a visit from George Takei, “Star Trek’s” Mr. Sulu, who stopped in Madison April 18 as a part of his nationwide tour working on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign.
Takei spoke to a standing room only crowd at UW-Madison in an effort to focus students’ attention on the importance of “being out and equal.” Though students dominated the audience, Takei told Quest there was a “good number of ‘Star Trek’ fans, Asian-Americans and older people in the crowd.”
Takei compared his experience as a Japanese-American and his experience as a gay man to approach the issue of discrimination. Native-born Takei and his family were interned by the U. S. government at the Manzanar concentration camp during World War II, along with thousands of other Japanese-Americans.
“What happened to Japanese Americans back then was an irrational hysteria,” Takei said. “What the LGBT community is facing today is the hysteria of a different kind - it is something that is un-American.”
(See excerpts from Quest’s in-depth interview with Takei in this issue. The full interview will be available online at www.quest-online.com)
Ed Thompson Blasts Amendment Supporters As “Bigots”

A week earlier, on April 10, in his weekly radio commentary “A Little Common Sense” former gubernatorial candidate Ed Thompson came out in polite opposition to the ban. That following weekend he spoke at the Libertarian Party convention in Madison and was far less polite.
“The No. 1 issue in Wisconsin this year is defeating a Republican-backed constitutional amendment that would emphatically ban same-sex marriage and similar civil unions,” Thompson told the convention. Thompson added that the proposed amendment is an “evil thing that is so incredibly wrong it (amounts to) lunacy.”
“The GOP-run Legislature is attempting to pass laws of prejudice against people,” Thompson said. “If you can accept that, you’re not a Libertarian. You’re not even an American. You’re a bigot.”
Thompson, who garnered 10% of the vote in his 2002 run for the governor’s mansion - the largest ever for a third-party candidate in the state’s history, joined his former opponent Governor Jim Doyle and Senator Russ Feingold on the growing list of Wisconsin politicians in high-decibel opposition to the ban.
Statewide Shoe Leather Campaign Scores New Amendment Opponents
High decibel opposition from high-profile politicians may change some voters’ minds, but the real key to winning in the 195 days that remain Canvass

before the ballot is identifying those voters. As Quest went to press, local action networks organized by Fair Wisconsin sponsored the first of a series of canvasses of registered voters statewide. Canvasses were held on Dodgeville, LaCrosse, Madison, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Platteville and Superior April 22. Over 150 volunteers knocked on over 8,000 doors to speak to and identify registered voters opposed to the ban. Appleton, Eau Claire, Green Bay, Kenosha, Milwaukee and Stevens Point also will hold canvasses on April 29.
Trained volunteers will identify ban opponents from lists of registered voters by talking one-on-one with the voters. Future canvasses are planned in Sheboygan, Wausau and dozens of other cities. Fair Wisconsin hopes to replicate statewide the successful program of canvassing run for the last two years in the Milwaukee area by campaign partner Center Advocates.
Fair Wisconsin’s Mike Tate cautiously cheered the momentum against the ban in an April 18 email message to opponents. “All of this is good news, but to win in November, we still have a mountain to climb,” Tate wrote. “The same polls that show dropping support for the civil unions and marriage ban, show us behind overall.”

One Sentence Federal Marriage Amendment Proposed
Man-Woman Definition Of Marriage “Litmus Test” Vote Expected in June or July
Washington, DC - With the mid-term elections just a half a year away, the religious right has conjured up a new litmus test for incumbent politicians to pass: a vote on a one sentence Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. And gay Beltway insiders have told Quest that the Republican leadership is now expected to schedule votes as early as late June in both houses of Congress.
Word of the new FMA strategy first broke in early April, buried the latter half of a story in New England’s largest LGBT newspaper. Bay Windows reported that the the national religious right has its sights set on the November elections, based on a political report penned by conservative journalist Robert Novak. The Bay Windows story referred to a March 28 Evans-Novak Political Report newsletter in which Novak in wrote that the Arlington Group, a national coalition of religious right leaders including Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins and American Values founder Gary Bauer, had met in February and voted to change the wording of the Federal Marriage Amendment.
The wording change would retain the ban on recognizing same-sex marriage but eliminate the second sentence preventing courts from granting civil unions or other protections to same-sex couples. Arlington Group members did not expect the one-sentence amendment to pass, but they felt it would produce greater electoral results.
“The legal implications of this change are hotly debated, but the move is unusual because it represents a dramatic change of course politically,” Novak wrote. “Divisions have emerged among conservatives as to the merits of last year’s two-sentence amendment. Some believe that it actually encourages or sanctions “civil union” laws. It is also believed that it will be easier to gain votes for the one-sentence amendment, and its near-passage would put many of its opponents on the spot in November.”
Focus on the Family declined to comment to Bay Windows for their story, and FRC did not return a call to comment. However, Quest was able to confirm the revised one sentence FMA plan with Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay And Lesbian Task Force during his visit to the Task Force’s Milwaukee Power Summit April 7.
Quest’s follow-up inquiries with other gay political strategists attending the power summit yielded reports of a late June vote being scheduled in the House of Representatives. An April 15 Washington Post story later suggested a July vote.
“House Republican officials close to the scheduling process said the marriage amendment is headed for a House vote in July,” the Post story said. No mention was made of the one sentence version of the FMA however.
The original FMA, sponsored in the Senate by possible presidential candidate Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), the measure would have the Constitution in effect rescind a 2004 Massachusetts law that made gay marriage legal. However, a one sentence version would not effect the Vermont or Connecticut civil unions statutes.
However, the revised one sentence version would take away one key argument against the original FMA: the second sentence barring “legal incidents” such as civil unions or domestic partnerships is too vague and will cause unintended consequences. That logic is also a key argument in the fight against Wisconsin version of the amendment.
Gay Beltway strategists confided that Democrats looking to the open White House race in 2008 may be hard pressed to vote against a one sentence FMA. “It’s going to ‘put up or shut up’ time on marriage equality for every Democrat in the House and Senate,” one strategist told Quest. “And I’m afraid there a lot fewer ‘Feingolds’ out there than we would like (to think).”
The final wording of the 2006 version of the Federal Marriage Amendment has not been announced as Quest went to press.