2 — OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS — SEPTEMBER 1998 OUT IN The MOUNTAINS Established in 1986 -- Eorroa IN CHIEF - V _ Christopher Moes * — ARTS 8: ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR - Cathyifiesmer ' ‘ I ~ HEALTH 8: WELLNESS Eonoit ~ Ric Kadour —-Youm Enrron - Andrew Campbell —- Corr EDITOR - Barbara Dozetos — BUSINESS MANAGER - Steven West - DESIGN MANAGER - Donald. Eggert - CIRCULATION MANAGER - David Grist - -iWEBSI1EgMANAG£R - Lenna Cumberbetch — ' - IN'r_t=.Iu4t - ' ' Jessica Steel ootumnluu: sieetarsandeiscmwcohen.‘ Barbara Dozetos, Keith Gosiant, John Harinah,RetrGhrtstitieteslie.8usai1Mutra5r. Beth Robinson. Esther Re-ttibium, Bari Shamas. Mild Thontas; Kintberiy--A. Watt. '- contrlbuiont: Michael C. Albeto. Jannitar Dzixia, Joy Grifitdi. Bonnet Law, DD Taylor- Garu’a,JessicaSlael ' V Photogaptters: SoatApplegate.IiAari-Beth Deluda ‘ ' MOUNTAIN PRIDE MEDIA BOARD or DIRECTORS Joy Grilfilti. Bennett Law, Margin Dutta. Larry Rudiger. Steve Kopemin. Lanny Jones, Cheryl Carmi, Roger Mapes, Kevin McAteer. Barbara Dozetos, Rekha Rosita, Joseph Fiyan STATEMENT or PURPOSE The purposeoi Outin the Mountainsisto serve as a voice tor lesbians. gay men, bisexuals. transgendered. peopte, and our supporters in Vermont. We wish the newspaper to be a source at lniormaiion. ‘mslgrt, and-aflirmatim. weaiso saeoliifi asavehicle tortiiecelebreiionotttieeiiltiire and do/ersity ot the lesbian, gay. bisexual. and transgendered oormnunities here Vermont and elsewhere. EDITORIAL Poucv ’ We will consider for publication any material which broadens our understanding, otour lifestyles and at each ‘other. Views. and opinions appearing in the paper do not necessarily represent those of Du! irithe Mountains. This paper cannot and wit not endorse any candidates or actions of pubic oitmls on issues oiimportanoe to lesbians. gay men. bisexuals. and transgendered persons. ‘ we reserve the right not to publish any material deemed to be overtly racist," sexist, ageist. classist,xeriophobic.=or homophobic. Writers‘ guidelines are available on request. . All materials submitted must include a name and a contact number. However. within the P219990? lhelmsliflpel. articles may fiillieflf anonymouly upon request. and strict confidentially will be observed. Articles. letters. and-artworl: shoidd besent tousbyiltezotltofthemonttigiriorvtolhe month at pubfication. [l.9. Fabruaryxztiili lo: theirarctrissae). Weenoouiageaminiplore our readers to do what they cartjlio matte OITM a paper when truly. represents many votcesoloureornmunities. , _’ . Outhfiehburalintlsstitoatésaaybpruhhad monthly by Mountain Pridefledla; Inc. The newapaperniatrttntaaltioeeatloasotlhwhooaitl Avenue in Burlington. Vermont. Gurmailihg addressisPOBoxt77.Burlhtgion,VT 0177. Ouremal aridresslsoitrnfltogetiiehnetand ourwebsleisbouedathttp‘J'f«IiII.vtt:tidelotg.- Rte sirbscrption rate is $20 per year vrtihh the Urihed states ofltrrierlca. . @1998. Oirttiuheflktulrlaliis Out in the Mountains _ . PO Box177 Burlington VT05402-01577 phone: (302) ass-9294' I email: oitm@togettier.net email boxes: see above ., K‘ right box .1 - . v. rt. . w. EDITORIAL Arrogance and the Christian W hat really bugs me most about the latest attack on us from the Christian right is the sheer arrogance it comes from. All of these Chr_istia__n arguments against homosexuality stem from one of a few platitudes that Chris- tians like to bandy about like’ ”God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” or ”God made woman for a man,” etc. I'm sure you've heard them all. But basing our nation's laws on the alleged actions the vengeful Baptist god several thousand years ago when it wasn't torching bushes or sorting out men without testicles is worthy of Afghanistan, not a country based on plu- ralism. The fact remains that people having sex with mem- bers of the same sex I evident in all cultures throughout history and in all time periods, something Christianity can't claim, and yet we are the unnatural ones. Homosexuality is part of the story of Gilgamesh, some of the oldest writing in the world. The power of Christian bigotry was evident a number of years ago when a perfectly preserved 9,000 year old corpse was found in a glacier on the border of Austria and Italy. Touted in the press as one the most important historical finds, a few things were not reported that made this even more important. The corpse not only had a tattoo on its lower back, he had another man's semen in his rectum. This proof that men were having anal sex seven thousand years before the existence of Christ seemed to get no media coverage in the Christian world. My hope is that the majority of people in this country who are not fundamentalist Christian will remember a time when they were the subject to some level of Christian bigotry, whether Unitarian, Jew, atheist, Muslim or any other of the myriad iden- tities that the arrogance of Christian fundamentalism attempted to steam roll over in the name of God. That’ 5 my hope, but I also know that people quickly forget. QUESTIONABLE LIBERAL PRIORITIES I recently received a call from an art critic from some art — magazine or another asking what was I going to do about the fact that a gay artist was being censored by the city of Burlington? Well, maybe if the piece‘in question had any merit beyond a cheap turn on_I might have said I'd do something about it. Ac- tually, even as porn it really had little merit. And beyond that one piece the entire show was as vapid and pointless as every other show I have seen hanging at the Firehouse. I offered the pages of OIT M for this critic to say what he wanted to say but he didn't return my call. Basically the controversy of the "Penis Painting” was a re- ally stupid one. Only a few days before I watched as the only person of color in all of city hall park was hassled and then searched by the police. The police, who apparently have noth- ing better to do, spend a great deal of time making sure that people don't sleep in the parks in Burlington. This law, along with a number of others enacted to get "riff raff" off church Street, constitutes a class war on behalf of our ”Progressive” city Gov- ernment to allow out of state owned businesses better access as they ship tourist money out of the city and pay far below a liv- ing wage to residents of Burlington. _ What does anyone expect from the City of Burlington if it is going to sponsor art? Has The firehouse ever had art that has Right we have email boxes! Please direct your future correspondence with Out in the Mountains to our convenient new emailboxes: ca|endar@vtpride.org Event postings editor@vtpride.org Stories/General Q&A ads@vtpride.org . Into on advertising arts@vtpride.org Art & Entertainment heaIth@vtpride.org Health & Wellness youth@vtpride.org Youth issues mpm@vtpride.org Mountain Pride Media webguru@vtpride.org W\NW into any local meaning whatsoever, have they ever had a showing of local Lesbian artists? A show that might be of interest to the Viet- namese community? A showing of art from homeless veterans? A photo study of local workers working below a living wage? No, its basically aboutlpeople who can make pretty colors and textures thanks to years of education and healthy stays at Skowhegan and Province town arts center. The point that I am getting to eventually is that it is pretty pathetic that the liberals in Burlington are having a fit about "Censorship” when city hall continues to enact classist laws with racist implications. Its a sign of how meaningless art is in America and Burlington. AIDSRIDE MONEY UPDATE Here's the latest with the $150,000 grant that the Fenway Community Health Center has offered and which has been used by AIDSride Inc as a reason why Vermonters should raise money for the Massachussetts agency. According to Henja Handler, who oversaw this grant designated to insure access of tradition- ally marginalized people, only 5,000 dollars went beyond east- ern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Of the remaining 145,000, 75,000 had already been designated to Project ABEL, which ac- cording to one insider is not about access, but instead a group that lobbies the state government in Massachusetts. So like most things the AIDS ride promises, this turns out to have been mis- leading. Sending $5,000 dollars to Vermont CARES to make up for the more than $60,000 sucked out of this state by their trained recruiters and advertising campaign doesn't quite cut it. When I asked Henja Handler how she felt about the 250,000 dollars that Dan Palotta made from AIDSride, she said, ”T hat’ 5 nothing compared to what Steven Spielberg makes” and con- tinued to explain that this is what philanthropy and healthcare are these days. So since the health care system is corrupt and awash with opportunists, the Fenway should not concern itself with ethics but do whatever they need to insure the needed in- come for their own bloated administration. Or Maybe that's not what she meant. Its so hard to tell these days. gpleasure, consider H ' '~’ ‘