Our Own, May 1991

              SERVING VIRGINIA SINCE 1976 VOLUME 15 NUMBER 7 • MAY 1991
• C O M M U N I T V • P R .E S S •
First National Lesbian Conference by Karen Stupski
Over 2,500 attended the National Lesbian
Ccnfcrence (NLC) April 24-28. The con­ference
was held in Atlanta, Ga., and had
representatives from nearly every state and
nearly every culture and race imaginable. The
~LC offered workshops, showcases of
various talents, a rendezvous marketplace,
dances, and a haven for lesbians everywhere.
The event did spark much conflict within
the lesbian community. A number of special
interest groups felt omitted, invisible or
even oppressed. These groups demanded that
their agendas take priority, and as a result
special plenary sessions were held to discuss
the needs of lesbians of color, Jewish
lesbians, and l&.tina lesbians.
Plenarys were also held to plan the agenda
for another conference and to create a
national lesbian organization. The sessions
sparked much debate. A number of groups
were not properly represented at the con­ference,
including lesbian mothers, lesbians
in recovery, young lesbians and lesbian
\'Clcrans and service members. The veterans
ay Rights Bill
as edin
Connecticut &
avvaii
Hawaii and Connecticut have become the
third and fourth states, respectively, to pass
statewide gay rights legislation:
Wisconsin and Massachusetts are the other
states with statewide legislation prohibiting
discnmination based on sexual orientation.
On March 21, Hawaii Governor John
Waihee signed into law a bill prohibiting
employment discrimination_ based on sexual
orientation.
After the Connecticut House passed a bill
April 11 that prohibits discrimination based
on sexual orientation in the areas of em­ployment,
housing, public accommodations
and credit, the Senate passed the bill April
17. The bill, whtch had been periodically in­troduced
into Connecticut's legislature since
1973, was sent to Gov. Lowell Weicker, who
has promised to sign it into law.
Connecticut activists claim that the com­ing
out of Rep. Joe Grabarz (D-Bridgeport),
who publicly ackowledged his homosexual­ity
at the beginning of the 1991 legislative
session, helped the bill to pass. During his
"coming out" speech, Grabarz said he had
received hate mail and death threats.
After Republican Governor John
McKernan of Maine threatened to veto a bill
almost identical to the one passed in
Connecticut, the Maine House voted April 16
against the bill. McKernan said he opposed
the bill because it did not include a provision
for a statewide referendum by which the bill
could be "publicly debated, and then voted on
by the people of Maine." ·
Similar legislation cannot be introduced
again until Maine's next biennial legislative
session in 1993.
Tim Drake, Director of the Civil Rights
Project for the National Lesbian and Gay
Task Force (NGLTF), said he expects a
statewide gay rights law will be passed this
year in California. Republican Governor Pete
Wilson and several major California
newspapers have expressed support for such
legislation.
(The Washington Blade and Bay Windows
and service members attempted to address the
conference plenary sessions and seemed
singularly oppressed.
Poor organization added to the sense of
disunity and confusion at the conference.
There were numerous scheduling problems
and omissions.
In spite of the problems, there were many
positive aspects to the conference. The
dance, Saturday evening extravaganza, and
the Atlanta Feminist Women's Chorus events
were well attended and received. The anti­oppression
workshops were also very
successful.
C~ris BurnsiOe & Dancers at Ric~monO's Em~ire T~eater
RICHMOND - Chris Burnside and Dancers will perform at the newly renovated
Empire Theater on Friday, May 10, at 8:00 p.m .. The company has recently incorporated and
received its not-for-profit status. This concert will feature Mr. Burnside and 10 professional
dancers including guest appearances by Richmond Ballet's Jon Konetski and Jacqueline
Orndorff as well as VCU faculty member Martha Curtis and veteran Richmond actor Jay
Lundy. This program marks the first time Mr. Burnside has presented a complete evening of
work in Richmond since opening the Virginia Museum's 1987 Fast Forward Series. Since
1987, the company has been presented in Virginia Beach, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia,
and New York.
The May l O concert will include four works: a solo, a duet, and two group pieces.
Mr Burnside will perform "Oh Lucy," a monologue about the odd jobs he had to take to
survive in the dance world.
Also included in the concert will be a duet for Mr. Burnside and Darla Stanley. Ms.
Stanley has most recently been working in Philadelphia and is planning to relocate to Japan
this fall to study Butch. This duet is entitled "To Bleed Willingly and Joyfully" and features a
score by composer Joseph Tornabene with costumes by Karl Green.
The first group piece is a premier entitled "Dithyramb," a vocal/theater work funded
in part by a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts. The score is by Mr. Burnside
and will feature musicians Johnny Hott and Pippin Barnett. "Dithyramb" deals with the
journey of the hero and features Nesbit Hatch, David Bentley, Bob Ed Pierce, and Robbie
Kinter as well as Jay Lundy and Mr. Burnside.
The second group piece, "Runaway Horses," is a quintet with music by Phillip
Glass. The cast includes: Ms. Stanley, D.C. dancer Reginald Ellis Crump, VCU faculty
member Martha Curtis, and Richmond Ballet's Jon Konetski and Jacqueline Orndorff.
Costumes are also by Karl Green.
Tickets are $10, $7 for students and are available at: Biffs Carytown Bookstore,
2930 W. Cary Street, 359-4831; VCU Theater Box Office, 367-6026; to charge tickets call
or stop by the Theater IV Box Office, 114 W. Broad Street, 344-8040. All seats reserved. For
more information contact Chris Burnside and Dancers at 232-2825.
Most importantly, the conference pro­vided
opportunity for lesbians across the
nation to connect and communicate.
The conference planners went out of their
way to meet the needs of all lesbians with
disabilities, offering special access, inter­preters,
safe spaces to rest and cautioning all
on fragrances to protect those with environ­mental
illnesses.
NLC sought out a wide diversity of the
lesbian sisterhood, feeling that only if
everyone's needs are included will the out­come
of the conference truly reflect the
issues most relevant for lesbians in the
future.
National Poll
Shows Strong
Support for Gays &
Lesbians in the
Milit~ry
Washington, DC - A national survey
released by the Human Rights Campaign
Fund shows tiat 81 % of the American public
opposes the current Pentagon policy. of dis
charging lesbians and gays from the U.S.
armed forces. The results were obtained by an
omnibus telephone poll of 800 randomly
selected U.S. residents conducted April 6-7
by Penn & Schoen Associates of New York
and Washington.
Respondents to the poll were asked,
"Suppose someone in the armed forces is
homosexual and is otherwise doing a good
job. Do you think the government should or
shouldn't discharge that person just because
he or she is a homosexual?"
Of the respondents, 81 % said gays and
lesbians should not be discharged, 14% said
they should, and 5% said they didn't know or
had no opinion.
Opposition to the Pentagon's current dis­charge
policy was found to be overwhelming
in every demographic category, with Ameri­cans
of every age, income, race, region, sex,
political party or ideology supporting the
right of lesbians and gays in the armed forces
to remain in their jobs.
While the numbers are inexact, an
estimated 1,000 to 2,000 lesbian and gay
service personnel arc discharged each year.
When asked, "Do you think homosexuals
should or should not be admitted to the armed
forces?" 65% of respondents said they
should, 28% said they should not, and 7%
said they didn't know or had no opinion.
The survey also found that 80% of
Americans believe gays and lesbians should
not face discrimination in the work place,
with Americans of every description
agreeing that gays and lesbians should have
equal rights in the job market. Currently
only four states, Wisconsin, Massachusetts,
Connecticut and Hawaii, along with the
District of Columbia, have laws protecting
gays and lesbians from discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation.
The 80% figure represents a continuing in­crease
in support for gay employment rights
over the past 14 years. Gallup Polls con­ducted
from 1977 to 1989 found support in­creased
during that period from 56% to 71 %.