Wisconsin Lesbian Couple Gets Hitched, But Not On Company Time
School District Denies Time Off For Canadian Wedding
By Mike Fitzpatrick
Sheboygan - It has all the trappings of a story book romance. Just around Valentine’s Day the local newspaper had carried the story of Kiel lesbian couple’s plans to marry in Canada in March and later hold an April holy union service at a Sheboygan County church. According to the story originally published in the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter and later picked up by Gannett Newspapers across the state, Leigh Robert and Judy Stock met at a 1993 Mardi Gras party in New Orleans, fell in love almost at first sight and have been together ever since, ultimately relocating back to Stock’s native Manitowoc County.
  And they’ve honored their relationship repeatedly. Thirteen years ago, the two held a domestic partnership ceremony in New Orleans. Three years ago, they exchanged rings. Last November Judy got down on her knee and proposed legalizing their lives. Of course, thanks to the November, 2006 passage of the so-called Wisconsin Marriage Protection amendment to the state’s constitution - something Stock fought tirelessly to defeat by the way - that ceremony couldn’t take place here in the Badger State. But it could in neighboring Canada, so the plans were made.
  Part of those plans included  Robert,  who works in the Sheboygan School District’s recreation department and as a secretary at Jefferson Elementary School, taking the paid two-day wedding leave from her job offered as a benefit to all employees as part of their union contract. The school district denied Robert’s request and she then filed a grievance.
  On February 28, supported by her union representative and her life partner, Roberts appeared before the Human Resources Committee of the district’s governing board in a closed, 45-minute session to make her case. Treating her soon-to-be-legal Canada marriage differently than her straight co-worker’s Wisconsin-bred unions looks like discrimination to her, Roberts argued.
  Her union rep Sam Gieryn agreed. Gieryn said support staff’s contract with the district does not specify that a marriage be recognized legally in Wisconsin. “The district has never before tried to inquire about whether a marriage is legally recognized in the state,” Gieryn told Sheboygan Press reporter Doug Carroll. “This is the first time, and that’s where we see the discrimination. The contract doesn’t allow them to make that inquiry.”
  A lot of the people who know and work with Roberts agreed. Several dozen supporters showed up and offered a petition supporting her signed by nearly 200 students and fellow employees. The board announced it would make a decision within the week. Because Stock and Roberts’ travel plans were already bought and paid for, Roberts took unpaid leave so they could head across the border for their fairy tale wedding.
  On March 5 the school district denied paid leave for Roberts. The district said it turned down Robert’s request because the grievance committee determined the collective bargaining agreement had not been violated when it denied the leave.
  “This is not a grievance based on sexual preference discrimination,” Kelly Cvetan, the district’s coordinator of human resources, said in the press release. “The employee has not been denied other forms of leave for which she qualifies. She has not been the subject of any form of adverse personnel action in response to her declared intention to be married. A complaint of discrimination, based on sexual preference, cannot be successfully made on the basis of a refusal to recognize a same-sex marriage in Wisconsin.”
  When the news hit the media the following day, Judy Stock and Leigh Roberts were married - not on company time as Roberts might have hoped, but married nonetheless. What happens when they get back? Quest will let you know.
 
Bodoh To Serve Four Years For Child Enticement
Activist Takes Reduced Charge Plea Deal
Waukesha - A Wauwatosa contractor with a long history of involvement in the Milwaukee LGBT community has been sentenced to four years in prison following a guilty plea to a reduced felony charge of child enticement.
  Waukesha County Judge J. Mac Davis sentenced 43 year-old David W. Bodoh to four years in prison with ten years of extended supervision on March 7. Davis also ruled Bodoh will not be eligible for Challenge Incarceration or Earned Release programs. Bodoh will also have to provide a DNA specimen if not previously obtained, may not possess a firearm and will have to comply with regulations of the state’s Sex Offender Registry for the rest of his life.
  Bodoh had pleaded not guilty to the Class C felony charge of Use a Computer to Facilitate a Child Sex Crime on September 19 last year. On January 3, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of Child Enticement - Fictitious Child, a Class D felony as part of a plea arrangement. Under the original charge Bodoh could have served up to 40 years in prison and been fined up to $100,000. The lesser child enticement charge carried a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and 10 years of extended supervision.
  Also as part of the plea agreement, Bodoh also had to admit in court that he believed the person with whom he was communicating on the Internet was younger than 16 and his intent was to have sexual contact with the boy.
  Bodoh originally appeared on July 13 last year in Waukesha Circuit Court on charges alleging  he had met a 14 year-old Oconomowoc youth in an online chat room in January 2007. Bodoh had claimed he was 21 years old and exchanged a series of explicit emails that included naked photos.
  According to the complaint, the young man’s mother discovered the correspondence and alerted police. Arrangements were made for a state agent to pose as the teen. Last June the agent, posing as the youth, made contact with Bodoh through a gay website. Bodoh reportedly agreed to meet with the agent at the Brookfield Square mall on July 12.  The complaint claimed that Bodoh promised to give the agent/”boy” the “ride of his life.”
  Bodoh was subsequently arrested by Brookfield police at the mall. Bodoh allegedly told the police at the time he had planned to do nothing more than take the boy to get something to eat.
  Bodoh is the owner of the Red Tail Construction firm in Wauwatosa. He has been active for many years in both Native American and LGBT community organizations. He was involved in the currently inactive Two Spirit Society and was vocal in advocating for Wauwatosa East High School to discontinue using Native American images with the school’s Red Raiders mascot.
  Mainstream media reports last July played up Bodoh’s association with PrideFest. However, Bodoh also had served as a volunteer with the LGBT Community Center, the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center and the above mentioned Two Spirit Society in addition to his more recent volunteer work as part of the gay festival’s production team.
  Following his arrest, Bodoh offered to withdraw from any further involvement with PrideFest and the resignation was accepted.

World & National News:

Tammy Baldwin Slaps Condi Rice Over State Dept. Anti-Gay Bias
Washington, DC - The only out lesbian in the U.S. Congress, Wisconsin’s Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin has challenged Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about reported inequities in employment practices concerning gay and lesbian employees in that department and requested immediate remedial changes.
  Last December, a former US ambassador left his post at the State Department after criticizing Condoleezza Rice’s treatment of gay people. Michael E. Guest retired after more than 26 years as a form of protest against regulations that he considered as unfair to same-sex partners of foreign service officers.
  The 50-year-old, who is openly gay, served as US ambassador to Romania when President Bush took office. Since his return home in 2004, he has appealed directly to the US Secretary of State Rice to end gay discrimination.
  Baldwin (D-Madison) wrote to Secretary Rice in a February 21 letter, joined by Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Democratic colleagues Howard Berman of California and Gary Ackerman of New York.
  “We have followed with great interest and concern the media coverage of the workplace inequities facing gays and lesbians in the US Department of State,” they wrote. “As in the case of former Ambassador to Romania Michael Guest, the inequitable treatment of gay and lesbian Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) and their partners should not be allowed to lead highly qualified employees to leave the State Department at a time when their service is needed more than ever.
  “Many of these inequities could clearly be remedied through your leadership as Secretary, without legislative changes.
  “We write to highlight basic and common-sense policy changes that beg your prompt attention and ask that you act to make eliminating inequities facing gays and lesbians at the State Department a priority.”
  Guest was the first out gay person to be confirmed by the Senate to an ambassadorial post.
  “For the past three years, I’ve urged the Secretary and her senior management team to redress policies that discriminate against gay and lesbian employees,” he said during a speech in Washington in December.
  According to Guest, under the current regulations only a U.S. State Department’s spouse can claim several rights which are denied to unmarried partners and same-sex partners. These include issues such as the lack of training for same-sex partners to recognize terrorist threats, the lack of medical care and the need to pay for one’s own transportation when one’s partner is on duty. Guest said that these issue could have been solved simply with  Rice’s signature, but his pleas had never received any attention.
  Congresswoman Baldwin and her colleagues have asked Secretary Rice to institute changes in State Department policy regarding gay and lesbian Foreign Service Officers’ partners that would put them on an equal footing with married couples.

Microsoft Wiz Leaves $65M for Gay Rights And HIV/AIDS Groups
Seattle -  He was a high school classmate of Microsoft Corp. founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen and one of the first five people to work at the software giant. Now the estate of Ric Weiland has left $65 million to gay rights and HIV/AIDS organizations.
  The bequests were announced February 24 by the Pride Foundation of Seattle, where Weiland was a board member for several years. The foundation called it the largest single bequest ever given to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender causes.
  Back in 1975 Gates and Allen hired Weiland, the year they founded Microsoft. He worked as a project leader for the Microsoft Works word processing and spreadsheet software, and was a lead programmer and developer for the company’s BASIC and COBOL systems, two of the first personal computing interfaces. He left Microsoft in 1988.
  Weiland had donated tens of millions to various organizations, ranging from gay rights groups to environmental and education organizations, before he died in 2006. He committed suicide at age 53 after a long battle with depression, according to his life partner Mike Schaefer.
  The $65 million is among bequests totaling about $160 million which are the the bulk of Weiland’s estate. Other beneficiaries include various charities and Stanford University, his undergraduate alma mater, according to an estimate provided by the Pride Foundation.
  In the latest bequest, the Pride Foundation said Weiland’s estate had established a fund at the foundation that would give $46 million over the next eight years to ten national gay rights and HIV/AIDS groups, including Lambda Legal, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research.
  His estate also bequeathed $19 million directly to the Pride Foundation for scholarships and grants supporting the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in the Pacific Northwest.

Gay Porn Star Twins Arrested In Rooftop Burglaries
Philadelphia - Twins Keyontyli and Taleon Goffney have been arrested for allegedly breaking into area businesses by cutting rooftop holes to gain entry. Turns out, they were also just as skilled at breaking into their second, more respectable careers - as hardcore gay-porn stars.
  The 25-year-old Goffney twins, both of New Jersey, were arrested February 19. They were charged with breaking into a beauty shop in South Philadelphia and an adjoining restaurant, using only a handsaw and ax to get in through the roofs of the establishments. A pharmacy was burglarized in a similar fashion the previous day. Police allege Taleon Goffney committed similar burglaries at two convenience stores in suburban Nether Providence and Wallingford.. Chief Richard Slifer of Nether Providence reported that cash, cigarettes and condoms had been among the items taken.
  The twins now have become the focus of a tristate Rooftop Burglary Task force, led by New Jersey investigators, the state where many of the 40-plus rooftop burglaries have been committed over the last 18 months.
  The Goffney twins are also the focus of numerous hardcore Internet gay porn videos, some of which they star in together under the stage names Keyon and Teyon, according to several gay websites.
  In one online-only offering,”Marc and the Twins,” the Goffneys are hanging out on the Las Vegas strip when they offer to audition for “Marc,” a chiseled black porn star who happens to pass by. The three take the “audition” to a seedy hotel room. Although “Marc” is the focus of the encounter, the twins can also be seen rubbing each other’s chests and getting cozy. Both brothers have reportedly appeared in a variety of other gay porn videos, according to the website Rod 2.0.
  According to Erik Schut, editorial director of the TLA Entertainment Group, the twins do not appear to been in any porn films available on DVD, but he said if they had chosen to further their career in porn, “They could have been huge.” “Two incredibly beautiful black men and twins - it’s unprecedented,” Schut said. “Ethnic, gay models are rare.”
  Keyontyli, a graduate of the Barbizon School of Modeling, seems to have had legitimate gigs as a model, according to his portfolios on Jurgita.com and NYCastings.com. He has served as a runway model for clothing companies BOIISH and Azzure, and has a seven-page spread in the February issue of CLIK, a magazine for black gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. He lists several television appearances in his portfolio, including gigs as a “seat filler” on VH1’s Save the Music, and a “Super Bowl shuffler” in a Saturday Night Live skit.
  Taleon also has a lengthy portfolio - but his is kept by the police. “Taleon is a bad, bad dude,” one police source said.

An Open Letter To Gay Americans
By Senator Barack Obama
I’m running for President to build an America that lives up to our founding promise of equality for all – a promise that extends to our gay brothers and sisters. It’s wrong to have millions of Americans living as second-class citizens in this nation. And I ask for your support in this election so that together we can bring about real change for all LGBT Americans. Equality is a moral imperative. That’s why throughout my career, I have fought to eliminate discrimination against LGBT Americans. In Illinois, I co-sponsored a fully inclusive bill that prohibited discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity, extending protection to the workplace, housing, and places of public accommodation.
  In the U.S. Senate, I have co-sponsored bills that would equalize tax treatment for same-sex couples and provide benefits to domestic partners of federal employees. And as president, I will place the weight of my administration behind the enactment of the Matthew Shepard Act to outlaw hate crimes and a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act to outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws. I personally believe that civil unions represent the best way to secure that equal treatment. But I also believe that the federal government should not stand in the way of states that want to decide on their own how best to pursue equality for gay and lesbian couples — whether that means a domestic partnership, a civil union, or a civil marriage.
  Unlike Senator Clinton, I support the complete repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – a position I have held since before arriving in the U.S. Senate. While some say we should repeal only part of the law, I believe we should get rid of that statute altogether. Federal law should not discriminate in any way against gay and lesbian couples, which is precisely what DOMA does. I have also called for us to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and I have worked to improve the Uniting American Families Act so we can afford same-sex couples the same rights and obligations as married couples in our immigration system. The next president must also address the HIV/AIDS epidemic. When it comes to prevention, we do not have to choose between values and science. While abstinence education should be part of any strategy, we also need to use common sense. We should have age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception. We should pass the JUSTICE Act to combat infection within our prison population. And we should lift the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. In addition, local governments can protect public health by distributing contraceptives.
  We also need a president who’s willing to confront the stigma – too often tied to homophobia – that continues to surround HIV/AIDS. I confronted this stigma directly in a speech to evangelicals at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, and will continue to speak out as president. That is where I stand on the major issues of the day. But having the right positions on the issues is only half the battle. The other half is to win broad support for those positions. And winning broad support will require stepping outside our comfort zone. If we want to repeal DOMA, repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and implement fully inclusive laws outlawing hate crimes and discrimination in the workplace, we need to bring the message of LGBT equality to skeptical audiences as well as friendly ones – and that’s what I’ve done throughout my career. I brought this message of inclusiveness to all of America in my keynote address at the 2004 Democratic convention.
  I talked about the need to fight homophobia when I announced my candidacy for President, and I have been talking about LGBT equality to a number of groups during this campaign – from local LGBT activists to rural farmers to parishioners at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Dr. Martin Luther King once preached. Just as important, I have been listening to what all Americans have to say. I will never compromise on my commitment to equal rights for all LGBT Americans. But neither will I close my ears to the voices of those who still need to be convinced. That is the work we must do to move forward together. It is difficult. It is challenging. And it is necessary. Americans are yearning for leadership that can empower us to reach for what we know is possible. I believe that we can achieve the goal of full equality for the millions of LGBT people in this country. To do that, we need leadership that can appeal to the best parts of the human spirit. Join with me, and I will provide that leadership. Together, we will achieve real equality for all Americans, gay and straight alike.

State News:

Karen Dotson Named As New AIDS Network Executive Director
Madison - Karen Dotson, MHSA, has been appointed Executive Director of AIDS Network, the AIDS service organization that provides support, education and HIV prevention services for thirteen counties in south central Wisconsin. In November 2007, the Board of Directors of AIDS Network began a nationwide search for a new Executive Director, culminating in the selection of Ms. Dotson.
  “Karen has demonstrated a strong capacity to lead AIDS Network, strengthening our commitment to the communities we serve and enhancing our ability to support the programs that we provide in our thirteen county region,” Larry Palm, President of the agency’s Board of Directors, said in a February 26 press release.
  Dotson is currently an Objective Reviewer on various Committees for the United States Department of Health and Human Services and an Adjunct Professor at Springfield College and Upper Iowa University. She teaches under-graduate and graduate courses in Organizational Transformation and Program Evaluation. In addition, Ms. Dotson provides local and national consultation services for organizations and foundations that require technical assistance.
  She previously served as the Deputy Director of Programs at the AIDS Resource of Center Wisconsin (ARCW). In that position, Dotson provided leadership and management oversight for the social service, health care, prevention, education and training efforts of ARCW. Additionally, she was responsible for the agency’s housing and volunteer program operations.
  Ms. Dotson has over twenty years of administrative nonprofit experience and extensive knowledge in the areas of minority health, HIV/AIDS and cultural competency. “We are thrilled to have Karen joining us as Executive Director. Karen’s extensive experience will enhance our ability to support our clients while at the same time also focusing on our HIV prevention efforts,” Executive Director Search Committee chair and Board of Directors Past President Jim Berger said.
  Ms. Dotson received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and a Master’s Degree in Health Service Administration at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She will join AIDS Network’s staff on March 10, 2008.
  “With my years of experience and compassion for people living with HIV/AIDS, I am delighted to have the opportunity to provide my services, skills and knowledge in Wisconsin’s Southern Region. I look forward to joining AIDS Network in their fight against HIV/AIDS,” Dotson said.

PrideFest Gears Up For June
March 19 Town Hall Meeting Set, New Website To Debut
Milwaukee - PrideFest volunteers are busy preparing for the 2008 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pride (LGBT) celebration scheduled for June 6, 7 & 8 at Milwaukee’s Maier Festival Park (Summerfest).  
  “In March the community will begin to see signs of the many exciting activities that are planned for this year’s festival.  It’s shaping up to be another incredible event,” PrideFest Communications Director Paul Williams said.
  A PrideFest town hall is scheduled for Wednesday, March 19 to coincide with the beginning of the festival’s promotional campaign.  The town hall will begin at 6:00 PM and will be held at the Hillside Family Resource Center, 1452 N. 7th Street in Milwaukee.
  “We invite the community to join us as we reflect on PrideFest 2007 and preview this year’s festival,” PrideFest President Scott Gunkel said. 
  In addition, a redesigned version of the festival’s web site, www.pridefest.com, has been launched featuring a fresh, new look as well as technical improvements.  Additional information will be added to the site as it becomes available.
  Community members can stay updated on new festival information by visiting the web site and by signing up for e-mail alerts.
  PrideFest continues to seek volunteers for its production team to help build the festival’s infrastructure and deliver one of the nation’s best LGBT pride events.

Center Advocates PAC Makes Spring Election Endorsements
Milwaukee - Center Advocates PAC has announced the organization’s endorsements for the April 1 Spring general election. The ten endorsed candidates are: Justice Louis Butler for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Rebecca Dallet  for the Milwaukee Circuit Court Branch 40, Senator Lena Taylor for Milwaukee County Executive, Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic for District 4 Milwaukee County Supervisor, Chris Larson fro District 14 Milwaukee County Supervisor, Supervisor John Weishan, Jr. For District 16 Milwaukee County Supervisor,
Mayor Tom Barrett for Milwaukee City Mayor, Representative Pedro Colon for Milwaukee City Attorney, Patrick Flaherty for the Milwaukee Aldermanic 3rd District and Alderman Anthony Zielinski for the Milwaukee Aldermanic 14th District.
  Candidates endorsed by Center Advocates PAC, have demonstrated a commitment to LGBT equality and the ability to run a comprehensive campaign pertaining to a wide variety of issues concerning the citizens of Wisconsin.
  These candidates have a long history of advancing LGBT equality through legislation or support of current legislation that protects LGBT people. Each one has either voted in their positions against the amendment to ban same-gender marriage or have spoken out on behalf of fair and equal treatment of LGBT families in Wisconsin.
  Since 1997, Center Advocates PAC has been Wisconsin’s only group dedicated to electing candidates who will work for and defend equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people.
  In 2007 the former HRL-PAC affiliated with Center Advocates, Inc. in 2007 to expand the group’s effectiveness in advocating for LGBT equality and promoting legislative policy change to improve the lives of LGBT people and families in Wisconsin. To learn more about Center Advocates PAC or for more in depth information about our endorsed candidates, visit our website at: www.centeradvocatespac.org  or call 414-347-1892.

AIDS Network Sets 17th Annual Red Ribbon Affair
Madison - Started in 1992, Red Ribbon Affair is AIDS Network’s oldest and largest funding-raising event. The annual dinner and auctions benefit the HIV/AIDS service provider for south central Wisconsin. In 2007 over 400 attended this fundraiser that netted the agency over $46,000. This year Red Ribbon Affair will be on Friday, April 4 at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center.
  “We all look forward to Red Ribbon every year,” AIDS Network Interim Executive Director Dan Guinn said. “This year, it will give us the opportunity to introduce our new Executive Director Karen Dotson to the community.”
  Emcees for the event will be Magic 98’s popular Lanette Hansen and longtime Madison radio and TV personality Julie Hinds. Along with cocktails and hors doeuvres before dinner, Red Ribbon Affair 2008 will feature a unique ice bar. As always the silent and live auctions are among the largest in the area featuring a wide range of goods and services as well as many one-of-a-kind collectables. Additionally, many talented local musicians will provide entertainment throughout the evening.
  Red Ribbon Affair is open to the public and reservations are accepted until March 28. For more information or to register for Red Ribbon Affair go to the AIDS Network website: www.aidsnetwork.org  For more information contact: Dan Curd, Director of Development & Community Relations  at: 608 252-6540 Ext. 21.

Milwaukee Gay Soccer Association Inaugural Season Begins
Milwaukee - The Milwaukee Gay Soccer Association (MGSA) has begun its inaugural seven-week season. The first match was scheduled for Friday, February 29th at the Uihlein Indoor Soccer Park, and brought together over 100 players with various experience on eight co-ed teams competing in a friendly, supportive environment.
  “I can’t wait for the season to begin,” Blue Light Special team captain Rachel Trainor said prior to the inaugural match. “Milwaukee has been well overdue for a large gay sports league like this.”
  The MGSA was formed in fall 2007 when Uihlein Indoor Soccer Park agreed to provide space to the budding league. Fast forward several months and eight teams of LGBT and allied players are gearing up and taking to their indoor fields – many for the first time ever.
  Matches began Friday, February 29 and will run each Friday through April 18, with the exception of Good Friday, March 21. Match times vary from 8 PM to 11 PM. The league’s entire schedule is available online. For a complete listing of matches please visit the league’s website at: www.milwaukeegaysoccer.org
  Fans are encouraged to attend to cheer on their favorite teams at Uihlein Stadium, 7101 W. Good Hope Road. The facility features three indoor fields, viewing balcony and a snack bar. A series of social events are being planned throughout the season for members of the league to socialize, meet new friends, and build community.
  The Milwaukee Gay Soccer Association is made possible through the support of Jack H. Smith of Shorewest Realtors, the Joseph R. Pabst LGBT Infrastructure Fund, PrideFest, AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, Bella’s Caffe, Club Icon, Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, and Milwaukee’s Out & About/Mona’s.

“HIV Never Looked So Good” Testing Contest Begins
Milwaukee - HIM, the Health Institute of Milwaukee (formally Charles “D” Productions) has begun a contest that will benefit not only those who get tested for HIV but those who encourage others to get tested. The “HIV Never Looked So Good” contest began March 1 and will run through May 31.
  HIM is searching for contestants to bring African Americans, preferably men aged 12 and older, for HIV testing. HIM will test anyone for free, but only African Americans who test will be counted in this promotion. Anyone can enter the contest at any time during the contest.
  There will be two contestant groups: youth, ages 12-21 and Adults ages 22 and up with First Place Prize of $150 and Second Place Prize of $100 for each contestant group. An additional $50 will be given to the youth or adult contestant who brings in the most African American men for testing.
  HIM is using the OraQuick test which providers results in twenty minutes. For more information and contestant applications call 414-263-9999.

7th Annual Young Womynz Empowerment Conference Set
Germantown - The Seventh Annual Young Womynz Empowerment Conference (YWEC) has been scheduled at  Camp Minikani here May 2 - 4.
  YWEC is at three day, two night conference for all lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and allied female identified persons aged 24 and under. The cost for the weekend is $25. YWEC is also looking for adult role models to help out.
  Registration for YWEC is now open for attendees and adult role models. For more information about YWEC 2008 contact Rachel Coles by phone at: 414-292-3071 or by email at: rcoles@mkelgbt.org.

Jump, Jive & Wail At ARCW’s Swingin’ “Make A Promise” Fete
Milwaukee - Hey there all you hep cats and kittens, get ready to jump, jive and wail because Swing! At Make A Promise 2008 is going to be out of this world. Collar your friends, grab your zoot suits and get ready to cut a rug in support of the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW) at the Midwest Airlines Center on Saturday, April 5 for a salute to the Big Band era.
  Make A Promise treats guests to an outstanding silent auction, cocktails, dinner and live entertainment. Special live entertainment this year will be by Milwaukee’s own Swing Nouveau. The evening will begin at 5:30 PM with the silent auction, registration and cocktail hour. Dinner will follow at 7:30 PM with the evening’s program and live auction starting at 8:30 PM. Dancing will follow until Midnight.
  The event brings together 1,000 of Wisconsin’s philanthropic, medical, political and corporate leaders to support ARCW in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Special honor this year will be given to the more than sixty registered nurses throughout the state of Wisconsin who assist in the care and treatment of the thousands of patients who are living with HIV in the Badger State.
  Proceeds from the event support the prevention, care and treatment programs of ARCW, serving 3,000 people living with HIV disease throughout Wisconsin.
  The Midwest Airlines Center is located at 400 W. Wisconsin Avenue (4th Street & Wisconsin Avenue). Parking is available in the nearby Wisconsin Center District parking structure. A limited amount of metered street parking is also available. Attire for the evening is black tie optional.
  Tickets range from $85 to $200 each, with tables of ten available from $850 to $2000. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the ARCW website at: www.arcw.org.

Cream City Chorus Offers “Safe Harbor: Signs of Compassion”
Brookfield - Imagine a choral concert that includes actors, staging, spoken word, sound effects, musicians and more: that’s choral theatre. Add in a wonderful variety of favorite tunes and new music by leading activist/songwriters -- all made famous through their association with today’s leading causes -- and you have the Wisconsin Cream City Chorus’ April 12 concert, “Safe Harbor: Signs of Compassion.”
  “We’ve taken everything our audiences have come to expect from the WCCC and taken it to the next level,”   Artistic Director Kristen L. Weber said. “Whatever color ribbon you wear, whatever cause is dearest to your heart, the evening’s music will bring many of the day’s greatest concerns - and hopes - to life.” According to Weber, homelessness, AIDS awareness, hospice care, breast cancer research and support for the troops are only a few of the causes touched upon in the evening’s performance.
  The “Safe Harbor: Signs of Compassion” concert will be held at 7:30 PM, Saturday, April 12 at the Unitarian Universalist Church West, 13001 W. North Avenue, Brookfield. Tickets are available: $15 for adult; $10 for youth; children under 10 are free. A special rate is also available for groups of 10 or more.
  More information about the Wisconsin Cream City Chorus, the performance and ticket availability is available online at: www.creamcitychorus.org. The group can also be contacted by phone at 414-276-8787, or in person at the WCCC office, 315 W. Court Street, Milwaukee, WI 53212.

Milwaukee Shakespeare To Offer Cymbeline
Milwaukee- The Milwaukee Shakespeare will present Cymbeline March 22 to April 20. This new production of William Shakespeare’s play presented can be seen at the Broadway Theatre Center Studio Theatre at 158 N. Broadway in the Third Ward. Please call 414-291-7800 for tickets.
  The play tells the story of  Imogen who, driven by love and loyalty, leaves her home in a desperate search for her husband who has been exiled by King Cymbeline, her father. In what is considered one of Shakespeare’s sweeping romantic works, Imogen is a heroine of epic proportions.  Her journey brings her to strangers turned family, treachery turned truth, and a love for the ages.
For more information about or to make reservations for this performance and Milwaukee Shakespeare go to the company’s website at: www.milwaukeeshakespeare.com/cymbeline/index.lasso.

Tammy & Cass Marie To Go Over The Rainbow
Madison - Two mighty forces of nature - Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin and Camp Bingo host Cass Marie Domino - will join together on Sunday, March 30 for “Bingo in Oz,” the final game of the Camp Bingo season. Prizes will include cash jackpots of $1,000, $250 and $150.
  As always there will be a lot of great entertainment and fun plus munchkins, lollipop boys and girls and witches good and bad. A fundraiser for AIDS Network, everyone 18 years or older is welcome to join in the fun at Camp Bingo.
  Price of admission is $15 which includes 7 games of bingo, with 6 cards for each game. Food and complete beverage service is available as well as free indoor parking. The final session of Camp Bingo will take place at The Edgewater, Wisconsin Avenue at Langdon Street. Doors open at 1 PM and the first number will be called at 2:30 p.m. For more information visit the official Camp Bingo website at: www.madcampbingo.org.

Guerrilla Gay Bar Movement Invades Green Bay
Green Bay - The Green Bay Action Network (GBAN) joined a movement that is sweeping across the country here February 29 when between 30 and 40 gay and allied “guerrillas” invaded Top Hat, the trendy thirtysomething watering hole dominating the scene in the city’s Olde Main entertainment district. “We picked a sorta gay-friendly, metrosexual kinda place for out first night out,” GBAN’s Andrea Schultz told Quest.
  GBAN plans to follow up on its initial success. Each month, a traditionally “straight” bar in the Green Bay area will be selected.  From 9:30 PM to Midnight the lesbian and gay community and friends pack the bar to capacity.  The actual bar location is kept secret until 6:30 PM. the day of the event.  Members and friends of GBAN are informed of that month’s bar via email and text message. 
  The bar location will be kept secret to prevent the bar from knowing about the rush beforehand and maximizing the “wow” factor when the crowd rushes in.  Each month a new bar in a new neighborhood will be chosen to increase the amount of unique connections made at each event.
  Guerrilla Gay picked up steam almost eight years ago in San Francisco and has spread to cities throughout North America including Los Angeles, Dallas, Edmonton and Milwaukee.  The movement began as a way for the gay community to break away from the usual hangouts, if only for a few hours each month.  The goal is to help make connections between gays and lesbians and our straight counterparts that may not otherwise happen.  It’s all about breaking down barriers and fighting against stereotypes.
  But Guerrilla Gay is much more than reaching out to the straights.  It’s also a way for sub-groups within the LGBT community to interact and learn more about each other.  According to GBAN, “for at least four hours a month, twinks can mingle with dykes, bears with lipstick lesbians.  Guerrilla Gay is not meant to take the place of your local hangout, but help remind us all why we go out in the first place: to meet new people and have fun!”
  To sign up the the Guerrilla Gay events, email GBAN at: LGBTGBAN@hotmail.com or visit the group’s MySpace page at: www.myspace.com/lgbtgban. The group also welcomes suggestions for future bar invasions.

New Clubs Enliven Wisconsin’s Gay Bar Scene
By Mike Fitzpatrick
Appleton, Madison - Is it a sure sign Spring is coming when the new gay bars start to blossom? Up in snowy Superior, a new place called The Flame is drawing in folks from as far away as the Twin Cities, not to mention neighboring Duluth. Plans are in the works for a club called Plan B on Williamson St. in Madison, and WOOF’s made its official debut across from the Majestic Theater on King Street March 7. And in Appleton, the recently opened Pulse is making gay pulses quicken with its massive, sophisticated, multi-room ambience.
  Quest caught up with two of the owners to spotlight in this issue. Both venues interestingly involve long-time Madison residents who wanted to bring something new to the night life in Appleton and Madison respectively.
  Appleton’s Pulse is a joint venture by Madison native Erin Marheine and business partner Patrick Tarkowski. It didn’t start out as a gay club originally. “It started about six weeks ago, about two weeks into January,” Marheine said. “I always wanted to own my own gay bar, but really never got the opportunity. I got into the bar business with my brother and another individual... I bought them out and we opened a gay bar. I brought in Patrick to run the food business.”
  There was some customer churn when the bar switched from straight to gay, Marheine admits. “When we first went to (being) a gay (identified) bar it was already heavily mixed,” he said. “Then some people realized -’Oh, there’s gay people here” - and they left. But its still very mixed.”
  Pulse is a huge venue, with a legal capacity of 440 people. What do people see when they first walk in the door? “They see that big cage!” Marheine laughed. “It’s just a dancing cage for customers to jump in. It’s kind of a remanent that was left behind. I thought about taking it down. I asked people about it. But the customers do get up and dance, so we left it.”
  Past the cage to left is the dance area. “On the right, its more of a game room, live entertainment venue,” Marheine said. The pool and darts area has a bar that is typically only open on weekends and busier nights.
  There is also a sit-down restaurant that serves lunches Monday through Friday beginning at 11 AM. The club opens at 8 PM on weekends.
  “As for the menus, “it’s some of the nicer food that honestly you can find in Appleton,” Marheine said. “The ingredients are extreme high quality. Our burgers are one-third pound Angus choice beef, for example.”
  Plans are in the works for expanded food choices. “We plan to do a Sunday Brunch and a Friday Fish Fry,” Marheine said.
  As for the overall environment of the club, Marheine is proud of the decor he has created. “I don’t want to say its nicer than other bars, but we put a lot more money into the aesthetics,” he said. “We put a lot of time into the walls - the textures, the color choices. We put Italian black marble on the dance floor and added a lot of mirrors. When we got it, it was a very industrialized, ‘Tom’s Garage’ thing that we needed to build into something that was  pleasing... We wanted a club feel. We’re sitting on 8800 feet, which is really massive for any kind of nightclub venue.”
  Music also drives Pulse’s unique atmosphere, according to Marheine. “We play a lot of remixed dance music and some top 40, and the rest is all requests,” he said. “It’s the only real dance club in Appleton. People come back because we’re not just playing rap music and hip-hop music. We have real dance music. We play a lot of the gay standards like Madonna, Britney and all that good stuff. People enjoy that and have fun. No matter what walk of life they’re from, they can have a good time at Pulse.”
  Standards does not necessarily mean disco gold, however, Marheine noted. “We do plan to do a 70’s night followed by the 80’s and then the 90’s as the night progresses. We just haven’t picked a night yet.”
  Pulse also features a variety of deejays playing cutting edge dance music, Marheine added. “Saturday nights from 12-1 we have techno deejays that come in from around the region,” he said. “We brought in one guy from Kentucky and one guy from San Antonio, so I guess that isn’t regional, that’s nationwide. They play a lot of house, a lot of techno, trans beats - stuff like that.”
  According to Marheine, the Thursday Ladies Night is a popular promotion. “It’s a dollar off (drinks) for all the ladies and there’s a ladies-only raffle,” he said. “We give away gift certificate and also other prizes. There’s also karaoke that night from 9-1 in the live event room.” 
  Pulse will be “going green: Friday through Monday of St. Patrick’s Day weekend, March 14-17. “We’re doing a four-day St. Patrick’s Day celebration with a dollar off all drinks throughout the weekend, green beer and Shamrock shot specials.” Marheine said.
  For more information about Pulse, visit their MySpace most page easily accessible through Quest’s online Bar Guide at: www.quest-online.com. Click on the Pulse name in the Appleton section of the guide.
  Madison’s WOOF’s, co-owned by Dino Maniaci and Jason Hoke, opened on March 5 but had its official “grand opening” Friday March 7, at the site of the former King Club, 114 King St. off the Capitol Square. According to Maniaci, the venue has been totally made over.
  “When people walk in the door they a space that probably reminds them of a industrial construction site with sort of a big city edge to it,” Maniaci told Quest. “We’ve got the walls lined with scaffolding, chain link fencing, and giant graphics of sports team images plus flat screen TVs. There’s an energy to it that I don’t think people here will have seen before.”
  But WOOF’s is “a shell that houses the crowd,” according to Maniaci. “As I saw last night (at the grand opening), that changed throughout the night,” he said. “Everybody from young-old, straight-gay- you name it - was here. It was a vision come true: that we could create a space that provided an environment that everyone felt comfortable in.”
  Though WOOF’s “stated out with a sports theme but moved on from there,” Maniaci noted, it is not your typical sports bar with team jerseys, beer signs, and every televised game available onscreen as the sound system pumps out tunes from the Jock Jams CD collection. “We have an extensive sound system but we bring in all our music from deejays from New York City and around the country,”Maniaci said. “And when I talk about sports images I mean 4-foot by 8-foot images of arm wrestlers, women playing volleyball, boxers - but all very graphic, very abstract. Its an environment for everything from pool playing, dart playing, dancing and just general enjoyment for folks.
  WOOF’s legally can hold 120 patrons and was at capacity its opening night. “We had a good number of people waiting outside to get in - and it was rather cold last night!” Maniaci said. “But we really wanted to make sure its safe enough and workable for people to get to the bar and enjoy themselves.”
  A waiting line outside, does not mean there’s a cover at the door, however. “I’ve been a Madisonian for over 25 years and that doesn’t work. There are other places that charge a cover, but you really don’t get anything for that. We plan to stick to that,” Maniaci said, noting that special charitable events might be the exception.
  WOOF’s will be doing a lot to support the local gay sports teams in the coming weeks and months, Maniaci noted. “The Minotaur rugby team is having a recruiting party,” he said. “The rugby team will be coming in to throw a beer bash.” Softball and other sports teams will be doing similar promotions as well Maniaci added.
  One special promotion that Maniaci expects to take off quickly will be the “Build Your Own Bloody Mary” bar. “You’ll come in and we’ll pour you your vodka, then you add you own spices and extras,” he said. “There’ll be everything from red shrimp to brussels sprouts.” Other promotions in the works are in-house pool and dart tournaments and special event parties.
  With both Plan B and WOOF’s opening in rapid succession, we asked Maniaci if he thinks the Capitol City’s gay bar scene will be able to finally move on from the long-lamented loss of the Hotel Washington complex. “I’m old enough to remember back then,” he laughed. “I cut my teeth on a number of bars there. I don’t think we’ll ever replace it for a lot of different reasons, but what we can do is maybe recapture some of the sense of community, some of the awareness, the sense of energy and excitement that Rodney (Scheel) was so good at creating. We certainly were please with the energy we saw last night and hope it can continue.”
  For more information about WOOF’s, check out Quest’s online bar guide  or the club’s website at: www.woofsmadison.com.

Now On DVD: Surveillance 24/7
By Glenn Bishop
Glenn's attention, rapt as ever when watching as cute an actor as Tom Harper in "Surveillance 24/7," nevertheless kept drifting off to Hitchcock's seminal 1959 work, "North By Northwest." Comparisons between the two films are both obvious and necessary.
  For those loyal Quest readers who may be missing the reference, "North By Northwest" offered Cary Grant as an ordinary man – as if Cary could ever have been "ordinary" – who inadvertently manages to get caught up in an extraordinary tale of murder and espionage. Given Hitchcock's obsession with blonds, Cary also manages to end up in a final reel clinch with Eva Marie Saint.
  In Kevin Sampson's taunt, if muddled screenplay, Adam Blane (Tom Harper) is pretty much just an average sort of bloke. As a teacher at an exclusive English boy's school, Adam works hard and in his free time is determined to play hard. Sometimes Adam relaxes with a little kite surfing. After dark, you'll find Adam out in London's celebrated gay clubs. One night Adam hooks up with hottie celebrity photographer Jake Raven ( Sean Brendan Brosnan, Pierce Brosnan's son), son of media baron Lord Raven (Nicholas Jones). After Adam's rather fumbled introduction, these two hot gay men do what two hot gay men normally do in situations such as this -- they head off for some quality time between the sheets. Mission accomplished, Adam decides it is time to shove off. In doing so, he nicks Jake's phone by mistake.
  Turns out to be quite a big mistake.
  Adam, the film's genuinely ordinary protagonist, is thus rudely tossed into a sequence of extraordinary circumstances. Jake disappears and the tabloids begin spinning a tale of Jake's drunken and fatal leap off a yacht. Adam, presumably the last man to have seen Jake alive, suddenly finds himself popular with all the wrong sort of people. Soon everyone seems to have their hidden cameras poised on Adam, not the least of which are Lord Raven's RNN news crew as well as the British security service, MI-5.
  Oh what a tangled web screenwriter Sampson and director Paul Oremland have weaved! Squarely in the midst of a fabulous conspiracy – think Princess Diana's death -- Adam turns to reporter and one-time girlfriend Amy Conroy (Dawn Steele).But can Amy be trusted? Glenn certainly thought not. She has, after all,  managed to hold a grudge against the poor lad for seven years. Why? Just because after her, Adam turned gay.
  Determined to make "Surveillance 24/7" edgy and relevant, director Paul Oremland filmed his thriller as if done entirely with surveillance cameras – going so far as to incorporate footage of Adam taken within one of London's leading saunas. Sadly, no shots of couples in flagrante or even of Adam sans towel. Still, so much for anonymous encounters, thinks Glenn.

Buy it, rent it or forget it…
After much contemplation, Glenn must give "Surveillance 24/7" a provisional "thumbs up." "Surveillance 24/7" is a wonderfully ambitious film and while Tom Harper may not be Cary Grant, he is really quite engaging as Adam. Eventually the film's dizzying camerawork and  increasingly convoluted plot leaves "Surveillance 24/7"spinning alarming out of control. In "North By Northwest" Hitchcock carefully delineated the playing field, leaving moviegoers able to separate the good guys from the bad. Not so here. Having watched "Surveillance 24/7" twice, Glenn continues to find himself totally clueless. Although not for the first time. Most disappointingly, the secret, potentially fascinating "fairy tale" at the heart of the film, far too late introduced, ends up little more than a narrative gimmick.

Just the facts…
"Surveillance 24/7" zips along at 87 minutes and is in English.
"Surveillance 24/7" is available with a SRP of $24.95
Director Paul Oremland also made the classic gay title, "Like It Is" back in 1998
DVD extras include "The Making of Surveillance" featurette plus "A Message of Love and Respect from Susan Sarandon?!"