This Way Out; 716

Earlier today, at lunchtime, a bomb rocked the heart of the city. But life goes on, and once the cellular phone network rebounds from its usual post -bombing overload, we're all back on our Nokia's, and the question rifts from, are you okay to the parties still on tonight, right? Tracy Edmonds and Kenny Babyface Edmonds are the producers, and I really wanted to show as broad a cross -section of the black gay community as possible. This new mantra is, you know, we're just like everybody else, we're just like everybody else. And then we're not just like everybody else. That's the point. Welcome to this way out, the International Lesbian and Gay Radio Magazine. I'm Lucia Chappelle. Taiwan Oscars Embrace Out Director's first gay film, Groundbreaking Movie Punks, is black and gay and romantic all over, and pride and community conquer fear in Jerusalem.

All that and more this week, now that you've discovered this way out. I'm Cindy Friedman, and I'm Brian Nunes. With NewsRap, a summary of some of the news in or affecting the lesbian and gay community for the week ending December 8th, 2001. In a landmark for Chinese culture, open gay Stanley Kwan, this week one best director honors for his first gay -themed film, Lan Yu, at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards, known as the Chinese language Oscars. Lan Yu had been nominated in ten categories, and also won Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Actor for Mainlander Leo Yee in its title role. While it didn't take best picture in the official judging, it did win the People's Choice Award in that category. Adapted from the internet novel Beijing Story, Lan Yu deals with a gay male

couple Stormy 10 -year relationship in the period surrounding the massacre at Tiananmen Square. Hong Kong director Kwan, who came out publicly in 1996, identified the relationship with his own. Despite China's widespread intolerance of gays, Lan Yu was shot on location in Beijing, although much of the filming was done behind closed doors. Lan Yu will be seen in the U .S. in the coming year, first at the Sundance Festival in January and later in general release. An anti -gay leader in the U .S. culture war stepped down from one key post this week. Pat Robertson announced his resignation from the presidency of the Christian Coalition, the spearhead of the anti -gay religious right, which Robertson founded in 1989. Robertson, now 71 years old, said he felt a renewed call to Christian ministry, and that he intends to focus more on his Christian broadcasting network and region university. In a statement, Robertson proclaimed that the Christian Coalition had achieved all the 10 -year political goals it had set in 1990, and

credited it with a pivotal role in placing George W. Bush in the White House and Republicans in control of the House of Representatives. President Bush this week named former Montana Governor Mark Rasko chair the Republican National Committee, the human rights campaign, as well as the gay and lesbian log cabin Republicans, viewed the selection of the leading Bush campaigner as positive. Rasko strongly denounced the notorious 1998 gay bashing murder of Matthew Shepard, and at the end of his eight -year tenure as governor, ordered a rewrite of conservative Montana's state employment policies to protect gay and lesbians from discrimination. The only openly gay legislator in the president's home state of Texas announced this week that he will not seek re -election. Austin Democrat Glenn Maxi said on the steps of the state capital, flanked by the U .S., Texas, and rainbow flags, I came here as the gay representative. I'll leave here as the representative who just happened to also be gay. That in itself is my most important achievement. Maxi headed the lesbian

gay rights lobby of Texas before beginning the first of six terms in the Texas House in 1991, attributing his exit from politics in part to redistricting that would have pitted him against two political allies. Maxi will continue as a professional lobbyist in the state legislature on issues of health and human services. Karen Garrity was sworn in this week as mayor of Portland, Maine. There was loud applause at the ceremony when a speaker noted she is the first open lesbian or gay ever to hold that office. She was unanimously elected to the post by the city council where she served for five years. Her top concern is the city's serious housing problem. An ordinance in the other Portland, Portland, Oregon, served as the model for a civil rights ordinance adopted unanimously last week by the board of commissioners of Multnomah County where Portland is located. Both sexual orientation and gender identity are included as categories protected from discrimination. Those who believe they have experienced discrimination can turn to either an administrator or the courts

for redress. And in a year -end marathon session this week, the Atlanta Georgia City Council voted 12 -1 to approve its own version of San Francisco's pioneering equal benefits ordinance requiring city contractors to extend the same benefits to their unmarried workers domestic partners as they do to legally married workers spouses. The bill's sponsor, outgoing council member Michael Julian Bond, managed to bring it to the table at literally the 11th hour after it appeared to have died in committee. But because of the circumstances, the bill did not include a long list of waivers bonded planned and even he admits it could create real problems if it goes into effect in January with most city contractors not in compliance. Gay supportive exiting mayor Bill Campbell must decide the measure's fate. At least four other cities and two counties in the U .S. have adopted similar ordinances following San Francisco's 1996 lead. Equal benefits for domestic partners also one support this week at a meeting of the

American Medical Association. The AMA adopted a resolution called Equity in Healthcare for Domestic Partnerships, affirming the group's support for both equal healthcare benefits and for legal recognition of domestic partners for hospital visitation and medical care decision making. The AMA also added the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association to its specialty and service society, a first step in advancing the GLMA to organizational voting status in the AMA. In Canada, Quebec's provincial government this week introduced a bill to create legal domestic partnerships for gays and lesbians. The proposed partnership union registry would confer marital benefits in areas including inheritance, healthcare, insurance and taxation, but would not recognize couples for adoptions or co -adoptions. Nova Scotia is the only Canadian province to have enacted similar legislation. Quebec Justice Minister Paul Bagan called the bill the most gay positive legislation in North

America, noting that the province lacked the authority to extend full marriage rights to same -gender couples and hinting that an independent Quebec might have done so, with the major lawsuit in progress in Montreal seeking equal marriage rights, Quebec's gays and lesbians are divided between those who support the partnership registry as at least a temporary remedy and those who oppose it as discriminatory inequality. Canadian gays and lesbians outside of Quebec last week filed two class action lawsuits against the federal government seeking survivor benefits to the tune of $400 million Canadian dollars. The lawsuit represents some 10 ,000 gays and lesbians whose partners died after the national charter of rights and freedoms went into effect in 1985, but before the January 1998 date the Canada Pension Plan set for benefits to same -gender couples. The national government has vowed to fight the lawsuit, claiming it was already being generous last year when it made the benefits retroactive to two years earlier. But activists claim the $450 million per month benefits have effectively been

confiscated from survivors since all Canadians have been required to contribute to the plan throughout their working lives. Quebec is not part of the action because it has a separate pension plan. The main case was filed in Ontario on behalf of gay and lesbian survivors in all the provinces, with a second filed in British Columbia because of that province's separate rules for class actions. The issues are very different for same -gender couples in India, where a woman was reportedly arrested in November after marrying a girl and a secret Hindu ceremony in the central state of Shatascar. The father of the 13 -year -old named Rukhmani told police the 20 -year -old woman had abducted her and the woman was jailed and denied bail. Elsewhere in India, activists have asked the Delhi High Court to stop the government from enforcing the Saudi law, which provides for a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for sex between men. The filing came from the Nas Foundation, a group which itself was charged this year in connection with that law because of its AIDS prevention efforts. Nas asserts that the law both

impedes prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS and violates the Indian Constitution's right to life and liberty. The government has not yet filed its response. As world AIDS Day was observed December 1 with numerous marches, vigils and other events around the globe, Barbados saw the official launch of its first gay and lesbian organization. The 60 -member group in Bridgewater is called United Gays and Lesbians against AIDS Barbados. Nicaragua's National Committee of the Latin American Council of Churches has selected an open gay as its executive secretary. Reverend Dr. Armando Sanchez is the ecumenical officer for Central America for the gay affirming universal fellowship of metropolitan community churches, as well as senior pastor of Managua's Iglesia de la Comunidad Metropolitana Paz Ialegria. The Latin American Council of Churches includes more than 70 member denominations, and earlier this year granted UFMCC fraternal membership status. And finally, a New Hampshire High School senior class

has chosen a lesbian couple as their class sweethearts. When Dover High School seniors voted on 20 categories of so -called senior superlatives, best dressed most athletic, most likely to succeed, and the like, more than 77 percent named Nicole Salisbury and Ashley Lagasse to be honored in their yearbook as their favorite couple. Perplexed yearbook staff turned to principal Robert Peterson, who declared the runner -up couple should be used instead, because ballot instructions had required students to pick a male and a female in each category. That riled the senior class, as well as Dover's gay straight alliance, and petitions began to circulate to give Salisbury and Lagasse their due. But then school superintendent Armando Salva intervened to insist the vote should stand, saying, I believe that even if there was confusion about the ballot, the senior class members spoke. I don't believe I have the right to throw out the ballot because we didn't have any hanging chads on this one. Or as one

student told reporters, if people think they're the cutest couple in the school, then why not? Lesbians in one of the world's most explosive trouble spots are dealing with life in the shadow of terrorism later in the program. Even though it's still hard to get a gay movie made and into theaters, more and more often these days, boy does meet boy on the silver screen. What sets writer director Patrick Ian Polk's new film, Punx, apart, is that the men involved are both gay and black. It's a snappy romantic comedy, but Punx plows new ground for queer and African -American cinema. This way, outs award

-winning entertainment reporter Steve Pride chats with the multi -talented Polk about the movie, racism, and the writing process. My name is Patrick Ian Polk. I'm the writer -director of Punx. Tell us what Punx is about. Punx is a romantic comedy centered around for black gay men in Los Angeles. There are some really interesting people behind this film. Tell me about the producers. Tracy Edmonds and Kenny Babyface Edmonds are the producers and they produce movies like Soul Food and light it up and have plenty Jozy and the Pussycats as well as being big in the music industry as well. I read somewhere that you wrote this in eight days. Yeah, I wrote the first draft in eight days, that's true. For some reason people make a big

deal out of that, but writing doesn't have to be as lengthy a process as people like to think it is. Where do the characters come from? Are they fictional or do you draw from their own life? Any writer worth his or her assault can't help but draw from life, but they're fictional. I mean, I really wanted to show as broad a cross -section of the black gay community as possible, which is why I decided to make it an ensemble. I started with sort of four archetypes and then kind of built the characters around them. So they're not really based on people as much as types of people, I guess. Patrick, I hate to use a word like breakthrough because that puts a lot of pressure on one film to be many things to many people. You know, the early films of what they call the new queer cinema included such black directors as Marlon Riggs with tongues untied, but it has been a long time since then and it's been a long time since black characters have been anything but a supporting figure in a gay movie. So this is indeed a breakthrough. Yeah, no, it is. I mean, 2001. No, that's why I wrote the film. I

mean, there's always a secondary character in these movies. There's always a stereotypical, over -sexed character or the sort of snappy neck roll and advice giving person of color. You know, there's always that character, one or the other, but they're always cartoons and they're never well -rounded and that's really why I wrote this movie to show another side because these films really aren't advancing the genre any how many movies can we have about a group of white gay men going to some country house for a holiday week? How many times can we see that movie? How many times can we see the rosy -cheeked 17 -year -old blonde boy coming of age and coming out of the closet and having his first boyfriend? I mean, those were fine to see once, maybe twice, but now give us something different. I think the public is responding in the same way when these movies come out and they can barely make one, maybe two million dollars of the box office. The public is saying, look, we're tired of this, give us something more, move beyond that. With a music logo

like Kenneth Babyface Edmonds behind the production, punks pack some big names on its soundtrack like Janet Jackson and Diana Ross, but what surprised me is that you wrote and performed some of the music yourself. So what, writing and directing the film wasn't enough work? You know, making movies can be really, really expensive and music is just another really expensive part of that. I really just had to figure out the best way to stretch the money that I had to fill all those music cues in the film. There was just no other way. I mean, you know, I never intended to be singing and writing songs. There's a scene in punks that depicts a black gay man and a trendy West Hollywood cruise bar, and he is essentially invisible to the white patrons. Is there a lot of discrimination within the gay community? They're just like everybody else. They're conservative gay people, there are corporate gay people, there are middle American gay people. It's really no different, and the racism is there just as much as in any other community. And certainly, people of color, if they

venture into West Hollywood, certainly they have that experience. I'm not saying it's completely that way, but you do feel that because there's plenty of white men who only date white men who are only interested in another white man in that way. You know, and it's a real issue. I don't know how we got to the point where, but we're certainly here now where people really kind of think it's, I've had a lot of gay white men say to me in conversation that they don't date this racial group, but they don't date that racial group. They're like, I don't date black men, or I don't date, you know, I only date white men, or I only date white and Latin men. And they really think it's just as simple as I prefer apples over oranges, and they never quite understand the racial implications of a statement like that. And if you call them out on it, they get really defensive. And because people think of racism as, you know, the Ku Klux Klan marching down the street, racism today is much more subtle than that. And we don't really think about it. We don't examine why is it that you feel the need to exclude an entire group of people

from your dating possibility just because they happen to have brown skin? Like, why would you ever do that? I mean, the perfect example of racism, I think, in the gay community in LA, or in general is, I look at how the press has responded to the film. And there was a movie a few months ago, a small indie film called Speedway Junky shot some years ago, at least two or three years ago, and made the rounds, finally got a really small scale distribution. And that movie came out, and the same two or three boys from that movie were on the cover of two national gay magazines at the same time. For this tiny movie that made $2 of the box office movie, and they're not gay, we come out, and there are no national gay magazine covers. I think there was a feature article in Out Magazine on one of the lead actors that wasn't even a mention of the article our punks on the cover of the magazine, how they do like the headlines on the cover. I think the advocate is doing something on me, but again, no cover, no cover on

the movie. There's not a mention of punks in frontiers cover to cover, period. That just gives you an example of what I think is sort of the racism. It's just like, when have we ever had a black gay film, and a black gay film that's produced by one of our huge superstars? You know, there's so many angles that they could exploit with this film, but you know, they don't want to do it. I think it's a shame how gay press panders, some cute, straight white actor, if they walk across the screen and if the character has anything to do with anything gay, they're putting them on the cover, and it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. I was really impressed by the way the film dealt with being HIV positive. I knew that I wanted to deal with HIV in a way, and I had a number of friends who were HIV positive, and all who were doing well. So it was really important to me to show how to a certain extent HIV has become a very manageable disease, and not to be about every time you see an HIV positive character, or a character with AIDS and movies, it's very tragic,

and they're really sick, and they're coughing in every frame, or they're always popping pills, and I just wanted it to be something in the background that was just the character happened to be this, and they could still live a normal, happy life, because that's what I see around me. One of the main characters in the film is a female impersonator, and it is played by a wonderful well -known LA drag diva by the name of Jasmine, and there are a lot of drag performances worked into the film. Tell us about that. I had to represent the world of the female impersonator in some way, and I really wanted to do a justice. I remember being a teenager, and me and my friends driving to Jackson. I grew up in Mississippi, driving to Jackson and sneaking in and getting into the club to see these drag performers, and these were guys who were like literally driving school buses by day, riding garbage trucks by day, literally, leading these really normal, ordinary lives, who by night would come in and create something amazing, who would be literally on stage turning back flips

and making amazing costumes out of nothing, and completely dedicated to it, and that's what I wanted to pay homage to in the movie with the drag queens. What do you want people to take away from the film? You know, I'm not one of these people who, you know, these sort of overly PC gay people who like, say, this new mantras, you know, we're just like everybody else, we're just like everybody else. You know, we're not just like everybody else. That's the point. This has been a conversation with writer, director, singer, composer, Patrick Ian Polk. Honks is an urban world films release. I'm Steve Pride, thanks for listening. This is Joyce Delaney, and this is Catherine

McKinley, and we're the co -editors of AfroKadia and Phology of Black Lesbian writing, and you're listening to this way out. The International Lesbian and Gay Radio Magazine. When the essay you're about to hear was written in August, a terrorist bomb had just rocked Jerusalem only blocks from that city's gay and lesbian center, the open house. Unfortunately, since then, Israeli -Palestinian violence has escalated with an ongoing series of suicide bombings in Israeli cities and an increasing show of military force in the Palestinian territories. As the bodies continue to stack up on both sides, more incidents have occurred in the vicinity of the open house and other lesbian and gay establishments. We can only hope that the message of mutual support and community and fun expressed here by open house executive director Hageel Ad can bring some encouragement to all those innocents caught in the world's crossfires. A letter from Jerusalem. The city I love has become a deadly place. This

reality is by itself difficult enough to adjust to, but today it brought life and death so intimately close, I'm not sure I can still make sense of it all. One night, Mirish afternoon separated the moment 15 people died in a suicide bombing in the center of Jerusalem and the beginning of another weekly gay dance party. And it takes only a minute to walk from that central crossroad to the Laila Club, home of Jerusalem's different line, gay parties. Tonight, the different line is really different. As every week, 150 gay and lesbians come here to admire the drag queens bitch about the pathetic sound system and enjoy the irresistible charm of the holy city's most successful ever gay party line. Unlike other Thursdays, we're all a bit surprised to see each other here. And yes, we are all here, also it seems, for those in attendance clearly will not at the wrong place at the wrong time. Earlier today, at lunchtime, a bomb rocked the heart of the city. A small distance from the bombing site is

the bustling commercial area and Jerusalem's LGBT community center, the open house. As on other days, in the center of Jerusalem, you immediately know that something terrible has happened. Still, we somehow hope for the best and do the only thing we can, calm all the colors and continue working. That has become the routine for everyone here, including those of us here at the gay center. How many times in your life have you heard the sound of death roaring so near? For many Jerusalemites, it is getting difficult to keep track of the current count. People I know and love, open house volunteers and employees were too close to the bombing for me to be able to ignore the intrusive thought. This text, if the timing was slightly different, might have been a eulogy. The carefully worded tears spelled here would have been an agonized scream. What do I know about eulogies anyway? But life goes on, and once the cellular phone network rebounds from its usual post bombing overload, we're all back on

our Nokia's and the question rifts from, are you okay? The party is still on tonight, right? And what a party it was. Perhaps the difference tonight is that we're celebrating the mere fact we're all simply alive, able to see and feel and hug one another. Perhaps it even wakes overcoming the fear easier. The terrible thought immediately repressed, it could have turned out differently. For 15 people I did not know, it was different. For all those who knew and loved them, it will always be different. What will become of Jerusalem? A thought invades. Are we still just at the bellfast level? Or are we on the road to Sarajevo? How do you know when your city stops being the place where you live in love that you struggle for pride and equality in and becomes a world zone where you struggle just to stay alive? Perhaps this is already transpired without our noticing it, even if the rest of the planet has. Perhaps we'll never notice because these parties continue to go on every week. Jerusalem's drag princess Talulabunni is celebrating her birthday this evening. The party climaxes with her drag

rendition of Dhaftar Moni's classic, I want to dance to sing, to spread my wings and soar above the city. Talulabunni is more expressive than ever. All glitter and charm entices everyone to want to dance, sing, and fall in love with her. Hours later, the evening closes with the Eurovision hit, I'll die for you. Or perhaps with that other track, I'm a survivor. Why didn't I listen when I was told long ago, never to pay attention to the lyrics? But when reality explodes in one's face, words are all I have left in my attempt to understand what is happening around me and why going to this gay party was the only right thing to do tonight. Happy birthday Talulabunni. We love you and please stay safe. That was Hagealad, executive director of Jerusalem's open house. Thanks for choosing this way out, the International Lesbian and Gay Radio Magazine. This week's Cindy Friedman, Brian Nunes,

Graham Underhill, Jason Lin, Chris Ambridge, Rex Walkner, Shanghue Liu, Steve Fried, and A 'Ran Sikirell, contributed program material, Kim Wilson composed and performed our theme music. Remember, you can listen to this way out anytime online exclusively on Planet Out. Just point your browser to www .planetout .com and click first on multimedia then on radio. Some this way out operating expenses are funded by direct charitable donations from our listeners around the world, which are currently being matched by a grant from the Gill Foundation. For an important message about how you can help this way out, stay on the air. Please visit our webpage at thiswayout .org, email us at TWORadio at AOL .com or write to us at post office box 38327 Los Angeles, California 90038 USA. For coordinating producer Greg Gordon and everyone at this way out, I'm Lucia Chappelle. Thanks for listening on WMNF Tampa, Florida, KVSC, St. Cloud, Minnesota, CITR, Vancouver,

British Columbia, and more than 125 other stations around the world, including this community radio station. Asalamu 'alaikum, peace, and stay tuned.