From: NGLTF@aol.com Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 12:31:42 -0400 Subject: Dispatch From Gay South Dakota ************************************************* National Gay and Lesbian Task Force NEWS RELEASE Contact: Robert Bray (415) 552-6483 rbray@ngltf.org 2320 17th Street NW Washington, DC 20009 ************************************************* DISPATCH FROM GAY SOUTH DAKOTA FIRST EVER NATIONAL COMING OUT WEEK KICKS OFF; TOURISTS GET EYEFUL AT MT. RUSHMORE [Note: The following report is by Robert Bray, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force field organizer. Bray is on a 10-day, 600-mile, four-town organizing and gay visibility tour of South Dakota. He is filing reports over the Internet during the tour. Bray is traveling with photojournalist Rick Gerharter from San Francisco, plus local activist Barry Wick. Bray lives in San Francisco when not on the road.] MONDAY, Oct. 9, 1995, RAPID CITY, S.D....The tourists were startled and the granite bust of George Washington almost blinked in disbelief as National Coming Out Week kicked off with an "official photo op" for queer South Dakotans at the famous Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. First they unfolded a giant rainbow flag. Then they stepped up to the scenic viewpoint not far from where Cary Grant tried to escape the bad guys in the Hitchcock classic, "North By Northwest." Then they took a deep breath, struck a pose, shouted out a chorus for the local T.V. news station -- "Happy National Coming Out Day in South Dakota!" -- and made history as gay, lesbian, and bisexual people came out in a big way here in Black Hills country. One couple even staged an impromptu kiss-in practically under Teddy Roosevelt's nose. STORY CIRCLES AND PHOTO OPS More than a dozen folks, most of them either not out of the closet or just barely out, participated in the event. Earlier in the day at a downtown press conference an impressive list of official National Coming Out Week (NCOW) events across the state was formally released. The media event was covered the Rapid City Journal, ABC and NBC local affiliates, and a stringer for the Nichi Bei Times (Japanese American Daily News) On the list of events in Rapid City is the coming out story circle and brown bag lunch. The new All Faiths gay, lesbian and bisexual worship service, plus a Unitarian Universalist sermon. The NCOW video screening potluck. A meet and greet breakfast. The Mt. Rushmore photo op. Not on the official list but perhaps most important were the private conversations and personal encounters made by gay, lesbian and bisexual people and non-gay supporters who reached out to meet each other. Being openly gay in South Dakota can be extremely difficult. There is tremendous fear and isolation. There are no protections against discrimination. It's a terribly conservative state. The Radical Right is growing here. There's really been no gay movement or even a place where gays can gather safely in this part of the state. These people have shown true bravery and courage in coming out. There is a sense of community forming, and more are getting politically involved. GAYDAR IN THE BADLANDS Still to come on the tour are a trip east through the Badlands -- with "gaydar" of full alert -- a NCOW prairie bonfire in Vermillion at the University of South Dakota; lectures at S.D. State in Brookings; another press conference in Sioux Falls; a media, fundraising and organizing skills-building training; and a statewide strategy meeting to discuss the next steps. But for now, the folks of Rapid City, (pop. 60,000) are talking about the local buzz created in the media and around town by the new gay visibility. So far about 30 gay, lesbian and bisexual residents have come forward, with another 20 non-gay allies joining them. You'd think most of the town was coming out based on the press coverage. Both the local TV stations carried evening news reports. The Journal splashed NCOW across the front page of the local section complete with color photo, after running an advance teaser the day before. This Way Out national gay radio is doing a tour roundup. Gay Radio in Chicago was fed a live broadcast direct from Camp David, the only gay bed and breakfast in South Dakota (located off Bogus Jim Road in the Black Hills National Forest). In addition, the first ever G/L/B/T South Dakota Resource Guide has been photocopied and distributed to businesses, churches, synagogues and other places around town and throughout the state. Even email networks are carrying the news from Custer to Aberdeen. The tour is being sponsored by NGLTF and Free Americans Creating Equal Status of South Dakota, Inc. -- or FACES -- an appropriate acronym considering the historic profiles carved in Mt. Rushmore. FACES (formerly the S.D. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Federation) is marking it's official incorporation this week. A very small number of local groups existed here and there in the state before, including a PFLAG chapter in Sioux Falls, but FACES is the first statewide political, education and advocacy group in South Dakota. CREATING A SAFE SPACE "NCOW comes at a critical time for South Dakota," said Barry Wick, founder of FACES and native son of the state. "The Far Right is bigger than ever here. We've had to battle hostile legislation already. Gay, lesbian and bisexual people need a safe space in which to come out in and organize. That's starting to happen in our state." The S.D. Family Values Coalition has been stirring trouble lately. Some 2,500 anti-choice protesters marched past the local Planned Parenthood office (which stopped performing abortions some time ago). Posters in religious bookstores such as the Gospel Gardens Shop advertise an upcoming "Clergy Appreciation Day." Arch-conservative GOP presidential candidate Allan Keyes is making a speaking tour of the area. Local politicos often remind out-of-towners that South Dakota went for Pat Buchanan over George Bush in 1988. And of course there has been a long and violent history of oppression of minorities in South Dakota, most infamously against Sioux and other Native American tribes dating back to when it was still a territory in the late 1800's. Even Gutzon Borglum, designer and carver of Mt. Rushmore, is rumored in these parts to have been a member of the Klan. Last January, the anti-gay measure SB1184 was introduced into the state senate in Pierre, the capital. The bill attempted to ban the recognition of same-gender marriages, including those recognized in Hawaii, should that state rule affirmatively on its current gay marriage case. Wick and a handful of other local citizens managed to derail the bill and stall it long enough to have it killed, even after it passed initial floor votes. During a hearing on the bill, Wick, whose great grandfather is a former South Dakota governor, and others testified openly to the senate as gay voters -- another first for the state. And just three weeks ago, say local gays, the Rapid City Journal refused to include AIDS as the cause of death in an obituary. The deceased man's outraged mother finally got the paper to reverse its decision after storming into the editorial office and protesting loudly for an hour. FACES TO REMEMBER The battle around the bill and the subsequent publicity galvanized many gays into action and gave birth to FACES. The group now has a database of 200 that is expected to top 400 by the end of NCOW; a library of more than 175 titles; and elaborate email lists and information access services on a new computer NGLTF helped the group obtain. FACES is housed in Wick's basement at this time, which was the site of a NCOW potluck today. In attendance were a variety of local folks, all of whom recounted dramatic stories of being queer in South Dakota. Several revealed how they had contemplated suicide, survived alcoholism, or even had their children taken away after divorcing their heterosexual spouses. Many come from deeply religious families. All told of how it was so critical for gays to be able to come out and meet each other. Like the lesbian couple, a one-time nun and now a small business owner; and her lover, a former Playboy Bunny and now a sign language interpreter and security guard with a double Master's degree. They announced at the potluck their commitment ceremony planned for next July. Also planning on "getting married" next year is a gay male couple, one of which has been excommunicated from the Mormon Church after refusing to renounce his homosexuality. And the teenage bisexual woman who did her high school senior report on gay history, a first for that South Dakota school no doubt. Then there's the people at the new All Faiths gay and lesbian worship service. The fellowship, which gathers in a makeshift chapel near the mining college, has only met for three Sundays yet still managed to attract some 20 new folks today. Live and Let Live, a gay and lesbian AA recovery support group, is starting to meet regularly. Just this week, the Synagogue of the Hills announced it is a "welcoming congregation" for lesbians, gays and bisexuals. LESBIAN CAMPOUT And although local out-of-the-closet lesbians can be difficult to find, even compared to the few number of out gay men, a popular lesbian campout has been held privately every summer for at least 14 years in the pines and ponderosas of the Black Hills. Called the "Wacky Woo" jamboree, the last campout attracted more than 70 women. The title apparently comes from a local folk song that is performed frequently around the campfire ("and all the women do the wacky woo..."). Despite all the new-found friends and lovers and fledgling groups and events, life can still be tough for gays here. The Atomic Cafe, a local hangout for queer youth, recently closed again. There are no bars or official meeting places. Only one or two gay-friendly cafes serve as informal hangouts. Teachers and other education workers tell harrowing tales of homophobia in local schools, with virtually no diversity or sensitivity training occurring anywhere. Gays are fearful of being fired if they come out. PROGRESS THROUGH THE PRAIRIE Still, it's clear that progress is being made. Gays and lesbians could be seen exchanging phone numbers for the first time at Rapid City NCOW events. One lesbian wrote a donation check to FACES on the spot after seeing a demonstration of its new computer system. Activist Barry Wick even managed to unnerve Governor Bill Janklow when he wrote him to protest the restriction on AIDS education in state schools, and the Governor fired back a nasty missive saying he refused to even read Wick's note. Rapid City, on what possibly is the final frontier of gay organizing, is just the first stop on the NCOW tour. One local queen could be heard calling it the "Queers, Beers and Steers Tour '95." Next stop is Vermillion, a small town on the Iowa border 340 miles across the Badlands and the prairie. Stay tuned for more gay dispatches from South Dakota. NGLTF is the nation's oldest gay and lesbian civil rights and grassroots organizing group. In the last two and one-half years alone NGLTF's Field Division organizers have traveled more than 100,000 miles to some 30 towns in 28 states and trained 5,000 activists. NGLTF's donor number in the Combined Federal Campaign is 2622 ### (For more information and to make contributions contact Free Americans Creating Equal Status of South Dakota, Inc., at 605-343-5577, facessd@aol.com, 13121 South Creekview Road, Rapid City, SD,, 57702. Contact NGLTF's Robert Bray at 415-552-6448, rbray@ngltf.org. Photojournalist Rick Gerhardt is documenting the tour. For photos, contact him at 415-824-5300.)