Millennium Recap Collector's Issue
The Carolinas' Most Comprehensive Gay & Lesbian Newspaper
Reprints of
the Best and Worst of 2000
with center spread featuring
See editorial on page six for details.
Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 15, Number 17 • January 6, 2001 • FREE
MMOW brings crowds, controversy, financial issues
by Dan Van Mourik and Cindy Nardozzi
Compiled from Prior Reports
WASHINGTON, DC —The Millennium
March on Washington for Equality (MMOW),
the fourth national march for GLBT civil rights,
held up to its promise to be one of the largest
civil rights demonstrations in recent history.
Sponsors estimated that over 300,000 support
ers of equality convened in the nation’s capital
on April 29 and 30, while the National Park
Service, as usual, gave a much smaller official
estimate of less than 100,000. Crowd counts
based on wrist band sales at the festival were
problematic because some of the funds from
those sales have not been located.
The weekend featured a two-day street fes
tival which was to be the primary source of rev
enue for the event, a mass commitment cer
emony dubbed The Wedding, and Equality
Rocks, a rousing concert at JFK stadium.
Early opposition
The two-day festival was surrounded with
controversy and turmoil from many of the
“movers and shakers” of the national move
ment. The MMOW board received criticism
in areas ranging from the hiring .of staff,to
closed-book budgeting to the “unsettled” sta
tus of their tax exempt nonprofit organization.
On January 26, the Ad Hoc Committee for
an Open Process (formed in opposition to the
March) was faxed a “Financial Summary” is
sued by the MMOW Board. The summary,
called “general and evasive” by the Ad Hoc
Committee, comes eight months after the first
formal request to the March board to publicly
release financial information to tlie GLBT com
The May 14-20, 1999 issue of the Philadel
phia Gay News reported that MMOW Board
co-chair Nicole Ramirez-Murray “said the
march’s financial records are open to anyone,
upon request.” However, board co-chair Donna
Red Wing is quoted'in the January 28, 2000
issue of the Washington Blade as saying, “We
arc not going to release our financial statements
to the Ad Hoc Committee.”
Ann DeCroot, another MMOW board co
chair, told the Washington Blade that a detailed
financial report will not be released until after
tile event is over.
The Boycott MMOW Coalition accu.scd the
Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the Uni
versal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community
Churches (UFMCC), the two groups that ini
tially called the event, of mounting a hostile
takeover of the GLBT movement.
HRC was accused of pushing an image of
the community as exclusively affluent and
white. Opponents said^hc event was targeted
toward people with upper middle-ciass and
weaitliy backgrounds, citing the extensive pub
licity through Internet web site PlanctOut as
evidence tliat poor GLBT members were over
looked.
HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch
countered that organizers were simply trying
to stage the largest gay-rights extravaganza ever
held in DC.
ml
MHienni
Photo by Cindy Nardozzi
The lead group prepares to get the
4th national march underway
And tltey did.
The Wedding
m unity.
On Saturday, April 29, a sea of people made
their way through the early morning streets to
assemble at the first major event of the march:
The Wedding. The presence of a liandful of
protestors at the end of tlie reflecting pool and
on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial could not
dim the feeling of excitement, nervousness and
overwhelming love among tlie 1000 happy
couples and tlieir family, friends and jubilant
supporters.
Reverend Troy Perry, founder and modera
tor of UFMCC, opened tlic celebration ex
claiming, “it is a great day to be married, he-
cau.se like any day, it is a great day to he in love!”
Rabbi Jane Litman of San Franci.sco spoke
See MMOW on page 8
Emmy awards a milestone for gays on TV
by Lainey Miilen
. Q-Notes Staff
Back in the ’70s, there was an advertising
slogan that said “You’ve come a long way, baby.”
And, no, Austin Powers was not around at the
time, so this “baby” is not the same. Well, not
quite. You see, the recent Emmy Awards not
only showcased unexpected wins, but sliowed
that gays and lesbians have arrived in style. And
all of us in the GLBT community are grateful
to the actors, writers and producers who helped
make it happen.
Will and Grace — a comedy series that in
cludes two homosexual men, a heterosexual
woman, a raunchy office manager and an en
dearing housekeeper — walked away witli tlie
Outstanding Comedy Scries award.
This series, of course, was not the first to
feature gay characters. Two-and-a-half decades
ago, Soap marked the earliest primetime
acknowledgement of our existence. Biily Crys
tal was precious, funny and well-received in his
role as the only gay son of some very strange
parents. But, of course, everyone on that series
was a little to the left!
Years passed and a new pioneer ventured into
waters that were murky and uncharted. Ellen
DeCencres made television history wlien she
disclosed her sexual orientation not only witliin
the context of her sitcom character, but also in
real life. Her coming out not only stirred up
the waters — it created a storm of tidal wave
proportions. Unfortunately, ratings diminislicd
the following season and tlien one day tlie sliow
slipped away. The cancellation probably cost
tlie actor profc.ssionally, but the beloved Ellen
was not bleeped out of our memories.
Thc.se portrayals, and tlio.se of otliers who
worked to give a TV face to GLBT people, bore
fruit ill HBO’s remarkable three-act produc
tion of If These Walls Could Talk 2. Tlie pro
duction showed us — through a very painful
lens — what it was like to lo.se a partner in 'tlie
’50s, and to have no legal riglits or standing.
See EMMY on page 22
Shooting in VA gay bar: one dead, six injured
by Clay Ollis
Q-Notes staff
ROANOKE, VA — Less tlian one week af
ter 1000 people celebrated gay pride at
Roanoke’s annual “Pride in the Park” festival,
one person was killed and six otliers injured
September 22 when a man walked into the
Backstreet Cafe and opened fire.
Danny Overstreet died from a gunshot to
tile chest. Six otliers were wounded, including
Iris Page ’Webb, who was in critical condition
at press time after being shot in tlie neck. All
were from the Roanoke area.
The shooting, called by some “the worst
anti-gay hate crime in US history,” stunned this
small city in the western mountains ofVirginia
and reverberated across the country. The rain
bow flag tliat flies over San Francisco’s Castro
district was lowered to lialf-staff September 24.
Confes.sed gunman Ronald Gay had been
living in and around Roanoke for several
months and was employed by Verizon wireless.
He apparently liad long been upset by the use
of liis surname to denote homosexuals, and was
further saddened that liis cliildren liad cliosen
to use other names. He also reportedly struggled
witli post-traumatic stress syndrome from hav
ing served in the Vietnam War.
AJtliough Gay had been staying at a camp
ground outside Roanoke, the night of the shoot
ing he checked into a local motel. After con
versing with a couple in a neighboring room,
he left the motel to walk through town. Later,
he met an employee of the Corned Beef and
Co. Tavern and asked where he could find a
gay bar. Tlie employee, who thouglit Gay was
“a gay man looking for a .social evening,” gave
him directions to a gay club called The Park.
Before walking away, Gay pulled out liis gun
and .said lie was going to “waste some faggots.”
The employee liad a co-worker call 91 Land
police posted lookouts at The Park just before
hearing tliat sliots liad been fired at Back Street.
Officers apprehended Gay a few blocks away.
This was not Gay’s first violent incident. Last
June, lie forced his way into the home of a
former wife in Citrus Springs, FL, and as.saulted
her and her husband over delinquent child-sup-
' port payments. A Florida judge ordered Gay to
surrender all liis guns and ammunition and un-
See SHOOTING on page 9
High court lets
BSA discriminate
Local United Way cuts
funding, then caves
under pressure
by Clay Ollis
Q-Notes Staff
WASHINGTON, DC —A divided United
States Supreme Court ruled June 28 tliat tlie
Boy Scouts oi America is exempt from state laws
that bar discrimination on tlic basis of sexual
orientation because sucli constraints would iii-
hihit tlicir riglit of free cxpre.ssion.
The J tistices’ decision in Boy Scouts of
America v. DtrZ? overturns a ruling by tlie New
Jersey Supreme Court, wliicli last August uiiaiii-
mously rejected similar first amendment claims
by BSA’s attorneys. Reviewing tlie abundant
evidentiary record in the ca.se, tliat court noted
tile conspicuous absence of any mention of gay
people “or any di.scnssion of .sexuality wliatso-
ever” in any of BSA’s official materials, includ
ing its mission statement, the “Scout Oatii” and
tlie “Scoiit Law,” and tlic Boy Scout Handbook.
Tile New Jersey court, in a 7-0 opinion writ
ten by Cliiet Justice Dehorali T. Portiz, con
cluded tliat because BSA had no avowed anti
gay me.s.sagc, its first amendment riglits were
not significantly burdened by tiie application
of tlie state civil riglits law.”
Wliilc tliey did not endorse BSA’s di.scrimi-
nation, tlic Justices, by a 5-4 vote, iioiietliele.ss
lield ti lat tile application of tlie Nevz Jersey Law
Against Discrimination to BSA’s lian on gay
.scouts violated tlie group’s first ameiidmeut
riglits. The majority, led by Cliicf Justice Will
iam Relinquist, wrote that reinstating Dale
“would significantly affect” BSAs cxpre.ssion.
Cliief Justice Reliiiquist’s opinion was joined
by Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Aiitonin
Scalia, Antliony M. Kennedy, and Clarence
Tliomas.
Justice John Paul Stevens’ di.ssenting opin
ion declared, “Until today, wc liave never once
found a claimed right to a.ssociatc in the selec
tion of memhers to prevail in tlie face of a State’s
anti-discrimination law. To the contrary, we
have squarely field tliat a State’s anti-discrimi
nation law does not violate a group’s riglit to
a.ssociatc simply because the law conflicts with
tliat group’s exclusionary policies.”
Justice Steveii.s’ opinion was joined by Jus
tices Rutli Bader Giitsburg, David Sourer, and
Stephen Breyer. Justice Sourer issued aiiotlier
di.ssenting opinion jorned by Justices Ginsburg
and Breyer.
Tlic ca,se, because of the importance of tlic
legal questions raised, was one of tlie most
closely-watclied during a Supreme Court term
replete witli potential landmarks.
Reaction to tlie ruling came swiftly from
gay-riglits groups. Elizahetli Toledo, executive
director of tlie National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force, expressed disappointment and resolve:
“Tlie Boy Scouts’ Policy is wrong, and today’s
decision should lead no one to believe that dis
crimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and
tran.sgendcr people is acceptable,” she said.
Tlie Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education
Network (GLSEN) expressed concern with the
message it says the Court has sent to schools:
that gay youth are second-class citizens. “This
offers some youth a license to hate their peers
and others a rea.son to hate themselves,” said
See BSA on page 6
Ik