Quest Vol. 13 No. 9

*Quest News* Volume 13 No. 9 May 25, 2006 Compiled & written by Mike Fitzpatrick Top Story: Shoe Leather And Soul Searching Characterize Amendment Battle Fair Wisconsin Canvasses Voters And Names Coordinators In All Counties Pulpit Battle Engaged As Both Sides Enlist Faith Leaders Madison - The past two weeks has seen activity in the battle over Wisconsin’s proposed Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions step up, literally one step at a time. Fair Wisconsin named county coordinators in every county in the state. Over 500 volunteers spoke to thousands of likely voters about the amendment. And the battle for the political souls of people of faith heightened as the campaigns for both sides engaged clergy on the issue. On May 10 Fair Wisconsin announced that volunteer coordinators in each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties have joined the effort to defeat the constitutional ban on civil unions and marriage for gay families set for a November 7 vote. “With six months until Election Day, we have assembled a massive grassroots outreach program with lead volunteers on the ground in every single Wisconsin county,” Fair Wisconsin Campaign Manager Mike Tate said. “These volunteers live in every corner of Wisconsin and come from all different walks of life. They are highly motivated and passionate about defeating the ban and keeping discrimination out of our constitution.” The county coordinators will serve as leaders willing to be contacts for other volunteers in their area. They will also help to provide a local perspective on why more and more voters oppose the civil unions and marriage ban. For the past several months, Fair Wisconsin Action Networks have been meeting in 26 communities from Sun Prairie to Kenosha to Tomah to Superior to Platteville. The Action Networks talk to voters at community events, on their doorsteps, and in their churches about why the ban is wrong. Fair Wisconsin volunteers have spoken to thousands of voters through door-to-door canvassing in 16 communities this spring. “Fair Wisconsin has set in motion one of the largest grassroots voter mobilization efforts in Wisconsin history,” said Tate. “Our county coordinators, Action Networks, and over 6,000 active volunteers are out there every day helping voters understand why the ban is wrong for Wisconsin.” The coordinators include some distinguished Wisconsin political names. Among them are former state legislator and current farm advocate Stan Gruszynski, who is serving as Marinette County Coordinator; former state superintendent of public instruction Bert Grover, who is handling Shawano County; and Eric Dueholm of Luck, WI in Polk County, who is related to former Democratic legislator Harvey Dueholm. Ten days later, over 500 people who had signed up to participate went door-to-door in every county statewide to take the case against the civil unions and marriage ban directly to likely voters. “We have 174 days left until voters weigh in on the ban, and we have the massive grassroots operation that it will take to defeat it,” Fair Wisconsin campaign manager Mike Tate said, noting that the “No” side now has over 6000 total volunteers working to defeat the measure. Madonna Bowman, the Fond du Lac County coordinator, met with 22 other volunteers May 15 to plan their canvass. Bowman got involved because she has a gay daughter. “This issue directly impacts our family, and I think that as people in Fond du Lac understand the broad implications of the ban they will vote no,” Bowman said. St. Croix County coordinator Mike Day and other volunteers also talked to voters on Saturday in Hudson. Day is a fourth generation Wisconsinite who works across the border as the senior vice president of the Science Museum of Minnesota. “St Croix is one of the fastest growing and most economically vibrant counties in Wisconsin because of its close proximity to the Twin Cities. The ban puts that vitality at risk,” Day said. “For example, it would jeopardize domestic partner health benefits. If the ban passes, it would make it difficult for us to recruit and retain the best employees.” Ashland residents also canvassed May 20. “We need to inform the people of Ashland what’s at stake with the ban. That’s what we’ll be doing on Saturday and in the months to come,” Ashland County Coordinator Carl Sack said. In addition to door-to-door contacts, the debate over Wisconsin’s gay marriage amendment likely will be waged from church pulpits over the coming months. Both opponents and supporters of the measure agree churches have a responsibility to take a stand on the issue and get their flocks out to the polls to vote. About 200 church leaders from around the state gathered in Madison on May 16 to discuss strategies for winning public approval of the amendment to ban gay marriage. Julaine Appling of the Wisconsin Family Research Institute told the attendees churches will play a key role in defining the future of marriage. Legally, churches can play an advocacy role in the amendment debate. One of the speakers at FRI “summit” was Attorney Glen Lavy of the Alliance Defense Fund. He’s been an advisor for church groups in several other states where the gay marriage and civil union ban has already passed. He claims as long as churches don’t advocate for a specific candidate in an election, they will not violate rules governing non-profit institutions. Church leaders who oppose the amendment will also be using their pulpits to urge their congregations to defeat the measure. Madison United Church of Christ Reverend Curt Anderson has already been doing it and says many more ministers will likely follow suit. Anderson told Wisconsin Public Radio that his sermons will focus on the golden rule. Anderson is one of the leaders of the anti-amendment faith group Christians For Equality in Wisconsin. Fair Wisconsin also has hired a full-time faith outreach director. Eric Peterson, the new Faith Outreach Director for Fair Wisconsin introduced himself and talked about the faith outreach efforts here at Fair Wisconsin in a May 4 entry of the campaign’s “No On the Amendment” blog. “I grew up in the northwoods of Wisconsin among the great fishing lakes, the beautiful woods, green fields, and so many Lutheran churches you could walk across the county on the rooftops,” Peterson wrote. “At my church, I attended Sunday School where my teachers and pastors, all of whom are family friends, taught me about a wonderful word – love.” “This idea of love has pushed me to be an active advocate for the rights all people in my church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA),” Peterson continued. “Last fall I attended the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Orlando and helped move the church towards the full inclusion of gay and lesbian persons in the body of Christ. Moreover, this love that I was taught also pushed me into the world of politics. I believe our government is called, just like our churches, to show love and concern for all the people in our land. I recently finished my term as legislative assistant in the Wisconsin State Assembly trying to enact that idea into Wisconsin’s public policy.” Fair Wisconsin’s faith outreach website (www.fairwisconsin.com/faith/index.html) list ways that individuals, congregations and regional denominational organizations can go on record in opposition to the ban. Fair Wisconsin’s Tate said currently his campaign’s list of clergy on record opposed to the ban far outnumbers the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin’s. All told congregations and regional fair organizations representing over a half million people of faith are on record opposing the ban. Feingold Has Shouting Match, Storms Out Of Anti-Gay Marriage Hearing Washington, D.C. - A Senate committee approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage May 18, after a shouting match that ended when one Democrat strode out and the Republican chairman bid him “good riddance.” “I don’t need to be lectured by you. You are no more a protector of the Constitution than am I,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) shouted after Senator Russ Feingold (D- Wisconsin)declared his opposition to the amendment, his affinity for the Constitution and his intention to leave the meeting.”If you want to leave, good riddance,” Specter finished. “I’ve enjoyed your lecture, too, Mr. Chairman,” replied Feingold, who is considering a run for president in 2008. “See ya.” Amid increasing partisan tension over President Bush’s judicial nominees and domestic wiretapping, the panel voted along party lines to send the constitutional amendment - which would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages - to the full Senate, where it stands little chance of passing. Democrats pointed out that bringing up the amendment is a purely political move designed to appeal to the GOP’s conservative base in this year of midterm elections. Under the domed ceiling of the ornate and historic President’s Room off the Senate floor, senators voted 10-8 to send the measure forward. Among Feingold’s objections was Specter’s decision to hold the vote in the President’s Room, where access by the general public is restricted, instead of in the panel’s usual home in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Specter later said he would have been willing to hold the session in the usual room had he thought doing so would change votes. Not all those who voted “yes” support the amendment, however. Specter said he is “totally opposed” to it, but felt it deserved a debate in the Senate. As reported earlier this year by Quest, the 2006 version of the bill eliminates language barring civil unions or domestic partnerships: “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.” The measure requires approval by two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the states, but is unlikely to see such majorities in either the House or the Senate this year. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has scheduled a vote on the proposed amendment the week of June 5. The issue has ignited a cultural and political debate over what constitutes marriage and the legal rights of gay partners. Wisconsin voters will decide November 7 whether to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage and civil unions. Constitutional amendments in Wisconsin require approval in the Legislature in two consecutive sessions before voters decide in a statewide referendum. Both houses approved the proposal in March 2004 and the Senate did so again in December. The issue has been on the political radar across the nation for more than two years. On Election Day in 2004, a presidential year, initiatives on gay marriage and civil unions were on the ballot in 11 states, driven in part by opposition to the Massachusetts state Supreme Judicial Court’s recognition of same-sex marriage and Republican calculations that the issue would send conservative voters to the polls. Two states - Louisiana and Missouri - had approved bans earlier in the year. World & National News: Georgia Gay Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional, State To Appeal Atlanta - Georgia will appeal a judge’s ruling that struck down its voter-approved ban on gay marriage, and the governor said May 17 he will call a special legislative session if the state Supreme Court doesn’t rule on the issue soon. “I think the people spoke overwhelmingly. I think the people of Georgia knew exactly what they were voting for,” Republican Governor Sonny Perdue said. The constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage was approved by 76% of the state’s voters in November 2004. On May 16, however, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Constance C. Russell ruled the measure violated the Georgia Constitution’s single-subject rules for ballot questions. The ballot measure addressed issues other than gay marriage, including civil unions and the power of Georgia courts to rule on disputes arising from same-sex relationships. Perdue said he would call a special session of the Legislature to propose another constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage if the high court did not rule by August 7. The deadline for the measure to be printed on ballots for the November general election would be August 14, he said. A special session could cost taxpayers between $30,000 and $40,000 a day and could last at least a week. State Attorney General Thurbert Baker said Russell’s opinion was “wrongfully decided” and he would ask for an expedited ruling in the state’s appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. He also pointed out that a Georgia law prohibiting same-sex marriage is still on the books, and that only the constitutional amendment was struck down. The plaintiffs, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda, believe the judge’s ruling will be upheld. “All these guys are running for election. And once again they’re going to try to use gays and lesbians as their platform,” Chuck Bowen, director of Georgia Equality, the state’s largest gay-advocacy organization told the Associated Press. “They’re using us to shield the real issues facing the state.” Activists: Wisconsin Has The “Best Chance” Of Defeating Marriage And Civil Union Ban Washington, D.C. - In an election year roiled by Iraq, immigration and gas prices, gay marriage might seem like a second-tier issue. But next month, the U.S. Senate will consider a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. And this fall, voters in at least a half-dozen states - including South Carolina, on November. 7 - will decide ballot proposals banning gay marriage. Wisconsin is emerging as the main event. Gay rights supporters have never defeated such a referendum and are convinced Wisconsin is their best shot at ending that cross-country losing streak. Their success — in the ultimate swing state — would give the contest national significance. In a recent speech here to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Senate Democrat Russ Feingold vowed to help defeat the Wisconsin referendum, declaring that marriage “is not always and should not always be between a man and a woman.” Along with his state, Feingold might provide his own case study in the politics of gay marriage. Like most Democrats, he opposes a constitutional amendment defining marriage, an amendment that is expected to fail in the Senate next month. But he has gone a significant step further and declared his personal belief that gays and lesbians should be able to marry. He is one of only four U.S. senators — and the only potential 2008 presidential candidate — to do so. Opponents of gay marriage say all it would take is another controversial judicial ruling to stoke feelings on the issue, and court cases are pending. The issue “ebbs and flows with what’s happening in the courts and what’s happening in an election,” Julaine Appling, FRI executive director and coordinator of the Wisconsin Coalition for Traditional Marriage said. The view on both sides is that supporters of the marriage ban have started out ahead in the battle for public opinion. But gay rights groups and allies have organized early and avidly through Fair Wisconsin, which claims 6,000 volunteers. “It really is a state (where) for many reasons, the stars are aligning,” said Carrie Evans of the Human Rights Campaign, a leading national gay rights group. She cites the early mobilizing as well as the vocal support of prominent Democrats, which has sometimes been lacking in other states. Other opponents of the marriage ban say Wisconsin’s perceived independence and unpredictability, along with its relatively low share of evangelical voters, are helpful. Appling concedes the battle is not a slam dunk. “We’re not in the Bible Belt,” she said. “We take nothing for granted.” Still, she contends the referendum’s opponents have “misjudged the demographics” - that the “rank and file Wisconsin citizen, when he or she goes into that voting booth, will read (the proposition) and say, ‘Yeah, marriage is between a man and woman.”’ Supreme Court Allows Lesbian To Seek Parental Rights Washington, D.C. - The Supreme Court said May 15 it would not block a lesbian from seeking parental rights to a child she helped raise with her longtime partner. The justices have never before dealt with the rights of gays in child custody disputes, although state courts are handling a growing number of legal fights. The court had been asked to review a ruling of Washington state’s highest court that said Sue Ellen “Mian” Carvin could pursue ties to the girl as a “de facto parent.” Justices declined to take up the case. Carvin’s former partner, Page Britain, claimed that as the biological mother she has a constitutional right to make decisions affecting the girl, now 11. “This is an issue that the Supreme Court is going to hear at some time in the future,” said Jordan Lorence, one of Britain’s lawyers who works for the conservative Alliance Defense Fund. Carvin and Britain had lived together for five years before they decided to become parents. Britain was artificially inseminated and gave birth in 1995 to the daughter, known as L.B. in court papers. The girl called Carvin “Mama” and Britain “Mommy.” Britain broke up with Carvin in 2001 and the following year, when the girl was 7, barred her former partner from seeing the girl. After Carvin went to court, Britain married the sperm donor. Justices were told that the father lives in Thailand. The case paints a nasty battle between the two women. Britain says she wanted to have the girl baptized in a Catholic church and that her former partner wanted to take L.B. to a Buddhist temple. Carvin contends she was the active parent while Britain focused on her job. Carvin and her lawyers said they were pleased that the justices did not disturb last fall’s Washington state court ruling, which said even though Carvin was not the girl’s natural or adoptive mother, she may have been a “de facto parent.” That is someone who, though not legally recognized, functions as a child’s actual parent. “Symbolically it is definitely an important decision, acknowledging that families are changing,” said Nancy Sapiro, a senior attorney with the Northwest Women’s Law Center and one of Carvin’s lawyers. Carvin said in a statement that she was “thrilled that the United States Supreme Court decided not to review this case and that the Washington State Supreme Court decision will stand.” She will have a chance to pursue rights later this month. Eighteen other states recognize “de facto parents” over the objections of fit biological parents, according to Britain’s lawyers: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. “This is becoming a huge can of worms when courts do not follow the more conventional lines of parental rights,” Lorence said. Nancy Polikoff, who teaches family law at American University, said: “As lesbian and gay couples more frequently raise children together, breakups of those families are more likely to happen and there will be more disputes. Courts will have to deal with it.” Laura Bush: “Don’t Use Gay Marriage As A Campaign Tool” Washington, D.C. - Some election-year advice to Republicans from a high-ranking source who has the president’s ear: Don’t use a proposed constitutional amendment against gay marriage as a campaign tool. Just who is that political strategist? Laura Bush. The first lady told Fox News Sunday on May 14 that she thinks the American people want a debate on the issue. But, she said, “I don’t think it should be used as a campaign tool, obviously.” “It requires a lot of sensitivity to just talk about the issue — a lot of sensitivity,” she said. Early next month, the Senate will debate legislation that would have the Constitution define marriage as the union between a man and a woman, Majority Leader Bill Frist said on CNN’s Late Edition. President Bush supports the amendment, but Vice President Dick Cheney does not. Cheney’s daughter, Mary, is a lesbian and has been speaking out against the marriage amendment. Mary Cheney wrote that she almost quit working on the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004 because of Bush’s position on gay marriage. Asked Sunday about reports that White House political adviser Karl Rove and other Republicans want to use the issue to mobilize conservatives for the midterm election, she said on Fox that she hoped “no one would think about trying to amend the Constitution as a political strategy.” “I certainly don’t know what conversations have gone on between Karl and anybody up on the Hill. But you know, what I can say is look, amending the Constitution with this amendment, this piece of legislation, is a bad piece of legislation. It is writing discrimination into the Constitution, and, as I say, it is fundamentally wrong.” But Frist said he would defend the amendment even to Dick Cheney. “I basically say, Mr. Vice President, right now marriage is under attack in this country,” Frist said on CNN. Vatican Denies Gay Prostitution Claims Vatican City - The Vatican has issued a denial and is threatening legal action after claims that one of its priests has been arrested while looking for a male or transsexual prostitute in an area known for soliciting. The Italian news agency, Ansa, and several Italian newspapers, reported May 14 that an unidentified 48- year-old official of the secretary of state of the Vatican had been stopped by police after acting awkwardly in an area known for male prostitutes. A Vatican statement said: “Information disseminated this morning by newspapers concerning a cleric in service at the Vatican are totally without foundation. The statement accused the media of contributing to “defaming the good reputation of the official.” The accusations come after the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, was reported to have sacked a gay media aide because of his sexuality. Gay Orgies Land Chinese Man In Prison Bejing - A Chinese man has been sentenced to a year in prison for hosting gay sex parties at his home in Beijing, according to the Chinese News Service. Known only as ‘Zou’, the man attracted partygoers via his website, ‘Beijing Sky’, which promoted a ‘Hot Dream Party for Cool Beijing Boys.’ The police raided Zou’s home last November after neighbors notified the police of the high numbers of men attending. “Ten suspected criminals, all males, were engaging in illegal sex activities,” the news agency quoted police as saying. “Zou’s behaviour constituted a crime of ‘Promoting Promiscuity’.” Chinese gay life is largely underground. The sentencing judge told Zou: “People should choose healthy and proper lifestyles.” State News: Fair Wisconsin Volunteers Lobby Against Marriage Ban At GOP State Convention Appleton - Republicans didn’t always hear the party line on the proposed state Constitutional marriage and civil unions ban at the party’s state convention at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel and Conference Center here May 19. Two plucky volunteers from Fair Wisconsin, the statewide organization urging the defeat of the GOP-crafted referendum, met with delegates outside of the convention hall for about an hour and a half until they were ejected by security. Bruce Wachsmuth of Green Bay and Bob Wilson of Appleton passed out fliers to the delegates which touted opposition to the state amendment’s language by two Republican icons: President George and First Lady Laura Bush. “Read George & Laura Bush’s Advice and Vote “No” on the Ban” the flier’s headline read beneath pictures of the First Couple. The flier went on to quote Bush’s comments on Good Morning America in 2004. “I don’t think we should deny people rights to a civil union, a legal arrangement, if that’s what a state chooses to do,” Bush said at that time. “States ought to to be able to pass laws that enable people to be able to have rights like others,” Bush added. Wachsmuth and Wilson pointed out to delegates that passage of the Wisconsin amendment would go directly against the President’s stated wishes. The flier also quoted Laura Bush’s comments on the May 14 edition of Fox News Sunday in which she asked that the GOP not use the gay marriage issue as a election year strategy. “I don’t think (gay marriage) should be used as a campaign tool, obviously,” the First Lady said. “It requires a lot of sensitivity just to talk about the issue - a lot of sensitivity.” Sensitivity is not what Wachsmuth found when he spoke to Assembly Speaker and key amendment architect John Gard (R-Peshtigo). “At first he thought I was talking about a vote on a convention resolution,” Wachsmuth told Quest. “Then he realized I was talking about the marriage and civil union ban and he just took off.” In a June, 2004 “coordination letter” to Julaine Appling of the Family Research Institute, Gard expressed his plans to engineer a November, 2006 vote on the amendment. Gard is also seeking to replace 8th District Congressional Representative Mark Green in the open seat election in November as well. Following the departure of Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and the decision by former Governor Tommy Thompson not to enter the race, Green is running unopposed for the GOP nomination for governor. According to Wachsmuth, it was a Green campaign staffer who notified security of the Fair Wisconsin volunteers’ presence in the convention area. “First I gave her a flier and talked to her about the President’s comments,” Wachsmuth told Quest. “She told me she didn’t believe either the President or Laura Bush ever made those statements. Then she went and got a security guard.” Wachsmuth and Wilson were speaking to delegates in the vendors area outside of the convention hall, which was also accessible to other hotel patrons not attending the GOP event. Both Wachsmuth and Wilson have been in long-term same sex relationships, Wachsmuth for 13 years and Wilson for 32 years. Wachsmuth told Quest that after participating in the statewide canvass May 20, he and Wilson plan to head back to the convention to “change hearts and minds.” “Some people took the fliers, read them, crumpled them up and tossed them,” Wachsmuth said. “But we engaged a lot of people who were very open to what we were saying and the reminder we gave them from their own leaders. If we’re going to defeat this amendment, in November we have to change a lot of hearts and minds - including some of the Republican ones.” Sex Survey Causes Stir At Wisconsin High School Port Washington - Parents were angry, school leaders promised action, a teacher was put on paid leave and a state senator vowed a new law - all in response to a “Heterosexual Questionnaire,” approved by two Port Washington High School teachers for use during the school GSA’s observance of the GLSEN “Day of Silence.” About 400 of the school’s 930 students received the survey on April 25, the day before the national Day of Silence, an annual event co-sponsored by GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network. They were told to submit written answers to the survey and discuss it in class. The 10-question survey included queries such as “Your heterosexuality doesn’t offend me as long as you don’t try to come on to me, but why do so many heterosexuals try to seduce others to their orientation?,” “Why do heterosexuals place so much emphasis on sex?,” and “Considering the battering, abuse and divorce rate associated with heterosexual coupling, why would you want to enter into that kind of relationship?” The survey was distributed by the school’s gay-straight alliance and was used in a full-class-period discussion, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which said the school’s principal, Duane Woelfel, did not approve its distribution. Parent Lisa Krier called for the two teachers to be disciplined, saying the survey was a form of sexual harassment by teachers against students. “If somebody doesn’t call them on it, it will continue,” she said. Both Woelfel and the president of the local school board, Patty Ruth, said they thought the survey was inappropriate and that proper authorization was not given before it was used in classrooms. Woelfel, who was not aware of the survey until a parent gave him a copy the day after it was distributed, said he’s received complaints from about two dozen parents and community members. On May 16 one of the high school teachers involved “mutually agreed” to go on administrative leave until a decision is made on possible disciplinary action, according to Woelfel. The social studies teacher, Sarah Olson, declined to comment to the Journal Sentinel for a May 17 story.. Woelfel said he and Olson agreed to Olson’s going on paid leave “for her well-being and the well-being of students in her class.” Woelfel said Olson will remain on leave until Woelfel finishes an investigation into how the survey was distributed to students. Calling the use of the sexuality questionnaire “outrageous,” State Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) said On May 16 she would reintroduce a bill to restrict use of such surveys in schools. Darling said she would resurrect the bill, first introduced five years ago, because she thought the use of the “Heterosexual Questionnaire,” was not appropriate for a school setting. “It is of a very personal nature, and it has nothing to do with the curriculum that we are accountable for in our public schools,” Darling said. “These are very personal and private issues that have no business being discussed in a school.” However, the Legislature doesn’t reconvene until January. The Heterosexual Questionnaire was developed in 1977 by the late Martin Rochlin, according to the University of Southern California, where he earned his PhD, Rochlin founded the American Psychological Association’s Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian and Gay Issues. The survey’s intended audience originally was for adults, but has been selectively used in college and senior high school courses more recently. New Martini Bar, Arts Pavilion At Milwaukee PrideFest Milwaukee - For the first time in PrideFest history, a Martini Bar will now be part of the 3-day weekend celebration that begins Milwaukee’s festival season at Henry Meier Festival Park on June 9-11. Co-sponsored by AlwaysHappyHour.com and Barrington Law Offices of Milwaukee along with generous corporate support from Effen Vodka, the new martini bar will be located in the Potowatami Dance Pavilion being run this year by local promoters DJ John Murges and Greg Hutterer of PumpMilwaukee. “Many folks have commented about how much fun PrideFest could be with something more than the usual beer taps” Andy Schaidler, President of co-sponsor AlwaysHappyHour.com said. “We’re thrilled and excited to join with Barrington and Effen to help bring what is an obviously long overdue and delightful addition to the festival.” The Martini Bar will feature a half dozen specialty Effen Vodka and Hendricks Gin martinis, as well as Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum, served up by volunteer bartenders coordinated by Barrington. AlwaysHappyHour.com will provide their fun and unusual cocktail shakers to mix up the tasty libations at the bar, and will also decorate the martini bar with their many unusual lounge and cocktail lamps, clocks, neon signs, giant centerpieces, and more. All bar accessories on display and used at the martini bar will also be for sale in the AlwaysHappyHour.com booth on the main midway, just south of the main gate and fountain. As a sponsor of the Martini Bar, AlwaysHappyHour.com is donating a portion of all proceeds from product sales at their booth during the festival to PrideFest. The Milwaukee Gay Arts Center, the Milwaukee LGBT History Project and the UWM LGBT Film & Video Festival also have collaborated to present a special arts and history pavilion at PrideFest. The MGAC Pavilion will be open throughout festival weekend, June 9-11. SAGE-Milwaukee will provide volunteer staff. The MGAC Pavilion will feature the Milwaukee LGBT History Timeline, live performances, a special display of four decades of Milwaukee LGBT theatre and arts history and short videos from the Milwaukee LGBT Film & Video Festival. As an added amenity, the pavilion will offer coffee, cold beverages and wine from Intermezzo Wine Bar, all in a garden atmosphere with table seating. Pridefest is the only LGBT Pride festival in the US held on permanent festival grounds. Last year’s attendance topped over 21,000 people from across Wisconsin and the Midwest over the two days. This year’s three day festival opens from 6 PM to Midnight on Friday, June 9 featuring comedienne Margaret Cho, and will be also open all afternoon and evening on Saturday & Sunday June 10 & 11. For more information and a full schedule of the entertainment book for this year’s PrideFest, visit the festival’s website at: www.pridefest.com. Families Are The Focus Of Madison Pride 2006 Madison - The Madison Pride board announced that the focus for the 2006 Madison Pride March and MAGIC Picnic July 8-9 will be on LGBTQ families, couples and allies. The board believes that by focusing their attentions they can demonstrate their commitment to the families is second to none. In addition the Madison Pride Board is producing an event unlike any previous effort put forth in the past. To make this event more inclusive and welcoming to all aspects of the LGBTQ communities several major changes have been made to the way they operate as a board, the special and fundraising events they produce, and to the March and MAGIC Picnic itself. Family-centered changes include the following: 1) Families and couples lead off this years march with the Dykes On Bikes continuing their important central role of providing an honor guard and protective duties to the march participants. 2) To ensure that all people, even the littlest, can have fun at Pride we will not be charging an entrance fee on Sunday. In addition, the event will offer a kids area with games, kid friendly entertainers and other fun things to do. Madison Pride will also offer diverse entertainment. The lineup for Saturday, July 8 continues it’s tradition of hard pounding, excitement building entertainment with Pulsation, the Wade Otis Band, Lady Kier and Madison’s Pride Drag Show. Sunday, July 9 will be a day for kicking back and relaxing with friends and family as Tret Fure, Suzanne Westenhoefer and more will entertain and delight attendees. In an effort to bring Pride to a larger community the Madison Pride committee has started reaching out to the Latino/Latina and Deaf/Blind communities by producing the new website (www.madisonpride.org) with features that enable communication and enrichment to others. This includes one click translation of most aspects of the website into Spanish and the ability of a JAWS reader to access much of the pride website. Efforts continue to seek American Sign Language (ASL) volunteers. OutReach Awards Banquet Tickets Now On Sale Madison - Tickets for the 14th Annual OutReach Awards Banquet are now available. The banquet will be held July 7 in the Grand Ballroom of Monona Terrace. General Admission tickets are $60 per person or $110 per pair. The event schedule will begin with a reception and cocktails at 6 PM, with the dinner and program following at 7 PM. This year’s scheduled keynote speaker is Ed Thompson, the head of Wisconsin’s Libertarian Party, who recently came out strongly opposing the proposed Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions.. The Awards Banquet is an annual fundraising event held by OutReach, Madison’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community center. Awards given at the event recognize outstanding achievement on behalf of the LGBT communities by individuals and organizations. Tickets for the event may be purchased through a variety of means. Credit Card orders may be placed by calling 608-255-8582. Those wishing to attend may also purchase tickets from over forty table captains or by stopping by the OutReach offices at 600 Williamson Street. No reservations will be accepted after June 30. The OutReach LGBT Community Center has served Madison’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community since 1973, providing counseling, advocacy, education, information, a speaker’s bureau and referral services. It also offers a lending library, free publications, and meeting space. For more information, contact OutReach at 608-255-8582 or email commrel@outreachinc.com. Nominations South For OutReach Awards Madison - OutReach is seeking nominations for its 2006 Annual Awards. The awards will be presented at the 14th Annual OutReach Awards Banquet on Friday night, July 7 at Monona Terrace. Awards will be presented to the Volunteer of the Year (open to an OutReach volunteer only), Ally of the Year, Business/Organization of the Year, Man/Woman of the Year. Nominations will also be taken for Lifetime Achievement Award and Special Recognition Award. For more information go to www.outreachinc.com and click on “Nomination Form,” call 608-255-8582 or email: commrel@outreachinc.com. Nominations will be accepted through May 28. Madison Pride Fundraiser Set Madison - Welcome in summer and “Get Your GLO On” with Madison Pride’s “GLO Party” Join us on Sunday, May 28 at Club 5, 5 Applegate Ct. Admission for the evening is $5 will all proceeds going to Madison Pride 2006. Enjoy the Memorial Day Weekend in your brightest whites and colors under the black lights. Dance to high energy with a Club 5 D.J. Tony Ritschard. Glo sticks will be available everyone has the chance to win some exciting door prizes. For more information go to www.madisonpride.org or email: nikki@madisonpride.org. Generation Q Resumes Meeting Madison - Generation Q: We’re queer and we’ve got questions! Generation Q is a social group for 18-24 year olds, where we have light to medium hearted discussions on all topics queer, from current events to local hot spots to ‘just what do all of those letters in LGBTQ mean!?’ This group aims to be fun while being open and informative, without being intimidating. So, if you’re queer, or questioning, or both, and you want to talk, bring yourself down to OutReach at600 Williamson St. on the first and third Tuesdays of every month at 7 PM. For more information, leave a message for Holly at 608-255-8582 or e-mail her at: thenotalentkid@hotmail.com. “Lost Horizon: The Musical” At Off The Wall Milwaukee - In 1933, James Hilton’s novel of adventure and inspiration “Lost Horizon” took the world by storm. It was an instant best seller, and it became the very first pocket book ever published, selling for twenty-five cents. A few years later it became an award winning Frank Capra film, in a rare instance of a movie actually improving on the original story. It was also brought to the stage and played on Broadway. It has been re-filmed and re-written for the stage several times, and there are those who even insist that the current television hit show “Lost” is actually a version of Lost Horizon. Now Dale Gutzman and Off the Wall Theatre bring a new musical version of this timeless classic to Milwaukee in what promises to be an inspiring and moving theatre experience for the entire family. The story concerns four travelers whose hijacked airplane crash lands in a remote portion if Himalayan mountains. They are rescued and taken to a strange isolated Tibetan monastery called Shangri-la, where mysterious and miraculous things begin to happen. Director/adaptor Dale Gutzman has long been fascinated with Tibet. He made a journey there two years ago, and it so happens that “Lost Horizon” was the very first play in which he acted, way back when he was in high school. These two diverse incidents melted together initiating this attempt to bring Hilton’s story to the stage. The play promotes peace and understanding between different cultures and religions, It has strong anti-war sentiment, and it explores the purpose and value of Art itself. Gutzman and music director Ernest Brusubardis are using songs by Burt Bacharach from the unsuccessful 1973 film version, a film in which the music was praised, but the alterations to the plot and the limp direction were universally condemned. Gutzman has placed the songs in his adaptation of the original book and stage play. The talented cast includes Joe Fransee as Mallinson, the young adventurer and British diplomat, Jill Hollander as Lo-Tsen, the Chinese girl with whom he falls in love, Jeremy Welter as Chang, the somewhat sinister Head Monk of Shangri-la, Sharon Rise as Miss Brinklow, a missionary searching for her own truth, Michael Koscinski as Barnard, an international businessman with a secret past, Heather Reynolds as Helen, the exotic music teacher at Shangri-la, Gutzman as Conway, His Majesty’s Counsel from Baskul, and Larwrence Lukasavage as the High Lama. Kristin Pagenkopf provides her dancing skills to the show as well. The songs in “Lost Horizon” include show stopping production numbers and beautiful ballads, but the music is always secondary to the ideas in this thought provoking theatre work. Off The Wall’s technical wizard David Roper will turn the intimate theatre space into a Buddhist Temple, using many of the decorations Gutzman brought back from his Tibetan journey. In addition the stage will be filled with authentic Tibetan antiques contributed by Artasia. This heart warming musical which is perfect for families, schools and church groups will play at Off The Wall Theatre, 127 E. Wells St. beginning June 1. Performances are scheduled June 1-4, and June 7-11. 1,2,3,4, 7,8,9,10, and 11. Showtimes are at 7:30 PM on Wednesdays and Thursdays., 8 PM on Fridays and Saturdays and 4:30 PM matinees on Sundays. Tickets are $21- $25. There are also student and senior rates for some performances. Reserve tickets by calling 414-327-3552. To learn more about “Lost Horizon” and Off the Wall Theatre, visit the website at: www.offthewalltheatre.com Uncommon Theatre Presents “The Sum Of Us” Milwaukee - The Milwaukee Gay Arts Center’s Uncommon Theatre will present David Steven’s drama “The Sum of Us” for three weekends beginning May 25 through June 10. After a successful run at a smaller venue in St. Frances, director Mark Schuster is bringing the production to MGAC’S Uncommon Theatre in Walker’s Point. “I’m looking forward to the chance to expand the audience and share our work with the gay community,” Schuster said. “We have a quality production with a contemporary message that’s worth seeing.” The story is truly timeless, according to Schuster. “It’s about people like you and me finding their way through life,” Schuster said. “Gay or straight, there is always the concern of being accepted for who you are, and what you believe. I hope anyone who enjoys good storytelling will give us a chance. I think they’ll be pleasantly surprised at what they’ll find.” Performances will be May 25-27, June 1-3,and June 9-10 at 8 PM. Tickets are $20, and may be purchased online at: www.uncommontheatre.net, or by calling 1-800-595-4849. For more information call the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center at 414-383-3727. A Room of One’s Own Sets June Poetry, Book Events Madison - A Room Of One’s Own, the locally owned, independent bookstore has announced a series of quarterly poetry readings. The first in a series will be held on Sunday, June 4 at 2 PM. This series will feature local and traveling poets and will begin with Kristin Alberts and Michael Dean who will read from their collections. For more information about participating in future poetry readings, please contact Sashe Mishur via email at: roomevents@yahoo.com. On Friday, June 9 at 5PM lifelong Madison resident Gwen Evans will read from her new book “Madison: The Guide.” At last, the city has a comprehensive guide to Madison for insiders and visitors alike. Evans has scouted out the best Madison has to offer with plenty of surprises for both residents and travelers, women and girls of all ages. Long a magnet for students and the civic-minded, Madison now draws culture-seekers, sports-goers, food lovers, and recreation enthusiasts to its growing list of must-see destinations and activities. “Madison: The Guide” is the one-and-only complete guide to Madison, Wisconsin. Evans is the author of the Madison Restaurant Guide and regularly contributes restaurant features to Madison’s local dailies and radio. A Room of One’s Own Bookstore is a locally owned independent bookstore proudly serving our community for over 31 years. The book store is located at 307 W. Johnson St. Men’s Voices Milwaukee “Just For Fun” Season Finale Set Milwaukee - Men’s Voices Milwaukee celebrates its fifth season finale on Saturday, June 17 at 8 PM. The concert will be held at the Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts on the UWM campus, 2419 E. Kenwood Boulevard. Themed “Just for Fun,” the concert features a wide variety of show, pop, golden oldies, and a few surprises-all selected because they are just fun to sing and fun for the audience to hear. “Our winter holiday concert had lots of very serious music. Since MVM is committed to doing a wide range of men’s choral music, the chorus decided to do something totally light and fun for spring,” MVM Board President Ray Schaefer said Making that possible is the return out of retirement of the founding artistic director of the chorus, Ken McMonagle. “The chorus is grateful that McMonagle accepted our invitation to return. He is bringing stability to the chorus and getting us back to our vocal and artistic roots,” Schaefer said. About a third of the chorus was with MVM five years ago when McMonagle introduced MVM to the Milwaukee community. “From Cole Porter to Disney, from Broadway to 1960’s television memories, it will indeed be a grand night for singing,” McMonagle said. MVM is also proud to showcase at this performance the first public performance of the newly organized Women’s Voices Milwaukee. WVM is launching its first season with about twenty women. They will be doing several numbers and joining with MVM (and the audience) on the finale of the program. Men’s Voices Milwaukee is a member of GALA, the national association of gay and lesbian choruses. MVM is dedicated to musical excellence by performing a broad range of men’s choral music and is committed to broadening and strengthening the LGBT choral movement in southeastern Wisconsin (and beyond) through performance, education, and outreach activities. Over thirty men are singing in this spring’s group. Principal accompanist for MVM is Joseph Paul Carpenter, well-known keyboard and choral artist in the Milwaukee area. Additional instrumentalists and an artistic interpreter for the hearing impaired will add to the quality of the concert. Tickets are available from any MVM member or from the box office at the Zelazo Center. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door (or $15 at the door with four non-perishable food items donated to the Hunger Task Force). Feature Story: Top of Page Quest Home QNU Home

Shoe Leather And Soul Searching
Characterize Amendment Battle
Fair Wisconsin Canvasses Voters And Names Coordinators In All Counties
Pulpit Battle Engaged As Both Sides Enlist Faith Leaders
Madison - The past two weeks has seen activity in the battle over Wisconsin’s proposed Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions step up, literally one step at a time. Fair Wisconsin named county coordinators in every county in the state. Over 500 volunteers spoke to thousands of likely voters about the amendment. And the battle for the political souls of people of faith heightened as the campaigns for both sides engaged clergy on the issue.
On May 10 Fair Wisconsin announced that volunteer coordinators in each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties have joined the effort to defeat the

constitutional ban on civil unions and marriage for gay families set for a November 7 vote.
“With six months until Election Day, we have assembled a massive grassroots outreach program with lead volunteers on the ground in every single Wisconsin county,” Fair Wisconsin Campaign Manager Mike Tate said. “These volunteers live in every corner of Wisconsin and come from all different walks of life. They are highly motivated and passionate about defeating the ban and keeping discrimination out of our constitution.”
The county coordinators will serve as leaders willing to be contacts for other volunteers in their area. They will also help to provide a local perspective on why more and more voters oppose the civil unions and marriage ban.
For the past several months, Fair Wisconsin Action Networks have been meeting in 26 communities from Sun Prairie to Kenosha to Tomah to Superior to Platteville. The Action Networks talk to voters at community events, on their doorsteps, and in their churches about why the ban is wrong. Fair Wisconsin volunteers have spoken to thousands of voters through door-to-door canvassing in 16 communities this spring.
“Fair Wisconsin has set in motion one of the largest grassroots voter mobilization efforts in Wisconsin history,” said Tate. “Our county coordinators, Action Networks, and over 6,000 active volunteers are out there every day helping voters understand why the ban is wrong for Wisconsin.”
The coordinators include some distinguished Wisconsin political names. Among them are former state legislator and current farm advocate Stan Gruszynski, who is serving as Marinette County Coordinator; former state superintendent of public instruction Bert Grover, who is handling Shawano County; and Eric Dueholm of Luck, WI in Polk County, who is related to former Democratic legislator Harvey Dueholm.
Ten days later, over 500 people who had signed up to participate went door-to-door in every county statewide to take the case against the civil unions and marriage ban directly to likely voters.
“We have 174 days left until voters weigh in on the ban, and we have the massive grassroots operation that it will take to defeat it,” Fair Wisconsin campaign manager Mike Tate said, noting that the “No” side now has over 6000 total volunteers working to defeat the measure.
Madonna Bowman, the Fond du Lac County coordinator, met with 22 other volunteers May 15 to plan their canvass. Bowman got involved because she has a gay daughter. “This issue directly impacts our family, and I think that as people in Fond du Lac understand the broad implications of the ban they will vote no,” Bowman said.
St. Croix County coordinator Mike Day and other volunteers also talked to voters on Saturday in Hudson. Day is a fourth generation Wisconsinite who works across the border as the senior vice president of the Science Museum of Minnesota.
“St Croix is one of the fastest growing and most economically vibrant counties in Wisconsin because of its close proximity to the Twin Cities. The ban puts that vitality at risk,” Day said. “For example, it would jeopardize domestic partner health benefits. If the ban passes, it would make it difficult for us to recruit and retain the best employees.”
Ashland residents also canvassed May 20. “We need to inform the people of Ashland what’s at stake with the ban. That’s what we’ll be doing on Saturday and in the months to come,” Ashland County Coordinator Carl Sack said.
In addition to door-to-door contacts, the debate over Wisconsin’s gay marriage amendment likely will be waged from church pulpits over the coming months. Both opponents and supporters of the measure agree churches have a responsibility to take a stand on the issue and get their flocks out to the polls to vote.
About 200 church leaders from around the state gathered in Madison on May 16 to discuss strategies for winning public approval of the amendment to ban gay marriage. Julaine Appling of the Wisconsin Family Research Institute told the attendees churches will play a key role in defining the future of marriage.
Legally, churches can play an advocacy role in the amendment debate. One of the speakers at FRI “summit” was Attorney Glen Lavy of the Alliance Defense Fund. He’s been an advisor for church groups in several other states where the gay marriage and civil union ban has already passed. He claims as long as churches don’t advocate for a specific candidate in an election, they will not violate rules governing non-profit institutions.
Church leaders who oppose the amendment will also be using their pulpits to urge their congregations to defeat the measure. Madison United Church of Christ Reverend Curt Anderson has already been doing it and says many
more ministers will likely follow suit. Anderson told Wisconsin Public Radio that his sermons will focus on the golden rule. Anderson is one of the leaders of the anti-amendment faith group Christians For Equality in Wisconsin.
Fair Wisconsin also has hired a full-time faith outreach director. Eric Peterson, the new Faith Outreach Director for Fair Wisconsin introduced himself and talked about the faith outreach efforts here at Fair Wisconsin in a May 4 entry of the campaign’s “No On the Amendment” blog.
“I grew up in the northwoods of Wisconsin among the great fishing lakes, the beautiful woods, green fields, and so many Lutheran churches you could walk across the county on the rooftops,” Peterson wrote. “At my church, I attended Sunday School where my teachers and pastors, all of whom are family friends, taught me about a wonderful word – love.”
“This idea of love has pushed me to be an active advocate for the rights all people in my church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA),” Peterson continued. “Last fall I attended the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Orlando and helped move the church towards the full inclusion of gay and lesbian persons in the body of Christ. Moreover, this love that I was taught also pushed me into the world of politics. I believe our government is called, just like our churches, to show love and concern for all the people in our land. I recently finished my term as legislative assistant in the Wisconsin State Assembly trying to enact that idea into Wisconsin’s public policy.”
Fair Wisconsin’s faith outreach website (www.fairwisconsin.com/faith/index.html) list ways that individuals, congregations and regional denominational organizations can go on record in opposition to the ban. Fair Wisconsin’s Tate said currently his campaign’s list of clergy on record opposed to the ban far outnumbers the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin’s. All told congregations and regional fair organizations representing over a half million people of faith are on record opposing the ban.

Feingold Has Shouting Match, Storms Out Of Anti-Gay Marriage Hearing
Washington, D.C. - A Senate committee approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage May 18, after a shouting match that ended when one Democrat strode out and the Republican chairman bid him “good riddance.”
“I don’t need to be lectured by you. You are no more a protector of the Constitution than am I,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter Russ

(R-Pennsylvania) shouted after Senator Russ Feingold (D- Wisconsin)declared his opposition to the amendment, his affinity for the Constitution and his intention to leave the meeting.”If you want to leave, good riddance,” Specter finished.
“I’ve enjoyed your lecture, too, Mr. Chairman,” replied Feingold, who is considering a run for president in 2008. “See ya.”
Amid increasing partisan tension over President Bush’s judicial nominees and domestic wiretapping, the panel voted along party lines to send the constitutional amendment - which would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages - to the full Senate, where it stands little chance of passing.
Democrats pointed out that bringing up the amendment is a purely political move designed to appeal to the GOP’s conservative base in this year of midterm elections. Under the domed ceiling of the ornate and historic President’s Room off the Senate floor, senators voted 10-8 to send the measure forward.
Among Feingold’s objections was Specter’s decision to hold the vote in the President’s Room, where access by the general public is restricted, instead of in the panel’s usual home in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Specter later said he would have been willing to hold the session in the usual room had he thought doing so would change votes.
Not all those who voted “yes” support the amendment, however. Specter said he is “totally opposed” to it, but felt it deserved a debate in the Senate.
As reported earlier this year by Quest, the 2006 version of the bill eliminates language barring civil unions or domestic partnerships: “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.”
The measure requires approval by two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the states, but is unlikely to see such majorities in either the House or the Senate this year. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has scheduled a vote on the proposed amendment the week of June 5.
The issue has ignited a cultural and political debate over what constitutes marriage and the legal rights of gay partners. Wisconsin voters will decide November 7 whether to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage and civil unions. Constitutional amendments in Wisconsin require approval in the Legislature in two consecutive sessions before voters decide in a statewide referendum. Both houses approved the proposal in March 2004 and the Senate did so again in December.
The issue has been on the political radar across the nation for more than two years. On Election Day in 2004, a presidential year, initiatives on gay marriage and civil unions were on the ballot in 11 states, driven in part by opposition to the Massachusetts state Supreme Judicial Court’s recognition of same-sex marriage and Republican calculations that the issue would send conservative voters to the polls. Two states - Louisiana and Missouri - had approved bans earlier in the year.