Martin Memorial Moves Many

The memorial for LGBT pioneer Del Martin in San Francisco Oct. 1 was a powerful, yet casual state funeral and mini-Women's Music festival. Explaining that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was unable to attend because of the economic crisis, former U.S. Ambassador Jim Hormel read excerpts from Pelosi's comments on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

"She refused to be silenced by fear and never stopped fighting for equality," Pelosi said. Martin died Aug. 27, about 10 weeks after she and Phyllis Lyon, her love of 55 years, were the first couple legally married in San Francisco by Mayor Gavin Newsom. Martin was 87.

Many of the white-haired women and men in the packed chamber at the Rotunda at San Francisco City Hall wiped away tears listening to music by Margie Adam and Holly Near and stories of Martin's private life and public activism during a time when it was illegal and dangerous to be openly lesbian.

In 1955, journalists Martin and Lyon founded the Daughters of Bilitis, the nation's first lesbian organization with its newsletter, The Ladder. In 1972, the couple wrote Lesbian/Woman, a book that inspired lesbians around the world.

"We are here to celebrate a life that was lived out loud,” said Newsom, “a life lived with purpose and passion.”

Speaking with Frontiers, Lyon said the day had been “incredible and it certainly proves that everything that Del was doing meant something for a whole lot of people. Hopefully a lot of us can carry on.”

Noting that Assemblymember Mark Leno spoke about the No on Prop. 8 campaign that would overturn marriage equality, Lyon said, “if Prop. 8 passes, we're in deep doo-doo.”

Lyon asks people to contribute to the No on Prop. 8 campaign in Martin's memory. For more information, visit their Web site noonprop8.com. —KAREN OCAMB

Controversy at Columbia Over ROTC

New York's Columbia University banned the Reserve Officers Training Corps. (ROTC) from campus in 1969, at the height of student protests over the Vietnam war. But times have changed. Sixty-five percent of Columbia's students said they supported ROTC's return in a 2003 survey, the New York Sun reported Sept. 29. Nonetheless, Columbia's senate voted in 2005 to uphold the ban. But a televised “ServiceNation Presidential Candidates Forum” on Sept. 11 seems to have revived the issue.

“The notion that young people here at Columbia aren't offered a choice or an option in participating in military service is a mistake,” said Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Since the presidential event, several student leaders have been agitating for a student body-wide referendum on ROTC's return. They wish to hold two community forums in October, featuring pro-ROTC and anti-ROTC speakers.

Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger (shown), however, opposes ROTC's return to campus, citing the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy as the primary reason. Instituted under President Bill Clinton, Don't Ask, Don't Tell permits gays and lesbians to serve in the military only if they keep their sexual orientation secret. Obama has said he would repeal the policy; his Republican opponent, John McCain, supports it. “Under the current Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy of the Defense Department, openly gay and lesbian students could or would be excluded from participating in ROTC activities,” Bollinger wrote in an e-mail to students. “That is inconsistent with the fundamental values of the university.”

Columbia students may participate in ROTC, but must go to other New York area colleges to do so. Only 5 Columbia students are currently enrolled in ROTC programs, which Bollinger said in his e-mail might cause the military not to return to campus even if the ban were lifted.

Schwarzenegger Signs, Vetoes LGBT Laws

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation creating a Harvey Milk Day honoring the assassinated gay activist who was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the country. “This is a sad reminder of the lack of understanding of both the LGBT community and of the impact of Harvey Milk,” said EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors. However, Schwarzenegger signed the “Foster Youth School Safety Education” bill—legislation to compel medical insurers operating in California to cover the costs of routine HIV screening measure—and a bill to train licensed health professionals about the unique needs of LGBT seniors.

Fundraiser To Benefit Stuart Timmons

A fundraiser will be held Nov. 15 in Los Angeles to benefit gay author and activist Stuart Timmons, who is recovering from a stroke suffered last January, according to friends organizing the event. Timmons co-authored the best-selling book Gay L.A. and wrote a biography on Harry Hay, a founder of the gay rights movement. He is also a longtime community organizer and active in ACT UP/LA. For reservations and information, call 213/741-0094. Contributions may be made at the door, or sent to the Stuart Craig Timmons Irrevocable Trust, c/o Gay Timmons, P.O. Box 472, Los Gatos, CA 95031.

WeHo Democrats Have No on Prop. 8 Signs

The Stonewall Democratic Club operated a busy voter registration table at the West Hollywood Book Fair Sept. 30. The deadline to register to vote for the Nov. 4 election is Oct 20. Stonewall and the West Hollywood Democratic Club are also busy operating phone banks and coordinating volunteer efforts for various candidates, including Barack Obama and opposition to the anti-gay Prop. 8 campaign. The office is located at 8106 Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, on the southwest corner of Santa Monica and Crescent Heights. For more information, call 310/594-3367.

Paul Newman Helped Gays

Richard Rosendahl, Vice President of Washington, D.C.'s Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance remembered Paul Newman, who died Sept. 26: “On March 23, 1971, Frank Kameny made history as a candidate in the District of Columbia's first election for Delegate to Congress. ... The day before the election, Kameny for Congress received a check for $500 from Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. ... [The check came too late so it was used] to send the leading organizers to New York City to meet with members of that city's Gay Activists Alliance. That led to the founding of a Washington group by the same name, on April 20, 1971.”

Straight Model Sues Gay Magazine Over Photo

A straight male model has sued Genre magazine and a photographer over a photo that appeared in the magazine's March/April issue, gay news and entertainment site Queerty.com reported Sept. 27. Aspiring actor and University of Central Florida student Benjamin Massing claims invasion of privacy, saying he had the photo taken for his personal portfolio and never expected it to be published. Massing calls the shot “cruel and vulgar” and says he has received unwanted advances from gay men. Massing, however, has posed for Abercrombie & Fitch, whose ads are popular with gay men.

University of Wyoming Dedicates Bench to Shepard

The University of Wyoming dedicated the “Matthew Shepard Memorial Bench” in Laramie Sept. 27 to mark the Oct. 12 10th anniversary of Shepard's slaying, the AP reports. The gay University of Wyoming student was beaten by two men he met in a bar, tied to a fence and left to die. After the murder, Shepard's parents established the Matthew Shepard Foundation to “replace hate with understanding, compassion and acceptance.” At the dedication, both lauded the university's efforts to foster acceptance of LGBT students and share the murder's lessons with others around the nation.

This page compiled by Peter DelVecchio from The Associated Press and other news reports.

Straights at the Center of the Prop. 8 Ad War

In the important play for the hearts and minds of independent voters before the fast-approaching Nov. 4 election, both opponents and supporters of Prop. 8—the constitutional ballot initiative that would overturn the right of same-sex couples to marry—are featuring straight people to make their point.

In a No on Prop. 8 ad that started running Sept. 22, the Thorons talk sincerely about equality and plead voters to not take away their gay daughter's right to marry.

A Yes on 8 commercial released Sept. 29 strikes a more strident tone. It opens with raspy-voiced San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom at a City Hall news conference May 15 celebrating the California Supreme Court's ruling in favor of marriage equality.

"This door's wide open now," Newsom proclaims to much applause. "It's going to happen, whether you like it or not."

A hero to gay people for pushing the constitutionality of marriage equality in 2004, Newsom now symbolizes a kind of power-drunk devil incarnate to religious social conservatives fearful of an impending Armageddon if Prop. 8 fails to pass. Aware of possibly putting off fence-sitting voters, however, Prop. 8 supporters have couched their appeal in terms of over-reaching “judicial activism.”

“Its no longer about tolerance. Acceptance of gay marriage is now mandatory,” intones a woman's voice on the Yes on 8 ad. Then Richard Peterson, identified as a professor at Pepperdine University School of Law, “that changes a lot of things ... people sued over personal beliefs. Churches could lose their tax exemption. Gay marriage taught in public schools.”

“We don't have to accept this,” the narrator says. Newsom reappears to remind voters that the list of horribles will happen “whether you like it or not.”

"[Supporters of No on Prop. 8] want people to feel like you are a bad person if you support what has been the definition of marriage since the dawn of time," Frank Schubert, co-manager of the Yes on 8 campaign, told AP Sept. 29. "The one-fourth of the electorate that doesn't know how they are going to vote—the vast majority—in their hearts they are with us. We have to give them an environment where it's OK for them to follow their hearts."

Their appeal to the religious right is hardcore, however, including a direct challenge to the IRS instigated by the Prop. 8-supporting Alliance Defense Fund of Scottsdale, Ariz. On Sept. 28, the ADF sponsored a national campaign in which 33 pastors, including the Rev. Cliff Samson of the First Baptist Church of Yorba Linda, openly endorsed John McCain for president, blasted Barack Obama and supported the anti-gay initiatives in California, Arizona and Florida from the pulpit in direct violation of their nonprofit tax-exempt status.

“The Religious Right sees Prop. 8 as Armageddon in the culture war, a titanic battle between 'God's Army' and the forces of Satan, i.e. supporters of equality for LGBT people,” Peter Montgomery, communications director for People for the American Way, told Frontiers. “Anti-gay leaders are badgering pastors to do more—to raise more money, to recruit more troops, to turn their churches into turnout machines. They're saying that if Prop. 8 fails, Christians are going to be thrown in jail—so it's time to step up.”

“Not only is marriage on the line, but religious liberty and free speech are at risk,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said in an e-mail to supporters. “Don't be fooled [by the polls]: the other side has deep pockets and strong allies.”

The Yes on 8 campaign has raised more money, however, roughly $20 million, compared to approximately $15 million. “We are closing the gap, but it is still significant,” said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California. Entrepreneur Jonathan Lewis and the Lewis family, for instance, issued a $500,000 matching grant challenge to the entertainment community.

Appearing on the Tonight Show Sept. 30, Ellen DeGeneres talked about Prop. 8 in the context of her own marriage and people hurt by the bad economy. “If you're raising millions of dollars,” she said, “give it to those people because you don't need to promote hate. So No on 8 everybody.”
—KAREN OCAMB