QUEER MONTCLAIR / OUT IN ESSEX:

A GAY & LESBIAN VIRTUAL COMMUNITY IN THE MONTCLAIR AREA

Crosswicks House

Post Office Box 1974

Bloomfield, New Jersey 07003-1974

Telephone: 973-776-3901, Ext. 8686

E-Mail:    [email protected]

WEB:       www.geocities.com/QueerMontclair/index.html

JANUARY 2002 - MONTCLAIR AREA L.G.B.T. NEWS & EVENTS

January 15, 2002

Dear Friends and List Members,

The press of holidays and business obligations have forced me to compress the December 2001 and January 2002

issues of the Newsletter into a single edition; my apologies!

You can look forward over the next year (I hope!) to an uninterrupted stream of monthly epistles bringing you up to

date on what to do, where to go and who to see (and be seen with) in New Jersey in general and Essex County

and the Montclair/Bloomfield area in particular.

This month, we start off with an excellent article by Katia Raina of the Montclair Times focusing on Montclair’s gay

and lesbian community, featuring an interview with our dear friends Paul Hennefeld and Blair O’Dell.

Next month: a detailed review on what we can expect from the new McGreevey administration in Trenton.  Many

promises have been made, and QM:OIE aims to keep a close and careful track of how and when they are

made good on.

Until then, best wishes and bright blessings for the 2002 New Year!

In Solidarity,

Bill Courson

1.  DIVERSITY IN MONTCLAIR:  ‘Out’ To The World, ‘In’ In Montclair (a Montclair Times article profiling Montclair’s LGBT community, 12/27/01)

2.  Secret Service investigating PFLAG protest
3.  Pride Center or New Jersey Celebrating Tenth Anniversary, Moving

4.  GEORGE STREET PLAYHOUSE LAMBDA NIGHTS

5.  Atlantic City Bus Trip
6.  GRAND OPENING PARTY

7.  9/26/2002: Day of Action Against Homophobic Violence

8.  Yale University queer people of color conference

9.  CIVIL UNIONS IN NEW JERSEY WEBSITE

10. SAUDI GAY RIGHTS: THESE ARE OUR ALLIES, FOLKS!

11.  LGBT Community Education Series

12.  Trembling Before G-d

14. TRANSGENDERED FILM SERIES AT MONTCLAIR PUBLIC LIBRARY

15.  Women's Support Group
16.  JOHN ARAVOSIS – THE LIST: 2001 IN REVIEW

18.  GLSEN-NNJ online

19.  APRIL 10th: DAY OF SILENCE DRAWS CLOSER

20.  FOREST HILL (NEWARK): ROOM-MATES WANTED

21.  Stupid laws still on the books in New Jersey

22.  ROOM/STUDIO NEEDED

1. DIVERSITY IN MONTCLAIR:

‘Out’ To The World, ‘In’ In Montclair

Thursday, December 27, 2001

By KATIA RAINA

The following article is the second in a multi-part series looking into aspects of diversity in Montclair.

When Paul Hennefeld and Blair O’Dell came back from their civil marriage ceremony in Vermont last year, they found champagne bottles on the front porch of their upscale Park Street home.And before they knew it, the gay couple — who celebrated their 26th year together this summer — were inundated with hugs, kisses and congratulations from their straight neighbors, shouting excitedly, “why didn’t you tell us, why didn’t you tell us?”

“In 25 years since I’ve lived here, I can’t recall an outwardly unfriendly incident ever,” O’Dell said. “It’s pretty obvious that the town is well above and beyond that.”

A rainbow flag — a symbol of gay pride — flies outside Joyce Weeg’s house on Gordonhurst Avenue. Weeg, 40, who is a lesbian, shares her home with three adopted kids, and their biological mother and father, Ann Quinn and Terry McKeon, who are both gay.

Some neighbors remark how privileged the family must be to have three pairs of hands in a household. Others say they have never really paid that much attention.

“That’s the nice thing about Montclair,” Weeg, a teacher in North Plainfield, said on a recent afternoon, as she was taking a break in her dining room from cooking a holiday meal. “Because you have so many non-stereotypical families here, we just don’t stand out. Our children have two moms and a daddy, and so what? We are just another one of those oddball Montclair families.”

Yes, the family arrangement sometimes confuses marketing callers, and their last names get completely mixed up in the mail. And yes, occasionally the two younger children will get a disparaging remark or a laugh in school.

But other than that, “It’s been a pretty boring life, to tell you the truth,” said McKeon, a senior vice president of a social service agency in Brooklyn. “And that’s great.”

Gays and lesbians living in Montclair tell countless tales of friendship and acceptance, some recent and others going back decades. These residents are single, married or just living together in all kinds of ar-rangements. Some have lots of kids, biological or adopted, while others have none. They are painters and filmmakers, business professionals, blue-collar workers and small shop owners. All came here to lead a regular suburban life.

Rather than being concentrated in particular areas, their homes can be found throughout town, say local residents and professionals dealing regularly with the gay community, who are familiar with Montclair. The number of same-sex couples here, which would be the only official indication of gay concentration in any given area, is not yet available from the U.S. Census. Nationally, the Census in 2000 registered more than 600,000 gay and lesbian couples throughout the United States, with 16,000 of those couples living in New Jersey. But many Montclair residents, gay and straight, know a neighbor or have a friend with an alternative sexual orientation.

Montclair gays and lesbians say they feel comfortable in this town because of the progressive mindset that’s welcoming of diversity in general. Some found Montclair attractive because of its liberal political climate. Others say they were encouraged to come here because of the local art scene and the presence of the university.

“What makes Montclair special in general is a long history of progressive politics,” said Jaan Henry, a real estate broker, who has sold more than a hundred homes to gay residents in Montclair since 1985. “The arts here attract people who are more sophisticated and tolerant. And when you have a town with so many mixed-race couples and lots of single, adoptive parents of any persuasion, you know you’re going to have a progressive environment.”

“I came to Montclair mostly because of the articles that I was reading [in major New York publications] when I lived in Manhattan,” said Randy Kelly, the owner of GayMover.com, a moving company that serves gay clients nationwide. “Montclair is fairly well known among gay people.”

When Joan Gary and Eileen Opatut, a lesbian couple who are raising three children together, moved to Montclair in 1985, they were welcomed “in a way that felt really good,” said Gary, who is the executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a national media watchdog and gay rights group, based in New York and Los Angeles.

Opatut recalled a scene years earlier of her daughter explaining to a clerk at their supermarket that she has two mothers.

“And without skipping a beat this middle-aged woman answered, ‘oh, aren’t you a lucky one,” recalled Opatut, who is the head of programming and production at Food Network.

“Regardless of whether there was a high percentage of gay and lesbian people, we immediately found a high percentage of progressive, like-minded people, who appreciated the power of a diverse community,” said Gary, who was the first woman in the state to legally adopt her lesbian partner’s biological children in the late 1990s.

Gary called the majority of gay people who have come here in the past 20 years “reluctant suburbanites.”

“They came to get out of the city for the good schools, for the backyards and for the soccer, but they were reluctant to leave behind the progressive nature of communities like New York,” she said.

These sentiments are reflected in the kinds of resources available to the gay community here, as opposed to larger gay-friendly cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

While Montclair has social and political organizations, therapists, support groups and all kinds of vendors serving the gay community, and several religious establishments in town make a special effort to welcome gay congregants, there are no gay bars or hangouts specifically for gay singles.

Some say, for better or worse, the sense of gay activism and community is weaker in Montclair, compared to other gay-friendly places. Many gay residents choose not to get involved in predominantly gay activities, and sometimes their social circles involve only a few gay friends. And many note that gay or lesbian couples holding hands in public or otherwise visibly display their affection are rarely encountered here.

“People are going to be more socially reserved in an affluent climate,” said one local gay resident who declined to be identified. “Because if you are affluent, you may not even be out, or you may be hesitant to be too visible.”

“There are those who wish that the GLBT [gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender] community was more visible on a daily basis,” said Jaan Henry, whose Montclair real estate firm works with gay clients, along with straight ones.

“We have enough of the gay and gay-supportive constituency here to have a [gay] presence at the July 4th parade, or to put together a program on diversity [on the local cable access channel],” Henry added, emphasizing though that she considers Montclair a great place for gay homeowners.

As for rainbow symbols around town, “wouldn’t it be great to see more of those?” Henry said.

Some say, however, that the quietness of the local gay community is a healthy thing, because it gives gay people a chance to just live their lives, without hiding their sexual orientation, but also without making it central to their identity.

“My sense is in a ghetto environment where everyone is pretty much the same, it can speak a less degree of true integration and self-acceptance,” said James Mahon, director of Montclair-based Center For Identity Development, which provides psychological counseling to gay and straight clients. “The gay and lesbian subculture can be more oppressive in some respects then the un-accepting main culture.”

There are other suburban towns nearby that are considered to be accepting of their gay residents. Henry said South Orange, West Orange, Maplewood and Bloomfield also have vibrant gay communities. And some experts say New Jersey, and especially the northern part of the state, can boast of a relatively favor-able environment for gays, even though the 2000 Census ranks it only 23rd among other states in the con-centration of gay and lesbian households.

“New Jersey has always been one of the leaders in combating anti-gay discrimination,” said David Buckel, senior staff attorney for Lambda Legal Defense Education Fund, a national legal services organization. “New Jersey is one of only a dozen states that prohibit, by statute, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in statutorily defined spheres of life, for example in some areas of employment, housing and government services.”

Buckel also cited a hate-crime statute in the state law that allows for “sentence enhancement” if a convicted person acted with a purpose to intimidate because of sexual orientation. And another New Jersey regulation requires judges to ensure that lawyers do not manifest sexual-orientation bias when arguing their cases in state courts, he said.

Jay Heavner, a spokesman for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, a Washington, D.C.-based organization, said Vermont and California are some of the other more tolerant states, along with New Jersey, in terms of legislation and a political environment. Vermont, for example, is the only state that allows legal civil marriages for same-sex couples. Many municipalities in these states have gone a long way compared to towns such as Cortez, Colo., where a gay high school student was murdered this past June, and where local gay activists get Molotov cocktails thrown into their homes, Heavner said.

Still, some say, there are challenges to being gay even in Montclair.

James Mahon of the Center for Identity Development in Montclair, who is gay, said the psychological issues most gay people go through anywhere have to do with self-doubt in a society where homosexuality has long been considered shameful.

“We still live in a society where for someone who is gay to grow with a positive sense of self is an enormous challenge,” Mahon said. “More and more, you are seeing images that are positive about gay and les-bian people. Still, it’s very difficult for someone growing up to find that they are oriented towards their own gender, no matter where one lives.”

One Montclair resident, a mother of a 42-year-old gay man, said accepting her son’s homosexuality was a long struggle for both of them.

“For us, it had nothing to do with the town being tolerant or intolerant,” said this member of Northern New Jersey support group, Parents and Friends of Lesbians And Gays, who did not want to be identified. “It’s just my own feelings, and his own feelings. I had to learn and to grow, and it was a very hard thing for me.”

As for her son, who grew up with several siblings, “he did not want to be a homosexual,” his mother said.

“He hated it, he tried so hard to be heterosexual. It took us both years and years to figure out and accept that he is homosexual, that’s just who he is.”

2. Secret Service investigating PFLAG protest

The Advocate, 12/28/01 (TheAdvocate.com)

The U.S. Secret Service has launched an investigation
after some Michigan gay rights advocates placed slips
of paper resembling dollar bills into Salvation Army
donation kettles as a sign of protest against the
organization's refusal to extend benefits to the
same-sex partners of its employees.

A Michigan chapter of Parents, Families, and Friends
of Lesbians and Gays mounted the protest at the start
of the holiday season.

Many members placed "reminder bills" into the army's
Christmas collection kettles instead of an actual cash
donation.

The fake bills read, in part, "I would have donated
$5, but the Salvation Army's decision to discriminate
against gay and lesbian employees prevents my donation
now and in the future."

But some of the reminders may have looked a little too
much like real money. Salvation Army officials in
Flint, where the protest began, said they were
contacted by a Secret Service agent investigating the
phony bills as possible counterfeiting.

"[The agent] was quite concerned," said Maj. Ralph
Bukiewicz, Genesee County Salvation Army commander.
"In addition to some of the standardized slips that
were dropped into the kettles, there were some from
PFLAG that had actually duplicated [currency],
changing some of the wording."

Protest organizer Mary Scholl, who is president of the
Genesee County chapter of PFLAG, said that another
Secret Service agent left his card on her door before
Christmas, but she has not contacted him yet.  Scholl

said the protest bill, which was available for downloading

from PFLAG's Web site, had obvious differences in

appearance from actual currency. "It looks like a dollar

bill, but it's very small, with a little square that looks like

a rainbow," she said.

Secret Service officials declined to comment on the
ongoing investigation.

3. Pride Center or New Jersey Celebrating

Tenth Anniversary, Moving

The New Jersey Pride Center, formerly of 211 Livingston Avenue in

New Brunswick is moving to 1048 Livingston Avenue on January 5th.

It will have re-opened for regular business on January 8th.
Look for the pink awning!

The PCNJ Activities Committee meeting - all are welcome – will meet

at the new location on Thursday January 10th 7:30 PM and will initiate

plans for Clubfest 2002 and other fun events.

 
4. GEORGE STREET PLAYHOUSE LAMBDA NIGHTS

You can help support the Pride Center of NJ by joining them

for Wonderful Theater Events for the Gay & Lesbian Community,
Lambda Nights at George Street Playhouse  2001—2002 Season
9 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, New Jersey

You can benefit the Pride Center the NAMES Project of Central New

Jersey by making payment as indicated below.  Lambda Nights include

a pre-performance buffet / social at 6:30 PM. Showtime is 8:00 PM

Thursday January 17th  Waiting for Tadashi A world premiere by Velina

Hasu Houston, directed by David Saint
A mystical and surreal story of love between a mother and her son – and

a poetic tribute to the orphans born of Japanese women and U.S. servicemen

in the aftermath of World War II.

Thursday February 21st  The Sisters Rosensweig, By Wendy Wasserstein,

directed by David Saint.

A hilarious award-winning comedy about three Jewish middle-aged sisters

from Brooklyn – a banker, a journalist and a suburban housewife-turned-radio

personality called “Dr. Gorgeous.”
“A captivating look at three uncommon women and their quest for love,

self definition and fulfillment.” – The New York Times

Cost including dinner and show: $33.00 per ticket (savings over regular

price!) 

Payment Options:
Check - (payable to “Pride Center of NJ”).  Send to PCNJ/Lambda Nights,

PO Box 5130, New Brunswick, NJ 08903.

Credit Card - VISA/MC/AMEX with Expiration Date, Name, Address, Phone

Number to same address

In person Cash/Credit Card/Check accepted.  Pay to Maria Betters at

NAMES Project office or Ray Johnson at Pride Center. 

Please assist them by sending in payment THREE WEEKS prior to

performance!

5. Atlantic City Bus Trip

The Pride Center is running a casino bus trip to Atlantic City on

Saturday January 26, 2002.  The bus will depart at 12 noon from

in front of the Rutgers Bookstore on Albany St in New Brunswick

(across from the train station) and return around midnight.
Cost is $20.00 with $9.00 in quarters refunded at Bally's

Wild West.  Seats are limited. First come, first serve. Send

check payable to "Pride Center of NJ" to PCNJ/Bus, PO Box 5130,

New Brunswick, NJ 08903. Come out and spend a fun day

on an old fashioned bus trip with the gang!

6. GRAND OPENING PARTY

You are invited to the Grand Opening Celebration of the

Pride Center of New Jersey at 1048 Livingston Avenue

on Saturday January 19th at 7:30 PM. Come tour the new

facilities, meet our board members and staff, great music

and refreshments!  The party will be held in the "LOFT" Event

Room.

7.  9/26/2002: Day of Action Against Homophobic 

Violence

September 26, 2002 is the 10th anniversary of the

murder of Brian Mock, a white disabled gay man and

Hattie Mae Cohens, a Black lesbian by anti-queer/white

supremacist forces during the anti-gay Proposition 9

in Oregon in 1992.

Their shared home was set on fire (which is where the

Lesbian Avengers organization got their bomb logo to

symbolize "the fire shall NOT consume us" at many LGBT

Marches around the world.)

A recent report came out with the news that Anti-gay, 

anti-lesbian violence has increased and of course

violence against oppressed groups in general have

increased (even if you don't include those we should

such as the over billion people in the world living

in poverty, without running water, enough food, health

care etc while their leaders spend billions on

missles/war toys bought from us, France, etc).

September 26 will commemorate a Day Of Action Against

Homophobic Violence and the links between all acts

of bigoted violence.

Brian was disabled and gay. Hattie was African American 

and a lesbian. Both were working class people.

If they weren't safe, we aren't safe, and our allies

who aren't queer need to also take action on this day.

So spread the word, organize a local vigil in your

community at a spot where anti-queer/bigoted violence

occurred, read the names (or place them in your local

newspaper or over your community radio station) of

those killed/attacked in the previous year/years in

your area; and share what you did with others for the

Day Of Action Against Homophobic Violence.

To join in the Day Of Action Against Homophobic

Violence, send an e-mail to:

[email protected]

Another world is possible.

8. Yale University queer people of color

conference

February 15-17, 2002 - Presidents Day Weekend.

Prof. Angela Davis, Joo-Hyun Kang, and Ingrid  Rivera, are

among the confirmed Conference speakers!  The theme is

Beyond Visibility:  Queer People of Color Shattering Single

Issue Politics.

More information is available at www.yale.edu/prism
Their listserv is at  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/prismqpocc2002

Unfortunately the web site doesn't have much information, but you

can get the brochure, schedule, registration etc via snail mail by
writing an email to [email protected]

The conference is open to allies (both non-people of color and
straight folks as well).

9. CIVIL UNIONS IN NEW JERSEY WEBSITE

George DeCarlo, a long-time New Jersey activist, has set up a very

interesting website at http://www.geocities.com/njcivilunion.

Do please view the new correspondence and updates, as well as the

History of GLBT Rights in New Jersey page –they are both important

and deserving of much more attention. 
George has asked that we all enjoy the website and make any suggestions

for additional material.

10. SAUDI GAY RIGHTS: THESE ARE OUR ALLIES, FOLKS!

From the San Francisco Chronicle, January 7, 2002

901 Mission St., San Francisco, CA, 94103

(Fax: 415-896-1107 ) (E-Mail:  [email protected]

( http://www.sfgate.com  )

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/01/07

Saudis and human rights - by Carolyn Lochhead

A little story slipped out of Saudi Arabia the

other day.  It arrived almost as an afterthought and

caused hardly a ripple.  No, it wasn't front-page news

about the women veiled head-to-toe by a conservative

Islamic regime.  This was just a passing item on how

the Saudis beheaded a few homosexuals in a public

square.

The story - such as it is - comes from Arab

News, "Saudi Arabia's First English-Language Daily,"

datelined Riyadh, Jan. 2:

"Three Saudi men convicted of sodomy and

marrying each other were beheaded yesterday in the

southwestern city of Abha, the Interior Ministry

said in a statement.

"Ali ibn Hatan ibn Saad, Mohammad ibn Suleiman

ibn Mohammad and Mohammad ibn Khalil ibn Abdullah were

found guilty of engaging in the extreme obscenity and

ugly acts of homosexuality, marrying among themselves

and molesting the young.  The statement said the three

men repeated the acts several times and assaulted

people who told them to stop. "A Shariah court sentenced 

them to death and the judgment was confirmed by the 

high court and the Supreme Judiciary Council."

No further information is available because the theocratic Saudi 

state, ruled by the Saud royal family, declined to elaborate.

Only the most assiduous reader of the Washington Post would 

have spotted the one-sentence mention of this event buried at 

the bottom of page nine and citing Reuters as a source.

Reuters in turn cited the official Saudi Press Agency, adding only 

that 122 people, including murderers and rapists, were executed 

in the kingdom last year, usually by a public beheading.

But no one outside the Saudi government knows exactly how many 

people the Saudis execute or their alleged crimes.

All media are censored and Internet, satellite and other forms of 

outside communication are restricted. The country is all but closed 

to foreign tourists, although the regime, torn between its lust for tourist

dollars and fear that its pristine culture will be defiled, has begun 

permitting small groups of Western tourists, sponsored by museums 

or universities, to visit cultural sites.

[One of these potential tourist destinations is Abha, the provincial capital 

where the gay men were beheaded and where the government sees 

opportunities for ecotourism, given the proximity of the Red Sea and

its famous scuba diving.]

The beheadings were conducted under a particular interpretation of Shari'a, 

customary Islamic law, which Saudi Arabia, our dear friend, ally and major

oil supplier, uses as its legal code.  More specifically, the Saudis have 

adopted the religious code of a fundamentalist Islamic sect known as

Wahhabism.  The Saudis have been diligently funding mosques and installing 

clerics to spread the fiercely anti-American, not to mention gay-hating, Wahhabi 

word throughout the world.

The Saudi government's official Web site does not state its gay policy, but it 

does explain that "the Holy Koran is more suitable for Saudi Muslims than any

secular constitution" and that "the entire Saudi population is Muslim; the only 

non-Muslims in the country are expatriates engaged in diplomacy, technical 

assistance or international commerce."

Nor does the regime tell us what they do with lesbians, although they do say 

that "the position of women in Islamic society and in Saudi Arabian society 

in particular is a complex and frequently misunderstood issue."  We do know 

that women are required to wear full-length veils.

In addition to beheading, common forms of punishment include torture by 

cigarette burns, nail-pulling and electric shocks.  Public lashings with

bamboo sticks are also favored, along with amputations of hands or feet.

The Saudi regime, terrified of internal dissent and prickly about international 

criticism, exercises power through a clever combination of brutal oppression 

and generous oil-funded welfare.  The U.S. government, dependent on Saudi 

oil, helps prop up the regime.  The world, quick to condemn oppression 

elsewhere, turns a blind eye.

"The international community's response to human rights violations in Saudi 

Arabia can best be summarized by one word" says Amnesty International: "Silence."

12.  Trembling Before G-d

Trembling Before G-d is a film – currently being shown at the Welmont

Theater in Montclair -about the hidden lives of Hasidic/Orthodox gays

and lesbians. Shot worldwide in Brooklyn, Jerusalem, London, Miami

& LA over 5 years.

A  2001 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection; Grand Jury Prize,

LA Gay & Lesbian Film Festival award winner, the film is described as

"Powerful" - New York Times ~ "Fascinating" - Newsweek ~ "Groundbreaking

and intensely moving." -  The New York Blade ~ "Surprisingly funny" - Newsday

On Saturday, January 5th, Screenings, a special Q&A followed the film with the

director, Mr. Sandi Simcha DuBowski.

Trembling Before G-d is an unprecedented feature documentary that shatters assumptions about faith,

sexuality, and religious fundamentalism. Built around intimately-told personal stories of Hasidic and

Orthodox Jews who are gay or lesbian, the film portrays a group of people who face a profound dilemma –

how to reconcile their passionate love of Judaism and the Divine with the drastic Biblical prohibitions

that forbid homosexuality. As the film unfolds, we meet a range of complex individuals - some hidden,

some out - from the world's first openly gay Orthodox rabbi to closeted, married Hasidic gays and lesbians

to those abandoned by religious families to Orthodox lesbian high-school sweethearts.

Many have been tragically rejected and their pain is raw, yet with irony, humor, and resilience, they love,

care, struggle, and debate with a thousands-year old tradition. Ultimately, they are forced to question how

they can pursue truth and faith in their lives. Vividly shot with a courageous few over five years in Brooklyn,

Jerusalem, Los Angeles, London, Miami, and San Francisco, Trembling Before G-d is an international

project with global implications that strikes at the meaning of religious identity and tradition in a modern

world. For the first time, this issue has become a live, public debate in Orthodox circles, and the film is

both witness and catalyst to this historic moment. What emerges is a loving and fearless testament to

faith and survival and the universal struggle to belong.

”Trembling” has been held over by popular demand!  On the corner of Bloomfield and

Seymore Street. Call the box office at 973-783-9700

The Feminine Connection will be sponsoring a WINTER GET-A-WAY WEEKEND

At the Pocono Manor, Pocono, Pennsylvania on February 8 ,9, and 10th, at a cost

Of $ 225 per person, double occupancy. For more information, call 201-337-6943.

14. TRANSGENDERED FILM SERIES AT MONTCLAIR PUBLIC 

LIBRARY

The Montclair Public Library in collaboration with GLSEN Northern New Jersey 

(Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Educational Network ) will be hosting a 3 month

series on transgender issues entitled Transgender Stories/Transgender Lives.

The series will consist of three events, one occurring each month and will take

place in the Library's auditorium. 

The first event scheduled is a screening of Julie Wyman's documentary film - 

A Boy Named Sue -  it will take place on Thursday, March 14^th.  There will

be a facilitated discussion following the film.

The second event will take place on Thursday, April 11^th.  This will be a panel 

discussion led by GLSEN members and a Montclair resident – Karen Lateiner

(mother of Jennifer Lateiner - a transgendered 24 year old who died in a car

accident in 1998).  Ms. Lateiner and GLSEN members will discuss

the issues that transgendered young people face as well as the challenges

that their family members face.  They will show excerpts from two films –

YOUTH OUT LOUD and TRANSFAMILY - PFLAGS TRANSGENDER >

NETWORK.

The third and final event will take place on Thursday, May 9^th.

This will feature keynote speakers Leslie Feinberg and Minnie Bruce Pratt.

Times of the events may vary slightly, but all will start in the evening between

6:30 and 7:00 pm and will run about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Refreshments for all events will be taken care of by the Lateiner family. 

The money will come from a fund that they set up to promote education and

understanding of transgenderd issues. The fund was established in memory

of their daughter Jennifer Latiener.  It is called the Jenni-Josh Memorial Fund

at the Community Center of New Jersey.

The Montclair Library is located at 50 South Fullerton Ave in Montclair.  For

more information about the series people can call the library at  (973)744-0500,

extension 235 and ask for Elaine Schenkel.  The Library's website address

JANUARY - GAYS OPPOSE ASHCROFT NOMINATION

Gay people, in large numbers, were quite upset about the

nomination of Christian-conservative, and newly-defeated,

Republican Senator John Ashcroft as Attorney General.

Ironically, following September 11, many, but not all, of

those same opponents are now doing a silent Hail Mary that

someone as hard-nosed as Ashcroft is calling the shots.  It

remains to be seen whether that support lasts when the

conservative Attorney General moves his focus back to more

traditional Justice Department issues.

FEBRUARY - EMINEM

Yep, February was Eminem month. You remember him - the rapper

who thought it was cute to sing about knifing gays and raping

your mother.  The music industry not only defended this

trash, but went to so far as to let him keynote a song at the

Grammys.  Oh how insignificant Mr. Bad-Dye-Job seems now.

MARCH - DR. LAURA IS CANCELED

One day before April Fool's Day (who planned that one?) Dr.

Laura's awful TV show was canceled.  You'll recall that Ms.

"Biological Error" kept putting her foot in her mouth,

targeting gays, pro-choicers, and others, until StopDrLaura.com 

was launched, initiating a year-long campaign against the 

combative radio shock-jock.  

As a result of the effort, over 100 TV advertisers dropped 

Dr. Laura in the US, with an additional 70+ dropping her 

in Canada, protests were organized in over 30 US and 

Canadian cities, and gay people and their allies everywhere 

discovered a renewed sense of our own power to make a difference.

APRIL - BUSH APPOINTS GAY AIDS CZAR

In April, President Bush appointed Scott Evertz, an openly-

gay Log Cabin Republican from Wisconsin, as his AIDS czar.

Not surprisingly, fundamentalist extremists flipped out and

labeled Evertz the anti-Christ.  Still, Bush stuck by his

guns, and Evertz still has his job.  Kudos to the President.

MAY - SULLIVAN vs. SIGNORILE

Yep, May was the month that gay writer Michelangelo Signorile

broke the story that conservative gay writer Andrew Sullivan

had posted online some extremely personal profiles that many

felt contradicted his repeated public condemnations of the

evils of the "gay lifestyle."

JUNE - AMAZON.COM STANDS BY DR. LAURA

In June, attentive Laura-watchers found an Amazon.com ad on a

DrLaura.com Web page that urged her millions of minions to

contact Congress in support of an anti-gay Jesse Helms

amendment.  The ad was there, in spite of Amazon's explicit

policy that Web sites that "promote discrimination based on

race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual

orientation, or age" can not be a part of its Associates

Program, and thus run ads (and make money).  How did Amazon

respond to complaints about the ad? It's a rather long story,

but suffice it to say that they made up a series of excuses,

one more creative than the previous, as to why they couldn't

enforce their own civil rights policy when gays were the ones

being abused.  Now that's a profile in courage.

JULY - SALVATION ARMY SUPPORTS ANTI-GAY DISCRIMINATION

July was the month that the first Salvation Army scandal of

this year took place.  A front-page story in the Washington

Post revealed that an internal Salvation Army document

detailed how the White House has made a "firm commitment" to

the Salvation Army to issue a regulation that would in effect

overturn local civil rights laws protecting individuals from

being fired based on their sexual orientation, and providing

them domestic-partner benefits, at least as the laws apply to

"religious charities" such as the Salvation Army.  In turn,

the Salvation Army agreed to support Bush's troubled faith-

based initiative that even conservative Christians have

expressed concerns about.  The Post quotes a senior Salvation

Army official saying that the hiring of gays and lesbians

"really begins to chew away at the theological fabric of who

we are."

AUGUST - HELMS & HECHE

August was the month that uber-anti-gay Senator Jesse Helms

announced that he was retiring.  Hallelujah.  It was also the

month we found out that Ellen's ex, Anne Heche, was not only

now marrying a guy, but for the past 30-some years, she was

actually insane, and thought she was an alternate personality

named "Celestia."  Her new book, just released at the time,

was titled "Call Me Crazy."  Will do.

SEPTEMBER - 9/11

This past September, and all future Septembers, will of

course bring memories of the terrorist attacks on the World

Trade Center and the Pentagon.  

Two gay stories immediately captivated gay America.  

The first, that a gay man, Mark Bingham, was one of 

the heroes of that fourth plane that went down in a field 

in Pennsylvania (and was thought headed for the US 

Capitol building or the White House).  

While some don't understand why Bingham's sexual 

orientation is even an issue, it very much is.  

At a time when fundamentalist extremists in American 

society suggest that gay people are immoral, abominations, 

sexually deviant, biological errors who beat their spouses, 

are disease-ridden and are after small children, it is in fact 

very much news when one of those amoral deviants ends 

up a national hero.  

(Don't forget that the second big gay story of the month was 

that Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson blamed the terrorist attacks on

gays, feminists, pro-choicers, the ACLU and others - again,

proving why Bingham's orientation was more than a tad

relevant.)

OCTOBER - BUSH APPOINTS GAY AMBASSADOR TO ROMANIA

While pretty much all of us were still focused on the

aftermath of September 11, there was an interesting gay story

that happened in October.  President Bush appointed a gay

Ambassador to Romania, and the man's partner was at his State

Department swearing-in ceremony AND was recognized by

Secretary of State Colin Powell.  While some may pooh-pooh

this as small-bits, I disagree.  Think back to what a scandal

it was when Clinton appointed the openly-gay James Hormel as

Ambassador to Luxembourg.  And now a conservative Republican

does it with little fanfare?  That's news, folks.

NOVEMBER - PFLAG TAKES ON SALVATION ARMY

PFLAG launched its boycott campaign of the Salvation Army, as

punishment for the Army's appalling record of anti-gay

animus.  While local Salvation Armies keep denying that

they've ever done a thing anti-gay, the national headquarters

turned around this month and over-ruled 13 Salvation Army

chapters in western states that had decided to provide

domestic partner benefits to their gay employees.  After

fundamentalist bigots freaked out, the national Salvation

Army established a nationwide policy banning gay employees

from getting such benefits.  Next year, will we see

StopSalvationArmy.com?

DECEMBER - GAY REPUBLICANS KISS BOOTY

And finally December.  This is the month that the leaders of

the gay Republican group "Log Cabin Republicans" launched a

nationwide ad campaign in the straight and gay press

suggesting that gay people somehow weren't sufficiently

behind the president's campaign to fight terrorism.  Many

found the ad downright bizarre, since it's not based on fact,

but also found it troubling that a supposedly pro-gay group

would broadcast to all of official Washington that gay people

were somehow unsupportive of America in its time of need.

18.  GLSEN-NNJ online

If you haven’t yet checked out the GLSEN-NNJ website, be sure 

to log on at www.geocities.com/glsen_nnj/. These people at GLSEN

are doing what Queer Montclair feels to be among the most important

work in the world

.  They deserve everyone’s support!

19.  APRIL 10th: DAY OF SILENCE DRAWS CLOSER

Four Months and Counting Until the Day of Silence! The Gay, 

Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) announced that 

it is leading the coordination of the Day of Silence Project, in 

partnership with the United States Student Association (USSA). 

The Day of Silence Project, which will take place on April 10,

2002, and is the largest youth-run lesbian, gay, bisexual and 

transgender (LGBT) action in the country. In support, GLSEN 

has unveiled a new website, www.dayofsilence.org, to help young 

people in their organizing efforts.

As the Day of Silence gets closer, look for GLSEN-NNJ

updates regarding participation by local schools.

The new website, located at www.dayofsilence.org, will provide 

information and updates on the Day of Silence Project as it 

approaches. The site includes resources for students and 

teachers, news briefs, and opportunities to connect with other 

schools embarking on the initiative.

20.  FOREST HILL (NEWARK): ROOM-MATES WANTED

Roomates wanted to share beautiful victorian home in the Forest Hill 

section of Newark.

Large rooms completely remodeled, 4 baths, plenty of closet space

close to all transportation and within walking distance of shopping 

centers, hospitals subways, buses, and the park.

Great all year around. Rent is $575.00 & up.

For information contact Sue 973-680-4800 x1179(work)  or 

973-350-1240 (home)  or by email  [email protected]  

or [email protected]

21. Stupid laws still on the books in New Jersey

(These are for real!)

You cannot pump your own gas. All gas stations are full service and 

full service only.

It is against the law for a man to knit during the fishing season.

It is illegal to delay or detain a homing pigeon.

All cats must wear three bells to warn birds of their whereabouts.

Persons of the same gender cannot be granted a marriage license.

22.  ROOM/STUDIO NEEDED

Another friend (middle-aged professional gay man, quiet, neat, and of what might be called 'scholarly' habits)

desires to rent a room in Montclair or Bloomfield, preferably in a home convenient to public transportation. 

He seeks something in the $400.00-$500.00 price range, and desires to obtain such accomodations by February

1st.   If you have or know of such accommodations, give QM:OIE a ring at (973) 776-3901, ext. 8686 and leave a

message which will be returned in short order.