08.21.08 Outlook Weekly - Gay at the Zoo

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R EVO R T G LDIN O H EEN • R G S E OX GO PFLAG ICE C REAM SOCIAL • SHADOWB

2 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY OWNERS AND PUBLISHERS Michael Daniels & Chris Hayes EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / ART DIRECTOR Chris Hayes hayes@outlookmedia.com

SNAPSHOT Photos © Old Bolt Studio & Shy Bob

JAY BIRD’S ‘BIRD BASH AT LARGE’ TOOK OVER FROG, BEAR AND WILD BOAR ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 2ND WITH THE FABULOUS JOHNSON BROTHERS JAMMING THE NIGHT OUT. PARTY GOERS ALSO ENJOYED FREE PIZZA, CHEAP DRINKS, TIKIS AND THE VOLCANO! GO JAY BIRD GO!

ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR / PHOTOS Robert Trautman traut@outlookmedia.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mette Bach, Danielle Buckius, Wayne R Besen, Chris Crain, Jennifer Vanasco, Tom Moon, Regina Sewell, Leslie Robinson, Gregg Shapiro, Mick Weems, Julianne French, TF Barton, Romeo San Vicente, Jeff Fertig, Simon Sheppard, Tristan Taormino, Dennis Vanke, Mario Pinardi, Rick Kramer, Aaron Drake, Jennie Keplar, Scott Varner, Derrik Chinn, Dan Savage, Felice Newman, Tim Curran, Chris Hughes, Stephen J Fallon, Felice Newman, J. Eric Peters, Crystal Hawkins, Brent Wilder, Matthew Burlingame, Jacob Anderson-Minshall, Matthew Veritas Tsien, Cheri Meyers

BUSINESS & ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Michael Daniels mdaniels@outlookmedia.com NATIONAL ADVERTISING Rivendell Media - 212.242.6863 ADVERTISING DEADLINE Each Wednesday 8 days prior to publication.

Call us at 614.268.8525.

JAY B

IRD

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SNAPSHOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........2 ABOUT TOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...3, 30 LETTERS / READER POLL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........4 COMMUNITY CORNER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........6 SPIRITUALITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........8 SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........9 OUT BUSINESS NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......11 EARTH TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......13 EXAMINED LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......15 FEATURE: GAY ANIMALS & FURRIES. . . . . . . . . . 16-20 DEEP INSIDE HOLLYWOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......22 ARTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......22 FILM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......24 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......25 PUCKER UP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......27 SAVAGE LOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......29 THE LAST WORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......31 SCOPES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......31

All material is copyrighted ©2008 by Outlook Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

NEXT WEEK: BLUE COLLAR / WHITE COLLAR

Outlook Weekly is published and distributed by Outlook Media, Inc. every Thursday throughout Ohio.

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Outlook Weekly does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or reliability of any interpretation, advice, opinion, or view presented.

AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008 VOLUME 13 NUMBER 08

AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 3

ABOUT TOWN THURSDAY, AUGUST 21 THE ARK OF COVENANT Downtown Live Summer Concert Series @ the corner of State and 3rd St, Capitol Square, www.downtowncolumbus.com: Continuing with the tradition to keep downtown music-filled during the summer.

Tonight hear Ark Band. San Francisco Oven and Darby’s, restaurants located off of the plaza, will remain open and sell food and beverages to concert attendees. 5:30p; free PARCHED LinkOUT Thirsty Third Thursdays @ Diamond Exchange, 22 W. Gay St. #1, www.linkoutcolumbus.com: LinkOUT & the OSU GLBT Alumni Society invite you to the Diamond Exchange for complimentary hors d’ oeuvres and an open bar for this month’s happy hour. Parking is available in the lot adjacent to the building, with an entrance from Wall St. Otherwise paid parking is available in the garage across the street with an entrance from Long St. Feel free to invite others or to bring a friend. 6-8:30p; free.

by Chris Hayes

and renew old friendships and make new ones. Afterwards head to Union for $5 Cosoms with proceeds going to COMIC. SUNDAY, AUGUST 24 I SCREAM FOR GAY ICE CREAM PFLAG Columbus LGBT Community Ice Cream Social @ Universalist Unitarian Church, 93 W Weiseheimer, 614.218.6601: Open to the whole community, please join PFLAG for some smooth dairy products. For more info see p6.

JAZZERCISE 1st Annual August Jazz Party @ James’ Club 88, 55 W Long St, 614.223.1213, www.jamesclub88.com: Hosted by Mary McClendon and friends. Join James for music, food, cash bar, grand piano for jamming, or just chillin out. 4p-8p, free. .

QUEEN OF QUEENS Miss and Mr. All-American King of Kings Pageant @ Club Masque, Dayton, www.clubmasque.com: ColumBUSINESS FIRST bus’ very own Paige Passion will be stepping down The Art of Expanding Your Diverse Market & Clienfrom her reign as Miss All-American Kings of Kings. tele @ Huntington National Bank, Northland Center, 1580 WVKO afternoon news anchor Sean Gilbow, aka 2361 Morse Rd, www.diversity-matters.net/events.html: The The G Square, will be competing for the big title after Diversity Education and Employment Exchange for ALL becoming the very first Mr. Southern Lights King of presents the second of four 2008 “meet and eat” Kings on May 17. 10p; cover. events today. This after-work reception is a must-attend exchange opportunity for anyone interested in MONDAY, AUGUST 25 adapting proven diversity-related strategies such as HAPPY IS A DISH BEST SERVED BY SAM talent acquisition and retention, sales and marketing Manic Monday Happy Hour @ Score Bar, 145 N 5th as well as targeting services to diverse populations. . St, 614.849.0099, scorebarcolumbus.com: Uncle Sam 5:30p-8p; $35. is looking for a few good men and woman to help start the week off right. Head to Score where you can ROUND AND ROUND score $2 domestics, $1.50 wells and free popcorn and Live Music Third Thursday @ Liquid, 1100 N High St, Wii. 4:30p-8p; free.

614.298.3000, www.liquidhotspot.com: Live Music 3rd Thursday features singers, song writers and TUESDAY, AUGUST 26 music that you love. Tonight it’s Donna Mogavero, MENTOR MANIA Robin Stone, and Alexis Antes for song writers in the YP Exchange @ Franklin Park Conservatory, 1777 E round. 8p; free.

Broad St, 614.645.8733, fpconservatory.org: Head to YP Exchange for this presentation:Why Mentoring FRIDAY, AUGUST 22 Matters: How Mentoring Can Take Your Life, and CaNO FREE LUNCH…WHATEVER! reer, to the Next Level with Guest speaker: Ed Cohn, Summer Fridays Free Lunch Concerts @ The Ohio President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of CenStatehouse, High St (btw State & Broad), tral Ohio, followed by a panel discussion. After the YP www.ohiostatehouse.org: Columbus State Gospel Exchange, join us for Business AfterHours at the Vocal Ensemble will entertain at this FREE lunch-time Franklin Park Conservatory from 5:30-7:30pm. Netoutdoor performing arts series taking place on the work with up to 400 business professionals in a caWest Plaza. 12p; free. sual, relaxing setting, make new connections and enjoy refreshments. Tour the newly renovated jewel of HOLD ME PLEASE Columbus and enjoy Light and Space presented by Holding Trevor @ Drexel East, 2254 E Main St, Bex- James Turrell. 4:30p; free. ley, 614.231.9512: Yeah gay film night! See pg 24 for review and showtimes! Also note ad to right -> WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27 THEY DON’T CALL IT HUMP DAY FOR NOTHING SATURDAY, AUGUST 23 Wicked Wednesdays Strippers @ Q Bar & NightMEMORY LANE club, 205 N. Fifth St, 614.222.2401, www.qVirginia West presents GHV1 @ Axis, 775 N High St, nation.com: Come help give hump day a whole new 614.291.4008, columbusnightlife.com: The Greatest meaning. Strippers, $3 Bacardi, $2.50 Red Rull, and Hits of Virginia West for the past decade. Some you plenty of skin. 10p; free. can’t wait to see again, some you finally stopped having nightmares about. Don’t forget your dollars or how RUFF RUFF to Vogue. Tables available at Union Café. Doors Dog Days of August Special Dog Adoption Event @ 7p/Show 8p; $8-$50.

OSU Urban Art Space, Lazarus Building, 50 W Town St, 614.291.8861, arts.osu.edu/uas: Round out our DON’T MISS UNDER THE LID Dog Days of August with a dog event starring real The Annual COMIC Toilet Bowl @ HP Lanes, corner of dogs. You’ve seen them, you know them and you love Innis and Cleveland Aves: Who’d ready to bowl? Reg- them; now adopt one —or at least take a look! Join istration begins at 1p with bowling to start at 2p. It us for an adoption event and give a dog a “furever” will be an 8 pin no tap tournament with special home. Dogs available for adoption from the Franklin frames through-out the 3 game series. No average is County Dog Shelter. Brown-bag lunch. Plus meet phorequired and other exciting events will occur all after- tographer Tony Mendoza with Bob and see a sneak noon long. Entry fee is just $20! This is a great time peek of his upcoming work. 11:30a-1:30p; free. to get out and get ready for the fall bowling leagues AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

4 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY

LETTERS CENSORSHIP IS JUST A POWER PLAY WRAPPED IN HYPOCRITICAL PIOUSNESS Hey Outlook, Reading the letter to the editor from Alycia (“Bigotry in Bloom...Again”) on page 4 of the August 7, 2008 edition of Outlook Weekly was excruciatingly painful to me. No matter how much I try, I simply cannot understand the pathetic ignorance of some of my fellow human beings. I say this as a 63-year-old dad of three, husband of 34 years, 25 year Navy veteran, and 5th grade teacher.

While I was teaching in Woodbridge, Virginia, the school had set up a deal with the local paper (The Potomac News) for free copies to be delivered to each 5th grade classroom. It happened that one article focused on two neighborhood women who got into an argument one Sunday about church. The argument escalated until one woman literally beat the other to death in front of a gathering crowd. That article was far more disturbing than anything that has ever been printed in Outlook Weekly. Censoring that article would have given the students a message they’d already heard too often from us adults: adults lie. In this case, the students discussed the article and deepened their ability for non-judgmental compassion for all concerned. They also saw the article as a comment on how far we, as human beings, still need to evolve.

It’s the job of adults to coach and mentor children.

Censorship is just a power play wrapped in hypocritical piousness.

I’m glad to have the opportunity to pick up my copy of Outlook Weekly at the Hilliard library. As a husband, parent, veteran, and teacher, I’m proud to encourage others to read it as well.

Thank you for persevering!

Bob McNamara Hilliard Hey Bob, thanks for reminding us why we do this everyday! This letter gave me tingles. It continually amazes us that people would rather practice actions of fear, hate and division over collaboration, understanding and learning. My best hope is that Alycia and others like her will actually read the whole paper before throwing them out, and that over time, they realize how similar we all really are.

C

LIBERTARIANS ARE CANDIDATES TOO Hi Michael, Nice article and nice publication. I hadn’t read it before.

I just wanted to mention that your article on pg 20 of the Aug 7 edition was incomplete and a disservice to your target audience. There are more candidates for almost all those races - and candidates that would better respect the civil liberties of every Ohioan.

The Libertarian Party has a handful of candidates who ballot-qualified after a recent lawsuit. I hope you wouldn’t discriminate against them just because they don’t fit into your current paradigm. Perhaps when they finish negotiations with the Secretary of State and Attorney General this Friday, you’d do a piece on the opportunities for more open freedom of association and open ballot access for all beliefs - not just the Rs and Ds that tow the line and keep infringing on our rights.

Thanks for your consideration, Jeremiah Arn Columbus Thanks, Jeremiah. When we continue our coverage, we’ll include any candidates that appear on the certified candidate list from the Franklin County Board of Elections - keep on us!

Michael

WHY I’M BACKING BARACK To the Editor:

and millions of other Democrats, Independents, and many Republicans, I am proud to support the candidacy of Barack Obama for President. Endorsing Barack was not a difficult decision and it is not based on party affiliation alone. Rather, it is based on my concept of what the promise of America means and on the stark differences between the two candidates.

For me, the promise of America is a commitment to our collective well-being, rather than each struggling to get his or her own. The promise of America is embracing our democracy and protecting it and working to make it operate even better on behalf of the people.

The promise of America is in pushing, prodding, and testing our democracy to make it flourish, not chipping away at its very foundation in pursuit of a political agenda or personal gain.

If elected President, Barack Obama will move us forward charting a new, hopeful, progressive course, while John McCain would keep us mired in the failed policies and divisive politics of the status quo.

Barack Obama will get our troops out of Iraq. John McCain is willing to leave them there indefinitely.

Barack Obama will work to ensure health care for all Americans. John McCain is willing to leave people behind while enriching insurance companies.

Barack Obama will make it a priority to protect and safeguard Roe v. Wade. John McCain has pledged to fill Supreme Court vacancies with justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade.

Barack Obama wants to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. John McCain believes the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy has been ‘very effective’ and wants to leave it in place.

Barack Obama will support legislation expanding federal employment non-discrimination laws and federal hate crime laws to assure the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. John McCain will not.

I am working to elect Barack Obama President, not because I’m toeing a party line, but because we share a commitment to equality for all Americans. We share core values - a commitment to the common good and an aversion to power being granted through friendship and favors. And we share a belief in the power of the individual to create change and the knowledge that in a democracy, “We, the People” decide what is possible.

I am working to elect Barack Obama President because he dares to believe in and work for ‘one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’”

“For years, Democrats have shared a laugh over Will Rogers’ quip, “I belong to no organized party...I’m a Democrat.” But this year’s election is no laughing matter.

The Bush/Cheney regime - the most destructive, debilitating, and demoralizing in memory - perhaps even in history - is almost over and this election affords us the chance to write a new chapter in American history...or not. Should we vote for change or accept the status quo? The question could not be more clear. The correct answer could not be more obvious.

The long primary season gave us the opportunity to hear from the candidates and voice our support for one or the other. In that primary season, I endorsed the candidacy of Senator Hillary Clinton and I supported her throughout her historic and well-fought campaign.

Senator Clinton and I share an unshakeable commitSincerely, ment to health care for all in this country.

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) But the primary season is now over and, like Hillary

The Reader Poll Last week we asked:

Which of the following do you find to be the gayest animal?

3.9% 7.8%

2.9%

85.4% NEXT WEEK’S QUESTION:

DO YOU OWN YOUR OWN BUSINESS? Log on to: www.outlookweekly.net to take this week’s poll.

S

OU

AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

28% RCE :

WA SHINGTON

ST PO

CATEGORY

NOV 2 ’04

AUG 18 ’08

DIFFERENCE

AMERICAN DEAD

1,122

4,144

3,022

AMERICAN WOUNDED

8,124

30,509

22,385

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEAD

16,342

94,553

78,211

NATIONAL DEBT

$7,429,629,954,236

$9,606,975,957,798

DAYS ‘TIL 2008 ELECTION

1,463

78

$2,177,346,003,562 (1,385)

OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 5

AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

6 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY

COMMUNITY CORNER 2008 SCHOLARSHIP WINNER WILL SPEAK AT AUGUST MEETING, PLUS TRIBUTE TO DON BRENNAN

By Peg Allemang Please join PFLAG Columbus for our annual G/L/B/T Community Ice Cream Social on August 24, at 2p at Universalist Unitarian Church, 93 W. Weiseheimer. We hope the entire gay community will turn out.

We will honor Don Brennan who will be stepping down as Treasurer of PFLAG Columbus.

Martha Boadt, former President of PFLAG Columbus has written a fitting tribute to Don’s illustrious service for Outlook. We will always remember Don as an iron fisted guardian of the PFLAG finances for many years. Thanks to Don’s prudent management, PFLAG has stayed fiscally solvent on his watch. We shall miss him.

Anthony Weston, the 2008 Eric Kohring PFLAG scholarship winner, will be our guest speaker. Anthony will discuss his plans for outreach to the gay community and straight allies this fall at Ohio State, and how the scholarship award will help him in this endeavor. The scholarship committee chose Anthony because, in addition to being an exemplary student holding a 3.6 GPA, he participated in the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and will begin a term as Secretary starting this fall. He also participates in OSETM (Out in Science, Engineering, Technology and Math) as well as a new group on campus presently called GLBT First Year Cohort.

A reception to honor Don’s service to the entire GLBT community will follow the meeting.

We hope you can join us. If you have any questions, please call 614.218.6601.

DON BRENNEN STEPPING DOWN AS FINANCE DIRECTOR OF PFLAG COLUMBUS

by Martha Boadt (Former President of PFLAG Columbus) From the first Board meeting that Don ever attended, I knew that changes for PFLAG Columbus were on the way. We had great ideas as a chapter, but we really could never bring them to fruition. Money always stood in the way. We just didn’t have the expertise to begin raising money.

Don changed all that. He was the main idea man behind the money and then became the main financial manager of the treasury. With his knowledge of financing and his contacts in the community, Columbus PFLAG soon became a force to be reckoned with. We were basically a support group doing what we could to make peoples’ lives a little better. With Don’s help we began to reach more people. With the money we collected from our first few fund-raisers: a house party and a reception for PFLAG Columbus founding members (Lisalotte Sherwood and Emily Fogel) at the Columbus Music Hall, we were able to begin our first outreach. We paid for such things as business cards, pamphlets, National literature, and our phone HOT AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

LINE. As Don continued to plan for events, contact community businessmen, and speak out, we raised more money . We printed the first ever Gay Youth Research Guide, advertised in many newspapers, and put on community events. Don, not only, was the main keeper of the money for many years, but was a true advocate for the gay community. He was not afraid to speak out in the community, be out in news articles, work the PFLAG table at Gay Pride, lead PFLAG support meetings. Don has been an amazing force at PFLAG Columbus and his expertise and skills will certainly be missed.

Best wishes Don (and Janet) as you continue your retirement. I know that you will never stop being a voice for the gay community and your years of work for PFLAG Columbus will be ever remembered.

Martha Boadt stepped down as President of Columbus PFLAG in 2004 when she and husband Phil moved to Las Vegas. They divide their time between Las Vegas and Pentwater, Michigan.

GLAAD’S ‘ANNOUNCING EQUALITY CAMPAIGN’ MARKS SIX-YEAR ANNIVERSARY WITH RECORD 1,049 INCLUSIVE PAPERS Marking the six-year anniversary of its Announcing Equality campaign, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today announced that 1,049 daily U.S. newspapers now accept wedding announcements from gay and lesbian couples – a more than fifteen-fold increase since August 18, 2002, when The New York Times opened its Weddings/Celebrations pages to gay and lesbian couples following conversations with GLAAD leadership.

Among the 2008 Announcing Equality campaign’s other measures: An estimated 83 percent of all U.S. newspaper consumers read a paper that accepts wedding announcements from same-sex couples.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have newspapers that print announcements for gay and lesbian couples.

All but three of the nation’s top 100 media markets are home to newspapers with inclusive announcement policies.

All daily newspapers in 9 states and the District of Columbia print wedding announcements for same-sex couples: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont.

California and New York come close to being 100 percent inclusive, with only one daily newspaper in each state that will not print such announcements.

In Tennessee, the state with the lowest percentage of inclusive papers, one out of every three papers accepts announcements from gay and lesbian couples.

Only 339 of the 1,049 papers have actually received an announcement from a same-sex couple to print.

“Local newspapers across the country are reflecting the growing visibility of our lives and our commitments by opening their pages to

these stories,” said GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano. “When we seize that opportunity to share our milestones and celebrations, we help Americans see the diversity of our community and recognize the common ground that we share.”

GLAAD’s Announcing Equality campaign has grown exponentially in numbers and in scope.

The project began with an initial group of 69 newspapers in 2002, and by 2004, the list had grown to include 462 papers. When the campaign was re-launched in 2006, GLAAD documented another significant increase in the number of newspapers, reaching a new benchmark of 883 papers. And in 2008, that number has soared to 1,049.

As part of the expansion of the Announcing Equality campaign this year, GLAAD is helping LGBT community members share their stories in local media outlets with the support of a new online resource. This site includes a stateby-state interactive map of papers with inclusive policies and guidelines for submitting announcements, as well as downloads of resources and tips to assist community members in sharing other types of stories online and in local media outlets, ranging from employee or church newsletters to college newspapers.

GLAAD is also encouraging community members to submit stories for posting on the GLAAD website by emailing announcingequality@glaad.org.

MARRIAGE EQUALITY USA RESPONDS TO PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES’ STATEMENTS AT EVANGELICAL FORUM “We are disappointed in both Presidential candidates’ positions to exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage,” states Molly McKay, Marriage Equality USA Media Director.

“Marriage is a civil right and sexual orientation is not a “moral” issue. The government should treat all Americans equally under the law. Being a “Christian” does not mean you cannot support marriage equality. There are many Christian denominations and leaders who marry same-sex couples in their churches and even more who support civil marriage and equal treatment under the law regardless of their own personal religious beliefs.”

“While we appreciate Senator Obama for his support for civil unions, it is unfair and unAmerican for same-sex couples to be relegated to a separate and unequal system of civil unions,” continues McKay. “We further applaud Senator Obama’s opposition to Proposition 8 which would change the California Constitution to eliminate the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. He rightly characterizes Proposition 8 as a divisive and discriminatory measure.”

Founded in 2000, Marriage Equality USA is a national grassroots organization whose mission is to secure legally recognized civil marriage equality for all, at the federal and state level, without regard to gender identity or sexual orientation. For more information go to www.marriageequality.org.

STONEWALL CENTER SCHEDULE WWW.STONEWALLCOLUMBUS.ORG Tuesday, August 19 7p Men’s Discussion Group 7:30p CLGSA Meeting Wednesday, August 20 6:30p HRC membership meeting 6:30p Women’s Book Club 7p IDKEX Meeting Thursday, August 21 5:30p Home Buying Seminar 7p Buddhist Meeting - Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism Friday, August 22 7:30p Sober, Strong and Free Lesbian Group AA Saturday, August 23 All day TransOhio Transgender and Ally Symposium 11a Yoga Class 7:30p Gay, Joyous, and Free Narcotics Anonymous Sunday, August 24 8a TransOhio Transgender and Ally Symposium Monday, August 25 6p HRC executive meeting 7p Men’s Coming Out Group Tuesday, August 26 7:30p CLGSA Meeting Wednesday, August 27 11:30a Yoga & More with Kathleen Lewis 6p Executive Board Meeting 7p Sisters of Lavender (SOL) 7p Stonewall Board Meeting Friday, August 29 7:30p Sober, Strong and Free Lesbian Group AA Saturday, August 30 11a Yoga Class 7:30p Gay, Joyous, and Free Narcotics Anonymous Monday, September 1 7p Men’s Book Club Tuesday, September 2 7p BUG - Bisexual United Group 7:30p CLGSA Meeting Wednesday, September 3 11:30a Yoga & More with Kathleen Lewis 7p Transgender, Cross Dressing, Gender Variant Peer Support Group Thursday, September 4 4p CATF HIV Testing Friday, September 5 7:30p Sober, Strong and Free Lesbian Group AA Saturday, September 6 11a Yoga Class 7:30p Gay, Joyous, and Free Narcotics Anonymous Sunday, September 7 5p Girl Spot

OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 7

AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

8 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY

SPIRITUALITY

by J Eric Peters

The Church - and Others - at Pride The most surprising thing about the inter-traditional Pride Day service last month at Goodale Park was the lack of something: interruptions. Not one protester showed up to harass the people who gathered there to celebrate life, community, pride and the traditions that inspire and spiritually sustain us.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining.

Compared with last year more protesters showed up last month to hassle and throw hate at people making up the parade and its audience. However an observation about some of those protesters makes it difficult to interpret this increase in numbers. On High Street just south of Nationwide Boulevard stood a line of people, mostly teenagers, most of whom held up small hand-made signs. That raises the questions of whether they all came from a single group-such as a hatefully anti-gay church like the Vineyard, World Harvest, Ekklesia’s ex-gay operation on Buttles near High, Grace Brethren or even Attorney Rich Nathan’s Vineyard organizationand, if so, which one.

But the service itself drew about 30 to 40 people from various backgrounds. Cindy Turvy from Summit on 16th (a United Methodist congregation) and yours truly had helped the participants get the service organized. Bill Hedrick, who is a member of St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church (as well as President of Stonewall Democrats of Central Ohio and Chair of BRAVO’s board), had the Prayer of St. Francis. Sharon Moss brought a reading from the Humanist Community of Central Ohio (a great group of folks in my personal opinion). Mark Williams, the openly-gay Christian Education Director from First Congregational Church (UCC), had another reading. Rev. Margaret Hawk, Byron Yaple and others from New Creation MCC gave us some fine inspirational music. Rev. John Keeny, Senior Minister of King Avenue United Methodist Church, read the story of David and Jonathan from First Samuel. Cindy Turvy (my co-chair) read from ruth about her relationship with Naomi. And Joel Flint, a personal friend and the Education For Ministry coordinator at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church & University Center, read the Gospel story about Jesus healing the servant (and, possibly, lover) of the Roman army centurion. Gayla Preston of SGI Nichiren Buddhists gave us the opportunity to experience Buddhist chanting. Jeremy Bredeson, who is part of the Green Faerie Grove, and his female AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

friend shared a Pagan reading. Michael Dangler, past Senior Druid of the Three Cranes Grove, closed the service with a prayer to the Earth Mother.

Many of these folks also rode or marched in the Pride Parade. Here’s who I saw representing faiths and traditions there: First Baptist Church of Granville (American Baptists), Delaware County Gay-Straight Alliance, Dignity, the Humanist Community of Central Ohio, Integrity (Episcopalians), Master’s Commission New Covenant Church, New Creation MCC, Omnipresent Atheists (their first year!), various Reformed Catholic Church parishes, SGI Nicheren Buddhists, North United Church of Christ (Folks there do far for our community than this report can mention.), Unitarian Universalists, Unitarian Universalists from Interweave, Unitarian Universalists North (that’s three UU groups) and several United Methodist churches.

United Methodists who participated in the Pride Parade included Broad Street, King Avenue (a very large group), Maynard Avenue, New Life, North Broadway, St. Paul and, as a delightful surprise, for their first year, a group from the Methodist Seminary of Central Ohio.

Several of these groups also had booths at the Pride Festival-until the rains hit anyway. I got to talk with three of them.

Green Faerie Grove Garan du said that he is the last co-founder of their organization that’s still an active member and that this coming December would be the Green Faerie Grove’s tenth anniversaray in Columbus.

This year two of the Grove’s members marched in the leather contingent but normally during Pride they’ve been at a Pagan spiritual gathering that runs at the same time. This year they didn’t go to that and instead came to Pride for the first time.

The Green Faerie Grove is an eclectic Wiccan coven that is made up of men who love men. Their core demographic is gay and bi men. They consider Pride part of their outreach program to tell people about who they are, what they’re about and also to promote the BTW men’s gathering, which is their main outreach program. It’s an annual spiritual retreat that happens in September, this time for its seventh year.

Their message is that you don’t have to depend on other people for spiritual sustenance. You can

make your own way and be comfortable and confident as human beings. You don’t have to submit to other people’s judgments. Everything in the universe is sacred and each one of us has his or her own worth. If you approach the universe from that perspective, then you don’t have to seek the approval of others. You are already a sacred being. You just need to acknowledge that in yourself and go forth and do good things for others.

For more information: www.GreenFaerieGrove.org. www.BetweenTheWorlds.org. Between the Worlds is September 9-14 at a location not disclosed to the public. Instead, the retreat’s organizers provide the address to those who register to attend.

Master’s Commission New Covenant Church “We believe that Jesus Christ loves everyone and that’s why we’re here,” said Pastor Kelly Cross of Master’s Commission New Covenant Church. “And there are so many that stand along the parade route telling the GLBT community that Jesus doesn’t love them, that they’re evil and that homosexuality is a sin. We have studied the scriptures thoroughly and believe that it’s not a sin. That’s why we’re here.”

This was the fourth year Master’s Commission participated in Pride, this year with a festival booth and parade participation.

Master’s Commission will celebrate their fifth anniversary with special events July 25-27.

Singer/evangelist Ray Vestry will kick things off with a concert Friday evening (7/25) at 7:00 p.m. On Saturday, Dr. Joseph Pearson of Christ Evangelical Bible Institute in Indiana will present a seminar on Christianity and Homosexuality Reconciled, which requires a $30 registration fee (including continental breakfast and all materials); RSVP by phone.

Pastor Randy Duncan from Indiana will preach on Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m. and Dr. Pearson will preach Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. Only the Saturday seminar requires registration and any fee.

[NOTE: The institute’s website gave me a clear impression of evangelical affiliation; for example, it invites site visitors to read about “how Islam figures into end-time events” in a reading titled “The Koran: Testimony of Antichrist.” The website does not mention accreditation.]

Pastor Cross shared a bit more about Master’s Commission’s beliefs: “’God so loved the world that

He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life’ [John 3:16]. Jesus himself said He came not to destroy people’s life but to save them. We are unique in the fact that we’re of a PentecostalCharismatic persuasion. You don’t see a lot of that in the GLBT community. There are a lot of former Charismatic and Pentecostal folks that meet us” in the GLBT community.

Charismatic and Pentecostal churches, said Pastor Cross, tend to have “a little more lively worship. We sing and clap and get excited about God. We believe in the giftings of the Holy Spirit moving in our congregations. The Holy Spirit is free to move among us in our services. It’s very exciting.”

Contact information: www.mcncChurch.org, 2375 Refugee Park (Columbus), 614.308.2668 (or cell 614.804.7810) Summit on 16th Summit on 16th is a United Methodist congregation with a distinctive name for a United Methodist church.

At Pride Rev. Linda Wallick explained, “We did some focus groups a couple years ago and felt like we wanted the focus more on spiritual life. [The term] ‘church’ seems to scare people a lot. For our message of being open and welcoming we wanted that out front.”

Summit on 16th had a booth at this year’s Pride festival but did not do the parade. This was the third or fourth year Summit on 16th was part of Pride.

Rev. Wallick continued, “We are a congregation that wants to be welcoming to all. That is really a part of our mission-to make sure people know that they are welcome at our church and loved by God. That welcome is important because we feel like there are a lot of churches that are not welcoming and we wanted to get that message out there that some churches were.”

“Christians almost have a bad reputation” was Rev. Wallick’s last line before rain started pouring down.

Summit on 16th recently had a special worship service and BBQ with Equality Ohio to support the current nondiscrimination legislation initiative. It was well received.

For more info: http://summitumc.org/

OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 9

SPORTS

The Q-Bar team - winner of the St. Clair cup for 2008

Softball Season ends with TOURNEY The Columbus Lesbian & Gay Softball Association wrapped up its summer season Sunday, August 10 with a weekend tournament and banquet pool party at the Columbus Renaissance.

League Commissioner Dallas Aldridge made mention that there is enough interest in forming a fall league, which would be a 6-week, single-pitch, double-header format. For more info www.clgsa.net. Here are the season and tournament winners:

Roberts Division – 1st Score 2nd Tradewinds II Grizzlies 3rd Q- Bar Akers 2 1st Homewreckers (Q-Bar) 2nd Village Pet Supply 3rd Team X and Union Hard Times (tie) Akers 1 1st Stix-N-Chix 2nd Somewhere Else / OZ 3rd Plugged Nickel St. Clair 1st River Rates and Exile Pirates (tie) 3rd Club Diversity and Pyramid II (tie)

Roberts Division – 1st Q-Bar 2nd Score 3rd Edward Jones Switch Hitters Akers 2 1st Homewreckers (Q-Bar 2nd Village Pet Supply 3rd Team X Akers 1 1st Stix-N-Chix 2nd Somewhere Else / Oz 3rd Pierceology Red Devils St. Clair 1st River Rats 2nd Pyramid II 3rd Chase

BUMP-SET-SPIKE THIS LABOR DAY Labor Day in Columbus means one thing…its time for the Labor of Love Volleyball Classic!

Individuals from around the region and country will be converging on Columbus Labor Day weekend for the 16th installment of the Labor of Love Volleyball Classic. The tournament is sanctioned by NAGVA (North American Gay Volleyball Association), which promotes gay volleyball across the country with over 30 tournaments each season. This year, teams are coming to Columbus from regional cities such as Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Louisville and Pittsburgh and from as far away as Atlanta and New York.

The tournament will be held on Saturday, August 30 and Sunday, August 31 at the SportsBarn at Easton located directly behind Dick’s Sporting Goods and across the street from The Chiller on Chiller Lane. Action will begin both days around 9:00 a.m. with play continuing until 4 or 5 p.m. Spectators are encouraged to attend as there is no entry fee and seating is available from the second floor looking over all 4 courts along with food and beverages for sale including beer.

The tournament could not take place without the support of numerous sponsors including Coors Light, Axis/U Café, Tradewinds, Score Bar, Dooley & Associates, Fratmen TV, The Volleyball Market, Instinct, Sports Out Loud Magazine, as well as numerous other local and national businesses.

Numerous socials will be held throughout the weekend including the Seeding Party on Saturday night at Tradewinds and the Closing Party on Sunday night at Axis as well as specials at other locations such as Score Bar. We are also happy to have a designated charity each year with this year bring BRAVO (Buckeye Region Anti Violence Organization) whom will receive a financial contribution from the tournament during the banquet on Sunday night at the host hotel, The Ramada Plaza North.

For more information about the Labor of Love Volleyball Classic 16, please go to our web site at www.columbusvolleyball.org or email the tournament director, Jason Fallon, at jasvball@earthlink.net.

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OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 11

OUT BUSINESS NEWS

by Chris Hayes

WEXNER CENTER NAMES NEW EXHIBITIONS CURATORIAL TEAM The Wexner Center for the Arts announced the appointment of two new members of its curatorial team in the exhibitions department: Catharina Manchanda, previously curator at Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis, is the new Senior Curator; and Christopher Bedford, currently assistant curator in the Department of Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), has been named Curator. Manchanda began her tenure with the center earlier this month, and Bedford will be joining the team in October.

“We’re thrilled to welcome this dynamic duo to the Wexner Center to help shape its programs over the next several years,” says Wexner Center Director Sherri Geldin. “Each brings keen creative and intellectual gifts to the center. Catharina comes with impressive experience at a leading national modern art museum where she was mentored by one of the leading contemporary curators in the field, as well as her more recent tenure at a university-based museum. Christopher has emerged from a combined curatorial and publishing background with an avid appetite for working with a wide range of contemporary artists and practices. Both are bursting with energy and ideas, and both bring a special appreciation for the unique role of the Wexner C enter as a multi-disciplinary creative laboratory serving the university, as well as the local, national and international arts community.”

Manchanda and Bedford will become integral members of the center’s programming team led by Geldin and including members of the performing arts, film, exhibitions, and education departments.

They will work closely with the director to shape the exhibition program, conceiving and curating exhibitions, producing catalogues, and selecting exhibitions that the Wexner Center will import from other institutions. They will actively collaborate with the center’s education staff and university colleagues in shaping a variety of public programs, and represent the center in both campus-based and city-wide public art initiatives. Manchanda and Bedford will also interact with the arts and cultural community in Columbus while maintaining crucial connections with artists, collectors, and curatorial colleagues around the world.

CURRENT AUTOMOTIVE ADVERTISING TRENDS IN THE GLBT MARKET

In anticipation of the August 2008 release of the Gay Market Report, Pink Banana Media has released one of its key marketing reports looking at the automotive industry’s recent advertising and

marketing trends in the GLBT community. Using the $712B projected buying power of the US GLBT community as a reference point, this information is even more timely considering the overall downward trends in consumer automotive purchases this year.

Authored by Joe LaMuraglia of GayWheels.com, this marketing report includes the most recent GayWheels.com Top 10 Most Researched vehicles list, which helps to shed light on what GLBT automotive consumers are researching online when making their car buying decisions. It also brings to light both the history of automotive advertising in the GLBT community, and where this advertising is today, with companies such as Subaru, Cadillac and Saturn continuing to send the signal that they are in this marketplace for the long term.

In addition, the Top 10 report reveals that GLBT consumers have been researching fuel-efficient vehicles long before gasoline was at $4 per gallon, which shows the early-adopter/trend-setting behavior of this key market segment.

“The automotive industry is at a bit of a crossroads,” states Matthew Skallerud, President of Pink Banana Media and publisher of the 2009 Gay Market Report. “With both a recession and high gas prices hitting the world economy, we are all witnessing a significant shift in automotive buying habits this year, perhaps one of the largest shifts in the last 50 years. It will be those companies that are both progressive with their changing product lines and ahead of the curve in their market outreach that I believe will set the automotive standards for years to come.”

Lastly, the article includes up-to-date information on the six major auto makers that have achieved a perfect score of 100 in the HRC Corporate Equality Index [CEI), including Toyota, GM, Ford, VW, Subaru and Chrysler. While a site such as GayWheels.com simply uses the availability of samesex domestic partner benefits to classify a company as gay-friendly, HRC’s CEI uses a more complex formula for its ranking.

To view and download the Automotive Marketing Report, go to http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/storydetail.cfm? storyid=8. For the full 2009 Gay Market Report coming out in mid-August 2009, go to http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/marketreport/.

COLUMBUS ROTARY OFFERS LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT SERIES

President Rob Erney to kick off leadership series September 15

President Rob will lead the first of sixe sessions of the Columbus Rotary Leadership Development Series in a Round Table of Monday, September 15, 11a-12p.

The first topic will be on Goal Setting and Accountability and will cover an overview of the goalsetting process, developing an action plan and ways in which leaders can hold themselves and others accountable.

Each session will include a speaker on a specific topic followed by interactive discussions to bring the topics home. Each session will be standalone, so yah may attends only sessions that are of interest to you.

The Round Table will include lunch and will be adjourned in time for the group to join the Club to hear the speaker. The cost is $13 for non-members and members alike (members need to prepay).

Seating is limited to the first 40 people to RSVP.

Room location will be available when you respond.

RSVP to Columbus Rotary at 614.221.3127 or office@columbusrotary.org.

BANKING, BUDGETS, AND INVESTING 101 FOR GEN Y

Queercents (http://www.queercents.com), a personal finance blog serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, announced the launch of its weekly series: Banking, Budgets, and Investing 101 for Gen Y. This series, written by Elizabeth Byrne, offers practical steps for Gen Y to grasp the basics of money and fiscal responsibility. Byrne discovered early on that finance fits in the “easier said than done” category, and is now working to unlearn years of conditioning as a consumer, while trying to find the balance between fun and frugal. In the coming weeks, she will share with readers her sensible thoughts about these topics: • Choosing and Setting a Budget • What Accounts Are You Setting Up and Where • Young, Single and on A Budget: Going Out Without Going Broke • What To Do When Things Go Wrong: Dealing With NSFs By Redefining A Zero Balance • Should You Be Thinking About Internet Banking?

• Starting Early: Setting Up An IRA • Are CD’s Worth It? • Visualizing Your Spending With Technology • Determining When To Spend and When to Save Byrne is studying at Colby College and is applying to graduate school for religious studies. A couple of years ago, she got a job working as a bank teller to understand the ins and outs of the financial world. She spent two years observing and learning from the mistakes she witnessed, only to discover that there were also proactive ways of dealing with finances. She explores her findings with Gen Y in her series at Queercents.

Established by Nina Smith, Queercents originated the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender personal finance blog concept by aggregating financial tips from the distinct writings of several money bloggers. Readers love the straightforward advice and life-style oriented money tips posted daily, covering such topics as debt reduction, living frugally, wise investing, relationships & money, and retirement planning. The site recently surpassed 450,000 visitors since launching in April 2006 and lives by the motto: Queercents… we’re here, we’re queer, and we’re not going shopping without coupons.

NGLCC WELCOMES LAW FIRM TO LGBT SUPPLIER DIVERSITY PROGRAM

The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) and NGLCCNY announced the addition of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, LLP, a prestigious national law firm with major operations in thirteen U.S. cities including Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, LLP, had joined the organizations in an effort to attract more diversity to the firm’s supply chain, specifically by adding LGBT-owned companies to the mix. “Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal are leading the way for major firms that are not just talking the talk, but walking the walk on diversity and inclusion,” said Justin G. Nelson, NGLCC co-founder and president.

The NGLCC noted that Sonnenschein, Nath &

Rosenthal is the first law firm to work with the organization and its New York Affiliate, NGLCCNY, to add certified LGBT suppliers to the firm’s diverse supplier initiative. “Until now, the NGLCC Supplier Diversity Initiative has worked primarily with Fortune 500 companies like IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Motorola, Morgan Stanley, Aetna, Lehman Brothers, Intel, Merck, American Airlines, UPS and others,” said Chance Mitchell, NGLCC co-founder and CEO. “This partnership is evidence that major law firms are also realizing that including the LGBT segment in strategic planning is good business and we couldn’t have a better partner than Sonnenschein.”

“This collaboration not only supports our firm by enriching the supply chain diversity that gives us a competitive edge, but it also ensures that our supply base looks like the associate and client base we have and the one we are trying to attract,” said Helise Harrington, Diversity Partner, Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal.

NGLCC, headquartered in Washington, DC, has grown to over 80 Corporate Partners and recently opened an office in New York City. More information about the organization, its programs and Corporate Partners can be found at www.nglcc.org.

IRS E-NEWS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES: A TIME SAVER FOR SMALL BUSINESSES AND THE SELF-EMPLOYED

Keeping up with federal tax requirements is not always easy in today’s fast-changing business environment. Even if small businesses and the self-employed use a tax professional’s services, they still need to know and understand their tax responsibilities.

That’s why the IRS is working to provide businesspeople with timely information to help them understand and meet their tax obligations.

IRS e-News for Small Businesses offers small businesses and the self-employed a real time-saver. e-News is a bi-weekly newsletter that alerts them to what’s new, hot and important for small business owners to know. It’s quick to read, easy to subscribe – and it’s free. e-News for Small Businesses is the IRS’s enewsletter for businesses with specialized content consisting of: • Important upcoming tax dates for small businesses • What’s new for small businesses on IRS.gov • Reminders and tips to assist small businesses with tax compliance • IRS news releases and special IRS announcements • Direct links to a variety of Web sites and resources • Availability of IRS products, services, and training opportunities Businesspeople may also want to take a look at other IRS e-newsletters: IRS Tax Tips – tax information via e-mail from the IRS daily during the tax-filing season and periodically the rest of the year Retirement News for Employers – information about current developments and upcoming events within the retirement plan arena; issued periodically during the year.

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OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 13

EARTH TALK

Privatizing U.S. Drinking Water: Costly and Eco-Unfriendly

By Erica Gies We turn on the tap, and clean water flows. Most of us take this service for granted because we consider water, necessary for life, a basic right. In fact, this notion stems back to an ancient Roman legal precedent called the public trust doctrine. This fundamental tenet says that crucial natural resources, especially water, belong to everyone.

But 1.1 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean water, according to the United Nations. Waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery kill 2.2 million a year. This was true in the United States until government took over our water infrastructure as a public health measure.

However, now many aging U.S. municipal water systems are deteriorating. One-fifth of our drinking water is lost to leaks, while overworked treatment plants release 1.2 trillion gallons of raw sewage into waterways annually, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Stark estimates show that Americans will need to spend up to $1 trillion by 2019 to make necessary upgrades. Unfortunately, federal funding for water systems has plummeted, and some strapped communities have turned their facilities over to private companies, hoping the private sector will make water system improvements government hasn’t.

Thirteen percent of U.S. municipal water systems have been privatized already, mostly turned over to European multinational companies with misleading names such as American Water Works and United Water.

Privatization advocates argue that corporations can best provide and update water infrastructure. However, early adopters, including Atlanta; New Orleans; Indianapolis; Jersey City, N.J.; and Lexington, KY, have seen privatization fail by a number of measures.

Water prices usually rise shortly after privatization — sometimes dramatically. Privately owned water utilities charge customers significantly higher rates than those publicly owned: up to 50 percent more, according to Food & Water Watch, which compared rates charged by publicly and privately owned utilities in California, Illinois, Wisconsin, and New York.

High water prices can be catastrophic for the poor. In Bolivia in 1999, the government granted a 40-year water privatization contract to a Bechtel subsidiary. Rates increased immediately by as much as 200 percent. Many families were paying one-fifth their income for water, which resulted in rioting, government instability, and Bechtel’s withdrawal from the country.

In some parts of the U.S., new industry-backed laws allow utility managers to turn off water due to customer nonpayment. In Pennsylvania in 2005, managers cut off water to thousands of people unable to pay their bills.

The significant environmental costs of privatization are just as troubling. Some companies push expensive, environmentally destructive schemes to increase water supply — such as desalination plants — because their profits are tied to how much they spend on infrastructure improvement. High-cost projects generate huge profits for the corporation, while draining public coffers. Tampa Bay Water partnered with private company Veolia Water to build the largest desalination plant in the nation. The facility cost $158 mil-

lion and will serve just 10 percent of the area’s water customers.

The simple, inexpensive solution to meeting U.S. water needs is not privatization but conservation. California, the country’s biggest water consumer, could cut its wasteful use of water by 20 percent in the next 25 years, while meeting the needs of a growing population, a healthy agricultural sector, and vibrant economy, according to the Pacific Institute. Stormwater capture is also an important, less expensive strategy. But corporate water managers have little interest in conservation because the more water they sell, the bigger their profits.

One of the best and cheapest ways to assure a clean water supply is to let nature work. In 1989, New York City contemplated a new $6 billion water filtration plant. Instead, the city spent $1.2 billion over 10 years to purchase and restore its watersheds, allowing a 2,000-square-mile forest to clean the water. Other communities, such as Auburn, Maine, have done likewise. Private companies oppose this watershed approach, because it reduces the need for costly treatment methods, thus reducing water prices and profits.

In fact, water privatization can actually reduce water quality. In the United States, the National Association of Water Companies lobbies congress and the EPA to block higher clean water standards, which it views as an unnecessary expense.

For all these reasons, communities are breaking contracts with corporations. The list of the disenchanted includes Laredo and Angleton, Texas; Felton, Stockton, and Santa Paula, Calif.; Buffalo, N.Y.; East Cleveland, Ohio; Bridgeport, Conn.; Rockland and Lynn, Mass.; and Milwaukee, Wis. A 2005 poll by an independent research company found that 86 percent of Americans support a national, long-term trust fund for water infrastructure. So do I. This solution would allow us to update aging community water systems, while keeping our drinking water securely in public hands.

Americans have a fundamental right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Clean affordable drinking water is essential to life; it too is an inalienable right.

“It’s fitting that we’ve found a way to reuse the butter,” said Scott E. Higgins, CEO for the American Dairy Association Mideast. “Dairy farmers are the original conservationists, recycling and reusing resources to protect the land, air and water.

“For example, water used to clean the milking parlor is often reused to clean feed alleys and then to irrigate fields, potentially recycling water two to three times on a dairy farm,” Higgins said.

The butter will be converted into fuel by using a chemical process MVNU currently uses to recycle vegetable oil from their catering service into biodiesel, which is then used to power their maintenance equipment.

MVNU’s biodiesel is currently powering a bus, a dump truck, all lawn/snow removal equipment, and diesel generators for their campus.

“Mount Vernon Nazarene University is excited to receive this year’s butter sculptures to transform them into biodiesel,” said Carrie A. Crouch, Director of Communications for Mount Vernon Nazarene University. “It’s a small way we can partner with the American Dairy Association Mideast to benefit the environment, while educating fairgoers about how biodiesel works and its great potential.

“Colleges and universities around the country have special opportunities, and the obligation, to partner with local organizations and events to make a similar impact,” Crouch said.

For more information, visit www.drink-milk.com or www.mnvu.edu.

Shadowbox Goes Green, Seeks Leed Certification For New Digs

Erica Gies is a freelance reporter whose work has been published by the International Herald Tribune, Wired News, Grist, E/The Environmental Magazine, and The San Francisco Bay Guardian. (C) Blue Ridge Press 2008

Butter to Biodiesel: State Fair Butter Cow Reused as Fuel

Now that the Ohio State Fair has come to a close, the butter cow continues to inspire Ohioans, but in a different way.

The sculpture sharing the display case with the butter cow this year was a Mount Rushmore-style depiction of the eight U.S. presidents from Ohio, reminding Ohioans of their importance in presidential elections past and present. Inspiring indeed and in that vein, the butter will continue to inspire by spreading the awareness of the importance of recycling and reusing as it’s converted into biodiesel.

The American Dairy Association Mideast is partnering with Mount Vernon Nazarene University (MVNU) who will turn the 2,500 pounds of butter used in the display into biodiesel, an eco-friendly alternative fuel that is cleaner and less expensive than fossil fuel diesel.

Shadowbox: the sketch comedy and rock ‘n’ roll is making an effort to become more environmentally conscious by “going green.” Following the initiative set in motion this summer by the Easton Town Center, Shadowbox has joined the recycling program for glass and plastic bottles, cardboard, aluminum, and paper.

“On a weekly basis we serve between 800 and 1000 patrons so a comprehensive recycling program like this one really makes a difference!” said Shadowbox general manager Katy Psenicka. “The impact that recycling has on the environment is significant, and we want to be a part of the charge for change.”

Shadowbox is, in part, using the opportunity to recycle at Easton as a training mechanism in preparation for their move back downtown in Fall 2009.

“Our new space in the Brewery District is being designed according to LEED approved guidelines (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design),” continued Psenicka.

The certification will verify that the building, located on the current Brewmaster’s Gate site at 495 S Front St, is environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy place to work.

“We recognize our responsibilities to the arts community.

Likewise, we embrace our responsibility to the environment,” said Psenicka.

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OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 15

THE EXAMINED LIFE

by Tom Moon, MFT

The Emotional Costs of Online Cruising In the current issue of Out magazine Los Angeles journalist Michael Joseph Gross offers a lengthy and thoughtful “cost benefit analysis” of our online “quest to get laid.” It’s getting a lot of attention and is remarkable for its honesty and insight.

Gross begins by acknowledging that “Online cruising has its place in gay society: Access to a satisfying number of Mr. Right Nows is part of the pleasure and the privilege of moving to the big city to be gay… If you are a single gay man in search of a mate, and if you are at times prone to discouragement, you probably have friends who reassure you that someday you will find a man who’ll cherish every part of you - even your weaknesses, even your flaws…

Who knows? You might even find a boyfriend there. If it’s true - and everybody says it’s true - that sex is the gay handshake, then one of these days maybe you’ll hit the jackpot.”

As a man who met my own husband online, I’d be the last to laugh at such hopes. Still, Gross argues, for all too many gay men, there’s a corrosive downside to online cruising. A steady diet of it, he believes, tends to foster a deep suspicion about oneself that too many of us already have in abundance, “the secret fear that, if we were truly known, we would never be loved.”

How does that happen? “For gay men seeking sex, as for all kinds of shoppers, the Internet removed constraints of space and time on access to the market - and at the same time offered an unprecedented range of products to choose from. Yet cruising, unlike shopping, requires a buyer to also make himself a seller.

And selling yourself online, unlike selling yourself in the meat markets of bars and clubs, requires you to create a sexy image that stands separate from your physical self. You must create, in other words, a pornographic version of yourself, a thing that represents you but is not you… ‘When we go online,’ says novelist Andrew Holleran, ‘we enter a world that amounts to ‘the nightmare that gay people always have just underneath the surface, the fear that, I’m just my dick. I’m just my body. I’m just my age. It reduces everybody to statistics. You’re presuming that nobody will love you for yourself, if you’re offering yourself as just a bunch of statistics.’ ” In this way, Gross argues, online cruising actually takes us further away from the intimacy, connectedness, and sense of belonging that we hoped to find there. His conclusions: “… perpetually settling for Mr. Right Now becomes a failure of hope. When you came out, you did it because you wanted something. Part

of what you wanted was sex, but part of what you hoped for was the possibility of being loved as your true self. And when, as often happens while cruising online, we diminish the hopes that drew us out of the closet, we reduce sexy to a purely physical act.

When we do these things we lie to ourselves — and worse, we tell the same lies that our enemies tell about us. The fundamentalist canard about loving the sinner but hating the sin draws a nonsensical distinction between person and act. Cruising online, by encouraging us to separate sex from the rest of our lives, does exactly the same thing. These are falsehoods about human nature and about the place of love in our lives, and they undermine the belief that sex can be anything more than a pastime. ”As a normative way of socializing for gay men, online cruising is a disaster. We need to recognize its effects - including its tendency to isolate us, encourage objectification, and diminish our sense of life’s nonsexual possibilities - as disasters. We need to recognize that too many of us, too much of the time, are cruising online because it is easier and feels safer than thinking about the love we are missing and the power we do not have.”

I quote at length from this article because

it’s an unusually frank discussion of issues which many gay men talk about with me in the privacy of the therapy hour, but which are rarely aired publicly, especially in gay mainstream magazines such as Out. At the same time, Gross’ critique is not really new: other writers before him, including Larry Kramer, Gabriel Rotello, and Michelangelo Signorile, offered similar critiques and tried to stimulate public examination of our sexual norms. Unfortunately, too often they were shouted down with ad hominem attacks: that they were homophobic, anti-sexual, hostile to freedom, traitorous, etc. Maybe Gross will be dismissed in the same way. On the other hand, as a people we are now more confident and aware of our power than at any previous time in our history. Perhaps we have matured enough that we now have the courage to be publicly self-reflective and self-critical in examining our own culture. We’ll see. The concerns he raises certainly merit serious discussion.

Tom Moon is a psychotherapist in San Francisco. His website is tommoon.net.

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16 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY

FEATURE STORY

by Mickey Weems

Hardcore Animal Sex We’ve all heard all the hype about “Gay animals.”

Gay penguins and swans have hit the news.

People online chat about their Gay pets. There is even a museum exhibit in Norway called “Against Nature?” that outs all kinds of species that were previously on the down low.

Are animals really Gay or Straight? How much of the hype is political posturing, outing animals to further our own Gay civil rights agenda? How much is a movement by religious homophobes who seek to drive the herds back into the closet so that Mother Nature and God the Father are on the same page?

Let’s go through the evidence. Here is a rough survey of real and imagined beast-on-beast action.

Myths of Gay and Straight Let me be clear: there is no such thing as Gay animals outside of the human race. Animals can be homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual, transsexual, transgender, and quite a few variations for which we don’t have names. But they cannot be Gay because that means they consciously choose membership in a community of like-minded homosexual, bisexual, transsexual, transgender animals. So far as we know, such communities are limited to humans.

Nevertheless, there are people who insist that animals are Straight. They believe that homosexuality is wrong because it is unnatural. Therefore, as God’s natural creatures, animals must be Straight.

But, if sex is one male-one female according to God’s plan (with some leeway for one male with multiple females, a popular fantasy for some Godfearing Straight men), then animals perform the most unnatural acts. Either God messed up, or homophobes are wrong about what She intended in the first place.

Perversions of nature When it comes to sex, gender and procreation, animals in nature exhibit a tremendous range of variation. They deserve to be called “wild.”

There are animals that are both male and female simultaneously (slug), animals that can AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

switch sexes (some frogs, fish and lizards), males that pretend to be females (cuttlefish), and females that eat the males during copulation (praying mantis). There are animals that can get themselves pregnant (whiptale lizard, aphid).

Some have orgies in conga lines (Japanese beetle). There are males with a real bone in their boner (walrus), and females with a phallic clitoris 7 inches long (hyena). The elephant penis can be 5 feet long, and testes of octopi are in their heads.

Red jungle fowl females have the ability to store sperm after sex with the option not to get pregnant if the donator is too closely related, while brown trout females can fake orgasm so that the male ejaculates prematurely, allowing the female to find a more suitable mate for her eggs when Mr. Not-So-Much is done.

Here are some really perverse sexual behaviors: hanging fly females will only mate if males give them an insect corpse to eat, which the females consume while having sex upside-down. Amazon river dolphins have nasal sex (penis inserted in the appropriately-named blow-hole on top of the head). Flatworms, which are both male and female, actually “sword-fight” with their twoheaded penises to see who impregnates whom.

Aphids are not homosexual, but they are neither heterosexual nor male most of the time. During spring and summer, only female aphids exist.

They get pregnant by themselves and carry pregnant fetuses. The mothers then give live birth to their pregnant daughters.

One species is made up of sexual athletes. Antechinus, a mousy marsupial, goes through a sexual marathon between one female and several males; each interaction with one male can last from 5 to 14 hours, after which the male drops dead from exhaustion. The females, however, are just fine. Next!

Bonobos, perhaps our nearest relatives, are communal sluts. They engage in constant sexual interactions between females and males, females and females, males and males, adults and infants, and close kinfolk. And speaking of keeping it in the family: all kinds of animals completely disregard the incest taboo.

Prostitution is not absent in the wild. The oldest profession may be a lot older than we thought.

Some penguin females will have sex outside of

their committed relationships with males who offer them pebbles for building their nests.

Monogamy exists in among wild animals. But it has variations: there is social monogamy where the couple lives together, sexual monogamy where they mate with each other exclusively, and genetic monogamy where only the sperm from a female’s chosen mate is used for the production of offspring, implying that the female may have other options for getting jiggy that don’t lead to procreation. Most socially monogamous animals are swingers. Sexual monogamy is rare. When we say that animals mate for life, more than likely they may choose to cohabitate for life with one partner without necessarily being sexually exclusive.

With regards to offspring, there are males that carry infants to term in their bodies (seahorse, pipefish, sea dragon), harems of males that raise the young for a dominant female that is much bigger than they are (the bronze-winged jacana, a tropical beach bird) and males that kill infants of females so that the females will have sex again sooner (lion). Male mice exude a scent that can cause pregnant females who are not impregnated by them to abort their fetuses.

So far as self-love, kangaroos, elephants, lions, vampire bats, bonobos (again), walrus, killer whales and deer masturbate. There are even reports of a porcupine using a stick as a dildo, unsatisfied ferret females using pebbles, and orangutans that fashion dildos out of wood and penis receptacles out of big leaves. Some birds will have sex with mounds of grass. Many primates stimulate their own nipples, and all kinds of male monkeys auto-fellate themselves.

Oral sex between two consenting creatures has its supporters. Hyenas have been known to lick each other’s genitals. Dwarf chimpanzee babies give each other oral sex.

Homosexuality runs rampant in God’s creation and with plenty of variations. There are animals with male and female populations that regularly engage in mutual erotic stimulation (dolphin).

Among bighorn sheep, the typical male engages in homo-sex (including penetration), but not with males that act like females. The American bison is homo on the range as well, at least the males, who engage in full courtship, mounting, and anal penetration. Seahorses, infamous for swinging

both ways, tend to be twice as likely to engage in female-female sex than male-male, as are bonobos (again), who engage in same-sex love supposedly as a means for establishing social stability. In terms of what we might call incestuous homosexual solidarity, male lion-brothers who rule over a harem of females will often have sex with each other to cement the bonds of brotherly loyalty. When different dolphin species meet and things get violent between males of each team, they may have a sex orgy amongst themselves to re-establish the peace.

Same-sex among animals also includes committed couples. Everyone’s heard of the penguin and black swan same-sex male partners. But there are also examples of committed female swan and western gull pairs. Black-headed gulls have a 10% rate of female-female couples that will have sex with males to get pregnant, and then raise the chick with their regular female sexual partner.

Homosexual penguins and flamingos have been known to adopt. The black-rumped flameback woodpecker has only been observed performing male-on-male sex, leading to the inevitable conclusion that male flameback homosexuality goes beak-in-beak with exhibitionism.

According to biologist Petter Boeckman, homosexuality is so pervasive that there have been no species that have been conclusively shown not to do it unless that species doesn’t engage in sex in the first place, such as sea urchins, aphids (at least part of the year), and corals (let’s add some sponges and jellyfish to the list).

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18 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY more ridiculous ad: No Moo Lies. It featured Sherman the Barking Basset Hound, who if he could talk, would tell you to vote against legalizing Gay marriage. It also spread the story of the same 2 male penguins in NYC, but added that one penguin went for a female and raised a baby with her, forsaking his “Gay lover.” This was to prove that Ex-Gay therapy works.

It also begs the question of why the 2 males hooked up to begin with if homosexuality was not found in nature, unless it was the fact that the penguins were in New York City and were so pummeled with faggy vibes all around they couldn’t help themselves.

I really want to know how the Ex-Gay people convinced the Ex-Gay male penguin to switch teams, and if he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Projections of “Gay” and “Straight” in Science The Birds and The Bees Our society tends to use animals to teach our kids about sex, romance and fidelity. We even use “the birds and the bees” as code for the basics of heterosexual sexual instruction, despite the fact that birds and bees’ sexual behavior is often completely inappropriate (or impossible) for humans.

We have movie after movie that portrays a pervasive fantasy we have of animals as being just like Straight people when it comes to sexual attraction, romance and family. Stories like The Lion King, Happy Feet, Finding Nemo, and Bee Movie teach children that only heterosexual behavior (and monogamy!) is natural. As a collection, these movies subtly bring home the message that incest and homosexuality among lions (and homosexuality among penguins), don’t exist. Likewise problematic are Finding Nemo and Bee Movie; parental love for hatched offspring is absent among clownfish (sex change, however, is present), and committed monogamy among heterosexual beecouples makes no sense since they all have hives.

We don’t stop at animals. We even have movies about the heteromantic lives of automobiles (Cars) and robots (Robots, WALL-E).

been nelly male cartoon creatures peeping out of the closet for years. Chip ‘n’ Dale, the cute effeminate chipmunk couple, have delighted generations of youngsters, as did the campiest queen in Cartoonland, the pink theatrical mountain lion Snagglepuss. Ren and Stimpy delighted the college kids of the nineties with their dark humor, but the bed-sharing “asthma-hound” chihuahua, and manx cat also taught us what a interspecies, abusive, homosexual relationship was all about. Lesbian characters for children have been conspicuously absent, with the possible exception of Bert and Ernie (how do you know for sure they’re male, hmmmm? They’re just stone butch).

Cartoon animals have been outed by fundamentalist Christian groups. Sponge Bob Square Pants was outed as Gay. As mentioned earlier (and reiterated by Bill O’Reilly, of all people), Sponge Bob is a sponge, which is indeed an animal (or more precisely, a colony of animals) but one that does not have sex. Queer Duck and his friends, however, outed themselves.

Barnyard Sex And Queered Cartoons By the time our children get to school, they have tons of un-learning to do. Unless they have enlightened parents, multiple pets at home, live on a farm, or come from same-sex households.

Most anyone who owns dogs has seen them hump each other or hump the legs of humans of the “wrong” gender. Among domesticated animals, homosexuality is par for the course.

Sheep, horses, camels, donkeys, cats, goats, pigs, and hamsters have been caught in the act.

Sometimes animals have suffered because their behaviors upset their owners. Male racehorses are still routinely punished for masturbation, which psychologically hurts the horse and may disrupt his ability to breed. Most of the time, however, animals are just ignored when they get off by themselves or with a same-sex partner. For many homophobic Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus etc., these daily reminders that same-sex acts are perfectly natural are casually dismissed without comment, thought or rationale.

Sexual displays notwithstanding, there have AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

Norman the Dog that Moos, created by BornDifferent.org, was used in a Gay-friendly ad, illustrating that some people and animals are born different, and further adding that some people and animals (including a male penguin couple in NYC) are born Gay. In itself it was a cute allegory, but basically flawed campaign that projected a human social construct onto non-human animals, and attached “Gay” onto every person who feels same-sex desire but identifies as Straight.

The associative out-and-proud Gay animal led homophobes to produce their own Straight Christian animal. Not wanting to be left out, Focus On The Family came up with its even

Scientists have kept animal homosexuality in the closet by not reporting it, or by calling it something else. The notion of sex as strictly a means for procreation was just as popular in scientific circles a few years ago as it was in fundamentalist religious circles. For the longest time, many scientists were every bit as homophobic as James Dobson.

Apparently, homosexuality among animals didn’t exist for many biologists because, well, it couldn’t. Some scientists went out of their way not to see homosexuality, even when it was happening before their very eyes. In studies of giraffes, scientists observing full maleto-male anal penetration would not classify that behavior as sex but rather as a territorial fight. Bonobo females copulating together wasn’t considered a sexual act but a greeting.

I guess they were really, really glad to see each other.

One reason given: scientists didn’t want to demean their beloved animals by portraying them as perverts.

For years, researchers on bonobos were reluctant to publish their results on this most sensuous of animals, which is also possibly the most peaceful of great apes. Researchers’ reluctance was not without reason, however.

We have seen in the last 8 years how science that disagrees with political agendas can get squashed. People wanting to work with bonobos and save them from extinction had to tread softly when it came to the animals’ ungodly sex habits for fear of having their funding cut by those who would rather see the whole species dead than have living proof their theological argument condemning homo-

sexuality as a sin against nature was complete bullshit.

This all changed with population studies of rats in the 1960s. Homosexuality was linked to overcrowding because researchers saw more of it among rats that were bred and forced to live in cramped quarters. The notion that homosexuals constituted a form of urban blight was established as scientific fact. Fags were a social evil, along with rising crime rates, pollution, street bums and crack babies.

Once homosexuality could be established among non-humans, but only as a kind of social pathology, then it could be given some grudging support. Bad as it was, this minor change in the heart of scientific darkness made room for other scientists to bring forth their observations of homosexuality in the wild without having their findings dismissed out of hand or getting fired.

But the biggest breakthrough was when scientists could entertain the idea that sex among animals was not necessarily for procreation but rather for pleasure.

As we can see from earlier paragraphs, sometimes animals just want to get off, plain and simple. But such behavior went against the teachings of one of science’s greatest and holiest prophets, Charles Darwin, no friend of fundamentalists until you brought up the homo in homo sapiens.

It took a long time for non-Bible-thumping scientists to accept homosexuality as natural, simply because they refused to believe sex that didn’t result in offspring could survive as a positive trait passed down from generation to generation. It had to be some kind of a defect.

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Legitimately Gay Animals

When Humans are Animals For a very long time, humans have identified some types of people as animals.

We call young people pups, young women chicks and birds (if we’re British). Motherly women are mother hens, old men are goats, and Congress is full of sheep.

Cool men and women are cats, overweight people are cows and whales, dedicated clubbers are barflies and lounge lizards, warmongers are hawks, peaceniks are doves, lawyers are wolves, piranhas, snakes, weasels and vultures. Tattlers are rats and stoolpigeons.

Democrats are donkeys, Republicans are elephants.

Hard workers are ants. Lazy people are grasshoppers. Marines are devil-dogs and Navy personnel are squids, unless they cross the equator and become Shellbacks. Imitators are copycats; they have also been enshrined in folk-speech with reference to another animal: “monkey see, monkey do.”

Many of us are born as Western zodiac animals: scorpions, fish, goat/fish, Half-horses, bulls, crabs, rams and lions. Our birth-identities in the Chinese zodiac are nothing but animals: rats, pigs, dogs, snakes, cocks/hens, rabbits, oxen, horses, sheep, tigers, monkeys and fabulous dragons.

We especially love to become animals with regards to sports teams, in which players and fans become Wolverines, Ducks, Beavers, Bulls, Junkyard Dogs, Huskies, Eagles, Panthers and Rams. Nevertheless, we identify some of our teams with particular human groups: Indians, Fighting Irish, Seminoles, Pirates and Vikings. But only one team is named after Gays: the Packers.

Human sex is rampant with animal names: cock/trouser snake/python for penis, starfish for sphincter, pussy/clam/beaver/snapper for vagina, fish for those with vaginas, bitch for vagina-bearers who don’t play nice, boor for rude penis-wielders, and sexist pig for boors who want to insult women by calling them fish and/or bitches. Sexual humans are given names reflecting their proclivities: cougar for older women who like younger men, chihuahua for younger women who like older men. sex kitten for sexy women, stud or buck for sexy men, dog for sexually irresponsible men, horse or stallion for well-endowed men with a hefty baby-arm. A man with bull balls is a real man, and most men spank their monkeys. Extremely sexually active people fuck like rabbits. Sexually exciting people are tigers in bed. Having sex with the receptive partner on all fours and the active partner coming in through the back door is doggy style.

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Animals may not be Gay, but Gays can be animals. Lesbians and masculine bottoms are bulls. Butch Lesbians and Gay men are studs.

Bitch is often a term of endearment between friends (bitch-as-honey is now catching on in the Straight world). Men can be bears, cubs and otters. Boys are chicken and men who like boys are chicken hawks. Traditional Chinese folk-speech calls homosexuals rabbits, and effeminate men might be labeled rooster-hens.

There is even a temple to the Rabbit God in Taiwan dedicated especially to Gay people. I don’t know of a rooster-hen temple, however.

Many Gay men use cock rings, which is not an arena for a cockfight (although cock rings could be used in preparation for a swordfight).

A fighting cock, by the way, was used in ancient Greece as a gift from one man to another to initiate a love affair.

Gay sex organs can also take on animal names, sometimes with a Gay twist. A pussy can be both a women’s vagina and the anus of a male bottom.

Sexual Diversity in Nature: Our Key to Gay Liberation Human obsession with identifying as animals is often a sign of our discomfort in this world. We just don’t seem to fit in with the rest of Creation, so we identify as animals as a way of naturalizing ourselves.

But we also take pride in not belonging - in being unique in the animal world - even to the point where we claim we are not animals.

To that end, we as Gay folks should be aware that homophobes will not stop when their Homosexuality-against-nature arguments fall apart before their eyes. They will simply shift their rhetoric from “Gay=unnatural” to “Gay=subhuman and beastly, not heavenly” once they get it through their thick skulls that nature in much more queer than they could ever imagine.

But in the long run, biological science is on our side. I believe our scientists have only scratched the surface on how diverse the natural world is. Our meager categories of Gay and Straight will not hold up much longer as absolute binaries. As we learn just how rich sexuality is expressed in the natural world, we have the opportunity to quit oversimplifying our own variations.

Knowledge is power, but wisdom is the key to liberation. Let’s argue wisely about homosexuality in nature, and not fall into that tired “Gay vs. Straight” game, a contest that ultimately serves those who want to make us disappear.

Hungry like a Wolf – Furries Unleashed

By Noka Davers Many of those out there who know me well, know I’m very open-minded when it comes to various fetishes, lifestyles, and orientations. I have friends in all walks of life who interweave their desires with their everyday lives, speaking openly about what their fetishes are or about, what used to be, a secret lifestyle considered taboo, and educating those around them who may be green about what is really involved.

I’ve seen most everything, from leather and hard-core kink, to transgender and genderqueer. I have, however, come across a lifestyle a few years back, that I have never fully understood until volunteering to do this article. I met my first, and only that I’m aware of, Furry through a friend of mine in Chicago over Thanksgiving dinner. So I contacted Taigitsune (derived of two Japanese words meaning tiger and kitsune), to pick his brain to get a perspective on a way of life I knew almost nothing about.

What I had originally thought was that Furries were merely people who have a fetish for wearing animal costumes. Though true, this is a very minute aspect of it all. The idea of furries, or anthropomorphic and trans-specied beings, has been around for centuries. From the Egyptian gods to those of the Roman and Greeks to Native American shamans with the ability to become their animal spirits, this lifestyle is not all that new. Furries also relate to their animal avatars in much of the same way as many cultures have and still do around the world.

“I realized I was furry sometime in high school, when I was hanging out with a friend and found some of the adult artwork on his computer. I was slightly confused, but very aroused as well. I realized I had already imagined some of the very same scenarios with my favorite anthropomorphic characters, so this was an extension of that,” elaborated Taigitsune. “Choosing a fursona (furry persona) is a lengthy process and involves a great deal of introspection and personal exploration,” he continues, “In most cases, a person’s chosen

fursona reflects their inner nature, and is a reflection of the subconscious.”

The culture of today has been gaining more and more notoriety since the early 80s, having been featured in Marie Claire and Vanity Fair, and on television in CSI and MTV’s Sex2K. People who identify with this lifestyle have been able to see themselves in a variety of media, and now with the dawn of the Internet, the world has become much smaller. Sites such as pounced.org offer personals much like other personal sites, with limited features. FurAffinity.net is a blog site with people posting their art, write their stories, and have forums to discuss the furry lifestyle. There are novels about furry fandom like the graphic novel Dog’s Days of Summer sold online. Publisher Paw Feather specializes in anthro ticking art where furry meets the kink of tickling. The resources are endless, and still continue to grow.

Yearly, all over the world, conventions are held in major cities. Hotels are transformed into a anthropomorphic playground, vendors set up to sell their artwork and other wares, and have areas where, if nature takes them, are able to openly play in whatever way animals may do when letting out the wild side. A convention known as Further Confusion holds it’s fest every January in San Jose, CA, and is now in its tenth year offering events, art shows, forums, stores, and guest speakers. It is also the first to be sponsored by Anthropomorphic Arts and Education, Inc. AAE is “a none profit corporation that supports education and charitable activities of interest to fans of anthropomorphic art and animals in general.”

Furries are simply those who feel their spirits are, at least in part, that of another species.

The term itself, again, is an umbrella for a variety of different practices, types, and reasons one identifies with the lifestyle. One point I would like to make clear, the practice does not include bestiality. There is, admittedly, a very small, and extremely frowned upon, group who participate in this act, but I want to stress this is not common among the vast majority.

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DEEP INSIDE HOLLYWOOD

by Romeo San Vicente

SARAH JESSICA PARKER COLLECTS ART IN THE CITY

THE L WORD SPINS OFF... BUT TO WHERE?

GORE VIDAL SEES A SHRINK

TV’S FINAL FRONTIER: THE GAY CAR

Visual artists spend long periods of time in solitary contemplation creating their work, seeking no outside opinions save for their muse. Until now. In the spirit of commerce-meeting-artmeeting-reality competition shows - a TV fever that has turned every single aspect of human existence into marketable skills honed through a series of judged challenges, each striver sent packing one by one with a cute (or annoying) catchphrase - comes the Sarah Jessica Parkercreated Bravo series American Artist. That’s right - the next household name to spring from the tiny, esoteric world of contemporary art is going to be found on cable television after creating meaningful, lasting work from items found while blindfolded and let loose in PetSmart. OK, enough sarcasm. It’s Sarah Jessica Parker’s world; the gays just live in it. We’ll watch.

Bittersweet days are ahead for Romeo... er, for rabid fans of The L Word. The final season - and a cruelly truncated, eight-episode miniseason at that - approaches in January 2009.

And then that’s it. A future of Dana and Dawn Denbo on DVD, at best, seems to await the faithful. But now there’s a new hope on the horizon. Co-creator Ilene Chaiken is at work on a spin-off series that will follow one of the characters as she embarks on a new chapter in life. No other details are known at this time, especially not the identity of the new show’s star. But strong contenders would seem to be bold, mouthy Alice (Leisha Hailey) or womanizing heartthrob Shane (Katherine Moennig), but don’t discount sophisticated Type-A Bette (Jennifer Beals) or superdiva Jenny (Mia Kirshner). No matter who it is, the flock will surely follow.

He’s outlived his peers and even some people from younger generations. He’s written iconic novels like Myra Breckinridge and films such as Suddenly Last Summer. He’s openly gay, often irascibly so, and at 82 he hasn’t seen fit to retire from life yet, so it’s fitting that Gore Vidal has taken on a small role in the latest film from producer Kevin Spacey, Shrink. Also starring Spacey and gay actor Dallas Roberts (The L Word), it’s the story of a Los Angeles psychiatrist who becomes a pothead in order to cope with personal tragedy.

No word, really, on who Vidal’s character is, but it would be kind of cool if he played the thugged-out dope dealer, wouldn’t it? Unless it’s not a comedy. Then it would be somewhat inappropriate. Watch for this one to get small on the big screen in 2009.

If you were a kid in the 1980s, you probably watched Knight Rider, the show about David Hasselhoff and the talking Trans Am with superpowers named KITT. And now that you’re all grown up, the concept’s been rebooted for this fall’s TV season. The new series comes complete with a hot young cast, a more tech-advanced car that can go into transforming attack mode, and... a sexual orientation? Well, probably not. But in recent interviews, the series’ creators have joked about KITT being gay, thanks to their own childhood ideas about the original KITT’s snooty, know-it-all, diva-like behavior. And Val Kilmer, who played a gay guy in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, is the new KITT’s voice, so here’s hoping he throws a little gay accent our way.

Romeo San Vicente cared less about the Trans Am and more about the moments when Hasselhoff would take off his shirt. He can be reached care of this publication or at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com.

ARTS UPPER ARLINGTON LABOR DAY ARTS FESTIVAL: GO GREEN AND PEDAL YOUR WAY TO THE FESTIVAL This Labor Day consider going green and ride your bike to the 42nd Upper Arlington Labor Day Arts Festival, Central Ohio’s premier one-day blind-juried arts festival showcasing nearly 200 fine art and fine craft artists from all over the country in a free alfresco interactive art space on Monday September 1, 2008. This year the festival will feature Pedal Instead, a free valet bicycle parking service in the southeast area of the festival.

Presented by the City of Upper Arlington’s Cultural Arts Division, the festival is held in Northam Park, 2070 Northam Road, from 10a-5p.

In a park close to home pedal your way to encounter the arts through artists’ displays, hands-on art activities for children and adults, performing arts and culinary fare for all. Pedal Instead offered at the festival this year, is on loan from Columbus Recreation and AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

Parks as part of a larger program under Mayor Michael Coleman’s Get Green Columbus initiative. Park bicycles in a free fenced bike corral on sturdy bike racks managed by festival volunteers.

Annually the festival draws more than 20,000 people from all over to enjoy the variety of fine art and fine crafts from all over the country and Canada displaying, selling and demonstrating their wares. This event is made possible in part through the efforts of City staff and nearly 200 volunteers. Representing 20 different mediums including ceramics, drawing, fiber, jewelry, painting, glass, sculpture, photography and wood, the festival variety invites art enthusiasts and patrons to explore the arts in a neighborhood setting.

Children and adults enjoy local and regional performers at the Art Activities Stage featuring

interactive music and performances. Create your own works of art through an offering of hands-on art activities in the Art Activities Area for children and adults, such as mural painting, fiber arts, sculpture, bookmaking, face-painting, interactive theatre, drumming, installation, clay wheel demonstrations, and glass bead-making. The main Performance Stage features a variety of local and regional performers. Satisfy your taste buds by enjoying a variety of refreshments from local food vendors available

throughout the festival site.

Celebrate the tradition of the arts in Upper Arlington and enjoy your Labor Day with us at the Upper Arlington Labor Day Arts Festival. To learn more about the Festival visit the Upper Arlington Labor Day Arts Festival Web section at www.ua-ohio.net, or call 614.583.5310.

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FILM

Holding Trevor

by Gregg Shapiro According to cute gay 20-something Trevor (Brent Gorski, who also wrote the screenplay), everybody’s looking for something, someone. But Trevor tends to find himself in the spaces in between. One of those spaces in which he finds himself is on the outside of a locked bathroom door, behind which his junkie boyfriend Darrell (Christopher Wyllie) has just OD’d. At the hospital, after Darrell is stabilized and Trevor speaks tersely to the ER doc, he takes off for the solace of a drivethru car wash where he can scream at the top of his lungs without being heard.

While Trevor, who works at an answering service, contemplates whether or not people can change, he picks up musician pal Jake (Shortbus alum Jay Brannan) from the airport. Jake has come to L.A. to record his CD. He spends a lot of time hanging out with Trevor and Trevor’s roommate seamstress Andie (Melissa Searing). In the mean time, Daryl is out of the hospital and on methadone, and doing his best to get back in Trevor’s good graces.

Jake drags Trevor to a party that neither is keen on attending. But while there, Trevor meets handsome Ephram (Eli Kranski), who as it turns out, was the ER doc to whom Trevor was kind of rude following Darrell’s hospital visit. Trevor and Ephram hit it off and spend the rest of the night together.

Back at Trevor and Andie’s, Jake is crashed out on the couch in a tiara. After a night of heavy drinking, Andie, who hadn’t

Tropic Thunder

by Adam Lippe The big-budget Hollywood satire is more than just an oxymoron, the concept is simply bewildering.

How could a $90 million movie, distributed by Dreamworks, a company co-founded by Steven Spielberg and owned by Viacom, be hard on “the business?” The answer is, it can’t. And therefore, Tropic Thunder is a very broad and obvious satire with jokes at easy targets and previously established pariahs (spoiled, arrogant, and oblivious actors, domineering and abusive producers, Vietnam movies, films made for the sole purpose of being Oscar bait). But that doesn’t mean it isn’t extremely funny.

Normally, a movie with Ben Stiller would have him playing one of two different types of roles: the AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

patsy who is repeatedly embarrassed while he stammers to try to explain the logic of a situation amid plentiful slapstick, or the idiotic, angry, haughty primadonna. Tropic Thunder gives him an opportunity to do more of the latter as an actor, and mock the former as a writer/director.

Opening with a barrage of hilarious faux trailers, which establish the four main characters (Jack Black as a fart movie king, Stiller as a fading action hero, Robert Downey Jr. as the prestigious, serious “film” actor, Brandon T. Jackson as a rap entrepreneur/sell-out, hocking an “Urban” energy drink), Tropic Thunder scatters off in numerous directions, mocking whatever it can. That generally would make the movie rather unfocused and rambling, and slow the pacing down to a crawl. But, though the movie is long and unfocused, the surprise is how much energy it maintains. Robert Downey Jr. is especially great as the classy actor who underwent racial reassignment to portray a black character, and takes the notion of staying in character to a ridiculous extreme. “I don’t break character till after the DVD commentary.” He also has one of the film’s highlights, explaining to Stiller, that if you want to win the awards when playing a mentally challenged person, you have to allow the audience to relate to you, and “never go full retard.” On top of that, Downey Jr. has seemingly hundreds of mumbled, improvised bits, all of which are funny. The TV ad suggests that the movie might be one-note - actors who think they are in a war film being deliberately thrown into real conflict - and really, it is. But the fact that it sustains that idea, and continuously expands upon it, is more than just a minor miracle.

hooked up with anyone for a while, wakes up next to a naked man in her bed. Having no memory of how he got there or what occurred while he was there, she quickly ushers him out of the house. Trevor passes the guy on the sidewalk on his way home from his night with Ephram.

Darrell’s recovery winds up being shortlived. When Trevor catches Darrell and his dealer in his car, Trevor cuts Darrell off.

Meanwhile, Trevor and Ephram’s relationship continues to heat up and they have sex.

Shortly thereafter, Jake asks Trevor to accompany him when he goes to get a quick response HIV test. Andie joins them and all three are tested. Trevor and Jake test negative, but Andie’s test results come up positive. She keeps the news to herself.

After Darrell crashes a party and makes quite a scene at Trevor and Andie’s because Trevor won’t return his calls, Ephram questions whether Trevor is in a position to begin a new relationship. Self-involved Trevor is completely oblivious to the fact he is not the only one going through a difficult time which leads him to have a verbal blowout with Andie.

Andie and Trevor make up, but she still doesn’t tell him what she’s going through.

And Trevor and Ephram have another date, which goes well until Ephram tells him that he’s falling in love with him. Trevor takes a big step in finally ending his relationship with Darrell once and for all, symbolized by

Vicky Christina Barcelona

by Adam Lippe B-movie legend Bruce Campbell said in his autobiography If Chins Could Kill, that he was more than happy to take a role in the expensive, dreadful, Michael Crichton adaptation Congo, because it meant he’d get a free trip to Africa. Watching Woody Allen’s new film (once again, shot in his typical brown-vision) Vicky Christina Barcelona, one might easily assume that a lot of the actors took their roles to visit Spain for free. The familiar beats of Allen’s films kick in, the simple credits, the gentle music, the intrusive voiceover explaining all of the character motivations, the older couple seeing their missed opportunities through curious, younger characters, who suspiciously talk like neurotic 70year-old men.

Things get even more depressing when Scarlet Johansson shows up (Christina). Allen’s recent muse, who along with her engaged and pretentious

him tearing up a photo of Darrell into tiny pieces.

During a concert performance by Jake in a club, Ephram calls from the hospital to tell Trevor that Darrell died of a drug overdose.

Soon after, Ephram tells Trevor of a job offer in NYC and that he wants him to move there with him. Of course, following Trevor telling Andie and Jake about his possible relocation to New York with Ephram, Andie reveals her secret to him. Will Trevor move away with Ephram and begin a new life with him on the East Coast? Or will he stay in L.A. with his small circle of friends?

Gorski has a decent knack for dialogue, and capturing the way his generation speaks, whether it’s between friends or lovers. Gorski, Brannan and Kranski give the most convincing performances and become the kinds of characters the audience might not mind having as acquaintances. As contemporary gay romances go, Holding Trevor will probably have no trouble holding the audience’s attention.

Holding Trevor is playing at Drexel East Theatre in Bexley, Showtimes for Fri, Aug 22 Thu, Aug 28 are: Fri-Sun 2p, 5:30p, 7:45p, 9:50p; Mon,Tue, Thu 5:30p, 7:40p, 9:45p, Wed 2p, 5:30p, 7:40p, 9:45p; $8.50 evening adm; $6.50 Seniors and Students; $6.50 all performances prior to 6p and $5 all seats Mondays and all seats for Seniors on Weds.

friend, Rebecca Hall (Vicki, who was clearly cast for her sisterly resemblance to Johansson), take a summer trip to Barcelona (see? a confusingly muddled title made obvious). Johansson, a thoroughly onenote actress, has, with her pouty-lipped blank stare and helium balloon voice, ruined two previous Allen films, Match Point and Scoop. The blurbs that have been appearing in the TV ads say that VCB is Woody’s “best film in the last 20 years.” But the ads are a complete misdirection. Other than the schticky Bullets Over Broadway and Deconstructing Harry, Allen’s output has been completely dreadful, nearly erasing the memory of Manhattan, Zelig, and Annie Hall - making the critical fellatio he continuously still receives a rather large mystery.

However, Vicki Christina Barecelona may begin as a whiny travelogue and develop into the predictable foreign-older-man-seduces-youngerwomen-with-his-artistry-and-knowledge-of-local-c ulture (man played by the wonderful Javier Bardem), but by the time the film turns into musical copulation it has developed into something entirely different. The tiresome one-liners disappear (though not completely, some great ones remain, “what do you want in life, besides a man with the right shorts?”), and something more mature develops - an exploration of contentious relationships, including attempts at a functional threesome.

While Allen’s answers are rather pat (any dissatisfaction is your own, compromise is life’s most important ingredient), this is the rare PG-13 film (there is copious sex, but there is some bothersome photographic censorship) made for adults, that isn’t entirely insulting.

OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 25

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AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

26 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY

AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 27

PUCKER UP

by Tristan Taormino

Straight Men Who Have Sex With Men Inside the secret world of the straight guise Once again, a female singer has a hit song called “I Kissed A Girl”; I saw Katy Perry perform it on network television the other night.

As she danced around in her cute yellow dress, I thought: “Wow, singing about lesbian smooching was pretty racy when Jill Sobule did it - same title and subject, different and better song - in 1995 on MTV.” Now it’s ready for prime time? Well, it’s been almost 15 years.

Plus, the whole idea isn’t that threatening anymore. If a straight woman confesses she’s messed around with another woman - even had full-blown sex with her - most people are quick to shrug it off. She was drunk. She’s experimenting. At most, maybe this means she’s bi-curious. But it’s no big deal. Women have a lot more leeway to explore their sexuality with other women without questioning their orientation or setting any alarms off. On the other hand, society doesn’t make room for men to do the same. Can you imagine the flip side of this scenario? No, I don’t mean Bon Jovi topping the charts with a new rock anthem called “I Made Out With a Guy.” Let’s say one of your male friends confesses: “I was at the club last night with Bob. The music was pounding, I had a few shots, and his hair just looked so good, so we made out, and I jerked him off in the bathroom.” For most people, there’s really only one response: “Dude, you’re gay.” Maybe, but maybe not. According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than three million men who self-identify as straight secretly have sex with other men. Although there’s been some mainstream dialogue about African-American men

who have sex with men “on the down-low,” there hasn’t been much talk about white guys who do it. And there are plenty of them out there. Take a brief scroll through one day’s worth of “Men Seeking Men” posts on New York City’s Craigslist, and you’ll find dozens of listings like “Str8 Guy Needs Great Cocksucker” or “Handsome Masculine Married Irish Guy Seeks One or Two Hung Married Irish Buddies Who Want Head and Maybe More.” From the superbrief to the incredibly detailed, some posts offer interesting explanations: Though I have always been hetero, I also have had a fantasy to anonymously suck cock and swallow his cum.

I am a married white male forty-six, six-one, one-ninety - a goodlooking, successful, Ivy-educated guy who finds himself in town alone this week. Not interested in changing my life in any major way, but do feel the occasional need to deal with this side of my nature.

I am married . . . looking to provide no reciprocation needed or wanted oral service for VERY masculine, verbal straight/bi/straight acting men. My clothes do not even have to come off. This is about YOUR pleasure . . . not mine.

These examples articulate some of the reasons why heterosexual men get it on with other men: for anonymous, no-strings-attached sex; to explore homoerotic desire without a gay identity or relationship; or to fulfill a fantasy, including one of dominance and submission.

“When these straight men have sex with other men, it is not about an attraction to the

other man - it is about an attraction to the sex act,” says Joe Kort (joekort.com), a licensed therapist in Michigan. “When asked about what they enjoy, it is never the actual man, but instead his body parts, the sexual behavior they engage in.” Many of Kort’s clients (who are overwhelmingly white) are straight men who have sex with other men (SMSM). He’s even created Straight Guise (straightguise.com), a website dedicated to the subject. He cites dozens of explanations for SMSM behavior: “Some have been sexually abused and are compulsively re-enacting childhood sexual trauma by male perpetrators; some have sex with men because it’s easier and requires fewer social skills than those required to have sex with women; some are ‘gay for pay’; some like the attention they receive from other men; some like anal sex, which they’re otherwise too ashamed to talk about or engage in with their female partners.” He acknowledges that some of these men may be bisexual or closeted gay men, but in his experience in treating clients over an extended period, many of them are not. He believes that when it comes to sex, identity and orientation, preferences, fantasies, and behavior do not always neatly line up in one category. More often, they are complex and even contradictory.

Mike, whom I found on a personals website, is 44, married, and works on Wall Street. He has been having sex with men for four years, and says he likes the closeness and the male bonding. Plus, “It’s just less complicated than with women. We’re both there for sex, and

that’s it.” John, 35, also works in finance, identifies as straight, and is dating several women. But he mostly enjoys getting blowjobs from men: “There are less emotional complications for me. Many men will do things some women will not, and many men give better oral sex. I think men will exercise their hunger for sex and not deny that they are horny more so than women. They feel comfortable sexually bonding.” Both men admit that their female partners don’t know about their behavior; in fact, their families and friends don’t know.

Unlike some psychology professionals who want to pathologize these men, treat them for sexual addiction, or “cure them” of homosexuality, Kort approaches his clients without an agenda. He also unpacks some of the cultural baggage that contributes to this phenomenon: “They are interested in the sexual contact with other men. They are working through issues of father hunger, lack of touch from other males, and the need for contact with other men on deeper levels that women enjoy with each other and men do not. Some of these men tell me they meet other men and really just want to be held and talk to the other men, but that the men they meet want it to be sexual, so they go through with it but really don’t want to. Ironically, since men are not allowed to touch - except for a pat on the butt in sports - they use the sexual realm to find ways to touch each other and receive touch.”

Please visit my websites, puckerup.com and openingup.net

AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

28 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY

AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 29

SAVAGE LOVE

by Dan Savage

I have a cousin with whom I am very close.

He recently proposed to his girlfriend. I have several issues with this, but the most important one is the fact that EVERYONE who meets this young man thinks he’s gay. (I don’t know how the girlfriend hasn’t seen it.) When I told my friends he was engaged, their jaws dropped. Everyone said, “But he’s gay!” He’s admitted to me that he did “play for the other team” in college and every once in a while he mentions that he has a “man crush” on soand-so. I’ve been out with him, and gay men will comment on how handsome he is, how they’re sure he’s gay, etc. I love him to death and I don’t care one bit that he may be gay.

I’m curious what you think. Was “playing for the other team” just a phase? I don’t think so. Unfortunately, I think he’s just trying to “fit in.” My brother and I think he will end up getting divorced or be completely miserable for the rest of his life. This is his first serious girlfriend and the first girl he’s lived with. Should I take my boyfriend’s advice and just butt out? Thanks.

A Concerned Kousin Yes, yes: Butt the fuck out - right after you speak your piece to your cousin, and right after you’ve slipped his fiancée the URL for the Straight Spouse Network’s website (www.straightspouse.org) and copies of former New Jersey governor Jim “I’m a Batshitcrazy Gay American” McGreevey and his ex-wife’s dueling memoirs.

As for “playing for the other team” at college, ACK, that can indeed be just a phase but for women, not men. Heterosexual and homosexual women, if legit scientific research is to be believed, “tend to become sexually aroused by both male and female erotica, and, thus, have a bisexual arousal pattern,” according to the results of 2003 study conducted at LUG-infested Northwestern University. Men, on the other hand, prefer erotica that plays exclusively to their professed sexual orientation.

Which means, of course, that female sexuality is a fluid and male sexuality is a solid. Or something.

And ladies? Pointing out your fluid sexuality isn’t an insult. It’s a compliment - hell, it’s a freakin’ superpower.

As for the girlfriend’s inability to “see it,” there’s always a chance that she has seen it, ACK, really seen it. We do have to entertain the possibility that the girlfriend has seen her fiancé, your cousin, with a cock in his mouth and

dug it. There’s a chance she could be one of those women who likes gay porn so much that marrying a mostly gay or even an entirely gay person represents the fulfillment of a dream.

Oh, and speaking of the mostly gays…

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston claim to have found the “Achilles’ heel” of the virus that causes AIDS. Their discovery could lead to new and more effective drugs and treatments.

Or, you know, not.

We’ve been down this road before - HIV’s Achilles’ heel located, targeted, hopes raised, and then… it’s back to the ol’ drawing board.

So let’s not run out and stick our asses in the air just yet, boys. And remember: Even if we do one day have a vaccine or a cure for HIV, re-creating the gay communal-sewer sex culture of the 1970s is a Very Bad Idea. One important take-away lesson - one of the top lessons - of the AIDS epidemic should be this: Given the right conditions, new sexually transmitted infections can emerge and kill you and all your friends.

Remember, kids: Straight people should have more sex (and more sex partners) than they do; gay people should have less sex (and fewer sex partners) than we can. Balance, balance, balance - oh, and anal sex is not a first-date activity; use condoms for anal sex with casual partners to protect yourself from HIV and other STIs, known and unknown; and lower your inhibitions the old-fashioned way (therapy and beer) and stay the fuck away from meth and meth users.

I put a profile on an online dating site some time ago when my job moved me to Florida and I didn’t know anybody down here, but I soon forgot about it. Recently, a girl contacted me via that old personal ad, we exchanged pictures, and she told me she was overweight. In the pictures she didn’t look that big and I chalked her comments up to female insecurity. Less than an hour ago we met for the first time and she was huge. I told her as politely as possible that I felt her pictures were misleading, that she was bigger than I expected, and that I didn’t think it would work. I felt (and still feel) like total shit.

Dan, help me. Am I a bad person for this? I want to go slam my head in a car door!

Sending out misleading photos is a no-no, FATSO, precisely because it leads to hurt feelings on all sides. Misleading photos are unfair to the person misled - it places the person in an awkward position - and sets the sender up for emotionally devastating rejections.

So long as you were polite and direct - and I’m taking your word for that, FATSO - you’re not a bad person even if her feelings were hurt.

There are men out there who are open to big women or into big women - the bigger the better - and she can avoid hurt feelings in the future by e-mailing accurate photos and attracting the attention of men who actually find her attractive.

A Note to My Readers: Half the mail at Savage Love HQ now arrives with qualifiers like this one: “I’d appreciate receiving your advice via e-mail. Please do not print this in your column. Thanks. :)” The person who wrote the above at least had the decency to include it at the start of his letter. (And the indecency to use an emoticon.) It’s extremely annoying to read a long, involved letter about a fucked-up, complicated problem and - after composing a little advice in my head, or looking up some stuff, or sending a query to the appropriate expert - stumble across a “don’t print this!” in a P.S. I don’t mean to be bitchy (that comes naturally), and I frequently write folks back who ask for a little private advice, but come on, people.

I’m an advice columnist, not a therapist in private practice. My e-mail address is at the bottom of the column to solicit questions for future columns, not because I need something to do in my nonexistent free time.

Sometimes I do feel an urge to offer advice to fuck-ups with messy personal lives outside of the context of the column or the podcast. But that’s what family reunions are for. But what the hell: Confidential to Rick in Austin: It is indeed rare for two men to meet and fall in love while each is banging half of a pair of male twins.

(Or were you sleeping with two different pairs of twins who shared an apartment when you took that fateful trip to the bathroom? It’s unclear from your letter.) And, no, having a Hare Krishna brother shouldn’t impact your love life, karma-wise, any more than having an English professor brother has impacted mine, classicsof-American-literature-wise. You’re welcome.

Fretting About Traumatic Situation Obsessively

Download the Savage Lovecast (my weekly podcast) every Tuesday at www.thestranger.com/savage. mail@savagelove.net

AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

30 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY

ABOUT TOWN

NEW MUSEUM SHOP AT OHIO STATEHOUSE

NOW OPEN FOR BUSINESS Senator Richard Finan, Chairman of the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board (CSRAB) along with Senate President Bill Harris, Capitol Square Foundation Board President Charles Moses, CSRAB Executive Director William Carleton, CSRAB Board members Neal Zimmers and Tom Fries and Museum Shop Manager Becky Wildman officially opened the newly constructed Statehouse Museum Shop today. The “gate opening” ceremony was attended by more than 150 visitors who were on hand to witness the event. Today’s grand opening festivities included door prizes, product sampling and special discounts. The first 150 visitors also received a commemorative desk pencil holder.

“Today’s opening is a major step towards the completion of the new 15,000 square foot Museum scheduled to open in June 2009,” said Richard Finan, Chairman of the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board. “This event marks the first real visible sign of the construction of the new Ohio Statehouse Museum which will enhance the visitors experience at the Statehouse for years to come.” Phase two of the Museum construction is scheduled to begin early next month and will prepare the former Museum shop space for new exhibits. The new interactive, hands-on exhibits will challenge visitors’ knowledge about Ohio history and the workings of state government and equip them to more fully participate as citizens. When the Ohio Statehouse Museum opens next June, it will be an exceptional resource for all Ohioans - but especially our young people. The Capitol Square Foundation is raising funds for the Enriching the Experience capital campaign.

Hilferty and Associates, an accomplished design firm based in Athens, Ohio, completed the interpretive conceptual plan for the

new Ohio Statehouse Museum.

The brand new 1,440 square foot Museum Shop showroom is located on the ground floor of the Statehouse and provides a unique, visually pleasing shopping experience, and offers a variety of Ohio themed gifts and souvenirs. The Museum Shop specializes in unique gifts with an Ohio or political theme. Most gifts are made by Ohio artists or businesses, and many items are exclusive to the Museum Shop. Gifts range from wine and pottery to lapel pins and clothing. The Museum Shop has the perfect gift no matter what the occasion!

During the event, Finan expressed his appreciation to various groups responsible for today’s Museum Shop opening by saying, “we are extremely appreciative to the support from the Ohio General Assembly, Governor Strickland, all of our generous supporters and all of you for making this grand opening possible.”

The former Statehouse Museum Shop will hold a liquidation sale from 10a - 2p, August 18 - 23.

The new Museum Shop will be open Monday through Friday from 9a - 5:30p and on Saturday from 12p - 4:30p. The Museum Shop will be open on Sunday from 12p-4p through Labor Day weekend and closed during all holidays.

The Ohio Statehouse Museum Shop’s Web site, www.statehouseshop.com, will continue to serve as an online resource for purchasing gifts and souvenirs. The secure Web site features a consumer friendly interface, Internet specials and easy product purchasing navigation. The site serves as a one-stop-shop for customers who want to take advantage of all of the Shop’s products.

COLUMBUS NEXT MEETING: SEP 10, 6P-8P; LOCATION: CLUB DIVERSITY ; SPEAKER: PEG BUEHRI OF ACTION COACH AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008

WWW.NETWORKCOLUMBUS.COM

OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 31

fin

THE LAST WORD

by Jennifer Vanasco

How do we decide what’s a gay issue?

My colleague Jon has a question: How do we decide what’s a gay issue? Why marriage and not poverty? Why the military and not the death penalty?

It’s a good time to be strategic about this, because I believe that we are close to winning our main issues.

It’s a good bet that the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell military ban will be removed quickly in the next administration. Legal marriage in California and Massachusetts will be followed by New York and will continue to roll through other states (though like ending miscegenation laws, ending the gay marriage ban in Alabama may take another 50 years). HIV/AIDS will always remain important to our community, but with so many international resources being used to fight the disease now, it makes sense to use scarce LGBT activist resources for other projects.

And that is the key – scarce resources, which is why we have to be strategic. There is limited money, of course, but there is also a limited number of activists and organizations, and a limited amount of attention that the public and mainstream media will pay to our issues.

Already there has been some shifting. We are seeing more emphasis on adoption, equal divorce and the rights of the elderly, for example.

And there is always the call from progressive activists to broaden our scope to more general issues like poverty and the death penalty.

My friend Jon suggests that the death penalty is a natural fit for gay activists, because historically, GLBTs were seen as criminals (and still are internationally, where the punishment for being

gay can be death).

I think that’s interesting, and may be right. A presidential election year isn’t the right time to be broadening our scope – especially since we are so close to making substantial progress on our core issues.

But I do think it’s the right time to have a national LGBT discussion to develop a framework to decide which issues we will coalesce around and which we will leave other organizations to handle.

Some issues are obvious: we need to have gay divorce laws in states that don’t recognize gay marriages, so that couples can dissolve their unions when they need to, and so that they can enter into new ones if they wish without being bigamists.

We need to pass an inclusive law against employment discrimination.

We need to continue to those in charge of medical care, elder care, the prison system and others about the needs and myths of the LGBT population.

Maybe these obvious issues can help us decide how to best direct our dollars by helping us to see what our values are. They all include commonalities that go to who we are at our heart, and what we want.

We want to be treated equally. We want the same basic rights as all Americans. That means that we want parity in employment across all sectors (including religious and military); we want parity in the laws governing our relationships and our families (marriage, divorce, adoption, immigration, tax laws); and we want equal

attention and resources devoted to our health concerns.

Though there are no special rights, LGBTs do have special needs that we want addressed, just as all populations have their own distinct needs.

We want our deep history to be recognized and our leaders to be celebrated. We are a group that is more likely to be targeted for violence and bullying, and we want law enforcement and legislation to help protect us.

We want to be protected, too, when we’re very young, very old or very sick, as that is when we are most vulnerable. We want to be able to enjoy the pursuit of happiness, which includes romantic relationships and families, without being castigated for what we are pursuing. We want to be treated, in short, with the dignity and respect that should be accorded all persons everywhere but often is not.

By judging each possible new issue against our core values, we can better decide whether our community will be able to rally the resources it will take to make progress.

So – the death penalty? Only if we can show that gays are more likely to be condemned to death because they are gay (which means we should absolutely be fighting it in certain countries abroad).

Poverty? Maybe, if we can show that LGBTs are treated badly in our social service organizations (most clearly seen in homelessness, when queer people are denied space or are targets of violence), or if employment discrimination is keeping us from holding down jobs we are qualified for.

We live in exciting days. The world is changing and day by day we are winning equality. Let’s develop a strategy that will keep us moving forward in the decades to come.

Jennifer Vanasco is an award-winning, syndicated columnist. Email her at jennifer.vanasco@gmail.com.

HOROSCOPES

by Jack Fertig

LEO (Jul 23 - Aug 22): When the going gets tough, the tough get fabulous. Even - no, especially - when times are tight, you can rise to any creative challenge and show the world what you’re made of.

Avoid financial risks, but take on any creative gamble!

SCORPIO (Oct 23 - Nov 21): Your sense of what’s important is suddenly rather acute, making you especially critical of your friends. Politicians are a natural, easy, and much safer target. Still, politics is what you make of it. What are you doing to improve the situation?

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 - Feb 18): It’s a great time to develop sexual techniques, but that may leave you wondering, “Is that all there is?” Where is the heart connection? Consider what - and whom you’d like to be doing in bed 10 to 20 years from now.

TAURUS (Apr 20 - May 20): Simple fun and games can get quite complicated and messy. Innocent pleasures can quickly lose their innocence. Erotic scrapbooking?

Strip backgammon? The naughtiness isn’t bad; it just might require some mental and prophylactic preparation.

VIRGO (Aug 23 - Sep 22): What problems do you want to blame on your parents? They gave you tools they thought would help. They may have been wrong, but it’s your job to decide how to use those tools and take responsibility for yourself.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 - Dec 20): What you’re aching to tell the boss could just cause you more pain. If only your tact were as brilliant as your observations!

Make sure that frank and critical discussions will indeed be welcome before you embark on them.

PISCES (Feb 19 - Mar 19): Between you and your partner, who’s the boss - and in what situations? You really can’t hold back on your complaints - let them out honestly and fairly so you can resolve them. Single? Stay that way for now!

GEMINI (May 21 - Jun 20): Any two people will have different attitudes and standards about housekeeping. The slightest differences can get exaggerated into huge problems, but it’s all just an overblown spat. Let it go! Still, this could signal deeper family problems to review in calmer times.

LIBRA (Sep 23 - Oct 22): Be nice!

That’s usually your forte, but now something’s bugging you and you’re coming off a bit sharp and nasty. Take time to let it all out with someone to whom you can tell your darkest, ugliest, nastiest secrets.

CAPRICORN (Dec 21 - Jan 19): Speaking out could get you into trouble and reveal a lot more than you want to be known. It could also clear up problems.

You’re on a thin line, but like the goat on a narrow mountain path, you can make it work.

ARIES (Mar 20 - Apr 19): Modest efforts to correct factual or aesthetic errors can easily balloon into major arguments.

Rather than telling people what’s right, offer opinions or ask them to check their sources. To minimize trouble, check your own facts and sources first!

CANCER (Jun 21 - Jul 22): Small health concerns, especially respiratory or lower GI problems, could signal something serious.

It’s probably nothing, but worth checking out. When was your last check-up? Worrying only makes it worse; and distraction and accidents are the bigger danger.

Jack Fertig, a professional astrologer since 1977, is a founding member of the Association for Astrological Networking. He can be reached for consultations at 415.864.8302, www.starjack.com, and by e-mail at QScopes@qsyndicate.com.

AUG 21 - AUG 27 2008