Gay Pioneer Eldon Murray Passes Into History
Memorial Services For Veteran LGBT Civil Rights Leader Set For March 31
By Bill Meunier
Milwaukee - Eldon Murray passed away on Monday, March 5, four days after he turned 77, and following a brief illness. Murray had suffered a major heart attack in early February and had been hospitalized at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center until his passing. Murray had been pro-active in all post-coronary treatment decisions. He elected to discontinue aggressive treatment, including kidney dialysis, on March 4, and continued to receive palliative care until his death around 3 AM the next morning.
  Memorial services for Murray will be held Saturday, March 31 at 1:30 PM at the Washington Park Senior Center, 4420 W. Vliet Street in Milwaukee.
 Murray has left an enduring legacy that affects us all. Every movement needs innovators, people with the courage and determination to be a driving force.  Eldon Murray filled that role. He founded or helped to establish LGBT services and projects that were either the first of their kind or that existed in only a few other places.  He did so at a time where only a small minority of the LGBT community was open and out.
  Eldon’s influence extended well beyond Milwaukee, and Wisconsin. He was one of only 31 LGBT activists inducted in 1998 into the National Gay and Lesbian Hall fame as a “pioneer of the movement” by the One Institute and International Gay and Lesbian Archives.  It was a well deserved honor.
  He began his journey in the 1950’s with the Korean War.  While many others received deferments due to their sexual orientation, Eldon willingly went into combat.  He said that he felt an obligation to defend what rights gays did have and the potential to achieve more.
  Upon his return, Eldon rejected the “homophile” groups like Mattachine society where people used secret names to hide their identity.  In 1968, a year before the Stonewall riots, Eldon joined with Aryln Hess and others to co-found Wisconsin’s first LGBT organization, GPU, the Gay People’s Union.
  He was one of the few people, anywhere to publicly advocate for LGBT rights.  He often said that as a stockbroker, he was one of the few people who could be public without risking his livelihood. “My clients don’t care if I’m gay,”  he would say, “just as long as I make them money!”
  Eldon did more than speak up.  For the next four decades he created opportunities to meet community needs often coming up with projects and services that were the first of their kind anywhere in the country.
  He founded the first LGBT community center in the country, the GPU Center and the first LGBT hotline.  
  Recognizing that gay men would not seek testing and treatment for sexually-transmitted diseases in places where they would have to be open about their sexuality and their partners, Eldon was the driving force behind the GPU Men’s Health Clinic, the first gay health clinic anywhere.    
  In the 1970’s “homosexuals” were not seen or even mentioned on the airwaves.  To help remedy that situation, Eldon helped to establish what was the second gay radio show in existence.  The half-hour program first aired in February, 1971 and on subsequent Sunday evenings on a commercial radio Milwaukee WZMF. Murray’s GPU collaborated with the mainstream media on at least other two occasions, working with the Milwaukee Journal in February 1972 on its six-part series, “The Gay Revolution,” and with WTMJ-TV in September 1973 on a five-part series titled “Some Call Them Gay.”
  Today there are scores of LGBT newspapers, websites and slick magazines.   But in the 1970’s only two LGBT newspapers had a national circulation, The Advocate and GPU News, founded in October 1971 and published for the next decade by Eldon Murray.
  Providing encouragement, information and lively discussions on issues facing the LGBT community Eldon’s magazine was a lifeline for thousands of gay, lesbian and transgendered people, throughout America. 
  When the AIDS crisis hit hard in the 1980’s, Eldon was there again.  He assisted with the effort to raise the initial funds for the Milwaukee AIDS Project, MAP.  Now called ARCW, the organization was an essential component in Milwaukee’s response to AIDS.  
  While all of these things would represent a lifetime of accomplishment for most of us, Eldon Murray was not done.  In 1994 he founded the Milwaukee chapter of Senior Action in a Gay Environment, SAGE. 
  Eldon became an ardent advocate for LGBT seniors many of whom were alone, isolated and still closeted.  His work earned him yet another honor when he was inducted into the Milwaukee Senior Hall of Fame.  Eldon was the first openly LGBT individual ever accorded such an honor anywhere.
  His work on behalf of SAGE resulted in one of the first government grants ever to be awarded to an LGBT Senior group.  His work also garnered a major private foundation grant to give SAGE its own staff and office.
  At the time of his hall of fame honor, Murray summarized the progress Milwaukee had made over the three decades since he helped begin the fight for full equality. "We’ve come a long way in Milwaukee since I became active here in 1969," he told Wisconsin InStep reporter Jamakaya. "We have good rapport with our elected officials who work with us. We now have a domestic partners registry. We have a police department that actually recruits gay and lesbian people for the police force. We have a strong PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) group. Our PrideFest is now on the Summerfest grounds. We’ve got a very strong AIDS project. There are a lot of things that Milwaukee can be very proud of."
  Murray was also profiled in the 2000 National Gay And Lesbian Task Force policy paper Outing Age: Public Policy Issues Affecting Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual And Transgender Elders. The NGLTF profile noted that “Murray was also the first openly gay person to be appointed to the advisory board of the Milwaukee Commission on Aging. In 1999 he arranged to bring the ‘Elders’ exhibit from New York to Milwaukee for Older Americans Month. It was displayed at the LGBT Community Center, the Department on Aging and the Washington Park Senior Center, where it raised consciousness about older LGBT people.”
  A fairly well-publicized rift between Eldon and the SAGE/Milwaukee Board of Directors in December of 2003 caused Murray to move away from the organization. At that time Eldon had said that he would never give anything to SAGE again, according to current SAGE Executive Director Bill Serpe.
  However, Serpe told Quest that Murray was always willing to meet with him after Serpe became the Executive Director in 2004 to talk about his vision and dreams for the organization. “There were many times when I had questions that only he could answer and he was always there for me and would share the information that I needed to keep SAGE/Milwaukee moving in the direction that it needed to go,” Serpe said.
  “We all know that Eldon worked diligently on anything that he got involved with,” Serpe continued. “For SAGE that meant a lot more than most people could ever imagine. He secured a grant with the Department on Aging to hire a part-time Social worker which is one of a very few government grants in the entire country that goes to an LGBT organization.  That yearly grant to SAGE is now in its 6th year of providing psychotherapy services to LGBT elderly.”
  Serpe told Quest how hard Murray worked to establish his position. “He (Eldon) also worked with the Helen Bader Foundation Inc. to establish the need for SAGE to hire a full time Executive Director. When all was said and done the Foundation gave SAGE a three year grant for nearly $150,000. This is an unheard of amount for a small, relatively new nonprofit,” Serpe said. “But Eldon kept pursuing the Foundation and convinced them that this would be in the best interests of the entire community. Last year the Helen Bader Foundation Inc. gave SAGE another fifty thousand dollars over two more years.”
  “More than anyone, I know how hard Eldon must have worked,” Serpe added. “I am regularly at meetings at the Department on Aging or at the Helen Bader Foundation where I realize that it is because of Eldon’s vision and perseverance that I am there and that the senior Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community has a voice in the mainstream community.  And I think of him regularly when I am at those meetings and functions and thank him for having the courage to do what needed to be done.”
  Beyond the list of projects and services Eldon had a public hand in, there are dozens of other aspects of gay life he played a private role in.  He provided advice, counsel and moral support to numerous gay and lesbian leaders in Milwaukee and elsewhere influencing myriad organizations, causes and projects. 
  That influence will extend beyond Eldon’s life.  Earlier this year, he consigned his estate to the Eldon Murray Foundation.  The foundation, which will be managed by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, will provide grants to LGBT causes and projects.  A self-perpetuating Board of four individuals appointed by Eldon will distribute the grants.
  Murray was born in Vincennes, Indiana in 1930, and is survived by a brother and by nephews and nieces, but not by a life partner.  He was too busy working on our behalf to enjoy the benefits he sought for the rest of us.  But in a very real sense, the LGBT community is his partner.  It survives Eldon Murray stronger, more vital and richer than it otherwise would have been.
  Murray’s death was the third of a major Milwaukee gay activist in just over a month. Tom Boll, another Milwaukee AIDS Project co-founder, died January 27 at 59, followed four days later by 66-year-old Wisconsin Light co-founder and editor Terry Boughner
  Memorials to Eldon’s rich life should be sent to the Eldon Murray Foundation c/o the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, 1020 N. Broadway, Milwaukee, WI 53202.
  Quest news editor Mike Fitzpatrick also contributed to this article.

Clinton, Obama Skirt Queries On Gays In The Military
Leading Democrat Presidential Hopefuls Later “Clarify” Their Remarks
Washington, DC - If gay and lesbian American were looking for a champion to dispute Joint Chiefs Of Staff chairman General Peter Pace’s claim that homosexuality is immoral, they might have expected Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama to leap forward.
  Well, not quite - at least not immediately. While both Clinton and Obama have been courting gay and lesbian voters, and would allow them to serve openly in the military, the Democratic Party’s front-runners for the 2008 Presidential nomination were curiously reticent about challenging the statements of the nation’s top military leader in the first days on the critical firestorm ignited by Pace’s remarks.
  The highest-profile figure to say homosexuality is not immoral in the first news cycle following Pace’s moral judgement? It was former Navy secretary, gay icon Liz Taylor ex-spouse and current Republican senator from Virginia John Warner, who told reporters March 13, “I respectfully but strongly disagree with the chairman’s view that homosexuality is immoral.”
  A day later, the Long-Island based newspaper Newsday repeatedly asked Obama if same-sex relationships were immoral. “I think traditionally the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman has restricted his public comments to military matters,” was Obama’s initial response. “That’s probably a good tradition to follow.”
  Obama then steered the conversation to opposition to the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy: “I think the question here is whether somebody is willing to sacrifice for their country.” Later, an Obama spokesman said the senator, in fact, disagrees with Pace.
  That sequence was remarkably similar to Clinton’s responses March 13. When an ABC reporter asked her about the issue, she replied, “Well, I am going to leave that to others to conclude.” Later, a Clinton spokesman said the senator, in fact, also disagrees with Pace.
  Clinton’s initial non-reaction followed just over a week after her comments at a board meeting of the Human Rights Campaign. During her presentation, later touted in detail by the HRC press corps, Hillary strongly opposed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and supported giving gay couples the rights to marry and share health benefits.
  What caused the protacted disapproval? Clinton and Obama supporters, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Newsday that might have been trying to avoid offending socially conservative Democrats, particularly churchgoing older whites and African-Americans, who share Pace’s views - the same type of Wisconsin Democrats who played a key role in 19-point margin of victory in the recent passage of the state’s constitutional gay marriage and civil union ban.
  Steve Sanders, a gay Democrat who sat on the party’s platform committee in 2000, believes Clinton and Obama are engaged in a delicate balancing act: “Hillary and Barack have made very public overtures to religious Americans. They are trying to figure out how progressive Democrats can also make appeals to Americans of faith. It’s a work in progress.”
  Republican presidential hopefuls have had mixed reactions to Pace’s remarks. Prior to the general’s comments former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani had said he want gays to serve openly in the military, while Arizona GOP
Senator John McCain has supported “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Both have remained silent in the post-Pace hubbub.
  However, GOP candidate and Nebraska Senator Sam Brownback rushed to back Pace’s remarks. The Kansas senator sent a letter on March 15 to President Bush supporting the general.
  On March 16 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney - who in past campaigns has argued he would be a better advocate to the gay community than Senator Ted Kennedy -said that he would not ask the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to apologize for calling homosexuality “immoral,’’ saying that “people are entitled to believe what they want to believe.’’
  “I think he’s already expressed his regret for what he said, and I’m not calling on any further action by him,’’ the former Massachusetts governor said of Gen. Peter Pace’s remarks. “I think people are entitled to believe what they want to believe, but what they say in their official and secular roles should be an expression of tolerance and respect for people regardless of our differences.’’
  Also on March 16 a group of seven high- ranking military veterans “came out” in response to Pace’s comments. The officers, who are all lesbian or gay, called on Congress to repeal the law, and demanded that General Pace apologize for his remarks.
Colonel Stewart Bornhoft, USA (Ret.); Captain Joan E. Darrah, USN (Ret.); Captain Robert D. Dockendorff, USNR (Ret.); Chaplain (Colonel) Paul W. Dodd, USA (Ret.); Captain Sandra Geiselman, USNR (Ret.); Colonel E. A. Leonard, USA (Ret.); and Captain Robert Michael Rankin, USN (Ret.) issued their statement, saying:
  “Our community has a long history of serving our country in the armed forces. Today, there are more than 65,000 lesbian and gay troops on duty. Another one million gay and lesbian veterans, including the seven of us, have served in our fighting forces. General Pace’s remarks dishonor that service, as does the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law. General Pace must offer an immediate and unqualified apology for his remarks and Congress must take action to repeal the ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans who want to serve our country.”
  The highly-decorated officers each served more than 20 years, and several considerably longer.
  The controversy and the political dances surrounding it all began with an interview published in the Chicago Tribune March 12, in which Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace said that he thinks “homosexual acts are immoral.”
  “My upbringing is such that I believe there are certain things, certain types of conduct, that are immoral. ... I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts,” he said.
  Pace made the comments in his support of the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on gay men and women serving in the military, comparing homosexual status to a member of the armed forces conducting an adulterous affair with the spouse of another service member.  Pace was responding to a question about a Clinton-era policy that is coming under renewed scrutiny amid fears of future U.S. troop shortages, Pace said the Pentagon should not “condone” immoral behavior by allowing gay soldiers to serve openly.

World & National News:

Conservative Confab Collects Coulter Controversy And Carnal Corporal
By Mike Fitzpatrick
Washington, DC - The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) historically has served as both a right-wing watering hole for presidential hopefuls and a generator of  news story fodder for over three decades.  However this year’s 34th annual CPAC confab held in early March had two decidedly gay twists: a red-hot renewal of controversy over the new “F-Word” and right wing academic star with a gay porno past.
  To begin with, top-selling right-wing author and columnist Ann Coulter called former North Carolina Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards a “faggot.” Coulter was a featured speaker at the CPAC confab.  
  Following her prepared remarks, televised on C-Span, Coulter was asked to talk about Edwards: “It turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot,’ so I’m kind of at an impasse - I can’t really talk about Edwards,” she said. The “rehab” remark may have been a reference to Grey’s Anatomy star Isaiah Washington’s decision to go into such a program during a public relations firestorm after he also called one of his co-stars a faggot.
  Later, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called on Republican presidential candidates, especially those who attended the conference, to denounce Coulter’s remark.
  Though Coulter had previously suggested that other prominent Democrats are gay - including former Vice President Al Gore, former President Bill Clinton and Senator. Hillary Clinton, none of it had been captured live in a  broadcast available worldwide. The response set off a firestorm that has netted Coulter the loss of seven newspapers to date, not to mention the generation of millions of words in newspaper ink and computer pixels from pundits and bloggers on the political left and right nationwide alternately condemning or supporting Coulter and each other.
  More fascinating, was Coulter’s help in honoring a conservative student for his “courage under fire.” Within days it was revealed that the champion of right-wing academic freedom also had set a number of other,  more carnal fires: as a gay porn actor best known for displaying his eleven inches of “talent” in such straight-to-video classics such as Donkey Dick, Jawbreaker and Glory Hole of Fame 3.
  Marine Cpl. Matt Sanchez, 36, received the Jeanne Kirpatrick Academic Freedom Award from Coulter for speaking out against the anti-Iraq war atmosphere at New York’s Columbia University, where he is a junior. Sanchez’ actions also had led to appearances on the Fox News pundit programs “The O’Reilly Factor” and “Hannity and Colmes.”
  After he was recognized in a photograph with Coulter at the convention, Sanchez admitted March 8 to having appeared in gay porn. “I won’t deny … that I acted in several adult movies 15 years ago under names like Pierre LaBranche and Rod Majors,” Sanchez wrote on his blog.
  The sexy news was met with the predictable mixed reactions. Some conservatives expressed support for Sanchez, a self-proclaimed right-winger, despite his past. However, liberal pundits like The Nation’s Max Blumenthal blasted him. “It doesn’t matter, inherently, that he was a gay porn star,” Blumenthal told MSNBC. “What matters is that he’s a hypocrite who’s advancing the ideological homophobia of the right and helping them exploit this homophobia for political gain.”
  Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, disagreed. “I don’t see any hypocrisy in Matt Sanchez’s actions,” Foreman told the Advocate. “As is his right, he spoke out against what he believed was bad treatment by Columbia’s ‘radical anti-military students.’ “
  Of Coulter’s F-Word, Sanchez, said he wouldn’t have used it in public. “I don’t agree with what she [Coulter] said, but anyone in the military would defend her right to say it,” he wrote.
  On March 13, however, a letter appointing an investigating officer to look into the admitted prostitution and gay porn past of a Marine in the Individual Ready Reserve was sitting on the desk of Mobilization Command’s deputy commander awaiting his signature, according to a Marine spokesman.
  Col. Stephen Brown’s signature would launch a formal command investigation into admissions that Sanchez worked as a male prostitute and appeared in numerous gay porn films before joining the Corps in 2003, said command spokesman Shane Darbonne.
  Sanchez, 36, it turned out, falls under the authority of Marine Corps Mobilization Command in Kansas City, MO, where the commanding general’s staff judge advocate, Lt. Col. Michael Blessing, began an informal inquiry last week to determine if the command should launch an investigation, Darbonne said.
  Quest will continue to follow this story as it develops.

“Is Your Baby Gay?” Article Proves Controversial
Louisville - The president of the leading Southern Baptist seminary in the United States has incurred sharp attacks from both the left and right by suggesting that a biological basis for homosexuality may be proven, and that prenatal treatment to reverse gay orientation would be biblically justified.
  The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr. acknowledged that he irked many fellow conservatives with an article this month saying scientific research “points to some level of biological causation’’ for homosexuality.
  The article, published March 2 on Mohler’s personal website, carried a long but intriguing title: “Is Your Baby Gay? What If You Could Know? What If You Could Do Something About It?’’ Proof of a biological basis would challenge the belief of many conservative Christians that homosexuality - which they view as sinful - is a matter of choice that can be overcome.
  However, Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky was assailed even more harshly by gay-rights supporters upset by his assertion that homosexuality would remain a sin even if it were biologically based, and by his support for possible medical treatment that could switch an unborn gay baby’s sexual orientation to heterosexual.
  “He’s willing to play God,’’ Human Rights Campaign spokesman Harry Knox said.  Knox is a spokesperson on religious issues for the HRC. “He’s more than willing to let homophobia take over and be the determinant of how he responds to this issue, in spite of everything else he believes about not tinkering with the unborn.’’

State News:

Eight Souforce Equality Riders Arrested At Wisconsin Lutheran College
Milwaukee - Eight gay activists involved with a local demonstration by the national Soulforce Equality Ride may face charges for trespassing at Wisconsin Lutheran College here March 13. The protesters had gone on campus after administrators had told them to stay away a day earlier.
  A campus security guard initially warned the activists to stay off the private college’s property. Six Soulforce protesters and two local activists were taken away in handcuffs by Milwaukee police for trying to set up outreach tables there.
  “Wisconsin Lutheran College has made it clear that gay people and their allies, transgender, bisexual, lesbian people, are not welcome on this campus,” Soulforce staff member Haven Herrin told WTMJ-TV reporter Tom Murray..
  Wisconsin Lutheran College administrators turned down their requests to speak on campus on March 12. That day Soulforce members stood in silent, non-violent protest on a sidewalk near the college’s main entrance, some sang Christian hymns.
 Rev. Ron Muetzel, Wisconsin Lutheran College vice president of institutional advancement and church relations, told local pastors in a letter, “We have agreed among ourselves to let them wander the outdoor areas of the campus but we will not let them enter the buildings.”
  The protesters spent about three hours locked up at the Milwaukee Police Department’s District 3 headquarters before they were allowed to post bail. Allison Eby, one of eight arrested protesters believed that the arrest helped Soulforce make its point.
  According to Wisconsin Lutheran’s Vice President for Public Affairs Edie Boatman, the college does not permit “actively gay” students to attend the school. She also said the college denied Soulforce requests to come on campus because the group’s presence “would disrupt the school day.”
    For the second year in a row, Soulforce Equality Riders have travelled around the country to Christian campuses by bus to promote gay and lesbian acceptance. Prior to the arrests at Wisconsin Lutheran College, Equality Riders were harassed and their bus was defaced with spray-painted gay slurs at another Christian school, Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa. Three carloads of students reportedly circled the motel where the riders were staying in the early hours of March 7. Dordt College officials later publicly apologized for the anti-gay conduct of its student body.

Fair Wisconsin Gets Into The Wisconsin Supreme Court Race
By Mike Fitzpatrick
Madison - With just weeks to go, the race for open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court has become a contest between liberal and conservative forces statewide, despite protestations by both candidates. It also marks Fair Wisconsin’s first educational effort since the defeat of its position in the recent referendum that placed a ban on gay civil unions and marriages into the state’s Constitution.
   Like almost all Supreme Court candidates before them, both State Supreme Court candidate Linda Clifford and opponent Annette Ziegler have argued that politics and ideology have no place in the race or on the bench. However, recent events suggest how groups left and right are lining up to influence the outcome of the April 3 election.
  The conservative-leaning business group Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce is already running what some believe will end up being a $2 million ad campaign supporting Ziegler.  In response, the Washington, D.C.-based Democratic Judicial Campaign Committee has asked Democrats across the country to contribute to Clifford’s campaign for the high court.
  The race is seen as pivotal according to political strategists on both sides. The current court is seen as a split between liberals and conservatives, with retiring Justice Jon Wilcox strongly leaning to the right. Some contend that if Clifford were to win, the court would have a liberal edge.
  Fair Wisconsin recently mailed both candidates surveys asking questions about a variety of issues of concern to the LGBT community. Clifford, who had been openly supportive of the group during the amendment campaign last Fall, was the only one to respond to the questionnaire.
  In a March 14 advisory to its 40,000+  still active supporters, Fair Wisconsin interim Executive Director Josh Freker warned: “Don’t let this election fall under the radar. The Supreme Court is arguably the most important institution in the state when it comes to questions of safeguarding civil rights and liberties. It is likely that the Supreme Court will ultimately decide whether the constitutional amendment will impact domestic partner benefits and other existing legal protections. Observers of the Supreme Court believe this particular election could tip the balance to a more pro-fairness Court.”
  Freker then asked supporters to review Clifford’s survey responses on the organization’s newly-revamped website.
  Freker also told Capital Times reporter Judith Davidoff Freker that Fair Wisconsin has already been active on college campuses around the state, talking to students about the Supreme Court race. “Fair Wisconsin has a direct interest in the race given that Supreme Court justices, who serve 10-year terms and are almost always easily re-elected, will likely weigh in on the implications of the state’s new gay marriage ban,” he said. “We believe the court will decide the scope of the amendment.”
  Fair Wisconsin has not formally endorsed Clifford, but its newly formed political action committee will likely pay for college campus organizers to get out the vote for the candidate.
  The newly-renamed Wisconsin Family Council (see story below) also has taken an interest in the Supreme Court Race, putting together a four page “Wisconsin Supreme Court Election Fact Sheet” that selectively culls information about both candidates. The document is available on the group’s website, along with a number of links to other conservative assessments of the April 3 race.

Elections Board Dismisses Complaints Against Diocese, Church
By Mike Fitzpatrick
Madison - The Wisconsin State Elections Board has dismissed two complaints against religious organizations allegedly involved in illegal campaigning during the recent battle to approve the state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages and civil unions.
  On March 14 the board unanimously dismissed the complaint filed by Michael W. Rewey of Madison, who said fliers inserted into the October 26, 2006, issue of the official diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Herald, violated a state law that requires organizations that spend more than $25 on political activities to register with the Elections Board.
  Diocesan lawyer Donald Heaney said records show that Rewey is a parishioner at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Madison and has subscribed to the newspaper since 1988.
  Heaney noted that state law specifically allows organizations to communicate with its “members, shareholders or subscribers” on political issues that include endorsements and referendums without having to register with state officials.
  The same day the board also dismissed a complaint against the Monona Oaks Community Church, located in a suburban Madison, that passed out 1,500 fliers that also urged a “yes” vote on the constitutional ban on gay civil unions and marriages on November 7. Any violation of the law requiring organizations spending more than $25 on political activities to register involved only a few dollars, board members found.
  Voters approved the amendment, which contains language to appears to prohibit any formal legal recognition of relationships between unmarried couples regardless of sexual orientation, by a 59-41% margin last November.

State’s Top Anti-Gay Group Switches Moniker
By Mike Fitzpatrick
Madison - Fair Wisconsin no longer the only advocacy group to pull a name switcheroo following the recent passage of the constitutional amendment to ban civil unions and marriage for same sex couples. The  Family Research Institute of Wisconsin announced March 15 that its not-for-profit arm has changed its name to Wisconsin Family Council, Inc.
  “Although we’ve changed our name, our mission remains the same,” WFC CEO Julaine Appling wrote in her press release. “We have changed our name to better reflect who we are and what we do, as well as to better identify our national association as a state family policy council.”
  The former FRI-WI’s moniker swap reflects the recent financial support given to the “Yes” side of the amendment battle by James Dobson’s Focus On The Family (FOTF). Wisconsin State Elections Board records show the political arm of the FOTF was the largest out-of-state contributor to the side supporting the amendment. FOTF’s cash input arrived the day after the final campaign financial reporting deadline, timing that effectively hid the Colorado-based group’s involvement in the Wisconsin election until after the November vote.
  FOTF’s contribution mimicked similar support to the “Yes” side by another group. The largest single donation to either side in the amendment campaign came to ban supporters from the Coalition for America’s Families, a Middleton-based  group run by former state Republican party chairman Steve King. CFAF also delivered its contribution - the largest  ever in a state referendum - to “Vote Yes” immediately prior to the November 7 ballot, in a possible move to obscure the partisan motives that had been behind the marriage ballot since its inception.
  The WFC name swap also moves the former FRI-WI away from a sound-alike name with another “national associate,” the Washington DC-based Family Research Council, a group perceived by some political strategists  as having less influence in social conservative circles in recent election cycles. The name switch would also seem to eliminate what some have found disingenuous in the former FRI-WI’s appellation: the term “research.” No records appear to exist for any peer-reviewed, academic research actually conducted by FRI-WI.
  WFC also touted its “national association” with another Dobson-created group, the Alliance Defense Fund, best known in Wisconsin as the group hired by the then GOP-dominated state legislature to insert themselves into the ACLU of Wisconsin lawsuit by lesbian state employees seeking equal benefit rights for their life partners. State law prohibited had any legal recognition for the couples even prior to the amendment campaign.
  Just prior to the name switch, the freshly-minted Wisconsin Family Council, Inc. was awarded Focus on the Family’s State Family Policy Council’s 2006 “Community Impact Award” for providing the statewide leadership in support of the gay civil union and marriage ban.
  While the WFC renaming might seem to be a touch of “me too”-ism, considering last December’s name change by former Action Wisconsin to its now more widely recognized moniker, it is not the first-time one of the state’s anti-gay groups has pulled such a switcheroo. Ralph Ovadal’s “Wisconsin Christians United” organization dropped off the radar just months prior the loss of “Pastor” Grant Storms’ civil lawsuit against Action Wisconsin and the subsequent decision allowing the LGBT civil rights group to recoup the legal fees it incurred in defending against the suit. Ovadal, who publicly had encouraged Storms to file the lawsuit and who also had been on the losing end of several other legal battles over the years, has since resurfaced helming the Monroe-based Pilgrim’s Covenant Church. That group’s mission and tactics mimic nearly completely those of the former WCU.

2007 Milwaukee Pride Parade Set For June 10
Milwaukee - The 2007 edition of Milwaukee Pride Parade has been set for Sunday, June 10 along 2nd Street, stepping off at 2 PM. The theme for this year's parade is "United for Equality."
  The parade committee has been meeting regularly since January to plan the event. Committee leaders for this year's parade include President Frank Ptasienski, Vice-President Jim Melotte, Secretary Chip Wegner and Treasurer Brian Williams.
  Parade organizers plan to reach out to the LGBT-supportive businesses, bars, restaurants, clubs, and organizations that helped to make last year's in the city's history of pride marches. To raise the needed funds to pay for permits and insurance, the parade committee will again ask the gay and lesbian-friendly bars in the community to sell their one dollar bar flags to patrons.  
  "Fundraising is such an important part of this event and we cannot put it on without community support," Ptasienski told Quest.
  In addition to financial assistance parade organizers are also seeking volunteers to help with additional advance coordination and day-of-the-event assistance. "Volunteers are the core of what makes this event go and without you it just wouldn't be the same," Ptasienski said. "Last years volunteers did a great job and had a lot of fun doing it."

ARCW's "Moulin Rouge at Make A Promise" Offers Glamour And Romance
Milwaukee - Imagine a warm, spring evening, strolling through the quaint streets of one of the
world's most renowned cities. Paris never falls short in providing visitors with a spectacular sense of glitz and glamour, romance and - of course - Can-Can dancers!
  Join the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin for an evening of entertainment and delight, Parisian style! Moulin Rouge at Make A Promise 2007 promises to light up the Midwest Airlines Center on Saturday, April 21, showcasing the spectacular beauty and magic of the world's most famous cabaret. The lavish event begins at 5:30 PM.
  The 2007 edition of  Make A Promise, ARCW's signature annual dinner fundraiser will treat guests to an outstanding silent auction, dinner & cocktails, and live entertainment. The event annually brings together over 1,000 of Wisconsin's philanthropic, medical, political, and corporate leaders to support ARCW in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
  All proceeds from the event benefit the prevention, care, and treatment programs to people affected by HIV/AIDS throughout the state, regardless of their ability to pay.
  The Midwest Airlines Center is located at 400 W. Wisconsin Avenue on the corner of 4th Street and Wisconsin Avenue. Parking is available in the Wisconsin Center District parking structure. The entrance is located at 500 W. Wells Street, on the North side of the street. A limited amount of metered street parking is also available.

Expect “Everything Possible” From The Wisconsin Cream City Chorus
Brookfield - The Wisconsin Cream City Chorus (WCCC) will present its Spring concert, “Everything Possible,” Saturday, April 14 at 7:30 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 13001 W. North Avenue here. True to its mission to celebrate diversity, the WCCC will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a show unlike any that has gone before.
  In addition to the group’s April tradition of featuring artistic expression through the use of American Sign Language interpreters, the April 14 concert “Everything Possible” also will feature guest soloist and narrator Joel Kopischke, guest musical director J. Ruben Pirainen, alumni soloists and other singers from the community, and the Milwaukee premier of a unique and expansive choral work by Joseph Martin.
 “Song of Wisdom from Old Turtle,” the show’s featured premiere, is based on Douglas Wood’s beautiful and beloved children’s book Old Turtle.  Under the guest musical direction of J. Ruben Piirainen, a much respected talent in Milwaukee’s musical theatre community, Joseph Martin’s choral setting will come to life.  The experience will be made even more rich by the addition of diverse individuals from the greater Milwaukee community who have been rehearsing with the WCCC since January, as well as a visual collage created by the WCCC’s own interim Artistic Director Kristen L. Weber.
  To make the chorus’ 20th Anniversary concert all the more memorable, the WCCC has invited talented actor and singer Joel Kopischke to narrate “Song of Wisdom,” commissioned and first performed by the Dallas-based Turtle Creek Chorale, and originally narrated by Marlo Thomas.  Kopischke will also perform solos throughout the balance of the concert, including one chosen to honor the recipients of the WCCC’s anniversary awards to the “20 Who Helped Make Everything Possible.”
 Tickets for the concert are $12 in advance, $15 at the door, and are available through chorus members and other participants, or by calling 414-276-8787. Child, group and family rates are also available. Additional information about the event can be found online at www.creamcitychorus.org.

Milwaukee LGBT Funding Partnership Seeks Grant Applications
Milwaukee - The Greater Milwaukee Foundation and Cream City Foundation are soliciting applications for funding through the Milwaukee LGBT Funding Partnership. Created through a match funding opportunity offered by the National Lesbian and Gay Community Funding Partnership, the mission of the fund is to expand awareness and funding of programs that benefit the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.
  The goals of the the Milwaukee LGBT Funding Partnership are: to fund projects that foster acceptance and ensure the equal rights of and opportunities for all LGBT people; to increase awareness and understanding of the LGBT community; to expand resources and programs available to serve the unique needs of the LGBT people; and to build capacity and collaboration between LGBT groups and the community at large.
  To accomplish these goals, the fund is promoting its second annual funding cycle and will be  accepting proposals from two groups: LGBT/mainstream community collaborations and established LGBT organizations. Organizations submitting applications must be not-for-profit and have 501(c)3 status. The partnership anticipates making up to nine grants this year for qualifying programs conducted in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington, Ozaukee, Racine & Kenosha Counties.
 Copies of the funding applications are available on request. To be considered for the current funding cycle, applications are due on or before May 1, 2007.  Funding announcements for this year will be made by July 1. Individuals who have any questions, are asked to contact the Cream City Foundation by phone at: 414-225-0244, or by email at: director@creamcityfoundation.org.

Madison Gay Rugby Draws Enthusiastic Response
Madison - Madison’s first Gay Rugby Team had an amazing turnout for their first ever “Rugby 101” training session Saturday, March 10. Players from the Minneapolis Mayhem and the Chicago Dragons were greeted by 23 men from in and around Madison who were interested in learning and playing Rugby.  The ages of interested players ranged from 18 to mid 40’s and most had never played Rugby before. 
  The Chicago Dragons went through the basics of rugby for the first part of the information session.  The second part had attendees practicing passing and tackling.
  The Madison team currently has 50 people on their roster, men and women, who expressed interest in playing or supporting a Madison Gay Rugby team.  Although all the players on the team are male, Madison Gay Rugby encourages any women who want to learn how to play the sport to come out and practice with the team.
  “We are amazed at the huge support we have received from the  LGBT community and from the Wisconsin Rugby Football Union, team spokesman Shawn Neal told Quest. “We already have had people purchase practice Rugby balls, practice Jerseys, and other miscellaneous equipment for the team as well as offer to create a website for our team.”
  Neal compared the Madison team’s success to their more well-established cohorts. “The Chicago Dragons had a recruitment rugby meeting the weekend before and had only 13 men show up, while Minneapolis’s team started out with only 8 members,” Neal said. “This is encouraging to the Madison team that there is many guys in and around Madison who want to play on a Gay Rugby team.”  
  “What has really amazed us is the reception we have gotten from the Wisconsin Rugby Football Union,” Neal added. “Not only have they invited us to practice with them, but they invited us to participate in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. We were marching with the Wisconsin Men’s and Women’s Rugby teams as well as some of the high school rugby football clubs.”
  For more information on when and where Madison Rugby is practicing, please contact Jeremy Holiday at: Jeremy.holiday@gmail.com or Shawn Neal at: sneal04@yahoo.com. According to Neal, the team’s website should be available sometime in April. For more information on other International Gay Rugby teams, visit the International Gay Rugby Association and Board at www.IGRAB.net.

Food Pantry Fundraisers Planned
Green Bay - A recently-formed group calling itself “theART” will hold one of two events to “raise funds for the food pantry serving those living with HIV/AIDS in Northeast Wisconsin.” The only food pantry with such a mission locally is housed at the ARCW office here.
  The event, which will include dinner, entertainment and a “Not So Silent Auction” will be held April 21 at Xcetera, 313 N. Broadway beginning at 5 PM. A “limited number” of tickets are available. Cost is $35. For more information contact Bill Boerschinger at 920-342-2082.
  The Shelter Club, 730 N. Quincy, will hold a follow-up show beginning at about 11 PM the same evening. Admission required for the event will be a nonperishable food item, a $2 donation, or a ticket from theART event. Several  favorite northeast Wisconsin entertainers will be performing, and donating their tips for the food pantry. Entertainers Against AIDS will be presenting a Humanitarian Award, and an auction item or two will be available.