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Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 15, Number 9 • September 16, 2000 • FREE
NC representative
wins coveted
Continental title
by Miss Della
Q-Notes Staff
The twenty-first annnual Miss Continental
pageant was held in Chicago over Labor Day
weekend.
The competition statted with closed group
interviews on Saturday evening, and then a long
night of preliminaty competitions on Sunday
in categories of swimsuit, evening gown, and
talent.
On Monday evening, the field of 40 was
trimmed down to the Top 12 — and what a
group it was! Pteliminary gown and swimsuit
awatds went to Danielle Hunter, talent went
to Anjila Richatds, and intetview went to
Michelle Zander.
The Top ] 2 consisted of Sandy Solis, Jas
mine Knight, Anjila Richards, Alexis Gabrielle
Shearrington, Barbara Herr, Lisha Paris,
Danielle Hunter, Candis Cayne, Sasha
Valentino, Tina Sparkles, Erika Norell and
Amalia Black. To my knowledge, this was the
fitst time for five of these 12 competing at Miss
Continental.
The opening number was glorious with the
outgoing, Tommie Ross, right in the middle of
men in tuxes. She was doing one of the many
things she does best — Diana Ross — and look
ing like a million bucks! Injuted in an automo
bile accident late in her reign, Ross serenaded
the crowd while seated on a stool.
Aftet a steady pace of wondetful talents, se
ductive swimsuits and ever-so- elegant evening
gowns, the Top 5 was announced. Each had to
answer the always important On-Stage Ques
tion. I can honestly say, in my five yeats of go
ing, I have nevet heatd such tesponses; one or
two even brought a small teat to the eye. It
would have been a hard call to make, fot sure.
After all was said and done, and that got-
geous Tommie Ross made a down payment on
a new home with het farewell number (lines of
Lesbian couple obtains marriage
license under Texas court ruling
Danielle Hunter (top; left) with her
NC promoter, Alyson Thomas
well-wishers with tips had to be turned away),
the new queen and her court were announced.
Fourth runnet-up was New York City’s Tina
Sparkles, originally from Antigua; 3rd RU,
Chicago’s Amalia Black; 2nd RU, NYC’s Candis
Cayne; 1st RU Miami’s Erika Norell; and win
ner, Miss North Carolina Continental, Danielle
Hunter of Orlando, FL. ▼
Armistead Maupin’s latest book
premieres as web radio serial
by Veronica Schwartz
Special to Q-Notes
SAN FRANCISCO—Bestselling author
Armistead Maupin’s new novel. The Night Lis
tener, is the first book ever broadcast in its en
tirety as a spoken-word serial on the world wide
web prior to its release in print.
Begun Tuesday, September 5, a new install
ment is released each weeknight in streaming- '
audio format. The novel is read by the author,
and the broadcasts will continue through Fri
day, September 29.
A downloadable digital audiobook version
of The Night Listener: A Spoken Word Serial will
be available upon the release of the hardcover
and audio editions by HarperCollins. The web
broadcasts and the download can be found at
Salon.corn’s web site: www.salon.com/books/
maupin.
“I’m ecstatic that Armistead chose to launch
The Night Listener AS an audio serial on Salon,”
said David Talbot, founder and editor-in-chief
at Salon.com. “He’s a master of the serial form.
1 remember how he burst into the public view
in the 70s with his Tales of the City serial in the
San Francisco Chronicle. It makes perfect sense
that he would use our San Franci.sco-based com
pany to update the concept for the 21st cen
tury.”
The narrator of The Night Listener is a late-
by Clay Ollis
Q-Notes Staff
SAN ANTONIO, TX—Two lesbians from
Houston, Texas traveled to San Antonio Sep
tember 6 seeking a marriage license from the
Bexar County Clerk. And they got one because
of a recent court ruling.
Last October, Texas’ Fourth Court of Ap
peals upheld a lower court ruling that Christie
Lee Littleton had no legal right to file a wrong
ful death lawsuit against her late husband’s
caregivers.
The court ruled that becau.se Whitman was
born male, the marriage was not legal despite
her sex-change operation. Even though the state
court system had amended her birth certificate
to indicate she was female, and local officials
had Issued the marriage license, the court found
that legally, she remained a man. In the major
ity opinion. Fourth Court Chief Justice Phil
Hardberger wrote, “Male chromosomes do not
change with either hormonal treatment or sex
reassignment surgery. Biologically, a post-op
erative female tran.ssextial is still a male.”
That ruling prompted Jessica and Robin
Wicks’ decision to seek a marriage license in
San Antonio. Robin legally changed her last
name from Manhart last year. The couple had
applied for a license from the Harris County
Clerk in Houston, but were denied because they
are both women. In Texas, as in every other
state, marriage is illegal between people of the
same gender.
But the Fourth Court ruling gives them re
newed hope. That’s because Jessica Wicks was
born male. Originally named Crady Roland
Wicks, Jessica says she once felt a part of the
transgender community, but now identifies
herself as lesbian. Her birth certificate clearly
states her gender as male.
“Before Littletoti V. ISange, this was consid
ered a same-sex marriage,” Phyllis Frye, the
couples’ attorney, told the Houston Voice.
“San Antonio’s Fourth Court of Appeals last
year ruled that if you are bom a male, you re
main a male throughout your life, no matter if
you surgically trade in your outie for an innie,"
explained Frye, who also represented Whitman
in the wrongful death ca.se that led to the gen
der ruling. “The court said chromo.somes mat
ter, not genitals.”
Bexar County Clerk Cerry Rickhoff, re
sponding to the Wicks’ announcement, .said he
was following the law. “’Fhe law states that you
are what the Creator made you at birth, not
what you hold yourself out to he.” The wed
ding ceremony was scheduled for September
' 16. T
Covert HIV study draws criticism
night radio storyteller whose phone friendship
with a young fan entangles him in a mystery
that compels him to reexamine his own life.
“ The Night Listener is about the power of
voices, so the intimacy of internet radio com
bined with the literary origins of Salon struck
me as.an ideal match for the material,” said
Maupin’s business partner, Terry Anderson of
Literary Bent LLC. “Armistead loves the
thought of telling bedtime stories to the world.”
Maupin has amassed a worldwide follow
ing with his six bestselling Tales of the City noy-
els. The first two volumes were adapted as a
pair of widely acclaimed television miniseries;
the third. Further Tales of the City, is currently
in production. The author’s recording of his
1992 novel Maybe the Moon was named one of
the 10 best audio books of the year by I’ublish-
ers Weekly. He also collaborated as librettist with
composer Jake Heggie in 1999 on Anna Mad
rigal Remembers for mezzo-soprano Frederica
vo,n Stadc and Chanticleer, the renowned cho
ral ensemble. He begins a 21-city nationwide
speaking tour on October 2.
HarperCollins will publish The Night Lis
tener in hardcover on October 1, and
HarperAudio will simultaneously release the
unabridged audio version on CD and cassette.
The audio features an original score by Jon
Herbst. ▼
by Wanda Pico
Special to Q-Notes
NEW YORK—A nine-year blind HIV
prevalence study of gay men at sexually trans
mitted disease (STD) clinics in New York was
condemned as “Tuskeegee-like” after it was pre
sented to the recent AIDS conference in
Durban, South Africa. The report indicated that
patients were not told their blood was being
tested for HIV antibodies and that positive HIV
test results were withheld from them.
Michael Petrclis, a longtime AIDS activist,
compared the HIV survey to the notorious
Tuskeegec Syphilis Study that followed 400
black sharecroppers infected with syphilis to
research the disease’s progression when un
treated. Started in the 1930s with funds from
the US Public Health Service, the study should
have been dropped when penicillin became
available in the !940s, experts concur. The
Tuskeegee experiment ended in 1972.
“The diseases and drugs arc different when
comparing the Tuskeegee Syphilis Study with
current DOH HIV prevalence research, but the
moral issue is the same,” Petrelis noted.
A scientific abstract paper presented at the
July conference by Dr. L. Torian of the New
York City Office of AIDS Research, “Unlinked
HIV prevalence trends in men who have sex
with men [MSM] at New York City sexually
transmitted disease clinics, 1990-1998,” de
tailed the disturbing study. Torian’s abstract re
ported on the “unlinked HlV-1 serosurvey us
ing remnant serum originally drawn for rou
tine serologic tests for syphilis.”
Unlinked is defined by researchers as mean
ing they have no identifying or demographic
data on the person whose blood was drawn to
test for one disease, and is then used to test for
another disease. Plus, patients are not told their
HIV results in unlinked surveys. MSM is a cat-
egory for all men who have sex with other men,
whether they self-idenrify as gay, straight, or
bisexual.
Torian found that only “59 percent of se
ropositive men with a new STD knew their
serostatus by HIV testing at this or a previous
visit.” 1 he remaining 4l percent of those with
positive HlV-tcst results were not informed by
the DOH of those results, and therefore were
not provided with any counseling regarding
available HIV treatments and prevention ser
vices.
“Disparities in [HIV prevalence] associated
with gonorrhea or .syphilis vs. other/no STD
and increased [HIV prevalence] in older black
MSM suggest that some STDs can .serve as sen
tinel risk markers [for HIV infection],” warned
dorian.
Petrelis made the following demands of Dr.
Lorian and the DOLL
• Inform all men tested over the course of
the nine-year DOH study that their blood was
tested for HIV without their knowledge.
• Make every effort to reach all men who
tested HIV antibody positive and inform them
of their positive serostatus.
• Offer counseling about possible treat
ments, side effects and access to AIDS drugs.
• Organize outreach specific to the older
black men who had a higher HIV prevalence
rate.
1 here was one enormous glimmer of hope
in dorian’s research. The report states that “over
all [HIV prevalence] declined from 47 percent
in 1990 to 19 percent in 1998. [HIV preva
lence] declined from 34 percent-10-percent in
white, 47 percent to 13 percent in Hispanic,
56 percent-32 percent in black, and 44 per-
cent-23 percent in bisexual men.”
Torian concluded, “[HIV prevalence] in
these MSM declined significantly during the
study period. However, wide racial disparities
were observed.”
“Even though the gay black and gay His
panic HIV prevalence significantly dropped,
those rates weren’t equal to that for white gays.
But the overall 28 percent decline is worth ac
knowledging and celebrating,” continued
Petrelis. “I want DOH to end research target
ing gay men as human guinea pigs in experi
ments. It’s outrageous the older black gay men
surveyed by DOH with a higher rate of HIV
are ignorant to the reality they are HIV posi
tive, denied HIV test results and additional in
formation.” T