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www.ACCESSlineIOWA.com
Nina Flowers to Headline at NEIA Benefit
Miss Nina Flowers,
runner-up on
RuPaul’s Drag Race,
featured on LOGO,
will headline the
NEIA Charitable Benefit,
August 16, 2009, at
The Max (Omaha, NE).
AIDS Project of Central
Iowa will be one of
three charities to receive
proceeds.
Read the full story on page 29.
Proud to Be Getting Married in Iowa
Tattoo artist Aiden Kaine and her girlfriend—now
fianceé—Jesicca Andrade used to live in Falls City, Nebraska
(made famous by the Brandon Teena story as portrayed in
the movie Boys Don’t Cry). Life in Falls City was spent in
the closet and on edge for Aiden and Jesicca—not that it
was terrible on an everyday basis, but they could never feel
completely free to be who they are as individuals.
While Jesicca fits the societal norms of how a woman
should look and dress, Aiden is a self-described “nonfeminine” lesbian. She is a stocky girl, and maintains a
very boyish look, which is enhanced by her many tattoos,
but is belied by her voice—which is very expressive and
very female. Aiden’s appearance apparently did not jibe
with the idea of how a female tattoo artist should look as
she was starting out, and she had to work very hard to get
respect — and even just visibility — as a tattoo artist.
US News
Page 4
When Iowa’s Supreme Court ruled that denying samesex couples the rights of marriage denied those couples equal
protection as promised in the Iowa Constitution, Aiden and
Jesicca decided that Iowa needed to be their new home. The
only question was which city would be their new home. They
knew they wanted someplace at least a little larger than Falls
City, and they started looking into different cities.
The couple finally decided on Cedar Rapids, with Aiden
getting work at Purple Dynasty Tattoo. Her experience at
Purple Dynasty—where she was immediately welcomed
just as she is—was a big change from her experience in her
previous tattoo studios. She immediately set about proving
herself by bringing in new customers and providing them
with excellent service. Her new customers have already
provided praise for her work, and have even provided some
interesting gratuity.
“One guy got us a tent. I was telling him how we wanted
to go camping and how we didn’t have a tent,” she explains.
“After he left, he came back with a brand new tent.”
Life in Iowa is a big change from Falls City, as Aiden
and Jesicca are now completely out and open about their
relationship. “We’re as open as we can be,” says Jesicca.
“We tell people we’re getting married and they all say,
‘Congratulations!’ They even ask if they can come to the
wedding.” Their ceremony is scheduled for later in the
year.
Purple Dynasty Tattoo is located at:
212 Edgewood Road NW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52405
(319) 365-2094
World News
Page 5
A Message from
One Iowa
Page 7
“Discrimination is wrong and
should never occur. The Constitution
currently affords equal treatment under
the law to people of all races, religions,
national origin or gender, and under the
current civil rights laws, every person is
also afforded equal rights regardless of
behavior, sexual or otherwise. I hesitate
to classify one crime as being motivated
by hate and another crime by something
less. All are wrong, and we have laws
on the books to ensure that those who
are found guilty of all types of crime
are prosecuted.”
— Senator Chuck Grassley’s official
statement as to why he voted against
the hate crimes bill this July.
The Color of Pride
Columnist, novelist, and
Marine Corps veteran
Brett Edward Stout takes
issue with a July 16 political
op-ed by sports journalist
LZ Granderson, entitled
“Gay is Not the New Black.”
His response is on page 10.
August
Entertainment
Page 13
Marriage Law
& Finance
Pages 29-30
ACCESSline Page 2
Section 1: News & Politics
August 2009
August 2009
PUBLICATION
INFORMATION
Copyright © 2009
ACCESS in Northeast Iowa
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Iowa News..............................................3
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Indiana Newspaper Targeted by Groups
Opposed to Marriage Equality
World News ..........................................5
Political IQ..............................................6
A Message from One Iowa....................7
Creep of the Week, with bonus creep.8
Joshua Dagon ........................................9
Commentary:The Color of Pride......10
Hemming & Hawing............................12
Arthur Breur, Editor in Chief
Aaron Stroschein, Assistant Editor
Q Syndicate
Rex Wockner News Service
Contributors:
Joshua Dagon; Beau Fodor;
Tracy Freese; Monica Reida;
Brett Edward Stout;
Lisa Schreihart (a.k.a IowaLisa);
Justin Uebelhor, One Iowa;
Jonathan Wilson
IOWA NEWS
US News.................................................4
Health & HIV/AIDS News............ 11-12
Section 2: Community
NEIA Charity Event August 16..........29
Marriage Law.......................................29
Finance, Shaken Not Stirred..............30
Ask Auntie Emm..................................31
Morals & Values....................................32
Chef DeJon...........................................34
Business Directory........................ 35-36
ACCESSline’s
“Fun Guide”
Theater Ads
Waterloo Community Playhouse
Our Picks for August...........................13
IowaLisa’s List......................................13
The Outfield.........................................14
Cocktail Chatter..................................16
Deep Inside Hollywood.......................17
Why Work With a Wedding Planner.18
Out of Town: Big Views........................23
Music Reviews......................................26
Comics and Crossword Puzzle...........26
A Pull-Out Section to Keep!
ACCESSline Wants To Hear From You!
Send in photos and reports of your events... especially benefits and conferences.
Please send us information on any of the following:
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ACCESSline Page 3
Michael Berkey and James Chapin
of Hanlonton, Iowa
(Photograph as seen on eTruth.com,
the website of the Elkhart Truth Newspaper)
The Elkhart Truth newspaper in Elkhart
Indiana became the target of a national
email and phone-in campaign by antimarriage-equality groups, including the
American Family Association of Indiana,
after publishing a marriage announcement
for a same-gender couple in Iowa.
As reported by the Iowa Independent,
the marriage announcement for Hanlonton,
Iowa residents Michael Berkey and James
Chapin did not initially create much reaction
from those in Elkhart. However, after about
two days, complaints started to arrive—from
individuals far removed from Elkhart—
saying, amongh other things, that it was
shameful for the paper to “promote” samesex marriage when it is illegal in Indiana.
In reaction to the flood of emails and
calls, the management of the paper wrote
what LGBTQ blogger Bil Browning referred
to as “a barnstormer of an editorial”, including the following statements:
People wrote and called from
throughout Indiana. Many expressed
their sincere belief that homosexuality
is a sin and that marriage is between
a man and a woman. Others quoted
straight from the Fred Phelps playbook,
excoriating “fags” and “perverts.”
Most asked the same questions -why did you publish a same-sex engagement announcement when it’s illegal in
Indiana and why are you promoting the
gay marriage?
Same-sex marriage is legal in
Iowa, where the couple lives and plans
to marry. Since one of the young men is
originally from Elkhart and his family
still lives here, we did the same thing
we’d do for any other local family with
a child getting married -- we published
the couple’s engagement announcement.
We fulfilled our role as a paper of
record. We documented an engagement,
something we do hundreds of times
each year.
Protesters asked why we would
publish a story about something illegal
in Indiana. Basically, it’s because an
informed citizenry, a citizenry capable
of thinking for itself, needs uncensored
news from a variety of sources. That
includes states and nations where the
law does not conform to Indiana’s.
Because after all, how would
Hoosiers who oppose gay rights even
know about Iowa’s same-sex marriage
ruling in April if news outlets hadn’t
reported it in Indiana -- where same-sex
marriage is illegal?
Hard Right Des Moines Talk Radio Host
Steve Deace Chastises GOP Candidate
When Christian Fong said that he
does not “condemn” those who believe in
marriage equality, WHO afternoon talk show
host Steve Deace — who has referred to same
gender marriage as “sodomy marriage”—
condemned Fong.
“First of all, the idea that ‘I don’t
condemn people that have a different view’ is
a ridiculous statement for a person that serves
as essentially an elder at a Christian church
to make. The Bible constantly condemns
people who advance evil, and isn’t shy about
doing it. It also condemns those who claim
they know right from wrong but won’t take
a stand, you know, kind of like Fong does
in the [KCRG] transcript.”
Fong has stated that he is for bringing marriage rights up for a vote by Iowa
citizens, but unlike other GOP gubernatorial candidates, has clearly stated that an
executive order by the Governor stopping
same-gender marriage would be illegal.
Grassley Presses Sotomayor on Issue of
Same-Sex Marriage Precedent
Senator Chuck Grassley made his
position against same-sex marriage clear
during the Senate’s questioning of Judge
Sonia Sotomayor during her confirmation
hearings last month.
TTIOWA NEWS continued page 7
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ACCESSline Page 4
August 2009
US NEWS by Rex Wockner
Kiss-ins spread beyond Salt Lake
temple
Thirty gays, lesbians and friends staged
a kiss-in at the San Diego Mormon temple
July 22 in solidarity with a gay couple who
were arrested in Salt Lake City July 9 for
kissing on Main Street Plaza.
Salt Lake City sold the plaza to The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
10 years ago, in a move that still irks some
Salt Lakers. The precise location of the kiss
was a former public easement that the city
gave to the church in a controversial landswap deal in 2003.
After gaining control of the former
public property, the church prohibited
pedestrians from smoking, protesting and
sunbathing, and banned “offensive, indecent,
obscene, lewd or disorderly speech, dress
or conduct.”
The Utah couple—Matt Aune, 28, and
Derek Jones, 25—were charged with trespassing by Salt Lake City police officers after
LDS security guards called the cops.
The guards handcuffed both men,
after allegedly forcing Jones to the ground.
Aune said he suffered a bruised and swollen
wrist.
“They targeted us,” Aune told The Salt
Lake Tribune. “We weren’t doing anything
inappropriate or illegal, or anything most
people would consider inappropriate for
any other couple.”
The LDS church claims the couple
didn’t just kiss, but “engaged in passionate
kissing, groping, profane and lewd language,
and had obviously been using alcohol.”
Aune acknowledged to the Tribune that
he was “very pissed” after being handcuffed
and “unleashed a flurry of profanities.”
More than 200 people have gathered
for two kiss-ins on Main Street Plaza since
the incident. There have been no further
arrests.
The protesters in Salt Lake City and San
Diego also spoke out against the Mormons’
strong financial support for California’s
Proposition 8, via which voters amended
the state constitution to re-ban same-sex
marriage. The Yes on 8 campaign has said
that as much as half of the $40 million it
raised came from Mormons.
The protest in San Diego started more
than half an hour late, leaving some 25 media
people wondering if they’d been duped by
the Empowering Spirits Foundation that
called the action.
But the protesters eventually trickled in
and the kissing began.
“We’re standing up in support of the two
individuals arrested (but) our main purpose
is to be out here to try to garner some type
of dialogue with the Mormon church,” said
foundation Executive Director A. Latham
Staples.
“The kiss-in is to establish that what
these two individuals were doing up in Salt
Lake City—Matt Aune and Derek Jones—
kissing in public—should be tolerated,”
Staples said.
There did not appear to be any official
church presence at the event, and local
Mormon officials made no comment on
the protest.
Boycott of San Diego hotel enters 2nd
year
Gay activists gathered outside the
Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego on July
16 to kick off year two of the gay boycott of
the mammoth downtown twin towers.
The boycott was launched after owner
Doug Manchester gave $125,000 in early
seed money to get Proposition 8 on the
ballot. The resulting constitutional amendment re-banned same-sex marriage in
California.
Manchester has cited his Roman Catholic faith in opposing same-sex marriage.
Activists claim the boycott has cost
the hotel $7 million, a figure that cannot be
independently verified.
TABC says Texas bar raid was a big
mistake
The head of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission told the gay newspaper
Dallas Voice on July 16 that his officers
committed multiple “clear violations” of
agency policy when they and local police
raided the gay bar Rainbow Lounge in Fort
Worth on June 28, the 40th anniversary of
the Stonewall Riots.
The violent raid put patron Chad Gibson
in a hospital intensive-care unit with bleeding on his brain. Two other patrons sustained
lesser injuries and several patrons were
arrested for the crime of having drunk too
much.
“I don’t think you have to dig very deep
to figure out that TABC has violated some of
their policies,” Alan Steen said. “We know
that and I apologize for that. ... It’s real clear
that however it is that we were doing business
that night is not the typical TABC.”
“You can read (our) policy and you can
figure out really quickly, TABC shouldn’t
have even been there,” he said. “If our guys
would have followed the damn policy, we
wouldn’t even have been there. ... We don’t
participate in those kinds of inspections
when there’s not probable cause or reasonable suspicion or some public safety matter
to be inspected.”
Author E. Lynn Harris dies
Author E. Lynn Harris, who wrote bestsellers about black gay life, died July 24 at
a hotel in Beverly Hills. He was 54.
The cause of death was not reported. At
press time, an autopsy was planned.
Harris wrote 11 novels—including
Invisible Life, Just As I Am, If This World
Were Mine, and Basketball Jones—and
a memoir, What Becomes of the Brokenhearted.
“His pioneering novels and powerful
memoir about the black gay experience
touched and inspired millions of lives, and he
was a gifted storyteller whose books brought
delight and encouragement to readers everywhere,” said Alison Rich, director of publicity at Harris’ publisher, Doubleday. “Lynn
was a warm and generous person, beloved
by friends, fans and booksellers alike.”
IML bans barebacking depictions, materials
The Leather Market at the annual International Mr. Leather events in Chicago will
have a ban on anything related to barebacking, IML founder Chuck Renslow announced
July 16.
“The executive committee of International Mr. Leather has decided that it
will no longer allow participation in the
IML Leather Market by any entity which
promotes barebacking or distributes/sells
any merchandise tending to promote or
advocate barebacking,” Renslow said. “This
restriction will also apply to distribution of
gifts, postcards or any other information via
our facilities.”
“The CDC and local health officials
inform us that new infections are on the
rise,” he said. “And, while we have had
some success developing medications that
might make infection more manageable,
that accomplishment comes at a price. Not
having experienced the deaths—the loss of
loved ones—which preceded these medications, we have an entire generation who
may not fully appreciate or comprehend the
severity of the situation. Too many in our
community believe HIV/AIDS is curable or
manageable. Too few understand that HIV/
AIDS infections dominate life. We believe
that it is our duty to inform and educate.”
August 2009
ACCESSline Page 5
World News by Rex Wockner
No stay on Indian ruling that legalized
gay sex
India’s Supreme Court on July 20 refused
a request to stay the recent Delhi High Court
ruling that decriminalized gay sex nationwide, legalizing 17 percent of the world’s
gay population.
The court said it wanted to wait to officially hear what the government thinks of the
ruling -- and gave the government eight weeks
to reveal its hand in cases that have been filed
seeking to overturn the decision.
Appearing before the court for the federal
government, Attorney General Goolam E.
Vahanvati argued against a stay, saying the
ruling is not problematic because it only
applies to consenting adults.
The forceful and poetic July 2 High Court
ruling “read down” Section 377 of the Indian
Penal Code so that it no longer applies to the
activities of consenting adults. The section
bans “carnal intercourse against the order of
nature with any man, woman or animal” under
penalty of 10 years to life in prison.
The court smashed 377’s application to
gay people in myriad ways, finding it violated
a constitutional guarantee of equality under
the law, a constitutional ban on discrimination
based on sex, and constitutional promises of
personal liberty and protection of life.
The High Court said: “The criminalisation of homosexuality condemns in perpetuity
a sizable section of society and forces them to
live their lives in the shadow of harassment,
exploitation, humiliation, cruel and degrading
treatment at the hands of the law enforcement
machinery. ... Section 377 IPC grossly violates
their right to privacy and liberty. ...”
“Section 377 IPC targets the homosexual
community as a class and is motivated by an
animus towards this vulnerable class of people.
... It has no other purpose than to criminalise
conduct which fails to conform with the moral
or religious views of a section of society. The
discrimination severely affects the rights and
interests of homosexuals and deeply impairs
their dignity. ...”
“We hold that sexual orientation is a
ground analogous to sex and that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is not
permitted. ... ‘(R)ight to personal liberty’ and
‘right to equality’ are fundamental human
rights which belong to individuals simply by
virtue of their humanity. ... A Bill of Rights
does not ‘confer’ fundamental human rights.
It confirms their existence and accords them
protection.”
Lithuanian Parliament overrides veto of
‘no promo homo’ law
The Lithuanian Parliament on July 14
overrode a presidential veto of a bill that
bans from schools and public places any
information that “agitate(s) for homosexual,
bisexual and polygamous relations.” The vote
was 87-6.
The Parliament, or Seimas, previously
had passed the measure 67-3, with 67 MPs
not voting. Seventy-one votes were needed
for an override.
The new statute is called the “Law on the
Protection of Minors Against the Detrimental
Effect of Public Information.”
An explanatory note attached to it says:
“The propagation of a nontraditional sexual
orientation and exposure to information
containing positive coverage of homosexual
relations may cause negative consequences for
the physical, mental and, first and foremost,
moral development of minors.”
The law specifically states that it is meant
to cover movies and Web sites, so domestic and
foreign gay Web sites might now be banned in
Lithuania, along with hundreds of films such
as “Milk” and “La Cage aux Folles.”
The law also bans information that
promotes hypnosis, “bad eating,” paranormal
phenomena, gambling, lotteries, physical
passivity and other things legislators consider
“detrimental” to minors’ bodies or thought
processes.
The measure’s sponsor said it protects
Lithuanian youth from “the rotten culture that
is now overwhelming them.”
The European Region of the International
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex
Association (aka ILGA-Europe) said the law
“seriously undermines the right to education
and can have detrimental effects to young
people who are lesbian, gay or bisexual as
they are now officially banned from receiving
any information and support.”
Amnesty International said the law
“denies the right to freedom of expression
and deprives students’ access to the support
and protection they may need.”
Outer Hebrides see first gay union
Scotland’s Outer Hebrides islands saw
their first gay civil union July 20 when children’s TV host Andrew Robertson tied the knot
with partner Craig Atkins at a registry office
in Stornoway. The couple then slipped out a
back entrance to avoid reporters.
The civil-partnership law has been in
effect since 2003.
Robertson works for the BBC and Atkins
is the marketing manager for Stornoway’s An
Lanntair art center.
Swedish lesbians more likely to marry
than gay men
Statistics Sweden reported July 21 that
37 lesbian couples and 11 gay male couples
have married since same-sex marriage became
legal on May 1.
The agency also reported that in the
past 10 years, the number of children being
raised by couples who took advantage of the
nation’s civil-union law has increased from
about 70 to 749.
Forty-three of the kids have two dads and
706 have two moms.
“It’s easier for female same-sex couples to
have children,” a spokesperson for the national
gay group RFSL told Svenska Dagbladet
newspaper. RFSL’s former initials are now
its full name.
ILGA-Europe maps Euro equality
The European Region of the International
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex
Association (aka ILGA-Europe) has created
a map of the legal situation for European
LGBs.
“The Rainbow Europe map reflects
legal advances such as protection from
discrimination, recognition of LGB families
and parenting rights, inclusion of sexual
orientation in hate speech/crime legislation,”
the group said. “The map also highlights the
‘darker’ corners of Rainbow Europe, where
there is still criminalization of consenting
same-sex acts, unequal age of consent and
where Pride events have been banned during
last 10 years.”
Among the findings:
• Two countries ban anti-gay
discrimination in their constitutions -- Portugal and Sweden;
• Thirteen countries and one territory have laws banning anti-gay
discrimination in employment
only, while 25 countries and five
territories ban such discrimination
in both employment and access to
goods and services;
• Fifteen countries have hate-crime/
speech laws that cover sexual
orientation;
• Same-sex couples can marry in
five nations (Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden)
and can enter into civil unions in
13 nations and two territories;
• Nine countries let gay couples
adopt children together, 11 allow
second-parent adoption, and 10
provide insemination services to
lesbian couples;
• Two countries (Greece and
Cyprus) and two territories
(Gibraltar and Guernsey) have
unequal age-of-consent laws
for male-male sex, one territory (North Cyprus) still bans
gay-male sex, and eight nations
banned gay pride or other public
gay events over the past 10 years
-- Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania,
Macedonia, Moldova, Poland,
Russia and Ukraine.
JPEGs of the two-sided map can be
downloaded at tinyurl.com/ilga-m-1 and
tinyurl.com/ilga-m-2.
U.S. gay magazine intercepted by Belarus
customs
Pride, the annual magazine of the U.S.based InterPride organization, has been
intercepted by customs officials in Minsk,
GayBelarus.by reported July 22.
Officials said the magazines, sent to the
organization GayBelarus, were taken into
custody because GayBelarus is not legally
registered and the magazines were not intended for the personal use of the final recipient,
Sergey Androsenko.
GayBelarus said the “rigid” process for
registering is “complicated” and that numerous entities have been thwarted, including
political parties, trade unions and activist
groups.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko reportedly said last year, “The weapon
of the most destructive forces is in the hands
of mass media, so they should be supervised
by the government,” according to GayBelarus’
translation.
Poles hate same-sex marriage
Seventy-five percent of Poles oppose
legalization of same-sex marriage and 87
percent say gay couples shouldn’t be allowed
to adopt children, a GfK Polonia poll has
found.
The poll is the latest example of the
wide gulf on gay acceptance that separates
Western Europe from the European nations
that used to be part of the Communist
bloc.
Same-sex marriage is legal in Europe
in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain
and Sweden -- and most other Western European nations have civil-union laws for gay
couples.
ACCESSline Page 6
August 2009
Political IQ: by Diane Sliver
The National Pratfall:
March on Washington
May Do More Harm
Than Good
An LGBT march on Washington
should be a great idea. It should energize
the pro-equality community and rally the
nation. It should move the president and
push Congress into repealing all those laws
that punish us for the “crimes” of living and
loving while queer.
The Oct. 11 National Equality March,
spearheaded by longtime activist Cleve
Jones, should do all those things, but I fear it
won’t. Even worse, the event could damage
the movement at a pivotal time.
That’s because the march has a fatal
flaw: It asks LGBT Americans and allies
to waste time, money and energy traveling
to Washington, D.C., when we need to stay
home and organize in our own backyards.
This flaw is born from a fundamental
misunderstanding of how change comes to
the Capitol. D.C.-based lobbying is important, but true change only arrives via events
that happen far outside the Beltway.
Here’s the hard truth: No one wins a
vote in the House of Representatives or
the Senate until they’ve changed attitudes
in places that are dozens, hundreds and
thousands of miles from Capitol Hill. All
the visits to Congress and all the rallies on
the National Mall aren’t half as important
as what happens in Des Moines, Fresno,
Baltimore, Dallas, Boston and hundreds of
other places in the country.
Take the case of Democrat Nancy
Pelosi. Why do you suppose the Speaker of
the House is pro-LGBT? Is it because she is
a saint who supports our cause even when
her constituents don’t? Not exactly.
Since 1987 Pelosi has represented the
8th District of California, which encompasses
the Castro. Not only does her district include
the highest number of same-sex couples in
the nation, but it has also been the site of
the most sustained LGBT organizing effort
in history.
Beginning in the 1960s, continuing with
Harvey Milk’s campaigns, moving through
AIDS activism and up to today, the 8th
provides a model of how LGBT people can
organize locally. These days an anti-LGBT
politician could neither get elected nor stay
in office in the California 8th.
Here’s a political pop quiz.
Question: When will the Defense of
Marriage Act, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
ban on lesbians and gays in the military and
other discriminatory laws be repealed?
Answer: When 219 members of the
House and 60 senators realize that their
constituents no longer support politicians
who work against equality. Those numbers
are the votes needed to pass legislation and
send it to President Barack Obama for his
signature.
Although march leaders say they intend
to organize all 435 Congressional districts,
pulling people out of their hometowns and
sending them on a costly trip won’t do that.
If only 5,000 people attend the march and
each one spends a mere $500 on travel
expenses, this one event will burn through
$2.5 million that could have been put into
local organizing.
The cost is worrisome in the midst of
a record-breaking recession. An upcoming
vote on marriage equality in Maine and
another possible vote in California also need
all the financial support we can provide.
March organizers aren’t villains, and
they’re not fools. I’ve long admired politico
David Mixner, who first raised the possibility
of a march; organizer Torie Osborn, former
executive director of the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force; and Cleve Jones.
The California 8th wouldn’t be what
it is today without Jones. He also helped
transform attitudes about AIDS and gave
people a way to cope with the epidemic’s
emotional devastation by founding The
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.
On this project, though, I respectfully
disagree with my three heroes.
Mixner blogged that “having matured
into a full-fledged civil rights movement, it
is essential that our community move outside
its own comfort zone.” If I’m reading him
correctly, he’s talking about the march and
bringing straight friends and allies with us
to D.C.
Once again, I respectfully disagree. I
don’t think that joining a anonymous crowd
in a gay-friendly city like Washington, D.C.,
takes much courage, even if we drag our
straight family and friends along.
For LGBT people and our allies in
Missouri, Maine and other states that control
key votes in Congress, moving outside our
comfort zones means demonstrating in our
own backyards. These often-conservative
places are where our voices – and the voices
of our straight family and friends – must
be heard.
An LGBT march on Washington should
be a great idea. Sometime in the future it
might be. Just not today.
the mainstream media began reporting that
the always loyal gays were considering a
political divorce.
I’m not ready to divorce Obama or the
Democrats — at least not today. But I do
want to note that all of this upheaval has
provided us with a teachable moment.
Here’s the point: People who should be
our greatest supporters — straight progressives and liberal politicians — are sometimes
our biggest roadblocks. This isn’t necessarily because they’re secret homophobes or
political cowards, although a serious lack
of spine can be an obstacle.
The problem is their ignorance.
I bumped into this at lunch with a
straight journalist. This kind soul doesn’t
have a homophobic bone in his body. His
beat is progressive politics, which keeps him
in touch with a range of issues, including
LGBT rights.
When I told him LGBT Americans were
unhappy with Obama, he was surprised.
When I mentioned that handing out a few,
minor benefits to a few federal employees
wouldn’t placate us, he was flabbergasted.
He didn’t understand the depth of suffering DOMA inflicts. He had no idea that
immigration law tore our families apart. He
comes from lack of caring. I think the
problem is that straights are simply clueless.
They don’t know they need to ask. If you
had always lived in the comfort of heterosexuality and your concept of LGBT life is
Will and Grace, smiling Ellen Degeneres and
gay pride marches, how are you supposed
to know about our suffering?
If we don’t tell our friends, family and
coworkers what it’s like to be treated like
second-class human beings, how are they
going to understand? The religious fanatics
who campaign against equality aren’t going
to tell them.
Obama and his staff should know better.
I agree with those who say it’s time to close
the Gay ATM. The LGBT community has to
send the message to Obama and the Democratic Party that we will not support them if
they don’t support us. And “support” means
taking concrete action to repeal the policies
and laws that hurt us.
Closing our wallets and refusing to
donate is a fine first step, but I think we
have to do more. Obama’s stumbles and the
resulting LGBT outrage have given us the
attention of the heterosexual world. Now
we have to take the next step. We have to
open our mouths and tell the truth about
was shocked that we took the “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell” military ban so personally.
Our meal was cordial, yet I sensed that
he was struggling to understand what I was
saying. I suspect that on a gut level he didn’t
grasp the fury and despair that LGBT people
know too well.
My liberal friend isn’t alone in his
ignorance.
Nadine Smith, executive director of
Equality Florida, reports that focus groups
with heterosexuals show that even those with
gay friends and family are ill-informed.
“A panel of straight people who
knew gay people said they did not believe
discrimination was real or nearly as bad as
we described it because their gay friends or
family would have told them,” Smith wrote
on her organization’s blog.
Gays confirmed to Equality Florida that
they didn’t talk to their straight friends and
family about discrimination. Smith reports
that gay participants in their focus groups
said about heterosexuals that “if they cared,
they would ask.”
I don’t think the lack of questioning
our lives.
Diane Silver is a former newspaper
reporter and magazine editor, whose work
has appeared in The Progressive, Salon.com,
Ms, and other national publications. She
can be reached care of this publication or
at [email protected].
Close Your Wallet and
Open Your Mouth:
Obama’s Stumble
Creates an Opportunity
What we have here is a teachable
moment. It would be a shame to waste it.
In June the Obama administration
touched off a firestorm in the LGBT community. The ignition point was a Department
of Justice brief that defended the Defense
of Marriage Act so vigorously people first
thought it was written by holdovers from
the Bush administration.
Surely progressive Obamites, representing a president who claimed to hate DOMA,
couldn’t have compared same-sex marriage
to the nuptials of an uncle to a niece? They
couldn’t really have written that DOMA is
neutral and, thus, hurts no one? It turns out
that Obama’s justice department could and
did just that.
The blogosphere erupted. Some LGBT
donors pulled out of a Washington, D.C.,
fundraiser for the Democratic National
Committee, and protestors picketed outside.
Another DNC fundraiser in Boston was also
picketed.
Obamites hastily convened an Oval
Office ceremony where the President signed
a memo providing limited benefits to samesex partners of federal employees. These
benefits don’t include health insurance and
were labeled too little, too late by many,
myself included. At the same time, even
"It is difficult to the point of impossibility to envision two love-struck heterosexuals contemplating marriage to decide
against it because gays and lesbians also
have the right to marry; it is equally hard
to envision a couple whose marriage is
troubled basing the decision of whether
to divorce on whether their gay neighbors
are married or living in a domestic partnership."
— Lawyer David Boies writing about his
and Ted Olson's bold lawsuit seeking to
have Prop 8 struck down as a violation of
the U.S. Constitution, in The Wall Street
Journal, July 20.
August 2009
ACCESSline Page 7
Stonewall: 40 Years of Pride and Progress
by Justin Uebelhor –
One Iowa
The sad truth about the beginnings of
the gay rights movement is that for many
Americans, if it wasn’t taught in grade school
history, it essentially never happened. This
year’s 40th anniversary of the Stonewall
Riots - the event that sparked the modern
gay rights movement - presents an opportunity for LGBT Americans to celebrate
our vibrant history and reengage with the
movement it sparked.
The June 1969 Stonewall Riots represent a seminal event in the history of gay
rights activism. Much more than a rebellion
against the ever-present police raids on
gay bars, the Stonewall Riots represent the
beginning of a common consciousness for
many LGBT Americans. The writer Allen
Ginsberg described Stonewall as the day we
“lost that wounded look.” After Stonewall,
the fear that pervaded many in the LGBT
community was transformed into inspiration
and defiance.
The lessons of Stonewall still apply
today.
For those who put forth a federal ENDA
last year without protections for the transgender community, perhaps a brief history
lesson is in order. It was the transgender and
drag community that was at the center of the
Stonewall Riots. The anniversary serves as
a reminder that the LGBT community is at
its best when we work together - leaving
SScontinued from page 3
Iowa News
Grassley, one of six senators on the
Senate Judiciary Committee who later
voted against Sotomayor, brought up a 1972
Minnesota case in which the United States
Supreme Court ruled that the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage did not
violate the United States Constitution.
Grassley was obviously pressing Sotomayor to state outright that she would hold
that case as precedent in any new same-sex
marriage case brought before the Supreme
court. He became visibly frustrated when
Judge Sotomayor, rather than providing the
answer he obviously wanted to hear, instead
tried to explain how a judge should actually
act when weighing such a case:
“The question on a marriage issue
will be two sides will come in. One will
say Baker applies. Another will say this
court’s precedent applies to this factual
situation, whatever the factual situation
is before the court. They’ll argue about
what the meaning of that precedent is, how
it applies to the regulation that’s at issue.
And then the court will look at whatever
it is that the state has done, what law it
has passed on this issue of marriage and
decide, OK, which precedent controls this
outcome.
“It’s not that I’m attempting not to
answer your question, Senator Grassley.
I’m trying to explain the process that would
be used. Again, this question of how and
what is constitutional or not or how a court
will approach a case and what precedent
to apply to it is going to depend on what’s
at issue before the court.”
no one behind.
For many LGBT individuals, the Stonewall Riots was the event that compelled them
to come out and share their stories with the
world. Without these voices, the gay rights
movement would never have gotten off
the ground. It’s amazing how something
many view as a “political issue” becomes
a “personal issue” when it affects someone
they love or care about. Stonewall serves as
a reminder that our voices and stories are the
most valuable tools we have in this fight
Finally, the 40th Anniversary of Stonewall serves as reminder that we still have a
long way to go. Forty years after Stonewall,
in 20 states, individuals can still be fired
for identifying as LGBT. LGBT Americans
still cannot serve openly in the military and
must choose between their dignity and their
dedication to their country. And while Iowa
now recognizes the freedom to marry for gay
and lesbian couples, true equality will not be
won until these relationships are recognized
on a federal level.
The anniversary of Stonewall gives
LGBT Americans an opportunity to connect
with our common history and work towards
a more free and fair future. If you are unfa-
miliar with our history, I urge you to explore
this chapter that was left out of our grade
school text books. One great place to start
is with Martin Duberman’s book Stonewall,
which details the vibrant and intertwined
stories of six people who were intimately
connected with these riots and the birth of
the modern LGBT movement.
To help us celebrate the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, join One Iowa as
we ask Congress and President Obama
to make equality a federal priority! Go to
www.oneiowa.org to get engaged and stay
informed.
"Countries as Catholic as Spain, as
different as Sweden and South Africa, and
as near as Canada have embraced gay and
lesbian marriage without any noticeable
effect — except the increase in human
happiness and social stability that comes
from permitting people to marry for love.
Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire and Vermont ... have individually repealed their bans on same-sex
marriage as inconsistent with a decent
respect for human rights and a rational
view of the communal value of marriage
for all individuals."
— Lawyer David Boies writing about his
and Ted Olson's bold lawsuit seeking to
have Prop 8 struck down as a violation of
the U.S. Constitution, in The Wall Street
Journal, July 20.
All Five GOP Gubernatorial Candidates
Oppose Marriage Equality
At an hour-long forum on July 22, the
five Republicans currently planning to run
for Governor had minor disagreements, but
were all united on one issue: they all oppose
marriage equality. The five candidates at
the event were: State Senator Jerry Behn
of Boone; Businessman Christian Fong
of Cedar Rapids; State Representative
Christopher Rants of Sioux City; State
Representative Rod Roberts of Carroll;
Business Consultant Bob Vander Plaats of
Sioux City.
“If you had 20 gay people together in
a room and asked how many of them actually have reached out and either called,
e-mailed or sent a letter to their member
of Congress over the last two months, I
would say the vast, vast majority of them
will have done nothing. ... We need more
voices, we need louder voices, and we need
to tell politicians at every level we’re not
willing to take their excuses anymore. ... I
would encourage gays and straights alike
to put pressure on President Obama, on his
administration, to call for action — immediate action on the laundry list of items
that the gay community deserves for true
equality in this country.”
— Openly gay Steve Hildebrand, who
was Barack Obama’s deputy national
campaign director and recently spoke
with the president one-on-one at the
White House about gay issues, to this
column, July 5.
ACCESSline Page 8
August 2009
Creep of the Week by D’Anne Witkowski
Mark Sanford
Erik Rush
Congratulations South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford on becoming the latest
Republican defender of marriage to be
caught getting some on the side. How’s it
feel to be a walking cliché?
Well, if we’re to judge from the press
conference he held to announce his infidelity,
it feels very, um, awkward. Sanford rambled
on and on and apologized to his wife, four
sons, and every other person he has ever
seen or heard of. Just when you thought he
was about to go in for the big reveal, he’d
say something like, Let me throw one more
apology out here and that is to people of
faith across South Carolina or for that matter
across the nation.
Aww hey, Sanford’s got an apology
shout out! What does he think this is, TRL?
And why must he apologize to the faithful?
Let’s let him explain: Because I think one of
the big disappointments when -- and believe
it or not, I’ve been a person of faith all my
life -- if somebody falls within the fellowship
of believers or the walk of faith, I think it
makes it that much harder for believers to
say well where does that person come from
or for nonbelievers to say where indeed was
that person coming from.
Got it? No? Sanford is saying he’s
not God, because I guess some folks were
confused. Or something. In other words,
don’t let Sanford’s traveling penis shake your
faith in the Lord. There are moral absolutes,
and God’s law is there to protect you from
yourself. And there are consequences if you
breech that,” he said. “This press conference
is a confidence.”
That’s right. The press conference was
arranged by God Himself in lieu of smiting
Sanford with boils or turning him into a
pillar of salt. Fierce! With a God like that,
who needs Satan?
So the bottom line is this, Sanford
said, finally getting to the money shot. I’ve
been unfaithful to my wife. I developed a
relationship with what started as a dear,
dear friend from Argentina. It began very
innocently as I suspect many of these things
do, in just a casual email back and forth in
advice on one’s life there and advice here,
but here recently this last year developed
into something much more than that.
He then wistfully reminisces about
counseling his friend about why she ought
to get back with her husband for the sake
of her two boys. That not only was it part
of God’s law, but ultimately those two boys
would be better off for it. Oh, the irony!
Oddly enough I spent the last five days
crying in Argentina, he said, adding, It won’t
be easy, you’ll think it strange when I try to
explain how I feel, that I still need your love
after all I have done.
Keep in mind, this is a man who a few
weeks ago rejected the idea that Republicans
should cool it with their anti-gay marriage
stance. A man who doesn’t think gay people
should be allowed to adopt. A man who some
Republicans were whispering could become
the next President of the United States.
As of press time Sanford has no intention of resigning as governor. Because, hey,
it’s not like he was seeing an Argentinean
dude.
Erik Rush is totally gonna puke. As a
matter of fact, he probably kept a bucket
next to his desk the entire time he was
writing his July 9 World Net Daily column
titled “The myth of homosexual oppression.” Or maybe he skipped right to the
chase and wrote it in the bathroom, which
would be appropriate since it’s a load of
crap.
Who, exactly, is making Rush so sick?
Barack Obama. And the gays. And the
disgusting relationship between the two.
For starters, on June 1, Obama declared
June Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. “I call upon the people of
the United States to turn back discrimination
and prejudice everywhere it exists,” he said
in a statement.
Then, to make things worse, Obama
met with LGBT community leaders on
June 29. It was, writes Rush, “a shameless,
retch-provoking pandering session.” All
those gay bodies in one room so close to
the President of the United States getting
their homo cooties all over him: I can
picture Rush heaving at the mere thought
of it. Somebody get him some ginger ale
and Saltine crackers, stat.
In Rush’s view, gay folks wield “an
inordinate amount of power in the Democrat
[sic] party” and are responsible for Obama
getting elected, which basically makes
Obama the head of a fag puppet government. This would explain why in his first
100 days Obama legalized marriage for gays
and lesbians, overturned the Defense of
Marriage Act, got rid of “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell,” and changed the National Anthem to
Cher’s “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.”
The truth is, Obama is moving pretty
slowly on the LGBT front, which kind of
flies in the face of Rush’s claim that Obama
has the “perception of necessity in the show
Although it has been a few months since
the Iowa Supreme Court declared a ban on
same-sex marriages to be unconstitutional,
the decision is still viewed as monumental.
Iowa, a landlocked state that most people
confuse with Idaho or Ohio, has managed
to do something that New York and Illinois
still haven’t done and guaranteed equal rights
even as California took them away.
It seems as though the issue of same-sex
marriages will be a key issue in the 2010
gubernatorial election. There are enough
people in the state that would vote for a
candidate—such as Bob Vander Plaats—
who vows to overturn the ruling or put a stay
on the marriages just because that’s what
the candidate promises. Of course, what
Vander Plaats has promised would result in
an impeachment, but allowing “sinful” gays
who love each other to marry might be more
important—in the eyes of some voters—than
fixing the state deficit.
There is always the chance that the
governor-elect might not do anything or that
the citizens of Iowa could re-elect Governor
Culver. But then there’s the potential of a
voter-based initiative that, according to a
recent poll, was favored by many of the
people questioned. (It should also be noted
that the poll was conducted by a conservative website.)
Although the 2010 election may seem
to be quite a way off, the GLBT community and it’s allies cannot sit back and wait
until the last minute to show that the right
for everyone to marry the person they love
shouldn’t be taken away. Even though it is
evident to those in support of the Supreme
Court’s ruling that this is about equality,
other people do not view it the same way—
and unless they are convinced to not overturn
the ruling, a majority of Iowans would vote
to take away the right for same-sex couples
to marry.
The question that should be facing
many is what can be done to keep this from
happening. The simplest way would be
to write letters to the editors of their local
newspapers. Maybe you could join in the
efforts by OneIowa, or find a way to show
that same-sex couples can raise children as
well as straight couples, or do readings of
the Iowa Constitution in coffee shops.
I don’t care about what GLBT Iowans
and their allies do as long as they do
something. Unless people are shown
that same-sex marriage is not evil, what
happened in California could happen here.
South Carolina Governer
Mark Sanford
It Could Happen Here Guest Column by Monica Reida
of advancing their agenda.”
Oh yeah, also Obama is a magic
hypnotist. “With his Svengali-like powers,
perhaps he can even pull off compulsory
approval of homosexuality on the part of
every soul in America,” writes Rush.
That’s right, Mister. Who needs hearts
and minds when you’ve got souls? “You are
getting very sleepy, Sir. Now, when I clap
my hands three times you will open your
eyes, cluck like a chicken and go kiss your
male co-worker on the mouth. And like it.”
Now that’s what I call good government.
The worst part of all of this, according to Rush, is that gays don’t even face
discrimination. That word, apparently, is
reserved for black people. “I have always
considered those who make the comparison
between blacks and gays as the worst kind
of scum. Don’t expect me to change my
tune just because our precious first black
president is making the comparison now,”
writes Rush, himself a black man.
Why is it so scummy to make such a
comparison? Because homosexuality isn’t
something you’re born with. And don’t
expect Rush to change his tune about that,
either. “All the junk science in the world
isn’t going to alter the fact that homosexuality is a choice,” he writes.
Most disgusting of all is “the fallacious
premise ... that homosexuals are somehow
oppressed in America. They are not.”
His proof? He doesn’t offer any, probably because he was making himself so
sick with all of this focus on gays. Now if
you’ll excuse me, I need to go find some
TUMS myself.
D’Anne Witkowski has been gay for pay
since 2003. She’s a freelance writer and poet
(believe it!). When she’s not taking on the
creeps of the world she reviews rock and
roll shows in Detroit with her twin sister
and teaches writing at the University of
Michigan
August 2009
ACCESSline Page 9
Several Solemn Sources Simultaneously Say Supplements
Spawn Severe Symptoms by Joshua Dagon
Evidently, I have a potential drug
problem. You might consider it a potentially serious problem, or not, depending on
whether you’re an individual who believes
stuff.
According to certain “sources,” which I
will not name—but their initials are “FDA,”
and “CNN”—I should immediately stop
using Hydroxycut products, which are
manufactured by Iovate Health Sciences
Inc., in Oakville, Ontario. Apparently, a
voluntary recall of Hydroxycut compounds
by the company is currently being executed.
It appears that the popular dietary supplement—by “supplement,” I of course mean to
say, “drug legally purchased at the mall”—
has been linked to some spectacularly
unpleasant physical problems. According to
certain news agencies, which are presumably
as credible as they are copious, there are a
number of nasty-sounding, physically-icky
symptoms that have been linked to the use
of Hydroxycut, which I will not list here.
Suffice it to say that I have personally thrown
out approximately eighty dollars worth of
Hydroxycut Hardcore as, after reading the
most recent studies involving the “supplement,” I am concerned that, at any moment,
my liver may fall out.
At first, I thought the crisis being
linked to the use of Hydroxycut might be
the result of some wacky consumers—and
you know just how wacky some consumers
can be; I’ll simply mention “Natural Male
Enhancement” and rest my case—failing
to follow the directions for the proper use
of the compound, which I myself noted is
conveniently printed, in what appears to
be English, or possibly Farsi, directly on
the packaging of each and every product
in a font roughly the size of tadpole teeth.
But, no. Symptoms occurred even when
recommended usage was being followed,
reports the FDA. I suppose I shouldn’t be
too worried, as I regularly took considerably less than the recommended dose; the
recommended dose had a tendency to make
me feel as though I’d been smoking coffee
beans wrapped in ginseng.
Being a member of the gay community,
I know how important it is to so many of
us that we maintain a trim physique. Still,
such a goal should not be pursued at the
expense of our health. For example, the
use of crystal meth amphetamine is, in this
context, counterproductive. Sure, it makes
weight-management staggeringly easy, but
it does this by dissolving the user’s teeth,
rendering the option of eating unfeasible.
Bear in mind, too, that, even though
a particular “supplement” might be legal,
it still retains the potential for abuse. For
example, an acquaintance of mine recently
told me that, while feeling especially
depressed one afternoon, he ate an entire
box of Ding Dongs in less than twentyminutes. That works out to approximately
one Ding Dong every 1.7 minutes. Even so,
my acquaintance assured me that his binge
wasn’t a big deal due to the fact that he also
swallowed one capsule of Allī for every four
Ding Dongs he consumed. Technically, the
directions on a bottle of Allī state that no
more than three capsules should be taken
daily. However, the bottle also specifies
that one capsule should be taken “with each
meal containing fat.” Although it’s true that
four Ding Dongs might, in theory, qualify as
a “meal containing fat,” I highly doubt the
ingestion of the three daily capsules at the
rate of one pill every 6.7 minutes would be a
condition sanctioned by the manufacturer.
So, then, technically, my acquaintance,
in theory, does qualify, without question, as
an “idiot,” especially after I learned from
another acquaintance of mutual association
that my first acquaintance’s Allī experience
wasn’t quite as rewarding as he implied.
It would seem that my Allī abusing friend
“suffered a punishment that can only be
described as dramatically disgusting in the
most foul, biological manner possible.” I
don’t know exactly what that means—and,
forgive me, but I did not request elucidation—although I suspect his liver may have
fallen out.
I will admit that I am a regular consumer
of health related supplements, which I
acquire quite legally at a store I will not
name—but its initials are “GNC.” I should
also admit that when I consider the purchase
of a fitness-related compound, my primary
concern is not how it works but if it works.
According to the assertions by advertisers
of these products, I should by now look just
like Mark Wahlberg’s fitness trainer, but
with far better gluts. As that has not actually
happened, I must assume there is a degree
of embellishment on the part of advertisers
for fitness-related products.
Consider whey protein, a compound
believed to be a source of amino acids, which
are crucial for building muscle mass. My
issue with whey protein is that there’s no
clinical evidence establishing it as a significantly effective means of stimulating the
Joshua Dagon
development of lean muscle tissue. In fact,
commercial interest in whey protein seems
to be solely founded on the fact that it is the
focus of research to determine if it promotes
the production of amino acids, which may
or may not stimulate the development of
appropriate protein synthesis, which may or
may not facilitate elevated muscle growth.
The nebulous effects of the compound,
however, have not prevented it from becoming a best-selling item. Clearly, some wacky
consumers are satisfied with the promise
that whey protein could possibly, keep your
fingers crossed, maybe, if the calculations
are correct, probably assist in the biological
construction of what may perhaps prove to be
amino acids that should, if kept in a cool, dry
place and watered regularly, induce protein
synthesis that will, if we’re lucky, expedite
the probability of possibly facilitating the
body’s ability to gain what appears to be
lean muscle mass, or something similar,
unless it doesn’t.
I for one am very disappointed in the
recall of Hydroxycut products, if for no
other reason than I was encouraged by the
commercials that featured Dr. Chippendales
Dancer. I really liked him and sincerely
hope that he isn’t too far down on the list
to receive a liver donation.
Novelist Joshua Dagon is the author
of Into the Mouth of the Wolf, The
Fallen, and Demon Tears. For more
please go to www.joshuadagon.com. To
contact Mr. Dagon, please e-mail him at
[email protected].
ACCESSline Page 10
The Color of Pride by Brett Edward Stout
The following commentary is
intended to stimulate debate. That
being said, the positions expressed
are done at the risk of offending
some. I welcome that risk; without
these risks we are in danger of losing
all debate that truly matters. It is my
express hope that through this, we
can better see what unites us in the
face of our differences.
On July 16th, 2009 CNN.com
posted a political op-ed by sports
journalist LZ Granderson entitled
“Gay is Not the New Black.” Based
on the that it was published on
CNN’s domain for politics and that
the first several paragraphs were
about the president, I conclude that
the piece had intended to quell the recent
dissatisfaction of the Gay community with
President Obama. If this in fact was his goal,
Granderson’s effort was a failure. Instead
of an essay on politics, what resulted was
an inflammatory indictment of the Gay
community as racist, and goes further to
express the culturally chauvinistic opinion
that parallels between the Gay and Black
civil rights struggles do not exist. Both of
these charges I refute.
First, to take head-on his claim that
the Gay community is racist, I present
the following hypothesis: The problem of
Black integration into the Gay community
is perhaps not as much a problem of the
Gay community at large but an internal
problem of the Black community. I am not
referencing the remarkably high percentage
of Black men who choose to live life on
the down low. The problem I refer to is the
allegation of Blacks as race traitors. I tend to
believe that the Gay community as a whole is
exceptionally well adjusted to integration, as
evidenced by the ongoing and smooth incorporation of Hispanics and Asians. Where the
circumstances differ for the Black community is the internal contention that Blacks
who align with the mainstream are perceived
by their own community as betraying what
they themselves consider to be Black culture.
This is the same cultural chauvinism that
had a well-educated, articulate, well-dressed
presidential candidate fighting accusations
from within the Black community that he
wasn’t “Black enough.” I have never known
a friend, or heard a story of a friend, who was
accused of trying to be Mexican because he
had a Latino boyfriend.
Aside from Granderson’s rhetorical
failures, the premises he invokes to reach his
conclusions about our civil rights histories
lack nuance and are misinformed at best.
Granderson’s assertion that Gays at Stonewall were merely afraid of arrest [rather
than death] is so misleading you could call
it false. Arrest for a Gay man in the 1960’s
was not about the fear of legal punishment.
It was about a fear of being beaten, ridiculed,
sodomized, raped, humiliated, bullied, or
killed in jail, as often happened during this
dark point in American civil rights. What’s
worse is that public attitude towards this
brutality was and in many ways still is,
“What did Gays expect?”
In an era where the KKK, who always
wore masks, have been forced underground,
the Phelps family and those like them
proudly show their signs, their hatred, and
their faces without public condemnation.
Photo taken by Jaime Pestel
Their slogans and songs calling for the death
and damnation of Gays do not only terrorize pride parades and Gay bars but also arts
performances, funerals, and even high school
graduations. And, their shouted hostility is
met with public silence and aversion.
Sacha Baron Cohen, when talking about
the filming of his movie Bruno, quoted
Ian Kershaw as having said, “The road to
Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with
indifference.” The views of Granderson go
beyond indifference. They seek to isolate
and segregate. Cohen was far more careful
in choosing his words than Granderson,
and in choosing his quotation; the nuance
and plurality of his words can be found
through careful scrutiny. Jews were not the
only minority rounded up and sent to Nazi
prison camps. Under Paragraph 175 of the
German Criminal Code 15,000 Gays were
sent to die in death camps. However, unlike
others at the end of the war, those Gays who
survived were not set free. What’s more,
from the end of the war until the repeal of
Paragraph 175, another 50,000 Gays were
imprisoned. Paragraph 175 was not fully
repealed until 1994.
Cohen deliberately chose his character Bruno to provoke, but was shocked at
what he discovered in doing so. He found
himself afraid for his life and for the first
time in need of bodyguards. In his article
The main difference between
doing Bruno and Borat ... is that it’s
a lot more dangerous doing Bruno
because there is so much homophobia. So for example, when I was
doing Bruno at the Alabama-Mississippi football game in Alabama
a few years ago, 60,000 people
[in the crowd] starting chanting
“faggot” and started throwing stuff
at me and, you know, taunting me
and spitting at me and threatening
to kill me, and those kind of situations are a lot more common when
you’re playing a gay character. It’s
almost as if homophobia is one of
the last forms of prejudices that is
really tolerated.
—Sacha Baron Cohen in a 2007
Fresh Air interview with Terry
Gross
Granderson touts that the n-word
trumps the f-word but these words
of hate have no hierarchy. Though
he speaks of the continuing struggles
of the Black community against
racism in the country (and do not
get me wrong, racism does exist
and it is a problem), he fails to give
recognition to other prejudices, and
it is his lack of recognition or respect
to which take offence. While the
n-word certainly gets more media
attention than the f-word, it is hard to
imagine a crowd of 60,000 stadium
fans angrily chanting the n-word at
an actor’s performance. That circumstance is exactly what Cohen faced
from Alabama football fans only a
few years ago. The occurrence wasn’t even
covered by CNN.
It is easy to see both the progress and
lack of it when we ask ourselves, if Private
Barry Winchell had been a Chinese soldier
that was brutally beaten to death with a
baseball bat while he slept by a prejudiced
Hispanic, would it have made Nancy Grace’s
radar? We need to ask ourselves if Scotty
Weaver had been a Black man and a group
of white supremacists had kidnapped him,
tied him to a chair, tortured, partially decapitated, and then thrown his body onto a pile
of trash before lighting it on fire, would it
have made the cut for Headline News? It is
my feeling that the outcry would not have
been merely national in those circumstances,
it would have been global. However, this
was not always the case, and that is ulti-
August 2009
mately the point. While Granderson claims
his article is not about splitting hairs, that
is in fact what he does. The grief felt from
oppression of Gays is not exclusive to the
Gay rights movement nor is the grief of any
other oppressed minority.
Blacks too know what it’s like to be
judged at face value, Blacks too know the
sting of epithets, slurs, and unflattering
imitations, Blacks too have feared public
violence for walking the wrong streets, and
Blacks too know the oppression of political
disenfranchisement. Parallels between the
civil rights battle of the Black community
and the Gay community were not drawn as
frivolously or as light-heartedly as those like
Granderson portray. With regard to sensitive
issues, parallels are drawn with calculated
and measured thoughtfulness.
Perhaps if Granderson and those in his
camp spent more time opening themselves
to our congruencies and less time privatizing
their collective pain we might grow closer to
the rhetoric of unity which has soared over
crowds on the national lawn. This vision
of a unified future is one that belongs to all
marginalized peoples, the more we horde our
histories in denial of our commonalities, the
further away that future will always be.
Writer, filmmaker, and photographer
Brett Edward Stout is a Cedar Rapids
native and recent graduate of the University
of Iowa. He spent five years in the US Marine
Corps as a Russian linguist. His first novel
Sugar-baby Bridge was published in 2008.
He is currently working on his second novel,
entitled The Lives Between.
August 2009
HEALTH & HIV/AIDS BRIEFS
No Disparities by Race/
Ethnicity in Risk of AIDS
and Death Among HIVInfected Patients in Kaiser
Permanente’s Integrated
Delivery System, Research
Study Finds
Surprising Trend Toward Better
Outcomes for Hispanics
OAKLAND, Calif., July 20, 2009
– Kaiser Permanente researchers found
no disparities by race or ethnicity in risk
of AIDS and death among HIV-infected
patients in a setting of similar access to
care. This is despite lower Anti-Retroviral
Therapy adherence among Hispanics and
African-Americans compared to whites.
Researchers also saw a trend toward better
outcomes for Hispanics.
The study, which appears online in The
Journal of General Internal Medicine, is
one of the largest to date to evaluate racial
and ethnic differences in clinical outcomes
among HIV-infected patients.
“When it comes to HIV among Kaiser
Permanente members, it appears that access
to care is the key to eliminating racial and
ethnic disparities,” said the study’s lead
author Michael Silverberg, a researcher at
the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research.
He explained that equal access may likely
improve prevention and also encourage
early treatment.
Kaiser Permanente is the largest private
provider of HIV care in the United States. Dr.
Silverberg said that certain aspects of Kaiser
Permanente care may reduce differences
in outcomes among racial/ethnic groups in
that most patients have medical insurance
coverage and their HIV care is guided by the
principles of integrated, chronic condition
management and multi-disciplinary HIV
specialty care. Another advantage of this
setting is Kaiser Permanente’s large HIV
registry, which has historical data on more
than 17,000 patients, including a substantial
number of racial/ethnic minorities.
This study is among the first to include
a large number of Hispanic patients and
comprehensively account for other factors
-- such as socioeconomic status, HIV
disease stage and ART adherence -- that
may contribute to racial/ethnic disparities,
according to the investigators. Hispanics
had a statistically significant 34 percent
survival benefit compared with whites and
a 42 percent survival benefit compared with
blacks. However, no statistically significant
differences for racial/ethnic groups were
observed after adjustment for demographics,
socioeconomic status and clinical factors.
The study was a retrospective observational cohort study from 1996 to 2005 in
Kaiser Permanente, an integrated delivery
system with more than 3 million members
in Northern California. Researchers studied
3,106 whites, 919 Blacks and 661 Hispanics
infected with HIV and looked at differences
in ART adherence, new AIDS events and
all-cause mortality.
“This observation of reduced mortality in HIV-infected Hispanics is somewhat
surprising giving the observed lower adherence rates, reduced immunological responses and lower census-based socioeconomic
status compared to whites,” said Silverberg.
Hispanics had particularly low numbers of
cardiovascular and cancer-related deaths. He
explained that this phenomenon, also called
the Hispanic Paradox, may occur because of
differences in diet, genetics and extended
family support.
This study is part of Kaiser Permanente’s
larger ongoing work to end health disparities
by providing equitable access and care to its
8.6 million members, by targeting resources
to areas in need in communities across the
United States, by investing in disparities
research, and by implementing strategies
that support equity in health nationwide,
including universal health coverage.
Additional investigators on the study
include Wendy Leyden, MPH, Charles P.
Quesenberry, Jr., Ph.D., and Michael A.
Horberg, MD, MAS, all affiliated with the
Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in
Oakland, Calif. The research was funded
by a Community Benefit grant from Kaiser
Permanente Northern California, and a
career development award from the National
Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
part of the National Institutes of Health.
ACCESSline Page 11
“Forget the slick pharmaceutical ads that, since the midnineties, have conveyed the
frequently erroneous message
that living with AIDS or HIV
is all about bicycling through
the California Wine Country or
climbing a mountain peak or
enjoying an ocean cruise with
your shirtless, buff buddies.
For some perhaps it is, but,
for many of us living with any
degree or stage of HIV infection,
it is a medical, emotional and
psychological roller coaster
with downs you don’t even want
to imagine. ... [F]or many of us,
it’s still all about basic survival:
Can I pay my rent? Will I have
enough for groceries at the end
of the month? If I tell him I’m
positive, will he simply walk
away?”
—Blogger Mike Tidmus
(miketidmus.com), July 19.
ACCESSline Page 12
“The Chico’s (Tacos) case (where
five gay men were ejected from the
restaurant after two of them kissed)
may seem small in comparison with
the struggles of John Lewis and
Martin Luther King Jr., but public
fallout evoked familiar imagery.
A place of public accommodation.
A dining room counter. Threats of
boycott. A picket line. A subjugated
class. City Rep. Steve Ortega went
so far as to describe gay equality as
‘the civil-rights issue of our time.’
A lawyer with the American Civil
Liberties Union in Austin said negative reaction to the gay kiss was
reminiscent of the era when signs
posted in West Texas restaurants
read ‘No Mexicans, no dogs.’”
—The El Paso Times news section
goes there, July 26.
There’s More to Think About Than Just HIV
If you are sexually active—
even if you follow safer sex
practices—you should be
aware of the possibility of
sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Unfortunately, many people have major
misconceptions about STIs. One such
common misconception, for example, is
that there is little or no danger involved with
oral sex. However, any activity—including
oral sex—carries the risk of STIs, and even
condom use does not always protect against
certain infections, such as from human
papilloma virus (HPV, also known as genital
warts), which can be transmitted by mere
skin-to-skin contact.
It is a fact that most people will, at
some point in their lives, have a sexually
transmitted infection. These infections are
numerous and common. In the United States,
millions of people become infected every
year with one or more STIs, and at times
become infected with more than one at the
Hemming & Hawing by Aaron Stroschein
The Last Year
I realized this morning I have now been
working for two months with One Iowa as
a canvasser, a task I took on shortly after
joining ACCESSline as assistant editor.
Yet, it only seems like the blink of an eye
and now I am here ready to gear up for
fall again. The One Iowa job will end in
September so now I am once again doing
the song and dance of sending out resumes
and cover letters. My current canvassing
job consists of going door to door asking
everyday Iowans about marriage equality
and getting signatures on petitions to show
support.
Now, I am already in the first week
of August. I still have a many things on
my to-do list still unchecked. One Iowa
is the statewide organization advocating
for same-sex marriage for those who are
not familiar. They also advocate for other
issues pertinent to the LGBT community,
but marriage is there main focus as of now.
I must admit I have had less time to do my
job as Assistant Editor for ACCESSline,
but come the end of August this will be my
main focus once again.
Yes, my to-do list has almost become a
to-do pile. There are books I have not read
and movies I have not seen.
Most importantly I have not taken the
time to evaluate how I have changed in the
past year. It is hard to believe how many
changes can take place in the span of 365
days. I graduated from Clarke College in
Dubuque last year with a Bachelor of Arts
degree in graphic design, survived the flood
of ’08, and went from being a web designer
to an assistant editor of a statewide publication. Then I transitioned even further to
wearing two different proverbial hats by
becoming a canvasser.
The biggest effort this year was helping
to restart ACCESSline and releasing its first
issue in April. Since then, the newspaper
has grown beyond my imagining in the
short time of four months. The website for
August 2009
the newspaper has about reached 4,000 hits
and our readership continues to grow. As
for Hemming and Hawing, I created this
column as a means of expressing my interest in literature and writing, but now it will
pertain to different subjects as well.
However, I do have one last note about
writing. Giovanni’s Room bookstore in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania needs $50,000
to cover construction costs. The Philly
bookstore is an independent seller of LGBT
literature and it is the oldest bookstore of its
kind in the country. With the down economy
it makes it even harder for a bookstore to
operate. With your help it can stay open.
I have found I am a lot more passionate
about LGBT causes with all my work asking
people for support of marriage quality.
One starts to realize just how motivated
they can become. They also realize how
many people they do not know who are just
waiting for the chance to show their support
for something. That has been the biggest
change so far for me this summer. Going
around canvassing there are some days
where you just do not feel like knocking on
the next door. Eventually, I do knock and I
find a person who is completely supportive
of LGBT people. Lesson to be learned:
one misses big opportunities by keeping
in a comfort zone. Those people who are
absolutely for marriage equality ultimately
brighten my day.
So now summer will be halfway over.
Before the party-clock runs down, have you
stopped to take a look at where you have
been in a year? Has your to-do list grown too
long like mine? Soon, it will be back to cold
temperatures, the site of colorful falling
leaves and sitting in front of a computer or
TV wishing it were warm outside. Perhaps,
one could use these last 21 days to their
advantage by getting out and attending a
concert or an art opening or a . Maybe if
you have not already changed, this could
be the catalyst for it. Do not simply stick in
your comfort zone because you can.
Change.
same time.
The most common STI seen in the
US currently is HPV, and the second is
Chlamydia. HSV (herpes virus) affects
approximately 90% of adults, although these
outbreaks are seen less often and up to 75%
of those infected may not have outbreaks.
There are fewer people infected with HPV
but more have cervical or genital outbreaks.
Other sexually transmitted infections include
Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Hepatitis B, pubic
lice and Trich (Thichomoniasis). Bacterial
vaginosis and yeast infections may be passed
back and forth between partners, although
they are due to the imbalance of normal
levels of bacteria and yeast in the vagina.
When left untreated, STIs can eventually cause serious health problems, and HPV
is known to increase the chances of certain
cancers in the infected tissue. Syphilis, if
not treated, can cause brain damage and
permanent vision loss in less than twelve
months.
Prevention and testing are the two
biggest factors in keeping yourself protected
and healthy. Testing should ideally be done
prior to any new partner and after a relationship has ended. Anyone, anywhere, anytime,
if they have ever been sexually active, has
the potential to be infected.
Obviously, abstinence is the only way
to guarantee that you won’t get an STI.
However, if you choose to be sexually active,
you can reduce the possibility of infection
by following safer sex practices—using
condoms and/or dental dams.
You can reduce the possibility of infecting others by performing regular self exams
and getting checkups regularly. Several STIs
are asymptomatic (having no symptoms)
and require a blood test. In the case of HSV
and HPV, outbreaks may not occur, while
the virus may still be passed to your partner.
Routine testing for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea is also recommended with or without
any signs of infection. And if you notice any
abnormal discharge, unusual odor, sores,
bumps or anything that does not seem usual,
you should seek medical attention.
Special thanks to Dana David, Medical
Specialist at the Emma Goldman Clinic in
Iowa City.
“I just loathe homophobia. It’s just disgusting and animal and
stupid and it’s just thick people who can’t get their head around it
and are just scared. ... I grew up around gay people entirely. I was
the only child in my class who had any experience of homosexuality
or anything like that.”
—Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe to Britain’s Attitude magazine,
July 23.
ACCESSline’s fun guide
Our Picks for August: Fun, Festivals, and Food-on-a-Stick...
Performances
The Englert Theatre in Iowa City
has a music filled line-up for August.
www.englert.org
• 8/7-8/9, Rent: School Edition – Now
everyone can enjoy the Pulitzer Prize
winning musical Rent with the school
edition designed for high schoolers.
• 8/14, Colin Hay – Men At Work frontman, Colin Hay will be performing new
hits from his American Sunshine album
with special guest Caleb Engstrom. His
solo career landed him on the Garden
State soundtrack, and on the TV series,
Scrubs.
• 8/22, The Heather Masse Band – Heater
Masse is co-headlining with Lake Street
Dive, featuring Iowa City’s own Bridget
Kearney. Masse is a regular guest on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, but is best known for performing in
The Wailin’ Jennys. Ben Lee is the the
opening act.
• 8/25, The Robert Cray Band – Robert
Cray is back again at the Englert to share
his Grammy-winning musical talent of
30 years. Live From Across The Pond,
is Cray’s first full-length concert recording. His soulful vocals and instrumental
artistry will be a unique performance.
• 9/3, Riders in the Sky – Following the
likes of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry,
Riders in the Sky have become the new
face of the comedy and western genre. Get
ready for a knee-slapping hoedown.
Also at the Englert, 8/1, 8/8, 8/15,
8/22 - MidWestOne Bank Outdoor Free
Movie Series, Iowa City – All showings begin at 7pm. The films are shown
outside on the historic Englert Theatre’s old
screen. Movies include: Close Encounters
of the Third Kind, Rain Date or The Dark
Crystal, The Wizard of Oz, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Bring a lawn chair/blanket.
www.summerofthearts.org
8/12-8/16, The Grand Opera House,
Dubuque: Schoolhouse Rock – Relive the
1970s educational and Emmy Award-winning Saturday morning cartoon Schoolhouse
Rock with the musical. Tom is anxious about
the first day of school and watches TV to
relax. While he’s watching, characters from
the set come to life and he discovers how to
win over his students. Come rediscover the
classic songs such as “Just A Bill,” “Lolly,
Lolly, Lolly” and “Conjunction Junction.”
www.thegrandoperahouse.com
8/15, Civic Center of Greater Des
Moines, The Green Show – The Comedy
Cooperative is going green. Recycling
sketches and characters from the last five
years, the troup lowered their carbon
footprint and brought together The Green
Show.
IowaLisa’s List by Lisa Schreihart
This is a list of Iowa’s live music,
arts, social events and culture for, by,
featuring, and of interest to women and
friends for August. To submit events and
announcements, or to sign up a friend
to receive this list by e-mail, e-mail
[email protected]. Visit me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/iowalisa or on
MySpace at www.myspace.com/iowalisa.
I’m on Twitter too!
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
NEW LGBT SOCIAL CIRCLE AT THE
IOWA CITY SENIOR CENTER: Gather at
the Senior Center in Iowa City on Wednesday
afternoons with other gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and
transgender seniors. This is your opportunity to
meet new people in a welcoming environment.
Starting September 2, the group will meet at 2
PM in the Mezzanine Conference Room. Activities will be determined based on the interests of
participants. For more information call Thomas
at 319-354-1784.
POETIC REBOUND PERFORMANCE
COMPANY will present a series of performances
at the Iowa City Farmer’s Market in Chauncey
Swan Park on August 8, 15, and 22. Included
in this series are original works, both new and
re-staged, choreographed by Amy Jacobus and
Artistic Director Nicole Morford. Performances
will also include short improvisations and interactive activities. PRPC is a non-profit, professional modern dance company based in Iowa
City with an emphasis on community outreach.
Visit web.mac.com/prpc. For more info, e-mail
[email protected].
8/23, 6pm, Kings & Queens, Waterloo – The Bonnie Bitch Comedy Hypnosis Show with the puppetry of PIX! With
35 years of performances, Bonnie is an
outstanding drag queen entertainer and
comedian. She is America’s one and only
comedy drag hypnotist. The show promises
to be a fabulously funny evening!
8/2, 2pm, Free Poetry Reaing from
Ted Kooser at the Octagon Arts Center in
Ames Ted Kooser, a former U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, will read his
poetry that has inspired many creations by
Impact, a group of 26 arists across Nebraska.
The event is in conjunction with the Octagon
Arts Center’s exhibit called the Kooser
IMPACT. Kooser will sign books following
the reading. Books will be available. www.
octagonarts.org
8/2, Orpheum, Sioux City: Michael
Bolton – Michael Bolton’s perforamce is
sure to be of the award-winning caliber he
has received from the Grammys and American Music Awards. He’s a prolific songwriter,
and his music has been performed by Cher,
KISS, Kenny G., Barbara Streisand, etc.
Bolton has lead an extraoardinary career.
Festivals
7/31-8/8 National Balloon Classic,
Indianola, Iowa – 2009 marks Indianola’s
40th anniversary hosting the National
Balloon Classic. The week-long festival
is booked with fun for everyone, ranging
from live performances to balloon flights.
The event kicks off with Sonny Humbucker
performing before the first balloon rides of
the week. Look out for the classic’s parade,
fireworks and the $10,000 cash grab flight
throughout the week.
8/6-8/9, Meskwaki Powwow near
Tama, Iowa – The only Indian cultural
festival in Iowa. The weekend will include
dances, songs, crafts, traditional games,
colorful native regalia, and a replica of a
Meskwaki Village.
8/8-8/14 Pyrotechnics Guild International Fireworks Show Mason City,
North Iowa Fairgrounds – PGI holds
their annual convention and in the evening
convention goers and ticket holders watch
nightly fireworks displays by ameteur and
professional pyrotechnics. The shows are
spectacular. www.pgi.org
8/13-8/23 Iowa State Fair –
The grand stand will feature big names such
as Kelly Clarkson, Journey, Big & Rich, and
Brooks & Dunn. There are many free shows
throughout the week too. The fair has all the
traditional exhibits and events people have
come to expect and love including the butter
cow, the rides, and all the food-on-a-stick
TTAUGUST continued page 18
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS:
LINEUP ANNOUNCED FOR 2009
IWMF!: Prairie Voices Productions is uber-excited
to announce the 2009 16th Annual Iowa Women’s
Music Festival, set for Friday-Saturday, September
11-12 in Iowa City. A Friday night music & comedy
show with West Hollywood’s Poppy Champlin and
Iowa’s own rocker grrl Lojo Russo kicks things off
at Old Brick. The Saturday lineup in Upper City
Park includes emcee Kim-Char Meredith, Lynne
Rothrock (Jazz from Cedar Rapids), Tracy Walker
(soulful folk from Cincinnati), Cosy Sheridan
(mystical storyteller with women-focused songs
from Moab, Utah), Carolyn Wonderland (blues-rock
from Austin, TX) with Shelley King (2008 Official
Texas State Musician), and the legendary and
Grammy-nominated Michelle Shocked! Saturday
continues at the Mill for an 80’s rock and hip-hopthemed dance party with Kim-Char Meredith,
Iowa’s coolest gem-studded hip-hop artist Leslie
and the LY’s, and local 80’s rock sensation Jodie
Foster Connection! Food and merchandise vendors,
an auction, and other surprises are planned! Check
www.prairievoices.net for updates.
HELP THE 2009 IOWA WOMEN’S
MUSIC FESTIVAL: This year’s IWMF will
be a big one and we need your support to pull
this off and keep it free for years to come. Mail
donations (and make payable) to: Prairie Voices
Productions, P.O. Box 3411, Iowa City, Iowa,
52244-3411. If you want to charge donations, you
can do so securely on-line at www.networkforgood.org (search for Prairie Voices). PVP/IWMF
is a 501(c)3 non-profit arts organization, so your
donations are tax deductible (we will send you a
receipt), and your place of business may match
TTEVENTS continued page 15
ACCESSline Page 14
the fun guide
August 2009
The Outfield by Dan Woog
Olympics since the 1960s. “We’ve always
embraced the core Olympic values of inclusiveness and diversity,” Nelson says. “Once
It’s mid-summer—so the 2010 Winter Vancouver was given the games, we worked
Olympics are just a few months away. Already to secure a venue for Pride House. It ties in
in the host city of Vancouver, the gay commu- with the Olympic Festival. But it’s also a way
nity is making sure that gay, lesbian, bisexual to promote queer culture, and let people have
and transgender athletes—and their families, fun and be themselves.”
friends and supporters—won’t be left out in
Pride House does not have official
the cold.
Olympic backing. “The International Olympic
Gay Whistler—a group that works year- Committee is a big political machine,” Nelson
round promoting the Whistler ski resort (where notes. “We didn’t want to get too involved
skiing, bobsled and luge events will be held) in that.”
to the LGBT community—is doing more than
Gay Whistler has met with the Vancouver
just welcoming gay competitors and fans. Organizing Committee—on an informal basis.
They’re opening Pride House, a meeting place “They can’t get involved officially,” Nelson
in Pan Pacific Whistler
says. “Their mandate is
Centre—located right in
sport and culture, and we
the thick of the Olympic
have a political underhubbub.
tone. But they think this
Pride House will
is a great idea, and they’ve
feature a lounge with
given us lots of moral
TV screens. Information
support.”
about upcoming Gay
Pride House costs
Games, Outgames and
money. Gay Whistler is
the Gay and Lesbian
in the midst of fundraising
International Sports
and looking for sponsors.
Association will be availThey’re letting the media
able. Athletes, coaches,
know it exists and will
families and friends who
start online marketing
live in gay-intolerant
soon.
countries can also obtain
Nelson says the
legal information about
reaction has been “very
seeking refugee status
positive. We’ve had
in Canada.
some comments about
But the main effort
why something like this
Dean Nelson, CEO of
of Pride House will be
is relevant. We’re letting
Alpenglow Productions, producers of
social. Amid the presthem know that we’ve
Gay Whistler Winter Pride
sures of an Olympics—
got guests coming from
athletic, media, emotional—there will be one places where being gay is a huge issue. This
place gay people and their allies can go to is a place for them to find information and
escape.
comfort.
“The last thing athletes need is to have
“But everyone here in Vancouver thinks
more pressure put on them because of sexu- it’s a wonderful idea. Some people wonder
ality,” says Dean Nelson, CEO of Alpenglow why this hasn’t been done before. We think
Productions, which produces Gay Whistler the timing is perfect. California just overturned
Winter Pride. “We just want them to have Prop 8; ‘Milk’came out, so people are thinking
a place where they can be their complete, and understanding more about gay issues and
authentic selves.
homophobia.”
Retired Olympians have told Nelson
The Winter Olympics is not the only
how hard it is to come out while compet- major event in British Columbia this winter.
ing. Pride House will not be a place for gay Following tradition, a month after the flame is
athletes to come out; rather, it’s somewhere doused, the Paralympic Games move in. This
they can relax, in whatever level of outness multi-sport festival for athletes with physical
feels most comfortable. At Pride House, and visual disabilities comes a few days after
they’ll be surrounded by other gay people, Gay Whistler’s Winter Pride festival, set for
March 1-8.
allies and fans.
Nelson is working hard to promote Gay
“It’s a spot to come, hang out, share stories,
Whistler’s many upcoming activities. “Winter
trade pins and have fun,” Nelson says.
The Whistler area is traditionally friendly Pride has been named the No. 1 Gay Ski Week
territory for LGBT folks. Gay Whistler traces by the editors of Planet Out/Gay.com, as well
its roots to 1992. A gay ski week sprang up as the No. 1 Lesbian Welcoming Ski Weeks
then in reaction to a boycott of Aspen’s ski by Out Traveler,” he says. “Both designations
week, after Colorado passed anti-gay legisla- are very important. And both have given
tion. Nearly two decades later, the event— Pride House the opportunity to welcome the
now called Winter Pride—draws hundreds world immediately preceding the 2010 Winter
Olympic Games, and the Paralympics that
of visitors.
Winter Pride features ski and snowboard follow.”
For further information, contact
guiding, canopy tours (flying through snowcovered trees on zip lines), dog sled and www.gaywhistler.com)
snowmobile tours, Nordic and cross country
skiing, snowshoeing, even river float trips to
see bald eagles.
Non-ski events include wine tastings,
It’s a little known, seldom discussed side
mixology programs, health and wellness
seminars, comedy shows, dances and plenty effect of Title IX: As women’s college sports
have gained prominence, the number of female
of parties.
Whistler has dreamed of hosting the coaches has declined.
Pride House: A Home
For Gay Olympians
The Vanishing Lesbian
Coach
Even less noticed – or mentioned – are position for reasons unrelated to sexuality.
the employment obstacles faced by lesbian Her partner had a good job in the area, and did
coaches.
not want to move. Because the coach was not
Two years ago, Amy Sandler decided to out, she felt her options with nearby schools
shine a light on that dark side of the athletic were limited. She left the coaching profession
closet.
altogether.
At the time, she was teaching in the
Earlier this year, Sandler presented her
women’s studies department at the Univer- findings at the Sport, Sexuality and Culture
sity of Nevada-Las Vegas. A former softball Conference held at Ithaca College. The reacplayer and assistant coach at the University tion, she says, was positive and excited.
of Maryland, she was working on a Ph.D.
She is gratified that people like Pat
Attending a conference
Griffin and major orgaon Title IX and gender
nizations back her work.
equity issues, she realThe National Collegiate
ized an important area
Athletic Association gave
of study was not athletes,
her a graduate research
but the women – and,
grant – one of only four
increasingly, men – who
awarded this year. “That
coach them. The number
speaks volumes about the
of female intercollegiate
interest of the NCAA,”
athletes is at an all-time
she says. “And they have
high. The number of
discussed my suggestions
for changing policy. That
female head coaches,
speaks volumes too.”
conversely, is at a historic
Her suggestions
low. Sandler wondered
include a close re-examif heterosexism played
ination of the NCAA’s
a role. Using a snowball
own anti-discrimination
sample – people she
policy. It already includes
knew, and people those
sexual orientation. But,
people knew – as well
Amy Sandler
Sandler says, member
as the Internet, Sandler
identified 11 lesbian Division I head coaches. institutions do not always follow the policy.
Most were closeted. Eight – including two One college, for example, has ruled that only
who were completely out – agreed to be spouses of coaches can be included in recruiting endeavors. In the many states where gay
interviewed.
Six of the eight coaches believed that marriage is illegal, Sandler says, such an
“sexism and homo-negativism” played a major interpretation is inconsistent with NCAA
standards.
role in the decline of female coaches.
Sandler also addressed the NCAA’s
“I felt like I was living a double life,” one
woman said. “At times I felt it would be better certification process for member institutions.
A self-study covers a school’s environment
if I left coaching altogether.”
Another closeted coach heard an admin- for student-athletes of all sexual orientations.
istrator, evaluating a candidate for another Sandler suggested a new section, assessing the
position, say, “She’s not that kind” (meaning environment for “coaches and administrators
she was not gay). The coach perceived that who do not identify as heterosexual.”
Sandler notes that the two out coaches she
comment to mean that the college would not
hire a female coach believed to be a lesbian. studied had vastly different experiences than
Sandler heard stories of male coaches the closeted women. “They’ve normalized
with significantly weaker credentials being their lesbian identities,” she says. One – a very
hired instead of unmarried women. “The word successful coach – is seen as a role model by
got out,” she says. “Colleges are not hiring parents and students. Sandler hopes to study
single women. So some qualified candidates openly gay female coaches in greater depth.
But because many women do not feel
stop applying.
“Coaches know these things. But they comfortable being out in the college sports
can’t say or do anything, because they don’t world, Sandler will continue to address the
want to out themselves,” Sandler contin- problem of vanishing female coaches.
Dan Woog is a journalist, educator,
ues. “So the stories never go beyond their
soccer coach, gay activist, and author of the
colleagues. They never make the news.”
And, Sandler admits, stories are only “Jocks” series of books on gay male athletes.
anecdotal evidence. “Heterosexism and Visit his Web site at www.danwoog.com. He
can be reached care of this publication or at
homonegativity” are difficult to prove.
When considering whether to apply for [email protected].
a higher or more prestigious position, Sandler
says, lesbians – those who are out, as well as
closeted – must consider how comfortable they
“Things have been crawling on top of
will feel mingling in a new community.
each other and madly humping away for
That’s something few straight females – or
850 million years. Sex came first, then
most males – have to consider.
One coach, searching for an assistant, humanity (200,000ish years ago), then
interviewed a lesbian. Usually, that process religion came along tens of thousands
would include help finding the candidate’s of years after that. Which may explain
spouse a job. But the head coach felt uncom- why religion, when pitted against sex
fortable telling her athletic director about the (really old) and human nature (pretty
candidate’s female partner – her college was in
old), always loses.”
a state with no legal protection based on sexual
orientation – so the woman did not receive the — Gay, syndicated sex-advice columsame opportunity others had.
nist Dan Savage, July 16.
Another woman left her head coaching
August 2009
Events
too. Check it out please! If volunteering is your
thing, we need you! Contact me at iowalisa@
juno.com if you want to help plan the festival or
volunteer the day of the festival.
SUMMER OF THE ARTS CONTINUES:
The summer Free Movie Series on Saturdays runs
til August 22 on the U of Iowa Pentacrest outside
of Macbride Hall in Iowa City. All films start at
sunset. Also enjoy the ever-popular and always
wildly entertaining Friday Night Concert Series
on the downtown Iowa City Ped Mall running
now through August 28, all starting at 6:30 p.m.
Check out www.summerofthearts.org for more
info on all of these events.
A-LIST EVENTS FOR
AUGUST
Saturday, August 1, 7pm, LOJO RUSSO
performs at Java Creek Café, 588 Boyson Rd.
NE, Hiawatha. Check out www.lojorusso.com.
Monday, August 3, 5:30-7:30pm, CORRIDOR WELCOME RECEPTION at Theatre
Cedar Rapids-Lindale. This program is designed
to introduce new and existing members of the
community to individuals and organizations with
varying interests. This event is free and open
to the public. Complimentary appetizers, beer
and wine will be served, along with entertainment. To RSVP, log on to eihra.org/content.
asp?ID=861&Date=8/3/09.
Tuesday-Sunday, August 4-9, MICHIGAN WOMYN’S MUSIC FESTIVAL, in Hart,
MI. For more info, visit www.michfest.com.
Starting Thursday, August 6, SUGARLAND “Live on the Inside” concert at the
movies for a limited run, at Iowa Children’s
Museum, 1451 Coralridge Ave., Coralville.
Filmed in high definition at the Rupp Arena in
Lexington, KY.
Thursday, August 13 through Sunday,
August 23, IOWA STATE FAIR featuring
Kelly Clarkson, Heart, and Candy Coburn
on the Grandstand. For a full schedule, visit
www.iowastatefair.com/entertainment/mediaPlayer/grandstand.php.
Saturday, August 22, THE HEATHER
MASSE BAND at The Englert Theatre, Iowa
City, www.englert.org.
Thursday-Sunday, August 27-30, LANDLOCKED FILM FESTIVAL at The Englert
Theatre, Iowa City, www.englert.org or www.
landlockedfilmfestival.com.
Saturday, August 29, 7pm, CEDAR
RAPIDS ROLLERGIRLS face the LaCrosse
Skating Sirens in the “Death Proof Derby” roller
derby bout at the US Cellular Center, downtown
Cedar Rapids. Tix available in advance at the
CR Ice Arena for $13. Day of: $16.
Sunday, August 30, 1-5pm, Cedar Rapids
GLRC holds their annual PRIDE PICNIC
at Palisades-Kepler State Park at The Lodge.
Hamburgers and hot dogs will be provided.
Bring a covered dish to share. BYOB. There
will also be a silent auction and games. Visit
www.crglrc.org.
Saturday-Sunday, September 5-6, NEW
BOHEMIAVISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS
FESTIVAL, at New Bohemia Park in front of
Bottleworks, 10th Ave. and 3rd St. SE, Cedar
Rapids. This festival features 50 plus Midwestern artists showing and selling their work, street
performers, interactive arts demonstrations,
family arts activities, food and great music
provided by local musicians. If you are interested
in showing or performing, or if you are interested
in serving on one of our planning committees,
e-mail [email protected].
Friday, September 11, 8pm, THE
the fun guide
JOFFREY BALLET with the UI Symphony
Orchestra, at the Civic Center of Greater Des
Moines. This is a benefit performance for
Hancher Auditorium and the UI School of Music.
For tix or more info, visit www.civiccenter.org
or call 800-745-3000.
Friday-Saturday, September 11-12, IOWA
WOMEN’S MUSIC FESTIVAL, 16th Anniversary, Iowa City, featuring Kim-Char Meredith,
Lynne Rothrock, Lojo Russo, Jodie Foster
Connection, Tracy Walker, Cosy Sheridan, Leslie
and the LY’s, Carolyn Wonderland with Shelley
King, Poppy Champlin, and Michelle Shocked!
Watch for updates at www.prairievoices.net.
Thursday, September 17, 7:30pm,
SUGARLAND at Hilton Coliseum, Ames. For
more info and tix, visit www.ticketmaster.com.
Friday, September 25, 7:30pm, IMANI
WINDS with Stefon Harris, at Iowa City High
School, Opstad Auditorium. Visit www.hancher.
uiowa.edu for more info.
September 23-October 18, WICKED
(Broadway production) at the Des Moines Civic
Center. Tickets at www.ticketmaster.com.
RECURRING EVENTS:
New Additions
Every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday at
6pm, and every Saturday at 5:30pm, GLBT
ONLY AA MEETINGS IN DES MOINES, at
945 19th St. (east side of building, south door).
First Friday of every month between
February 6 and December 4, 5-8pm, DAWN’S
COFFEE HOUSE, at Dawn’s Hide and Bead
Away, 220 E. Washington St., Iowa City. Music
and light snacks are provided. Proceeds from
the door are split between the non-profit of the
month and the store (to cover the cost of snacks).
Any other donations received go 100% to the
non-profit. $3 cover. For more info, phone
319-338-1566.
Existing Recurring Events
Every Sunday, 5-6pm, GLBT AA, First
Baptist Church at 500 N. Clinton St., Iowa City.
For more info about Intergroup and Alcoholics
Anonymous call the 24-Hour Answering Service
at 319-338-9111 or visit the AA-IC website:
aa-ic.org/.
Every Sunday, 7pm, L WORD LIVES:
L NIGHT at the Firewater Saloon, 347 South
Gilbert St., Iowa City, 319-321-5895. The night
will start with Season 1, Episode 1 of the L
Word... because a good thing should never die.
FoLLowing the L Word wiLL be a Drag King
show at 9:30 p.m. No cover.
Every Sunday, 6-8:30pm, THE QUIRE:
Eastern Iowa’s GLBT Chorus Rehearsals, at
Zion Lutheran Church, 310 N. Johnson St, Iowa
City. Membership is open to all GLBT folks, as
well as allies who support the community. There
are no auditions; you only need to be willing to
attend rehearsals regularly and learn your music.
The Quire prepares two full concerts each year in
the winter and spring, and occasionally performs
shorter programs at events in the Iowa City/Cedar
Rapids area. The Quire is a member of Gay and
Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA), and
has developed a reputation for excellence and
variety in its concert programs. For more info,
visit www.thequire.org/.
Every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month,
3-6pm, TANGO LESSONS at CSPS, 1103
3rd St. SE, Cedar Rapids. Cost is $5. Everyone
welcome; no partner or experience necessary. For
more info, call Elie at 319-363-1818 or e-mail
[email protected].
Second and every other Sunday of the
month, 3-4pm, IOWA CITY PRIDE PLAN-
ACCESSline Page 15
ACCESSline Page 16
the fun guide
Cocktail Chatter by Camper English
The Mixer Mix-up
Much as I love the name, I can’t bring
myself to consume what the kids today are
calling the Skinny Bitch. This cocktail is
usually made with a flavored vodka, Diet
Coke, and a squeeze of lime. My issue with
the drink doesn’t involve the liquor, but with
the artificially flavored and sweetened soda.
But the Skinny Bitch is not really a drink
focused on the Coke; it’s a drink focused on
the Diet. Also focusing on the diet is a writer
named Teresa Marie Howes, who wrote a
whole book on diet drinks this year called
Skinnytinis. Most of the recipes in the book cut
calories in cocktails by adjusting the amounts
of liqueurs and mixers, as distilled spirits like
gin and vodka all have about the same number
of calories per volume. Her drinks call for light
or diet juices and sodas, and flavored water and
other mixers instead of sugar-laden liqueurs
in recipes. She makes crafty placements like
swapping out the orange liqueur in a Margarita
with light orange juice and Sweet ‘N Low.
One set of mixers that are often mixed
up are soda water and tonic water. They both
have water in the name so you can understand
the confusion, but the two are vastly different
liquids. Soda water is carbonated water, and
mixes well with vodka. (Gin not so much.)
Tonic water pairs well with more spirits, and
is consumed in different countries with vodka,
gin, rum, tequila, and even Port wine.
But tonic began as a tonic — a medicine
used to prevent and cure malaria. It gets its
flavor from the very bitter quinine that was
once harvested from the bark of the cinchona
tree, nicknamed the “fever tree” as it cured the
malarial fever. To make the powdered bark
palatable, explorers and soldiers in mosquitointense countries around the world added
sugar to the solution. Later, gin was added and
the G&T was born. Hooray for medicine!
The important thing to note in that last
paragraph is the use of sugar. Its presence (or
more commonly, the presence of high fructose corn syrup) in drinks means it has those
calories you’ve been trying to avoid. Many
people think they’re sipping a diet drink when
they choose tonic water, but really they may
as well be swilling cola.
Now that I’m a fully functioning cocktail
snob, I don’t drink the tonic water, sodas and
juices that come out of the cocktail squirter
in bars at all. I like fresh juices and mixers
without artificial sweeteners — and it turns out
these typically have less calories than do the
sugared-up cranberry juice and sodas you’ll
get in most bars anyway.
At home, you can buy high quality
mixers with natural and organic sweeteners
for your cocktails. Out at the clubs though,
you probably won’t have that option, so you
can opt for diet soda or soda water as mixers.
Or better yet, opt for that sugar-laden AppleCosmo-Choco-Tini at the bar, and then spend
the night working off those calories on the
dancefloor.
The Wonderful World of Whisk(e)y
No matter where you are in the world,
whisk(e)y is a pain in the butt to spell, because
it is spelled differently in the other parts of the
world from where you are. It’s appropriate
to use the local spelling of other changeablyspelled words like favo(u)r and colo(u)r, but
whisk(e)y snobs won’t give you a break.
That’s too bad, because all whisk(e)y
starts the same, as grain that is fermented
and distilled and then nearly always aged in
barrels.
Scotland makes the most famous whisky
(no ‘e’), and most of it falls into two categories. Single-malt scotch comes from a single
distillery, but more importantly it is made only
from malted barley in pot stills. This means it
has a lot of flavor going into the barrels. Some
single-malts you may know include The Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, and Glenmorangie.
The other major type of scotch whisky
is blended scotch, made from mixing the
flavorful single-malt with lighter columndistilled whisky. Together you get a softer (and
usually less expensive) liquid. Major brands
of blended scotch include Chivas, Johnnie
Walker, and Dewar’s.
Think of the flavor of single-malt scotch
as whole grain bread, and blended scotch as
wheat bread. And for something closer to
French bread, we look to the USA.
In America, most of the local whiskey
(note the ‘e’) is bourbon, and most of the grain
used in bourbon is corn. Bourbon is usually
column distilled and always aged in new
barrels that give off a lot of flavor. (Scotch
is mostly aged in less-flavorful used barrels,
which is one reason scotch usually ages for
longer than most bourbon.) Jim Beam and
Maker’s Mark are bourbons, and Jack Daniel’s
is not considered one due to a slight production
difference. Still, it’s a heck of a lot closer to
bourbon than it is to scotch.
Much Irish whiskey (with an ‘e’), though
produced differently, is similar to blended
scotch in its softness and drinkability. Most
Canadian whisky (no ‘e’) is light-bodied and
really meant for mixing. Let’s say that Canadian whisky is white bread and Irish whiskey
is ciabatta. I know I’m stretching this whole
bread analogy here, but is anyone else in the
mood for a sandwich?
The Americans and the Scotts seem to be
the most loyal to their local whiskies. Bourbon
snobs will tell you that scotch is good for
mixing, and scotch snobs think their favorite
tipple is too good even for mixing with ice.
There are cocktails that call for specific types
of whiskies though: the Bobby Burns, Sazerac,
Seven and Seven, and the Irish Coffee deserve
to have their native spirits poured into them.
One cocktail works with every whisk(e)
y, and that’s the Manhattan. Naturally, the
Scotts can’t stand for that and instead insist
it be called the Rob Roy. As far as I know
the Irish and Canadians haven’t renamed
the drink, which is good because then we’d
have to memorize these along with all the
different spellings of the whisk(e)y that goes
into them.
Camper English is a cocktails and spirits
writer and publisher of Alcademics.com.
Events
NING COMMITTEE, Iowa City Public Library,
Meeting Room D. Come help plan the 2009
Iowa City Pride Festival (to be held Saturday,
June 20). For more info, contact Bridget at
[email protected].
Third Monday of every month, 6pm,
PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays) of Cedar Rapids Metro
Area, 6 p.m. (social time), 6:30 p.m. (meeting
time), in the Middle Room of Faith United Methodist Church, 1000 30th St, NE, Cedar Rapids.
Call 515-537-3126 for more details. Coffee and
refreshments will be served before the meeting,
beginning at 6 p.m. Everyone is welcome;
confidentiality is required. PFLAG 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.
First Monday of the month, 6:30pm,
Iowa PFLAG Quad Cities Chapter Meeting, at
Eldridge United Methodist Church, 604 S. 2nd St.,
Eldridge. For more info, call 563-285-4173.
First/Second Monday (alternating) of
the month, 7pm, Iowa PFLAG North Iowa
Chapter Meeting, at First Presbyterian Church,
100 S. Pierce St., Mason City. For more info,
call 641-583-2848.
Fifth Monday in June, August, and
November, 7-9pm, WOMEN’S SINGING
CIRCLE: Meet at Lori’s home for a short
ritual followed by singing and chanting. Lori
will supply lyrics and melodies for many circle
songs and chants, but please feel free to bring
your own songs to share (preferably with printed
lyrics to pass around). However, singing is not
required - you can still be involved and contribute
by simply being present in the circle. Musicians, feel free to bring drums or other percussion instruments. To RSVP and get directions,
Second Tuesday of each month, 7-8:30pm,
SPIRITUAL SEEKERS, at Trinity Episcopal
Church, 320 E. College St, Iowa City. Spiritual
Seekers is a group for people of all faiths, or of
little faith, who wish to make deeper connections between their sexual identities and the
spiritual dimension in their lives. Meetings
include discussion of specialized topics, telling
of pieces of our faith journeys, and occasional
prayer and meditation. (On the 4th Tuesday of
each month, the group gathers at a local restaurant
for food and fellowship.) For more info, contact
Tom Stevenson: [email protected] or
319.354.1784.
Second Tuesday of the month, 6:308pm, GLRC OF CEDAR RAPIDS BOARD
MEETING at 6300 Rockwell Dr, Cedar
Rapids. Meetings are open to the general public.
For more info, call 319-366-2055 or visit:
www.crglrc.org/.
Second Tuesday of every month,
WOMEN FOR PEACE KNITTERS meet for
knitting, crocheting, and discussion, 9:30-11 a.m.
at Prairiewoods, 120 E. Boyson Rd., Hiawatha.
For more info, call 319-377-3252 or go to
www.womenforpeace-iowa.org. All ages and
levels of needlework skills welcome. Come
knit for charities.
Second Tuesday of every month, Iowa
PFLAG Ames Chapter Meeting, 7pm, at
the Youth and Shelter Services Offices, 420
Kellogg Ave., 1st Floor, Ames. For more info,
call 515-291-3607.
Every Tuesday, 7-8:30pm, CONNECTIONS INCLUSIVE BALLROOM at Old
August 2009
Brick 26 E. Market St, Iowa City. An equal
opportunity social dance workshop/rehearsal
for LGBT people. All skill levels are welcome.
American social dance, Latin, a mix of dance
from the last 100 years. For more info, contact
Mark McCusker at [email protected],
319-621-8530 or Nora Garda at 319-400-4695,
or visit iowadancefest.blogspot.com/.
Every Tuesday evening, 7:30-9:30pm,
ARGENTINE TANGO practice and open
dance, at the Iowa City Senior Center, 28 S. Linn
St, Iowa City. A donation of $1-2 per person is
requested for use of the Senior Center. For more
info, contact Karen Jackson at 319-447-1445 or
Every Tuesday evening, 7pm, OUT (Our
United Truth): A GLBT Support Group meets
7-8:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church,
3707 Eastern Ave., Davenport. For more info,
call 563-359-0816.
First Wednesday of every month, CEDAR
RAPIDS CHARTER CHAPTER OF THE
AMERICAN BUSINESS WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION meets. For more info, visit charterchapter.tripod.com.
First Wednesday of the month, 7pm,
CONNECTIONS’ RAINBOW READING
GROUP, Iowa City Public Library Meeting
Room B, 123 S. Linn St., Iowa City. For more
info, contact Todd at: [email protected].
First Wednesday of the month, 6:30-8pm,
WOMEN’S SACRED CIRCLE at Prairiewoods
Franciscan Spirituality Center, 120 E. Boyson
Rd., Hiawatha. This group is for women who
are interested in gathering for spiritual growth.
The direction and activities of the group are
determined by participants. $5 per session. For
more info, visit www.prairiewoods.org.
Second Wednesday of every month,
6:30-8pm, STONEWALL DEMOCRATS,
the GLBT Caucus of the Democratic Party,
meets at Hamburger Mary’s, 222 Glenbrook Dr.
SE, behind 2nd Wind off of 1st Ave SE in Cedar
Rapids. For more info, contact Harvey Ross
at [email protected] or call 319-3890093.
Every Wednesday, 7:30 - 8:30pm, Free
Salsa Lessons at Karma followed by a live
DJ spinning salsa all night. 616 2nd Avenue,
Cedar Rapids.
Every Wednesday, 7-9pm, U OF I GAY
LESBIAN BISEXUAL TRANSGENDER
AND ALLIES UNION MEETINGS in the
Penn State Room #337 of the Iowa Memorial
Union, U. of Iowa campus, Iowa City. For more
info, visit www.uiowa.edu/~glbtau/ or e-mail
[email protected]. These meetings are open
to the public.
First, third, and fifth Thursdays of each
month, 6:30-8:30pm, EVENINGS FOR
SPIRIT at SpiritHill Retreat, 604 Cedar Valley
Road, West Branch. Women gather at SpiritHill
to share our spiritual experiences, visions and
longings. The evenings include time for sharing
and time for silence. Laughter, tears and singing
are often shared as well. No specific spiritual
practice is followed. This event is always open
to newcomers. For more info, call 319-643-2613,
or e-mail [email protected].
Second Thursday of the month, 7-9pm,
OPEN MIC WITH MARY MCADAMS
at Ritual Café, on 13th St. between Locust
and Grand, downtown Des Moines. Visit
www.ritualcafe.com. For more info, e-mail
[email protected].
Second Thursday of the month, 7 p.m.
(6:30 p.m. social time), Iowa PFLAG Omaha/
Council Bluffs Chapter Meeting, at Mead Hall,
First United Methodist Church, 7020 Cass St.,
Omaha. For more info, call 402-291-6781.
August 2009
the fun guide
ACCESSline Page 17
Deep Inside Hollywood by Romeo San Vicente
Bradley Cooper,
photo from Warner Bros. Pictures
McDreamy and McSteamy hit the big
McScreen
For Grey’s Anatomy fans, the fact that
Garry Marshall’s new ensemble romantic
comedy Valentine’s Day features both Patrick
Dempsey and Eric Dane is reason enough
to hit the TiVo pause and get out to a movie
theater. But this romantic comedy, about an
intersecting collection of love-misadventures
in L.A., offers a special bonus for queer
moviegoers: Dane is reportedly playing a hotshot sexpot NFL quarterback with a secret —
he’s a gay guy having a DL relationship with
another guy played by Hangover star Bradley
Cooper. Marshall is assembling a top-drawer
cast for this one; also slated to star are Julia
Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Shirley MacLaine,
Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel (together at last!),
Jennifer Garner, Ashton Kutcher and Topher
Grace. Shooting started in early July, so get
ready to celebrate Valentine’s Day by listening to grumpy official statements issued by
the NFL in 2010.
Rupert Everett drags it up for St. Trinian’s
sequel
While we Americans impatiently await
the release later this year of St. Trinian’s,
Events
Third Thursday of every month, 7-10pm,
OPEN MIC HOSTED BY KIMBERLI, at the
Blue Strawberry Coffee Company (now open
after the flood), 118 2nd St. SE, Downtown Cedar
Rapids. Signup at 6:30 p.m. or by e-mailing
[email protected] the week prior to
the open mic.
Third Thursday of every month, 7-9pm,
CONNECTIONS GAME NIGHT, at Donnelly’s Pub, 110 E. College St., in downtown Iowa
City.
Third Thursday of every month, 7pm,
Iowa PFLAG Dubuque/Tri-State Chapter
Meeting, at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 1276
White St., Dubuque. For more info, call 563-5829388.
Every 4th Thursday of the month,
PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
(PWN) meetings.
For more info, visit
www.pwn.org, e-mail [email protected], or call
Shelley Woods at 319-981-9887.
Every 4th Thursday of the month,
7:30pm, THE GLBT READING GROUP
meets in the conference room at Red Cross
Building at 6300 Rockwell Dr. NE, Cedar
Rapids. The group is open to new members;
contact [email protected] for
further info.
Every Thursday and Friday, 6-10pm,
SHANNON JANSSEN at The Cedar Grille
at the Cedar Rapids Marriott, 1200 Collins
Rd. NE, Cedar Rapids. Shannon performs a
variety of music including original songs on
the Grand Piano in the hotel’s beautiful atrium.
a 2007 remake of a classic 1950s British
comedy about a school for larcenous young
girls, the film has already been successful enough in the U.K. to spawn a sequel.
St. Trinian’s: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold
(nice City Slickers shout-out there) will once
again feature Rupert Everett in drag as Miss
Fritton, the stentorian headmistress of this
diabolical institution of higher learning.
Also along for the ride this time are Colin
Firth, David Tennant and Gemma Arterton.
(Russell Brand is rumored to make an appearance as well.)
Currently in production, the St. Trinian’s
sequel is set for a Christmas release for the
Brits, but at this rate Yank audiences may
find themselves waiting until 2011 to catch
a glimpse. Unfair!
Not just a Rumer: Willis guest stars as
90210 lesbian
Fans who remember the original Beverly
Hills 90210 will recall that gay characters
usually fell into the sad, tormented and “very
special episode” category, like that football
player who came out to Kelly and then was
barely ever seen again. These days, specialguest gays are more likely to add a little sass
No reservations required.
First Friday of the month, FAIRFIELD ART WALK. For more info, visit
www.FairfieldArtWalk.com.
First Friday of the month, GUERRILLA
QUEER BAR MEETUP! Tired of the same old
bars? Crave the idea of bringing your queer and
straight friends together in a fun, new environment? We’re descending upon an unsuspecting
straight bar and turning it into a gay bar for the
night. To join in: join our Facebook group, Google
group or Twitter feed. You’ll receive an email the
morning of each event with the name of a classically hetero bar and the meeting time. Call your
friends, have them call their friends, show up at
the bar and watch as it becomes the new “it” gay
bar for one night only. Visit groups.google.com/
group/iowa-city-guerrilla-queer-bar.
Every 2nd and 4th Friday of the each month
at 7pm, a DRUMMING CIRCLE meets at
the Unity Center of Cedar Rapids, 3791 Blairs
Ferry Rd. NE, Cedar Rapids. For more info, call
319-431-7550.
Third Friday of every month, 8pm, OLDTIME DANCE FOR ALL, a Barn Dance 12
miles east of Iowa City at Scattergood Friends
School. Admission is $5.00 per person. Singles
and couples, beginners and veterans welcome.
The music is live, and all dances are taught
and called (that is, prompted while the music
is playing). Note: (1) same-sex couples are
common at these dances, (2) they’re no-alcohol,
no-smoking events, (3) every dance is taught, so
beginners are welcome, and (4) people can attend
alone or with a partner. People of a variety of
ages show up, and the atmosphere is friendly and
inclusive. For more info, phone 319-643-7600 or
and pizzazz to the proceedings, and that’s
probably what to expect when Rumer Willis
makes a one-shot appearance on the new
90210 this fall.
While she’s most famous for being the
offspring of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore,
young Rumer demonstrated her comic chops
last summer in The House Bunny. Who knows
what sparks she’ll set off when she goes to
work for the Blaze News, the student paper
at the fictional West Beverly High, when her
episode of 90210 airs this fall? And, really,
why just one episode? Can’t she just stick
around and stir up all those interchangeable
girls? Romeo casts a big “yes” vote.
Doc examines Bette Davis’ Queer Icon
status
If you’ve ever launched into an All
About Eve impersonation after the third
cocktail or uttered “What a dump!” upon
arrival at any less-than-A-list establishment,
Every Saturday, noon to 1pm, WOMEN
FOR PEACE IOWA host Weekly Street Corner
Vigils for peace, rain or shine. Meet at the corner
of 1st Ave. and Collins Rd. SE (in front of Granite
City Brewery), Cedar Rapids. Show your support
for our troops by calling for their return from Iraq.
For more info, e-mail [email protected].
Third Saturday of every month, 2-4pm,
QUEER SCRIBBLE FEST at Old Brick on
the corner of Market St. and Dubuque St., Iowa
City. Different subjects or motifs highlight
each month. All are welcome. Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Straight Allies
are gathering to scribble, draw, write, talk, or what
you will. Bring some music and a snack. It’s
FREE but tax-deductible donations are welcome.
Donations of papers, pencils, books, and other
art materials are also appreciated. For more info,
call Mark McCusker at 319-621-8530 or e-mail
[email protected].
Fourth Saturday of every month,
7:30pm, TANGOVIA, join area tango dancers
at the Wesley Center, 120 N. Dubuque St.,
Iowa City. Enjoy a candlelit evening of dance,
hors d’oeuvres, and conversation in a relaxed
atmosphere. Cost is $5. Partner not necessary.
Beginners welcome to come at 7 p.m. for an
introductory lesson. For more info, call Gail at
319-325-9630, e-mail [email protected], or
visit www.tangovia.com.
Fourth Saturday of every month, 7pm,
THE LESBIAN BOOK CLUB is reading books
by or about lesbians. Non-lesbians are welcome
to attend. All meetings are held at the Unitarian
Universalist Church, 3707 Eastern Ave., Davenport. For more info, call 563-359-0816.
then you know the impact that the screen
appearances of Bette Davis had on generations of gay men.
A new documentary, Queer Icon: The
Cult of Bette Davis, takes a closer look
at how the star of Jezebel and What Ever
Happened to Baby Jane? imprinted her
extra-strength personality on her devoted
gay following. And if you’re one of those
new-millennial queers who rolls his eyes at
old-school divas, the movie also asks tough
questions about whether she’s the sort of
icon that modern gay men even need any
more. Having premiered this summer in San
Francisco, the film is making its way around
the festival circuit and is headed to a screen
near you. Fasten your seatbelts.
Romeo San Vicente is pretty sure that
Demi Moore was playing a lesbian in The
Scarlet Letter, but it’s hard to say for sure. He
can be reached care of this publication or at
[email protected].
Every Saturday, 3:30-5:30pm, BAILE
LATINO: SALSA, CHA-CHA, MERENGUE
AND BACHATA LESSONS taught by Gloria
Zmolek, at CSPS, 1103 3rd St. SE, Cedar Rapids.
No experience or partner necessary. All ages
welcome. No sign-up required. $5 per person
requested. For more info, contact Gloria at
319-365-9611 or visit www.crsalsa.org.
Hamburger Mary’s Weekly Happenings,
at 222 Glenbrook Dr. SE, Cedar Rapids, off of
1st Ave. Tuesdays – Kid’s Night; Wednesdays –
Thift Store Bingo at 10 p.m. with Katrina Cass;
Thursdays – Mary-oke with Nic from 9 p.m. to
1 a.m.; Fridays – Drag Show at 9 p.m. (all ages)
and 11 p.m. (21 and over); Saturdays – Open
Mic Night followed by Drag Show at 9 p.m. (all
ages) and 11 p.m. (21 and over). For more info,
e-mail [email protected] or visit
www.hamburgermaryscr.com.
“My mom was always
for gay marriage, but I think
me being so vocal about it
has made her want to be more
vocal about it. She texted me:
‘Gay marriage passed in
Maine!’”
—Meghan McCain, John’s
daughter, to Out.com,
July 20.
ACCESSline Page 18
the fun guide
Why work with a Wedding Planner? by Beau Fodor
As any couple knows, or will quickly find
out, planning a wedding is a HUGE endeavor.
There are so many decisions to make, and
unless you’ve got the background of an event
planner—or nerves of steel—and are able
to coordinate all the different modalities of
your big day, well, hiring a planner affords
you the luxury of being a guest at your own
wedding!
Wedding planners are not just for couples
with unlimited budgets. In fact a wedding
planner or consultant will actually save you
money in most cases, no matter the budget.
A planner guides you thru the process—
up until and during your big day—and is there
to attend to every detail, assisting in whatever
capacity you need.
He or she can help refine your ideas,
connect you to the best and most appropriate vendors, advise on proper etiquette, and
mostly, suggest on how to use your budget
wisely.
A good planner will listen to you and
analyze what you are looking to do, help
you to find the resources to get it done, and
be with you every step of the way. Keep
in mind, the best planners are just there to
lead the way and lend expertise; you are
not surrendering control of your wedding.
A good wedding planner always makes sure
their clients have the final say in the decisionmaking process.
Having a professional look after your
event details and time-lines can be invaluable when it comes to making your wedding
a success. Experienced planners have spent
years building and growing relationships
with vendors and will be your liaison. They
also will be able to get discounts and access
that you can’t get on your own. You’ll want
a planner who can listen and be honest about
what you can afford and who can also find
less expensive alternatives you’ll be happy
with, if necessary.
From photographs, to food and cake,
to flowers and music, wedding planners
help with the transitions and logistics, and
will make sure your big day is seamless and
stress-free, so you can focus solely enjoying
yourself and the experience of the beginnings
of happily-ever-after!
Since you’ll want and need a high level
of trust with your planner, locating a planner
through friends and “family”, or word-ofmouth is preferable. Portfolios and websites are
lovely, but since gay marriage is still relatively
new to all of us, without a “gay connection”
and an attention to your own personal needs
and details, (not to leave out their enthusiasm
for you and your big day!), a corporate, orchestrated, or managed “company” doesn’t really
have a clue about gay weddings, at least here
in our state of Iowa!
As for a planner’s cost or fees, they
depend on the type of “service” you want or
need. Some charge a flat rate; others charge by
the hour. (Personally, I charge a percentage of
the total budget, usually 18 to 20 percent.)
If you feel you can’t afford “full-service
fees”, or don’t need someone with you every
step of the way, you can save money by
hiring a planner to help with the few days
leading up till your wedding, or just during
the wedding itself.
August 2009
Marriage
Announcements
Arthur Breur
& Brian Trimpe,
August 9, 2009
Wedding planner Beau Fodor and wedding
singer Crystal Fields at Iowa’s First Annual
Gay Wedding Expo, June 7th 2009.
The best affirmation of any planner’s,
value is when your wedding leaves exactly
the right impression. So to start it all off, I
ask my clients how they want to feel at the
end of their big day. And then I make that
happen...
Beau Fodor is a wedding planner in
Des Moines, Iowa. He is the founder of
the new annual Iowa Gay Wedding Expo,
the first of which was held June 7th, 2009,
at the top of the Downtown Holiday Inn in
Des Moines.
August
anyone needs. On opening day, get into the
fairgrounds for two canned goods or a $2
donation from 5-7 a.m. As the economy
continues to recede, many Iowa families
are turning to the Food Bank of Iowa.
The fair’s goal is to collect 65,000 pounds
of food. Visit www.iowastatefair.org for
other money saving opportunities and a full
schedule of events.
8/13-8/15, The Great River Tug Fest
in LeClaire – Eleven tug-of-war teams
from LeClaire, Iowa and Port Byron, Ill.
compete from each side across the Mississippi River. The rope is 2,400 feet and 680
pounds. The family weekend includes carnival rides, live entertainment, huge parade,
scenic 5K run/walk, food, arts and crafts.
www.tugfest.com
8/27-8/30, Landlocked Film Festival
at Englert Theatre in Iowa City – The
third annual film festival is slated to bring
in a sleugh of new independent films,
in categories such as narrative, documentary and animation. The event will
Cedar Rapids residents Arthur Gerrit
Breur and Brian John Trimpe will be married
the morning of August 9, 2009 in a private
ceremony with friends and family.
Arthur Breur is the owner of Breur
Media Corporation, a web development
company operating in Tampa, Florida and
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In addition, he is Editor
in Chief for ACCESSline newspaper. Brian
Trimpe is a Principal Contracts Manager at
Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids.
Arthur Breur is the son of Dr. Barbara
Walker of Wilmington, North Carolina, and
Raymond Breur, of Vero Beach, Florida.
Brian Trimpe is the son of Joanne
Podhajsky of Traer, Iowa, and Kenneth
Trimpe of Solon, Iowa.
Arthur and Brian met in 1996 in San
Francisco, California. They moved to
Tampa, Florida together in 1999 and then
to Iowa in 2008.
host numerous special guests, the Iowa
premiere of 16 to Life, and a program of
top-notch Danish films. Stay updated at
www.landlockedfilmfestival.org.
Benefits
8/7, The 6th Annual RED Party in
Des Moines – The RED Party is back after
three years on hiatus. Wear red and join the
AIDS Project of Central Iowa for an evening
in the East Village. The first 100 people will
receive a gift bag filled with great swag
from dozens of East Village merchants.
$15 suggested admission, which includes
1 drink ticket.
8/16, 9p.m., NEIA Benefit at The Max
Nightclub in Omaha, NE – The AIDS
Project of Central Iowa is one of three
charities to receive proceeds. Miss Nina
Flowers is the shows headliner. She was a
runner-up on RuPaul’s Drag Race, featured
on the LOGO cable channel. Other performers include Macy Riley, Teagan, TreyVana,
Courtney DuMae, Misty Stokes, Nicollete
NuVogue, John Hen, Chanel, Chandler,
Ellie, Reyna, DelMundo, Ammie Zahn,
Madeline Feinstein and Anna Roxia.
“I’m ... not interested in having any real publicity about
who I am and what my private life is and things like that.
I’m an actor and I don’t want to be a [fill-in-the-]blank
actor. ... I don’t think it’s really newsworthy if the gay guy
from Ugly Betty is gay or not.”
—Actor Michael Urie to New York magazine, June 28.
August 2009
the fun guide
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the fun guide
Wake Up With
August 2009
Pride!
Come to the First Friday Breakfast Club
at 7 AM on the first Friday of every month
at Hoyt Sherman Place.
We are an educational, non-profit corporation for gay men
and the largest breakfast club in Iowa. We gather every
month to provide mutual support, to be educated on
community affairs, and to further educate community
opinion leaders with more positive images of gay men.
Visit us on the Web at ffbciowa.org.
For a reservation contact
Jonathan Wilson at 515-288-2500 or
[email protected].
August 2009
the fun guide
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the fun guide
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August 2009
the fun guide
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Out of Town: Gay-Friendly Hideaways With Big Views
Signal Hill and adjacent Lion’s Head. Each
of the nattily decorated rooms has its own
private courtyard, a perfect spot to soak up
this romantic inn’s lovely ambience.
by Andrew Collins
There’s a reason that hotels charge twice
as much - or sometimes even three times
more - for a room facing the crashing surf
or a soaring mountain peak than, say, a unit
overlooking a parking lot or airshaft. Venturing away to some cushy retreat surrounded
by visually arresting scenery practically
guarantees romance (provided you bring a
hot date). Overnight accommodations with
stunning views come in many varieties, from
antiques-filled B&B rooms overlooking
sweeping desert mesas to sleek, skyscraper
hotel suites offering magnificent panoramas
of city skylines or monumental suspension
bridges.
Here are eight gay-friendly hotels and
inns around the world whose views promise
to dazzle and delight you
Adobe & Stars, Taos, New Mexico
In Arroyo Seco - a small and richly
scenic village north of Taos - the luxurious,
light-filled Adobe and Stars B&B offers
stunning 360-degree vistas of the surrounding countryside. To the east, you can see
the 13,161-foot Wheeler Peak, the highest
point in New Mexico, which is often capped
in snow. Look west, and the high-desert
mesa rolls for miles and miles - as far as
the eye can see. This contemporary inn is
surrounded by decks and patios and filled
with big windows, high ceilings, and elegant
furniture. Some of the seven guest rooms
have fireplaces and Jacuzzis.
Casa Cupula, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Puerto Vallarta is home to one of the
most alluring, dramatically situated gay
resorts you’ll find anywhere - the stellar Casa
The Little Black Book
-- Adobe & Stars
Taos, New Mexico
505-776-2776
www.taosadobe.com
-- Casa Cupula
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
322-223-2484
or 866-261-3516
casacupula.com
-- Grand Hyatt Hotel
Hong Kong
2588-1234
hongkong.hyatt.com
-- Mandarin Oriental
San Francisco, California
415-276-9888
mandarinoriental.com/sanfrancisco
-- Mount Lofty House
Adelaide Hills, Australia
08-8339-6777
mtloftyhouse.com.au
-- On The Rocks
Santorini, Greece
30-22860-23889
onrocks.net
-- Nelson’s Guesthouse
Cape Town, South Africa
27-21-433-2602
nelsons.co.za
-- View Point Inn
Corbett, Oregon
503-695-5811
theviewpointinn.com
The lawn adjacent to the View Point Inn, outside Portland, Oregon, affords a
stunning panorama of the Columbia River Gorge.
Cupula, which excels as much for its stately
accommodations as for its incomparable
views. The elegant compound consists of
14 rooms and five suites, some with patios
that afford unparalleled views of the city
and Banderas Bay. Facilities include a wellstocked gym, four pools, and a large open-air
lounge with adjacent computer room. The
property tumbles down a hillside high above
Zona Romantica, a 10- to 15-minute walk
from the gay beach and the many bars and
restaurants. But once you’ve spent a little
time relaxing here, away from the crowds
and in full view of Puerto Vallarta’s stunning
shoreline, you may find it hard to leave this
romantic property.
Grand Hyatt Hotel, Hong Kong
On the east edge of Central Hong Kong,
in the Wan Chai district, the Grand Hyatt is
distinct for its magnificent setting on the edge
of the harbor. There are few tall buildings
around it, which means that rooms enjoy
knockout views of the water, the bustling
Kowloon District, and the city center. This
is a star in the gay-popular Hyatt brand,
with some of the most lavishly decorated
rooms imaginable. Don’t miss the 11th-floor
outdoor pool, which is the city’s largest - it
adjoins the beautiful Plateau Spa, which is
an exceptional choice if you’re seeking a
spa treatment while in town.
Mandarin Oriental, San Francisco,
California
Sure, plenty of soaring skyscrapers
around the world house luxury hotels, but
downtown San Francisco’s Mandarin Oriental truly stands out. Every room here is on
a high floor, as the hotel occupies the 38th
through the 48th floors of the city’s thirdtallest building. And the views take in the
Bay Area’s gorgeous topography. Depending
which direction you face, you might gaze out
at the Golden Gate Bridge, the Marin Headlands, San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz Island,
the hills above Berkeley and Oakland, or
some of downtown’s other dramatic towers.
In every direction there’s both natural and
man-made beauty. Decorated artfully with
Asian silks fabrics, bamboo flooring, and
tasteful antiquities, the rooms here are
spacious and airy. Some units even afford
knockout views from their bathtubs.
Mount Lofty House, Adelaide Hills,
Australia
A highlight of touring the Adelaide
Hills is a stop at Mt. Lofty Summit park,
from which you’ll enjoy unsurpassed views
of the city of Adelaide and the surrounding
region. Nearby is one of area’s best lodging
options, Mount Lofty House, a beautiful
country lodge that offers similarly magnificent views. The hotel’s Piccadilly Restaurant
& Wine Bar has earned considerable kudos
for its well-chosen wine list and tasty food.
It’s a great place to enjoy a memorable meal,
high above the stunning South Australia
countryside.
Nelson’s Guesthouse, Cape Town, South
Africa
Close to Cape Town’s most exclusive
beach communities, Clifton and Camps Bay,
this posh, gay-owned guest house sits along
the gentle slopes of Signal Hill. From this
modern, Mediterranean-inspired, six-room
property, you’re afforded fantastic views
of the ocean and historic Robben Island in
the distance. Look up in the other direction,
and you can see the bald, grassy summit of
On The Rocks, Santorini, Greece
Among the many gorgeous Greek
islands that dot the Aegean Sea, Mykonos
has the strongest following among gay
travelers. But it’s Santorini, whose cliffs rise
several hundred feet above a volcanic caldera
now filled with clear-blue water, that offers
the most spectacular views. A number of
accommodations here sit along the island’s
sheer ledges, with the gay-friendly On The
Rocks among the most luxurious, with each
of its 20 rooms (with verandas) overlooking
the sea. Decor is minimalist and clean - the
same white and blue color scheme that
dominates the island’s architecture. Also
with fantastic views are a decent-size pool
and adjoining bar, from which you can sip
refreshing Greek wine while watching the
sun descend each evening.
View Point Inn, Corbett, Oregon
A popular spot for romantic brunches,
lunches, and dinners, this elegantly restored
Arts and Crafts restaurant and inn is perched
high on a promontory, some 1,100 feet above
the Columbia River, with mesmerizing views
of the Pacific Northwest’s iconic Columbia
Gorge. Relax with a glass of local pinot noir
in an Adirondack chair on the View Point’s
sweeping back lawn, and you’d never know
you’re just 20 miles or so from the bustling
city of Portland.
What some visitors don’t realize is that
this gay-owned property has a handful of
eclectic overnight accommodations, ranging
from an ultra-plush and spacious suite with
a private bath and sweeping gorge views,
to a few inexpensively priced, cozier rooms
that have shared bathrooms. The fancier of
the bunch, the Roosevelt Suite, is ideal if
you’re planning an over-the-top romantic
getaway, while the other rooms work nicely
for budget-minded travelers who still want
to stay somewhere with amazing views and
great food in the restaurant, or for groups of
friends traveling together.
Andrew Collins is the author of
Fodor’s Gay Guide to the USA and
eight additional travel guides. He can
be reached care of this publication or at
[email protected].
ACCESSline Page 24
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August 2009
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the fun guide
August 2009
Hear Me Out by Chris Azzopardi
Jay Brannan,
In Living Cover
As talented a musician as Jay Brannan
is, who can help shaking the image of
him as the hot threesome-having guy in
John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus? His
oft-stripped music helps, since the real
Brannan – not the skanky one in that dirty
drama – seems much more world-weary than
self-assured, and it actually makes him that
much more of a catch. His sensitive-boy
side poured over on Goddamned, his earnest
debut released last year, and that’s channeled
on this nine-track covers disc through a
melancholy mix of remakes and newbies. All
of it’s a little too even-tempered and dreary,
but his voice, a sweetly affecting soother
that often contorts into his darling falsetto,
is still pleasantly magnetizing.
His ear is just as good – culling tracks
from Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco and Bob
Dylan – maintaining their emotionality,
but giving them his own precious, stripped
touch. He decelerates The Verve Pipe’s
Across
1 Bi
5 What you say to get a lei
10 Where to find a date in a hot place
15 Quartet after a desertion
16 Sculptor Edmonia
17 One who often screws actors
18 Tribute at a gay rodeo?
21 Source of a long shaft in the night
22 Ballet supporters
23 JFK posting
24 Barely get, with “out”
25 One of the E’s of Socrates
26 National gay org.
27 ___ all-time high
28 They come during finals week
30 Syngman of Korea
32 Act badly
33 Ancient Irish language
34 Cheese in red
35 Wicks making a basket, e.g.
36 Saying from Brendan?
39 Bones on pirate flags
42 Plumbing problem
43 City near Anaheim
47 Flamboyant Flynn
48 “Horny” animals
49 Puts in a postbox
50 Gorillas in the Mist author Fossey
51 Expected to arrive
52 One-night-stand partner, crudely
54 Dick, for short
55 Org. for Annapolis grads
56 Photographer Ritts
57 Reason to hit the roof
59 Sitcom about a Zadan/Meron
musical?
Q-PUZZLE: “Silver Deposits”
62 Put into law
63 “Please” to Marcella Hazan
64 R.E.M., e.g.
65 Fosse field
66 Rob of Melrose Place
67 Gets hard
Down
1 Button or Bean
2 Frog, for one
3 Insufficient lighting
4 Bear’s fur
5 Ready for anything
“The Freshman” into a piano-led downer,
makes Jann Arden’s “Good Mother” more
desperate and strings up The Cranberries’
“Zombie” to an achier effect. The very first
song, “Beautifully,” the better of the two
originals, almost perfectly commingles
among the classic covers – and not just
because it’s sad as hell. So, yeah, Brannan
makes us want to give him a big bear hug.
And, yeah, a covers album seems premature
in his music career – a period when many
try to fight the sophomore slump – but he
manages to swoon with his interpretive
skill, and, thereupon, expose his inner-self
as much as Shortbus exposed his outer-self.
(Available on iTunes)
Grade: B-
Regina Spektor, far
There’s eccentric, and then there are
human-made dolphin noises. It’s what
Regina Spektor makes on “Folding Chair,”
and she doesn’t shy away from a flurry of
other quirks on her follow-up to 2006’s
brilliant Begin to Hope, where the pianist’s
peculiar pop began feeling less queer and
6 Arthur portrayer in Total Eclipse
7 A League of Their ___
8 Be on target
9 Toward Dinah?
10 Trireme propellers
11 Muslim title
12 Dianne Feinstein, e.g.
13 Thankless one
14 More like a hard master
19 Mick Jagger’s pair
20 The Common Mkt.
27 One that can reproduce
nonheterosexually
29 Rat out
31 Dykes on Bikes grab them
32 Heart chart, for short
34 Printers’ measures
35 Type of sucker
37 Conduit bend
38 Knock loose
39 Led to bed
40 Hare ___
41 From your anus?
44 Brown known for colorful characters
45 Like a Perry Ellis creation
46 Goes up
48 The Continent, to Britten
49 Greek tale
51 Ph.D., e.g.
53 Places for quickies, perhaps
56 Can’t stomach
58 Stonewall Jackson et al.
60 FDR program
61 Where to find gay.com
• SOLUTION ON PAGE 27
August 2009
more sanitized. This one follows suit, but
the New York siren is still a little loopy,
miming those mammal sounds and dedicating an entire song to a lost wallet. The
most tangible tunes are the opening two:
“The Calculation,” riding a show tune-ish
bounce that belies the busted-relationship
narrative, and head-lingering sweller “Eet,”
which uses a nonsensical word to concoct a
delicious little ditty.
God’s funny side is subject for one of the
set’s best – “Laughing With,” a meditative
moment regarding religious hypocrisy that
climbs with achy cello. “Dance Anthem of
the ’80s” is jaunty and spunky, and when it
breaks out in yelps and beatboxing, we’re
reminded of just how much of a goof-off
Spektor can be. Most of the LP, though,
resists being too weird, and because it’s not,
it shifts focus to Spektor colored, sometimes
cryptic writing that turns the brain neurons
and quietly breaks the heart, like story-song
“Man of a Thousand Faces.” She trips on
a couple ballads, “One More Time With
Feeling” namely, that only graze the surface
on an album that has a lot to say. And usually
says it pretty darn well.
Grade: B
Also Out
Kleerup, Kleerup
The Swedish fella made Robyn’s hopeless masterpiece “With Every Heartbeat”
that much more devastating with his stringladen house beat, and on his first full LP
he kills it … and us. The female-featured
electro-pop, strikingly “Until We Bleed”
with Lykke Li, levels well with the vocalless tracks, like the one-two punch ending.
A bad breakup inspired his debut; one track
is called “I Just Want to Make that Sad Boy
Smile.” Nuff said.
Maxwell, BLACKsummers’night
Eight years after this bedroom balladeer
went poof, mysteriously abandoning fans
who adored his neo-soul, he returns with
the first entry in his trilogy. And if anything
announces the sensual singer’s back, it’s the
ooh-la-la opening lyrics: “Prove it to me in
the nude.” “Pretty Wings” is the delicate
lead single, and the rest of the 36-year-old’s
comeback LP is chill, deep, intimate … and
as naked as you’d be if you agreed to his
demand (and who wouldn’t?).
Chris Azzopardi would prove a mathematical proof to Maxwell if it meant
getting naked with him. Reach him at
[email protected].
the fun guide
ACCESSline Page 27
ACCESSline Page 28
the fun guide
August 2009
"I know that many in this room don't believe that progress has
come fast enough, and I understand that. It's not for me to tell you
to be patient, any more than it was for others to counsel patience
to African Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half
century ago. But I say this: We have made progress and we will make
more. And I want you to know that I expect and hope to be judged not
by words, not by promises I've made, but by the promises that my
administration keeps."
—Barack Obama addressing 300 GLBT leaders at the White House June
29 at a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
August 2009
ACCESSline Page 29
NEIA Charitable Benefit, August 16, 2009, The Max (Omaha, NE)
AIDS Project of
Central Iowa one
of three charities to
receive proceeds
On Sunday, August 16th, 2009,
NEIA Charitable Benefit Corporation
(www.NEIAOmaha.org) will be presenting
the Second Annual NEIA Charitable Benefit
at The Max Nightclub in downtown Omaha
(www.TheMaxOmaha.com) located at 1417
Jackson St.
All proceeds from the event
will be donated to: Project Kindle
(www.ProjectKindle.org), AIDS Project of
Central Iowa (www.AIDSProjectCI.org),
and NE Susan G Komen For The Cure
(www.KomenNebraska.org).
Headlining the show will be Miss Nina
Flowers, runner-up on RuPaul’s Drag Race,
featured on the LOGO cable channel. The
theme for the night is “80s” with the title
“Like, Totally To The Max, For Sure.” The
event’s primary sponsors are: Coors Light,
The Max, Courtney DuMae, UV Vodka,
Redbull, and The Diamond Foundation.
Other entertainment planned for the
evening is an 80s trivia game, with prizes.
Raffle tickets for $1 each will also be sold the
night of the event; raffle prizes will include
two LCD Photo Frames, two party packs
from UV and Redbull, and more.
NEIA Charitable Benefit was started
in early 2008 to raise money for Nebraska
and Iowa charity organizations. Founder
Christopher Tucker, now living in Omaha,
Nebraska, is originally from Southwest
Iowa, and lived in Des Moines for several
years. He therefore wanted to raise money
for both states.
NEIA’s first event, in 2008, raised over
$1400 and split the proceeds between NAP,
AIDS Project of Central Iowa, and Project
Kindle. The organization’s second event was
on February 15th, 2009, and raised over $600
for Project Kindle, AIDS Project of Central
Iowa, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
“Raising over $2000 in the first year as
an organization is unheard of in Omaha,”
said Tucker. “We are also the first organization [here] to donate to multiple organizations.”
Inadvertent Marriage and the Law of Unintended Consequences by Jonathan Wilson
Amidst all the brouhaha over access in
Iowa to same-gender marriage, some somber
reflection is probably in order. The reality
is that legal marriage comes with rights and
responsibilities. Legally recognized marriage creates a new set of “defaults” for the
relationship between married partners, gay
or straight.
Here’s a sample: real estate titled in only
one of their names cannot be refinanced or
sold without the spouse’s signature; during
their lives together, each spouse is legally liable for the support of the other spouse [Iowa
Code §252A.3(1)]; and upon the death of one,
the survivor has a right to “elect against the
will” and receive essentially one-third of the
decedent’s estate regardless of the testamentary wishes expressed in a will or the manner
in which property was titled. Plug those
facts into your current estate planning -- your
plans perhaps to keep your assets separate
and provide for their separate disposition
-- and marriage may actually require some
thoughtful changes, and you may need to
“get thee to a lawyer” pronto.
But there’s more, and this is where things
could really get dicey. Iowa law recognizes
so-called “common law marriage.” In fact,
the law (without any need for amendment)
already reads broadly, “A man or woman
who was or is held out as the person’s spouse
by a person by virtue of a common law marriage is deemed the legitimate spouse of such
person.” [Iowa Code §252A.3(6)] A couple
deemed married by the common law is legally
married for all purposes just as surely as the
couple that goes to the courthouse and gets a
marriage license. A split up requires a courtapproved dissolution of the marriage before
either partner can “re-marry” or un-do those
marital “defaults.” Skip that step before a
new marriage (by common law or otherwise),
and there’s a criminal violation of Iowa Code
§726.1 that reads (again without any need for
amendment), “Any person, having a living
husband or wife, who marries another, commits bigamy;” and “any person who marries
another who the person knows has another
living husband or wife commits bigamy.” So
both parties to that second marriage would
be criminals who can, hopefully, serve their
time in the same jail cell.
Common law marriage is something unfamiliar to most cohabiting straight couples,
let alone gay ones, and certainly the common
law didn’t recognize marriage between persons of the same gender. But, with the state
of Iowa allowing access to legal marriage by
this alternate path for over a century, coupled
with the Iowa Supreme Court’s equal protection ruling, it’s axiomatic that the state must
now recognize similarly the “common law”
marriage of same-gender couples.
Just three elements must exist to create a common law marriage: (1) intent and
agreement to be married; (2) continuous
cohabitation; and (3) a public declaration that
the parties are spouses. [See In Re Marriage
of Martin, written by Iowa Supreme Court
Justice Cady, who also wrote the samegender marriage decision.] But get this; the
intent and agreement can be implied, there
is no particular time that cohabitation must
exist, and a substantial representation of
marriage to some third party is enough even
though other public declarations may be to
the contrary.
Talk about easy. Talk about the not
uncommon practice of cohabiting, samegender couples who refer to their partners
as husband/wife or spouse (rather than
using the distasteful labels of “boyfriend,”
“girlfriend,” “lover,” or “significant other”).
Talk about a practice that needs to stop. Talk
about getting married without ever having to
ask -- just live together and introduce your
“spouse” to others and, if they don’t object
on the spot, you’re married baby. T a l k
about mucking up asset ownership without
even trying. Talk about unlimited liability
to support your ex, of all things. Talk about
complicated estate litigation. Talk about
inadvertent crimes. Talk about unexpected
and unintended consequences! Ignorance of
the law is no excuse, and ignorance in this
context will not be bliss.
Jonathan Wilson is an attorney at the
Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines,
and chairs the First Friday Breakfast Club
(www.ffbciowa.org), an educational, non-profit
corporation for gay men in Iowa who gather on
the first Friday of every month to provide mutual
support, to be educated on community affairs,
and to further educate community opinion leaders with more positive images of gay men. It is
the largest breakfast club in the state of Iowa.
He can be contacted at JonathanWilson@
DavisBrownLaw.com or 515-288-2500.
“I’m basically in support (of same-sex
marriage). ... I think all these states that do
it should do it. ... I personally support people
doing what they want to do. I think it's wrong
for someone to stop someone else from doing
that (getting married).”
— Former U.S. President Bill Clinton after he
addressed the Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, D.C., July 8, according
to a July 14 article at thenation.com.
ACCESSline Page 30
Finance: Shaken not Stirred by Tracy Freese
Hi Tracy, I have been reading recently
about Exxon Mobil and its resistance
to changing their nondiscrimination
policy to include “sexual orientation”
and “gender identity”. I was dismayed
to notice that I hold Exxon stock in my
401(k) investments, are some companies/
investments more friendly to the LGBT
community than others? –Media Mogul,
Cedar Rapids
Media Mogul, in order to fully understand my answer, you need to revert back to
the last time you were at the mall and walked
past an Abercrombie and Fitch storefront.
While passing the store, you may also have
found yourself salivating at the abnormally
eye-catching models plastered on the windows. What you probably didn’t realize,
after wiping drool from your lower lip, is
that Abercrombie and Fitch has a policy to
only photograph store employees for their ad
campaigns. Where Abercrombie falls short in
physical objectivity in their hiring practices,
they make up for in LGBT responsiveness.
Abercrombie and Fitch, among 119 other
companies, scored a perfect “100” from the
2009 Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate
Equality Index. According to the survey,
companies like A&F engage the external
LGBT community, prohibit discrimination
based on sexual orientation or gender identity,
and also offer a full suite of insurance options
for partners. For a full listing of those companies that sponsor LGBT progressive policies
and all criteria used to determine such ratings,
visit www.hrc.org/issues/workplace.
Now, from a financial investing aspect it
would logically make sense that those com-
panies encouraging equality for the LGBT
community would also issue LGBT friendly
stocks and bonds. But sadly, employee equality does not a good stock choice make. Your
401(k) contains Exxon and other companies
that did not make the HRC list for reasons
other than their discrimination policies.
Modern portfolio theory tells us not to keep
“all of our eggs in one basket” and if I peruse
the same list of 120 companies that HRC
deemed perfect on the equality scale, I would
see that there are plenty of great companies
to choose from, yet bottom lines equate to
investment success and I feel I would be
hard-pressed to base my recommendations
on employment equality policies alone. I
would want to look at company earnings,
take into account how large the company
is, how healthy their financials are and also
the company’s global presence. If you are
working with an advisor and they are making
recommendations, compare their picks with
the Human Rights Campaign’s yearly list to
see which organizations make the equality
grade. Inquire if there is alternate choices
of companies that are LGBT friendly which
would fit into your financial plan, but most
importantly seek out an understanding of why
your advisor is making recommendations
because in the end, knowledge is the key to
solid investing.
Tracy Freese is an Iowa financial advisor that seeks to empower women and the
LGBT community.
Registered Representative and Investment Advisor Representative, Securian Financial Services, Inc. Securities Dealer. Member FINRA/SIPC. A Registered
Investment Advisor. Securian Financial Services, Inc.
is not affiliated with Liberty Bank.
August 2009
August 2009
Auntie Emm
Answers Your Questions
& Gives Advice As Only
Your Auntie Can!
Dear Auntie Emm:
This is the first time I have written to
ACCESSline, and here I am three months
late and three dollars short. I was going
to write back in April about Mr. Alone
in Altoona, and his first time looking for
a serious date. I too go out to gay bars
alone and come home alone. Until three years ago, before I moved
to Davenport, I lived in a very small town
in Eastern Iowa. I would go to Dubuque
every other weekend, and knew a lot
of people there. When I didn’t go to
Dubuque, I would go to a bar in Davenport, Mary’s on 2nd — I have friends
there too. Now that I’m in Davenport I
go to Mary’s on weekends.
I still go alone, sit with groups of
regulars, and guess what — go home
alone. There’ve been a lot of times I
just sit at the bar and make small talk,
and some guys will talk back, but still no
“click”. (I did, one time last year, make
the first move in the men’s room, and we
clicked for about a month, but other than
that, not a thing.) I must really be doing
something wrong.
So what do I do? I am over 50, friendly, outgoing, not bad looking. Should I and
Mr. Altoona get together?
Alone in Davenport
Dear Alone,
Auntie Emm is so sorry that you’re
having a difficult time finding a date. But
Auntie Emm also thinks that you might be
selling yourself short thinking that the only
place to find a date is a gay bar! Auntie
Emm has a pretty broad social circle, and
she can say, without hesitation, that whether
gay or straight, most of her friends have not
found a relationship at a bar. Auntie Emm
knows people who have found relationships
through on-line dating services, work places,
volunteer organizations, churches, school
etc., so she thinks that you should expand
your search to locations other than bars.
Also, Auntie Emm heard once that
a person needs to meet 75 new people in
order to open up the possibility that one of
those people might be date-worthy, or have
a friend who is. So, going to the same bar
every weekend, sitting with the same people,
probably isn’t going to get you what you
want.
As for Mr. Altoona, who knows? If
he’s interested in meeting you, perhaps he
could contact ACCESSline, and the wonderful editors could put you in touch. Then
Auntie Emm could add matchmaker to her
credentials! How fabulous!
Auntie Emm
“As commander in chief, in a time of war, I do have a
responsibility to see that this change (the repeal of Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell) is administered in a practical way and a
way that takes over the long term. That’s why I’ve asked
the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff to develop a plan for how to thoroughly
implement a repeal. I know that every day that passes
without a resolution is a deep disappointment to those
men and women who continue to be discharged under
this policy — patriots who often possess critical language
skills and years of training and who’ve served this country well. But what I hope is that these cases underscore
the urgency of reversing this policy not just because it’s
the right thing to do, but because it is essential for our
national security.”
—Barack Obama addressing 300 GLBT leaders at the
White House June 29 at a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
“The president is goddamned wrong on this (not ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell via executive order now).”
—MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann, June 30.
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Morals & Values
Episcopal Church
OKs gay clergy,
bishops
The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops and House of Deputies declared in midJuly that open gays and lesbians — celibate
or not — can serve as priests and bishops in
the church.
At the church’s triennial general convention, held in Anaheim, Calif., July 8-17, bishops voted for the policy 99-45 and deputies
voted for it 155-40. Deputies who are clergy
voted 77-19 and lay deputies voted 78-21.
The move may well lead to a full rupture
between the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion, which has been
deeply mired in gay angst since the Episcopal
Diocese of New Hampshire consecrated
openly gay and partnered V. Gene Robinson
as its bishop in 2003. The Episcopal Church
is the U.S. branch of Anglicanism.
The Anaheim move was seen as, in
essence, a flip-off by the Americans of the
Anglican hierarchy and Anglican provinces
in Africa and South America that strongly
opposed Robinson’s consecration.
De facto international Anglican leader
Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury,
England, had urged delegates to the U.S.
convention not to make any “decisions in
the coming days that could push us further
apart.” He later said he regretted that the
convention had done just that with its gayclergy decision.
Delegates also voted to allow local dioceses to bless same-sex marriages and civil
unions if they want to, and launched a project
to create official liturgies for the blessings.
“I think it (the Episcopal
Church) will hold (together).
Now that we’ve done the,
quote, unthinkable, the church
won’t look much different
than before. Opponents of
marriage equality predict the
end of Western civilization as
we know it if gay couples are
allowed to marry. And then
when it comes, there’s no big
whoop.”
—Gay New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson
to The New York Times, July
16. In mid-July, the church
decided that open gays
and lesbians -- celibate
or not -- can be priests
and bishops, granted local
dioceses the option to bless
same-sex marriages and
civil unions, and launched
a project to create official
liturgies for the blessings.
August 2009
August 2009
ACCESSline Page 33
ACCESSline Page 34
August 2009
Chef DeJon:
Summer Pasta Recipes
Penne con Salsa di Asparagi
(Penne with creamy Sicilian asparagus
sauce)
This pasta and sauce took us by surprise.
It was deceptively simple to make and
tasted like some chef’s exquisite creation.
The bright spring green of the sauce was
a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.
We think there are additional possibilities for adapting this sauce to whatever
vegetables are bountiful at the moment.
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 pounds asparagus
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room
temperature
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound penne rigate or other short dried
pasta
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Put the eggs in a saucepan and cover
with cold water. Bring to a boil over high
heat, then cover and remove from the heat.
Let stand 8 minutes. Drain and cool under
cold running water. Peel the eggs, halve,
and set aside the yolks. You can eat the
whites, sprinkled with salt and pepper, or
reserve them for stuffing the next day with
tuna salad.
Holding an asparagus spear in both
hands, bend the spear gently. It will break
naturally at the point at which the spear
becomes tough. Repeat with the remaining
spears. Discard the tough ends.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil
over high heat. Add the asparagus and cook
until tender, about 5 minutes. Lift the spears
out with tongs and cool quickly under cold
running water. Keep the cooking water at a
boil. Pat the asparagus dry. Line the spears up
and cut crosswise into 4 or 5 pieces. Put the
asparagus, cooked egg yolks, and butter in a
food processor and puree until smooth.
Transfer the mixture to a skillet and
add the cream. Reheat gently, stirring to
incorporate the cream. Season well with
salt and pepper.
Add the pasta to the boiling water and
cook until al dente. Set aside 1 cup of the
pasta water, then drain the pasta and return it
to the warm pot over low heat. Add enough of
the sauce to coat the noodles nicely, moistening with some of the reserved pasta water as
needed. You may have extra sauce.
Divide the pasta among warm bowls,
sprinkle a little Parmesan over each serving,
and serve immediately.
Serves 4 to 6.
Penne “Orchidee delle Eolie”
(Pasta with a pesto of tomatoes, almonds, capers, anchovies, garlic, and
basil)
This riff on a traditional pesto produced
surprisingly different results. The sauce
incorporates the classic flavors of basil
and garlic, then takes a different turn
with red, ripe tomatoes, almonds, a
hint of mint, and some strong pecorino
cheese. There’s nothing shy about this
pesto! We think you’ll love it!
• 3 tablespoons blanched (skinless) almonds
• 1 pound tomatoes, halved and seeded (no
need to peel)
• 1/4 cup salt-packed capers, well rinsed
• 4 anchovy fillets
• 2 cloves garlic
• 20 fresh basil leaves
• 5 fresh mint leaves
• 1 Calabrian chile or a pinch of hot pepper flakes
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup freshly grated aged pecorino
cheese
• Salt
• 1 pound penne rigate, gemelli, or fusilli
Place the almonds in a food processor
and pulse until finely chopped. Add the
tomatoes, capers, anchovies, garlic, basil,
mint, and chile and puree until smooth.
With the machine running, add the olive
oil gradually.
Transfer the sauce to a bowl and stir in
the cheese. Season to taste with salt.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a
boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook
until al dente. Set aside 1 cup of the pasta
water, then drain. Put the pasta in a serving
bowl and add as much of the sauce as you
like—you may not need it all. Toss well,
moistening with some of the reserved pasta
water as needed. Serve immediately.
Serves 4 to 6.
Mafaldine con Peperoni e Prosciutto
(Dried ribbon pasta with red bell peppers
and prosciutto)
Red bell peppers have a sweetness in
summer that surpasses their green or yellow cousins. The red peppers sauté gently
forming a rich medley with the garlic
and olive oil. A bit of prosciutto adds
savory richness. The dish comes together
with long, ruffled ribbons of mafaldine
and flecks of fresh parsley. We were hoping for leftovers, but there were none to
be had!
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 large cloves garlic, minced
• 5 large red bell peppers, seeds and ribs
removed, then sliced 1/4 inch wide
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• Salt
• 1 pound mafaldine, linguine, or spaghetti
• 3 to 4 ounces prosciutto, minced
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons chopped Italian (flat-leaf)
parsley
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over
moderate heat. Add the garlic and cook
briefly to release its fragrance. Add the bell
peppers and oregano, crushing the herb
between your fingers. Season with salt to
taste. Cover and reduce the heat to moderately low. Cook gently, stirring occasionally,
until the peppers are tender but not mushy,
30 to 40 minutes. Stir in the prosciutto and
a few tablespoons of water to loosen the pan
juices, then remove from the heat.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a
boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook
until al dente. Set aside 1 cup of the pasta
water, then drain the pasta and return it to
the warm pot over low heat. Add the sauce,
butter, and parsley and toss until the butter
melts, moistening with some of the reserved
pasta water as needed. Serve immediately
in warm bowls.
Serves 4 to 6.
Excerpted from Four Seasons Pasta
by Janet Fletcher. Copyright 2004. Used
with permission of Chronicle Books, San
Francisco, CA. All rights reserved.
This month’s recipes courtesy of
KITCHEN ESSENTIALS AND GIFTS,
Cedar Falls, Iowa.
August 2009
DIRECTORY NOTICE
The ACCESSline directory is updated each issue.
The directory may also be found at
ACCESSlineIOWA.com.
LISTINGS ARE FREE.
Information about new groups must
contain a phone number for publication and a contact
(e-mail address, land address, or
website) for our records.
For more information or to provide
corrections, please contact
[email protected] or
call (319) 550-0957.
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund
1705 De Sales St NW, Ste 500
Washington, DC, 20036
www.victoryfund.org.
202-VICTORY [842-8679]
Human Rights Campaign
National political organization, lobbies
congress for lesbian & gay issues, political
training state and local
www.hrc.org
1-800-777-HRCF[4723]
Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund
I I E. Adams, Suite 1008
Chicago, IL 60603-6303
www.lambdalegal.org
312-663-4413
Fax: 312-663-4307
National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF)
1325 Massachusetts Ave NW,
Ste 600, Washington, DC, 20005
www.ngltf.org / taskforce.org
National Organization for Women (NOW)
733 15th ST NW, 2nd Floor
Washington, DC 20005
www.now.org 202-628-8669
PFLAG National Offices
1726 M St. NW Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036
[email protected]
www.pflag.org
202-467-8180
STATE ORGANIZATIONS
Equality Iowa
P.O. Box 18
Indianola, IA 50125
www.equalityiowa.org
515-537-3126
Faithful Voices
Interfaith Alliance of Iowa’s marriage equality
project.
www.faithfulvoices.org
Imperial Court of Iowa
Non-profit fundraising & social, statewide
organization with members from across the
State of Iowa.
PO Box 1491, Des Moines, IA 50306-1491
www.imperialcourtofiowa.org
Iowa Chapter of the National Organization for
Women (NOW)
David Steward, President, IA NOW
1010 Charlotte Ave.
Davenport, IA 52803
ISU LGBTA Alliance
GLBT Support, Activism, Social Events,
Newsletter
G-46 Memorial Union, ISU
Ames, IA. 50014
[email protected]
http://www.alliance.stu.org.iastate.edu
515-294-2104
Lord of Life Lutheran
2126 Gable Lane, Ames 50014
Services Sundays at 9:00a.m.; Wed. 7:00pm.
515-233-2350
PFLAG Ames
Youth and Shelter Services Offices
420 Kellogg Ave 1st Floor.
2nd Tuesday, 7pm
www.pflagames.org
515-291-3607
Romantics Pleasure Palace
117 Kellogg Street
Ames, IA 50010-3315
http://www.romantixonline.com
515-232-7717
Stonewall Democrats of Ames
[email protected]
[email protected], or
Terry Lowman, 515-292-3279, or Mary Goodwin 515-292-0352
United Church of Christ-Congregational
6th & Kellogg
Ames, 50010
Sunday Continental Breakfast, 9:00am; Sunday School, 9:30am; Worship, 10:45am.
[email protected].
515-232-9323
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames
1015 Hyland Ave.
Services: 9am and 11am, Sunday
[email protected] 515-292-5960
Unity Church of Ames
226 9th St.
Sunday service and Sunday school 10:30am.
Wednesday mediation 6:30pm, class 7:15pm.
www.websyt/unity/ames Daily dial-a-blessing
515-233-1613
Arnolds Park, Okoboji,
Spirit Lake
Wilson Resource Center
An Iowa Great Lakes area gay-owned nonprofit community based organization.
PO Box 486
Arnolds Park IA 51331-0486
[email protected].
712-332-5043
BURLINGTON
Arrowhead Motel
2520 Mount Pleasant St
Burlington, IA 52601-2118
(319) 752-6353 - www.arrowheadia.com
HIV/AIDS Screening @ Des Moines County
Health Department in Burlington
522 N 3rd
By appointment between 8:00am to 4:30
319-753-8217 Confidential
Steve’s Place
852 Washington St, Burlington
319-752-9109
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Services start at 10:30 am
625 N 6th St, Burlington, IA 52601-5032
(319) 753-1895 - www.uuburlington.org
Cedar Falls - Waterloo
Iowa PFLAG (Parents, Families & Friends of
Lesbians and Gay) State Council
PO Box 18, Indianola, IA 50125
www.equalityiowa.org/PFLAG
515-537-3126 or 641-583-2024
Black Hawk Co. Health Department
Free HIV testing (donations accepted); MW,
1:00pm to 3:00pm; Thurs, 1:00pm to 4:45pm
1407 Independence Ave. (5th fl)
Waterloo 50703
319-291 -2413
Iowa pridenetwork
3839 Merle Hay Rd, Ste. 285
Des Moines, IA 50310
www.iowapridenetwork.org
515-243-1110
Cedar AIDS Support System (CASS)
Service, support groups & trained volunteers
for persons with HIV/AIDS in Waterloo/CF
call Elizabeth or Karla,
319-272-AIDS(2437). [email protected]
LGBT Youth in Iowa Schools Task Force
PO Box 1997, Des Moines, 50306
515-243-1221
Cedar Valley Counseling Services
Promoting personal growth and development
in a strengths-based environment
Joan E. Farstad, MA, Director.
319-240-4615
www.cvcounseling.com
[email protected].
One Iowa
PO Box 3, Des Moines, IA 50309
Stonewall Democrats of Iowa
5 Creekside Ct Mason City, IA 50401
Contact: Dean Genth
[email protected]
641-583-2024
Ames
First United Methodist Church
6th & Kellogg
Contemporary worship Sat. 5:30; Sun at 8:30
and 11:00am.
www.fumcames.org.
515-232-2750
Living with HIV Program
126 S. Kellogg, Suite 1
Ask for Janelle (Coordinator)
515-956-3312 ext 106 or
I -800-890-8230
Cedar Valley Episcopal Campus Ministry. In
Lutheran Center
2616 College St, Cedar Falls, IA
319-415-5747
[email protected]
www.episcopalcampus.org
All welcome!
Community AIDS Assistance Project (CAAP)
Funding for special personal needs, community projects, and small grants that are
AIDS related.
PO Box 36, Waterloo, IA 50704
LGBTA Support Group at
Hawkeye Community College
Call Carol at 319-296-4014 for time & location
of meeting
[email protected]
Iowa Legal Aid
Free civil legal service available to low income
persons who qualify under income/asset
guidelines.
607 Sycamore, #708, Waterloo, IA 50703
1-800-772-0039 or 319-235-7008
Kings & Queens Tap
304 W. 4th St, Waterloo, IA
www.//myspace.com/kingsandqueensspace
319-232-3001
Romantix Waterloo (Adult Emporium)
1507 La Porte Rd, Waterloo, IA 50702
319-234-9340
http://www.romantixonline.com/
Stellas Guesthouse
324 Summit Ave, Waterloo, IA
Private B&B, Overnight accommodations for
adults only.
319-232-2122
St. Lukes Episcopal Church
2410 Melrose Dr, Cedar Falls, IA 50613
www.st-lukes-episcopal.org
Services: Sunday 8:00 & 10:15, Thurs 11:30
319-277-8520
Together For Youth
233 Vold Dr, Waterloo, IA 50703
www.TogetherForYouth.net
319-274-6768
UNI-LGBTA
Alliance-Student Organization
244A Bartlet Hall, University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls 50613
[email protected]
319-222-0003
United Church of Christ Cedar Falls
9204 University Avenue, Cedar Falls
319-266-9686
Unitarian Universalist Society of Black Hawk
County
3912 Cedar Heights Dr, Cedar Falls, IA
319-266-5640
Cedar Rapids/marion
Adult Shop
630 66th Ave SW, 319-362-4939
Adult Shop North
5539 Grain Lane, 319-294-5360
Club Basix
Open 5pm to 2am M-F, Sat & Sun 3pm to
2am
3916 1st Ave. NE, Cedar Rapids
www.clubbasix.com 319-363-3194
Coe Alliance
Education, activism, & fun for GLBT and
straight students, staff, faculty and people
from the community. Regular meetings.
Coe College
1220 First Ave. NE
[email protected]
www.public.coe.edu/organizations/Alliance.
Call John Chaimov (contact) at 319-399-8594
for details.
CSPS Legion Arts Contemporary Arts Center
1103 3rd St. SE
[email protected]
319-364-1580
Faith UMC
1000 30th Street NE, Cedar Rapids, 52402
Pastor Kathy Moore
Sunday services at 11:00am.
www.crfaithumc.org
319-363-8454
Foundation 2 Crisis Counseling
24-hour telephone crisis counseling.
[email protected] or
www.f2online.org
1540 2nd Ave. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
319-362-2174 or 800-332-4224
GLRC of Cedar Rapids
Support, social activities
[email protected]
www.crglrc.org or, write to
P.O. Box 1643
Cedar Rapids 52406-1643
Call and leave a message -- all calls will be
returned.
319-366-2055
Hamburger Mary’s
222 Glenbrook Dr.
Cedar Rapids, IA 52403
319-378-4627
www.hamburgermaryscr.com
www.myspace.com/hamburgermaryscr
Krug Law Firm
6 Hawkeye Drive, Suite 103
North Liberty, IA 52317
319-626-2076
Linn County Public Health
501 13th NW
Free confidential HIV testing,
319-892-6000
Linn County Stonewall Democrats
2nd Wednesday of every month, 6:30-8 p.m.
The LGBT Caucus of the Democratic Party,
meets at Hamburger Mary’s, 222 Glenbrook
Dr. SE, behind 2nd Wind off of 1st Ave SE
in Cedar Rapids. For more info, contact
linnstonewall@ gmail.com
ACCESSline Page 35
Rapid AIDS
Grant Wood Area Red Cross
3600 Rockwell Dr NE
Cedar Rapids, 52410
319-393-9579.
Romantix Council Bluffs (South)
(Romantix After Dark)
50662 189th St, Council Bluffs, Ia 51503
712-366-1764
PFLAG Cedar Rapids
3rd Monday, 6:30pm, 6 social
Faith United Methodist Church
1000 30th St, NE
515-537-3126
Youth Support Group for GLBT
Youth 13-21, meets twice monthly.
Omaha, NE
402-291- 6781.
Decorah
People’s Church Unitarian Universalist
A welcoming congregation.
600 Third Avenue SE
11AM Sunday.
319-362-9827
Decorah Diversity Appreciation Team
Martin Klammer, Luther College
700 College Dr., 52101
563-387-2112.
Stonewall Democrats of Linn County
Contact Roy Porterfield
[email protected]
319-362-5281
Luther College Student Congregation
Contact Office for College Ministry
700 College Dr, Decorah, IA 52101
563-387-1040.
Council Bluffs,
Omaha(Ne)
AIDS Interfaith Network
100 N. 62nd
Omaha, NE
Call Br. Wm. Woeger
402-558-3100
Citizens For Equal Protection
1105 Howard St, Suite #2
Omaha, NE 68102
www.cfep-ne.org
[email protected]
402-398-3027
Council Bluffs NOW
Write PO Box 3325
Omaha, NE 68103-0325
DC’s Saloon
610 S. 14th St.
Omaha, NE
Open everyday 2pm to 1am, western/levi/
leather.
402-344-3103
Diamond Bar
712 S. 16th St.
Omaha, NE
10am - 1am, M-Sa, closed Sun
402-342-9595
Front Runners/Front Walkers
Walking/jogging club.
P.O. Box 4583
Omaha, NE 68104
402-496-3658.
Gilligan’s Pub and Grill
1407 Harney
Omaha, NE
Everyday 4pm-1am. Friday and Sat. After
hours 12-4am
402-449-9147
GLBT Rainbow Outreach Omaha
Serving GLBT community in eastern
Nebraska and western Iowa. Excellent message and info. Also office for Imperial court
of Nebraska.
1719 Leavenworth St
Omaha, NE
www.rocc.org
402-341-0330
Heartland Gay Rodeo Association (HGRA)
PO Box 3354, Omaha, NE 68103
www.hgra.net
402-203-4680
HGRA serves both Iowa and Nebraska
Imperial Court of Nebraska
P.O. Box 3772, Omaha, NE 68103
402-556-9907
L.E.O. (Leather Engineers of Omaha)
Educational-social group for Gay Men with
interest in Leather Lifestyle. Meets 2nd Saturday at Gilligan’s Pub at 7:00pm. Write
L.E.O.
PO Box 8101 Omaha, NE 68108.
The Max
1417 Jackson at 15th, Omaha, NE 68102
6 bars in 1 402-346-4110.
MCC of Omaha
819 South 22nd
P.O. Box 3173, Omaha, NE 68103
Sun. 9 & 11 am.
Contemporary Worship Service, Sat 7PM
402-345-2563.
PFLAG Omaha
Mead Hall, First United Methodist Church
7020 Cass St. (Omaha)
2nd Thursday, 7, 6:30 Social time
402-291-6781
River City Mixed Chorus
Gay/lesbian chorus
PO Box 3267
Omaha, NE 68103
Call Stan Brown, marketing
402-341-7464.
Romantix Council Bluffs (North)
(Adult Emporium)
3216 1st Ave.
Council Bluffs, IA 51501-3353
515-955-9756
PFLAG Northeast IA
(Currently seeking a place to meet.)
563-535-7680
PRIDE Luther College Diversity Center,
700 College Dr, Decorah, IA 52101
Contact Chris at 563-387-2145 or Melanie at
563-387-1273
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Meets alternating Sundays at 10:30am,
Decorah Senior Center
806 River St
Call Bill at 563-382-3458.
Des Moines
AIDS Project of Central Iowa
Free HIV testing, prevention supplies, care
services, food pantry, information.
711 E. 2nd, Des Moines, IA 50309
515-284-0245
Blazing Saddle
416 E 5th St
www.theblazingsaddle.com
515-246-1299
Buddies Corral
418 E 5th St, Des Moines, IA
515-244-7140
Church of the Holy Spirit-MCC
Pastor Pat Esperanza
Sunday service 10:30am at the
1st Christian Church
2500 University, Des Moines
[email protected]
515-287-9787.
Des Moines Gay Men’s Chorus
515-953-1540
[email protected]
www.dmgmc.org.
Family Practice Center
Safe, supportive LGBT health care.
200 Army Post Road, Ste 26
www.ppgi.org
515-953-7560
First Friday Breakfast Club
Educational breakfast club for gay/bisexual
men. Meets first Friday of each month.
Contact Jonathan Wilson for meeting topic
and place.
[email protected] 515288-2500
First Unitarian Church
1800 Bell Avenue
Services Sundays at 9:30 & 11am
515-244-8603
The Garden
112 SE 4th Des Moines, IA
515-243-3965
Wed-Sun. 8pm-2am www.grdn.com
Gay & Lesbian AA & AI-Anonymous
Mon. 7 pm; Tues. - Thurs. 6 pm; Sat. 5:30
pm at Drake Ministries in Ed. Bldg. 28th &
University
Gay and Lesbian Issues Committee
4211 Grand Avenue, Level-3
515-277-1117
Heartland Gay Rodeo
Midwest Division of the International Gay
Rodeo Association.
402-203-4680
Iowa Affirmation
Lesbian/Gay United Methodist
Thoreau Center, 35th & Kingman Blvd. Write
Affirmation
Java Joe’s
Gay friendly
214 4th St.
515-288-5282
Lavender Victory Fund
Financial assistance for women in need for
medical emergencies.
700 Rose Ave, Des Moines, IA 50315
Contact Bonnie at 515-244-7946
ACCESSline Page 36
Liberty Gifts
333 E. Grand Ave., Loft 105
Des Moines, IA
Gay owned specialty clothing, jewelry, home
decor.
Libertygiftsonline.com
515-508-0825
MINX Show Palace
1510 N.E. Broadway
Open 9am - 2am, M-Th; 9am - 4am, F-Sat.
10am -9pm Sun.
515-266-2744
National Association of Social Workers (NOW)
(Nat’1 Organization of Women in Des Moines)
http://www.meetup.com/locale/us/ia/desmoines
North Star Gay Rodeo Association of IGRA,
Iowa Division of North Star NSGRA@
NSGRA.org or
612-82RODEO
Rainbow Union, Drake University
Contact Sara Graham
[email protected]
PFLAG Des Moines
515-537-3126 or write
3520 Grand Ave #51, Des Moines, IA 50312
Plymouth Congregational UCC
Church and the Plymouth GLBT Community
4126 Ingersoll Ave.
515-255-3149
Services at 5:30pm Sat, 9am & I lam Sunday.
www.PlymouthGLBT.com
Polk County Health Department
Free STD, HIV, and Hepatitis B & C testing.
HIV. Rapid testing also offered.
1907 Carpenter, Des Moines, IA
515-286-3798.
Raccoon River Resort
Accommodations for men, women, or
mixed in campgrounds, lodge, Teepees or
Treehouses. Reservations: 515-996-2829 or
515-279-7312
Ramada Des Moines West/Clive
1600 NW 114th St, Des Moines, IA 50325 US
( I80/I35 & Exit 124 )
515-226-1600 Fax: 515-226-9022
Ritual Café
On 13th between Grand and Locust.
[email protected]
Gay owned great music, awesome food and
coffee.
515-288-4872
Romantix North Des Moines Iowa (Bachelor’s
Library)
2020 E. Euclid Ave.
Des Moines, IA 50317-3668
515-266-7992
Romantix
1401 E. Army Post Rd.
Des Moines IA 50320-1809
515-256-1102
Spouses of Lesbians & Gays
Contact Ruth Schanke,
515-277-3700
St. John’s Lutheran Church
600 6th Ave
“A Church for All People.”
Services Sat 5pm, Sun 7:45, 8:45 & 11am.
See web page for other services.
515-243-7691
www.stjohnsdsm.org
The CENTER
1300 Locust;
The new LGBT and progressive place to be.
[email protected]
Transformations
Monthly meetings for the female to male,
male to female, transgender community,
cross dressers, gender queer, questioning,
and their significant others. For location
and info, email Jayden at
[email protected]
or call 515-779-5187
Trinity United Methodist Church
1548 Eighth Street
Services Sundays at 10a.m.
515-288-4056
Urbandale UCC
An open & affirming congregation.
3530 70th St.
Urbandale, IA 50322
515-276-0625.
Walnut Hills UMC
Join us at 8:30 or 10:30am for Sunday worship. Sunday classes and group studies are
at 9:30am.
12321 Hickman Rd.
Urbandale, IA 50323
515-270-9226.
Westminster Presbyterian Church
4114 Allison Ave.
www.westpres.org
Sunday services 8:45 and 11am. Of note is
their Gay Lesbian Straight Affirmation small
group ministry.
515-274-1534
Word of God Ministries
Join us at 3:30 for Sunday Worship at
3120 E. 24th St, Des Moines, IA
Mailing address:
PO Box 4396, Des Moines IA 50333
515-276-6614
Women’s Culture Collective (WCC)
A lesbian social group.
Des Moines, IA
www.iowawcc.org
Zanzibar’s Coffee Adventure
Open daily. Gay-friendly
2723 Ingersoll, Des Moines, IA
515-244-7694.
Dubuque
Adult Warehouse
975 Jackson St., Dubuque, IA
563-588-9184.
The Q
920 Main Street, Dubuque, IA
Open Mon - Sun, 7pm to 2am.
www.myspace.com/qbar_dbq
563-557-7375
Dubuque Friends
(Quaker) Worship Group. An unprogrammed
meeting at 10am Sunday through September
May. Meeting at the Roberta Kuhn Center
1100 Carmel Drive
Dubuque, IA
563-556-3685 for info and directions.
Dubuque Pride
Monthly social group, meeting for meal and
conversation.
www.dubuquepride.org
Dubuque Regional AIDS Coalition
Direct services, education. HIV+/AIDS support
group and family/friends support group. Contact Kay Auderer or Connie Sprimont, Mercy
Health Center.
563-589-9606.
PFLAG Dubuque
St. John’s Lutheran Church
1276 White St.
3rd Thursday, 7pm
563-582-9388
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Dubuque
1699 Iowa St.
Dubuque, IA
“The uncommon denomination.” Adult religious education meets Sunday at 9am before
general services at 10am.
www.uuf-dbq.org.
563-583-9910
Fort Dodge
Romantix Fort Dodge (Mini Cinema)
15 N. 5th St, Fort Dodge, IA 50501-3801
Grinnell
Saints Ephrem & Macrina
Orthodox Mission. Welcoming worship in
the Eastern Christian liturgical tradition.
Sunday services at 10am. (Affiliated with the
Orthodox-Catholic Church of America.)
1226 Broad Street, Grinnell, IA
641-236-0936
Stonewall Resource Center
Open 4:30pm to 11:30pm, Sun through Thurs
and by Appointment.
Grinnell College
1210 Park Street
PO Box B-1, Grinnell, IA, 50112
[email protected]
641-269-3327
INDIANOLA
Crossroads United Church of Christ (UCC)
An Open & affirming congregation. Services:
Sunday 10:30am, Summer worship: June,
July, Aug, @ 9:30 am, worshiping in the
Lounge at Smith Chapel, Simpson College,
corner of Buxton and Clinton. Mailing address:
P.O. Box 811, Indianola, IA 50125
515-961-9370.
Iowa City
AA (GLBT)
Meetings Sundays 5 - 6pm at First Baptist
Church, 500 North Clinton Street. For more
info, call IC Intergroup Answering Service,
319-338-9111
Congregational Church UCC
An Open and Affirming Congregation
Sunday Worship 9:15am (July & August)
30 N. Clinton St. (across from Ul Pentacrest)
319-337-4301 - www.uiccic.org
Counseling Clinic
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender sensitive and supportive counseling for individuals,
couples, families and groups. Sliding Fee.
505 E Washington St.
Iowa City, IA 52240
319-354-6238.
Counseling and Health Center
Client-centered therapy.
Les-Bi-Gay-Trans always welcome.
616 Bloomington St, Iowa City, IA
319-337-6998.
Crisis Center
1121 Gilbert Court, Iowa City, 52240
319-351-0140.
Emma Goldman Clinic
227 N. Dubuque St, Iowa City, IA 52245
319-337-2111or 1-800-848-7684.
Faith United Church of Christ
1609 De Forest Street, Iowa City, IA
Services Sundays at 9:30 a.m.
319-338-5238
GLBTAU-U of l
Student support system and resource center,
info, activism, events, and other community
involvements.
203 IMU, University of IA
Iowa City, IA 52242-1317
[email protected]
319-335-3251 (voice mail)
Hope United Methodist Church
Worship Service at 9:30am.
2929 E. Court St., Iowa City, IA
Contact Rev. Sherry Lohman.
319-338-9865
ICARE Iowa Center for AIDS Resources &
Education
Practical and emotional support, youth
programs, information, referrals and support
groups.
3211 E 1st Iowa City, IA 52240-4703
319-338-2135.
Iowa City Free Medical Clinic
Free & strictly confidential HIV Testing.
2440 Towncrest Dr Iowa City,
Call for appointment
319-337-4459
Iowa City NOW
PO Box 2944, Iowa City, IA 52244
for information & meeting times/places
Iowa Women’s Music Festival
P.O. Box 3411, Iowa City, IA 52244
319-335-1486
Krug Law Firm
6 Hawkeye Drive, Suite 103
North Liberty, IA 52317
319-626-2076
Men Supporting Men
HIV prevention program exploring issues that
gay/bisexual men deal with on a daily basis.
Discussion Groups, Educational Series, Safer
Sex Workshops, Book Club. Contact Andy
Weigel, email:
[email protected]
319-356-6038, Ext 2
New Song Episcopal Church
912 20th Ave
Coralville, IA
Sunday services at 1Oam.
Rev. Elizabeth Coulter, Pastor
Rev. John Harper, Associate.
319-351-3577
Pride Committee
WRAC
130 N. Madison, Iowa City, IA 52242
Bridget Malone
319-338-0512
Charles Howes
319-335-1486.
Romantix Iowa City
(Pleasure Palace I)
315 Kirkwood Ave, Iowa City, IA 52240-4722
319-351-9444
Studio 13
13 S. Linn St. (in the Alley)
Iowa City, IA
Open 7pm ‘til 2am, daily
319-338-7145
U of I Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Staff & Faculty
Association
c/o WRAC
130 N. Madison, Iowa City, IA 52242
319-335-1486
Unitarian Universalist Society of Iowa City
Inclusive and free religious community
nurturing intellectual and spiritual growth and
fostering ethical and social responsibility.
10 S. Gilbert, Iowa City, IA
Sunday services: 9am & 10:45am.
www.uusic.org
319-337-3443
United Action for Youth (UAY)
A GLBTQA youth group providing support and
counseling for teenagers and young adults
processing sexual identity issues. Meets
Mondays 7-9pm at UAY
410 Iowa Ave. Iowa City, IA
319-338-7518 or Teen Line,
319-338-0559.
The Ursine Group
Bear Events in the Midwest.
P.O. Box 1143, Iowa City, IA 52244-1143
319-338-5810
Vortex Gifts
211 E. Washington, downtown Iowa City
319-337-3434
Women’s Resource Action Center (WRAC)
Leads & collaborates on projects that serve
Uofl & the greater community, offers social
& support services, including LGBT Coming
Out Group.
University of Iowa
130 N. Madison
Iowa City, IA 52242
319-335-1486
Marshalltown
Adult Odyssey
[Adult Video]
907 Iowa Ave E
641-752-6550
Domestic Violence Alternatives/Sexual Assault Center, Inc.
24 hour Crisis Line: 641-753-3513 or (instate
only) 800-779-3512
MASON CITY
August 2009
PFLAG Quad Cities
Eldridge United Methodist Church
604 S.2nd St., (Eldridge)
1st Monday, 6:30 pm
563-285-4173
Prism (Augustana College)
Augustana Gay-Straight Alliance
Augustana Library
639 38th St. Rock Island, IL
Contact Tom Bengston
309-794-7406.
Cerro Gordo County Dept. of Public Health
22 N. Georgia Ave, Ste 300
Mason City –Iowa 50401.
Free confidential AIDS testing.
641-421-9306
Quad Citians Affirming Diversity (QCAD) Social & support groups for lesbian, bi, and gay
teens, adults, friends & families; newsletter.
309-786-2580
Community Center located at
1608 2nd Ave, Rock Island.
PFLAG North Iowa Chapter
1st Presbyterian Church
100 S. Pierce.
1st/ 2nd Monday (alternating), 7pm
641-583-2848
Quad Cities Pride Chorus.
At the MCC Church in D’port, 7pm Wed.
[email protected]
Call Don at 563-324-0215
Mount Vernon
Alliance Cornell College
810 Commons Cir # 2035
[email protected] www.cornellcollege.edu/alliance contact person: Glynnis
319-895-5874
NEWTON
PFLAG Newton
UCC Church
308 E 2nd St N
3rd Thursday, 7pm
641-521-7436
Rainbow Gifts
www.rainbowgifts.net
309-764-0559
T.R. Video
Adult books & video
3727 Hickory Grove Rd, Davenport, IA
563-386-7914.
Venus News (Adult)
902 w. 3rd St, Davenport, IA
563-322-7576
SHENANDOAH
PFLAG Shenandoah
712-246-2824
Pella
Common Ground (Central College)
Support group for GLBT students and allies.
Contact: Brandyn Woodard, Director of
Intercultural Life
[email protected]
641-628-5134
Quad Cities
AIDS Project Quad Cities
Info, education & support. Ste 360
1351 Central Park West
Davenport, IA 52804
563-421-4266.
Augie’s Tap
313 20th St, Rock Island (IL)
Noon - 3am daily.
309-788-7389
Black Hawk College Unity Alliance
Serving GLBT community at Black Hawk
College.
6600 34th Ave, Rock Island, IL
309-716-0542.
Connections Nightclub
822 W 2nd St, Davenport, IA 52802
Phone: (563) 322-1121
DeLaCerda House
Provides housing and supportive services,
advocacy and referrals for people living with
HIV/AIDS.
P.O. Box 4551, Rock Island, Il. 61201
309-786-7386.
The Hole-In-The-Wall
A Private Membership Men’s Club
Located 3 miles east of Galesburg, IL
just north of I-74 at Exit 51
309-289-2375
www.HoleInTheWallMensClub.org
Holy Spirit Catholic Faith Community
Meets one Sunday per month for Mass at
5:30pm at MCC-QC
3019 N. Harrison St., Davenport
For more info, call 563-340-7488
Mary’s On 2nd
832 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA
563-884-8014.
MCC Quad Cities - Svcs Sat 5pm, Sun 11am
Bible study Wed. 7 pm
3019 N. Harrison, Davenport, IA 52803
Call 563-324-8281.
Men’s Coming Out/Being Out Group
Meets 2nd & 4th Thursdays, 7pm.
[email protected]
309-786-2580
Sioux City
Am. Business & Professional Guild. Gay
Businessmen.
Meets last Sat. of the month; ABPG
P. O. BOX 72, Sioux City, 51102
[email protected]
Grace United Methodist Church
1735 Morningside Avenue
712-276-3452.
Jones Street Station (Bar)
412 Jones St.
Nightly 6:00pm to 2:00am.
712-258-6922
Mayflower Congregational Church.
1407 West 18th Street
Call 712-258-8278.
Morningside College Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual
Alliance
Contact Professor Gail Dooley, Advisor
Morningside College GSA
1501 Morningside Ave.
Sioux City, IA 51106-1717
[email protected]
712-274-5208
PFLAG Siouxland
PO Box 1311, Sioux City, IA 51102
[email protected]
Romantix Sioux City
(Adult Emporium)
511 Pearl St, Sioux City, IA 51101-1217
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Service Sun 10:30am
406 12th St, Waverly, IA
Rev Mary Christopher
712-258-0141
Western Iowa Tech. GSA
[email protected] for info.
Waverly
Cedar Valley Episcopal Campus Ministry.
717 W. Bremer, (St. Andrew’s Episcopal)
Waverly, IA
www.episcoplcampus.org
319-415-5747
Gay, Lesbian Bisexual Student Alliance
Wartburg College, Waverly, IA 50677
Contact Susan Vallem
319-352-8250
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
717 W. Bremer
We welcome all to worship with us on Sunday
at 10:30 am. Bible discussion Wed. 6:45pm
Rev. Maureen Doherty, Pastor
319-352-1489
“I do believe that in his heart he (Obama) will fight his tail off until
we’ve achieved full equality in the gay community. ... I’ve been around
a lot of very important politicians in my lifetime and I think this guy is
different and I do trust him to do what is right. I also believe that he
knows how to get things done, and that he will make a significant difference in a positive way in the lives of gay and lesbian Americans.”
— Openly gay Steve Hildebrand, who was Barack Obama’s deputy national
campaign director and recently spoke with the president one-on-one
at the White House about gay issues, to this column, July 5.
August 2009
ACCESSline Page 37
ACCESSline Page 38
August 2009
August 2009
Robin von Gillern
1401 50th Street, Ste. 105
West Des Moines, IA
515-224-8863
[email protected]
©2009 Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation. Coldwell Banker® is a registered trademark of
Coldwell Banker Corporation. An Independently Owned and Operated Member of Coldwell Banker
Real Estate Corporation. This information is believed to be accurate and true, however can not be
guaranteed by the listing firm or agent and is not a substitute for any verification, inspection or warranty the purchaser may wish to obtain. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity.
ACCESSline Page 39

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