Quest News     Volume 12 No. 19   October 13, 2005
Compiled & written by Mike Fitzpatrick

Gay Groups Have Mixed Feelings Over Bush’s Supreme Pick
Washington, DC - President George W. Bush’s October 3 announcement of White House counsel Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O’Connor on the United States Supreme Court has been met with a wide variety of reactions from both the political left and the right. Within the gay community reactions have ranged from tepid acceptance to near rejection, with community leaders nationally wary of the 60 year old Texas attorney’s lack of  a legal paper trail.
  “Having never served as a judge, Ms. Miers has no ‘paper trail’ of judicial opinions, and prospective opponents thus will have a hard time identifying positions to protest or complain about,” Supreme Court historian David Garrow told the Associated Press. “What’s more, Ms. Miers’ professional record as an attorney in Texas is undeniably one of significant achievement and accomplishment, and her proponents will be able to present her as a female trail blazer whose life-record is at least arguably comparable to that of Justice O’Connor.”
  A long time Bush confidant, Miers joined the White House team shortly after his inauguration in 2001 as staff secretary. When Bush named her White House counsel in November 2004, the president described Miers as a lawyer with keen judgment and discerning intellect – “a trusted adviser on whom I have long relied for straightforward advice.”
  Known for thoroughness and her low-profile, Miers is one of the first staff members to arrive at the White House in the morning and among the last to leave.
  Within hours of the announcement, it was learned that Miers had contributed to Al Gore presidential campaign in 1988 and had completed a questionnaire for a Dallas gay group during her run for city council in 1989. The White House responded to the conservative outcry by dispatching Vice-President Cheney to push the president’s talking points on the Rush Limbaugh radio program, and later in the week focused on Miers’ religious journey from Roman Catholicism to “born again” evangelical Christian.
  Lambda Legal Executive Director Kevin Cathcart was one of the first to respond to Miers’ nomination. “We firmly believe that a commitment to equality and fairness for all Americans, is a core qualification for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.  Legal intellect and experience is necessary, but not enough,” Cathcart said in a prepared statement.  “That’s the 64 million dollar question for us:  Does Harriet Miers possess a clear commitment to equality and fairness for all Americans, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and those affected with HIV, and a judicial philosophy that will make that commitment real?”
  Lambda Legal pledged a careful and thorough review of Harriet Miers, and looked forward to the upcoming confirmation hearings as an opportunity to get answers to their questions.
  Fresh from his recent Madison marriage equality debate and Quest interview, Freedom To Marry’s Evan Wolfson shared with San Francisco Chronicle writer Carolyn Lochhead his assessment of the 1989 questionnaire Miers completed for the Lesbian/Gay Political Coalition of Dallas. The responses were “inconsistent and elliptical,” Wolfson said. “In some ways, the most positive aspect is that she filled it out.” Wolfson compared attempting to discern Miers’ positions on equality for gay people from the questionnaire was the equivalent of “reading tea leaves.”
  The questionnaire might not even have seen the light of day were it not for the “save everything” philosophy of long time Dallas activist Louise Young. Young retrieved the document after rummaging through the storage boxes that she had moved from Dallas to Vermont and back.
  The document’s existence has now been reported by virtually every news organization in the country. “It’s interesting that the only paper trail on her stand on gay rights was in my garage,” Young told the LGBT publication Dallas Voice. “Isn’t that odd?”
  According to another report in the mainstream Dallas Observer, Miers “was very uneasy” and at first balked at the idea of meeting with the gay rights group, but was urged to do so by Lorlee Bartos, a liberal activist who was running Miers’ campaign. Bartos claims she convinced Miers to attend the meeting.
  Young remembers Miers’ discomfort. “I say that just because of her demeanor,” Young said. “She didn’t want our endorsement, but on the other hand she was there. She was cordial and not hostile at all.”
  Both of the nation’s major political advocacy groups - the Human Rights Campaign and The National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force - have weighed in on the Miers’ pick. Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said Miers’ answers more than fifteen years ago indicated “at the very least maybe she’s sort of open to the idea of fairness.”
  Hilary Rosen, former head of the Recording Industry Association of America, partner of former HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch and a leader in Beltway gay politics, wrote in her October 5 blog that when Miers served on the Dallas City Council, she had appointed an openly gay man, Don McCleary, to the Dallas Board of Adjustment. According to Rosen, when McCleary died of AIDS in 1996 Miers, then managing partner of a large Dallas law firm, lent public support when his funeral made prominent mention of AIDS, noting that “it caused a stir.” Rosen added that she found the story “seemingly comforting,” but not comforting enough.
  Solmonese said the responses should be viewed in the context of Dallas in 1989, when many national Democratic politicians refused contributions from gay groups. “If you go back to 1989, her answers around AIDS were forward thinking, and she said she believed gays and lesbians deserve the same civil rights, even though she was not for overturning sodomy laws,” Solmonese said. “Those answers were not all that out of line with people who were inclined to be fair at that time and who developed into fair-minded individuals over the years.”
  At the end of the week Solmonese told reporters in several interviews that he doubted the HRC would endorses the Miers nomination.
  The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force also reserved judgment, instead issuing a plea to the White House to be more forthcoming with her record than they were with the Roberts nomination. “The administration and Harriet Miers have a duty to tell the American people about her role in and views on the numerous legal matters she has had any responsibility with related to her several positions in the executive office of the president,” NGLTF Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs Eleanor Acheson said. “In addition to the nominee’s obligation to make public her views on the constitutional and other legal issues raised to now-Chief Justice Roberts.”
  However, Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman was less equivocal. “The fact that that she is so proudly a born-again evangelical Christian belonging to the Valley View Christian Church makes my blood run cold.”
 
Milwaukee Common Council Opposes Proposed Anti-Gay Amendment
Milwaukee - The Milwaukee Common Council voted 13-2 on September 27 to oppose AJR-66, the proposed amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution that would ban civil unions and same-sex marriage. The resolution, which was introduced and passed during the same council session was sponsored by Third District Alder Mike D’Amato, who reportedly worked with Center Advocates, the equal rights organization running Metro Milwaukee operations for Wisconsin’s “No on the Amendment” campaign.
  “The strong vote by Milwaukee’s leaders sends a message to Madison politicians that our community stands by our locally-approved domestic partner programs. Milwaukee created these programs to help recognize and protect gay and lesbian families that are denied access to marriage under our discriminatory laws,” Center Advocates Director Patrick Flaherty said.               
  The vote, which approved a September 19 motion by the Judiciary and Legislation Committee, directs Milwaukee’s lobbyists to work against the ban. The ban must pass the Wisconsin Legislature a second time and then be approved by voters in November 2006 to change Wisconsin’s constitution.
  Milwaukee created a domestic partner registry in 1999 that is used by corporations like SBC, Medical College of Wisconsin, and Wells Fargo to determine eligibility for company domestic partner health insurance. In 2001, the City of Milwaukee began offering health and bereavement benefits to the partners and families of gay and unmarried heterosexual employees. Flaherty also had been instrumental in the work needed to pass and establish the registry.
  Though touted by its sponsors as a means to “protect traditional marriage,” the amendment’s language, if passed, would prohibit legal recognition of all unmarried couples, regardless of sexual orientation. Passage of similarly-worded amendments in other states last November has sparked a flurry of court actions, resulting in rulings that invalidated domestic violence laws in Ohio and called domestic partnership benefits into question in Michigan and other states.
  The October 4 press release by Center Advocates announcing the Common Council resolution and lopsided vote is the first public notice of the decision. The D’Amato resolution did not appear on the council’s published agenda and meeting minutes have not yet been published. Minutes of the committee report have been available, but only reference “Joint Assembly Resolution 66.”
    The council vote is the latest in a number of highly visible successes for Center Advocates. The group garnered widespread press coverage earlier this summer when U. S. Congressional Representative Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee) led a voter identification drive opposing the ban in the city’s African-American community.
      Earlier this summer, Center Advocates entered into a formal agreement with Action Wisconsin to coordinate efforts in the greater Milwaukee area. The statewide LGBT civil rights organization that has been a leader in the opposition to the  proposed amendment.
  The Milwaukee council motion is also the latest in a series of resolutions suggesting mounting opposition to the proposed amendment in Wisconsin, especially by mainstream religious denominations. On September 20, the Winnebago Presbytery serving Presbyterian Churches in northeast Wisconsin overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning the amendment just one month after the south central John Knox Presbytery passed a similar resolution by two-thirds vote. The Presbyterian resolutions join those passed by the state’s United Methodists and Evangelical Lutherans, among others earlier last summer.
  The unprecedented formal opposition to the amendment by faith-based groups now represents about one half million congregants and is expected to grow, according to sources working with Christians For Equality in Wisconsin (CFE). CFE is organizing the faith community opposition to the amendment.
  Quest also has learned that at least one council supporter of the constitutional amendment may have voted with the majority to allow likely opponents move to reconsider the resolution at a later date, after the resolution’s passage receives wider publicity. Council rules require any motion to reconsider must be introduced by an alder who voted in the original majority.

Vatican Waivers On Anti-Gay Priest Ban
Vatican City - The Vatican will allow gay men into the priesthood if they can show they have been celibate for at least three years, a report in leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said October 7. But the Vatican will ban men “who publicly manifest their homosexuality” or show an “attraction” to homosexual culture “even if it is only intellectually,” Corriere added.
  It said the views were contained in a highly secret, 16-page document which is expected to be released next month. The document is an “instruction” by the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education and covers one of the most sensitive issues in the Roman Catholic Church.
  The Corriere report said: “Candidates who show a homosexual tendency will not be allowed into the priesthood unless they can demonstrate that they have been able to remain chaste for at least three years.” The report by the newspaper’s respected religious affairs correspondent Luigi Accattoli was based on what he called “verbal indiscretions.”
  Corriere and the weekly Panorama magazine both have reported that Pope Benedict had approved the document this summer. Panorama said the document’s release would be accompanied by a written explanation by “an internationally known psychologist” and published in the Vatican newspaper.
  Initial reports last month, primarily in the United States, said the document would bar all gay men being ordained priests, even those who are celibate. Those reports caused a wave of concern in many quarters in the Church that the Vatican would exclude many good men if a strict policy were to be adopted. Officials at the Congregation for Catholic Education and the Vatican press office did not respond to press inquires.

Michigan State Senator Labels Gay Marriages “Utter Perversity”
Laughs At PFLAG Mom’s Reaction
Saginaw, MI - Republican State Senator Michael J. Goschka brushed off an apology demand from a gay rights group upset by his description of unions between committed homosexual couples as “utter perversity.”
  Goschka  voted October 6 with a majority of the Senate in favor of resolutions urging the Michigan Supreme Court to block public-sector employers, including state government, from providing health insurance to the partners of gay employees until the court makes a final ruling on the issue.
  The Republican-controlled Senate voted 22-16, mostly along party lines. The measures are symbolic and do not have the force of law.
  In an e-mail sent to a constituent earlier in the week, Goschka invoked God and Christian principles as “bedrock” reasons for gays not to be covered by health insurance through a partner’s public-sector job. “Homosexual and lesbian unions under any arrangement does not, and never will, constitute a family,” the senator wrote, adding later: “Simply put, no homosexual or lesbian union is ever appropriate; rather, it is utter perversity.”
  The constituent, a Saginaw Valley State University employee, had urged Goschka to oppose the resolutions, calling them “anti-family and unfair,” prompting Goschka’s response.  “A legitimate family, as ordained by God, can only exist between a man and a woman within the context of marriage,” the senator wrote Tuesday. “As a committed Christian, I recognize this as a bedrock principle.”
  Goschka’s words incensed the leader of a mid-Michigan chapter of Parents, Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays. “I see it as very hateful to put the term “utter perversity’ on any group,” Bay City PFLAG President Jay Crane said. “I see it as endorsing hateful actions and behavior against a minority group or individuals,” Crane told The Saginaw News. “We call on Senator Goschka to apologize for his hateful condemnation of our loved ones.”
  Goschka laughed at the demand. “They should apologize for their lifestyle and tolerating something so terrible,” he said. “The lifestyle, the act itself, it is utterly perverse. It’s not natural.”
  Goschka also claimed his comments weren’t intended to be a personal attack. “I’ve had gays work for me,” he said. “Not a lot. But I don’t ask.”

Indiana Bill Outlawing Some Gay Reproductive Rights Dropped
Indianapolis - A proposed bill that would have prohibited gays, lesbians and single people in Indiana from using medical science to assist them in having a child has been dropped by its legislative sponsor.
  State Senator Patricia Miller (R-Indianapolis) issued a one-sentence statement October 6 about her decision to drop the proposal. ‘’The issue has become more complex than anticipated and will be withdrawn from consideration by the Health Finance Commission,’’ she said.
  The interim legislative committee chaired by Miller had considered the proposal a day earlier. The bill defined assisted reproduction as causing pregnancy by means other than sexual intercourse, including intrauterine insemination, donation of an egg, donation of an embryo, in vitro fertilization and transfer of an embryo, and sperm injection.
  It then required ‘’intended parents’’ to be married to each other and says an unmarried person may not be an intended parent. A gay male couple’s attempt to have a surrogate fertilized in an Indianapolis hospital had triggered Miller’s proposal.
  The bill prompted a statewide and subsequent national outcry. ‘’If we’re going to try to put Indiana on the map, I wouldn’t go this route,’’ Betty Cockrum, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana said. ‘’It feels pretty chilling. It is governmental intrusion into a very private part of our lives.’’
  Miller initially had acknowledged that the legislation would be ‘’enormously controversial.’’ She had hoped to steer the panel to recommend the legislation to the full General Assembly.

Ex-Gay “Concentration Camp” Sues Tennessee
Memphis - A religious organization that runs two facilities and claims it can counsel gays to give up homosexuality has sued the state of Tennessee, claiming it is violating its religious freedom by requiring a license to care for mentally ill patients.
  Love In Action International Inc., based in Memphis, is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based Christian legal firm that is also representing both Wisconsin and Tennessee lawmakers in ACLU lawsuits.
  The suit named Governor. Phil Bredesen and officials with the state Department of Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities and claims that Love In Action does not offer any treatment requiring state licensure and that the state is discriminating against the ministry because of its controversial religious mission.
  The department determined after a pair of inspections in July and August that Love In Action was providing housing, meals and personal care for mentally ill patients without a license. The department gave Love In Action until September 30 to cease operation of the facilities and apply for a state license.
  “LIA’s ministry is not designed to treat mental illness, nor do they make any attempt to treat mental illness,” the suit says, although the facilities do accept mentally ill patients who are deemed “able to take care of themselves.”
  The ministry confirms that prescription medications are kept in a central location, but only to deter theft or tampering. It allows patients access to their medications at all times to be taken as directed by their own physicians, the suit claims. Under state regulations, facilities that dispense medication to patients require a license.
  Love In Action’s stated mission is “the prevention or remediation of unhealthy and destructive behaviors facing families, adults and adolescents,” including promiscuity, pornography and homosexuality. That has drawn the ire of many gay rights advocates, which Love In Action claims were instrumental in getting the state to inspect the facility and push for its closing.
  “This issue has nothing to do with religion or faith-based organizations or even the mission of Life In Action,” state spokeswoman Lola Potter said in response to the suit.
  Potter said the state is justified in requiring the facility to be licensed based on three criteria: Life In Action had two people who had been clinically diagnosed with mental illnesses; the facility was administering their medication; and they were in a restricted living arrangement, unable to come and go as they pleased.
   Last summer, 16-year-old Zach Stark posted Love In Action’s rules for clients on his blog and expressed dismay about his parents’ plan to send him there for treatment. Zach’s story was distributed through various gay and progressive blogs, attracting the attention of mainstream media.  Gay psychologist Paul Chirumbulo of Los Angeles contacted the state to complain that sexual re-orientation treatment constituted child abuse. The state subsequently conducted three investigations of what gay activists had labeled an “ex-gay concentration camp.”

Spokane’s Closet Case Mayor Faces Recall
Spokane, WA - Citizens outraged by revelations that the mayor of Spokane sought sexual liaisons with young men have succeeded in gathering enough signatures to force a recall vote, an election official said on Friday.
  The signature-gathering effort against Mayor James West was launched after the Spokane Spokesman-Review published a series of investigative articles last spring quoting two men who claimed West had sexually abused them 30 years ago when he was their Boy Scout leader.
  The newspaper also set up a “sting” operation in which they had a computer consultant pose as a teenage boy on a Web site. West subsequently admitted he had sought a date with what he thought was an 18-year-old high school student.
  The news prompted Shannon Sullivan, a single, unemployed mother, and other volunteers to collect the more than 17,000 signatures needed to force a recall election. The Spokane County elections supervisor certified the signatures on October 7, paving the way for a recall ballot on December 6.
  West, who was elected Spokane mayor in 2003 and has also served as a Republican leader in the state legislature, has supported bills limiting the ability of homosexuals to work in state jobs in which they would have contact with children. West has adamantly denied accusations of sexual abuse and claims by at least two other men who said West offered them jobs in city hall in return for sexual favors.
  The FBI is investigating the allegations. FBI agents seized his city computer and are analyzing its contents. West’s attorneys are in court this week to try to prevent public disclosure of the computer’s contents, which they admit includes “highly offensive private material.”

Westboro Wackos Picket Wisconsin Funeral
Theresa - A half dozen picketers belonging to the rabidly anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas stood along a county highway across from Immanuel Lutheran Church before funeral services began for Spc. Michael Wendling here October 5.
  Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls told Aubrey Fleischer of the Fond Du Lac Reporter that he moved the picketers down the road about three hundred yards from the church to avoid confrontations with the picketers and funeral participants. 
  Some people attending the funeral were upset to see the picketers, according to Nehls. He said that there had been verbal arguments between some funeral attendees and the protesters before Nehls relocated them. The picketers left the area prior to the conclusion of the funeral.
  The group claimed that on the direction of their leader Rev. Fred Phelps,Sr. they picket soldiers’ funerals. They believe God punishes soldiers who are fighting in Iraq for the United States since the country supports homosexuality.
  Phelps’ followers, overwhelmingly blood relatives and in-laws of the pastor, are best known for their picketing of the 1998 funeral of Matthew Shepard. Westboro pickets also regularly reference natural disasters such as the southeast Asian Christmas tsunami and Hurricane Katrina as “proof” of the Almighty’s displeasure with the American “fag nation.”
  The picketers also told bystanders in Theresa they were also motivated to protest soldiers’ funerals around the nation because of the bombing of their church. Newspaper records available at the godhatesfags.com website refer to two explosions in Topeka in August 1995, one of which happened in the yard of a Westboro church member. The actual worship site has never been bombed.

ARCW Receives 3.4 Million in Prevention Grants
Milwaukee - ARCW has been awarded two new, multi-year federal prevention grants totalling $3.4 million in new, multi-year federal prevention grants, according to President and CEO Doug Nelson.
  The $1,271,600Prevention for  Minority and Post Incarceration Populations grant will run over five years and will fund prevention strategies to reduce alcohol, injection drug and methamphetamine abuse among minority cultures and individuals released from incarceration in the Milwaukee area.
  The grant will also fund increased HIV and Hepatitis C testing.  ARCW has established new collaborations with the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center and La Casa de Esperanza to help  implement these strategies.  The grant will support three new prevention staff at ARCW and one new prevention staff for each of the agency’s collaborators.
  The second $2,206,626 Prevention for Youth grant will run over three years and will fund prevention education for teens in Milwaukee, Eau Claire, Appleton, Green Bay and Kenosha. 
  The youth programs  will provide education and support for youth who have chosen to abstain from sexual activity as a personal HIV prevention strategy. ARCW has established partnerships for this grant with the Boys and Girls Club in each of these communities.  The grant will fund six new prevention staff disbursed among the clubs and four new prevention staff at ARCW’s Milwaukee and regional offices.

AW Speakers Network Heads Out West & Up North
Madison - Action Wisconsin’s three-hour trainings have already trained nearly 500 opponents of the proposed ban on civil unions and same-sex marriage to communicate effectively about the harmful consequences of the amendment. Six trainings have been scheduled statewide during October, with a particular focus on western and northwestern part of the state.
 The Superior/Northland Training to Stop the Ban will be held October 16, from 2-5 PM  in Room 111 at the Rothwell Student Center on the UW-Superior campus. Online registration is available at: http://eqfed.org/aw/events/superior/details.tcl.
  Two days later the Eau Claire Training to Stop the Ban is set for October 18 from 6-9 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Eau Claire, 421 S Farwell St. Please register online at: http://eqfed.org/aw/events/eau_claire/details.tcl.
  The La Crosse Training to Stop the Ban has been scheduled for October 25 from 6-9 PM in Room 337 at the
Cartwright Center on the UW-LaCrosse campus. Please register online at: http://eqfed.org/aw/events/la_crosse/details.tcl.
  An Oshkosh Training to Stop the Ban has been set for November 15th from 6-9 PM at the First Congregational Church- 137 Algoma Blvd. in Oshkosh. Please Register: http://eqfed.org/aw/events/oshkosh/details.tcl
  Additionally Action Wisconsin’s local action networks meet monthly to update local volunteers and amendment opponents on ways they can continue sharing the marriage equality message. The Fox Valley Action Network meets the third Wednesday of each month with the next meeting set for October 19 at 6:30 PM at Appleton’s Multicultural Center, 124 Oneida St.
  The Kenosha/Racine Action Network now meets on the first Wednesday of the month with the next meeting set for November 2 at 7 PM at the Pomatto’s, 581 11th Place, off of County Road E and Sheridan (Hwy 32) in Kenosha.
 
Outreach Sexual Health Group Starts October 15
Madison - A sexual health discussion group for gender diverse people will start at OutReach, 600 Williamson St., on Saturday, October 15 at 1 PM. The six week group will cover a wide variety of topical matter related to gender self-expression, body imagery, discrimination issues, health care barriers, local health resources, and the sexual decision-making process.
  Sessions will be two hours in length and meet weekly on Saturdays. Food will be provided, and an attendance
allowance for consistent participation will also be given at the end of the six week session.
  For more information about the group or to register, please leave a message for Renee at 608-255-8582 or e-mail her at: madcityrenee@tds.net.

LaCrosse Sets First Ever Coming Out Week Event
LaCrosse - In recognition of the annual “Coming Out Day” event held nationally, the 7 Rivers Region LGBT Resource Center is hosting the first annual weekend of events October 14-16.  All Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender folk and Allies are invited to participate in the celebration.
  The “Come Out and Celebrate” weekend kicks off Friday, October 14, with a social and dance at the City Brewery Hospitality Room in La Crosse, followed by a day-long film festival starting on October 15, and concludes with a golf outing and fundraiser on Sunday, Oct. 16, at Fox Hollow Golf Course.
  The social and dance will run from  7:30 PM. to Midnight in the City Brewery’s Hospitality Room at 111 3rd Street South. Admission is free and munchies will be provided along with a cash bar. Music is provided by local
DJ Scott Grosskopf.
  Five films comprise the day-long film festival scheduled for Saturday, October 15 in Graff Main Hall on the UW-LaCrosse campus, 17th and State Streets. Two Academy-Award winning documentaries, I Exist and De Colores, begin the festival at 1 PM.
  The films depict the lives of LGBT people in the U.S. who have Latino and Middle Eastern backgrounds. Professor Victor Macias-Gonzalez, director of the Program in Latino Studies at UW-L, will lead a discussion immediately after the two films. 
  A French comedy follows at 3:30 PM.  The film features a captivating performance by the central character, a little boy who prefers to wear princess dresses and earrings and just knows he will grow up and turn into a girl so he can marry his boyfriend Jerome despite his family¹s panicked attempts to dissuade him.
  The evening is a double-feature that begins at 7 PM with a nutty comedy about two young women who fall in love and then must deal with a distraught mother who befriends their transsexual friend followed by a 9 PM showing of a film that tells the story of a stellar composer whose closeted homosexuality wreaked havoc in his marriage.
  Admission to all the films is free. Donations to defray costs will be accepted however.
  The weekend’s events conclude Sunday, October 16, with a golf outing and fundraiser at Fox Hollow Golf Course beginning at 9:30 AM. Golfers pay $30 for nine holes and a cart, and registration is required although fees can be paid the day of the event at the course.
  Prizes will be awarded for course events. Registration must be received no later than Friday, October 14, and can be made by calling the center at 608-784-0452 or Gail Evenson in Winona at 507-453-0906.
  The Come Out and Celebrate weekend events coincide with the October 11 annual “Coming Out Day” that celebrates the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community and supports people who identify as LGBT in developing pride in that identity.
   Additionally, tickets will be available throughout the weekend for a raffle to be held during the center’s annual meeting in January.  Prizes include a week’s stay in a resort in Telemark, WI, a leather-covered blanket trunk handcrafted by one of America¹s top ten furniture artisans; and a Packer¹s football with stamped autographs from the 1996 Super Bowl team. Raffle tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20.
 More information about the raffle and a detailed schedule of events can be found at the center’s website: http://7riverslgbt.org.
  The LGBT Resource Center for the Seven Rivers Area is a volunteer service  organization reaching out to the gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual community, their families, friends and allies. The center provides education on issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity to the larger community,  seeks to improve connections among existing community resources and foster a climate of understanding.

Milwaukee LGBT Community Center’s “Big Night Out” Set For October 15
Milwaukee - Are you ready for the Big Night Out? The third annual gala fundraiser for the LGBT Center promises to be another outstanding success, bringing together Milwaukee’s vibrant and growing LGBT community.
  Big Night Out will be held at the Potawatomi Northern Lights Theater Saturday, October 15. The cash bar & silent auction will open at 5:30 PM. The Big Night Out’s silent auction includes two tickets on Midwest Airlines and hundreds of dollars in gift certificates.
  Dinner will follow at 7:30 PM. The formal program with entertainment  featuring the comedic talents of John McGivern and Tanya Atkinson begins at 8:30 PM.
  Dinner tickets are $100 or $75. $35 tickets are also available for entertainment only packages. To reserve your spot at the party call Angie Guerra, Center Director of Development, at 414-271-2656, Ext.121.

New Northeast Wisconsin Bear Group Forms
Green Bay - A new bear group has formed in northeastern Wisconsin. The Titletown Bears held its first organizational meeting in late September, electing Jim Hardie as its first president. The group is open to bears, cubs, chubs, otters and admirers.  Meetings alternate between two area bars, Napalese Lounge and the Shelter Club.
  For more information on meetings and upcoming activities, contact Jim by phone at 920-437-7716 or 920-265-9354 or by e-mail at: jimh@webtv.net.

Action Wisconsin, Center Advocates Educating Wisconsin Voters One by One
Madison, Milwaukee - The massive voter education effort needed to effectively thwart the efforts of marriage equality foes in 2006 will take a lot shoe leather and phone calls. Action Wisconsin and Center Advocates have teamed up this October to continue spreading the anti-discrimination message in opposition to the proposed constitutional amendment banning civil unions and same-sex marriage through a series of walks and phone banks throughout the state.
  Volunteers are needed for an upcoming door-to-door walk on Sunday, October 16 from 1-5 PM in Waukesha. Volunteers will be talking to people at their doors about the proposed amendment to find supporters and educate people about how the amendment hurts real Wisconsin families. The organizations need at least fifty volunteers. Rides from Madison and central Milwaukee will be organized. Training and food will be provided. To register, please use Action Wisconsin’s new online registration page at: http://actionwisconsin.org/volunteer. Milwaukee area volunteers are asked to call Talia at 414-271-2656, Ext. 119 or e-mail her at:  tschank@mkelgbt.org.
 A Madison door-to-door walk also has been scheduled for Saturday, November 5 from 9 AM-1 PM. Volunteers will be needed for the walk through the Atwood-Schenk neighborhood.  Action Wisconsin hopes to recruit 100 volunteers for this event. Training and food will be provided. To register for the Madison canvass, please use the online registration page at: http://actionwisconsin.org/volunteer.
  Phone banking occurs weekly at Action Wisconsin’s Madison office and semi-weekly at Center Advocates’ space in the Milwaukee LGBT Center, 315 W. Court Street. AW’s phone banks operate on three Sundays in October - the 9th, 23rd, and 30th from 5:30-9 PM. Center Advocates phone banks will run on Thursdays in October on the 6th and the 20th from 5:30-8:30 PM.
  Volunteers will help both groups identify allied voters and fill legislators’ voice mail with messages from constituents opposed to the ban. In October Action Wisconsin will focus on Senator Sheila Harsdorf in northwestern Wisconsin. Pizza will fuel the talk.
  For more information or to sign up for an Action Wisconsin shift, please go to: http://actionwisconsin.org/volunteer or call Justin at 608-441-0143,  Ext. 306. Center Advocates volunteers should call Talia at 414-271-2656, Ext.119 or e-mail her at tschank@mkelgbt.org.

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