From: WillNich@aol.com Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 18:06:09 -0500 Subject: April Issue of The Letter (Louisville) March 21, 1996 Dear People Who Are On Our Internet Mailing List: This month we are sending just a smattering of what you will find in next month's issue of The Letter (due out April 2). (Entertainment news not included). We are doing this mainly because (1) a great many computers can't swallow the whole thing when we send it; and (2) we want to encourage you to pick up a copy to find out what else is available! The following articles are Kentucky- and Indiana-oriented; you are not likely to see most of them in other publications because they are more of a regional interest. If any of you still have a problem with your computers accepting this entire document, please let me know ASAP. Enjoy! To Our Publishing Friends Outside the State of Kentucky: You have our permission to re-print any of the following articles in your own publications, with credit to The Letter, Louisville. Please let us know if and when you do. --David Williams, Editor ********** 1. Urvashi Vaid to Speak at UK Conference 2. New Lambda to Cruise up the Lazy River April 19 3. Lesbian Assaulted at Morehead 4. Berea College Confronts Diversity 5. Lesbian Archives to Present Slide Show 6. Lexington AIDS Walk Set for April 21 7. Gay Rights Comes to Seymour, Indiana 8. Robbers Sentenced to 20 Years 9. UK Institutes Non-Discrimination Clause 10. Fr. Drinan to Speak in Lousiville 11. Archives Seeks Old Items 12. An Interview with Michael Flatt 13. Elizabethtown MCC Being Formed 14. Judy Dale Honored 15. Unitarians to Form Gay Group URVASHI VAID TO SPEAK AT UK CONFERENCE Urvashi Vaid, former executive director of NGLTF and an outspoken activist, is slated to speak before the Come Together Kentucky Conference on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington on April 20. The conference is being sponsored by UK Lambda, the GLBT student group, in conjunction with the Lexington/Fayette County Health Department. Vaid's appearance is being supported in part by a grant of $1,950 from UK's Student Government Association to UK Lambda--one of the largest sums of money ever given by that group to a student organization. The SGA was greatly impressed with the well-organized presentation UK Lambda made before the grant was approved. "We had all our ducks in a row," said David Waggoner, UK Lambda's secretary. Vaid is the author of Virtual Equality, an in-depth discussion of the future of the gay civil rights movement in the US. Named by Time Magazine in 1994 as one of its "Fifty for the Future," she is a dynamic speaker who has earned the respect even of opponents to the gay civil rights movement. The Coming Together Kentucky Conference is designed to bring together gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgendered students from schools throughout Kentucky to build community and sensibility for the prevention of HIV. Some of the workshops will cover women's issues and HIV prevention, African-American issues and HIV prevention, rural Kentucky and HIV, and urban Kentucky and HIV. Others will discuss the democratic process, myths about AIDS and homosexuality (and how to debunk them), the mechanics and psychology of safe queer sex, the philosophy of AIDS and homosex, and a history of lesbian sexuality and HIV. The conference will kick off on Friday evening with a plenary session and opening announcements. Saturday will be filled with workshops both morning and afternoon, and Vaid's keynote address at noon in Memorial Hall. That afternoon, a gay and lesbian book fair, sponsored by Rainbows Ltd., a gay bookstore in Huntsville, Alabama, will be held at the Alumni Center. Vaid will autograph copies of her new book at the fair. A cocktail party in her honor will take place that evening. Closing ceremonies will be held on Sunday, after which organizers hope that everyone will join marchers for the third annual Lexington AIDS Walk on the UK campus. Admission to Vaid's keynote speech is just $3 for non-students and non-conference attendees. For conference attendees, housing and transportation arrangements can be made. For more information, contact John Davis at 606/225-5185. NEW LAMBDA TO CRUISE UP THE LAZY RIVER APRIL 19 Weep no more my ladies! One of the most fun-filled evenings of the Derby season is about to splash against the muddy banks of the Ohio in downtown Louisville. New Lambda, Inc., a Louisville-based group dedicated to raising money for other local organizations through social events and activities, will be sponsoring a "Derby Kick-Off Cruise" on the Belle of Louisville on Friday, April 19. Theme of this unique event is "Gone With the Wind." Everyone is urged to appear on ship in Civil War era costumes. Go on: let your imagination run wild! Hoop skirts, waistcoats, Confederate (or--God forbid!--Yankee uniforms) and slave costumes will once again become the order of the evening. Prizes will be awarded for the best costumes. There will also be dancing, music, a DJ, and a cash bar. Boarding time is 8 pm, with the boat departing at 8:30 on its three- hour cruise. All proceeds will go to benefit Glade House, an AIDS residence operated by Community Health Trust, Inc. Tickets are just $15 each and can be obtained at all local gay and lesbian bars or by sending an SASE to New Lambda, 632 East Market Street, Suite A, Louisville, KY 40202. LESBIAN ASSAULTED AT MOREHEAD An out lesbian was beaten and her shirt ripped behind Rader Hall at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky in the early evening of February 5 by three men in ski masks and heavy coats as she was returning to her dormitory from a computer lab. While two of them held her arms, the third punched her face and stomach. "That will teach you, you lesbian bitch," one of them told her before she managed to break free. "Sarah"--a pseudonym this newspaper has chosen out of concern for her safety--made a police report, but the person taking the report listed it as a racially motivated crime instead of a crime of homophobia (Sarah has an African girlfriend). The incident sparked a campus debate over whether the incident was a gaybashing, and just how much violence is occurring at the northern Kentucky campus. Dr. Ronald Eaglin, president of the university, considers it an isolated incident and refuses to label it a gaybashing. "Most people are afraid of anybody different from themselves," he told Melissa McGuire, reporter for the campus newspaper, The Trailblazer. "But no one has given me any indication that this could have been gay bashing." But Sarah believes it's obvious the incident was gay-related. "Anyone who says to you 'Take this, you lesbian bitch' is bashing. It wasn't white lesbian bitch." Patti Swartz, an English instructor at Morehead and an out lesbian, agrees. "Although the young woman said her attackers said 'This will teach you, you lesbian bitch' as they hit her in the face, the university police didn't even report it as a gay bashing crime. I don't understand that." Swartz knows of at least one straight student of hers who has been threatened because other men disapproved of the woman he was seeing, a woman who is in the process of divorcing their fraternity brother. The threats of violence were so strong that this student did not complete classes in the fall semester. Many straight women fear violence and have even been raped, she adds. "A number of students who are gay have told me they have been harassed and stalked," she told The Trailblazer. In an internet message, she noted that "My fear is that if the administration does not take a stand about violence on campus,...this climate will only worsen." Many women on campus express fears about walking alone at night because of incidents of violence that the administration insists are isolated, Swartz says. Posters warning women not to walk alone were posted by students during the fall semester, reportedly as the result of the rape of a female student. Swartz says that straight students, gays and lesbians have told her of homophobic comments taped to doors, and harassment of lesbian students in dormitories. Other gays and lesbians on campus report an air of homophobia at Morehead. One student--pseudonymed "Jack"--says that "I was taunted, physically abused, insulted, etc., all through high school and still suffer it today from those that I went to high school with." He says he has seen comments about him written on posters in his dormitory. "Half the time I expect to be walking across campus at night and get jumped myself. I wish we could do something about it. However, I do not know what." Several students met with the Vice President for Student Life on March 6. They said he told them that Swartz was simply using them for her own ends so she can attain approval for a class on gays and lesbians in literature she has proposed. So far that request has been denied. Swartz later expressed amazement at his assertions. Swartz and others are now planning a Take Back the Night march and vigil on April 3 at 7 pm. Plans call for a procession from the Laughlin Health and Public Safety building, through town and the campus, to the Camden Carroll Library. For more information about the march, contact Swartz at 606/784-2481 or 606/783-2306 (leave a message for a return call), or Susanne Bounds at 606/783-2948. BEREA COLLEGE CONFRONTS DIVERSITY The issue of homosexuality was breached in February at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, this semester when a gay student attempted to bring it to the attention of the school's board of trustees in an eloquent and sometimes moving letter. "I experience the College's Christian commitment as a challenge to define my spirituality and relationship to others," wrote Thom Price, newsletter editor for the ACE League, the GLBT student group. "The College's commitment to diversity has enabled me to stand proud as a gay male in a world that would like for me to be ashamed. My sense of self-worth and my relationship to the rest of creation and the Creator have both been improved as a result of the College's commitment to diversity and Christianity." Price urged the trustees "to make a clear statement of support for diversity of sexual orientation" and to add sexual orientation to its schoolwide non-discrimination policy. He also suggested that the college invite gay rights advocates from the Christian church to speak at convocations or other events. Because of a procedural policy, Price was not allowed to deliver the letter to a trustees meeting in February but hopes to bring the issue up again at another meeting this spring. He reports that there is support for inclusiveness among faculty and administration, including President Larry Shinn, but that the student body, which consists mainly of conservative students from southern Appalachia, may prove to be harder to convince. Berea College has a long history of social progressivism, being one of the first schools in the South to be integrated--before the Civil War. South African bishop Desmond Tutu's daughter, Naomi, is a graduate. LESBIAN ARCHIVES TO PRESENT SLIDE SHOW The Lesbian Herstory Archives in New York City is taking its collection on the road--more or less. From May 1-2, Lexington and Louisville will play host to Alexis Danzig, who will be roaring into the state on a motorcycle with a slide show about the archives in her knapsack. Danzig will be doing her presentation in Lexington on May 1. The following day at 7 pm, she will be appearing at the Fairness Campaign offices in Louisville. The show is free, but donations in any amount are encouraged to assist the archives with its programs, and to help Danzig ease on down the road a little more. Refreshments and snacks will be served. Purpose of the show is to bring the archives' extensive collections to a wider audience, to give them a better idea of what the archives is involved in. Mark your calendars for May 1 or 2. LEXINGTON AIDS WALK SET FOR APRIL 21 AIDS Volunteers of Lexington is once again making plans for the annual Lexington AIDS Walk. This year's event is being held on April 21. Registration begins at noon, with optional warmup aerobics and team photo sessions to follow. The actual walk begins at 2:30. In case of rain, the event will be held at the UK Agricultural North Building on campus. For more information, call AVOL at 606/254-AVOL. GAY RIGHTS COMES TO SEYMOUR, INDIANA [based on a March 13 letter from Rhea Murray to David and Judy Burton; used by permission] Until the 1990s, Seymour, Indiana was better known as the hometown of John Cougar Mellencamp, popular rock star of the 80s. But thanks to the efforts of one courageous family, it may soon become known as a center for the gay and lesbian movement in southern Indiana. About four years ago, Bruce Murray, then 13, came out to his parents after suffering intense harassment and even death threats at school because of his homosexuality. Eventually, for his own safety, his parents pulled him out and began teaching him at home. Their struggle was picked up by a Louisville television station, which concealed their identities at their own request. But since then his parents, Butch and Rhea, have become more open and have now taken on the seemingly impossible task of organizing a P-FLAG chapter in this largely rural area. Though still small, word is spreading of its existence, and it is receiving support from members of Louisville Metro P-FLAG. For his part, last year Bruce attended a youth training program in California developed by NGLTF. He has also been interviewed by the Philadelphia Daily News. Bruce's story was profiled in March on the front page of his former high school's newspaper. Seniors on its staff interviewed Bruce and his mother. The newspaper also published a sympathetic editorial. Bruce would have been graduating with that class this year. The Murrays' efforts have met with praise by some, but open hostility and derision by others. The school newspaper article infuriated many in this small town of 15,576 about an hour north of Louisville. The family received a few scary phone calls, and someone passed the article around where Butch works. Butch's former boss said that if he were still supervising him, he would have called him into his office for a talk. (His current boss has no problems with the situation). On the other hand, Bruce received a beautiful letter of support from a former teacher who felt that Bruce would be a gentle voice to speak out for gay rights. "The letter meant a great deal to our family," Rhea told the Burtons. Their struggles have even been noticed nationally now. Diane Sawyer interviewed the Murrays in March for a segment on ABC's news show, "Prime Time Live." The show will probably air sometime in April. The Murrays have mixed feelings about all the attention. "We feel like it is an excellent opportunity to get the message out that we love our gay children," writes Rhea, but she worries about the reaction it may engender. "I guess we will just put it in God's hands and pray he will give us the courage and strength to deal with the aftermath," she concludes. ROBBERS SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS by David Walinski Reginald Wiley and Kenneth Williams, both 28, were found guilty of aggravated robbery on February 22 in connection with a terrifying 1993 mugging in the Pink Triangle. Both were sentenced to twenty years in prison after pleading guilty to being persistent felony offenders. They won't be eligible for parole until 2006. The robbery occurred about 10:30 on September 20, 1993 as four men--Stacy Boggs, Jesse Gerron, James Love, and James Long--were walking in the alley between Preston and Floyd behind the Brinley-Hardy Company. Before they could get to the back door of Murphy's Place, a gay bar close to the Floyd Street intersection, they were accosted by Wiley and Williams, who pulled guns and asked for money. The victims cooperated and handed over $70 plus a few credit cards. One of the assailants then put a gun to Gerron's head and fired twice, misfiring both times. Before fleeing, the assailants also pistol whipped Boggs and Long. Boggs, bleeding from the left temple, sought help from a bartender at Murphy's while Love and Gerron chased the robbers to the Clarksdale Projects five blocks away, where they lost them. Boggs needed nine stitches to shut his wound; he still has a scar on his face to remind him of that evening. Long didn't require treatment. Wiley and Williams were arrested eight days later for the crimes while in custody on narcotics charges. The victims picked them out of a police lineup. Boggs--and the police--feel fairly certain that Williams and Wiley were responsible for several other robberies in the area prior to that night. No violent crimes have been reported in the alley since then. Boggs had nothing but praise for the Louisville police, the prosecutor, the judge and the jury but was upset at the tactics of one of the defense attorneys, Oliver Metzgeroth. According to Boggs, Metzgeroth inserted the homosexuality of the four victims into the trial without good cause. He also insinuated that the four had sat down together in order to agree on a description of the assailants for the police. The jury wasn't swayed, and after the trial was over some even approached the victims to shake their hands. UK INSTITUTES NON-DISCRIMINATION CLAUSE Thanks to the hard work of many people at the University of Kentucky, the revised edition of a staff handbook now includes protections based on sexual orientation for the first time. Students have been covered since 1993, and student grading since 1986. On page 3, the handbook now reads, "We do not discriminate in recruitment, appointment, promotion, payment, training, or other employment practices against anyone because of race, ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, color, creed, religion, age (40 and over), political belief, or national origin." The new policy came about in particular through the strong efforts of John Sistarenik, Community College Representative on the Board of Trustees from 1992-1995, who took the issue directly to UK's President, Charles Wethington. Sistarenik is now a member of the board of C-FAIR, a Louisville political action committee that supports gay-friendly political candidates. FR. DRINAN TO SPEAK IN LOUISVILLE The ACLU of Kentucky has invited Fr. Robert Drinan, outspoken Jesuit priest and long-time liberal activist, to speak at the Chestnut Street YMCA, 9th and Chestnut Sts. in Louisville, on Sunday, April 14 at 2 pm. Drinan was a thorn in the side of three successive administrations in the 70s and 80s. Besides being one of the first to call for an end to the Vietnam War, he helped spotlight US complicity in human rights atrocities in Central America and South Africa, protested the nuclear arms race, and exposed what he called "the national sin of poverty." In 1980 he assisted in the election of Barney Frank--then closeted--to Congress. After his speech, the ACLU will host a brief reception for Drinan and then call its annual membership meeting. Members and non-members of ACLU are invited to attend. ARCHIVES SEEKS OLD ITEMS The Williams-Nichols Institute, operators of the Kentucky Gay and Lesbian Library and Archives, is actively seeking items of a historical nature from the general public for inclusion in its collections. Items needed include newspaper clippings, old gay and lesbian newspapers and magazines, buttons, t-shirts, videotapes, photographs, amateur movies, records or CD's by GLBT artists, and even matchbook covers and unused paper napkins from gay bars. Donations are tax- deductible. The archives and library is currently housed in a private residence and can be visited by appointment only. For further information, write to PO Box 4264, Louisville, KY 40204; phone: 502/636-0935; fax: 502/635-6469; email: willnich@aol.com. AN INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL FLATT by David Williams, Editor Michael Flatt, who, with his lover, Charles Baker, co-owns three of Louisville's nine gay bars, recently signed an agreement to share the profits from one of those bars, Score, with Community Health Trust, Inc., Louisville's pre-eminent AIDS service organization. His generous offer is believed to be unique in the United States. But anyone who knows Mike Flatt has come to expect the unexpected. Flatt himself doesn't always know what's going to happen next. He has a sense of fun about the bar business that has served him well for the last nine years. With three daughters and a son at home, you have to wonder where he and Baker find the time to run any kind of business, much less three of the liveliest bars in town. Flatt, who doesn't drink, came to the bar business in a roundabout way. Before 1987, he worked as a manager in the insurance industry, mainly in Illinois. With degrees in marketing management, insurance and insurance management, he rose steadily in the ranks to the point where early retirement became a viable option in the mid-1980s. But when Metropolitan Life made him an offer he couldn't refuse, he deferred retirement for a year to set up a marketing operation in Louisville. He fell in love with the city, and when his year was up, he stayed. He might still be enjoying lazy afternoons in his back yard had he not stumbled into a small neighborhood bar called the Old Louisville Pub on Garvin Place ten years ago. A friend of his had been injured, and Flatt offered to help him out at the bar. Before the day was out, the owner asked Flatt if he wanted to buy the place. Flatt hesitated, went home and slept on it. The next day, he agreed. Teddy Bears opened on January 31, 1987 and has been packing them in ever since. So much for early retirement. Since then Flatt and Baker have opened two other bars: Tryangles, with its western motif, at 209 S. Preston, in April 1994; and Score, a bar with a sports feel about it, at 252 W. Market, during Derby Week last year. The Letter caught up with Flatt on a Friday afternoon in early March just hours before the crowds were due to arrive at Score. The Letter: For someone with no experience in the bar business, you've been pretty successful. To what do you attribute your success? Flatt: I try to run the friendliest bars in this city. As long as you provide a decent product and decent service, and remember that you're doing it for the good of the community, I think you will bring customers back. People like to be treated the way they treat other people. We have always given a good product and friendly service. The Letter: Whenever I'm out, you seem to be in all three bars at once. Flatt: We're probably the most visible bar owners in town. But people like seeing the owners. As owners, you have to be there. They know that I'm actively supporting these bars, constantly there, working to improve them, to make any changes that are necessary to accommodate the customer. The Letter: Where do you find the energy? Flatt: Sometimes we don't know where we find it! We put in long hours. Sometimes we work seventeen hours a day, sometimes seven days a week, and sometimes we work 24 hours a day! Charlie and I both have kids. But our bartenders are all more like our kids, too. It's like we have fifteen kids! It's almost a family-run business. The Letter: This is what you call retirement? Flatt: [laughs] Yeah. So now I work more than I ever have. We normally get home about five or six in the morning. I wish I had about 40 hours a day right now, but so does everyone else. I also sit on the board of New Lambda. The Letter: Each one of your bars is different. They all have different feels. Flatt: If I go out, I don't want to go from a bar that has nothing but mirrors, to another that has nothing but mirrors, or no special motif or special offering. We try to make things a little bit unique and different. Teddy Bears is a neighborhood bar, Tryangles has a western motif, and Score has a sports motif. Recently, Louisville Nightwings and Bluegrass Bears named Tryangles as their home bar. The Letter: Do you have any plans for another bar? Flatt: At this particular point I don't see opening another bar in Louisville. I think the market is fairly saturated as far as the bars. But I would like to see some other things. The Letter: What? Flatt: I'd like to see a gay hotel downtown, or at least a bed and breakfast. We get a lot of out- of-town business here. And I'd like to see more restaurants and antique shops. I'd like to put gaslights in this district. I wish we had more gay businesses down here. The Letter: Would you open a bed and breakfast yourself? Flatt: Right now, with running these three bars, my time is so committed that I don't have any other time for it. The Letter: This agreement with Community Health Trust seems really generous. Right now it lasts for just one year and it's renewable, right? Flatt: Yes. The reason the agreement is for a year is not the fact that we want to ever dissolve it or put an end to it. It's just the fact that both the CHT board and I want to see how well it goes and see if we're both satisfied with everything. Although there's a time limit on the agreement, it was basically understood it wouldn't necessarily be for just one year. The intent is to keep it here as long as the doors are open. The Letter: How did you get the idea? Flatt: Charlie and I have been fairly involved with CHT and moreso even with Glade House. We saw needs there that couldn't always be met. With the financial cutbacks coming in the federal government, we realized there was going to be a need for more money. This community has been good to us. I don't think you can ever do enough, but this is sort of a way of giving something back to the community. I'm basically pretty community minded, and we try to help out wherever we can. The Letter: I haven't heard of this being done anywhere else. Flatt: Everyone thinks we're the first, but I have no idea. If we are, I hope it grows in other communities, because I think it is certainly a way that gay people can get behind and support something, where they know that their money is going towards a charitable cause to help their own people. The Letter: What are your plans for Score in the future? Flatt: We're taking it a week and a day at a time, to see how it develops. We want to get this agreement off the ground and see how it goes, and then we'll proceed from there. ELIZABETHTOWN MCC BEING FORMED The Great Lakes District of the UFMCC is currently working with a group of interested gays and lesbians in Elizabethtown to establish a a Metropolitan Community Church in Hardin County. MCC-Elizabethtown has already had several informational and planning meetings, and in mid- April it will begin a weekly Bible study on Sunday afternoons at 4 pm. Meetings and Bible studies are open to all. The next informational meeting will be on Sunday, April 14, at 5 pm. Anyone wishing more information is invited to attend. Residents of Hardin and surrounding counties are especially welcomed. For more information, contact the District office at 502/897-3821. JUDY DALE HONORED Judy Dale, the Great Lakes District Coordinator for MCC, was recently honored with the "Outstanding Service Award" from Samaritan Institute for Religious Studies at their annual Board of Trustees' meeting in February. Dale is the spouse of Rev. Dee Dale, pastor of Louisville MCC. The Letter congratulates Dale for this award and thanks her for her tireless efforts to nurture the souls of this region's gay and gay-supportive community. UNITARIANS TO FORM GAY GROUP First Unitarian Church in downtown Louisville is planning to have its first organizational meeting of Interweave, and support group for gays and their heterosexual supporters, on Sunday, April 14, 1-3 pm. Interweave is a membership organization affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Church which is dedicated to the spiritual, political, and social wellbeing of Unitarian Universalists who are confronting oppression as lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendereds. It seeks to facilitate the celebration of the culture and the lives of its members. All individuals of all sexual orientations- -whether they belong to the church or not--are invited. The First Unitarian Church, 4th and York (just south of Broadway in downtown Louisville) has been supportive of the gay and lesbian community since the 1970s and continues to work with the community on many issues from AIDS awareness to the Fairness Campaign. For more information, call Richard Beel or Cathy Leery at 502/589-6028.