Our Own, November 1995

              Family
Matters
Take a look at
the first install­ment
of our
newest regular
feature: a photo­spread
of YOU!
See Page 36
Vote on November 7!
Virginians for Justice releases results of
state-wide candidate survey on gay issues
by Kathleen Vickery
Staff writer
When gays and lesbians
head to the voting booth
November 7 to elect Virg_inia
senators and · representatives,
most will try to evaluate each
· candidate on .his 0r her record
(or campaign promises) regard­ing
issues that aren't necessarily
gay-specific ... what they plan to
do about the state of public
schools, for example, or how
they stand on social responsibil­ity
issues. But most ·gays and
lesbians will also care very
randidate is to
introduce or support
.:ivil rights mea-
1 .res for gays.
Virginians for
Justice (VJ), the
state's only bi-parti­san
organization to
lobby legislators for
gay civil rights, in
cooperation with
seven regional gay
advocate groups,
conducted a survey
of the candidates.
The questionnaires.
were mailed to all
248_ candidate. 21
percent of all candi­dates
responded to
the survey, up from
11 percent two
years ago. Four per­cent
of those res­ponding
stated that
their policy is to not
participate in sur­veys.
The percent­age
of respondents
increased this year,
according to Patrick
Heck, VJ's Legislat­ive
Coordinator, in
large part because of
the help of regional
groups which en­couraged
local resi­dents
to call their
candidates- and en­courage
them to
return the surveys.
"Often, even one
phone call from a
single constituent
can be enough to cause a candidate
to take some kind of action. It's
amazing how few people realize
the power they actually do have to
influence candidates and elected
officials," Heck said.
The other groups who
cooperated in conduct­ing
the survey were
Alexandria Gay &
Lesbian Community
Association, Arlington
Gay & Lesbian Al­liance,
Charlottesville
Campaign for , Human
Rights, Fairfax Lesbian
& Gay Citizens Associ­ation,
Hampton Roads
Lesbian & Gay Pride
Coalition, Richmond
Lesbian & Gay Pride
Coalition, and Roanoke
Valley Gay & Lesbian
Alliance.
The survey
questioned candidates about six
general areas of interest: hate
see Elections,_ page 1
Urvoshi
Vaid
One of the
country's most
famous gay
rights activists
discusses the
future of the
gay movement
See Page 3
Bob Smith:
Out to be funny
by Rosemary Doud
Staff writer
Comedian Bob Smith is
known to many from his appear­ances
on Comedy Central 's Out
There gay comedy special, his
own HBO special, and as the
first openly gay comedian to be
invited to perform on The
Tonight Show. He is also co­author
(with Jaffe Cohen and
Danny McWilliams) of Growing
Up Gay, and performed with
Cohen and McWilliams as the
ensemble Funny Gay Males. A
recent guest of the Multicultural
Student Union at Old Dominion .<;:;
University, Bob performed his ]
stand-up comedy act for an §
appreciative audience on-=
October 1 I, National Coming Bob Smith
Out Day. After the performance,
he spoke with Our Own.
Our Own: Were you funny as a
kid?
Bob Smith: Yes, I was pretty
funny. I wrote stuff in high
school - class shows - and
they went really well. One of the
first ones I did was a Tarzan par­ody,
because I wanted to have
the captain of the football team
be Tarzan in a loincloth. It was
like a light bulb going on over
my head - oh, yeah, I'm really
funny! And then when I got out
of high school, there was a jazz
club in Buffalo that wanted
stand-up comedy so I went. I
was 18. I tried it, and it worked
really well. I did five minutes. I
was so nervous, I was praying,
"Dear God, don't let this be a
nightmare." And got asked
back! Going up there, telling
jokes and getting $20 for it was
like the big time to me.
The thing I like about stand­up
comedy is that it's really
immediate. You can think of a
joke and try it out that night and
see if it works. It's like instant
theater. You're the director,
actor, writer. There's no set
script. In fact, it's bad if you do
it the same every time.
00: Do you use the same mate­rial
at straight clubs that you
do at gay ones?
BS: I do. I can rearrange the
lines, or edit a little, I talk about
my family, my birthday. It really
works well for the straight audi­ences.
00: You don't have to explain
more to straight crowds?
BS: Some things I do, a few
things, but honestly not too
many things. If I did my whole
show then I would have to set up
things for them, but I usually do
a shorter set for them. I always
find things I know straight and
gay audiences can relate to.
00: Was that a surprise to you,
that straight audiences accept­ed
and. could understand your
humor?
BS: No, because I started out in
straight comedy clubs doing gay
comedy, and that's where I came
up with most of my jokes.
00: But at the beginning,
wasn't that a surprise?
BS: You're right. When I first
did it, I had written these jokes
about being gay, and I didn't
know if they were funny or not,
and my roommate Michael read
them and said they were, really
funny, and that I should try them
out. So, I went to a comedy club
in New York in 1986, and they
went over great, and ever since I
always talk about being gay. I've
always thought you can talk
about anything in stand-up com­edy,
and you just have to be aim­ing
at being funny.
00: How would you character­ize
your humor?
BS: I'd like to think that I'm
sharp and funny, like with topics
like gays in the military, or the
Catholic Church's attitude, but I
, feel like Ann Landers says,
"You catch more flies with
honey than with vinegar." I think
that's true.
00: Is there such a thing as
gay humor?
BS: I love lesbian comedians
like Kate Clinton and Suzanne
see lob Smith, page 1