the rest of our world

city Dedicates Gay Mural
Philadelphia — According to a report 1
in The Advocate the city of
Philadelphia has dedicated a 7,500-
square-foot mural Saturday that pays
tribute to gays. lesbians, bisexuals,
and transgendered people. Titled
Pride and Progress, the mural (one of
2,353 in the city) occupies a wall
alongside a downtown community
center that serves the gay community.
At 150 feet wide and 50
feet tall. the mural depicts a compos-
ite of 1960s gay civil rights marches
in Philadelphia and New York, a festi-
val on cobblestone streets with a mul-
ticultural throng. and segments of
Independence Mall, all under a
moody sky with the hint ofa rainbow.
“I wanted to create something beauti-
ful and atmospheric.“ said artist Ann
Northrup. 54. whose design was cho-
sen for the mural.
Northrup has worked with

10 assistants and 10 volunteers since
last August to create the panoramic
scenes. According to the founder of
the city’s mural arts program, no one
had been ablelto locate another public
mural in the country paying tribute to
the gay community. "I think it’s the
first  and certainly the largest in the
country about this theme,” she said.

Antidiscrimination Laws
Spread
Washington — According to a press
release from the Human Rights
Campaign, more cities and counties
enacted laws in 2002 prohibiting
workplace discrimination based on
sexual orientation or gender identity
than in any previous year, with 15 S
localjurisdictions outlawing job dis-
crimination based on sexual orienta-
tion and 16 passing measures cover-
ing gender identity and/or expression.
At the same time, the num-
ber of all types of employers offering

‘ domestic partner health insurance

benefits grew by 16 percent in 2002,
while the number of employers insti-
tuting sexual orientation non-discrim-
ination policies rose seven percent.
These numbers represent a smaller
growth rate than for the previous ~
year

Among other findings:

V Fifteen Fortune 500 companies
had non-discrimination policies cov-
ering gender identity at year’s end.

V Sixty-one percent of the Fortune
500 included sexual orientation in
their non-discrimination policies.

V Twenty more Fortune 500 com-
panies implemented domestic partner
health insurance benefits in 2002, for
a total of 169.

V Proposals by opponents of civil
rights for gay and lesbian workers
failed in the four cities where they
were able to get on the ballot, and
they were unable to collect enough‘
signatures in two other cities and the
state of Maine.

Canadian Queer Moms
Publish
Toronto — In a forwarded email, we

learned ofthe existence of a north-of-

the-border publication titled Mommy
Queerest. The email included a plea
for part-time ad sales representatives
because the publication had to cancel
its Pride edition for lack of advertis-
ing. Three other issues are available
on the website (www.altemative-
moms.com). 1
Here‘s what they say abou

themselves: “Mommy Queerest
Magazine is an independent Canadian
publication dedicated to giving voice
to our nation’s queer moms and
reflecting the realities of our experi-
ences both as queer womyn and queer
moms. It is Canada’s only publication
geared specifically to queer moms.
Mommy Queerest is currently pub-
lished on a quarterly basis and is
intended strictly for the female-identi-
fied, same-sex oriented adult audi-
ence." ‘

You can find out more at
info@mommyqueerest.com or (416)
985-7340.

Former Olympian Co-Prez of
Gay Games

Montreal — The Board of Directors of
the Montreal 2006 Gay Games VII
Organizing Committee announced‘ the
election of former Olympian Mark
Tewksbury as its new Co-President to
work with Ms. Lucie Duguay. I

Tewksbury’s 16-year athlet-
ic career culminated in a gold medal
in the 100-meter backstroke at the ,
1992 Barcelona Olympic Games
while setting a new world record. He
has established seven world records;
gold, silver and bronze medals in
Olympic competition; four gold
medals in Commonwealth Games
competitions; seven medals in Pan
Pacific competitions and 21 national
championship titles.

Tewksbury came out pub-
licly in 1998 while serving as national
spokesperson for AIDS; the first
Canadian national sports hero to do
so. He currently has a career as a
motivational speaker for civic groups
and corporations, including Coca-
Cola, IBM, Johnson & Johnson,
Kodak, Revlon and Xerox.

NJ Lesbian Teen Mudered
Newark — Sakia Gunn and four
friends rebuffed the sexual advances
of two men while the five young
women waited for the bus at 3:30 am
by telling the men they were lesbians.
Gunn was stabbed to death in the
ensuing fight. Gunn was 15 years old
and in the tenth grade. She played
guard on her high school basketball
team and dreamed of playing in the
WNBA. ' < _
, According to a report on
Advocatecom, Richard McCullough,
29, was arraigned Friday in New
Jersey state superior court on murder.
bias intimidation, and weapons
charges in the crime. He was ordered
held on $500.000 bail.

“Crimes like this don’tjust
happen in Laramie, Wyoming,” said
David Buckel, a senior staff attorney
for the Lambda Legal Defense &
Education Fund. “They happen all the
time, all across the country. Tragedies
like this happen when lesbian or gay
people‘s lives are devalued — when
our basic humanity is denied simply
because of who we are."

The Reverend Jacquelyn
Holland. pastor of the Liberation in
Truth Unity Fellowship Church in
Newark, was quoted by
Advocatecom saying she and other
community leaders hope to establish
a neighborhood drop-in center where
gay teens can come for counseling,
employment help, and reassurance.
“We want to let them know it’s OK to
be who they are,” she said. “She did-
n’t do anything wrong by being a les-
bian.”

Americans Think AIDS
Vaccine Exists

Washington — The National Institute

of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
(NIAID, a division ofthe National
Institutes of Health) says many
Americans wrongly believe that a
preventive vaccine for HIV/AIDS has
already been developed. Nearly half
of African Americans surveyed (48
percent) and more than a quarter of
Hispanics (28 percent) believe that an
HIV vaccine already exists and is
being kept secret. Twenty percent of
adults in the general population share
that belief.

The research included a
2,000-person national survey of
American adults and three smaller
surveys of communities most affected
by HIV and AIDS (African
American, Hispanics, and men who
have sex with men).

Every day, an estimated
16,000 people worldwide become
infected with HIV, according to the
Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS. Approximately half ofthe
38.6 million adults living with
HIV/AIDS worldwide are women,
while 3.2 million are children
younger than 15.

In the United States, an
estimated 900,000 people are living
with HIV. New infections occur at a
rate of 40,000 a year; more than half
of those new infections occur in peo-
ple of color. Young people under the
age of 25 account for half of all new
HIV infections in the United States.

According to the press
release, “Discovering a safe, effective
vaccine to prevent HIV infection isa
research priority for the U.S. govem-
merit.” And, “Funding from NIAID
has enabled scientists to put more »
potential vaccines in the pipelines’ for
testing in the next two years than
were tested in the last five years com-
bined.”

Southern African Leaders

Scapregoat GLBTs

Cape Town, South Africa — Many
leaders in southern Africa have sin-
gled out lesbian, gay, bisexual and

transgender people as scapegoats for ‘

their countries’ problems, according
to a press release from Human Rights
Watch and the lntemational Gay and
Lesbian Human Rights Commission
UGLHRC)

Their report, More Than a
Name: Stare-Sponsored Homophobia
and its Consequences in‘ Sour/tern
Africa, documents pervasive harass-
ment and violence against sexual
minorities in Botswana, Namibia,
South Africa, Zambia, and
Zimbabwe.

“Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender people have been vilified
by presidents and political leaders,
which has led to a culture of intoler-
ance,” said Paula Ettelbrick, execu-
tive director of IGLHRC.

The report documents the
experiences of victims who. have been
assaulted, imprisoned, expelled from
schools, fired from jobs, denied
access to medical care, evicted from
their homes, and driven into exile or,
in some cases, to suicide.

“When Southern African
political leaders like President Robert
Mugabe of Zimbabwe make speeches
saying that gays and lesbians are
‘worse than dogs and pigs,‘ it should
be no surprise that violent attacks fol-

low,” said Scott Long, the outgoing
program director of Human Rights

. Watch and a co-author of the report.

The report also examines

South Africa, which in 1996, newly
freed from apartheid, became the first
country in the world to prohibit dis-
crimination based on sexual orienta-
tion in its constitution. Based on
interviews with numerous individuals
and activists, the report concludes
that the equality guaranteed lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender people
is fragile, and even endangered by the
silence and foot-dragging of South
African political leaders.

Ten Years of Dyke TV

Brooklyn, NY — Dyke TV, the only
weekly television show produced by
and for lesbians, turns 10 years old
this month. Dyke TV made its debut
on public access network Manhattan
Neighborhood Network (MNN) on
June 8, 1993. Founded by playwright
Ana Simo, filmmaker Mary Patiemo,
and theatre producer Linda Chapman,
Dyke TV was seen as a chance to cre-
ate “television to incite, subvert, pro-
voke and organize.”

The web site
(www.dyketv.org) features an expand-
ed digital archive of over 200 seg-
ments, along with new featured seg-
ments which will be newly available
in both high and low resolutions. As
of June 6, visitors will have access to
hundreds of exclusive segments.

Winner ofthree public
access awards for best individual
show, Dyke TV currently broadcasts
on 50 public access networks across
the United States and on Canada’s
Pridevision channel,.according to a
press release. The organization behind
the show also teaches courses in ‘
video production and editing work-
shops, and offers videotape dubbing
and equipment rental services.

Dyke TV is the only inter-
national television program that fea-
tures exclusively lesbian-oriented
content from news and politics, to
health and arts, to sports and family
life, with many shows now containing
creative segments shot by individual
artists.

Episcopals Honor Gay cleric
West Hollywood, Ca — Rev. Troy D.
Peny, human rights activist and
founder ofthe predominantly gay
Metropolitan Community Churches
’(MCC), was awarded an honorary
Doctor of Divinity Degree from
Episcopal Divinity School,
Cambridge, MA, during graduation
ceremonies on May 22, 2003.
Metropolitan Community Church is a
Christian denomination with a posi-
tive outreach to the gay and lesbian
community. .

“Episcopal Divinity School
is proud to recognize the Rev. Elder
Troy Perry as one of the landmark
leaders of the contemporary church,”
The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, EDS
president, was quoted in a press
release. “We are a community that
stands forjustice, compassion and
reconciliation for all God’s people.
Troy Perry stands with us."

' Episcopal Divinity School
educates lay and ordained leaders of
the Episcopalian Church.

Last year’s recipient ofthe
EDS award was Nobel Peace Prize
honoree Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

“I am deeply humbled by

this recognition by Episcopal Divinity
School. This award not only honors
me, but honors the entire
Metropolitan Community Churches
movement and MCC’s contributions
to Christendom," Rev. Perry said.
MCC and the Episcopal
Church share a long history. MCC ’

- member and open lesbian Ellen

Barrett’s ordination to the ministry of
the Episcopal Church sparked an
ongoingdebate about the role of gay
people there. Episcopal Bishop John
Spong is a frequent speaker at MCC
churches and meetings, and many
MCC congregations meet in worship
space provided by Episcopal church-
es. The writings of openly lesbian .
Episcopal Divinity School faculty
member Carter leleyward have been —
used in the training ol"MCC clergy.
During 2004 the EDS campus will be
the site of several MCC educational
programs.

BFLAG to Hold National
Meeting

Pittsburgh — An organization for blind
gays and lesbians and their family
and friends — BFLAG ~ will be hold-
ing its 2003 annual convention in
Pittsburgh, PA July 5 - 12. The group
is affiliatcd with the American
Council of the Blind (ACB). Founded
in 1996, the group was formally rec-
ognized as an ACB affiliate four
years later.

“We have come to the
understanding that most ofthe visual-
ly impaired GLBT individuals simply
don’t know that others exist or how to
make "contact with them. Many closet
doors are shut, not by choice but by
the lack of knowledge,” wrote
BFLAG member “Butch” Arnold in
an emailed press release. “Although
BFLAG will never ‘out’ anyone, we
do want to make it easier for all to
live an open life with access to educa-
tional information as well as other
individuals of the general GLBT
community.”

For more infomation,
check out www.bflag.org.

Gay chamber of Commerce
at Equality Forum

Washington — The National Gay &
Lesbian Chamber ofCommerce
(NGLCC), dedicated to expanding
access and opportunity for the GLBT
business community, co-hosted the
International Business Colloquium
Panel at the 2003 Equality Forum in
Philadelphia, PA last month.

The panel was ajoint col-
laooration between the NGLCC, the
Equality Forum, the German-
American Chamber of Commerce,
and Voelklinger Kreis, the German
Gay Managers Association. Panelists’
discussed similarities in the ways
GLBT issues are handled at the cor-
porate level in both Germany and
America and what “out” executives
can do to constructively engage the
non-gay senior level managers and
executives to be allies on GLBT
issues in corporations.

At a Saturday evening din-
ner co-chaired by Vermonter Scottie
Ginn. a vice president at IBM. the
group presented an award to Allan
Gilmour, the openly gay Vice Chair
and CFO of Ford Motor Company. V