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Press release from R.U.1.2?

ANH\/|ALTEST|NG

COMMUNITY NEWS
The Dialogue Project Turns
the Tables; Expands
Elder—Youth Dialogue

BURLINGTON - The Dialogue Project, a program of the Vermont Queer Ar-
chives at the R.U.1.2? Community Center, is moving forward into the next
phase. The past years project involved queer elders telling their stories
in response to questions from queer youth. This next cycle turns the
’ _ . tables, and gives queer elders the opportunity to ask queer

youth about their lives.



When R.U.1.2? intern Heidi Wagner launched the project,
she visited queer youth organizations, such as Outright Ver-
mont, and gathered questions that she later used in inter-
views. Those oral histories were shared with artists, who

created works in response to the stories. The resulting
works of art, along with items from the Vermont Queer
Archives, have been displayed in exhibits at Marlboro Col-
lege, the Rose, Street Artists Co-op in Burlington, and the
University of Vermont. These exhibitions have provided a
venue for youth and elders to interact; finding new Ways
to learn and communicate about each other’s lives.
Queer elders are now being asked what they would
like to know about the lives of queer youth. These ques-
tions will be compiled at the R.U.1.2? Community Center,
and oral histories will be conducted in 2007. The Dialogue
Project will be a true dialogue.
Anyone interested in participating, either with questions or as
an interviewee, can Contact Brenda Pitmon at Brenda@ru12.org.V

Martina Navratilova Slams
“Gay Sheep”, Experiments

Tennis Icon
Condemns Tests
Seeking to Alter
Animals’ Sexual
Preferences

PORTLAND, OR - Openly gay tennis
ioon Martina Navratilova is con-
demning hormone-altering experi-
ments on “gay” sheep at Oregon
State University (OSU) and Ore-
gon Health and Science University
(OI-ISUT) that seek to manipulate
sheep”s sexual preferences and
make them heterosexual, said
People for the Ethical ‘Treatment
of Animals (PETA) in November.
The tests are funded by taxpayers
throughthe year21)08

In letters faxed to the presi-
dents of both universities, Navra-
tilova Wrote, “How can it be that,
in the year 3006, a major univer-
sity would host such homopho-
bic and cruel experiments?  I
respectfully ask thatyou pull the

plugon this appalling and mis-
guided research. Surely you can
find away to redirect the millions
of public tax dollars that are be-
ing wasted on these experiments
to a more fruitful venture - per-
haps by funding a gay and lesbian
community center to foster dia-
logue and acceptance for people

of all sexual preferences?“

OHSU experimenter Charles
Roselli is drugging pregnant
sheep to prevent the actions of
hormones in their fetuses‘ brains
and cutting open the brains of
rams he calls “male-oriented"
(homosexual) in an attempt to

-find the hormonal mechanisms

behind homosexual tendencies
so that they can subsequently be
changed. Roselli’s cohort, Fred-
erick Stormshak of OSU, has
surgically installed an estrogen
device in rams’ bodies in an ef-
fort to alter “gay” sheep‘s sexual
preferences and make them
heterosexual. According to the
grant applications, the experi-

   

. x. \\ \

menters plan to extrapolate the

test results to humans - with

the insidious implication that

homosexuality in people can be
“cured," PETA said.

Navratilova - who has won
nine Wimbledon Women's Sin-
gles championships, and with a
record 167 titles in singles and
174 in doubles, holds more over-
all tennis titles than any other
player in history - added in her

letter, “For the sake of the ani-

mals who will die unnecessarily
in these experiments and for the
n1-any gays and lesbians who
stand to be deeply offended by
the social implications oi‘ these
tests, I ask that you please end
these studies at once.V

From PETA press release,