Domestic Partner Benefits Uncertain As Budget Deliberations Begin
Madison - July 1 marked the beginning of Wisconsin’s fiscal biennium, the day the state supposedly began spending tax dollars based on a mutually-agreed upon budget, passed by both houses of th state legislature, then reviewed and and signed by the governor.
  Not this year. On July 24, the bipartisan conference committee - as of Quest’s deadline - is expected to begin its first serious deliberations in reconciling the two widely differing versions of the budget passed by the Republican-controlled Assembly and the Democrat-controlled Senate earlier this summer. It has been six years since it took this amount of time to reach agreement. However, given the partisan sniping that has taken place since the Assembly passed its version on July 10, it appears likely that 2007 will mark the fifth time in the last forty years that actual passage of a state budget will compete with the falling of the last leaves of autumn in the Badger State.
  The arduous task of finding compromise has been left to a conference committee consisting of Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson, Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser, Senators Russ Decker and Bob Jauch for the Democrats and  Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Representatives Kitty Rhoades and Jeff Fitzgerald for the Republicans. The Fitzgeralds are brothers.
  At stake for the state’s LGBT community: the possibility of domestic partner benefits for University of Wisconsin and other state employees and the inclusion of low-income unmarried singles in the state’s BadgerCare medical assistance program. Both were included in the Senate version of the budget; neither were in the Assembly bill.
  In a July 17 action alert entitled “This Is It,”Fair Wisconsin Executive Director Eva Schiffrin thanked supporters for the “over 10,000 emails (sent) in an attempt to convince every legislator in the capitol of the importance of fairness for our families.” Schiffrin also requested another email reply that would “send a message to all eight members of the Conference Committee urging them to include domestic partner benefits in the final version of the budget.” Fair Wisconsin reportedly hoped to have over 20,000 in Conference Committee members’ hands by the start of the deliberations. Given the subdued general interest in the budget process and the summer season, generation of numbers in that amount would be considered a success for any group regardless of of its political viewpoint.
  The outcome for either the inclusion of domestic partner benefits or BadgerCare expansion is anyone’s guess.   
  Senate Republican election of Scott Fitzgerald as their minority leader and sole seat on the Conference Committee certainly does not bode well for either proposal. In addition to being the lead co-sponsor of the constitutional amendment to ban legal recognition of all unmarried couples, regardless of sexual orientation passed last November, Fitzgerald has a long history of sponsoring anti-gay legislation and complaining about any perceived “promotion of homosexuality” by state-run agencies. Fitzgerald’s most notorious headline grabs were a now decade-old complaint about the cost-free inclusion of the viewer-supported “In The Life” on the Wisconsin Public Television network schedule and the filing of a police report against his own country party chair for openly opposing the senator on one of his anti-gay bills.
  Favoring the inclusion of the domestic partner benefit proposal is the pragmatic reality that the UW system is the only school in the Big Ten without such benefits, causing the school to lose far more in grants obtained by professions in unmarried relationships than inclusion of such a domestic partner benefit package would cost.
  UW Chancellor John Wiley laid out the argument in his remarks following the Assembly passage of a budget that not only failed to include DP benefits but actually cut overall funding for the University system: “We want the university to continue as an economic engine for the state, as well as a key contributor to teaching and research, agriculture, health care and quality of life,” Wiley wrote. “Instead, the Assembly budget dismantles it to satisfy party politics and eliminate personal pet peeves. It micromanages and seeks to dictate, to the letter, which academic programs can continue, which administrative positions can exist, whether students can live on campus and whether students can remodel their student unions using student dollars.”
  “The proposal leaves out domestic partner health benefits, however, which remain equally necessary to our retention efforts,” Wiley continued. “Even where faltering support is offered, this budget effectively pulls the rug out.”
  The polarizing, partisan nature of the domestic partner benefits issue suggests, however, that it may be weeks before the committee tackles that budget provision. The delay may work in the proposal’s favor, some strategists think. Though state GOP rhetoric to date has used the lopsided vote in favor of the so-called marriage amendment as proof the public is on the Republican’s side on this issue, the national eclipse of GOP power over larger issues such as the Iraq war plus the perceived vulnerability of the GOP’s five seat Assembly majority in the 2008 general election might cause Republican legislators to cave at least partially on the benefits’ inclusion in the final budget compromise.

World & National News:

Hypocrites On Parade: GOP Legislators Caught With Their Pants Down
By Mike Fitzpatrick
Washington, D.C. - Family values voters have been shocked to find their concerns have been betrayed yet again by two more members of the Republican Party. Less than a year after the Mark Foley was caught stalking Congressional pages online and off and top evangelical preacher Ted Haggard was revealed as a meth-using, gay-sex loving fraud, one leading voice against same sex marriage has been revealed as a whoremonger while a Southern politico has been caught adding blow jobs his “people’s business” to-do list.
  Louisana GOP Senator David Vitter’s name has been on many lists over the years: as a sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment that would ban same-sex unions, numerous bills opposing abortion, a top opponent to the recently-thwarted compromise immigration bill and most notably as the Southern campaign chair for to GOP Presidential contender Rudy Giuliani. But when his name showed up on a list of clients of one Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the so-called D.C. Madam, accused of running a prostitution ring here, eyebrows skyrocketed in astonishment.
  Days later it was revealed that among the “holier than thou” Senator’s sins were a series of brothel visits in his home state. Social Director of the high priced whorehouse Jeanette Maier, called Vitter “one of the nicest and most honorable men I’ve ever met” as she confessed his peccadillos to a local New Orleans TV station. One of the call girls who serviced Vitter also came forward to share secrets about the Senator’s diaper fetish, and his nickname among her coworkers: “Vitter the Shitter.”
  Vitter’s long history of long-winded protestations of moral purity now sit squarely opposed to the revelations of his seamy personal life. In full contrition mode July 16, the Senator stood behind his wife Wendy Vitter, as she addressed a news conference in Metairie, LA. Wendy Vitter promised in effect to “stand by her man,” saying “David is my best friend. Some people said to me they wouldn’t want to be in my shoes. I stand before you to say I am proud to be Wendy Vitter.” She also confided that she had forgiven him of his sins.
  She may be in the minority. On July 19 Fox News pundit Sean Hannity appeared to be  calling on Vitter to resign. “I think Senator Vitter should probably live by the line that he put out for Bill Clinton back in the Monica Lewinsky scandal,” when Vitter called Clinton morally unfit to govern,” Hannity said.
  An unrepentant Vitter subsequently accused enemies of dredging up the scandal to hurt him, while vowing to return to work in Washington. Vitter gave no hint that he might take Hannity’s counsel and might resign the office he won in 2004.
  Meanwhile in Florida, 48 year-old Republican State Representative Bob Allen, charged in a July 11 incident with offering to perform oral sex for $20 on an undercover male police officer claimed that he planned to defend himself in court and said he would not resign from office. Allen’s day in court will be August 23.
  Allen, also a co-chair of Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s campaign in the Sunshine State, told reporters at a July 12 news conference that “I am not resigning my office because the people elected me and want me to do a good job. I am going to do a good job for them in finishing this term.”
  The Veteran’s Memorial Park in Titusville had been under surveillance when Allen was seen coming in and out of a restroom three times, according to police Lieutenant Todd Hutchinson. Allen then approached an undercover officer and was arrested.
  According to the arrest report undercover officer D. Kavanaugh was drying his hands using paper found in the park toilet’s handicapped stall. “I observed Allen look over the stall and make eye contact with me,” Kavanaugh wrote. After two more eye contact episodes and a brief “hey buddy” verbal exchange “Allen pushed open the door on my stall and closed it behind him and stood against it... Allen engaged me in conversation in which it was agreed that he would pay me $20 in order to perform a ‘blow job’ on me.”
  Allen was charged with solicitation for prostitution, which has a maximum penalty of one year in jail. Brevard County jail officials said Allen posted a $500 bond.

QNU Quickies: Recent Stories Of Note
By Mike Fitzpatrick
Here in no particular order is Quest’s take on stories of gay interest since the last issue. A friendly reminder that breaking news is updated daily on the QNU: Quest News Update site online. Visit us at: www.quest-online.com.
Gays Want Robo-Toilet Mayor To Quit: Gay and lesbian residents in Fort Lauderdale want Mayor Jim Naugle to resign because of his handling of his proposal to install automated public toilets that he claims would “deter homosexual activities.” “Flush Naugle” campaign spokesgay Wayman Hudson and other members of his group said the mayor’s recently published comments about the gay community are an example of his homophobia and bigotry. Naugle also went ballistic when he learned the Stonewall gay and lesbian book archive was to be housed on city property. Hope he doesn’t crap his pants over the library like neighboring GOP puritan David Vitter, or get caught in one of his robo-toilet doors opening with fellow Floridian Bob Allen.
Guerrilla Gay Bar Socializing Activists: A Los Angeles-based  group calling itself Guerrilla Gay Bar recently took over Venice Beach one recent Saturday.  The gay male group looks to crash straight hangouts with the intent of turning them predominantly gay for a moment in time using the “flash mob” internet and cell phone networking scenario publicized in recent years. The group typically takes over trendy straight watering holes in an effort desensitize both gays and straights of their fears of mingling with the other. It certainly brings a whole new meaning to cocktail hour.
McCain Blames Fast Fading Campaign On - Gay Sweaters: He’s backed Bush and the Iraq War. He supported the recent compromise immigration bill hated by the GOP’s neocon base. He can’t raise the flag, not to mention big campaign bucks and his staffers are quitting faster than a drag queen can lip-synch “Rapper’s Delight.” But why is his campaign really imploding? Poor fashion choices. McCain reportedly has screamed at staffers asking him to don the “perceived homosexual outerwear” in order to look younger and more approachable. A little more straight talk and a little less straight panic please. John.
Casper Says “No” To Westboro Wacko’s Monument Plan: The Casper, Wyoming city fathers have told uber-bigot preacher Fred Phelps he cannot erect a monument advising citizens that Matthew Shepard is eternally burning in Hell for his homosexual sins because the “tribute” would be a representation to the 77-year old Westboro Baptist Church leader’s personal beliefs and unfit for the town’s new monument plaza. Fred’s response: “The end is coming, and it will be cataclysmic. I don’t expect to save Casper.” Well, at 77 your end is coming, Fred. And the world will share a collective sigh of relief.
HIV+ G.I’s Bareback Leads To Assault Charges: Pfc. Johnny Lamar Dalton, an HIV+  Raliegh, N.C. soldier has been charged  with assault with a deadly weapon after he had unprotected sex with a partner he didn’t tell about the infection. Dalton’s 18 year-old civilian male partner subsequently became ill and tested positive for the virus. Dalton will not be discharged from the service because he followed the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy with his military superiors to the letter. Lost in the story is the unspoken lesson to all gay young men: Playing “don’t ask, don’t tell” in your sex life can be deadly.

State News:

Outwords: Fifteen Years Of Playing ‘Buy The Book’
Interview by Mike Fitzpatrick
Milwaukee - Co-owner Carl Szatmary will be the first to admit that his Outwords Books, Gifts & Coffee is a rare species in the United States: an independently-owned bookstore focusing on LGBT titles of books, magazines, cards and video. “There are increasingly dwindling numbers - oxymoronically speaking - of gay and lesbian bookstores in the country,” Szatmary told Quest in a recent interview. “We’re a dying breed.”
  However Szatmary and his “silent partner” Barb Diaz have several things working in their favor as the bookstore and coffee bar enters its fifteenth year of operation. “The store opened on July 9, 1993,” Szatmary noted. “We’re (in our fifteenth year) by about two weeks with fifty more to go.”
  Customer support, a website, book groups and a customer rewards program keep Outwords afloat in a retail river dominated by the likes of Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. “We’re obviously dependent on our local customer base,” Szatmary said. “We do have a web presence at www.outwordsbooks.com, but we’re really dependent on people in the community who value a community business, who appreciate our array of products, (and) who enjoy the customer service that a small, local bookstore can provide.”
  “We also offer ourselves as a community meeting place (and) information point,” he added. “People who are not ‘bar people’ will come in to pick up the free publications such as Quest and Outbound, and also to see what flyers are up for community events.” Szatmary went on to list in detail the more than a dozen different free community publications that Outwords carries.
  “We also have our Outwords GayCard, which is our cleverly titled rewards program,” Szatmary continued. “(The card) offers discounts on purchases. You also get special sales throughout the year, get our newsletter sent, etc. The people who sign up for the GayCard want to support the store and they’re regular customers. And we certainly can use more of those!”
  “We do have two regular monthly reading groups that have attracted increasing numbers of folks,” Szatmary went on. “It ends up being a very social way of enjoying reading, enjoying books - knowing that you’ll have someone to discuss it with. 
  Reading material is the “bread and butter” of Outwords business. “Our core customer base are coming in looking for books,” Szatmary said. “We’re sort of an anomaly in an increasingly specialized world. We are and LGBT store. Many of the gay book stores focus gay men’s titles, while women’s-slash-feminist bookstores have taken care of the lesbian business. But (Outwords) does a much better job with supplying new lesbian titles. We also carry women’s music - women’s CDs, DVDs - plus magazines, greeting cards.  We also carry transgender titles.”
  Szatmary pointed out that merchandise lines Outwords carries “has expanded greatly since we opened.” “In 1993 we had books, magazines and a few cards,” he said. “And now we have music CDS, DVD’s - we have lots of magazines, lots of cards, books of course, candles, rainbow pride items, stickers etc.”
  DVDs especially have become a large part of Outwords sales. “We’re now in a ‘buy DVD’ mode, and that’s the general population - not just the gay population,” Szatmary said. “If we don’t get to see the movie when its at the film festival, we know its going to be on DVD. Gay DVDs are certainly a major draw for most of our customers.”
  However, mainstream gay-themed hits don’t always translate into big sales for Outwords. “Last year ‘Brokeback Mountain’ wasn’t a hit for us,” Szatmary noted. “Major retailers were selling it at below what was my wholesale price. We had to carry it of course, but we sell many more copies of films like ‘Eating Out: Sloppy Seconds’ or ‘Not Another Gay Comedy’ than we do of the gay hits released by major studios.”
  For those outside of the Milwaukee area, much of the store’s inventory is also available on the Outwords website. “We try to put on our website a variety of what we sell so that people get a good idea of what’s new in terms of books, in terms of movies,” Szatmary noted. “But it is limited somewhat. Right now our website only accepts PayPal, though that is an increasingly universal payment system (on the web).”
  Credit card purchases can be conducted over the phone for any item advertised on the website. “Phone orders are definitely the easiest way to order from us,” Szatmary said. “Customer service through a phone order offers better care than anything available online generally.”
  Outwords does not maintain a toll-free order number because of changes in phone usage patterns. “Nowadays with cell phones, toll-free numbers have become increasingly useless,” Szatmary said.
  Many younger members of the LGBT community may not be aware that Outwords did not begin life with that moniker. “It was originally called Afterwords Book Store & Expresso Bar,” Szatmary said. “When we went online with www.afterwords.com, (D.C.-based Kramer Books, trademark holder of the ‘& Afterwords’ name) sent their legal force after us. They previously had been involved with Monica Lewinsky’s defense. I didn’t think our humble little store would be able to compete with that sort of legal team.”
  The name change took place in 2001. “Changing the name of a business is always a precarious thing,” Szatmary admitted. “You have a name recognition and people who look for you - we’d been in business for a number of years. So you do have to spend money, time and resources to educate your customers to look for the new name.”
  Outwords has maintained its east side location for it’s entire history, electing originally  not to locate what now is known as the Historic Third Ward, the site of many current gay-friendly venues. “A major concern in 1993 was still safety,” Szatmary pointed out. “We’re were never going to have a large staff. There was no Walker’s Point sort of retail-residential community. The Third Ward was hardly as developed... there were the gay bars and a lot of warehouses.”
  Customer loyalty brings people to Outwords, but the gay community’s overall move into mainstream society may be the greatest challenge facing Outwords’ future. “People the community don’t necessarily feel as they did certainly 20 year ago, or ten years ago, that it is important to support local business,” Szatmary said. “I just  remember M & M’s closing about a year and a half ago. People were saying, ‘Oh it’s so sad, its so tragic.’ I’d say ‘Oh, you’re a regular there?’ and they’d reply ‘Oh, we used to go there quite a bit.’ Well- hello - listen to what you’re saying. People are always upset when they know its going (out of business), but don’t always think  it’s worth supporting and making the effort to support (while its open).”
  And Outwords is appreciative of that core loyalty. “Everyone at Outwords certainly appreciates all the great customers we have and look forward to being around for the future - another fifteen years.”
  Outwords Books, Gifts & Coffee is located near the University of Milwaukee on 2710 N Murray Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53211. Outwords is open daily from 11 AM - 9 PM, except Sundays 11 AM - 6 PM. For more information or to make a phone order, call 414-963-9089. Many items available at the store can be viewed online at: www.outwordsbooks.com.