February 27, 2004

Bush backs marriage ban amendment

by Anthony Glassman
with wire reports

Washington, D.C.--President Bush on February 24 urged Congress to quickly pass the Federal Marriage Amendment and send it to the states for ratification, although the amendment�s support in Congress is shaky.

After Bush�s announcement, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said it would take time to gauge the level of support in Congress for a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

�We don�t want to do this in haste,� DeLay said.

The two leading Democratic contenders for their party�s presidential nomination, Sen. John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards, both stated strongly that, while they support some� rights for same-sex couples and oppose full gay marriage, they are both against amending the Constitution for what they called �political� motivations.

Kerry said he supports civil unions, �and I think that that is permissible within state law and it ought to be.�

�If he really wants to help married couples, what he should be doing is helping them resolve their economic problems, their health care problems,� Edwards said.

�If we are to prevent the meaning of marriage from being changed forever, our nation must enact a constitutional amendment to protect marriage in America,� the president said. �Marriage cannot be severed from its cultural, religious and natural roots without weakening the good influence of society.�

The federal government and 38 states bar the recognition of gay marriages, but Massachusetts is set to become the first state to sanction such marriages this spring after its Supreme Court ruled that banning them is unconstitutional. Vermont recognizes civil unions of same-sex couples, while San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom this month ordered the city to allow same-sex weddings, resulting in thousands of couples taking vows.

Several Republican lawmakers said they would prefer to see Congress take a different route rather than amend the Constitution.

Republican Rep. David Dreier said he doesn�t support a constitutional amendment.

�I believe that this should go through the courts, and I think that we�re at a point where it�s not necessary,� he said.

Sen. John McCain said the matter should be left to the states, and Rep. Jerry Lewis said changing the Constitution should be a last resort on almost any issue.

In Ohio, Bush�s announced support of the proposed constitutional amendment was met with anger and disbelief.

�It is an outrage that a president of the United States would push for a federal amendment to the Constitution that would discriminate against millions of Americans and destroy their families,� said Kate Anderson, executive director of Stonewall Columbus. �Our country is a republic built on the democratic principles of equality and protection for all. President Bush has redefined those principles to be hate, intolerance and discrimination.�

�The president is also attempting to diminish the role of the judicial branch of our government simply because they are not following the blind lead of the extreme religious factions,� she continued.

John Schlagetter, co-chair of Stonewall Cincinnati, agrees.

�Rather than seeking to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman,� he said, �the president should seek to reinforce marriage being define by its beneficial outcomes: two-parent households, higher-than-average home ownership rates, stable neighborhoods, civic involvement.�

�The proposed Federal Marriage Amendment does nothing to redress the very real threats to marriage posed by a skyrocketing divorce rate, domestic violence and child abuse,� he concluded.

Hundreds of constitutional amendments have been proposed in the document�s 215-year history, but only 17 have been ratified since the Bill of Rights became the first ten amendments.

To amend the Constitution, both houses of Congress must pass the amendment with a two-thirds majority. The proposal then goes to the states, and must be ratified by three-quarters of state legislatures.

A second method of amending the Constitution has never been used. A constitutional convention is called by two-thirds of state legislatures, which then proposes amendments that are sent back to the states.

The most recent amendment took over 200 years to ratify. The 27th Amendment, regulating the salaries of Congress, was ratified in 1992 after first being proposed in 1789. But the amendment before that, lowering the voting age to 18, took only four months to be ratified in 1971.

Jennifer Loven of the Associated Press contributed to this story.

Ohio DOMA cited in suit
against registry

Council member sues Cleveland Heights to stop voter-approved ordinance

by Eric Resnick

Cleveland Heights--Thirteen days after Governor Bob Taft said the �defense of marriage� act allows local governments to establish domestic partner registries, a Cleveland Heights council member used the new law to sue against the only registry in the state.

Rev. Jimmie Hicks Jr. filed a taxpayer action in Cuyahoga Common Pleas Court February 19 to stop his city�s registry, which opened January 26.

Hicks was a leader of the opposition to the 2003 voter initiative that created the registry. He also opposed a 2002 ordinance giving domestic partner benefits to city employees.

Before the registry initiative passed, Hicks said he would respect the outcome of the election.

�It will let the community speak loudly and at that point I won't have anything else to say once the residents speak,� Hicks said at a July 7 council meeting.

�It looks like all of that sloganeering about 'let the people vote' was just a smokescreen from the start,� said David Caldwell of Heights Families for Equality, which campaigned for the registry. �It was an attempt to hide Rev. Hicks' anti-gay agenda behind a dishonest, populist pander. That didn't work, so now he's going to try something else.�

Hicks� asked the court for an injunction to stop the city from registering couples until the case is heard.

At press time, 57 couples have registered.

Hicks is represented by Cincinnati attorney David Langdon, who authored the DOMA bill the new law is based on.

Langdon is joined by Arizona attorney Benjamin W. Bull and Minnesota attorney Jordan W. Lorence, who represent the Alliance Defense Fund of Scottsdale, Arizona, of which Bull is the executive vice president.

The Alliance Defense Fund is a large law firm that assists with cases to advance their religious world view. Its founding ministries include Focus on the Family, Campus Crusade for Christ and Coral Ridge Ministries, all of which are overtly anti-gay.

The suit, in the court of Judge Robert T. Glickman, challenges the registry under the Ohio constitution, saying it goes beyond the city�s authority.

Langdon brought a similar suit against the city of Cincinnati last year when it passed a hate crime law protecting gays and lesbians. That case was dismissed on December 22 because the plaintiffs had no grounds to bring it.

One of the Cincinnati plaintiffs was city council member Sam Malone.

Langdon was traveling out of state and did not reply to written questions by press time.

Hicks says in the suit that the registry is �an abuse of corporate power� by the city of Cleveland Heights, and that the �city does not have authority to implement or administer the ordinance� that is the registry.

�This law does not promote the general health, safety, welfare or morals,� said Hicks in the suit, �other than perhaps the defiant end of circumventing Ohio�s �strong public policy� in favor of marriages between one man and one woman, and against marriages between persons of the same sex� which, he says, comes from the new DOMA law.

The DOMA law, signed by Taft on February 6 after quickly passing through the legislature, doesn�t take effect until May 6.

Langdon wrote that the registry �provides for the creation of a new and unique legal status between two individuals. Specifically, it creates the relation of �domestic partnership,� patterned after the marriage laws in Ohio.�

�A review of the ordinance establishing the registry reveals that it is little other than a strategem through which the city salves the souls of those seeking governmental validation of their particular relationship (which might not otherwise qualify for any form of civil recognition)� wrote Langdon.

Hicks� case also challenges the commonly held principle of �home rule� for local governments, because the registry is open to non-residents. Langdon relies on a case against the Philadelphia domestic partner registry to support that claim. That case is currently on appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Hicks is asking the court to permanently end the registry and force the city to pay his attorney�s fees. According to a February 24 Plain Dealer story, the Alliance Defense Fund is paying these.

�As far as I�m concerned it is business as usual in Cleveland Heights with regard to the registry,� said Cleveland Heights mayor Edward Kelley, vowing to fight Hicks and noting that the registry will not stop.

�Let me be clear,� said Kelley, �Cleveland Heights is going to move forward with registering couples. We will continue on with our responsibility.�

�It was created by a mandate of the people,� Kelley added, �and the law department will do what is necessary to defeat this lawsuit in the common pleas court.�

Judge Glickman will hear Hicks� motion for preliminary injunction on March 18.

Weddings continue amid lawsuits

by Anthony Glassman
with wire reports

San Francisco--Lesbian and gay couples continue to marry in City Hall, amid a flurry of lawsuits and rhetoric by city and state officials.

Marriage licenses are now being given by appointment only. About 3,200 licenses have been issued since the city began giving them to same-sex couples on February 17.

A superior court judge on February 20 consolidated two suits against the city by anti-gay organizations, but refused to halt the same-sex weddings.

The same day, Victoria Dunlap, the clerk of Sandoval County, New Mexico, decided that she saw nothing in state law preventing same-sex couples from marrying.

She issued about 50 licenses to gay and lesbian couples before the New Mexico attorney general stopped her. He said in an advisory letter that marriage in the state is an opposite-sex institution, and the licenses already issued were invalid.

In San Francisco, Superior Court Judge Ronald Evans Quidachay on February 20 combined the suit against the city by the Campaign for California Families, represented by Florida�s Liberty Counsel, with a similar action by the Proposition 22 Legal Defense Fund, represented by Arizona�s Alliance Defense Fund.

The second suit was being heard by Superior Court Judge James L. Warren, the gay grandson of late Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren.

Proposition 22, a voter initiative passed in 2000, defines marriage as being between a man and a woman in the state of California, and blocks recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, in calling for city workers to perform same-sex nuptials, argued that Proposition 22 violated the equal rights guarantees of the California constitution.

City officials filed suit against the state, as well as the two anti-gay groups suing the city, on February 19.

�The city and county of San Francisco is going on the offensive today in protecting the mayor�s actions,� City Attorney Dennis Herrera said.

According to Herrera, the purpose of filing suit against the organizations and the state is to ensure that the city�s arguments that Proposition 22 violates constitutional equal rights, due process and privacy guarantees are considered in court.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, a Democrat who strongly supports the state�s domestic partner benefits, is being forced into the position of defending the state�s same-sex marriage ban.

�As a lifelong defender of civil rights, due process and equal protection for all, I do not personally support policies that give lesser legal rights and responsibilities to committed same-sex couples than those provided to heterosexual couples,� he said in an official statement on the matter.

Lockyer will ask the California Supreme Court to decide the legality of San Francisco�s actions on February 27, a February 23 statement from his office announced.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has pressured Lockyer to act faster to stem the tide of same-sex marriages.

�I sort of resent it when Arnold plays Conan the Barbarian for the right wing and directs me to do something. He doesn�t have the authority to do that,� Lockyer said.

Randy Thomasson, head of the Campaign for California Families, told Newsweek, �This is the new civil war in America.�

President Bush endorsed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on February 24. He noted the events in San Francisco and New Mexico, as well as a Massachusetts court ruling that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry. That ruling takes effect May 17.

�Unless action is taken, we can expect more arbitrary court decisions, more litigation, more defiance of the law by local officials, all of which adds to uncertainty,� the president said, adding that the issue �requires clarity.�

Ripples from the San Francisco marriages have gone as far away as Cambodia, where King Norodom Sihanouk, the country�s respected constitutional monarch, said that the country should allow �marriage between man and man . . . or between woman and woman.�

The king, who like Queen Elizabeth of England has no executive powers, watched TV news reports about the weddings in San Francisco.

King Sihanouk noted that the country opted in 1993 to be a �liberal democracy,� and that should extend to same-sex marriage and full inclusion of transvestites.

A diverse quartet of mayors across the United States have also voiced their support for same-sex marriage, including Democratic Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, Salt Lake City�s Mayor Ross C. Anderson and gay Republican Mayor Daniel Stewart of Plattsburgh, New York.

However, since those cities are not also counties like San Francisco, it is not within their power to issue marriage licenses.

�Marriage has been undermined by divorce, so don�t tell me about marriage,� Daley said. �Don�t blame the gay and lesbian, transgender and transsexual community.�

Cook County Clerk David Orr noted that he was �game to looking at options� if he could gain a consensus among Chicago and Cook County officials.

United Way bars anti-gay bias, including Boy Scouts

by Eric Resnick

Columbus--The second largest United Way in Ohio has adopted a new non-discrimination policy that includes sexual orientation.

The new United Way of Central Ohio policy covers employment, volunteer opportunities, and services. It applies to all groups the agency funds, including the Boy Scouts and Salvation Army, which discriminate against gays.

Similar moves by United Ways in other cities have resulted in the agencies dropping their funding of the Boy Scouts. In Columbus, that is about half a million dollars.

The United Way board of directors approved the new statement February 24, a week after the executive committee and the Professional Advisory Council made up of the executives of member agencies also approved the plan.

The United Way chapter serves all of Franklin County. It raises and distributes $50.7 million, and is second in size only to the Cincinnati United Way.

The new policy requires that all funded programs sign statements of nondiscrimination in order to receive funding. The policies are to be adopted by the professional staff and the directors of each agency by December 31, 2004, and for each year afterward.

The policy also prohibits agencies from transferring funds from programs in compliance to programs out of compliance with the non-discrimination statement, as is practiced by other United Ways and agencies.

The United Way of Central Ohio funds programs at the Salvation Army and the Simon Kenton Council of the Boy Scouts of America, both of which openly discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

For the current year, United Way funded three Salvation Army programs for a total of $437,609, and four Boy Scout programs for $498,006.

Spokesperson Rick Carrick said meetings were held with the Salvation Army, and that they had no problem with the new policy for their programs, but that no such meetings were held with the Boy Scouts.

�We don�t know what they�re going to do,� said Carrick.

Carrick said a section was added to the policy to allow organizations like Catholic Charities to continue to require that their director be Catholic, but the exemption does not pertain to all staff.

Mary Jo Hudson, an openly lesbian United Way board member, said the United Way leadership has made it clear that �programs that discriminate can lose real money if they want to remain exclusive.�

Hudson said the United Way board has been working toward the new policy for three years, and that a leadership change made it possible.

�The discussion started after the Dale decision,� said Hudson, referring to the Supreme Court ruling that the Boy Scouts can discriminate against gays. �Gay men were frustrated by their inability to be part of their sons� and nephews� lives in Boy Scouts.�

�The national Boy Scouts put their foot down in favor of their exclusionary policy,� said Hudson, �so the change has to be local.�

Violations of the policy will be investigated by one of seven Visioning Councils made up of United Way volunteers, who will make recommendations as to whether or not to continue funding programs in violation to the board.

Cincinnati archbishop backs Article 12 repeal

by John Zeh

Cincinnati--Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk says he supports repeal of Article 12, although he reiterated his opposition to the equal rights law it voided 11 years ago.

The archbishop, head of the Catholic Diocese of Cincinnati, gave his support to the campaign to repeal the charter amendment in the diocesan weekly Catholic Telegraph on February 20.

He called the charter amendment, which bars the city from passing anti-discrimination laws for gay men, lesbians and bisexuals, �detrimental to the public good.�

Pilarczyk joins 52 other religious leaders of several faiths who support the repeal, according to Citizens to Restore Fairness.

CRF members praised the proclamation, even though the archbishop supports Citizens for Community Values, the suburban anti-gay group that won passage of Article 12.

�We expect a lot more Catholic clergy and parishioners to support repeal,� said CRF�s Ted Jackson. �This will allow priests to speak from the pulpit.�

Pilarczyk�s statement came two weeks after CRF announced it had collected nearly twice the signatures necessary to get the issue on the November 2 ballot.

With CRF�s battle for voter approval �really growing� and �getting notice around the country,� the national People for the American Way offered CRF help in building relationships with churches, Jackson said. That alliance and other outreach is needed to obtain some 53,000 more supporters.

But CRF�s work is not easy, both on the human side and technologically. Of concern is Hamilton County�s first use of Diebold �touch screens� to count votes in November. CRF volunteers are urged to collect phone numbers of supporters in case the computers fail and a second get-out-the-vote is necessary.

�We are under a magnifying glass,� Jackson cautioned delegates to the Greater Cincinnati Gay and Lesbian Coalition public meeting on February 21. �We have to be very careful, with a really clear message.�

He noted that Kentucky and Indiana residents are allowed to help ID voters in the March 2 primary election here.

�This campaign really belongs to all area groups,� he said.

CRF worries that some mainstream activists will not join the repeal effort if GLBT people don�t come forward to help themselves.

�We need to see more of the gay community step up its involvement,� Jackson added. �It�s tough. After the 1993 [passage of Article 12], people felt burned.�

Pilarczyk�s statement made it clear that he still opposes the 1992 human rights ordinance protecting gays that was the basis for Article 12, charging that it �made homosexual behavior as legally acceptable as heterosexual behavior.�

Homosexual sex acts are immoral, but people with a homosexual orientation should be spared from discrimination, Pilarczyk said.

�I believe now, as I believed at the time of its passage, that Article 12 is as detrimental to the public good as the ordinance that it invalidated,� he wrote. There are some 500,000 Catholics in the 19-county archdiocese.

�The Catechism of the Catholic Church, a sure guide to official church teaching, makes it clear both that homosexual activity is wrong and that unjust discrimination on the basis of homosexual orientation is wrong,� the archbishop continued. �It says that homosexually oriented persons �must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.� For that reason, I believe that Article 12 of the Charter of the city of Cincinnati should be repealed.�

Pilarczyk also opposed the measure in 1993 and noted that since then, the church�s 1997 Catechism promulgated by Pope John Paul II specifically urged tolerance of people with a homosexual orientation--but not their behavior.

�The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible,� says the catechism in Paragraph 2358. �They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.�

For more information on Article 12, see www.CitizenstoRestoreFairness.org.

Stark couple is turned down for marriage license

by Eric Resnick

Canton--A Perry Township same-sex couple was turned down for a marriage license February 20. It was the first same-sex marriage application made in Stark County.

The couple, Neal Locke, 49, and Victor Dario Nunez, 34, entered the marriage license bureau flanked by television cameras. They had their identification, Locke�s divorce papers, and Nunez�s immigration papers.

�I suppose you know why we�re here,� said Locke to deputy clerk Monica Pierce.

�I�m not able to issue you a marriage license,� said Pierce. She told the couple they could talk to Magistrate Gust Goutras.

Pierce took the couple�s information and $45 application fee, which included an optional �keepsake� certificate.

The couple raised their right hands and swore that they are not next of kin, not under influence of alcohol or drugs, and that they knew of no other reason why they shouldn�t get married.

But at that point, the way they were treated became different from that of an opposite-sex couple.

Goutras said Probate Judge Dixilene Park signs all marriage licenses, and had the couple been a man and woman, it would have gone to her immediately for signature.

�They would walk out with it,� said Goutras.

Instead, Locke and Nunez waited until later that day for Park to make her decision.

The application and order, which is computer generated, has no language for a denial. Park crossed out the print and hand-wrote �denied� above her signature.

�I feel discriminated against and like a second class citizen,� said Locke.

�Someone has to start this all over Ohio,� said Locke. �There are too many people in the closet.�

Same-sex couples in Columbus and Toledo sought marriage licenses on the day before Valentine�s Day. All were denied.

The couple got a civil union in Vermont in December, 2001, and plans to be married in Massachusetts in May.

Neither give them any rights or recognition in Ohio.

They are also planning to register their partnership in Cleveland Heights.

Nunez is in the process of becoming a U.S. citizen. Marriage to a U.S. citizen ensures citizenship.

The couple is concerned that publicity around their attempt to get a marriage license may hinder Nunez�s citizenship process.

�If he can�t stay here, I�ll move to Argentina,� said Locke.

The couple has not decided whether to challenge the denial of their license in a court.

Two Ohio groups honored for their voter efforts

by Anthony Glassman

Cincinnati--Two Ohio organizations working with voters to ensure the equality of LGBT people in the state are being honored for their work.

Citizens to Restore Fairnesswas named CityBeat�s Persons of the Year for their work to repeal Article 12, the anti-gay ballot initiative passed in 1993 that bars the city from granting any civil rights protections to gay men, lesbians or bisexuals.

CityBeat is Cincinnati�s alternative weekly newspaper.

The honor came two weeks before the group began a voter identification effort at polling places during the March 2 primary election.

�For their dedication to laying the necessary groundwork for repealing Article 12--one of Cincinnati�s last connections to its oppressive, closed-minded past--CityBeat names Citizens to Restore Fairness our 2003 Persons of the year,� the article in the February 19 issue reads.

�[A]n opportunity presents itself to define Cincinnati as a forward-thinking, tolerant, friendly city--the repeal of Article 12,� writer John Fox said later in the article. �Local corporations that depend on attracting the best and the brightest talent . . . might see this campaign as crucial to their sales effort to the creative class.�

CRF field organizer Terry Payne appreciates the honor on both personal and professional levels.

�We are all ecstatic about that,� said Payne, who is also the co-chair of Stonewall Cincinnati. �It�s a wonderful, prestigious honor.�

�On a personal level, it justifies the work I�ve done for the last 15 or 20 years. It�s just really quite affirming for me as an LGBT person,� he concluded.

Heights Families for Equality, which originally formed to fight a petition drive to strike Cleveland Heights� city employee domestic partner benefits, is also being honored.

HFE will receive the Northern Ohio Steering Committee of the Human Rights Campaign�s Equality Award at the annual HRC Cleveland banquet on May 29. Also being honored is the city of Cleveland Heights.

Last November, voters in the city approved the state�s first domestic partner registry. That registry was the first in the nation initiated by a petition drive and approved as a ballot measure.

HFE coordinated the petition drive and engaged in a voter identification and outreach effort to pass the registry.

�I�m really pleasantly surprised that we�re going to be receiving this,� said David Caldwell, one of the group�s leaders. �I think it�s a recognition that people think we did something really special in engaging these voters and mobilizing massive numbers of volunteers to do this work in our community.�

The group will not be resting on its laurels, however.

�We have shifted our focus in the short-term to helping other communities doing this work,� Caldwell said. �DOMA demonstrates the need for groups across the state to do the work we and Citizens to Restore Fairness are doing.�

Around the world in four days

by Kaizaad Kotwal

Columbus--The Wexner Center is a real asset to cinephiles in Ohio. Among many of the things they do as part of their film and video programming is their annual festival of GLBT movies. This year is their seventh annual presentation of provocative, prescient, and pathbreaking works.

Queer cinema has developed a very strong voice for gay men. Yet, lesbians and transgendered folk have not found their stories told via celluloid as often or with as much popular success. This year�s GLBT festival proves otherwise and heralds a new era in GLBT filmmaking where queer female voices are seeking their way towards being heard, loud and clear.

This promises to be a most exciting film festival, varied in style, subject matter, genre and context.

The Gift

Louise Hogarth, 2003
Thursday, February 26, 7 pm

This has been one of the most controversial films at recent festivals worldwide. The Gift is a compelling glimpse of those in a gay subculture who deliberately seek HIV infection by having unprotected sex. The so-called �gift givers� HIV-positive and pass on the virus via barebacking.

The film raises new and old questions about the AIDS epidemic in a time when infections are on the rise and when complacence towards the plague is higher than it has ever been.

Madame Sat�

Karim Ainouz, 2002
Thursday, February 26, 8:15 pm

Madame Sat� is the first feature by Brazilian-born Karim Ainouz, who was educated at New York University. This is a hypnotic recreation of the life of Brazil�s most infamous drag queen and gay icon, Jo�o Francisco dos Santos�a Josephine Baker wannabe who rises from the ghettoes of Rio to become a national figure of defiance and resistance.

LA Weekly wrote of L�zaro Ramos in the lead role that he �combines the street swagger of a hard-core homo thug with the balletic grace of a self-created queen,� offering �a subversive take on black cool and black queerness.�

Suddenly

Diego Lerman, 2002
Friday, February 27, 7 pm

Another film from South America, this one from Argentina, Diego Lerman�s film Suddenly follows two punk lesbian bikers (nicknamed Mao and Lenin) who on the spur of the moment decide to kidnap a lonely lingerie salesgirl. This is a road film that takes interesting and unexpected twists as these three women are stuck together.

Rise Above
The Tribe 8 Documentary

Tracy Flannigan, 2003
Friday, February 27, 8:45 pm

Based on filmmaker Tracy Flannigan�s four-year obsession with the band Tribe 8, Rise Above takes viewers behind the scenes to meet San Francisco�s �dyke punk group.� Famed for the intensity of its live shows, Tribe 8 claims legions of hardcore fans nationwide, even coming to the attention of USA Today, which noted in a front-page story, �Queer core = punk bands with gay members . . . Gay rights in the mosh pit.�

Dangerous Living
Coming Out in the Developing World

John Scagliotti, 2003

Behold Goliath,
or The Boy with the Filthy Laugh
Tom Kalin, 2002�03

Friday, February 27, 10:15 pm

From the director of Before Stonewall, Dangerous Living is an enlightening and often disturbing look at the struggles of gay activists in developing nations.

Despite increasing visibility in the U.S. and other Western nations, homosexuality is often persecuted elsewhere, as in the notorious 2001 case of over 50 Egyptian men being arrested for �debauchery��just one of the many incidents documented in the film. Dangerous Living is narrated by activist and actress Janeane Garofalo.

The program begins with out filmmaker Tom Kalin�s work in progress, Behold Goliath, or The Boy with the Filthy Laugh. The film comprises four short works inspired by the writings of Alfred Chester. Kalin is best known for his groundbreaking queer film Swoon.

Myra Breckenridge

Michael Sarne, 1969

Saturday, February 28, 10 pm

Myra Breckenridge is one of the worst box-office fiascos of all time. It is also one of the oddest (and most rarely screened) Hollywood films ever made.

Loosely based on Gore Vidal�s comic novel, it�s a movie about a man becoming a woman becoming a man . . . and so on. This bizarre oddity stars Raquel Welch as Myra and Rex Reed as Myron and featuring past and future sex goddesses Mae West and Farrah Fawcett, plus a pre-Magnum P.I. Tom Selleck.

Venuz Boyz

Gabriel Baur, 2001

Sunday, February 29, 4:30 pm

A prize winner at festivals throughout Europe and America, Venus Boyz is an engrossing look at New York�s drag kings, a world of women meeting in clubs where they change into male alter egos, parodying male archetypes while exploring male eroticism. The film takes place during a drag king night at the Slipper Room club, where kings, queens, and the entire �kingdom� come together. As Time Out New York noted about the film, �it challenges everything you always thought you knew about what it means to be a boy or a girl.�

Tickets for each program are $6 for the general public and $4 for Wexner Center members, students, and senior citizens. Purchase any five tickets for $25 ($15 for members and students). All screenings take place in the Wexner Center Film/Video Theater, 1871 N. High St. Call 614-2923535 for advance tickets.