SHE/SAID
"You would like to think I'd be exemplary; I'd say, 'Let us go to therapy together, let us work this through, find out what you really are and what you really want and not be timid or frightened.' But you know what? There is enough of a conventional bourgeois many generations back in me that I would have to grow in courage."
– Mercedes Ruehl who plays Gwen Araujo's mother in the Lifetime movie "A Girl Like Me," on how she'd react if one of her children were transsexual, as quoted in The Advocate.
"Marriage is the most fundamental right in our society and it should not be defined by activist judges."
"Series Finale Of Will & Grace Ends Eight-Year Truce Between Gay, Straight Communities."
– May 29, 2006 headline from satirical newspaper The Onion
"A Senate committee on Thursday approved a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage, apparently forgetting that our forefathers wore wigs and satin Capri pants."
– Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update
Transitions:
Activist, author Eric Rofes died June 26 from a heart attack. He was a long-time activist and community organizer and published over a dozen books, most recently "A Radical Rethinking of Sexuality and Schooling: Status Quo or Status Queer" (Rowman & Littlefield). He was a professor of education at
{URL www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19329 }
Transgender activist Jamie Phillips-Fox, 57, died June 7 of a heart attack. She is survived by her wife, Michelle Fox-Phillips.
{URL www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19251}
Q Nightclub in Ferndale goes straight and changed it name to Monkey Bar.
{URL https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19137}
Dr. Fritz Klein, an Austrian-born psychiatrist who studied bisexuals and their relationships and helped launch a foundation promoting bisexual culture, died. He was 73.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19064
On June 5, AIDS turned 25. It has killed 25 million people worldwide, including 500,000 in the United States.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=18875
Entertainment
TV airs trans-death story
At 17, after a group of boys with whom Gwen Araujo allegedly had sexual relations with discovered she had male genitalia, she was beaten and strangled to death, before they hog-tied her, wrapped her in a blanket and buried in a shallow grave in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
Lifetime aired her story in the original movie "A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story." As a result, it is expectedly difficult to watch. It is in many ways the counterpart to "Boys Don't Cry," the big screen adaptation of the life of Brandon Teena, a female-to-male transgendered man who at 21 was murdered in rural Nebraska when it was discovered he possessed female genitalia.
More online: Issue 1424, "'A Girl Like Me' leaves viewers haunted," by Jason Michael
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19110
Band loves pushing envelope
Having two gay men tie the knot and lock lips in Head Automatica's "Graduation Day" video, a before and after look at high school graduates, wasn't a difficult decision for lead vocalist and guitarist Daryl Palumbo.
"One of the most shocking experiences was how often times, with the angry, testosterone-laden jock, sometimes the script gets flipped after graduation and you find out a secret about the jock: that he enjoys boys," Palumbo told BTL.
When the envelope-pushing idea for the video took shape, Palumbo was all for it. "Isn't that f–king great?" he said, laughing. "I have gay men kissing in my new music video. I love it!"
More online: Issue 1425, "'Graduation' Gay," by Chris Azzopardi
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19230
Michigan Pride headlines
Motor City Pride draws record number of attendees
Excellent weather and improved parking conditions helped draw in over 42,000 attendees to Motor City Pride in Ferndale. One hundred and ninety vendors, from free portraits to a psychological-based dating service, set up tents along the sides of the streets. LGBT couples tied the knot at a mass commitment ceremony held on the lawn at Ferndale City Hall presided over by Ferndale Mayor Robert Porter.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19070
Protestors don't faze Michigan Pride attendees
At the Capitol building, protestors were ordered to stay on the sidewalk. The Peace Team and police officers helped ward off altercations while CARE's Penny Gardner spoke to legions of people about protecting children in LGBT families and promoted the power to vote. After the march to the Capitol, people congregated in Riverfront Park, where vendors sold rainbow-colored merchandise and promoted their organizations, and some young men and women painted Pride posters with political messages.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19328
Mahaffey surprises guests at Pride Banquet
About 330 people mingled on June 22 at the Ukrainian Cultural Center for the 21st Pride Banquet where former Detroit City Council president Maryann Mahaffey made a special appearance. It proved to be one of her last public appearances before her death July 27.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19331
Muskegon holds first ever Pride event
A continuous rainstorm didn't prevent more than 30 people from gathering on the beach to celebrate Muskegon's first Gay Pride event June 18.
{URL https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19252}
Grand Rapids shows its Pride
West Michigan Pride celebrated its 18th year at John Ball Park, and Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell officially declared June 17 as "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Persons Pride Day in Grand Rapids." The day began with a worship ceremony and ended with a night of dancing. In between were indie folk musicians, square dancers, a cabaret, country line dancing, a drag show and the Rumors Night Club circuit show.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19250
Michigan News:
State Rep. Stahl pushes anti-adoption bills out of committee
Rep. John Stahl and the Committee on Family and Children's Services approved two bills that would allow agencies to discriminate against prospective parents based on the agency's "morals."
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19318
Anti-gay play yanked by church
A West Michigan church, Shiloh Tabernacle Church of rural Dalton Township, announced it has canceled a public performance of a controversial religious drama that portrays a murderous lesbian with AIDS who is a victim of incest being dragged off by demons into hell.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19327
Time Warp raises spirits, but less money
Co-Chairs Florine Mark, President and Chairman of Weight Watchers, and Marcie Brogan, owner of Brogan and Partners Advertising, co-chaired the annual fundraiser for AIDS Partnership Michigan, the state's largest community-based AIDS service provider. Although ticket sales were up, corporate sponsorships were down significantly, resulting in a 23 percent drop in total receipts to $95,000.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19258
Rainbow House Project begins building
Construction began in Ypsilanti on the second LGBT-sponsored Habitat for Humanity house in the country.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19256
DeRoche blocks anti-bullying bill
MichiganHouse Speaker Craig DeRoche (R-Novi) refused to allow movement on House Bill 5616, which if passed would protect Michigan's schoolchildren from bullying. The bill would require Michigan's school districts to adopt uniform anti-bullying policies that protect all children, including LGBT children.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19322
People of faith lobby in Lansing
On June 6, a group of twelve people of faith gathered in the Michigan Capitol to prepare for a day of lobbying and prayer, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee and Michigan Equality.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19134
Granholm signs bills to restrict funeral protests
Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed legislation May 23 restricting protests at funerals in Michigan. The new law is designed to stop demonstrations by the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, which has protested at funerals of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Topeka, Kan. church says that God is killing the soldiers to punish the U.S. for tolerating homosexuality.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=18973
National News:
Black leaders take on Christian extremists
At a three-day black clergy conference June 26-29, prominent black leaders including the Revs. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Joseph Lowery said they will work to combat Christian conservatives they say have used gay marriage and abortion to distract from larger moral issues such as the war, voting rights, affirmative action and poverty.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19313
Bush backs marriage amendment
"Marriage is the most fundamental institution of civilization, and it should not be redefined by activist judges," said President Bush at a June 5 press conference, just before the so-called Marriage Protection Act was to be debated by the U.S. Senate.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19068
Bush signs military funeral protest ban
President George W. Bush signed the "Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act," which was passed by Congress in response to protests by Westboro Baptist Church at military funerals around the country.
The new law bars protests within 300 feet of the entrance of a national cemetery.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19064
Study: men with older brothers more likely to be gay
A Canadian study found that having several older brothers increases the likelihood of a man being gay. Researchers say the finding adds weight to the {URL idea that there is a biological basis for sexual orientation.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19313}
Pentagon spying on gays more widespread than originally thought
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network reported that the Pentagon had spyed on three events at college campuses, including a planned "kiss-in" in protest of military recruiters at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Similar intelligence reports were filed on protest activities at William Paterson University in New Jersey, Southern Connecticut State University, and the University of California at Berkeley at about the same time.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19330
Presbyterian Church keeps gay ban
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), severely split over homosexuality, voted to maintain its ban on gay clergy but allow some leeway in enforcing it.
https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=19240
