Out in the Mountains

OITM Roundup-

State, National and World News Briefs
compiled by Kip M. Roberson 1

Erica Garfin leaves VT AIDS Council
MONTPELIER -- The Vermont AIDS Council has announced the
resignation of Erica Garfrn as its executive director. Garfin has
served as director of the Council since the organization's creation in
1990.

Garfin stated that she looks upon her years as executive director with

I pride in what her organization has accomplished. "Before the Council

existed, Vermont was largely in denial about the presence of AIDS in
our rural state. Thanks to the Council's efforts, the state has begun to
shoulder its share of responsibility by providing state funds for AIDS
services and by creating programs to support Vermonters living with
HIV and AIDS."

The Council is a coalition comprised of the state's five community—based
AIDS service organizations and the Vermont People with AIDS
Coalition. Established to serve as a network for collaboration among its
member organizations, the Council works to create statewide solutions to
problems experienced by Vermonters living with HIV and AIDS. In
recent years the Council has focused increasingly on shaping public
policy and raising awareness about HIV and AIDS among state policy
makers and administrative agencies.

Garfin, who cited "non-profit fatigue" as a factor in her decision to
resign, said that she considers it a privilege to have served as a voice for
Vermont's AIDS communityfor five years. Garfin's resignation was
effective in rnid-October.

Canadian Parliament
rejects rights
for same—gender couples

OTTAWA -- The House of Commons has rejected a gay legislator's

- proposal to extend legal recognition to same-sex marriages. Real

Menard, a member of the opposition Bloc Quebecois, said he was
disappointed by the 12452 vote rejecting his motion, but vowed to keep

trying. "We can win other fights to change the human rights act,"

Menard said. "The next fight we will win."

Menard was backed by most of his Bloc Quebecois colleagues, although
eight of the 53-member caucus joined the majority in opposing the
motion. A few lawmakers from the governing Liberal party, including

Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps, supported Menard. (Bay ,.

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Group pushes for gay marriage

BOSTON -- With same-sex marriage shaping up as
the next big public debate in the area of gay and
lesbian rights, a new group is working to ensure that
the issue doesn't go the way of the recent
gays-in-the-military controversy. "The gay
community was largely unprepared for the onslaught
of publicity that resulted from our attempts to win the
right to serve openly in the military," said Jeff Nickel,
founder of Forum on the Right to Marriage (FORM).
"Consequently, we missed an opportunity not only to
advance civil rights, but to create a more positive
impression of lesbians and gay men among
mainstream Americans."

"Gay marriage is now an irmninent possibility, thanks
to Baehr v. Lewin, and we have another chance," said
Nickel, referring to a landmark case dealing with
same-sex marriage in Hawaii. The case is expected to
be decided in the plaintiffs‘ favor when it is reheard
next year. Ultimately, that could make Hawaii the
first state to legalize gay marriage. Similar efforts are
underway elsewhere in the country, said Nickel, and
FORM is gearing up for the endeavor. "We want to
ensure that the gay community participates
effectively in the heated political debate that will most
certainly ensue as the issue gains momentum," he

- said.

The only national organization working exclusively
on marriage rights for gays and lesbians, FORM is
engaged in public relations, lobbying, outreach and
education, and support. FORM maintains a
worldwide . web site . at:
http2//nether.net/~rod/htrnl/sub/marriage.htrnl. For
further information contact FORM at 227 Chelsea

Street; East Boston, MA 02128; (617)569-9733;

email: FORMBoston@aol.com.
Increasing the visibility of
straights ‘

WASHINGTON, DC -- A new organization, called
And Justice for All, has been formed in the nation's

'- capital to increase the visibility of straights in the gay

rights movement Jonathan Zucker, the organization's
executive director, said he hopes the group will be
able to bring news of important developments in the
progress of the gay rights movement to non—gays. "A
lot of useful information is produced every day by
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights
organizations," Zucker said. "Unfortunately, much of
this information never reaches heterosexuals who
would use it. And Justice for All will focus on getting
them in the loop and giving them the tools they need
to support this movement."

The group can be contacted at: And Justice for All;
P.O. Box 53079; Washington, DC 20009; by phone
at (202)298-9362; or via the Internet at
J st4All@aol.com. (in newsweekly)

Action by ‘Jane Roe‘ cheered

BOSTON -- The head of an organization of gays
who oppose abortion released a statement landing
the announcement by Norma McCorvey, the lesbian
plaintiff in the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme
Court decision, that she was joining anti—abortion
forces.

McCorvey, according to news accounts, has taken a
job with Operation Rescue, an anti—abortion group.
The group is also known for its strong anti—gay
positions.

Philip Arcidi said that McCorvey's public statement
that she has changed her views on abortion shows
"continued hope for a recognition of the rights of the
unborn in our country." Arcidi heads the Pro-Life
Alliance of Gays and Lesbians (PLAGAL).
(Washington Blade)

Pat Sajak joins conservative
think tank

CLAREMONT, CA -- Pat Sajak, host of the
television game show Wheel of Fortune, has joined
the board of the Claremont Institute, a think tank with
ties to some of the extremists in the radical right
movement.

The Claremont Institute published a l6—page booklet
in 1994 claiming that gay men commonly use gerbils
during sex. The brochure, entitled Homosexuality
and Health: Some Public Facts that America's
Children Are Not Getting, charges that "to present

6

the homosexual lifestyle on a par with family life is as
remarkable and reprehensible as to present smoking
on a par with eating vegetables, given what we now
know about the relation between smoking and lung
cancer."- (Washington Blade)

NEA grant
will help fund DC Quilt visit

WASHINGTON, DC -- The AIDS Memorial Quilt
will retum to the nation's capital in October 1996,
thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for
the Arts, NAMES Project Foundation officials said.
The NBA bestowed $20,000 on the NAMES Project
to help ftmd a Washington visit the weekend of
October 11-13 of next year. The Quilt last came to
Washington in its entirety in the autumn of 1992.

Project officials estimate that the Quilt will be twice
as large as the 1992 showing and more than 23 times
larger than its size when it came to the capital in
1987. To carry off the endeavor, the Project is
seeking the help of 12,000 volunteers. "The Quilt has
grown inexorably since its first showing in l987,"
said Mike Smith, director of the effort to bring the
Quilt to Washington in 1996. "And with AIDS now a
leading cause of death in this country, more and more
fiiends and families are making panels to be added to
the Quilt every day."

As with its last visit, the showing of the Quilt will be
accented by famous and not—so—famous individuals
reading the names of those whose deaths are
remembered with a panel in the Quilt. "The litany of
the names of the dead will echo unbroken for three
days as 2,000 readers — elected officials, sports
figures, celebrities, community and religious leaders,
educators, people with AIDS, family members,
friends —— each take a turn at the podium," said a news
release. The 1996 showing marks the second time an
NEA grant has helped fund the Quilt's visit to
Washington. (Washington Blade)

Bathing beauties
of a different sort

_ATLAN'I'IC CITY, NJ -- Miss Perfectly Hideous

wore black: a crushed velvet top, spandex pants,
leather boots that reached mid—thigh and curls. Lots of
curls. For her talent, she donned a
microphone-equipped headset and gyrated
lasciviously as she lip-synched a medley of Janet
Jackson hits. When the judges delivered their
decision, her painted lips opened wide in a gasp. Then
came the song as a 6-foot-4 beauty named Kiki
accepted her crown and roses and headed down the
runway, practicallyfalling off her high heels.

But she was a he. The site was a gay bar. And the.

song, which sounded oh-so familiar, carried an
amended refrain: "Boy, have we missed America/The
good times now, are here to stay/We picked a true
beauty, she took the crowd by storrn/God knows
what she's stuffed in her Maidenfomr/So there she is
 Miss'd America," the drag queen host crooned to
the new winner. ’

So it went at the fourth annual Miss'd America
Pageant, a gender-bending spoof held each year on
the night after the Miss America Pageant Six blocks
and a world away from the real thing, seven female

- impersonators vied for the coveted title, a dime—store

crown and a $300 gift certificate at a store that carries
women's shoes in men's sizes up to 16. "Drag queens
can never get big-enough shoes," said organizer John
J . Schultz, a gay city councilman who owns the bar.

The Atlantic City parody, a fund—raising benefit for
the South Jersey AIDS Alliance had lots of the
ingredients of the other pageant. Contestants
competed in evening gown and talent, but thankfully
not swimsuits. But these were no earnest, bright—eyed
beauties: Miss Perfectly Disgusting, Chunky
Marinara, was a 280—pounder squished into a black
V-neck cocktail dress; Miss Perfectly Rotten wore a
red sequined dress, blonde wig and glittering earrings
that hung to her shoulders; Miss Perfectly Stupid
wore a shimmering multicolored gown with red,
green and blue beads on top.

David Spatz, an entertainment writer and local TV
personality who served as judge, summed up the
night's entertainment: "It‘s everything you expect
from Miss America and maybe a little less. It
approaches the line of good taste and boldly leaps
across it." (Bay Windows) V