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ARCHIVED
CHATTER
Cuz gossip never gets old if you're out of the loop... October
25, 2007
Welcome To Gay Politico Watch - The
Cheesehead Edition... Same
sex shenanigans by political closet cases took a decidedly cheesy
turn in more ways than one since our last edition. New cases of
hanky panky with underage men and toilet trysting took out two
Wisconsin political operatives. Here’s the dish:
October
11, 2007Donald Fleischman: The 37-year old chair of the Brown County Republican Party resigned October 12 after his pending criminal charges of fondling 16-year old runaways on multiple occasions came to light. The Allouez Republican was charged last month with two counts of child enticement, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child and a single charge of exposing himself to a child. His initial appearance in Brown County court on September 28 somehow missed the radar of the GOP-friendly Green Bay Press-Gazette. The GBPG was only one of two papers to endorse passage of the Republican-inspired “marriage protection” amendment last year. The paper only published the story after Flesichman’s escapades had become the stuff of national liberal blogs like the Daily Kos and made the court watch pages of WisPolitics.com. 
According to the complaint filed September 7, Green Bay police went to
Fleischman’s home last November, looking for two runaways from Ethan
House, a nearby juvenile facility. Fleischman allowed officers inside
where they found a 16-year-old boy hiding on the floor of a walk-in
closet wearing only underwear and a T-shirt. Officers also found a
glass pipe in the living room, which tested positive for marijuana
residue.Police went back to Fleischman’s home in December only to find the same boy there again. He had reported as a runaway from Ethan House for eight days. According to the complaint the young man told authorities Fleischman took him during that week to a hotel in Appleton and a rural cabin in Florence County. The boy claimed Fleischman provided him with beer and marijuana during the trip. The boy also revealed that when he would go to bed, Fleischman would fondle him. Also, on one occasion he awoke to find Fleischman at the foot of his bed masturbating. Fleischman’s next appearance in court will be October 29. Randy Udell: The 46 year old Second Congressional Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW) turned in his resignation on October 17 after charges toilet trysting in a rural Rock County park came to light in an October 16 report by the Janesville Gazette. Tammy Baldwin represents the 2nd District. Udell was one of four men charged lewd and lascivious behavior in and near the public restroom in the Carver-Roehl county park near the rural of Clinton. Among the others was a convicted felon (attempted first-degree murder) and someone who may have met an undercover cop online prior to his arrest during the six week sex sting. Officers reported seeing Udell repeatedly enter and exit the men’s restroom in the park on September 25. When an undercover deputy entered the restroom, Udell reportedly exposed himself and was arrested. A Wisconsin Circuit Court Access Project review did not reveal Udell’s scheduled day in court. Police began the undercover operation after deputies noticed an increase in suspicious activity at the park, including men sitting alone in their vehicles. DPW chairman Joe Wineke said the charges were “disappointing if true.” Welcome To Gay Politico Watch... Will the last Republican to come out of the closet please close and lock that goddamn door? That has to be the main question occupying GOP strategists’ frontal lobes as the party’s brand of political circus seems to be a never ending act of queer clowns erupting from that tiny little car in the center ring. Let’s check up on what’s been happening since last our last edition. Larry Craig: Apparently no one in the GOP has yet to find the effective hook to yank the wide-standing Idaho Senator from the media spotlight. Larry lost his bid to  have his guilty plea overturned when on
October 4
Hennepin County Judge Charles Porter wrote: "Because the defendant's
plea was accurate, voluntary and intelligent, and because the
conviction is supported by the evidence ... the defendant's motion to
withdraw his guilty plea is denied." The judge didn’t buy a single
argument.That didn’t stop ol' Larry, however. "I have seen that it is possible for me to work here effectively," Craig said in a written statement reversing his decision to exit the Senate if his guilty plea stood. Craig plans to stay through the end of his term, but not seek re-election next Fall. Not good enough, Republican leaders are saying, though the talk in the cloakrooms is that of censure not ouster from a safe Republican seat in 2008. Of course, the faithful back in Idaho are aghast. "A lot of Republicans in Idaho think they need to sit down on a good shrink's couch right now," former state GOP vice chair Tracy Lotz told the Associated Press. "We're in shock." No sooner had Larry locked his Senate seat in a death grip than Ted Haggard’s call boy Mike Jones, eager for an additional 15 minutes of fame himself - not to mention a few more book sales - came forward on October 5 to claim that Larry had toe-tapped up to his place during a Denver layover. Or almost claim, that is. Jones stopped short of a direct accusation. He said has to look up the Senator’s flight plans to make sure. Let me just say this," Jones told KSEQ’s Bulldog Bill Feingold. "His travel records to Denver have been documented. That's what I'm going to say." BlogActive’s Mike Rogers, clearly wishing to defend his own tiara as top Republican closet buster this election cycle, poo-pooed Jones’ comments in a direct confrontation with Jones on the Feingold show. "You've intimated tonight that you've had sex with him...I'm the guy who first reported on him in October of 2006, and I'm the guy that's been all over the media about Larry Craig,” Rogers said. “I'm ready to ask you... Did you do him, or not?" Jones retorted with the ultimate put-down: "I don't know who you are.” Pass the Meow Mix, girls. Its not about you two - its about the rampant hypocrisy going on here. While you’all were hitting the scratching posts, Craig cast another anti-gay ballot, opposing the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act. However, as gag-inducing as Craig’s vote may be to LGBT folks, that didn’t top the latest the factoid that emerged about his June escapade in the love loo. Turns out that Larry didn’t flush after he left his stall. Just a class act all around, doncha think? The one glimmer of hope for the GOP in the Craig mess in the last few days? The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport announced that they were going to re-fit that infamous men’s toilet, “Craig proof” it so to speak, by putting in extended partitions that will prevent the toe-tapping and finger play the good Senator was arrested for last June. Hopefully those partitions will be in place before the first horde of GOP conventioneers hits the airport next summer. Joey DiFatta: One potential GOP conventioneer who won’t be taking a pit stop in  the Twin
Cities will be Louisiana Senate candidate Joey
DiFatta. The St. Bernard Parish Councilman Joey DiFatta withdrew from
the 1st Senate District campaign there on October 4. And now we know
why. The 53-year-old married with kids DiFatta had been stopped twice
since 1996 for suspicion of engaging in lewd behavior in public
restrooms in Jefferson Parish, according records obtained by the New
Orleans Times-Picayune. "If I had done something wrong, I would have been arrested," DiFatta told the paper. "I was not. I will deny that I was involved in any activity of that nature." DiFatta, did acknowledge that reports he had been stopped are true, but he denied any wrongdoing in both cases. He claimed he was not prosecuted in either case and has no arrest record. We’ll see. The picky press at the Times-Picayune have vowed to continue checking. At the press conference announcing his withdrawal earlier in the day DiFatta cited heart palpitations as his reason for dropping out. That and his inability to handle the scrutiny of not one but two documented toe-tapping toilet trysts. Bob Allen: Speaking of toilet trysters, let’s turn to the political aftermath that  Florida’s “$20 for a lip lock on your black
banana” boy
is suffering. Not only has the state’s GOP stripped Allen of all his
committee assignments and shunned him in public, he was locked out of
his office on October 3, according to the Pensacola News Journal. Turns
out that the House staff had rekeyed several work areas on the second
floor of the state office building, so Allen couldn't get into his
office.However blow-job Bob is now forced to sit in the corner as well. He has been reassigned by the GOP leadership to a corner seat in the house chamber near freshman Democrats. Uh oh. Fresh men? Down Bob! Welcome To Wisconsin Whispers... It's 6-6-6 dahlings... Screw "The Omen" - Whispers is back! And when that happens, all Hell is sure to break loose! The publicly pious and the pompous need to be very, very afraid! Plus there's so much dish, moi just needs to demon spawn all over the page! Whispers has the scoop on the truly hot act not listed on the PrideFest line-up, homeland heroes (and villains), and at least two (count 'em) returns from the dead... Fasten your garter belts, girls... It's going to be an E-Ticket! Surprise Superstar Act At PrideFest?... Whispers hears the surprise act  everyone will be blathering about over over
PrideFest weekend may not be the raunchy, rapid fire rib-tickling
expected from the leaner, meaner but certainly not cleaner Miss
Margaret Cho... Her warm-up act is now expected to pump up
PrideFest patrons right down to the cockles of their same-sex marrying
hearts (leaving La Cho to inflame the hearts of their cockles.)...The "Voices from Fair Wisconsin" - particularly head honcho Mike Tate - are now expected to drop the latest news on the civil union and marriage ban during Cho's pre-show, a time when the largest crowds of the weekend are expected to be massed in front of the Miller Stage... Insiders expect Tate to talk about the statewide door-to-door canvassing and the large numbers of "no" votes volunteers are encountering in all 72 counties... Those results would appear to jibe with the chilly internal poll results on the amendment Republicans received right before the final Assembly vote last winter... Sources said then a "dead heat"... That soft support was the key reason the GOP gadflys cooked up the second advisory death penalty ballot a couple of months later... After all re-election routs real public service every time! Homo Alone - The Greendale
Edition?
Whispers was tickled to see the
 riotous return of Bill Attewell's Wisconsin Gay News with a
full-on fusillade against former Queer
Life boss Donnie "Won't Wear The Good Hair Since Meanie Quest Called Me Out About The
Carpet" Hoffman. Sharp-eyed Wisconsin web watchers have been monitoring
WGN since it began been hinting of its resurrection with a site re-do
about a month ago... What some might not get is the "home searches without a warrant" aside (or should moi say "bottom side") in the send-up sketch... Relax, dearies, Whispers knows the scoop! In late July last year, Billy and his main squeeze took a much needed holiday out of town just prior to a QL deadline... Bill had made it very clear to Donnie as to how to reach him during his getaway if needed... With so many other things on his Mimosa-soaked mind (mostly "Naked Boys" tryout memories moi hears), La Hoffman forgot the memo... Frantic after being unable to arouse the absent Attewell at his home phone, La Hoffman sent a clueless courier over to Attewell's palatial Greendale manse in a vain effort to corral the absent scribe... The gopher found a way to burrow into Bill's home (Bill had left a way for his mom to get in to feed the cat) and proceeded to to search for more than the missing news maven... According to Attewell, it was a home inspection that left he and his longtime partner feeling "practically raped." Billy confronted the unapologetic Hoffman on the invasion, then quit the Milwaukee monthly shortly thereafter. Hoffman's antics and near total-disregard for anything occurring beyond his own 1st street storefront has become an ever-enlarging, festering lesion for others in the Milwaukee LGBT community. One merely has to check a copy of the Hoffman-sourced Pride Guide to note the lack of Third Ward gay bar owner support. Or the cobwebs on the stacks of unread Queer Lifes that can be found at the end of any month at nearly every drop site in the state. Whispers hears the toss rate is over 70% overall... Giving Milwaukee a monthly edition of the "Will & Grace Shopper" may be what straight guy advertisers want, but it's not what queer eyes want to read... Profiles In Courage - And Cowardice?
Whispers sends a shout out to Green
 Bay's
Bruce Wachsmuth for his courageous choice to invade the belly of the
Republican beast and lobby against the civil unions ban at the GOP
state convention in Appleton May 19 (It seemed appropriate for moi to
Apocalypticly reanimate this tale just in time for 6-6-6)... Bruce, who
has been powerfully peddling Fair Wisconsin's papers house to house
along with other volunteers for the last couple of months on Saturday
mornings, decided he could win a few more votes at the source of
the shuddersome suppression of homo happily-ever-afters. Little did he
know he would encounter the chief architect of the ban, soon to be
former Assembly Speaker and hopefully failed Congressional candidate
John "You Mean Peshtigo Isn't Just Around The Corner From Peshtigo?"
Gard... It was Gard who signaled Wisconsin's top homo-hater Julaine
Appling of the "Family" Research Institute in June, 2005 of his
plans to engineer a GOP base-turnout for November, 2006.How did Gard react? "At first he thought I was talking about a vote on a convention resolution," Bruce told Quest at the time. "The he realized I was talking about the marriage and civil union ban and he just took off." What Quest didn't print was the full story... Gard didn't just take off, he allegedly ran away from Wachsmuth - or at least that what Bruce claims - and he sticks to that story. Did Gard think he was caught in a gotcha moment (there's a picture - duh!)... Or is it just a continuation of a pattern of behavior the Mark Green wannabe has exhibited to anyone who doesn't agree with him, lock, stock and barrel? GOP women tell Whispers his dismissive attitude to the fair sex has him in big trouble this Fall... Is this why GOP bloggers are trying to engineer a win by another Congressional wannabe who has only the big bucks to show he's capable to govern? GOP3.com tried to do so last May, and got their hands slapped for it... Moi thanks goddess Google for her cache of pulled press potboilers from these weenies... Return Of Agent Double-Oh-Old?... Fair Wisconsin's recent coup of gaining the official support of the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups (CWAG) in the fight against the amendment has a very special Sodomite senior, er, seasoned citizen to thank... The genesis of 65+ society's endorsement began a year ago this June at the group's annual convention when the mature mavens of CWAG's positions political were seeking new causes to confirm... Into the fray stepped none other than long-time (and sometimes long-winded) activist and convention attendee Bill Meunier, who suggested the seniors survey the coming anti-gay amendment issues... Score another feather in the fossilizing fedora of the long time Wisconsin Light scribe and PrideFest co-founder... Hats off to you Bill! (Well all hats but Don Hoffman's moi guesses)... June 22, 2005 Welcome To Wisconsin Whispers... Summer is nigh, dahlings, and the gossip garden is full of freshly blooming secrets... Dish abounds about our state's scofflaw Assembly speaker, Sylvia's alleged revenge, PrideFest post-mortems and the down low on making sure we all get a chance for one final smoke... Speedy Gardzoles?... Whispers wonders which race GOP Assembly speaker John Gard really wants to enter - the 8th Congressional District or  NASCAR... One of moi's scanner loving spies checked out the
Wisconsin Circuit Court
Access website and found
our state's top lawmaker is also a lawbreaker... In fact, he's a repeat
offender and has the need for speed - in one instance, 25-29 miles per
hour over the speed limit... Moi guesses all that running from where he
actually lives in Sun Prairie to the district he represents just takes
up too much time and, with the budget crunch, Scott McCallum's old
private junket jet probably wasn't up for dibs...Perhaps more problematic is the operating after suspension charge... Some might suggest Gard's scofflaw attitude carries over to his respect for other legal concepts, say the state Constitution's concept of "equal protection under the law? Just ask his new gal pal "Mrs. Julaine Appling"... Memo to Vroom Vroom: last time Whispers checked, the tall, broad shouldered and sensibly-shoed Julaine was still a spinster lady... RuPaulFest Redux... Whispers was flooded with dish following this year's RuPaul, er, PrideFest... Well, at least that was the result of The Quest news team's quickie poll suggested the festival should have been called... Moi's family Saturday soiree kept the Whispers far from the fest but the spy team's overall take as "faboo"... With a few minor glitches, of course, especially from the "late" Miss Taylor Dayne... While the redone disco diva was on her best behavior, she apparently thought PrideFest was running on Gay Daylight Savings Time... Most glaring: the thirty or so folks that paid big bucks for the heavily undersold cruise with La Dayne... The promised dockside buffet never materialized, and the crew wouldn't let go of a celery stick before La Dayne stepped on deck - 25 minutes late... Our spies tell moi that out on the water Miss Taylor was affable and more than happy to autograph her $10 glossies and $20 CDs - getting a freebie two-shot was a lot more challenging, however... Miss Dayne's main stage show also started about 20 minutes late, and some say she should have ended on time... Off key and screechy said some... Most however, reveled in La Dayne's VH1 retro moments... Most also told moi Miss Ru was spot on, though shorter than expected - Our spy's stopwatch tagged 25 minutes with three costume changes, during which the crowd was left to ogle a CD player... Saturday night's success nearly overwhelmed those plucky PrideFest volunteers trying to manage the masses... Half-hour waiting lines to enter the grounds - another festival record, hopefully one not to be repeated in the future... Beer ticket lines were also longer than desired, and complicated by the carding process, according to several of moi's suds-loving spies... Something of interest, however, is despite the big body bounce, actual PrideFest spending appeared a bit down on a per capita basis - to about $131 per attendee vs. the mid $140's last year - a sign of the economic times, or perhaps a "straight effect"? Our spies tell us there was a breeder boom at this year's fest, and moi doesn't mean gaybies in rainbow strollers... Lastly, one of moi's confidants was a "boy in blue" on special duty who shared that our community is the best behaved of any group using the Maier park: "With this many people in one area during Summerfest, we'd be busting up dozens of brawls," moi's man in uniform confided. "You deserve to be proud." Don't Blink, You'll Miss the Parade... Whispers has learned from many mouths that official estimates from this year's parade organizers rival AOL chat room inches... The Outbound boys claimed a thou took a peek, but Quest eyewitnesses figured around 300, not counting those who didn't get off their barstools until the parade had passed them by... Thank goodness for stop lights, otherwise the whole business would have been over faster than a backroom quickie at 904A... That said, it was kinda sad because - according to the seasoned sissies squinting through their cat's eye glasses - the parade entries were some of the best seen in the Cream City queer cakewalk in memory... More importantly, the parade was the only event over the weekend that didn't carry a price tag to watch... and the most openly visible show available to the rest of the Milwaukee world... Kinda what Pride is supposed to be all about in the first place, right dahlings? Moi hopes that both the big gay glitter fest and the parade promoters can find ways to get together - its not a pissing contest sweeties, even if some of you carry a yellow hankie in your left pocket... Sylvia's Striptease?... No, dahlings, your eyes won't bleed over that suggestive spectacle as moi's mouthing off metaphorically... Actually one might say Disappearing Act Part II as Miss Sylvia gave the parade and many other pride events the slipper... But back to the striptease... Periodical loving patrons at Sylvia's Silver Slipper found their current copies of Quest a tad light... the center page, featuring a full color ad for Boom was AWOL, apparently slipped out of every copy in the bar... Our spies are suggesting others might have been in the mix, perhaps a competitor upset with a recent loss in ad revenue? Problem is over the years several gay rags have ended up being persona non grata at the Slipper for offending Sylvia's sensibilities - in addition to previous disappearances of Quest, our spies say the former Wisconsin INStep and QVoice also got a rush not found in a bottle of poppers... Moi would think by now La Smits would know well the old saying, "if you can't stand the hot grease, stay out of the sling"... Oh yes, one more thing: Whispers is wondering... Will it take a police escort to get the SAGE books back in the main office? Problems For Pride In The Countryside? Some in Cheeseland northeast have their fingers tightly crossed over the success the upcoming July 9 Argonaut- helmed homofest out at Al's Hilbert hacienda... Vendors and others interested in participating in this year's Northeast PrideFest have been pounding on former pride picnic producer Rainbow Over Wisconsin's portal to find out if anything is happening... Whispers knows ROW has been dutifully forwarding all queries to the cowhide queers... The Argo boys have lost three major movers of previous prides since their last shindig in 2004 and their expertise is sorely missed, at least according to one leather lad... Anyone wanting to pitch in should hustle up Allie K... Assembly Up To It's Ash in Cremation Consent... As some alert news hounds are aware, the Assembly recently passed a bill regulating the cremation industry that contained a "pecking order" of approval for the big burn... Unfortunately, the order permitted blood relatives and even wedded spouses to overturn legally drafted, notarized and executed statements of final wishes... Can you spell Schiavo, dahlings? Well, thanks in part to Action Wisconsin, the Senate removed the approval provision from their version of the bill... As of this column's debut, the bill is back in the Assembly for re-vote... Far less known, however, is the work of one lone gay activist over the last five years to fix the problem permanently... A Final Wishes bill that would create a new standard legal document similar to a Living Will (the lack of which caused the whole Terri the Veggie mess) that would allow anyone to state "on the record" how they want to exit the stage, smoking or non-smoking (or freeze dried if they can afford it)... The bill went to drafting June 14, using language researched by the activist... More obscure, dahlings, is that the bill's language will be modeled after a similar final wishes bill fought for by Rhode Island's version of AW... Also of note: years ago, when our plucky activist first pitched the idea to his activist peers, he couldn't find much more than lip service support because the idea wasn't "big enough." Of course, the activist's desire to keep the issue about plain ol' human dignity versus "gay rights" didn't help either... Geek Alert... Whispers has decided to make things a little more fun for the gay computer nerds who love to find Easter Eggs in video games, hidden tracks on audio CDs, etc. Hidden within moi's tasty tome today are hidden links to other pages, some confirming our rumors, others just plain fun... As both the Di Vinci Code and the Bible suggest: "seek and ye shall find"... May
26, 2005 (with June 3 updates)
Welcome To Wisconsin Whispers... When it comes to dishing, dodging and delusional Republicans, heaven-bound hellraisers, tap dancing drag dinosaurs, anal-retentive lesbian scribes, and disappearing Bible bigots, moi's gossip goblet overfloweth... Settle in dahlings, its gonna be a lovely, long, bumpy but absolutely yummy read! Republican State Senator Outs Own Son... Whispers couldn't believe its ears when western Wisconsin queers debriefed moi on their meeting with an Eau Claire-based state senator on the proposed civil union ban... No, not the multiply-married, gun-totin' RepubliNazi wack job Dave Zein, dahlings... Even his supporters know to perform a mood check before engaging in confabs... No, the much more moderate, and hopefully more sensible Ron Brown, who in the process of showing his understanding of the "gay issue" outed his own son... Just before he straightened up in his chair and dutifully reported he had to follow the supposed majority, anti-gay "public opinion" calls coming into his office on the amendment issue... Memo to Brown: true leadership is about doing the right thing and acknowledging real world realities, not pandering to the bigotry of the deluded who think history more closely resembles the Flintstones or whose freely chosen but unproven religious beliefs somehow trump hard science or business facts... Senate Majority Leader Shuts Out Opposition Views... Senator Brown certainly has more manners than Majority Leader Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center). who has given his queer constituents the royal runaround. When contacted directly, the state's top Repub tells amendment opponents to call his office where messages are left but never returned. The senator now has thwarted getting opposition calls or appointment requests coming from the working stiffs he represents by shutting off his office answering machine when his office is closed for the day. This from a man who claims he is following the wishes of the people he allegedly represents - so long as they agree with his closed mind on the subject apparently. Bigotry or paranoia? Perhaps a bit of both... Liberals Scare GOP Guv Wannabe Green... Whispers knows it surely may have been paranoia that weighed into the recent decision by gubernatorial candidate Mark Green to relocate his campaign headquarters from his  comfy Allouez digs to a Walnut St. office in
Green
Bay... Turns out when his campaign manager looked into expanding phone
lines at their old site he discovered access to the communications area
apparently was under the management of a perceived liberal - a gay one
to boot!
Our spy tells us the Green campaign genuinely feared the manager would
somehow let their phones be tapped... Apparently Green's camp has never
heard of professional ethics... Oh duh! Moi forgot about the Tom
Delay donations to Green's treasury!Well, that's okay "Monkey" (one pet name for Green's CM), our eyes and ears are still everywhere... And Whispers loves fueling right wing extremist paranoia at every chance we get... Besides, queer Wisconsin has heard your boss spout the far right agenda down to the last parrot squawk in his opening days on the stump... Despite Mr. Green's attempts to present a moderate image to the public at large, Packerland queers have his ultraRight number... They well remember Mark's multiple election-eve pulpit poundings at the Bayside Christian Fellowship - following by Pastor Arne's "unofficial" anointing - during his his Congressional campaigns... Lulupalooza... No dahlings, that isn't the new name for this year's PrideFest - even if planners now are dedicating this year's festival to the memory of the dearly departed Rev. Lew Broyles... For those of you who actually heard the Rev. Lulu preach, he could conjure fire and brimstone with the best of 'em... Deacon Karla is holding down the fort as best she can... Whispers hears the now-retired Ken Hull called from his Indiana dacha to offer his services... Ken is the miracle man who turned Green Bay's Angels of Hope MCC from a few huddled masses in a back room into a two-town, two-church ministry in less than five years... If Milwaukee accepts Ken's offer, the real question is while Ken's busy at the church, who will volunteer to keep his partner Harry away from the yard sales? Rev. Lew's sudden passing predictably has fired up the Cream City gossip mill... Among the best of the bunch: Lulu had three jobs, not the officially reported two (true - and the third involved tipping and 30-minute guarantees); Lulu was down South visiting a new beau (true - and part of the reason for the ill-fated jog); and Rev. Lew was leaving the Milwaukee MCC (sorta true - a leave of absence reportedly was in the works)... Oh yes, and one more bit of dish which leads us down the lane to: The Lady Sylvia - Tap Dancing For Her Life? Rev. Lew's passing also left  one major task unfinished - in the remaking of the SAGE
board, something his gifted leadership had not yet accomplished... The
remake was to include the
unleashing to the gay seasoned citizens
group's account books from the tight, yet strangely unmanicured
fingers of SAGE treasurer
Si (aka Sylvia) Smits... Mini-Update:
Prior to moi's May 26 report several board types had
confided to Whispers that La Smits had physical possession of
the SAGE books 24/7. Whispers had heard that Sylvia,
when she was not in
full
harrangue mode, had consistently tap danced around getting the books
down to the main office. Word is - as of June 3rd - SAGE
head honcho Bill Serpe has taken the needed steps to resolve the
issue...The SAGE brouhaha has also set off alarms over in Greendale at the historically correct home of Wisconsin Gay News' William Attewell... Whether by accident or design, Whispers received a fascinating email from Attewell asking Sylvia to unclench her fingers from another set of books - those of the G/L Community Center Trust Fund. Remembering an old INStep piece about the battling community centers, Whispers googled the trust fund and found it hiding under the website for Sylvia's Silver Slipper (aka the Boot Camp)... A quick peek at the distribution list was a trip down memory lane (hence the classic shot of Ms. Smits in moi's column). Amazingly, the Trust Fund continues to grant money a 70's relic long thought dead by anyone old enough to recognize Sylvia in drag: the GPU Hotline. Whispers called the number. It still works, or at least the answering machine does - with Si's voice on the messages... That's kind of creepy in a James Kirk finds an ancient but working killer computer in the original Star Trek series sorta way... As for Trust Fund benefit money raised for an LGBT organization known as the "Southeastern Wisconsin Coalition," Google couldn't any reference whatsoever, outside of the trust fund's web page... Or has Si developed an interest in light rail transportation? There is a transit site that references such a coalition. Whispers cannot wait to see what Attewell uncovers! And what will be real and what will be hokum... Maxi Update: Sylvia's Disappearing Act... Whispers truly admires Sylvia's amazing dexterity. She now appears to have added a magic act to her repertoire... All references to the shadowy LGBT group called the "Southeastern Wisconsin Coalition" were magically removed from G/L Community Trust Fund website May 29, just three days after Whispers had the audacity to mention it's existence... Coincidence? Perish the thought, dahlings... Also AWOL: All financial claims for monies raised, including a $4100-something being raised in 2003... But, never fear all of you with inquiring minds, public access to annual reports (with notation of profit and loss) are required of all 501(c)3 charities... If you'd like your own personal piece of gay history - and some might say fiction - why not write the G/L Community Trust Fund? Whispers is sharing the address in the next paragraph... Speaking of shadows, Whispers also wonders what kind of community-supportive social services are being offered at a community center that our Milwaukee barfly spies tell us only appears to be open after tavern closing time on Saturday nights, typically by "invitation only"... For those looking for services, the G/L Center's "official" address is 904A S. First St., just a short saunter from Sylvia's Silver Slipper - and guess who pays the property taxes at 904? One last item: In a move that sounds very Bob Dole-ish, are there beneficiaries of the G/L Trust Fund's largess (or in most cases, small-gess) that are returning their checks for political reasons? Lobbying For a Non-Existent Bill... Speaking of hokum, Whispers has a handle on a soon-to-be published piece of drivel that sounds like it might have been cooked up in Fantasy Politics camp... In addition to the lightly anticipated, de rigueur puff pieces on PrideFest headliners (the faboo RuPaul and the historically hot-headed Taylor Dayne), the June issue of the Will & Graceland Gay Shopper (otherwise known as Q Life) will have buried within its listlessly laid out pages a piece by neophyte political pundit Sura Faraj about a supposed civil unions bill being introduced in the Wisconsin legislature... The piece is also tied to the tail end of an editorial wail on the late Lulu by the currently constantly becapped editor/self-promoter Don Hoffman (perhaps the good hair is out at the dry cleaners, Donnie?)... Civil unions bill? Really? Whispers' checks with the state's real activists and the alleged co-sponsors' offices reveal not a wisp of planned action as of this column's publication: "back for re-drafting" according to Rep. Frank Boyle's office, "nothing currently planned" according to Rep. Fred Risser's people... What also was revealed was the "anal retentive" interviewing style of Ms. Faraj, shooting off a prepared list of loaded questions, apparently looking to confirm a personally held preconception of what the answers should be - the hallmark of "fair and balanced" reporting... Apparently pleas from advocates left, right and Center did not dissuade Hoffman from publishing this little project straight from apparently nowhere... Or comic relief perhaps is Donnie's purpose... Veteran and casual activists who yawned through Faraj's pointless rehash of the gay marriage issue in Q Life's debut issue last December certainly had a chuckle over her breathless, golly wow report of her "first encounter" with the minions of Wisconsin's class clown of Christian bigotry, Ralph Ovadal, in the paper's May issue... Had she done a little homework, Faraj would have known those "slick and professional" brochures are printed up by a shop owned by Sen. Tom Reynolds who has been in league with Rantin' Ralph for a long time now - and as uncovered by INStep and Quest two years ago - or that for nearly two decades WCU demonstrations have been as predictable at gay events as are rainbow flags, drag queens and leather boys... Wither Wisconsin Christians United? And speaking of Rantin' Ralph, Whispers noticed a bit of fascinating news on the web recently... Wisconsin Christians United apparently has closed up shop - all the material that had been on the WCU website has shifted over to a site owned by Ralph's "Pilgrims Covenant Church" (at www.pccmonroe.com) which calls itself an "independent, unlicensed church," not unlike its "pastor" who has never seen a single day in divinity school, but has had years of experience as a beer truck driver and sheep herder... Whispers would like to think the WCU shut down to please the rest of Christianity who found it so offensive, but wonders out loud if perhaps civil liability issues might be in the mix... Also curious: the "church" is operating a commercial (.com), not a not-for-profit (.org) website like real churches do... Could Rep. Mark Pocan have been right all these years? Is Ralph really just in it for the money? Hmmmm... Whispers will leave that for you to ponder as moi closes up shop moiself for now... Keep checking here regularly for more dirt - summer's nigh and the windows are open, who knows what bouquet or brickbat might fly in next? April 24, 2005 Welcome To Wisconsin Whispers... Always remember that what's left out is always more thought-provoking than what's left in... Taylor Dayne - Rhymes With Insane... That's how one catty queen summed up his impression of the recently VH1-madeover and PrideFest-  bound
80's disco diva... Whispers has been overwhelmed with reports of other
Mount St. Taylor Dayne "eruptions" in Wisconsin since moi's first
report broke three weeks ago... Whispers now has multiple confirmations
of two La Dayne
flame outs in the Fox Cities and Green Bay.Gay folk of a certain age remember - usually with fondness - Appleton's Pivot Club... Cavernous yet classy, the club was host to many a gayla event over the years - but with a few corkers strewn along the way. For those who fear I'll bring up memories of that notorious cocktailed performance by drag doll Ashley Morgan naked under a ratty mink - well, there you go... Actually, I was reminded by several seasoned sissies of the bizarre appearance in an early 90's track show by Miss Taylor Dayne... For those younger folks, track shows were basically karaoke with really good backing tapes - and they were a staple of gay club events before everyone got a chance to sing... Some of the discredit had to go to club management who reportedly miscalculated "talent" costs and ended up splitting one show into two, so that one promised "concert" became a couple of cameos with four or five songs each. Thus the patrons were already a tad surly before Miss Dayne ever struck a note. However, La Dayne's on stage attitude sealed the deal. By evening's end only a Jerry Springer type could have handled the emcee duties... The night's nadir occurred when a drunken fan offered La Dayne a dollar tip, as if she were just another Miss Gay Tiara Du Jour... Dayne dumped "Tell It To My Heart" in mid-thump, launched into a rant and told off the offending fan with heart-felt lyrics not on the cue cards. Six years later La Dayne had a one night booking at the Oneida Bingo & Casino in Green Bay: different night, same attitude... La Dayne's "fame" had sold just a handful of advance tickets, so the concert venue was filled with gold card gamblers enjoying a break from the slots with casino-comped tickets. After no response from the crowd to the first two second-tier hits, La Dayne began mocking to masses. It took "Tell It To My Heart" to get even a smattering of applause... "Well, its about time!" she was reported to have huffed... However, to give the diva her due, the casino's more typical big haired acts lean heavily toward faded metal rockers... But other one-hit disco wonders have wowed the same venue and its gambler heavy audiences with far skimpier songbooks, leaving Whispers to conclude it's La Dayne's rude 'tude that leaves audiences feeling more screwed than enthused... To be fair, there are gay-driven Taylor Dayne fan sites that gush with more positive reviews about recent performances... But she's minus three for three in Wisconsin thus far. Hopefully the fourth time will be the charm... Rumor Control... Whispers doesn't mind scuttling widespread falsehood when offered the opportunity, so let moi deflate one gossip balloon currently floating over Cream City at the moment. Queer Life's Don Hoffman is not headed for the hoosegow and being replaced by former InStepper Bill Attewell... Yes, the two do have a working relationship: the ink on the Pride Guide agreement was barely dry before Hoffman sub-contracted that job out to his monthly's current webmaster. And the last two lead stories in the lifestyle publication were penned by Mr. Bill... While some say Hoffman's past may have been a bit shady, its not deserving of the current shade allegedly coming from Cream's City's cowhide contingent... Old News... What's with one of Wisconsin's gay news purveyors? One recent edition rehashed a 2002 AIDS story as "breaking news"... Now a queer celbrity wedding known worldwide for months (and duly reported at the time pre-QNU in the hard copy version of Quest) gets the same treatment... Moi guesses that once the Ahlzeimer's kicks in, everything old is new - one good joke gets 'em laughing every time... April 14, 2005 Welcome To Wisconsin Whispers... When facts meet rumors, the truth is much more fascinating... Tiara Tallying, Or Something Like It... Wisconsin may not have Charles and Camilla, but we do have royalty if one counts the elected queens under the Capitol dome... Now here's a question for all the gay math whizzes: How many lavender lawmakers now sparkle in the Brieland Legislature? Many might say two - Cap City eastsider Mark Pocan and the former "queer from the Ninth" Tim Carpenter. However, Whispers now has some evidence there may be four... Not that either #3 or #4 will be holding the Rainbow flag pole at the next Madison Pride parade - at least not until GOP stands for the "Gay Old Party." 2005's New Year's Baby was barely out of his Huggies when one hunky gay activist reported an autumn cruise during happy hour at Madison's trendy Great Dane by a supporter of the proposed constitutional civil union ban... Whispers has now been able to confirm the close encounter of a lavender kind was not just the fiery eyed wonk's fervid imagination... Other Great Dane cocktailers have been love lobbied by the same politico... Scoop on the second legislator, who "lives by the lake" (you'll get to divine which water body), has been harder to come by... Whispers needs more than local queer community consensus and widespread mainstream insider innuendo. So if you have some genuine "in your end - oh!" on our lakeside pink - oops - red party colon commando, please share all... Memo To "Premiere News" Distribution... If you're going to reference a major gay-friendly fundraiser on your front page, it helps to get the newsprint out to inquiring eyes before the event - like 4-6 weeks in advance... Not 24 hours before the big do, as some Cream City drop sites have reported. Then again, the queer peons in the provinces didn't have a chance to eyeball the "scoop" until three days after the event... Speaking of broken promises, Whispers heard about another silent auction going on in the lower level of Art Museum, in the vicinity the men's room... Dessert buffet waitrons weren't the only ones offering fruit tarts that night... Whispers was well aware of the dinner and fireworks, but not the impromptu and certainly unsponsored post-dinner cruise... Influence Peddling... Now that Time has issued its "100 Most Influential People" can a smaller lavender Brieland version be in the works? It certainly would be a step up from all the celebrity iPod blather of late... Wacko Watch... The Minneapolis-Star Tribune's portrait of Minnesota's truly warped Republican State Senator Michele Bachmann, lead sponsor of that state's constitutional civil union band, triggered a Whispers reverie... Last week Bachmann was photographed hiding in the bushes with an aide watching a gay supportive rally opposing her bill. On another occasion, Bachmann screamed when two lesbian opponents confronted her in a town hall wash room, filed an incident report and then asked the state to provide her with a bodyguard. Whispers couldn't help remembering the antics former Wisconsin Rep. Lorraine Seratti's infamous "belly guard, " the pair of wide-waisted daddy types who accompanied her nearly everywhere during her sponsorship of the DOMA bill in 1996-7. Seratti told a Green Bay news anchor back then that she was genuinely fearful that gay activists would attack her with syringes filled with HIV-tainted blood. Of course Whispers only has to look at the many recent antics of current Senator Tom Reynolds, who one may recall depicted himself as an active participant in the Nativity on a Christmas card a year or two back and spent much of the all-night session on the DOMA bill later vetoed by Gov. Doyle giving back rubs to his male GOP cronies on the Senate floor. Now Whispers has learned several of recent opponents of civil union bans who have met with Reynolds have gotten a bonus for their political activism: copies of anti-gay brochures put out by Rantin' Ralph Ovadal's koo koo coterie AKA Wisconsin Christians United. Of course Reynolds may just have been trying to drum up business. He owns the print shop that reproduces all that hate-filled litter-a-ture... Of course the bigger question moi thinks is how do these fanatics ever get elected (and in some cases re-elected) in the first place? In case you didn't read all the way to the bottom of the last dish, Whispers is re-running this bit of bon mot... A Final Aside On TVC's Lou Sheldon...Whispers had the chance to meet Miss Lulu when she was stealth campaigning here in BrieLand a few years back... The gaydar definitely went "ding!" Whispers also has noticed that all the top homo haters in the country - La Dobson, La Reed, La Sheldon, La Falwell, etc. etc. all seem to have an unfortunate tendency to flit... Coincidence? Moi thinks not! But to paraphrase the good Bishop Robinson: "Just a thought! Jump to to conclusions on your own time, and not on my dime!" April 4, 2005: Welcome To Wisconsin Whispers... Are we having fun yet? Moi certainly thinks so... Trash Talk... Looks like former InStepper Billy Attewell is trying to kick up a little more dust. Trust moi, she has the size elevens to do it if she wants. Just ask Milwaukee's AlderBigot McGee. He's still doing his best "I ain't afraid of no ghosts" routine weeks after Miz Billy stamped her pumps over his homo-hating comments. Now Miz A has her silkies sliding up the slit over moi's dish on the historic hsyterics of La Diva Taylor Dayne (see the original dish below). Miz A called it "trashing" not once but twice on the April 5 edition of the Milwaukee, er, Wisconsin Gay News website. Well, honeys, nothing is further from the truth! Moi is just like the news pimps over Faux News: Moi just reports, you decide. Gotta thank Billy boy, though. Within hours, his free plug for Wisconsin Whispers debut dish got us another, more recent delirious diva Dayne sighting at a well known Wisconsin Indian bingo and casino... Whispers is playing email tag with the spy and will share the dirt as necessary... If its legit, you'll hear it here first, probably with a hissy little echo over at WGN... As for Ms. Dayne's talent, Whispers will leave that to the music critics, some of whom were not so kind during her five year career as a top-selling mainstream artist. Today they call her a "dance music artist." As opposed to what? Real music? Isn't that considered an insult? Don't believe moi? Read the whole bio and album reviews over at the definitive All Music Guide. Personally La Diva Dayne's one huge ballad hit "I'll Always Love You" is one of Whispers' all time faves... Finally, let's face it girls! Some of us just adore those over the top divas! A train wreck in heels is certainly a lot more fun that a train wreck on wheels. Just ask Edge's Lottie Dodge, Outbound's Cheap Talkin' Chi Chi, and Quest's SoFonda Boyz. Their columns wouldn't exist without them. And Whispers is certain that the more savvy PrideFest folks are just tickled that there's a little early sizzle about this year's line-up... All Divas, All The Time... PrideFest's announcement of it's 2005 headliners has pleased many but has disturbed a few others. There's no doubt that our own ever-evolving "gay Madonna" RuPaul, 80's disco chanteuse Taylor Dayne, veteran gay comedian Jason Stuart, perennial up 'n comer Jade Esteban Estrada, and women's music fave Pamela Means will sell tickets. Some, however, wonder if its worth the big bucks to bring in the notoriously temperamental Dayne. At her peak, the reedy Long Islander was sometimes compared to the tantrum-throwing Maria Callas. Things got worse after her star faded in the early '90s. "She was over the top, outrageously rude to everyone - hotel staff, fans, even her own people," recalled an ex-staffer who worked on Dayne's early 1990's appearance at the Stevens Point Holiday Inn Holidome. "Her attitude even showed up on stage. By the end of her show even the audience had turned on her. Personally I wouldn't walk across the street to see her after what I witnessed!" The money PrideFest is throwing at Dayne is reportedly not in the Pat Benatar territory, insiders tell us. So the specter of mind-numbing losses is not as great. But the "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" girl was pleasant to work with, even if her show tanked with the queer crowd. Whispers can only hope that another decade away from the top of the charts and middle age have mellowed La Diva Dayne. History suggests that may not be the case: other notoriously "difficult" tune tigresses, a la 60's Motown icons Diana Ross and Martha Reeves, have only grown worse in their AARP dotages. In the meantime, Whispers cannot wait for the real supermodel cum superstar to show-up on the Miller Stage: the fabulous Miss RuPaul. The April Fool Joke Wisconsin's Gay Community Missed... Those who checked out the QNU and Wisconsin Gay News websites April 1 saw several stories and links to gay-themed spoofs thumbing noses at AlderBigot Mike McGee, Milwaukee TalkNazis Belling and Sykes, Rantin' Ralph Ovadal and even His HolyHomoHater John Paul The Sequel.... Most of those send-ups are digital vapor now, except for the one groaner the queer newsboys missed: Openly-gay Rep. Mark Pocan's teaser sending up the so-called "Conscience Protection Act" sponsored by a variety of Wisconsin Right To Impose My Bigotry On Your Bedroom groups and God's Own Party wing of the Wisconsin Republicans. Enjoy! POCAN PROPOSES CONSCIENCE
PROTECTION ACT II
Legislator says only real way to
completely stop abortions is to stop sex
Madison
– State Representative Mark Pocan (D-Madison) is proposing a Conscience
Protection Act II to go farther than the first measure to protect all
areas of conscience by allowing workers to refuse to sell anything that
could lead to sex. Pocan said, much like movie sequels, his proposal is
bigger and better than the current measure.“If you really want to stop potential abortions, you have to stop sex, period. We need to go further in protecting workers’ consciences than the current proposal. If you really want to have zero tolerance on abortions, we need to have zero tolerance on sex,” said Pocan. The new improved measure Pocan is proposing would allow a broader definition of conscience to include anything that could lead to sex, which ultimately could lead to an abortion. “Condoms, nope. Dim candlelight, no way. Queen size beds, I don’t think so. Barry White, definitely not! A combination of any of those elements could lead to intimacy, which could lead to sex, which could lead to abortions. We have to be more proactive in making sure there is absolutely no likelihood of physical contact,” said Pocan. Pocan said his measure would go beyond just health care workers, and include all workers. “You may not realize it, but the pharmacy is not the only dangerous part of a Walgreens. They also sell condoms, candles, incense, massage oil, cd’s and even gushy greeting cards. Who would think that a pharmacy would be so unsafe for the general public?,” Pocan asked. Pocan noted that business groups might oppose his measure, citing the inflexibility of workers to actually work if their jobs interfere with their belief system. However, he noted legislative Republicans might amend the bill to include tax breaks to employers to help alleviate the potential problems with his plan. That is, he noted, if indeed anyone in big business still pays taxes in Wisconsin, given the business tax breaks the legislature approved in the last twenty years. “April 1 st is the perfect day to introduce such a comprehensive measure as this. Then again, it would be the perfect day to introduce the first Conscience Protection Act as well,” said Pocan. Thanks Mark for keeping up the pressure on those pandering hypocrites on the other side of the aisle! And for you lovers of the Fool's Day, here's a link to the Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time. The Power Of One Queer - The California Edition... This tasty bit of business crossed my desk and is just too good not to share, even if it happened on the Left Coast... Thanks to Whitney Douglas-Weddell for sharing her escapade with Wisconsin Whispers... Bakersfield Rallies Against
Anti-Gay Zealots
I learned on Wednesday (March 30) night that religious bigot Lou Sheldon was bringing his anti-gay Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) to my hometown of Bakersfield the following Saturday. Our local State Senator, Roy Ashburn was to host a rally to promote an agenda against marriage equality, domestic partnerships, and gay & lesbian rights in general. Assemblyman Bill Maze and City Councilman Mike Maggard were also scheduled to speak, along with some local religious leaders. And I had 48 hours to do something about it! I immediately put in calls to the top activists with our organization, Bakersfield LGBTQ, as well as to Marriage Equality California, and Dontamend.com. We sent out emails to everyone we had on our community e-list, and everyone emailed their personal address book. We called people who had never protested before. We enlisted our local straight allies form the ACLU, UU and UCC churches, as well as all the member LGBTQ organizations. We papered the local bars with fliers. We made signs. We ran like crazy to print up resource fliers. We held a special choir practice to learn a new protest song written by a local woman. In short, we used every one of those 48 hours to get ready. And ready we were. (On Saturday, April 2) we began arriving at the public park of their rally at 8am, two hours ahead of the TVC rally start time. We brought along all the signs we could find, and rainbow flags we had begged and borrowed from a variety of places. We scoped out a set of tables, and noticed that there were a couple of people across the park setting up. Kirk S. intrepidly went over and asked what they were doing, and they told him they were doing the rally. Bingo! We were in the right place. We set up camp a short distance away from their area. Shortly thereafter, they sent someone to tell us they had reserved the tables where we were becoming entrenched. We decided that we did not want to cause a scene over something so trivial, so we retreated to tables that were only a few feet away. Our allies began trickling into the park by twos and threes, in families and friendship groups. For the next two hours we watched our groups swell to 10, then 25, then 70…and eventually we were 200 strong! Folks came from places like Fresno & Tulare, Ridgecrest & Boron, even one woman from Washington State. We must have done some good PR. Our crowd ranged in age from a few months old to senior citizens, form every walk of life. It was a beautiful sight to see. In the meantime, we kept watching the TVC enclave, where apparently nervous staffers were on cell phones; we guessed they were trying to cajole their supporters out of their beds. At rally time 10am, they were all of 20 people, and a few straggled in later. We outnumbered them 10 to 1. I suspect that if we hadn't shown up at all, Lou Sheldon would have been speaking to an empty park and some trees. Before their rally began, we formed a circle around them, and began singing our songs. Tracy Weddell led us in her anthem, "Promised Land," and Holly Near's "We Are a Gentle Loving People." When Senator Ashburn began speaking, we continued to sing for several minutes, which clearly upset him. He begged us to be quiet. We sang until we finished our songs, and when he called for the Pledge of Allegiance, we chimed in, and with the National Anthem as well. It must have been quite a moment for them to hear our beautiful voices rising in song as good patriotic Americans do. The rally progressed, with various speakers taking the mike at different times. Maggard and Maze were no-shows. Early on, Chad Vega, a local School Board member and pastor of a church, as well as technically my boss, spoke, and he made the mistake of asking questions of us. I think he meant to be rhetorical, but this opened a floodgate of responses for the duration of the rally. From then on, there were cat calls, and group boos and hisses, although we did applaud when they made comments with which we could agree, which kept them noticeably off-balance. Each speaker grew more angry, with Lou Sheldon himself shouting venom and making accusations about gay and lesbian people that clearly showed how incredibly ignorant he is. At one point, he made some comments about how civilizations have fallen, referring to Rome, and it seemed so ludicrous that our whole crowd burst into paroxysms of laughter for several minutes. Sheldon's face turned red as he realized what a buffoon he was appearing to be. In all fairness, I have to admit that there were times when some of our members were a little over the top. Cops appeared in the park, but they did not approach us. They seemed to have been called by someone, and yet they simply sat some distance away and observed. Despite our group reactions and obvious enmity for TVC, we remained peaceful, if not altogether quiet. Apparently, we were well-behaved enough for the law, if not enough to be truly appreciated by the zealots we were confronting. We all joined in to a spirited rendition of "How Great Thou Art,"sung by a very talented woman that we suspected was a drag queen. Many of our crowd are Christians, and once again I think our opponents had never considered that possibility, and it left them with little to say. Once they finished speaking, Sheldon and most of the speakers quickly left the park. Ashburn walked around a bit, smiling condescendingly at us, trying to shake hands and asking for hugs from us. He was engaged several times, especially by some of our younger members, who demanded to know why he allied himself with divisiveness, and failed to represent his whole constituency. Our own Roy Hall, all of 15 years old, confronted him while grasping his mother's hand, demanding to know why Ashburn was supporting laws that would destroy his family. Hall explained that he felt totally unprotected in a system that gave more rights to a father he has never known than to his mother's partner who has helped raise him. Ashburn hemmed and hawed about the will of the people, but Roy was undaunted. He pushed on, saying it didn't matter to him about popular opinion. Ashburn tried to give him a very bad lesson in democracy, but the crowd would have none of it, and corrected him several times about his assertion that democracy allows for the exclusion of certain people. (He's so full of it.) In the end, Ashburn simply turned away. We remained in the park, pointedly on the ground of their rally, even as they were cleaning up and preparing to leave. We laughed, sang, and made light chatter, as if to send them a message: they haven't bothered us today! As they sagged away in their cars, it was clear they had been totally unprepared for us, and they have no real answers for the questions about why they think they can create a society that excludes LGBTQ people. It's easy for them to preach to the choir at rallies of homogenous religious zealots, but they cannot make their case when confronted with the reality of the law, the Constitution, and of course, people who actually think. We cleaned up our area, making sure to leave the park clean and tidy, and spent another hour together at a local pizza place where we celebrated our ability to keep them off-center. We know that our celebration may be short-lived. They'll be back, and they'll be better organized. And so will we! A Final Aside On TVC's Sheldon... Whispers had the chance to meet Miss Lulu when she was stealth campaigning here in BrieLand a few years back... The gaydar definitely went "ding!" Whispers also has noticed that all the top homo haters in the country - La Dobson, La Reed, La Sheldon, La Falwell, etc. etc. all seem to have an unfortunate tendency to flit... Coincidence? Moi thinks not! But to paraphrase the good Bishop Robinson: "Just a thought! Jump to to conclusions on your own time, and not on my dime!" Just One Last Reminder... The page that dares to share all the gossip that is out there... All that's been overheard, observed and shared with with our spies around the Badger state will end up right here... Got a little tidbit you'd like to share? Share it with us - you know you really want to! We'll be discreet within the limits of the libel laws... Verification is the mother of indigestion amongst the rich and the powerful, darlings... Wisconsin Whispers is assembled by the Every Other Thursday Gay Gossip And Gourmet Sewing Circle and depends on the generous submissions from viewers like you. 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