New Year's Resolutions for the LGBT Community

NEW YORK CITY (Observer Update) - 'Tis the season to make promises to yourself. Whether it's losing weight, taking up scuba diving or calling your mother, the new year is a time to resolve to do new things and be a better person, queerty.com reported. We've got the personal covered, but what about the Gay community as a whole?

2008 will be remembered as a big year for the Gays—we won rights, then lost them and then caught the world's attention by making our voices heard. At the same time, the world of Gay media continues to shrink, LGBT folks continue to be beaten and killed both at home and abroad, Gay leadership often seems missing in action and, if you're a Gay minority, you're getting the short end of two already pretty-damn-short sticks. We can't control Obama or Congress or the homophobes who will call us names, deny us our rights or, in far too many cases, still turn to physical violence. But the best way of controlling our destiny is to start with ourselves. Here are 10 new year's resolutions we'd like to see the Gay community keep:

Build an army. You can blame Gay organizations for not achieving goals faster than they have, or for only asking you to open your wallet, but let's face facts: If you only have a limited pool of people actually willing to work for equal rights, your best bet is to make sure they're well funded and to pass the heavy lifting over to professional experts. We lost marriage equality in California partly because we handed the reins of the campaign over to paid professionals. Sure, we should take advice from political experts, but you can't buy equal rights. You have to work for it. Let's see the Gay community take a page from the Obama campaign and organize grassroots activists; let's see meetings of 10 or 15 people at a time talking about what they can do on their block, street or town to make a difference. Multiply that across the globe and talk to one another, and there's nothing we can not achieve.

Don't fear visibility. The most important thing the Gay community can do to help itself out is to continue to be present and vocal. We should use every opportunity that we can to make the case that denying Gays and Lesbians the right to marry, the right to serve our country and the right to live without fear of retribution is an attack on civil rights. That means when a transexual woman is beaten and killed, her death can't pass into the night forgotten; that means when a priest who compares Gays and Lesbians to pedophiles is invited to speak before the whole country, we speak up too; that means talking to your friends and family about the issues that are important to you. Harvey Milk was right: There is no downside to being visible.
"You're not being a good friend if you let someone go on doing something that's stupid, ineffective or dangerous…"

Realize that equal rights is not a popularity contest. More than a few well-meaning Gays and Lesbians seem to think that if only homophobes could see what nice people we are, they would step aside and allow us our rights. Join the Impact's series of increasingly silent and passive protests are a step in the right direction (there's only so many times you can march back and forth and still be effective), but the attitude that by being the best little boy or girl in the world will confer upon you a gold seal of approval is so last century. Stop asking for equal rights and start demanding them. This doesn't mean simply yelling louder than the opposition, but it does mean making the case for equality forcefully, and remembering that there's nothing wrong with you—it's the homophobes who need to change.

Treat the Gays just like straights. We need to stop giving a special pass to Gay and Lesbian organizations, be they charities, media or businesses. The charge that you're being "divisive" when criticizing the Gay and Lesbian community is foolish. We should hold ourselves to the same standards we hold the rest of the world. This isn't just a nice principle, it has real benefits. If Gay and Lesbian groups aren't scrutinized, questioned or criticized, they risk being loved to death. You're not being a good friend if you let someone go on doing something that's stupid, ineffective or dangerous simply because you don't want to hurt their feelings.

Make allies everywhere. Here's another fact that has to be faced: Gays and Lesbians will always be in the minority, no matter how much Baptist ministers would have you believe that we're going to turn all the children Gay. The good news is that more people are willing to stand up for equality—some because they have friends or family who are Gay and some because they think it's wrong to treat any group of people like second-class citizens. The biggest challenge now is reaching and engaging both communities of color and religious groups. It's prejudiced to think that people in these groups can't have their hearts turned, and the truth is, we haven't tried all that hard to reach them.

Define the agenda. As long as the Gay community is unclear about its goals, homophobes will continue to define them for us. All they have going for them is fear and they'll continue to tell people who don't know any better that the goal of the Gay community is to teach homosexuality to children, force churches to marry Gays and Lesbians and any number of other ridiculous lies. Yes, there's a Gay agenda, but there's no reason it should be a secret. We need to find a clear way to articulate what it is we believe to be full, fair and equal treatment under the law, and then we need to tell everybody.

Get a winning attitude. I remember standing on the street in L.A. with a few hundred other Prop. 8 protesters and talking to a slightly older guy, who had joined us as he saw us marching on the street. He told me and a few others that the thing we need to realize is that "in the scheme of things, this will only take a minute." He's right. The plain and simple truth is that we've come a long way in a short time and that a lot of the impatience we have now is because, at long last, there's a finish line in sight. Even though we lose ballot initiative after ballot initiative, we should remember that these initiatives are a response to our success. The story of America, the thrust of our history, is toward more equality and freedom. Be angry, be outraged, but don't lose sight that you're on the winning team. "We should remember that these initiatives are a response to our success."

Hate the bigotry, love the bigot. No matter how virulent, homophobia always comes down to ignorance. This means nobody should be written off, but it also means that no matter how good or decent or kind a person is in their other walks of life, their homophobia still deserves to be called out. I'm talking about Rev. Warren, obviously. The truth is, Warren's done a lot of good for the world and I believe he's a decent man, but when it comes to his views on Gays and Lesbians, and the extent to which he's gone to deny Gays and Lesbians their rights, he is fundamentally wrong. We should do our best, even when they're fighting against us (even more so when they're fighting against us), to help people who are letting hate and fear control them.

Remember that it's not all about you. Just as the fight for LGBT rights doesn't boil down to overturning a Gay marriage ban in California, there's more to equality and fairness than just the needs of Gays and Lesbians. You can practice your politics in whatever way you choose, but if you support full and equal protection for Gays and Lesbians, you owe it to yourself and your fellow citizens to looks at the many other gross inequalities around the globe and do something about them as well. It's easy to be self-serving, but if you expect straight people to care about you, you should try caring about something that doesn't directly effect you as well. And don't just empathize, do something tangible.

You can have your cake *ahem* and eat it, too.

Finally, let's resolve to be diverse. The argument over whether we should be "mainstream" or "radical" is tedious. We can be both. We can be Democrat and Republican. We can forcefully advocate change through civil disobedience while also working within the system for change. Of all the groups of people in the world, it seems that ours has the greatest capacity for being able to hold two ideas in our head at the same time. We're a better, stronger and more interesting community when we are both the loud-mouthed flamboyant hairdresser and the buttoned-down country club preppy. We wouldn't be fabulous if we all did it in the exact same way. It's a big community and no one single person or group gets to own it. That's why we all own it.

Many Suffered from Anti-Gay Violence in 2008

SAN FRANCISCO, California (Observer Update) From a series of street bashings in Seattle to the baseball bat murder of an Ecuadorean immigrant in New York, episodes of anti-Gay violence punctuated a year now ending with police investigating the alleged gang rape of a Lesbian near San Francisco, reported the Associated Press on 365Gay.com.

Advocates said they do not know whether the threats, beatings and murders reflect a true rise in attacks or increased reporting of hate-based crimes that persist even as Gays gain greater visibility and legal protections.

"When you are talking about hate crimes, people think someone is likely to report it, but in some communities the message is not always clear that our society has accepted LGBT folks," said Sarah Tofte, a researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch.

In Richmond, the crime-ravaged Bay Area city where the 28-year-old Lesbian reported being assaulted by four men, police received so many calls from community members wanting to help that they asked the local rape crisis center to set up a fund to aid her.

FBI statistics show there were 1,265 hate crimes based on sexual orientation in 2007, up from 1,017 two years earlier and 1,239 in 2003. That compares to 3,820 racially motivated incidents in 2007 and 1,400 in which the victim's religion was a factor.

Because not all states allow attacks motivated by anti-Gay bias to be charged as hate crimes and because some victims are reluctant to reveal their sexual orientations to police, Gay and Transgender rights advocates suspect the numbers to be much higher.

The vast majority of brutality against Gays is carried out by young men, usually acting in groups, said Riki Wilchins, executive director of Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, a Washington nonprofit that works in schools to address discrimination.

Their victims most often are other young men with feminine demeanors or Transgender women, said Wilchins. "These assailants are looking to eradicate and exterminate something that enrages them, and that is what makes them hate crimes," he said.

GenderPAC published a report in 2006 cataloguing the murders of 50 such victims under 30 years old over a 10-year period. The group has identified another 20 murders of "gender non-conforming youth" that have taken place in the two years since, although FBI statistics for the same period show only five hate crime slayings linked to the victim's sexual orientation.

"There has definitely been a huge spike. I don't think anybody knows why," Wilchins said.

Many of the incidents that have captured headlines this year — from the February shooting death of a Gay teenager at his Southern California middle school to this month's slaying of a Brooklyn man who was fatally beaten while walking arm-and-arm with his brother — fit Wilchins' profile.

Larry King, the 15-year-old shot by a classmate, wore feminine clothing and makeup. Jose Sucuzhanay, 31, was beaten with a baseball bat in Brooklyn and kicked by three men who jumped out of a car yelling anti-Gay and anti-Hispanic slurs.

The unidentified woman who was sexually assaulted in Richmond on Dec. 13 also was jumped by a group. Detectives say she was attacked after she got out of her car, which bore a rainbow Gay pride sticker.

After one of the four men struck her, the group dragged the woman into the street, assaulted her, forced her back into her car and took her to a burned-out apartment building, where she was raped again. Authorities are still searching for the suspects.

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, a network of organizations working to address Gay-related violence, has tracked numerous other anti-Gay crimes this year. They include the deaths of Transgender women in Tennessee and Colorado; an arson that destroyed the home of a 65-year-old Gay man in New York, and a spate of street beatings in Seattle's Gay district.

Prop. 102 Opponent Says Ariz. Secretary of State Turns Blind Eye to Campaign Finance Compliance

FLAGSTAFF (Observer Update) - Despite the fact that less than 25 percent of donors to YesforMarriage.com listed their occupations on campaign finance reports, the Arizona Secretary of State’s office says that the political committee behind Prop. 102 made its “best effort” to comply with a state law requiring political committees to list the occupations of campaign donors on campaign finance reports.

Responding to a complaint from Flagstaff resident Dan Frazier, the Secretary of State’s office requested additional information from YesforMarriage.com about its efforts to obtain the occupations of its donors. John LeSueur, treasurer forYesforMarriage.com, apparently responded to the Secretary of State’s inquiry. In a letter to LeSueur dated Dec. 22, 2008, State Election Director Joseph Kanefield wrote, “Based upon the information provided in your letter, we have determined that the Committee has established that it made its ‘best effort’ to obtain the required information. Consequently, there is an insufficient basis to find reasonable cause to believe the committee violated A.R.S. §§ 16-915(A), 16-901(13) or 16-904(D). We therefore consider this matter closed.” A copy of Kanefield’s letter to LeSueur was sent to Frazier by the Secretary of State’s office.

With his response to the Secretary of State, Lesueur apparently also made a request for “all correspondence in 2008 to, from or within the Arizona Secretary of State’s office relating to the compliance of any political committee with the campaign finance reporting requirements.” Kanefield responded by writing, “We have reviewed our files and have found no records that match your request.” Frazier, a Gay-rights supporter, got involved when he learned from a newspaper article that about 60 members of his community of Flagstaff had donated about $339,000 to YesforMarriage.com. He noticed that most Flagstaff donors did not list their occupations on campaign finance reports. “Only 17 percent of Flagstaff donors listed their occupations. Statewide, the figure is more like 23 percent. This is a very low rate of compliance. But apparently, the Secretary of State’s office is not concerned about the rate of compliance,” said Frazier in a prepared statement. “That’s shocking,” added Frazier. “But I am even more shocked to learn that the Secretary of State’s office has no record of any correspondence with anyone about compliance with the campaign finance laws. That is just unbelievable! What do they do at the Secretary of State’s office if they don’t communicate about campaign finance compliance? Isn’t that a big part of their job?”

Frazier originally contacted the Arizona Attorney General’s office with his concern about missing occupational data. The Attorney General’s office directed him to the Secretary of State’s office, saying that the Attorney General would investigate only if the Secretary of State indicated an investigation was warranted. However, ARS §§ 16-904(i) seems to say that the Attorney General is entrusted with enforcing campaign finance rules. The statute says, “On request of the attorney general, the county, city or town attorney or the filing officer, the treasurer shall provide any of the records required to be kept pursuant to this section.” This section of the law, related to the duties of the treasurer of a political committee, goes on to say, “A person who violates this section is subject to a civil penalty imposed as prescribed in section 16-924 of three times the amount of money that has been received, expended or promised in violation of this section.”

Is Anybody Home? - By Jimmy Petrol

I know a lot of people. Not that very many know me, but there it is....the interests of "modern" Americans are pretty much geared towards television and entertainment....the only place I am entertaining is right here.

Everywhere else...I represent work. In fact, lovers have left because I just love to do stuff and am not too fond of being entertained...at least not in conventional ways. What I am getting at is that I am sitting here in Petrol Central, all warm, cozy and clean, with another day's excitement behind me....a day full of work.

While what I do during the day is limited strictly to whatever I want, it all involves work. Some physical, which I revel in as it provides me with a body that can leap tall buildings (or Scandinavians) in a single bound and makes throwing heavy stuff around kind of fun.....and some of what I do is mental. All of it is intriguing and rewarding. All of it is hard.

What puzzles me is this...where are all my playmates?! From the time I played in my sandbox, building imaginary castles to now, when I make whatever I want to, there has been a shortage of playmates. When I said to my peers, still in short pants and mommy's crewcut, "come and dig in the dirt, climb trees and fly to the moon!" they most often said....gotta go....my show is on.

So I am looking. Where are you? And remember...I don't judge...just observe....if you all want to watch tv, eat out and chatter like a band of monkeys about whatever it's fine with me...makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to watch...kind of like puppies, only not so cute.

What I have decided to do is to invite. I have a little extra glass....it is "greenhouse" type glass. For anybody that cares, it is tempered, low iron glass specially made for solar applications. Like greenhouses. I invite two people, or house-holds, or neighborhoods or whatever unit you make up in your quest for a greenhouse to email me. I will give you "enough" glass to get you a greenhouse.

There are, of course, provisos. Provided you have a house, lot or planet of your own to put this on. Provided you are going to grow food. You don't have to eat the food...you can sell it, give it away or eat it; I don't care. The property can be a neighborhood garden plot, provided you can get the "proper" paperwork out of the owner. Provided you are a "working" sort of person (people) who envision putting this thing up either by yourselves or with a little help from your friends (I will be your friend). Provided you sign documents holding me harmless in this endeavor. Provided we agree on how much greenhouse you need.

Obviously, I decide how much glass is "enough". I decide which of you are the first "two" to qualify. If all you want is a little, tiny, tee-pee of glass to run along above your rows of plants, that's fine. In fact, that is probably the best way to qualify...keep it simple. But if you are ambitious, have a track record with ambitious projects...and want to have a big, roomy place to grow lots and lots of really cool vegetables in...well, that's ok to.

Just write me. I have a "little" extra glass that I am not going to use in any current project and I want to use it to lure some of you daring darlings out of your caves and into the sunlight to do a little work. Really. Can little Jimmy come out and play?

Angels of Hope - By Bill Morrow

TUCSON (Observer Update) - Angels of Hope, was the theme of a display at the Brown home in Winterhaven this year. Jeffrey Brown, creator of the Aids Ribbon Tucson project and his parents Stanley and Shirley, have been decorating their home on Christmas Avenue now for more than 40 years.

This display features a three story high red ribbon, extending out 120 feet, on to which visitors were encouraged to inscribe their personal messages of hope.

Each year, an estimated 100 thousand visitors travel through the Winterhaven community to view the Festival of Lights, and many stopped to observe the display. One of five children, Jeffrey and his parents were recently featured in Wingspan's Families You Know presentation.

SAAF Annual Financial Report Available

TUCSON (Observer Update) - The Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation (SAAF), the only community-based organization in Southern Arizona that provides case management and ancillary support services for people living with HIV/AIDS and their families, has posted their annual financial report for Fiscal Year 2007-2008.

The 32 page financial report covers all aspects of SAAF’s fundraising, expenditures and details how the various programs and services have worked for the past fiscal year. What follows is SAAF’s Income and Expense Report (from page 6):

REVENUE - Grants/Contracts $3,669,916, Community Based Revenue $873,417, Buyers Club $58,509, Rental Property Income $416,969, Management Fees $25,500, Investment Income $5,000, TOTAL REVENUE $5,049,31.

EXPENSE - Client Services $2,839,153, Prevention $1,302,674, Volunteer Resources $120,876, Development $426,228, Administration $363,385, TOTAL EXPENSE $5,049,312.

SAAF’s entire annual report is available online at saaf.org/AboutSAAF/documents/AnnualReportFY2007-2008.pdf. For more information, call (520) 628-7223 or go online to SAAF’s website, saaf.org.

Volunteers Needed for AGRA Rodeo

PHOENIX (Observer Update) - As a founding member of the International Gay Rodeo Association, the Arizona Gay Rodeo Association (AGRA) is proud to host the Road Runner Regional Rodeo from January 16-18, 2009. As a 501(c)4 organization, AGRA hosts this annual rodeo to raise funds to distribute to Arizona LGBT and other charities.

AGRA is looking for volunteers to assist for a few hours on Saturday or Sunday. Opportunities include assisting with ticket sales, ticket taking, security, and parking etc. This 24th anniversary rodeo will take place at Rawhide at Wild Horse Pass on the Gila River Indian Community, 5700 W North Loop Rd, Chandler, Arizona.

To volunteer, please visit the website at agravolunteers.org or contact our Rodeo Director, Ron Trusley, at rtrusley@cox.net or (602) 510-9671.

The Observer Response to TPI

EDITOR’S NOTE:

It wasn’t myths, profits, censure, advertising or whatever for the editorials mentioned by Tucson Pride Inc., but a question that had been posed by many in attendance at the event held at DeMeester about the proceeds raised and where they would be directed.

The Observer gives Tucson Pride full credit and salutes them and their volunteers for putting on the October Pride event at DeMeester but the event is only part of the picture since it is also a fund raiser for community organizations and non-profits as Tucson Pride Inc., had stated previously about the event.

Tucson Pride Inc., admission in their letter that they need “ ... to be more transparent to the community, which we will commit to doing. And all agree that we need to do a better job educating the public about many things, including where our money goes ...” is heartily welcomed and was the intent of the two editorials.

The Observer exists solely to provide an outlet for the LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities for news, opinion, statements and to answer questions about such events and enterprises occurring in Tucson and Southern Arizona, especially by 501©3 organizations who have to follow the letter of the law on the federal, state and local levels. That was the only intent of the editorials, to let readers and those who attended know where there fees for the tickets purchased was going to, nothing more, nothing less.

Editorial Response

In response to the October 22nd editorial and “cartoon,” as well as the most recent December 24th editorial, it seems there’s a myth among the public or perhaps the publishers of the Observer that the Tucson Pride board is pulling in Enron-level profits from ticket and beverage sales. This couldn’t be further from the truth. We work very hard with a small (but dedicated) staff and limited resources to make Pride Week, Pride on Parade, and Pride in the Desert a success year after year.

We do acknowledge the need to be more transparent to the community, which we will commit to doing. And all agree that we need to do a better job educating the public about many things, including where our money goes. These expenses include but are not limited to permits, tents, entertainment, security, and advertising, which makes up a considerable portion of overall operating costs. (And it’s worth mentioning here that The Observer is a part of that advertising budget.) Tickets to the event and beverage sales do not even come close to covering the cost of the event. We are very fortunate to have some local and national publishers that offer us advertising as a part of their sponsorship of the event. We rely heavily on those sponsorships for the continued success of all Tucson Pride events, and we currently have several board members that actively seek new sponsors. We would love to have enough sponsorship revenue to be able to have a free event some day.

Board meetings are held on the second Wednesday of every month. This information is printed in The Observer every week and can also be found online. We are always looking for new members with ideas, and we encourage those with suggestions and/or an interest in volunteering to attend our monthly meetings or simply go to our website, www.tucsonpride.org, and enter your contact information. Those who do get involved have the opportunity to determine which groups receive funds. This is clearly outlined on our website under the “Get Involved” link. Some of the organizations benefiting this year were Spay & Neuter Solutions, Presidio Charter School, Delta Lambda Phi, Wingspan, Hope Animal Shelter, SAAF, Arizona Gay Rodeo Assoc., TIHAN, Humane Society of Southern AZ, Hermitage Cat Shelter, The Leukemia Foundation of AZ, and Aviva Childrens Services.

Moreover, it’s simply not fair to criticize a 100%-volunteer LGBT non-profit organization in the only gay newspaper in Tucson without gathering all the facts— or at the very least contacting a board member. Each of us is more than happy to explain where the money goes and how much is needed to put on such a huge event every year. However, we feel an open censure in a news outlet like The Observer is unmerited considering the amount of time and energy we as a board and our gracious volunteers put into making sure the Tucson LGBT community has their day to shine.



Sincerely

Tucson Pride Inc.

Help TIHAN Build a More Informed and Compassionate Community

Dear Friends,

I know you share my concern about AIDS and people living with this disease right here in our community. That's why I hope you'll reach out and make an end-of-year tax-deductible donation to TIHAN in 2008.

This year, TIHAN has provided support services to more than 250 people living with HIV/AIDS, and provided AIDS education and awareness to thousands of people in our community. In support of our work, please make a donation before midnight on December 31, and it will count as a tax-deductible donation for 2008!

We need your help to continue this work ensuring a more informed and educated community and a compassionate community that sees to it that everyone in need receives the care and support they deserve.

As a volunteer-based non-profit organization that does not receive government funds, TIHAN counts on YOUR support in order to continue our programs and services.

In order to make sure your donation counts towards your 2008 tax deductions:

• Checks may be dropped off at the TIHAN office or mailed to us (1011 North Craycroft #301, Tucson, Arizona 85711) with a postmark no later than December 31, 2008, in order to qualify as a donation in the calendar year 2008. Persons making 2008 donations will be included in our Annual Report (unless you request to be anonymous). Checks postmarked AFTER December 31 will also GLADLY be accepted, but will be credited as 2009 contributions.
• Also, for your convenience, the TIHAN office can now accept your donation by credit card (VISA and MasterCard only), or you can click on this link to Donate to TIHAN Online (or go to the TIHAN website www.tihan.org and on the home page, click on the "Donate to TIHAN now" button at the top right-hand side under the candle).
• Also, TIHAN is ready to easily accept donations of shares of stock. Call Executive Director Scott Blades at 299-6647 for information and delivery instructions for your donation of stock. Talk to your financial advisor to determine how this can be beneficial to you and to the people we serve.
• Feel free to drop in or call our office before 4:30pm on Wednesday, December 31 and we'll be happy (very happy!) to process your 2008 donation! Or make your online donation by midnight on December 31.

Remember--any amount will make a difference, and every dollar you give before midnight on December 31 will help us provide care and compassionate support to those living with HIV/AIDS. Please consider giving a tax-deductible donation of $50, $100, $250, or more as part of your year-end giving.

If you need to verify the amount you have contributed to TIHAN so far this year, please call us at 299-6647.

Thanks for making the holidays--and every day--brighter for those we serve... joining hands, opening minds, changing hearts, touching lives, and helping to move us from a world darkened by ignorance, fear, and stigma into a new place lighted by candles of hope and giving and love.

As we end 2008 and look forward to a new year, please know how grateful we are for your gifts. Your contributions of talents, time, treasures, and love make a tremendous difference in the lives of those we serve. Thank you!


Scott Blades
Executive Director
Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network (TIHAN)

P.S. We encourage you to designate your gift "in memory of" or "in honor of" someone who has made an impact on you and your life. (If you wish, we will send notification of your gift to the person you would like us to inform of your contribution.)

Downtown - By Mrs. Miller

A Classic!!!

You’re Likable Enough, Gay People - By Frank Rich

(H/T Common Dreams.)

In his first press conference after his re-election in 2004, President Bush memorably declared, "I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it." We all know how that turned out.

Barack Obama has little in common with George W. Bush, thank God, his obsessive workouts and message control notwithstanding. At a time when very few Americans feel very good about very much, Obama is generating huge hopes even before he takes office. So much so that his name and face, affixed to any product, may be the last commodity left in the marketplace that can still move Americans to shop.

I share these high hopes. But for the first time a faint tinge of Bush crept into my Obama reveries this month.

As we saw during primary season, our president-elect is not free of his own brand of hubris and arrogance, and sometimes it comes before a fall: "You're likable enough, Hillary" was the prelude to his defeat in New Hampshire. He has hit this same note again by assigning the invocation at his inauguration to the Rev. Rick Warren, the Orange County, Calif., megachurch preacher who has likened committed gay relationships to incest, polygamy and "an older guy marrying a child." Bestowing this honor on Warren was a conscious - and glib - decision by Obama to spend political capital. It was made with the certitude that a leader with a mandate can do no wrong.

In this case, the capital spent is small change. Most Americans who have an opinion about Warren like him and his best-selling self-help tome, "The Purpose Driven Life." His good deeds are plentiful on issues like human suffering in Africa, poverty and climate change. He is opposed to same-sex marriage, but so is almost every top-tier national politician, including Obama. Unlike such family-values ayatollahs as James Dobson and Tony Perkins, Warren is not obsessed with homosexuality and abortion. He was vociferously attacked by the Phyllis Schlafly gang when he invited Obama to speak about AIDS at his Saddleback Church two years ago.

There's no reason why Obama shouldn't return the favor by inviting him to Washington. But there's a difference between including Warren among the cacophony of voices weighing in on policy and anointing him as the inaugural's de facto pope. You can't blame V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop and an early Obama booster, for feeling as if he'd been slapped in the face. "I'm all for Rick Warren being at the table," he told The Times, but "we're talking about putting someone up front and center at what will be the most-watched inauguration in history, and asking his blessing on the nation. And the God that he's praying to is not the God that I know."

Warren, whose ego is no less than Obama's, likes to advertise his "commitment to model civility in America." But as Rachel Maddow of MSNBC reminded her audience, "comparing gay relationships to child abuse" is a "strange model of civility." Less strange but equally hard to take is Warren's defensive insistence that some of his best friends are the gays: His boasts of having "eaten dinner in gay homes" and loving Melissa Etheridge records will not protect any gay families' civil rights.

Equally lame is the argument mounted by an Obama spokeswoman, Linda Douglass, who talks of how Warren has fought for "people who have H.I.V./AIDS." Shouldn't that be the default position of any religious leader? Fighting AIDS is not a get-out-of-homophobia-free card. That Bush finally joined Bono in doing the right thing about AIDS in Africa does not mitigate the gay-baiting of his 2004 campaign, let alone his silence and utter inaction when the epidemic was killing Texans by the thousands, many of them gay men, during his term as governor.

Unlike Bush, Obama has been the vocal advocate of gay civil rights he claims to be. It is over the top to assert, as a gay writer at Time did, that the president-elect is "a very tolerant, very rational-sounding sort of bigot." Much more to the point is the astute criticism leveled by the gay Democratic congressman Barney Frank, who, in dissenting from the Warren choice, said of Obama, "I think he overestimates his ability to get people to put aside fundamental differences." That's a polite way of describing the Obama cockiness. It will take more than the force of the new president's personality and eloquence to turn our nation into the United States of America he and we all want it to be.

Obama may not only overestimate his ability to bridge some of our fundamental differences but also underestimate how persistent some of those differences are. The exhilaration of his decisive election victory and the deserved applause that has greeted his mostly glitch-free transition can't entirely mask the tensions underneath. Before there is profound social change, there is always high anxiety.

The success of Proposition 8 in California was a serious shock to gay Americans and to all the rest of us who believe that all marriages should be equal under the law. The roles played by African-Americans (who voted 70 percent in favor of Proposition 8) and by white Mormons (who were accused of bankrolling the anti-same-sex-marriage campaign) only added to the morning-after recriminations. And that was in blue California. In Arkansas, voters went so far as to approve a measure forbidding gay couples to adopt.

There is comparable anger and fear on the right. David Brody, a political correspondent with the Christian Broadcasting Network, was flooded with e-mails from religious conservatives chastising Warren for accepting the invitation to the inaugural. They vilified Obama as "pro-death" and worse because of his support for abortion rights.

Stoking this rage, no doubt, is the dawning realization that the old religious right is crumbling - in part because Warren's new generation of leaders departs from the Falwell-Robertson brand of zealots who have had a stranglehold on the G.O.P. It's a sign of the old establishment's panic that the Rev. Richard Cizik, known for his leadership in addressing global warming, was pushed out of his executive post at the National Association of Evangelicals this month. Cizik's sin was to tell Terry Gross of NPR that he was starting to shift in favor of civil unions for gay couples.

Cizik's ouster won't halt the new wave he represents. As he also told Gross, young evangelicals care less and less about the old wedge issues and aren't as likely to base their votes on them. On gay rights in particular, polls show that young evangelicals are moving in Cizik's (and the country's) direction and away from what John McCain once rightly called "the agents of intolerance." It's not a coincidence that Dobson's Focus on the Family, which spent more than $500,000 promoting Proposition 8, has now had to lay off 20 percent of its work force in Colorado Springs.

But we're not there yet. Warren's defamation of gay people illustrates why, as does our president-elect's rationalization of it. When Obama defends Warren's words by calling them an example of the "wide range of viewpoints" in a "diverse and noisy and opinionated" America, he is being too cute by half. He knows full well that a "viewpoint" defaming any minority group by linking it to sexual crimes like pedophilia is unacceptable.

It is even more toxic in a year when that group has been marginalized and stripped of its rights by ballot initiatives fomenting precisely such fears. "You've got to give them hope" was the refrain of the pioneering 1970s gay politician Harvey Milk, so stunningly brought back to life by Sean Penn on screen this winter. Milk reminds us that hope has to mean action, not just words.

By the historical standards of presidential hubris, Obama's disingenuous defense of his tone-deaf invitation to Warren is nonetheless a relatively tiny infraction. It's no Bay of Pigs. But it does add an asterisk to the joyous inaugural of our first black president. It's bizarre that Obama, of all people, would allow himself to be on the wrong side of this history.

Since he's not about to rescind the invitation, what happens next? For perspective, I asked Timothy McCarthy, a historian who teaches at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and an unabashed Obama enthusiast who served on his campaign's National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Leadership Council. He responded via e-mail on Christmas Eve.

After noting that Warren's role at the inauguration is, in the end, symbolic, McCarthy concluded that "it's now time to move from symbol to substance." This means Warren should "recant his previous statements about gays and lesbians, and start acting like a Christian."

McCarthy added that it's also time "for President-elect Obama to start acting on the promises he made to the LGBT community during his campaign so that he doesn't go down in history as another Bill Clinton, a sweet-talking swindler who would throw us under the bus for the sake of political expediency." And "for LGBT folks to choose their battles wisely, to judge Obama on the content of his policy-making, not on the character of his ministers."

Amen. Here's to humility and equanimity everywhere in America, starting at the top, as we negotiate the fierce rapids of change awaiting us in the New Year.

(Published on Sunday, December 28, 2008 by the New York Times.)

Staff Transitions at Wingspan

Wingspan will help welcome the New Year by congratulating a number of staff who are transitioning to new positions within the organization, as well as thanking staff who are moving on to new opportunities.

Beginning January 1, Courtney Jones will become Wingspan's new Director of Programs. An MSW candidate who was recently accepted into the MBA program at the UA, Courtney first came to Wingspan as a Youth Outreach Specialist. Earning the opportunity to eventually become Youth and Family Program Manager, Courtney has consistently shown a passion and dedication to Wingspan that will continue to inspire her work in this capacity. Courtney will continue to be mentored and assisted by outgoing Interim Director of Programs, Elizabeth Burden.

Khara Ellasante will be promoted to Youth and Family Programs Mananger. Before she was hired as a Youth Outreach Specialist in February, Khara worked with Youth as an Investigator at Child Protective Services.

With much gratitude for their service to our community, Wingspan bids farewell to Interim Director of Programs, Elizabeth Burden, and to Breast Health Educator and Rainbow Families facilitator, T. Loving. Liz's tenure at Wingspan began as a Board Member before eventually serving as Interim Executive Director. Liz holds a special place in Wingspan's history given the time and committment she gave to helping facillitate the organization's transition over the past year. We thank Liz and T for their many gifts to Wingspan and our community.

La Dolce Musto's Year In Review

Michael Musto of the Village Voice has a must read piece online, reviewing the past year.

During this season ... some satire

‘Jingle Bells, Batman Smells Robin Laid an Egg’ - By Mark R. Kerr

During this time of crass commercialism and craptacular economics, many businesses, law firms and corporations that haven’t received a bailout from Henry Paulson are doing okay, since they hand their hand in the “Yes on Proposition 102" cookie jar.

Focus on the Family - Action (Daddy James Dobson’s group), MDS Communications (the right wing public relation flack firm), Home Depot, Quik Trip, Bank of America, Summit West Signs of Gilbert, the Buttes Resort of Tempe, Lane Powell (a Seattle Washington attorney).

Public Opinion Strategies of Alexandria Virgina, Cricket Phones, Design4Advertising (to the tune of $3,140,370 alone) the advertising firm which also created Florida’s “Yes on Amendment 2" campaign material, Smart and Final of Tempe, Corinne Lovas of Peoria and Kelly Molique of Scottsdale as “spokespersons,” to the tune of $20 grand a piece.

Americopy - the Mesa branch for communications (mailings - totaling $3,031,569.09), Michael Whiting of St. John’s for other communications ($30,000), Campaign Secrets ($121,724.62), Summit West Signs of Gilbert ($379,919.75), Fairytale Brownies of Phoenix ($165.43), just to name a few of the many firms that made out in the bigotry known as Proposition 102 from the fourth quarter report filed with the Arizona Secretary of State.

Many firms did get in on the “bigotry bucks,” and many people and businesses from the Tucson area gave or received, to or from, this nefarious enterprise, including:

Emron Talbot Jenkins, Tucson, AZ, 85730, (chiropractor), 10/16/08, $1,000. Melody Hancock, Vail, AZ, 85641, (engineer - Raytheon), 10/16/08, $1,000. Jeff Patterson, Tucson, AZ, 85743, 10/16/08, $750.

James and Marilyn Busby, Tucson, AZ, 85719 (accountant), 10/22/08 ($5,120 total - in kind contributions). Anonymous, Tucson, AZ, 85700, 10/29/08, ($100 cash). Jose Figueroa, Tucson, AZ, 85747, (Branch Manager - Penske Truck Leasing), 10/29/08, $800 (total for campaign - $1,300).

Hurd Baruch, Tucson, AZ, 85750 (retired), 10/30/08, $100. Scott Richins, Tucson, AZ, 85749 (resident physician - TMC), 10/30/08, $30. Jody Powell, Tucson, AZ, 85730, 11/3/08, $500. Lynne St. Angelo, Tucson, AZ, 85737, (for communications - signs), 11/10/08, (paid -$55.05).

For those interested in even more details, the reports can be found online at azsos.gov/cfs/PublicReports/2008/F751795F-624D-4502-83C4-FD8E16844FC8.pdf, azsos.gov/cfs/PublicReports/2008/1660B06E-2440-4978-8490-1308210055EA.pdf, azsos.gov/cfs/PublicReports/2008/F13C4158-61AE-4EF7-A8BD-6B85801F0145.pdf, azsos.gov/cfs/PublicReports/2008/8E0962C6-5875-4503-A533-D24725F39129.pdf For more information online about the ongoing economic boycott go to equalityboycott.com.

Go Ahead ‘N Ask: Bless the Beasts and Children - By King Daevid MacKenzie

The question was asked me the other day, what was the first movie I ever saw where I actually felt sympathetically towards a character identifiable as Gay? I didn’t have to think very long about it. I saw it in 1976, when the film was already five years old (I was 15).

Bless the Beasts and Children. Since moving to Arizona last year, I’m amazed at how few people I’ve met here have ever seen the film or read the 1971 Glendon Swarthout novel. (Perhaps the reference to Country Joe & The Fish dated the book too badly?) Many recognise the title because they’ve heard the Carpenters record of the movie’s theme song, the B-side of their million-selling 45 “Superstar.” In Wisconsin in the ‘70s, it seemed to be a mandatory part of the high school English curriculum, as it was taught at three (Neenah Armstrong, Oshkosh North and Kenosha Tremper) that I attended.

Swarthout is said to have been the quintessential Arizona author, having written in more genres about more events he set in this state than almost anyone else. A later novel, The Shootist, became John Wayne’s “valedictory” movie (so Leonard Maltin says). With Bless the Beasts and Children, Swarthout wanted to show that he “got” what was at the core of the youth counterculture of the time. He wound up giving a gift to the human spirit that still moves me today, 32 years after I first read it. In the novel, six misfit adolescents are shipped by their affluent parents “back east” to Box Canyon Boys’ Camp, just outside Prescott, for a summer. One of these is Gerald Goodenow, a Cleveland 13-year-old whose family, if you looked up “dysfunctional” in a dictionary, provided both definition and illustration. Gerald’s brutal stepfather had told the boy’s mother, with Gerald in earshot, that B.C. is the last chance she’ll have to avoid having to “buy him a dress and cosmetics.”

Goodenow is hardly the only Charlie Brown in this crowd, and they all wind up in the same cabin with a rockheaded counsellor called Wheaties and the contempt of the rest of the campers and staff. One day, Wheaties decides to “treat” his charges to a bloody slaughter of “worthless dings,” a herd of penned buffalo that are shot by meatmen who errantly fancy themselves to be “hunters.” Wheaties’ “treat” backfires on him when, after being told how worthless the rest of the Box Canyon population consider them to be, Goodenow and his cabinmates strongly identify with the buffalo and set out the next night to free them from the slaughter pen.

The film made of the story was produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, who had made a career out of “message pictures” like High Noon, On The Beach and Inherit The Wind. Kramer probably thought Bless the Beasts and Children would be his Easy Rider, documenting a pocket of the youth counterculture of the day that wasn’t being covered yet by Hollywood. As it happened, another picture was released almost the same week as Kramer’s that literally covered much of the same territory, Billy Jack. Tom Laughlin famously planted his foot on a standing redneck’s cheek in the very same Prescott business district where Goodenow and his friends hotwire an exterminator’s pickup truck to get to the buffalo.

As he was cutting the film, Kramer was also teaching a film course at Brigham Young University, and he had planned to screen the world premiere of Bless the Beasts and Children at BYU as part of that course. But when the BYU administration saw the film, they banned it from their campus because of Goodenow & Company’s “rebellion.” Actually, I fully believe the mission the boys undertake in this movie and novel is truly Christian; when Jesus commanded his followers to “love your neighbour as yourself,” I’m convinced he wasn’t just speaking of those neighbours of the same species as we are.

Past Swarthout’s wisely using a Gay teenager in his story of redemption (and Kramer just as wisely refusing to water down that character’s identification as Gay), the film has another Family connection that I hadn’t learned of until just this year. The actor playing the self-appointed leader of Goodenow’s band of misfits, Cotton, was Barry Robins. Bless the Beasts and Children was by far his most famous work. Only fifteen years later, on the 1st of April, 1986, Barry Robins died, one of Hollywood’s earliest AIDS fatalities. If nothing else that I’ve written here has justified your tracking down the video and watching this picture, do it to pay tribute to Robins. His memory deserves it.

And while on the subject of cinema, I’ve promised myself I’ll be spending the 12 Days of Christmas writing the first draft of a film script of my own. So, while I shut off the Ameche (I refuse to become a Victim of Telephone, a la Ginsberg’s poem, while working on this thing), you can visit kingdaevid.podbean.com for my latest podcast offerings, contact me at thevoiceoflabor@hotmail.com and join me in getting out of the year alive. Whatever your holiday is, have a great one and we’ll be back to work in a couple of weeks or so.

Guerilla Government of the People, by the People - By Jimmy Petrol

While we wait for Team Obama to get into the White House, its current occupants are busy, busy, busy selling off the forests, printing money and passing bureaucratic regulations that are counter to the general good. The axis of evil....Bush, Cheney and Company, have directed the Environmental Protection Agency to make last minute regulatory changes that will eliminate the possibility of allowing the EPA to regulate CO 2 emissions. It is being done in such a way that it will be difficult for Team Obama to put it right again anytime soon.

The same goes for the last minute sales of National Forest timber...once the current administration allows contracts to be signed...well, it is hard, hard, hard to negate a valid contract. It is likely that every regulatory agency in the Federal government (and certainly Alaska, too) is speedily selling everything in the country at fire-sale rates. Obama can't stop it, later he can't fix it...so we need to act now. Yes, us. All you need to be able to do is read, write and email.

Pick any Federal agency. Email whoever you can....tell them that you are a source "close" to Team Obama (true if you voted for them) and that you have some very bad news for them. What we want to leak to these bureaucrats is that they need to stall a little on the selling of America. They need to go a little slower on the passage of last-minute regulations that run counter to the public good. Of course, they know that, but they are dutiful little public servants, serving the current president, loyal and true.

What we need to tell them is that we have it on good authority that Team Obama is gonna fire ‘em all if they pass any of that last minute, bad for the people stuff. Tell ‘em big, bad Obama is coming to town, and they are going to be out of work if they can't point to something "derailed" that Bush and his bunch wanted done. Simple. Do it. Blog, email, chat, spam-it, can-it, ham-it. Tell everyone you know that you have all this on the best authority. For those that are hard to convince, quote me. I know that Obama is going to can all those guys in forestry that are selling the old-growth out to the most attractive bidders right now. I know that Obama's people are going after the bozos in the EPA that are working overtime right now to make sure CO 2 production cannot be regulated in the near future. I know this because it is the only rational thing a rational president can do to undo the last minute Bush damages. There is going to be scorched earth in the federal bureaucracies in just a little while.

Especially in the Justice Department. First and foremost, at Justice. A new department to go after all the boys in the other federal agencies that have been playing ball the Bush way. We all know what the Feds can do when they set their minds to it....the government has long found tools like tax audits, federal investigations and general allegations to be of good service when chasing the poor citizen around. This time, a rational president will use them on the bad guys, the stooges that just follow orders and the rest of the morons that have been facilitating the rape of the country and some of the world by the Bush/Cheney Gang. So you know it too. Let everyone know about it...let's see if it is true that things can travel like wildfire on the internet.

With any luck, what we do today will help stop some of the current President's efforts to undermine the next president. Help Obama now. Spread it that the bureaucrats that stall now will have a job in three months and the rest will be on unemployment and facing the full strength and fury of the Federal Government, as is only right and proper. Let's see. Who can I get a press query to at the EPA.... "Has the upcoming probe into last-minute improprieties been announced at the EPA, as it has been rumored to have already begun at Justice, where it is suspected that US Attorneys loyal to Obama have begun to gather documents damaging to current Justice heads?" That should do, I should think. Off you go now, bad boys and girls...you have work to do that the president cannot. God save us if we fail to act.

Observer Editorial: Stocking Stuffers

In October, OUToberFest was held at the DeMeester Band Park shell in Reid Park in Tucson to mark LGBT Pride in the Old Pueblo.

Thousands of people, straight or LGBTQ, young and old, as well as many pets converged on the bandshell, after paying for tickets, to have a wonderful time, be proud and support the LGBTQ community, it’s businesses, organizations and service agencies.

This event was produced by Tucson Pride Inc. (Tucsonpride.org) a Arizona non-profit corporation and an IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that produces and promotes cultural, educational and recreational events for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community in Tucson, Arizona.

So during these times, especially over the holiday period, which LGBT organizations or charities received proceeds from this event - the intended purpose for the October gathering?

Desert Voices to Host Open House

TUCSON (Observer Update) - Desert Voices Chorus will host its first Open House of 2009 on January 5, 7:00 p.m. at the Water of Life MCC Church, 3269 N. Mountain Avenue, Tucson.

Each year, Desert Voices invites the Tucson community to meet Chorus members, sing a little and learn more about the Chorus. This is an excellent opportunity for anyone who has the desire to sing to join with a truly supportive choral arts group. There are no auditions. Artistic Director, Chris Tackett will conduct a voice check to determine vocal range and best fit with the Chorus. Desert Voices encourages those interested in learning more about how they can become a part of the Desert Voices Family, to visit with them January 5.

Desert Voices’ next concert will be “In the Basement”, February 7 at the Historic “Y,” Tucson. Their Annual Cabaret and Fundraiser will feature Guest Stars Lisa Otey and Diane Van Deurzen. Limited tickets for this risqué, slightly bawdy and thoroughly entertaining evening, are still available and can be purchased by calling (520) 791-9662.

Desert Voices (desertvoices.org) is Arizona’s Premier GLBTS Chorus and remains committed to uniting our community through our music. Every concert season is carefully designed to reflect the cultural diversity of our community through productions that inspire as well as entertain. For more information, contact Jeffrey Scotland, (520) 908-8740.

Is Woody’s Bar Being Unfairly Targeted with Noise Complaints?

TUCSON (Observer Update) - Dave Huff, co-owner of Woody's Bar, says he feels his business is being targeted because it is an LGBT bar. Steve Massey wants people to know that residents of the Laurence Court Apartments on North Oracle Road are not homophobic, reported Mari Herraras of the Tucson Weekly in its print and online editions.

Massey says recent media coverage of a legal wrangle between Woody's Bar--an LGBT bar near the corner of Prince and Oracle roads--and the neighboring apartment complex where he lives painted a picture of a hateful apartment community. "It's being made out to be a bigoted apartment complex--anti-Gay. I don't like that stigma," Massey says. "It's the landlord. I don't like what she's been doing, and I have to stand up for Woody's and my Gay community." Massey finds himself in an unusual predicament: Not only does he live at Laurence Court, but he is friends with Linda Howeth, the apartment manager whose years of complaints finally led the Tucson Police Department to red-tag the bar in November. As a patron of Woody's, Massey has witnessed ongoing issues between the bar and his landlord/friend for four years.

That first complaint four years ago came after the bar hosted a Gay fraternity party that got out of control. Even Dave Huff, co-owner of Woody's with his partner Frank Shepis, admits the party provided them with a lesson they needed to learn: While it would be profitable for Woody's to host such events, Huff says that was Woody's last frat party. Prior to that evening, Huff and Shepis never had any problems with area neighbors, they say. The couple opened the bar eight years ago, and Huff says it wasn't until Howeth became manager of the neighboring apartment complex that the noise complaints began.

After the first incident, Huff said they tried mediation, but Howeth's demands seemed excessive and unrealistic. But Huff decided he would be more proactive, he says: If he had a special band in town that he knew was loud, or if there was going to a birthday party on the bar's patio, he'd walk over to Howeth's apartment and give her a heads-up. He also agreed to turn the patio speakers off after 10 p.m. every night. That worked until this year, when Howeth began calling the police department regularly to complain about noise. (Huff says it's important to note that the stage area is in the back of the bar, on the Oracle Road side of the building, and that he built an 8-foot wall around the patio on the other side of the building--nearest to the apartments--to help decrease noise.)

Massey says he accompanied Howeth to the mediation meeting with Huff four years ago, and believes that she exaggerated the level of noise. From his apartment, at the end of the complex, Massey says he barely hears bands or patrons, even when he's outside smoking. Huff contends Howeth's complaints are often unfounded, with the noise coming from an adjacent apartment building, the street or another business. In January, Huff says, Howeth complained to TPD that she could hear the "boom, boom, boom" coming from the bar at her apartment--250 feet from Woody's, on the other side of the apartment complex. In response, Huff says, TPD officers came into the bar at 12:30 a.m. and proceeded to do what's called a liquor check, in which police look behind the bar to make sure legal procedures are being followed. Liquor checks aren't all that unusual, but the timing (taking place at 12:30 a.m.) was; most customers felt intimidated and left, Huff says.

According to Huff, in March, after another complaint, all of his employees were cited with disturbing the peace, including the DJ. A month later, Huff says his attorney was able to get the charges against his employees dropped, with the exception of the DJ, who was forced to do diversion. ("Diversion" means a person enters into an agreement to do certain things, such as performing community service and staying out of trouble. If they comply, the case is dismissed.) Huff says he would rather not play what he calls the "Gay card," but he can't help but wonder if Howeth is anti-Gay, and his business is being targeted as a result.

Howeth adamantly denies that she's anti-Gay. In her defense, Howeth says she's not only good friends with Massey, but that she has other Gay tenants. "That is so not true," Howeth says. "My children can even tell you I've raised them to be nonjudgmental." Howeth says her complaints are about noise, and nothing else. She has no problems with Woody's patrons, but she does have issues with Woody's patio, where patrons can sit, play pool and listen to music through a speaker system. Howeth says Huff's employees often forget to turn off the speakers at 10 p.m.

Meanwhile, Huff headed to court on Wednesday, Dec. 10, to fight the red tag. (Huff says he was also there to help bartender Jeffrey Fulgham, who was given a civil citation for unruly behavior by police on the same night the bar was red-tagged.) On the red-tag night, the bar was hosting a low-key wine-tasting. Huff's attorney, James Gjurgevich, asked the court to hear both cases together, because it didn't make sense to cite the bartender, who was there doing his job. The judge ruled both cases could be tried together; the hearing was postponed and scheduled for Jan. 29.

Until the January hearing, it is business as usual at Woody's. Huff says he's amazed that there are no standards for complaints like these. "All she has to do is be offended in any way and call the police," Huff says. If Woody's loses in court next month, and if another complaint were to be filed, the bar could face bigger problems, from losing its liquor license to being forced to close. As a small-business owner, Huff says standards are needed; without them, Howeth can call anytime and cause trouble, even if she is not telling the truth.

While Howeth says she is being honest, she also offers up one last solution to the problem: completely enclosing the patio. Howeth says that would make a big difference, and she is sure her complaints about noise would end. The Weekly called city prosecutor Allan Merritt regarding the case and Huff's allegations that he is being unfairly targeted. Merritt said he was unable to comment on the case, because it is still pending.

(Editor’s Note - Dave Huff and Frank Schepis have been Tucson’s LGBT community’s biggest assets, with their long time support of AIDS Services Organizations, Wingspan and other groups striving to help LGBT Tucsonans. If you want to send a letter to Judge Jeffrey Zlatow, the address is Judge Jeffrey Zlatow, Tucson City Court, 103 W. Alameda Street, Tucson, AZ, 85701)

The Observer

Is out and up online for your reading pleasure here.

Eartha Kitt Has Passed

NEW YORK — A family friend says Eartha Kitt, a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died. She was 81.

Andrew Freedman says Kitt died Thursday (Dec. 25) of colon cancer and was recently treated at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York.

Kitt, a self-proclaimed "sex kitten" famous for her catlike purr, was one of America's most versatile performers, winning two Emmys and getting a third nomination. She also was nominated for two Tony Awards and a Grammy.

PFLAG Tucson Meeting, January 7

TUCSON (Observer Update) - PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) promotes the health and well-being of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender persons, their families and friends through: Support, to cope with an adverse society; Education, to enlighten an ill-informed public; and Advocacy, to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights.

PFLAG - Tucson provides opportunity to dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identify, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity. The next support meeting will take place Wednesday, January 7, 2009, at the Ward VI City Council Offices at 3202 East 1st Street, one block east of Country Club Road and one block south of Speedway Boulevard. We have no program scheduled for this meeting.

If you need help, please call our hotline at (520) 360-3795 or e-mail us at pflagtuc@pflagtucson.org. We will connect you with a PFLAG member who has been where you are and who understands.

Much Ado About Nothing By Jack Melichar

NEWS FLASH This just in to the Observer. Santa has been arrested in a mall in Phoenix. According to Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Santa allegedly called a lady a Ho. According to the sheriff, Santa was heard to exclaim Merry Christmas, and then added Ho – not once but three times. He deserves to wear pink underwear and eat green bologna sandwiches!

But I digress, and I haven't even started. I recall, as a child, hearing that "favorite" Christmas Carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas and was very perplexed. There was absolutely no reference to thank you notes. Having been brought up in the old school (and missies, I do mean old!) I was taught to respond to a gift with a brief note of gratitude. Sometimes they were difficult to write. How do you show gratitude for neckties – you hate them – that makes you look like an escaped clown from the Ringling Brothers circus? But here was a lady who had received such luxurious gifts, and not one "thank you". Those of you who know me know that I will go out of my way to help restore the reputation of someone who had theirs besmirched. I have, therefore, elected to salvage the reputation of this damsel, and write the notes for her.

Day 1 - My Dearest, Sweetest Poopsie, What a wonderful and thoughtful gift. The partridge is so quaint and cuddly, and you know how I love pears. Thank you so much. Your lover, Missy Mae

Day 2 - Oh Dearest, Sweetest Poopsie, The turtle doves are just so precious. I love hearing them cooing. I just can't wait until we can hear them coo together, and we can coo along! Your lover, Missy Mae

Day 3 - Dear Poopsie, I cannot believe your extravagance. Three French Hens and yet another pear tree. My little plot will soon look like a nursery – and not the kind I was hoping for. As always, Missy Mae

Day 4 - Dear Poopsie, My, my, my! More birds. Now I have four calling birds to add to my collection. I do hope you are not planning on going overboard with our feathered friends. Yours, Missy Mae

Day 5 - Poopsie, Oh, the five gold rings are exquisite. But, darling, you must see that I have quite enough birds and pear trees. Thank you, though, for the rings. With love, Missy Mae

Day 6 - Dear Brucie, More Birds! What am I to do with all the geese eggs? Six a day! Do you know what that would do to my heart – ingesting all that cholesterol? I do hope you don't wish for me to pass on. Missy Mae

Day 7 - Bruce, What's with you and the f???ing birds? I must be very careful where I walk. They are not the tidiest of creatures, you know. Please, no more g d. birds. Missy

Day 8 - Bruce, What am I supposed to do with eight cows and eight maids a milking? Do you think I have aspirations to become a dairy farmer? Please, your generosity is overwhelming – you have no idea of just how overwhelming. And, please, please, no more birds! Missy

Day 9 - You have totally ignored my request for no more birds. On top of that you have sent me nine ladies dancing. Are you implying that I am attracted to those of my own sex? Of all people, you should know better – I wasn't faking. Penelope

Day 10 - Great, you moron, just great! The lords a leaping are leaping all over the maids a milking. The cows are bellowing because the milking maids have other things on their mind. The birds squawk constantly, and I think I am about to loose my mind. Stop! Stop! Stop! Penelope

Day 11 - Just wonderful, meathead! Eleven pipers piping. And do they ever pipe – mostly each other! At least they are sort of quiet until one finds he has been left out. My friend, Robert (the one who prefers to be called Roberta) showed them some interesting ways to get around the odd number. That has helped, but I must insist, no more! No more! No more! No more f???ing birds!!! Penelope

Day 12 - That's it buster! I can't move from my house for fear of stepping in a cow pie or something that those f???ing birds have left behind. I don't dare walk under the pear trees because the partridges have developed diarrhea, no doubt due to all the commotion. It won't matter, though. In a few days, we are going to flush them out and have a grand hunt. One more thing, the twelve drummers drumming are having a great time with the eleven pipers piping, and, of course, with Roberta, who told me he is having a ball. I expect you to pay to have all the droppings from 184 birds and 40 cows removed – forthwith! The next note you get will be from my lawyer! Your enemy forever, Penelope Throckmorton

Hope you have a very Merry Christmas or a Happy Hanukkah of Festive Festivus or whatever holiday you celebrate.

What Would Jesus Do?

While other Catholic dioceses reach out to gays, Tucson's Bishop Kicanas refuses to show the love

(Editor's Note: Tim Vanderpool of the Tucson Weekly has a great article in their current edition about Tucson's Roman Catholic Bishop, Gerald Kicanas, the same one who wrote and spoke out in favor of Arizona's Proposition 102.)

Terry McGuirk calls himself a "cradle-to-grave Catholic." And he's as dedicated as any good Catholic can be, with stubborn faith and a bulldog loyalty. At 72, he's also enough of a curmudgeon to grouse over the hurt he feels.

McGuirk says Tucson's diocese deliberately turned its back on gays like him. "That," he grumbles, "really pisses me off." Look into his eyes, and you know it cuts even deeper.

He emerged from the closet 30 years ago, never an easy step, but particularly hard for old-schoolers coming of age in the paranoid, corseted 1950s. Still, he felt welcomed by the late Manuel Moreno, who was named Tucson's bishop in 1982. Even when Moreno fell ill, surrogates celebrated Mass for gays, lesbians and for those suffering from AIDS.

That all changed, McGuirk says, when Bishop Gerald Kicanas succeeded Moreno in 2003. Kicanas quickly disbanded the gay and lesbian task force Moreno had begun, and Moreno's gay Mass. In the last two statewide general elections, he also enthusiastically campaigned for laws to ban gay marriage in Arizona. His political efforts proved successful this year.

Read the rest of this insightful article here.

Life Without Bubbles By Paul Krugman

(H/T NY Times and Common Dreams)

Whatever the new administration does, we're in for months, perhaps even a year, of economic hell. After that, things should get better, as President Obama's stimulus plan - O.K., I'm told that the politically correct term is now "economic recovery plan" - begins to gain traction. Late next year the economy should begin to stabilize, and I'm fairly optimistic about 2010.

But what comes after that? Right now everyone is talking about, say, two years of economic stimulus - which makes sense as a planning horizon. Too much of the economic commentary I've been reading seems to assume, however, that that's really all we'll need - that once a burst of deficit spending turns the economy around we can quickly go back to business as usual.

In fact, however, things can't just go back to the way they were before the current crisis. And I hope the Obama people understand that.

The prosperity of a few years ago, such as it was - profits were terrific, wages not so much - depended on a huge bubble in housing, which replaced an earlier huge bubble in stocks. And since the housing bubble isn't coming back, the spending that sustained the economy in the pre-crisis years isn't coming back either.

To be more specific: the severe housing slump we're experiencing now will end eventually, but the immense Bush-era housing boom won't be repeated. Consumers will eventually regain some of their confidence, but they won't spend the way they did in 2005-2007, when many people were using their houses as ATMs, and the savings rate dropped nearly to zero.

So what will support the economy if cautious consumers and humbled homebuilders aren't up to the job?

A few months ago a headline in the satirical newspaper The Onion, on point as always, offered one possible answer: "Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble to Invest In." Something new could come along to fuel private demand, perhaps by generating a boom in business investment.

But this boom would have to be enormous, raising business investment to a historically unprecedented percentage of G.D.P., to fill the hole left by the consumer and housing pullback. While that could happen, it doesn't seem like something to count on.

A more plausible route to sustained recovery would be a drastic reduction in the U.S. trade deficit, which soared at the same time the housing bubble was inflating. By selling more to other countries and spending more of our own income on U.S.-produced goods, we could get to full employment without a boom in either consumption or investment spending.

But it will probably be a long time before the trade deficit comes down enough to make up for the bursting of the housing bubble. For one thing, export growth, after several good years, has stalled, partly because nervous international investors, rushing into assets they still consider safe, have driven the dollar up against other currencies - making U.S. production much less cost-competitive.

Furthermore, even if the dollar falls again, where will the capacity for a surge in exports and import-competing production come from? Despite rising trade in services, most world trade is still in goods, especially manufactured goods - and the U.S. manufacturing sector, after years of neglect in favor of real estate and the financial industry, has a lot of catching up to do.

Anyway, the rest of the world may not be ready to handle a drastically smaller U.S. trade deficit. As my colleague Tom Friedman recently pointed out, much of China's economy in particular is built around exporting to America, and will have a hard time switching to other occupations.

In short, getting to the point where our economy can thrive without fiscal support may be a difficult, drawn-out process. And as I said, I hope the Obama team understands that.

Right now, with the economy in free fall and everyone terrified of Great Depression 2.0, opponents of a strong federal response are having a hard time finding support. John Boehner, the House Republican leader, has been reduced to using his Web site to seek "credentialed American economists" willing to add their names to a list of "stimulus spending skeptics."

But once the economy has perked up a bit, there will be a lot of pressure on the new administration to pull back, to throw away the economy's crutches. And if the administration gives in to that pressure too soon, the result could be a repeat of the mistake F.D.R. made in 1937 - the year he slashed spending, raised taxes and helped plunge the United States into a serious recession.

The point is that it may take a lot longer than many people think before the U.S. economy is ready to live without bubbles. And until then, the economy is going to need a lot of government help.

2008 In Review By JibJab

Bad Company: US Fails Gay, Lesbian Citizens By Clay Evans

(H/T Common Dreams.)

You can hardly blame the gay-and-lesbian community for being upset these days.

President-elect Barack Obama, for whose election many members of the gay community worked hard, has invited the Rev. Rick Warren -- who has compared gay marriage to incest and child rape -- to deliver the inaugural invocation. (And don't get us started on Warren's spittle-flecked support of Republican overreaching in the tragic case of Terry Schiavo in 2005; he compared removing the brain-dead woman's feeding tube to Nazism).

Meanwhile, over at the U.N., the United States stood alone among major Western nations in refusing to sign a nonbinding declaration calling for a worldwide decriminalization of homosexual activity.

The U.S. mission to the U.N. said it continued to condemn human-rights violations toward homosexuals, but claimed it couldn't sign because it could conflict with state laws. In some states, incredibly, it is still legal for landlords and employers to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

So with whom did America stand? Democratic stalwarts such as Saudi Arabia, Uganda, Sudan and four other nations that don't just deny housing to gay people -- they execute them.

The U.S. refusal to join its more courageous Western counterparts to protect gay people is by far worse than the Warren prayer. Warren, a long-time acquaintance of Obama's, isn't joining the cabinet; after the inauguration, he'll go back to his mega-church where he can preach anti-gay rhetoric to the converted.

Here's hoping the president-elect will demonstrate his support of the gay and lesbian community by reversing the official U.S. position at the United Nations.

(Clay Evans is a guest columnist for the Boulder (Colorado) Daily Camera.)

The Wrong Choice

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Federal Court Judge Orders Louisiana Registrar to Recognize Out-of-State Adoption by Lambda Legal Client Couple

Must issue birth certificate to same-sex adoptive parents of baby boy, now in San Diego

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (Observer Update) - In a major victory for same-sex parents nationwide, a U.S. District Court judge in Louisiana has ordered the state registrar to honor the New York adoption of a baby boy by a same-sex couple, saying her continued failure to do so violated the U.S. Constitution.

Lambda Legal represented Oren Adar and Mickey Smith, a gay couple who adopted their Louisiana-born son in 2006 in a New York court, where a judge issued an adoption decree. When Smith attempted get a new birth certificate for their child, in part so he could add his son to his health insurance, the office of State Registrar Darlene Smith told him that Louisiana does not recognize adoption by unmarried parents and so could not issue it.

Lambda Legal filed suit on behalf of Adar and Smith in October, 2007, saying that the registrar was violating the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution by refusing to recognize the New York adoption. The Constitution holds that judgments and orders issued by a court in one state are legally binding in other states as well. The Louisiana attorney general disagreed, and advised the registrar that she did not have to honor an adoption from another state that would not have been granted under Louisiana law had the couple lived and adopted there.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey ruled against the registrar and issued a summary judgment ordering her to issue a new birth certificate identifying both Oren Adar and Mickey Smith as the boy’s parents.

“It’s been a long three years, but clearly we’re very happy,” said Adar, who now lives with Smith and their son in San Diego. “As an adopted child myself, I understand the need to feel like you belong. I remember as a child wanting to see my own birth certificate and to see my parents listed because it gave me a sense of belonging, of identity and of dignity. I want our child to see Mickey’s name and my name as parents on his birth certificate.”

“This sends a strong message to state officials across the country that the Constitution requires them to respect the parent-child relationships established by adoptions decrees regardless of the state where the decree is entered,” said Ken Upton, supervising senior staff attorney for Lambda Legal. “State officials may not punish children by denying them a birth certificate simply because they disapprove of their parents.” The case is Adar v. Smith.

PFLAG Phoenix Announces “God Hates Shrimp?” Film-and-Discussion Series

PHOENIX (Observer Update) -

PFLAG Phoenix (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) is sponsoring a “God Hates Shrimp?!” film-and-discussion series beginning in January, 2009 and running through May, 2009. The series will be held on the third Friday of each month at 7:00pm at the Scottsdale Congregational United Church of Christ (SCUCC) located at 4425 N. Granite Reef Road in Scottsdale (just south of Camelback Road). The series will be hosted by the SCUCC’s Oasis Film Group.

The series will feature five incredible films that tackle such topics as families of faith (successful) struggles to accept their GLBT children, commonalities between straight and gay romantic relationships, a nun’s battle with the Catholic Church over her supportive ministry to GLBT individuals, supposed Bible passages used to condemn gays and lesbians, and a progressive faith outreach to small towns across the U.S. The purpose of the series is to create dialogue and understanding among people of faith, GLBT individuals, their families, friends, and the greater community about issues of faith that sometimes divide us. Fortunately, all of these exceptional films are very positive resulting in a positive and self-affirming experience for viewers.

We hope the community will come out and support our efforts to create this important dialogue between all parties. The after-film discussions may feature invited guests to speak about the subject matter of the respective films, and will include food and beverages for those in attendance. There is no admission fee for the series, although a $5.00 donation from attendees would be appreciated to help us cover the costs of screening fees and refreshments.

Scheduled films include:

• Jan. 16^th: “Anyone and Everyone”
• Feb. 20^th: “Inlaws & Outlaws”
• Mar. 20^th: “In Good Conscience: Sister Jeannie Gramick’s Journey of Faith”
• Apr. 17^th: “For the Bible Tells Me So”
• May 15^th: “The Asphalt Gospel”

A brief synopsis of each film and a link to the respective film’s trailer is included on our PFLAG Phoenix website (www.pflagphoenix.org).

Who Wants to Kick a Millionaire? By Frank Rich

(H/T NY Times)

During the Great Depression, American moviegoers seeking escape could ogle platoons of glamorous chorus girls in "Gold Diggers of 1933." Our feel-good movie of the year is "Slumdog Millionaire," a Dickensian tale in which we root for an impoverished orphan from Mumbai's slums to hit the jackpot on the Indian edition of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

It's a virtuoso feast of filmmaking by Danny Boyle, but it's also the perfect fairy tale for our hard times. The hero labors as a serf in the toilet of globalization: one of those mammoth call centers Westerners reach when ringing an 800 number to, say, check on credit card debt. When he gets his unlikely crack at instant wealth, the whole system is stacked against him, including the corrupt back office of a slick game show too good to be true.

We cheer the young man on screen even if we've lost the hope to root for ourselves. The vicarious victory of a third world protagonist must be this year's stocking stuffer. The trouble with "Slumdog Millionaire" is that it, like all classic movie fables, comes to an end - as it happens, with an elaborately choreographed Bollywood musical number redolent of "Gold Diggers of 1933." Then we are delivered back to the inescapable and chilling reality outside the theater's doors.

Just when we thought that reality couldn't hit a new bottom it did with Bernie Madoff, a smiling shark as sleazy as the TV host in "Slumdog." A pillar of both the Wall Street and Jewish communities - a former Nasdaq chairman, a trustee at Yeshiva University - he even victimized Elie Wiesel's Foundation for Humanity with his Ponzi scheme. A Jewish financier rips off millions of dollars devoted to memorializing the Holocaust - who could make this stuff up? Dickens, Balzac, Trollope and, for that matter, even Mel Brooks might be appalled.

Madoff, of course, made up everything. When he turned himself in, he reportedly declared that his business was "all just one big lie." (The man didn't call his 55-foot yacht "Bull" for nothing.) As Brian Williams of NBC News pointed out, the $50 billion thought to have vanished is roughly three times as much as the proposed Detroit bailout. And no one knows how it happened, least of all the federal regulators charged with policing him and protecting the public. If Madoff hadn't confessed - for reasons that remain unclear - he might still be rounding up new victims.

There is a moral to be drawn here, and it's not simply that human nature is unchanging and that there always will be crooks, including those in high places. Nor is it merely that Wall Street regulation has been a joke. Of what we've learned about Madoff so far, the most useful lesson can be gleaned from how his smart, well-heeled clients routinely characterized the strategy that generated their remarkably steady profits. As The Wall Street Journal noted, they "often referred to it as a ‘black box.' "

In the investment world "black box" is tossed around to refer to a supposedly ingenious financial model that is confidential or incomprehensible or both. Most of us know the "black box" instead as that strongbox full of data that is retrieved (sometimes) after a plane crash to tell the authorities what went wrong. The only problem is that its findings arrive too late to save the crash's victims. The hope is that the information will instead help prevent the next disaster.

The question in the aftermath of the Madoff calamity is this: Why do we keep ignoring what we learn from the black boxes being retrieved from crash after crash in our economic meltdown? The lesson could not be more elemental. If there's a mysterious financial model producing miraculous returns, odds are it's a sham - whether it's an outright fraud, as it apparently is in Madoff's case, or nominally legal, as is the case with the Wall Street giants that have fallen this year.

Wall Street's black boxes contained derivatives created out of whole cloth, deriving their value from often worthless subprime mortgages. The enormity of the gamble went undetected not only by investors but by the big brains at the top of the firms, many of whom either escaped (Merrill Lynch's E. Stanley O'Neal) or remain in place (Citigroup's Robert Rubin) after receiving obscene compensation for their illusory short-term profits and long-term ignorance.

There has been no punishment for many of those who failed to heed this repeated lesson. Quite the contrary. The business magazine Portfolio, writing in mid-September about one of the world's biggest insurance companies, observed that "now that A.I.G is battling to survive, it is its black box that may save it yet." That box - stuffed with "accounting or investments so complex and arcane that they remain unknown to most investors" - was so huge that Washington might deem it "too big to fail."

Sure enough - and unlike its immediate predecessor in collapse, Lehman Brothers - A.I.G. was soon bailed out to the tune of $123 billion. Most of that also disappeared by the end of October. But not before A.I.G. executives were caught spending $442,000 on a weeklong retreat to a California beach resort.

There are more black boxes still to be pried open, whether at private outfits like Madoff's or at publicly traded companies like General Electric, parent of the opaque GE Capital Corporation, the financial services unit that has been the single biggest contributor to the G.E. bottom line in recent years. But have we yet learned anything? Incredibly enough, as we careen into 2009, the very government operation tasked with repairing the damage caused by Wall Street's black boxes is itself a black box of secrecy and impenetrability.

Last week ABC News asked 16 of the banks that have received handouts from the Treasury Department's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program the same two direct questions: How have you used that money, and how much have you spent on bonuses this year? Most refused to answer.

Congress can't get the answers either. Its oversight panel declared in a first report this month that the Treasury is doling out billions "without seeking to monitor the use of funds provided to specific financial institutions." The Treasury prefers instead to look at "general metrics" indicating the program's overall effect on the economy. Well, we know what the "general metrics" tell us already: the effect so far is nil. Perhaps if we were let in on the specifics, we'd start to understand why.

In its own independent attempt to penetrate the bailout, the Government Accountability Office learned that "the standard agreement between Treasury and the participating institutions does not require that these institutions track or report how they plan to use, or do use, their capital investments." Executives at all but two of the bailed-out banks told the G.A.O. that the "money is fungible," so they "did not intend to track or report" specifically what happens to the taxpayers' cash.

Nor is there any serious accounting for executive pay at these seminationalized companies. As Amit Paley of The Washington Post reported, a last-minute, one-sentence loophole added by the Bush administration to the original bailout bill gutted the already minimal restrictions on executive compensation. And so when Goldman Sachs, Henry Paulson's Wall Street alma mater, says that it is not using public money to pay executives, we must take it on faith.

In the wake of the Madoff debacle, there are loud calls to reform the Securities and Exchange Commission, including from the president-elect. Under both Clinton and Bush, that supposed watchdog agency ignored repeated and graphic warnings of Madoff's Ponzi scheme as studiously as Bush ignored Al Qaeda's threats during the summer of 2001.

But fixing that one agency is no panacea. All the talk about restoring "confidence" and "faith" in capitalism will be worthless if we still can't see what's going on in the counting rooms. In his role as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Timothy Geithner, Barack Obama's nominee for Treasury secretary, has been at the center of the action in the bailout's black box, including the still-murky and conflicting actions (and nonactions) taken with Lehman and A.I.G. His confirmation hearings demand questions every bit as tough as those that were lobbed at the executives from Detroit's Big Three.

On Friday, Geithner's partner in bailout management, Paulson, asked Congress to give the Treasury the second half of the $700 billion bailout stash. But without transparency and accountability in Washington's black box, as well as Wall Street's, there will continue to be no trust in the system, no matter how many cops the S.E.C. puts on the beat. Even the family-owned real-estate company of Eliot Spitzer, the former "Sheriff of Wall Street," had entrusted money with Madoff.

We'll keep believing, not without reason, that the whole game is as corrupt as the game show in "Slumdog Millionaire" - only without the Hollywood/Bollywood ending. We'll keep wondering how so many at the top keep avoiding responsibility and reaping taxpayers' billions while relief for those at the bottom remains as elusive as straight answers from those Mumbai call centers fielding American debtors.

This wholesale loss of confidence is a catastrophe that not even the new president's most costly New Deal can set right.