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P:-operty of t he C .r, ~e r

Volume 15
Issue 2

FRIENDS NORTH of MICHIGAN, INC.

April/May

2001

.Rn association of lesbians, gays,
bisexuals, transgendered and their friends.

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Hundreds Gather to Launch
Campaign Against Discrimination
TRAVERSE CITY Hundreds of area residents
gathered Sunday evening to
formally launch the Traverse
City Campaign Against Discrimination, which hopes to
defeat an anti-gay initiative on
the November ballot.
The concerned citizens gathered in a sold-out
Milliken Auditorium for the
"Concert Against Discrimination," which featured more
than 90 area artists and

Sunday, MAY 20TH at 1:00 p.m.

Jeff Haas, Anne-Marie
Oomen and Bob Hicks participated, along with several
ensembles. The evening concluded with a Native American Honor Song by the Medicine Lodge Singers.
"The work to defeat
this cruel initiative will be
difficult," Tarsa said.
"We wanted with this concert
to send people out energized,
inspired and focused."
Speakers explained
how local anti-gay activists
want to amend the City
Charter to make it legal to
discriminate against gay
people.
"The citizens of
Traverse City will not have to
embrace or even be comfortable with homosexuality in
order to vote NO in November," Bonnie Deigh told the
crowd. "They need only to

attheOPERA HOUSEinT.C.

Cont. page 8, see Hundreds .....

musicians.
"We wanted, in a very
positive way, to make strong
statement with this event," said
Kevin Tarsa, artistic director.
Tarsa said the concert was a response to the recent anti-gay activities in Traverse City, including the recent visit by Fred
Phelps and the efforts by a
downstate anti-gay group to
amend the City Charter.
Local artists and musicians including John Wunsch,

·.
...·· ....
.... .

:
\

•••• •·

Friends North of Michigan, Inc.
.•: •.. are having their annual
..... .

·•........·...: ···... _············.:::: ... •···· ........I P

.....................

HIGH TEA

Lesbian? Gay?
Bisexual?
Transgendered?
Have Questions?
Need Help?

There will be a Silent and Live Auction
plus Great Food and Entertainment
and special guest PRINCESS LAURA

Tickets $15. 00
Tickets may be purchased at the Bookie Joint and Side Traxx
or from F.N. Board members or by calling 938-9865

Call the Northern
Michigan Help Line!
(231) 946-1804
For Emergency Help
(231) 922-4800
(800) 442-7315

Networking 45° North

Page2

April/May 2001

From The President
By Tom Kincaid
The Mission of Friends North of Michigan, Inc., is to provide
social, educational and support activities and opportunities for the
gay men, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities in
Northern Michigan.
Please note: Friends North is not a dating, nor dating refe"al service.

Networking 45° North is the newsletter of Friends North of Michigan,
Inc. For information, write to Friends North, PO Box 562,
Traverse City, MI 4968S-0562.
www.friendsnorth.on?
Vie"l'Oints expressed in Networking do not necessarily represent those of the
Board of Trustees or the general membership.
Friends North of Michigan, Inc. , is an association of lesbians, g;,y men, bisexuals, transgendere<I and their friends from Northwestern Lower Michigan centered in Traverse City.
Friends North provides social activities, a newsletter, an information line, workshops, a web
site and a scholar.1hip fund for financial assistance.

Friends North'• Board of Trust... is elected each December at the Annual Meeting.
Regular Board meetings are held at Grace Episcopal Church, at the comer of Wash in gton and
Boardman Streets in Traver.,eCity, at 6:30 pm on the 1st Tuesday of every month except July.
Everyone is welcome lo attend. Please contact Friends North in writing ahead of time if you
have an item for the agenda Cum:nt members of the Board include:
Tom Kincaid, President, (231) 929-2919
Gwm Sanford, Vice President,(231) 946-0(33
Toni Poole, Secretary,
Richan! Pozniak, Treasurer, (231) 933-3969
Bob Buck, Trustee
Dianna Johnson, Trustee, (23 I) 933-0571
Joe Kaubenaw, Trustee, (23 I) 947-8402
Craig Philip Richan!, Trustee, (231) 922-1967

Al Kitzmiller, Trustee.

The Frimds North N.,...letter Committee is responsible for the publication of
Networking 45° North.

Publisher Gwen Sanford, GwenChris@worldnet.att.net
Editor: Dianna Johnson, Huntgoddess@aolcom
Advertising: Gwen Sanford, GwenChris@worldnet.att.net

Oassified Advertising and notices are run without charge. Please submit your ads in writing.

Display Advertising in Networking is available in business card sized displays at a rate ofS25
per space per issue or an annual rate of$125. Inserts and larger sized ads are available; please
contact the advertising editor for more infonnation.

Contributions to Networking are welcome. Letters, essays, features. reflections, poetry,
original are work etc. should be sent to Networking 45° North, PO Box 562, Traverse City, Ml
39685--0562, or to either the publisher or editor listed above. Networlang will not aocept
material that is sexist, discriminatory or sexually explicit. Contributors are responsible for
obtaining pennission from those whose names they submit for publication. Please include
your name, address and a phone number where you can be reached. If you would like your
contribution to be printed anonymously, please let us know.

Add...., Otanges should be sent to the above address.

Subsaiptioo, & Mnnbenbips are $15. Please send checks or money orders to the above
address. Complimentary subscriptions are also available to those who are unable to pay .

Distribution: Networking is sent via bulk mail in a plain envelope to subscribers. Additional
copies are available at select local establishments.

Within the past
two months, the face of
hatred has shown itself
right here in Traverse
City ("The All American
City"). First, gays and lesbians were accused of promoting
"an agenda" when the rainbow
background appeared on some
tax-payer bumper stickers that
were printed to show that Traverse City is inclusive and welcomes ALL people. Then the
notorious Reverend Fred
Phelps decided to pay us a visit
with his ''hate circus" in tow.
After a few days of marching
around in the cold with his ugly
picket signs, he went home to
Kansas. Now, we are faced
with the fact that the religious
extremists in our community
had successfully gathered
enough names on their petition
and will put an anti-gay initiative on the ballot this November.
Shameful events as
these are almost enough to
make a person think that Northern Michigan is not a welcoming community and if we want
to fit in, we had better go back
into the closet. Well, no more
closets for this queen ... there's
too many pairs of high heels
and ball gowns taking up my
closet space.
Last weekend, I had
the pleasure of attending "A
Concert Against Discrimination" which was a fabulous
sold out event. Some of our
area's most talented poets and
musicians donated their time to
provide an evening of entertairunent. The proceeds went
toward TCCAD (Traverse City
Campaign Against Discrimination). The concert contained a
beautiful theme about building
a beautiful home by honoring

diversity and taking a stand
when others try to discrim'inate
against a group of peoe.le just
because they happen to·be different. I have never felt such
warmth and hope.
The concert really inspired me to get involved and
help TCCAD defeat this ballot
issue in November. I'd also
like to encourage everyone
here to get involved in some
way-after all this is OUR
home too. If we don't stand up
for ourselves, who will?
On other fronts, we
had a very successful Winter
Chili/Sledding party at Bahle's
Warming Hut in Suttons Bay.
Unfortunately, I was unable to
attend due to a previous family
commitment. However, I have
every intention of winning
back the ''unique" Chili Crown
next year.
Please make plans to
attend our Annual High Tea/
Silent Auction on May 20th at
the Opera House in downtown
Traverse City. Every year this
event gets better and this year
promises to be the best yet.
OUr newest board
member is Alan Collard. We
welcome his expertise and talents. I can tell you first hand
that he gives a great massage.
Check out his advertisement in
this newsletter and make an
appointment_
The Friends North
Board is looking for a few
good men and women to serve
as trustees. Please contact me
if you' re interested.
That's all for now. I
hope this finds everyone well
and ready to have a great summer.
Tom

I

Networking 45° North

April/May 200 I

Page3

homTbeV.P.
By Gwen Sanford

Last January during the 2001
Board Of Trustees Retreat, we discussed writing articles relating our experiences with the advertisers who pay for ads
in Networking 45° North. While we encourage our readers to support those who
support Friends North, we never hear any
feedback about doing business with them.
So, beginning in this issue of Networking,
I will pick one of our advertisers whose
expertise I have required and share my
satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, with you.
I also encourage our readers to
write to us about your experience of doing
business with our advertisers. They don't
have to all be glowing reports either. This
may perhaps, put some pressure on them,
but hey, if one of them give crummy service, we should probably know about it.
In fact, if a business produces a poor
product or provides poor service, perhaps
Friends North should not accept advertising from that business.
Another place to see who supports Friends North is at the High Tea
held in the Traverse City Opera House.
We have many sponsors and donations
from individuals, and businesses for this
premier event. And they're all listed for
your viewing during the High Tea, which
by the way, will be held on Sunday, May
20, 2001. You should be aware also, that
I have it on good authority promising
this year's event to be the "best there
ever was."

Subject: GRS Presentation from
Dr. Schrang, a renound Gender
Reassignment Surgeon Date:

Cross in Valparasio. We believe this
would be a good time for your email
subscribers to review this surgery overview if they are interested.
Especially if they are located in Southwestern Michigan area.

Good day:
My name is Randi Cook and I
am the president of TONI {Transgender
Outreach of Northern Indiana.) We are
having one of the world's most noted
Gender Reassignment & Plastic Surgeons,
Dr. Eugene Schrang
(http://www.drschrang.com/) coming to
speak on June 23rd. at the American Red

We will start the meeting at
7:30pm (local time in Valparasio) and
the meeting will conclude when all the
questions are answered. We encourage
you to post this message.

American Red Cross
755 West Lincolnway
Valparasio, IN 46385
219-462-8543
I personally want to thank you
for your time and considering posting
this information to your members. In the
future, if your group has any such meetings like this one planed, please advise
TONI of the content and we will be glad
to reciprocate the posting! Thank you
again.
With regards,
Randi Cook

2001 FN Board Retreat (planning session)
followed by a wonderful potluck dinner.

Networking 45° North

Treasures
Report
By Richard Pozniak

For everyone's information,
we will try to give a more detailed
financial report in the newsletter. It
will not be the most current because of
deadlines needed to get it to press. I
will list money coming in and money
going out [deposits and checks to pay
bills]
JAN. & FEB. BUDGET as of JAN l st
WE HAD $2768.23
MONEY COMING IN:
$150.00 for 6 memberships
$137.00 for 5 memberships/donations
from sledding party

Page4

April/May 200 l

newsletter
$125.65 phone cards/sledding party

!Mark Your Calendar!
May 20th

stuff
$597.00 newsletter/Copyworld
$14.77 binders
$ 60.21 Ameritech 800#
$ 24. 79 AT&T phone bill
$ 40.00 postmaster/p.o.box rental
$1 ,799.00 from $3,055.23 leaves
$1,256.23 as of March 1st
Please note we still have to pay for
the newsletter you are reading and
other expenses leading up to the High
Tea, Sun. May 20th and Pride Day,
Sat. June 2nd. So please keep your
Newsletter subscription current and, of
course, all donations are greatly appreciated. Have a wonderful Spring and
come out for our great events!

Do you have a Silent Auction item
to donate to Friends North?

Your Treasurer, Richard Pozniak

$287.00 added to $2768.23 for a total
of$3,055.23
MONEY GOING OUT:
$102.00 postmaster/stamps
$428.25 newsletter/Copyworld
$125.00 postmaster/bulk mailing for
newsletter
$ 69.50 new e-mail address
$ 56.00 Ameritech 800#
$155.83 postmaster/bulk mailing for

ommun,iiJ Health

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~------------------------------------------------------,
Are You A Friends North Member?
Join Friends North or Renew your membership today! Just $15 single or $25 for a couple.
Name: _ _ __ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _____Amount Enclosed:_for Single0, Couple0plus_ Donation
Address:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _City:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _State:_Zip:_ _ __
E-Mail: _____________________0Please include me in Friends North e-mail updates.
Comments:- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0 Check this box if you are unable to contribute the full membership amount and would like to be considered for a reduced rate or
complimantary membership.
Mail this form and your check to Friends North Inc. ~ PO Box 562 ~ Traverse City, MI 49685-0562 ~ Attn: Memberships

Friends North 's membership list is strictly confidential, and mail from Friends North is sent in plain envelops.

Networking 45° North

ApriVMay 2001

Pages

Friends North of Michigan, Inc.
Minutes of the February &, 200 l Board Meeting
Held at Grace Episcopal Church Library,
341 Washington Street, Traverse City, Ml
Board Members Present: Tom Kincaid, Gwen Sanford, Toni Poole, Dianna Johnson, Craig Richard,
Richard Posniak
Others Present: Sheila McRae
Board Members Absent: Joe Kaubenaw, Bob
Buck, Al Kitzmiller
Meeting called to order at 6:36PM

•
•
•

•

•

•

Toni read the minutes.
•
- Motion by Tom to accept the minutes, seconded by
Richard, carried unanimously.
Richard gave a short Treasurer's report. He stated approximately $1200 in bank.
A discussion about the Treasurer's report being included in
the newsletter was held.
Motion by Dianna to include the Treasurer's report
in the newsletter, seconded by Toni, carried unanimously.
Discussion about the upcoming Chili Cookoff & Sledding
Party was held.
Richard organizing this event.
Richard is obtaining wood for fire.
At minimwn, Dianna, Gwen, Toni, and Richard will be
making chili.
There is left-over coffee and hot chocolate we can use.
Event to be held at Bahley's in Sutton's Bay at 1:00PM.
•
Discussion about the Bike tour was held.
Tom went to Bike Tour meeting. Reports that everything is "going well". Bike Tour budget should be ready
for submittal to board at March meeting.
•
Price for entry being raised by $5.00.
•
Scholarships will be available for those that can't pay.
25% of entrants could not pay last year.
Bike tour will not be supplying soda this year.
•
Glass bottle's will not be allowed this year due to substantial broken glass last year.
More portable restrooms will be made available this
•
year. A request was made to separate these by gender
this year. This will be communicated to Bike Tour committee by Tom.
•
Dianna talked about the High Tea.
Date changed to May 6th to accommodate Chef Charles.
Dianna expressed displeasure at not being given the
•
chance to be chair ofthis event. Much discussion en-

sued. ·
At recent High Tea meeting, discussion was held about:
■
Auction items.
■
Theme.
■
Decorations.
■
Food.
■
Entertainment
■
What went well last year.
■ Consensus to focus more on entertainment this year
versus food.
Next High Tea meeting scheduled for Feb. 1t,ili at
6:30PM.
Gwen mentioned she has obtained an auction item.
Gwen gave a newsletter report and asked for opinions on
changes.
Discussion about paper color was held - consensus was
reached that it was fine .
Title font was discussed. Changes will be made next
time.
Advertising was discussed.
Gwen suggested doing away with single/couple membership in favor of only a single membership. Discussion ensued.
Motion by Tom to leave membership as is, seconded
by Craig, carried unanimously.
Gwen talked about raising advertising rates. Gave current rates. Consensus was reached on leaving rates the

same.
Richard talked briefly about calendar. He suggested
special events be highlighted. Gwen agreed, and will
implement this in next newsletter.
Tom talked about contest for new Friends North logo.
Motion to hold a contest for Friends North logo, seconded by Toni, carried unanimously.
Toni talked about web site and new friendsnorth.org domain
name. Explained email functionality.
Tom mentioned that he and Richard now have a phone card
to use for return phone calls.
Toni talked about upcoming GLBT Summit held by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Grand Traverse to be
held March 18th from 2-4PM.
Sheila talked about the Concert Against Discrimination held
by the Traverse City Campaign Against Discrimination on
March 18th at 7:30PM.
Tom talked about board member absentees meeting after
meeting. We may need to recruit new board members to replace the absentee board members.
Richard left message with Andy about 501 C3 status. Andy
has not returned call.

Networking 45° North

Page6

April/May 2001

Friends North of
Michigan, Inc:.
Minutes of the l'ebruary 6,
2001 Board Meeting c:ont.
~

•

Dianna asked why we made donations to the Triangle Foun
elation. Much discussion ensued.
Richard talked about Pride.
Questioned if Joe would be chairing the event this year.
Tom will contact Joe to determine this.
Location was discussed. Tom mentioned past events
were held at the Robb farm. Tom will talk to Cindy to
see why this practice ended.

Moved to adjourn at 7:55PM by Richard, seconded by
Dianna, carried unanimously.

•

Toni Poole, Secretary
Friends North of Michigan, Inc.

hieads North of
Michigan, lac.
Minutes of the March 6,
2001 Board Meeting

Board Members Present: Tom Kincaid, Toni Poole,
Dianna Johnson, Craig Richard, Richard Posniak,
Bob Buck, Joe Kaubenaw
Others Present: Alan Collard, Mary B.
Board Members Absent: Al Kitzmiller, Gwen San-

ford
Meeting called to order at 6:37PM

•
•
•
•

Toni read the minutes .
- Motion by Joe to accept the minutes, seconded by Richard, carried unanimously.
Richard gave a short Treasurer's report. He stated $1256.23
in bank as of March 1st •
Tom initiated a discussion about postal fees and methods of
payment.
Dianna gave a report on the High Tea.
Date changed to May 20th to accommodate Laura Wilcox.
Decision was made to sell more tickets than seats in antici-

-

pation of no-shows.
Dianna reiterated the fact that more focus would be put towards talent this year than food.
Posters will be made and disseminated throughout town.
Tickets are almost ready and will be made available at
GLBT Summit March 18th •
Consideration of separate mailing to members to advertise
event is being made.
Next High Tea meeting is March 16th 6:00PM, at Border's.
Joe gave a report on Pride.
Joe made note of previous minutes mention of confusion
over discontinuation of Pride being held at Robb farm. He
explained that this was due to an ongoing desire of the
Robb's to move the location from there eventually. It was
never intended to be a permanent location. Joe also suggested that a TC Pride should actually be held in Traverse
City. All agreed.
Date for Pride is June 2™1, from 1 IAM-5PM.
Theme this year will be "Blending in Diversity".
Monica will emcee, with possibly Laura Wilcox as well.
T-Shirts and Hats will be available. An estimate for this
will be obtained from Jentees. Richard suggested single
color shirts to save money. Tom suggested a design that
could be sold all year.
Press releases will be mailed to GLBT publications instate
and via the Advocate.
Discussion of sponsors and donation amounts occurred. A
flat $80.00 sponsor amount was agreed upon.
Entertainment will be provided by Black Boots, Keyboard
& Plastic Duck, and the Fabulous Fakes.
Randy Nash of Sound Environments .will provide sound.
Food this year will be provided via a pig & turkey roast
organized and carried out by Les Crandall. Total cost of
this will be $140.
A meeting with the Commons board was reviewed.
►
Pride event has been approved.
► A "Cancer Survivor's Group" (CSG) that has an event
the same weekend and has already purchased tents
agreed to allow FN to utilize them.

~ Joe askedfor opinions on donating money to CSG to
offset their cost of $800 for the tents.
~ Bob suggested splitting the cost evenly.
~ Much discussion ensued. Several board members
thought CSG would be happy for any donation.
~ Motion by Craig to offer $200 to CSG for tents, seconded by Richard, Carried Unanimously.
►
Commons board needs a letter saying Friends North will
be responsible for half of the total cost of any damages
incurred to the Commons area for time CGS and FN are
holding their events. Toni will write that letter.
Joe talked to the sector police and notified them of the day/
Continued on page 8,

Networking 45° North

April May 200 l

Page7

Comine on May 20th

Announcements
00000000000

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0

Hey,hey,hey! ! !
Don't forget about the monthly
potluck dinner held the fourth
Thursday of every month. This
purely social get-together starts at
6:30 PM in the cafeteria of Grace
Episcopal Church.

0

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❖
41
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•

The Annual Friends
North High Tea held at the
Traverse City
Opera House
beginning 1:00 PM. Like last
year, there will be entertainment, and a silent auction along
with plenty of wonderful cuisine.

i We need volunteers!
v
High Tea,
Pride Picnic,
'1J
iJ'
Bike Tour
.,9.,,
•w
w
This is definitely one of
❖
They Don't run i}
the best events of the year, so be
themselves.
it sure to mark your calendar.
iJ'
·L?
Give us a call to 'F
iJ'
i
help out.
❖
Side Tran: Activities:
❖
(231) 946-1804
❖
0

0

*
o

0

0

0

0

o

Have you had a recent addition to your family? Did you and
your partner just get hitched?
Would you like to announcement
an engagement but your town
paper won't publish it? Send us
your announcements at
huntgoddess@aol.com

Jenni Allen and Dana
Rosselit, after having been
together for over a year, have
decided to show their love and
devotion for one another in a Holy
Union in August. Give it up for
Jenni and Dana!!

0000000000.,.9

1? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? iJ'

G/L/Bff Book Group

Sunday Nite
Val's Movie Nite 7:30pm showing new releases and old favoites.

Now Forming at Borders
Read and discuss contemporary
and classic g/1/b/t fiction and
nonfiction. Book titles will be
discussed at this first, organizational meeting on April 22nd
at 6:30 p.m. and the fourth
Sunday of every month thereafter. All chosen books will be
made available with a 20% discount and free tea and coffee
will be served.

Monday Nite
Karaoke with the Princess. Yes
that's right Princess. Laura is
back! and we have her.
Tuesday Nite
Euchre nite, play with your
friends for cash!
Wednesday, Friday and
Saturday Nites
Come on down and enjoy great
dance music spun by your
favorite DJ's Mike and Fred.

T~ comfortobk gathering place for fm,uls und c:Ull(Jla.

Open? .Days

935 T 1666

' '"':~?..-

·.,,

.; ~ .·_~; ·l . -~, .,

"t.~~~ ~t

Open7 days
y 520 Franklin 'Y Traverse City, MI 49686 'Y

David Schulz & Jun Walker
212 Pad( Sueet, Bellaire, Michigatt 49615
Ero-S4S-0780 • (616) SlJ-6077

Networking 45° North

Friends North of
Michigan, Inc.
Minutes of the
February 6, 2001
Board Meeting
continued from pg. 6 •

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

time of Pride.
Joe anticipates greater attendance
this year.
Next Pride meeting will be held
March 11, 5:00PM at Joe' s house.
Dianna asked about vendors. Joe
hopes to have more booths and
vendors than last year.
Tom mentioned insurance needs.
FN policy will be renewed in April
at a cost of$400.
Tom talked about bike tour. Planning is "progressing well".
Alan volunteered to offer massage
service at event.
Tom asked Dianna about newsletter.
Deadline for submissions is March
15 th .
Alan asked about his ad change.
Tom agreed to make sure it gets in.
Toni asked about PFLAG ad.
Dianna said that no info was received.
Tom talked about last Thursday potlucks. A total of 14 people showed
up for last month's event.
Tom asked everyone to think of new
people that may be willing to be
board members and/or volunteers.
Tom brought up GLBT Summit on
March 18th .
Dianna suggested as many board
members as possible should
attend.
Richard suggested bringing High
Tea flier.
Tom agreed to give presentation of
FN.
Tom suggested Alan Collard be
made a board member.
Motion by Tom to appoint Alan
Collard to the FN Board, seconded by Richard, carried
unanimously.
Tom obtained many "We Are Traverse City" bumper stickers from
Hate Free TC. Tom asked Richard
to write check for $40 to HFTC as a

Page8

April/May 200 I

•

donation for stickers. Richard agreed.
Richard suggested we send Thank
You notes to those that donate to FN.
Dianna volunteered to design and print
these out. Tom will sign & send as
needed.

Moved to adjourn at 7:40PM by Toni,
seconded by Alan, carried unanimously.

tllV/ AIDS Wellness Networks
Grand Traverse Area Inc.
Invites Volunteers
Old&New
ToOur

Toni Poole, Secretary
Friends North of Michigan, Inc.

Volunteer Open House

Hundreds .......... .
Continued from page 1
believe that discrimination is wrong -- that
we should not single out one group of people and forever deny them basic protection."
Themes of home and diversity
wove throughout the evening. A community children's chorus sang "A world of
difference," whose lyrics include, "It takes
a world of difference to make a difference
in the world."
Proceeds from the evening will
be used to educate voters about the proposed anti-gay City Charter amendment
that will be on the November ballot.
"We know that this will be an
expensive campaign," said Carol Anderson
of Traverse City, a spokeswoman for the
Campaign Against Discrimination. She
said the organization from downstate that
has spearheaded the anti-gay initiative here
and in other towns has provided money
and support for other campaigns.
For more information, visit the
TC Campaign Against Discrimination
online at www.tccad2000.org or call
883-1058.

Wedneadag, Mag 2-d

6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
At our NEW office location at

516 P.. 8•1a Street
TraveneCitlJ
We're rea.clivating old volunteers
and seeking new volunteers.
Come see our new office and learn
about volunteer opportunities.

Refreshments will be served.

:Wellness
NctworRs
ORANO TRAVERS£ AREA. INC.

Pli011e Brooke 929....Jlt1 or Joe 2fil-274J
for furtlaer hdorm4tiOD.

Char P. Kirchner,

CPA,. MSA

Tax Returns - Confidential & Discreet
Single ToxpaS,ll!J"S - Use S,'OVr /ilfng stolus to ~ r aduanauge
Un-Married Couples - Toke oduuntage of atl pou,- options
ApPC>inlmenls in WilrJomsburg or Tn2wne Oty

P.O. Box 1040
Wilflomlhurg, Ml 49690-1040

(6l6) 267-5818

Networking 45° North

April/May 200 l

Page9

Sledding Party
and Chili
Cook-Off

Planned
Parenthood
Provides
Respectful
Environment

The sledding party at
Bahle's Warming Hut in Suttons Bay
was well attended and a great informal community event. Over 50
people enjoyed the beautiful sunny
day and there was plenty of snow for
sledding and snow shoeing. We built
a big fire in the fireplace which felt
cozy after being out in the snow.
We tasted six different chili
contenders for the "Chili Crown" and
Dianna Johnson won by greatest
applause with her HOT MAMA
chili. Every spicy combination came
out of her pantry to create that one!
What a perfect day and wonderful
time. Plenty of dogs enjoyed the
party, as well.

Many gays and lesbians
might not think that an agency called
"Planned Parenthood" would be a
place where they could or would want
to receive health care but, in fact,
Planned Parenthood Northern Michigan (PPNM) provides a wide range of
health care services to both women
and men in an atmosphere that is open,
respectful, non-judgmental, and totally
confidential.

Photos of the Party

\

r.

The coveted

Chili Crown

Lesbians coming to Planned
Parenthood for annual gynecological
and breast exams will find that PPNM
doesn't make assumptions about their
sexual orientation. The history form,
which includes questions about sexual
behavior to assess risk and the need
for services, asks "Do you have sex
with men, women, or both?" The
female nurse practitioners who provide the exams and counseling have
the same attitude of openness and
respect. In addition to annual exams,
PPNM provides testing and treatment
for sexually transmitted diseases and
HIV counseling and testing. Bisexual
women can also take advantage of
birth control and pregnancy testing
and counseling.
Gay men who visit PPNM for
testing and treatment for sexually
transmitted diseases, HIV testing, or to
Cont. pg 12, see Planned Parenthood

ll112..ll tv1. DAy Db.6IC,N
Q.J6 TOtv1 INTb..RIOR Db..61<'.;N

61Ul~6t.fL~
231-883--6422
P.O. BOX 6422
n;2.AV'b.R.6b. QTY. Ml 49696

~-MAL IUl<.llDAYD6N®AOLCOM

Page IO

Networking 45° North

April/May 200 I

Proudly
Unashamed

flipped through in my head.
The first could be that I'm
proud to be who I am - a transsexual
hwnan being - and now I want everyone
to know it. Billboards and airplane banners announcing the fact would be pretty
costly for me, so I opted for the easy and
cheap method. Sounds reasonable,
right? Well, no. I certainly work hard to
be proud of who I am, but proud to be
transsexual? Nab. After all, it's not like
I had to do anything to make it happen.
It just did. In addition, I don't relish advertising that fact, quite the opposite. I
certainly don't hide, but really, I just
want to blend in and go about life on my
own merry way. The sticker actually
acts contrary to that goal, truth be
known.
Next in the series of mental
flash card images came the possibility
that I want
to, in my
l'\l'l1 il'\\lll cill' l,ll,tlh
own little
llllL lU!,tlh llJ1l'll. ,111d
small way,
tntalh ,·lllllftl1Lii1k
jab back at
,, ith "11(), llll a1\· d'- a
those who
oppose
the
J1l'l'>\ll1. I hl·li,·\l' thi!t
stickers,Ill itt,-hitt\ ll'l'll\ till\
those
lllOhl'J ,ll. ,._l7,lllll' ,'1\'t'Jh
mean peoi11tu \,H1r hl·i11!.l 1·n1111
ple-but
ill\ll ill'-'. l Ill· ,llll i - '-'.,1\
that's
pretty
ril l 'l ,1ri C
silly. Silly
and even sillier because I'll probably
never know ifl obtain my objective.
Sure, Joe and Jane Homophobe might be
tailgating me and become irritated as
they notice the sticker, but short of a little road, how would I ever know?
Continuing on through my repertoire of justifiable reasons, I came
upon the "being part of the crowd" op-

By Toni Poole
I finally did. It took me several weeks of thought, and a further
two weeks of"getting around to it",
but I finally plucked up the courage to
do it. What task, you might inquire,
did I find so terribly difficult to proceed with? Ask my boss for a raise?
No. Bungee jump off an unstable platform perched a hundred feet high on a
breezy spring day? Nope. Dive into a
frigid Lake Michigan in the middle of
a stormy February? Ha, not a chance.
What I found so difficult to
do was to affix one of those cute little
"We Are Traverse City'' rainbow
stickers to the rear window ofmy car.
I created a whole article in this newsletter around them last month, and I
thought the least I could do was have
the integrity to ''walk the walk".
That's it. Clean the window, line it
up, and press hard against the glass.
The task itself took all of about two
minutes.
But a day later, a question
came blaring at me from the depths of
my mystical and sometimes complicated mind. Why? What's the point?
Exactly what did I hope to gain from
it? After all, I'm not a bumper sticker
kind of person. Indeed, I have never
placed a bumper sticker of any kind on
any vehicle I've ever owned. Why
now? The question has plagued me
ever since that seemingly tumultuous
two minutes. There are a number of
possible and plausible answers I've

tion. For a moment, I thought I'd struck
gold. I told myself"That's gotta be it!"
I went through the mental reasoning
gymnastics-I consider myself so divergent from others I interact with and here
was my chance to be part of the crowd.
My crowd. Partaking in unity. But alas,
my excitement waned when a major case
of cognitive dissonance set in and I realized I really truly already feel included
in fray of people I respect. A bumper
sticker isn't about to change or enhance
that. "Darn", said I.
And then it hit me like a proverbial ton of bricks. It's rooted in both
being proud, and being ashamed. OK, I
know what you're thinking. I'm reverting to my first reason after all. I want to
show everyone that I'm proud to be me.
But that's not it!
Our society teaches us, through
so-called "moral" lessons, to be ashamed
of ourselves if we don't tow the straight
and narrow line (pun intended). If we've
strayed significantly to the outer edges
of the bell curve, we've failed the
course. As gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgendered people hear day after day,
especially lately here in Traverse City
with the hate mongers in full combat
mode, that we are "sinful", "deviant",
"anti-family'', and other blasphemies.
We hear it from people we don't know,
acquaintances we barely know, and
sometimes even from those who are
closest to us. It begins to wear on us.
How many GLBT people do you know
that bristle any time a remotely anti-gay
sentiment is put forth? I know my spine
tightens when I hear a stupid anti-gay
statement, joke, etc.
Thus, even if you are totally
out, totally open, and totally comfortable
Continued on page 14

DOUGLAS ASHWORTH
REALTQR9

COLOW<?LL
BAN~eRU

SCHMIDT
REALTORS•

Anc1ntW

Accr8dQd

(231) 775-1737 BUSINESS
(231) 775-1798 FAX
(231 I 775-1950 RESIDENCE
(231) 920-6467 CB.1.

L

Mltclleft

Business Accountart

2721 ~NYSIDE OR
CAOII..LAC, Ml 48801

EadlOllceta...,...,.,_AndW

lrm!III Taic Ptlpalatlan arid flllnnng
SmlllBlllillM~

AllcollllilO

Pliant 1231) 947-1-412
Fax 1231)

w-tm

E-NII brllrllleeeal.oam

fRH

~2001

RTH

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Wind.fire

8

FN Board Mtg.
6:30PM@
Grace

10

9

LAMBDAAA
6:30 PM @ Grace

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM @ Grace

Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

11

12

13

LAMBDAAA
6:30 PM @ Grace

14
LAMBDAAA
11:00 am@ Grace

Wind.fire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

15

16

17

18LAMBDAAA

19

20

6;JO I!M @ Gm~

22

23

24

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LAMBDAAA
6:30 PM @ Grace

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Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

29

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Windfire

LAMBDAAA
11 :00 am @ Grace

PFLAG 7:00 PM
@IhirdLevd
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

Wind.fire

21

26
Potluck Social
6:30PM@
Grace

27

28
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@ Grace

~ 2001
.Sun • • ..

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Perry Hotel @ 7:00P
9

10

11

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11:00 AM@Grace

15

17
16LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Gme
PFLAG 7:00 PM
@ Ihird Le:rd
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

18

19
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

22

23
LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Grace

25

26
LAMBDAAA
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8

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6:30 fM @ Gm;e
Windfire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P
13

14
Windfire

20

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High Tea@
City Opera
House 1 PM
27 •

Windfire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

28

29

30
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6:30fM@Gme

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6:J0PM@
Grace
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11:00 AM@Grace

PRIDE FEST
llam-5pm

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10

FN Board Mtg.
6:30PM '@
Grace

12

11

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

6:30 PM @ Grace
Friends U .P. NorJi
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

13

14

15

LAMBDAAA

16
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM @ Grace

6:30 PM @ Grace

Windfire

9

Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

17

19

18

2OLAMBDA AA

21

22

6:30 PM @ Grace

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

PFLAG7:00PM

Windfire

23

@ Third Level

Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

24

25

26

27
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Windfire

6:30 PM @ Grace
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

28

29

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11 :00 AM @ Grace

$4 2001
Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Windfire

8

FN Board Mtg.
6:J0PM@
Grace

10

9

LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Grace

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM @ Grace

Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

11

12

13

LAMBDAAA

14
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

6:30 fM @ Gr.Ke
Windfire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

15

16

17
Windfire

22

23

24

18LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Grace
PFLAG7:00PM
@ Ihird Levd
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

19

25

26 -

20

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM @ Grace

27

LAMBDAAA

6:30 fM @ Gr.Ke
Windfire
• Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

29

30

31 .

FN Bike Tour
Windfire

21

28
FNBikeTour

FN Bike Tour
Fri, Sat, Sun

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@ Grace

Property of the Center

Real Estate for the Real World ...

Thinking of Selling
or

Buying?
Now is the time!
Linda Zajac and Tom Elliott
Friend and Sponsors of
"Friends North"
Century 21 Pearson-Cook
241 East State Street
Traverse City, MI 49684
Office:
Tom:
Linda:
E-mail:

(231) 941-0444
(231) 883-4866
(231) 938-3267
elliottzajac@nmre.net

••••• •
•
•
•• :• • ••
:
••• •
Friends North of Michigan, Inc.
•.
• •. . are having their annual
.. , .
••
•• • •• • •
•
•
•
••
•
•
•
• • • • • • •• • • • • •

.

...

..... ...

... ... ..

•

• • • •. • • • • • • • • •.•.•, •• •.• • •

••••••

......

• • •• •

A.

~~~-~
~

I

j· -

HIGH TEA ·
Sunday, MAY 20TH at 1:00 p.m.

attheOPERA HQUSEinT.C.

There will be a Silent and Live Auction
plus Great Food and Entertainment
and special guest PRINCESS LAURA

Tickets $15.00
Tickets may be purchased at the Bookie Joint and Side Traxx
or from F.N. Board members or by calling 938-9865

ApriVMay 2001

Networking 45° North

Concert Against
Discrimination a
Success!
By Toni Poole
There was a very exciting and
entertaining event in Traverse City on
Sunday, March 18th . Traverse City
Campaign Against Discrimination
(TCCAD), a grass roots committee
formed to defeat a charter amendment
put forth by a downstate anti-gay group,
held the Concert Against Discrimination
in the sold out Milliken Auditorium.
As part ofTCCAD, I had the
inside privy on the work that went into
the event. Being a regular Sunday attendee at the
I l·ould prnhahl,
Unitarian
\\ 1itL' t \\ ( 1 pd1 c1~raph-, Universalist
I'm 1..·, 1..·n ;1..:1 t h<11
(UU) Congregation in
l\lPk tl11..· -,t:l,:!-L'. hut
Traverse City,
thl'l.l' \\lTL' ()\ l'I ' 1()
I know of the
1K·1-i'orn11..·r-,'
very special
and unique
talent lent to the artistic production by
Kevin Tarsa, UU's music director. Additionally, the task-oriented Phil Hoffman, who gave his time in the position
of production manager, kept things running in an utterly smooth manner. With
marquee names like John Wunsch, Jeff
Hass, and Where's Norman?, there was
no doubt that the event would hold an
evening of surprises, high talent, and
artistic splendor.
I was still blown away. The
evening started with a percussion prelude. Several performers around the

Page 11

auditorium beat on drums and various
noise making devices randomly dispersed throughout the crowd prior to admittance, which encouraged audience
participation. The magic of the drums
was enhanced by an ensemble spread
throughout the audience, making it just
one of several unique experiences of the
evening.
I could probably write two
paragraphs for every act that took the
stage, but there were over 90 performers!
Some highlights for me included a stunning display of guitar mastery by the
award winning local artist John Wunsch.
His "Tango Dorissimo" contained both
an exciting Latin flavor and a rhythmic
flair that found me aching for more at
the last note.
The UU Vocal Ensemble gave
an outstanding performance as usual.
Two UU regulars, Bob Hicks on trumpet
and Shelley Bums with her beautiful
voice interspersed their talents throughout the program. In the middle of the
second act, Mary Anne Rivers gave an
incredible piece with six strings and
voice on her song "We Are Love". As if
that wasn't good enough, Jeff Haas and
Jack Dryden were incredible on piano
and bass respectively with
"Awakenings". A Gaelic offering was
served by The Gael Tones with the wonderful Karen McCarthy and Jackie
Richer awing us with Irish dance. A folk
rock number, "Pete's Song", by local
trio Where's Norman?, also left me
yearning for more. Other notables included the superb Children's Chorus on
two or three different songs, the awesome Karen Kay with her "Out The
Window'', the CAD impromptu orchestra, and of course who doesn't like Keyboard and Plastic Duck's "Spaghetti"?

In between songs, various performers
moved us with heart felt poems, stories,
and spoken word pieces.
I'm sure I must have missed
several acts, but it's hard to remember
them all, especially with my senses overwhelmed while sitting and taking it all
in. Suffice it to say that the total talent
on the Milliken Auditorium stage that
night eclipsed the best professional concerts I have ever attended.
After the concert, I sat at the
TCCAD information table and person
after person told me how much they
liked the concert, many proclaiming they
were moved to tears. I've been a part of
TCCAD for about a year now, and I can
honestly say that I have never been more
proud of our accomplishments than I
was for the Concert Against Discrimination. I'm sure there are bigger and better
,things to come, especially in November,
but this musical extravaganza was definitely the first major high point of the
year for me. Talk after the concert
among the volunteers was peppered with
comments of the "next time", with
thoughts of a fall date. I'm excited already!
TCCAD may be a grass roots
campaign, but the sheer organization and
style of this concert showed me that as a
community we can come together and be
a force to be reckoned with - and one
that the big anti-gay organizations from
downstate and out-of-state should take
seriously. More importantly, it shows
me that the talent and intelligence in this
community is significantly bigger and
more prestigious than a few anti-gay nay
Sayers stirring up trouble. If you'd like
to contribute in any way to the campaign's efforts, please call 883-1058.

Tom Elliott ~.,a

~21.

Linda Zajac ••• • '

Pearson-Cook
241 E. Stale St.
T •averse C11y, Michigan 49686
Business (800) 424:9618
Ce I To:T (23 ~) 893--1866
Residence L1ri":1a ,231: 938-3267

fax i2~ 1) 941-7125

~,_/i..ify

"4'

&,uu wilh ..L,utalun n

Assoc ate Broker REALTOR

.l}ldlolli?ru.n
(616) 947-8908
Todd A. lldlllln

326 E. ~,ont Street • Trave~e City, Ml 49684

Networking 45° North

Reviews of Our Supporting
Advertisers
In Touch Chiropractic
and Healing Center
by Gwen Sanford
I have seen Dr. Suzette Corbit's ad in our newsletter for a long
time now and have read some articles
written by her in The Healing Garden
newspaper. So when I hurt my back a
few weeks ago, and naturally wanted to
turn to someone in the community for
help, my first choice was Dr. Corbit.
So I called and made an appointment.
Although not sure that she would be the
right chiropractor, I felt the only way to
find out was to meet her.
I place great value on first impressions when meeting someone new.
I try to find that inner connection where
our energy fields merge. Do they feel
synchronous, or is there an uncomfortable feeling? This may seem a rather
odd way to determine whether or not
you like a doctor, but I have done it the
other way for most ofmy life. Now it's
time for my inner self to have a say in
my decision-making. So far it hasn't
failed me.
When I arrived for my appointment, I found her office to be
modest, but certainly adequate. Dr.
Corbit was in the adjoining room with a
patient, but soon came out to greet me
and have me start filling out the medical survey. I dido 't seem to feel anything uncomfortable so far, so went to
work on the forms.
She soon finished with her patient, and turned her attention to me. I
liked her straightforward and friendly
approach immediately. After the forms
were completed, she spent some time
describing Chiropractic Care, and how
and why it works. Then she started a
physical assessment of my skeleton.

Page 12

April/May 200 I

This is the point where l was sure she
was indeed a person that I could relate
to. Touch is a biggie with me. I believe
you can tell a lot about a person by their
touch and the energy that surrounds
them.
I have been going back to Dr.
Corbit on several occasions since the
first meeting, and my lower back feels
trouble free. Not only my back, but also
my neck is much better, and I don't need
the wrist splint to keep my hand from
going numb when I sleep. And it is especially wonderful to leave her office
feeling like it is no effort at all to stand
straight.
Perhaps I should add that if you
have had "not so good" experiences with
other chiropractic doctors, it is my opinion that Dr. Corbit's Chiropractic Care is
light years ahead of my prior experience.
She explains what she is doing and is
happy to answer the "dwnb questions"
that I come up with. And, she doesn't
hurt me - a nice thing. Would I recommend her to anyone else? Absolutely!
Dr. Corbit's office is located on
Veterans Drive just north of South Airport Road in the Town Hall Office
Building. It is on the top floor, so you
may want to drive around to the rear of
the building.

Planned
Parenthood
Continued from page 9
purchase condoms will experience the
same atmosphere of openness. PPNM
staff do not make assumptions about a
client's sexual orientation or behavior.
PPNM is designated by the
Michigan Department of Community
Health as a HIV counseling and testing
site. Testing can be done on an anonymous or confidential basis.
In addition to the clinical
services, PPNM offers a wealth of information -- books, videos, pamphlets -- on a
wide variety of sexual health topics. Supplies including both male and female condoms, Slippery Stuff, and Hot Lixx are
for sale at PPNM -- at terrific prices!
PPNM has three health centers
located in Marquette, Petoskey, and Traverse City. The health centers are open
Monday through Friday including evening hours twice a week. The Petoskey
health center is also open on Saturday
mornings once a month. Fees for services
are very reasonable, and teens can receive
services free. For information or to
make an appointment, call 929-1844
(Traverse City) or 347-9692 (Petoskey)
or 225-5074 (Marquette).

[I
Volunteers getting the newsletter
ready for mailing at Copy World.

Networking 45° North

April/May 200 I

Page 13

An excerpt from the soon to be published
The Big Book of Great Lake Folklore
As told by Appaloosa
Edited by Craig Philip Richard
I first met Appaloosa years
ago, while I was still studying Anthropology at Olivet College. I drove to
Interlochen to visit my parents for a
long weekend. It was an unusually hot
August day. I had decided to hike, in
my typical rustic fashion, from Interlochen to Acme, with the intention of
camping somewhere in the state forest
along Four Mile Road just outside of
Traverse City.
My canteen was almost
empty. It was about nine p.m. The
sun had just dipped below the horizon,
but was still almost ninety degrees.
There was no noticeable breeze. I had
walked most of the day wearing only
my hiking shorts and boots. Yet, I had
been unable to get relief from the oppressive heat.
As I rounded a bend in the
trail there was, standing right in front
of me, a young man the likes of which
I had never seen. He was about 5'10"
tall wearing only a buckskin breechcloth and moccasins. He also wore a
small collar of white plumes around

1\ pp,il 00::i,l - :-i
:-;i11c.:rl'.

::ill1 j k· \ \ ,1::i

I !is k.:tli

\\ere

b1rgc ;uH.I str,li!:,!,hL whit.:

:--.liin,; ,h \\l'l 111,irble.
As he intrnducccl hi111-

,111d

s.:lf, his 1..'\\.?S bc~:111 (() i11' .:st1gc1k llll' .
his neck. His ears each had about five
holes in them and were fringed with
beads. His nose was pierced with an
ornamented stone that dangled over
his upper lip.
Appaloosa's deep, olive skin
glowed in the light of the evening sun.
His build was slight, as ifhe was not
well nourished, but he was well muscled. His legs resembled those of a
marathon runner and had no body hair

whatsoever. He wore his hair in typical
Ottawa fashion: head shaved except for
a strip in the middle, all combed up toward the forehead, rather short, and
sticking straight up. He looked to be
about twenty years old.
A large knife was resting in his
belt. I was immediately struck by its
composition. I had only seen such
things at the Museum of the American
Indian at Michigan State University.
The blade was of hammered copper.
The bone handle I immediately recognized as being of the late Dahagan family. Such a thing had not been locally
produced in over eight hundred years.
But the blade showed no signs of corrosion. It appeared to have been hammered the day before!
Appaloosa's smile was sincere.
His teeth were large and straight, white
and shiny as wet marble. As he introduced himself, his eyes began to investigate me. I had the feeling that he was
taking more than a curious interest in my
anatomical features. I had the uneasy
feeling that he knew exactly what I
looked like underneath my clothing.
Appaloosa took particular interest in the hair on my chest and legs.
When he lifted a finger to touch my
chest I pretended not to be alarmed. He
began to run his finger very slowly
across my skin. He looked me straight in
the eye and asked me ifl had a wife, his
face almost touching mine. When I told
him that I did not he immediately asked
me how many husbands I had. His English was perfect but I couldn't make
sense of the question. I felt as if I were
going to faint. The ground on which we
stood began to slowly spin. Then it
seemed as though I were viewing the
scene from far, far above. From that
height I could barely make out the spot
on which we stood. I recognized the features of the Lake Michigan basin. I followed the course of the Boardman River
as it meandered down the hills from the
south toward the Great Lake. But

Boardman Lake was not there! In its
place were tall beech and slippery elm
trees, numerous small groups of sleek
deer, and rolling grasses.
I realized that Traverse City
was no longer there. There wasn't a
building in sight. No cars, no airport, no
roads. The entire area was virgin forest!
Here and there wisps of smoke from
small fires slipped up through the pines
into the silent, silvery-blue sky.
Again I heard the young man's
voice. A wave of nausea passed over
me.
I was once again staring into Appaloosa's face. He was telling me about
something from his boyhood.
As he spoke, a large turkey vulture soared into view over the hill to the
southwest. Appaloosa rotated his head
to follow the flight of the large scavenger while the sun glanced across the surface of his left eye. For about a half second I thought I saw some kind of tiny
digital readout in the iris. There appeared
to be four quadrants in the readout. The
numerals were not Arabic. Their appearance did not resemble any system with
Continued page 13, see Appaloosa

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the sky. The air had finally begun to
cool. I still did not feel well. I rubbed
my face in my hands. When I looked up
again Appaloosa was gone. I called out
his name repeatedly, but to no avail. I
would not see him again for months. All
of our subsequent meetings would have
the same air of ephemeral and spontaneous mystery to them.

Appaloosa
Cont. from page 13
which I was familiar, although there were
some stylistic affinities with Old Kingdom , Egyptian glyphs. The numbers
were in constant, rapid motion.
To this day I have no explanation for the strange appearance of his left
eye. It may simply have been the heat of
the day and my exhaustion playing tricks
on my mind. I asked Appaloosa more
than once about it. He seemed not to
even understand the question. I soon
gave up the inquiry.
Appaloosa told me that he had
been following me for the last three
hours.
From the start, he seemed especially eager
to share with me the details of his village
and clan. He wanted me to meet his
friends. I immediately learned of some of
his clan's myths, games, songs, and
dances. And he told me the story of how
the stars were created, an account full of
improbable proportions and grand homosexual imagery.
By nine forty-five p.m. the light
of the sun had all but disappeared from

Proudly
Unashamed
Cont. from page 10
with who you are as a person; I believe
that an itty-bitty teeny tiny morsel of
shame creeps into your being from hearing the anti-gay rhetoric. Most of us
simply verbalize that we aren't ashamed,
and many times that regurgitates the
morsel from your soul. Often it isn't
effective, or at least, not always (for me
personally). So, I took the battle a step
further - I fought back visually with a

Get In Touch
.with your Mind,,
Body & Spirit
• Gentle Chiropractic

• Massage Therapy

Dr. Suzette Corbit, D.C.

3 3 0 1

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Drive, Suite 215 •
49684
Res: 231-922-9272 Office: 23! -9;,3-9388
t e r a n s

Carolyn R. Delo
Sale:i & Leasing
Phone 231/946-.5540 • Fa, 23 lf9.16-0258
UOl S. Garfield Road • Tm a St: Citv . \ fl .t%Rfi
2311486-8904 • Toll

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• Stress Reduction

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rectangular piece of self-adhesive,
mass-produced art - the bumper
sticker.
The point for me isn't to
tell everyone how proud I am to be
part of the GLBT continuum. I finally realized for me that the real objective is to say I'm not ashamed of
that fact, which I think can be different. While I see no reason to be
proud I' m transsexual, I've worked
very hard to gain the honesty and
self-respect that allowed me to accept
it. I am proud of that. The bumper
sticker acts as an antidote and reinforcement against the influx of shame
others try to inject into me. It's a
way to quietly say, "Go away, your
services aren't needed" to the homo/
transphobic crowd attempting to burn
their poisonous brand of morality
into our brains.

verse
tors

In Touch ChiroP-ractic

. Hn ubu

Page 14

April/May 200 I

Networking 45° North

T r a v e

rs e

C i t y,

M l

Par ti~ ipatin g Prov i d er wi t h Blu e C r oss / B lu e S hi eld

Weekdays
8:00 am - Midnight
SAT • 10 :0 0 - 5:00
SUN• 12:00 - 5;00

Networking 45° North

Letter Page

Friends My name is Linda Dear. I just
moved up from downstate and found a
great house to rent in a great location
and would like a roommate or two. I'm
female, 35, professional, and lesbian.
Would prefer to live with my own kindgay / lesbian, etc. I am not looking for a
relationship this is strictly a roommate
quest. Thought I'd go this route before
placing an ad in local papers. House
particulars: 116 N. Oak, Traverse City,
cross-streets: Oak & Front, 5 bedrooms:
4 upstairs, I downstairs ( 2 have small
view of bay), 2 full baths: upper/ lower,
Lots of room - house privileges, Full
Basement - a lot of storage space, Front
porch, Enclosed back porch - lots of
windows, 3 blocks from Bay / 2 blocks
from downtown.
I am the responsible lease
holder. My rent is $1400 + utilities. So,
that's $700 + utilities with {I) other person, or $470 + utilities with (2) additional people. My lease allows me to
sublease, however all tenants must be
nonsmokers and no additional pets. The
landlords made allowance for my small
dog but no additional animals. Just a
note, the landlords are lawyers whose
office is next door so any deviations
from my lease are not an option.
This is a great alternative to the
small and very expensive housing options for downtown. It truly is a great
house!
Thank you for any help you
may provide.
You may reach at all times on
my cell phone: 231-883-9175
Sincerely,
Linda Dear

t,.pril/May 200 I

FAQ's
Taken from the
Traverse City
Campaign Against
Discrimination
Web Site
www.tccad2000.org

Q: Why is the downstate group working to amend the city charter?
A: The downstate group is virulently
anti-gay. Because the City Commission's resolution says we should oppose
discrimination based on sexual orientation -- a characteristic that EVERY human possesses -- the group somehow
sees this as applying only to homosexual
people. They are trying to circumvent
our legislative process, since the City
Commission --the people elected to represent us -- overwhelmingly opposes discrimination.
Q: Who is circulating the petition?
A: An ultra-conservative, anti-gay group
based in Tupelo Mississippi is behind
the petition drive. Using misleading and
inflammatory language, this same group
has worked to repeal nondiscrimination
ordinances elsewhere in Michigan. They
also continue to work in other cities to
deny gay, lesbian and bisexual people
protections from discrimination.
Q: What does the petition seek?
A: The petition seeks a permanent
amendment to our City Charter (the
city's version ofa U.S. Constitution).
The amendment would make it impossible for the city to ever pass a law or policy that would protect a gay, lesbian or
bisexual person from discrimination.
Q: Aren't gay people already protected from discrimination?
A: No. There are no laws in Traverse
City -or at the state or federal level- that
prevent a person from being fired, or
denied housing or public accommodation because of their actual or perceived
sexual orientation.
Q: Then what did the City Commission's non-discrimination resolution
do?
A: The resolution passed in February did
not change any laws or policies. The

Page 15

resolution was a statement of principle
that the City Commission opposes discrimination. The resolution is not binding in any way.
Q: Isn't the resolution just a first step
toward a law?
A: Two members of the City Commission who supported the nondiscrimination resolution have said that they are not
sure whether they would support a law
banning discrimination based on sexual
orientation. No such law is proposed.
Any new legislation would require a majority vote of the City Commission.
Q: What can I do?
A: You can educate your friends and
neighbors about this assault on Traverse
City. You can help them understand that
the innocent-sounding language these
people will put on the ballot will actually
make it LEGAL to discriminate against
. gay, lesbian and bisexual people. Your
can get active and volunteer your energy
and donate!
Q: What if this conflicts with my religious beliefs?
A: There are no policies or laws either in
place or proposed that would force a person to behave in a way contrary to their
religious beliefs. The downstate group
will use a variety of scare tactics to have
you think otherwise. Mainstream people
of faith --people of all religions -- believe that all humans should be treated
equally, and therefore oppose the extremist measures being proposed by the
anti-gay group.
Q: Is there discrimination in Traverse
City now?
A: Yes! The city Commission and Human Rights Commission have had numerous gay people testify before them
regarding acts of discrimination in Traverse City.
Q: What happens if this ballot measure passes?
A: The charter amendment would handcuff our elected officials, preventing
them from ever passing any iaws or policies that could protect gay, lesbian and
bisexual people from discrimination. For
example, it would be possible for the
city to exclude people from public housing based merely on their sexual orientation. Worse, it would portray Traverse
City as an uninviting, unwelcoming city.
That would be bad for everyone who
lives and works here.

Networking 45° North

Page 16

April/May 2001

On The Headboard and Beside The Bed
By Dianna Johnson
Several of the titles that I
have read over the past couple of
months are definitely gay and lesbian
fiction, some have been selected as
Lambda Award finalists (winners will
be announced in June, check out the
Lambda Book Report for other titles),
but I am finding more and more that
the Gay and Lesbian Literature section
is shrinking because titles are being
mainstreamed and put beside Charles
Dickens and Ernest Hemingway. I
read Tea by Stacey D' erasmo because
it is a finalist, but before the list came
out it slipped through my fingers. I
didn't know a thing about it. It was
shelved in the literature section, not
the ''Lesbian lit'' section which I keep
an eye on. Wow! A lesbian author is
shelved in the regular lit section!
Christopher Rice, a flaming gay man,
is shelved in literature, but anyone
who reads his books says, "Oh yea,
there are some pretty blatant homoerotic scenes in his book, aren't
there?" Armistead Maupin's Tales of
the City is also shelved in lit. Maybe
it's just that Borders' is starting to integrate these titles, but maybe there's
hope that gays and lesbians are on the
edge of being considered regular, ordinary, mainstream people, too.
A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice took my preconceived notions completely off guard I expected
fluff. The son of a well-established
author writes this book and I had wonderings of nepotism. I knew that Ms.
Anne Rice surely got her son's book
published by pulling some strings in
that mysterious publishing underworld. Coat tails came to mind.
George W. came to mind.
I should not judge. After
about the second page, all of those
thoughts went right out the window.
This kid is a good writer. He knows a
lot for 18 years old and his ability to
put you in the middle of the story is
masterful. There are four main characters-Brandon, Meredith, Greg, and
Stephen-high school kids who grew
up together and they are trying to find
their place in the world. How do foot-

ball jocks (Brandon and Greg) shake
memories, homophobia, and same sex attraction (and action)? Of course, they target the guy that they believe was responsible, the "out" fag in school (Stephen). This
is the core to a story that is dark and haunting and I couldn't put it down. Rice is
very skillful in giving the reader pieces of
the puzzle without the box top so you
really don't know what it looks like and
the only way to find out is to keep reading.
Several questions aren't answered until the
last few pages and it is exceptional to the
very end.
Beyond the Pale by Elana Dykewomon is an extremely well written, wellresearched story about Russian Jews in the
late 1800's who live in the Jewish settlement called ''the Pale". It is very rich in
history as well as anti-Semitism. There is
an enormous wealth of information about
how the Christians persecuted, controlled,
harassed, and condescended to their Jewish
brothers and sisters as a means of creating
themselves as more important. Life in the
Pale was difficult and dangerous and the
idea of getting to the United States where
"streets were paved with gold" was their
life goal. The main characters, Rose and
Chava, become aware of women loving
each other, transgenderism, and organizing
unions all at the same time, after coming to
America.
Some things that occurred to me
while reading this remarkable tale-how
awful must it have been to immigrate to
this country, even though there were so
many promises. Think about transporting
across the ocean with many others without
any form of fresh food or clean water, not
to mention overflowing toilets and seasickness. Where does all that vomit go? Then
once you get to Ellis Island and get
"accepted" and have your name changed to
something less ethnic, where do you go?
You take another boat to the lower tip of
Manhattan with a suitcase and a glazed
look in your eye? This is definitely an
awesome read; makes me appreciate a little
more what my ancestors went through to
get their bloodline here.
I only wish that ALL Lambda
award finalists were of the quality of
Beyond the Pale (1997) and A Density of

Souls. Tea by Stacey D'erasmo
makes me realize how few good titles
are out there with a gay theme.
There's some great stuff happening in
this book, but after the millionth obvious metaphor hits you over the head ...
there are glimpses of good fiction, but
it seems we learn EXACTLY what
D'erasmo learned in Creative Writing
101. Her symbol, tea, gets beaten to
death. One part of the book got my
attention though, a highlight: the main
character, Isabelle, faces a chance to
take her life with pills in her hand and
die the way her mother did, by committing suicide. D'erasmo did a superb job of tracing the character's
thoughts during this scene. It's a good
exchange, a good dynamic and well
set up. There's something that good
lit does for me that this didn't do.
Someone said to me, if you leave a
movie and say, "Those special effects
were really good" ... then are they
really? If the metaphor and symbolism and foreshadowing is so obvious
in a book on the first read, is it good
fiction? It doesn't work for me.
I have a feeling that I will be
committing blasphemy with my next
review. I finally read Tales of the
City by Armistead Maupin and I have
to say I wasn't really that impressed. I
know that it is considered "classic"
gay fiction, and I know it was ground
breaking at the time. Gay people didn't exist in fiction, much less live next
door. But it seemed too simple; no
chapter read more than four pages.
There is a lot of dialogue and seems to
have been written, not as a great piece
of lit, but as a B-rated screenplay
(which I realize it was.) It is interesting in the sense that it suggestively
describes 1970's San Francisco at the
height of bathhouses, one nighters,
cruising, free love and lots and lots of
sex-pre Aills. Entertaining but not
extraordinary, just an eyes wide-open
view of gay life in San Francisco in
the 70's.
If Tales of the city is a first
hand account of gay SF in the 70's
then Valencia is one oflesbian SF in

Networking 45° North

April/May 2001

Page 17

On The Headboard
cont. from pg. 15
9 3

If Tales of the city
is a first hand account of gay SF in the
70's then Valencia is one oflesbian
SF in the new millennium. YIKES
Dykes!! And lots ofthem ... Michelle
Tea takes us on a thrill ride through
the Mission district of San Francisco
where girls and drugs corrupt her
every thought. I particularly liked her
images of the Dyke March during
Pride. However, by the middle of the
book, same girl, same drugs or different ones, I started not to really care.
Her writing style is like she is journaling, fast paced in some places, but
same old topics ... girls and drugs.
Gets old.

6ooketo Note (wi1ttout
g/ll'o/t U1emea)
Expecting Adam by Martha
Beck; Beck, a scholar with two Harvard degrees, becomes pregnant with a
Down's syndrome baby and everything she knows turns upside down. It
all shakes out and she comes to huge
realizations about people's perceptions
and her own priorities. Every page
closer to the end made me sad that it
was closer to over. Beck writes so we
that we not only see her grow, we feel
her grow as well. It's inspirational
and funny and jabs at Harvard and it's
scholarly society.
Vagina Monologues by Eve
Ensler; empowering, sometimes
funny, sometimes sad essays about
your "down there". Started a huge
feminist movement called V-day created to stop violence toward women.
An absolute must for your feminist
bookshelf.
Winterdance by Gary
Paulsen; Sheila and I read this out
loud while road tripping to Ann Arbor.
I'm sure there were times when she
couldn't see the road for the laughing
tears. This book should be read for a
number ofreasons: 1) Belly laughing
has been proven by medical experts to
be good for you. 2) It gives a great
first hand account and appreciation for

l:DOlltUiWWW! ■ BW&a

!l'IIIIT

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___,.J

what the dogs go through (and mushers) on
the Iditarod. 3) Paulsen is an outstanding
storyteller. 4) Paulsen's passion for dogs,
the race and sledding is catching. I wonder
how I would do on the Iditarod? Just need
some dogs .... my favorite passages were
training with the old bicycle, buffalo
games, the five skunk night, the coyote and
his amazing hunting style and any story
that included Devil.

0
0
0

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~

:)

~

JQ-May I ask a question?
FN-Sure, go ahead.
JQ-Isn't there supposed to be a
cool spring function coming up?
HIGH TEA, MAY 20th!
FN-Ahh-well yeah. Do you
read the newsletter much?
HIGH TEA, MAY 20th!
JQ-Well sure; when I get time.
FN-Have you read much of this
issue yet?
JQ-Nope. Haven't had a
chance
HIGH TEA, MAY 20TH!
JQ-Say, you
T-shirts• Sweatshirts• Hats • Jackets
don't suppose
there is something
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FRIENDS NORTH 10th ANNUAL BIKE TOUR 2001
Friends North is sponsoring our 10th annual bike tour in beautiful Benzie County!
This bike tour is intended for G,L,B, T and their friends. It will be held the weekend of
July 27, 28, 29 2001. This is a biking, camping and canoeing/kayaking weekend on a 15acre private ranch. The activities this year will be a Friday night Welcome reception
with a Pasta Extravaganza prepared by our site hosts Sheryl and Hilda. Also a Sunday
afternoon canoe/kayak trip down the Platte River (bring your own canoe, kayak, tube or
rentals available). Afterward meet us on the beach, we'll have a grill and volleyball net
(BYOStuft). All this along with our beautiful various bike tours on Saturday and the
fun-filled dinner at the ranch on Saturday night. No hints about the entertainment will
be allowed©
Your registration/donation to Friends North will include:
• Weekend camping, 2-3 nights, camper/trailers welcome, no hook-ups.
• Routed bike tours Saturday with varying route lengths to choose from for all
riding abilities.
• Canoe/kayak/tube down the Platte River Sunday, with everyone meeting at the
beach for grilling and beach volleyball.
• Sumptuous dinners both Friday & Saturday catered on site for added convenience.
• Continental breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.
• Friends North bike tour 2001 T-shirt.

If you know enough about the tour and would like to sign up now, please fill
out the registration/release form and send it back to us with your donation
check. (Those registering before May 20, 2001 may send in the reduced rate).
Students and those with limited funds (who would not participate in the tour
because of cost) have a discounted rate.
LOGO CONTEST - Design our 10th anniversary logo and win a free Bike
Tour weekend. Logo must be a one color design and will need to be submitted by June 1st to be considered. If you send your registration in prior and
your submittal is chosen, your registration will be reimbursed for your prize.
We will send out directions and more about the weekend by early July. In the meantime, if
you have questions about the tour you may call Kirk Mallow at 231-933-3311, E-mail Tim
Schmidt at TCTimber@aol.com or Rose Clement at RSCNGC@aol.com.
We look forward to having you join us for OUR TENTH ANNUAL beautiful weekend in
Northern Michigan!

Univi1i l1~[11l~11ii jJ ~il11f1[~11li1~i~11~11md,OK
M 001 111 485

FRIENDS NORTH BIKE TOUR 2001 • REGISTRATION FORM
Please fill out an individual form for each participant
NAME: ........................................................................................................................ .

ADDRESS: .................................................................................................................... .
CITY, STATE, ZIP: .......................................................................... PHONE: ..................... .
CIRCLE SHIRT SIZE: M

L

XL

2XL

3XL

4XL

SXL

YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS: ................................................................................................ .
EMERGENCY CONTACT PERSON (NOT ON THE TOUR)
NAME: .................................................................................. PHONE: ............................. .
Check donation:

.......... $70.00 Full Weekend Package - discounted rate prior to May 20th
Full Weekend Package - after May 20th
.......... $55.00 Full Weekend Package - Limited funds
.......... $15.00 1 year membership to Friends North
.......... Interested in participating in the Sunday Canoe (11 :00 a.m.)

..........

$85.00

Enclose check or money order payable to Friends North and send to:
Friends North Bike Tour, P.O. Box 332, Grawn Michigan 49637

Canoe/Kayak rates: Please note that each individual is responsible for paying for the rental of
their own canoe/kayak on Sunday afternoon.
Canoe - $28.00 for two people in canoe, $36.00 for three people in canoe
Kayak - $20.00 for one person, $40.00 for two person
Tube - $15.00 for one person

In signing below, I state that I am 18 years of age or older and I understand
the hazards involved in riding a bicycle on busy highways. I accept the risks
involved as a participant of this bike tour as my own. I will not nor will any of
my heirs, bold Friends North or the organizers and site owners of this event in
any way responsible or liable for any accident, injuries, mishap, trauma, or
loss that may occur at any time during this weekend activity.
Signature: ..................................................... Date: .......................... .
Riders registering after 7/15/2001 are not assured a T-shirt. Cancellations made prior to 7/7/2001 will
receive½ of the original donation. After 7/14/2001 NO refunds will be made.
Please contact to receive a parental consent form if under the age of 18. Please contact to receive information on Financial
Hardship Scholarship.

Networking 45° North

Page20

April/May 2001

RESOURCES
State And National Hotlines
Department of Justice............ 800-347-4283
Gay/Lesbian National Youth ............ .
800-347-TEEN (8336)
Michigan Wellness Networks ............ .
800-872-AIDS (2437)
Triangle Hate Crime Reporting.......... .
877-7-TRIANGLE (877-787-42640)

Statewide Services
ACLU Of Michigan ........................ .
1249 Washington Blvd., Suite 209,
Detroit,
MI
48220
Office ......................... 248-398- 7105
Help Line ................. , ...... 800-398-4297
E-mail ................. michaclu@aol .com
WWW .. ............... http://michigan.aclu.oriy

thebody.com/lambdahtml
NGLTF (National Gay & Lesbian Task
Force), 2320 Seventeenth St. NW,
Washington
DC
20009-2702
Ph .. 202-332-6483
FAX.. 202-332-0207
WWW ......................http://www.ngtlf.oriy
PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays), 1101 14th St. NW,
Suite 1030, Washington DC 2005
Ph.. 202-638-420
Email..info@pflag.org
WWW ......... ............ http://www.pflag.oriy

Lesbian and Gay Aging Issues Network
WWW ............. http://www.asaging.
org/lgain.html

Local Spiritual
Circle of the Sacred Earth,
Rev. Nancy Hayward ............. 231-223-7999

Lansing Association of Human Rights ..... .
PO Box 18062, Lansing, MI 48826
Phone ...................... 517-332-3200
http://www.macatawaoriy~lahr

Journey in Light Ministries,
Rev. Linda L. Wilson .............231-271-2529

Triangle Foundation ..... .
19641 W. Seven Mile Rd., Detroit, MI
313-357-3323 ....... Fax ..... 313-537-3379
WWW .............. ........... http://www.tri.org

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Grand
Traverse, Rev. Emmy Lou Belcher, 6726
Center Rd., Traverse City, MI 49686
Home.. 231-938-9079 Office.. 231-947-3117

OLSEN
WWW ............ www.GLSEN-Michigan.org

Unity Church, Rev. Judy Grimes,
3600 Five Mile Rd., Traverse City,
MI 49686 ..........................231-938-9587

National Services

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of
Petoskey, PO Box 873, Petoskey,
MI 49770 .......................... 231-347-8916

OLSEN (Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education
Network), 121 West 127th St.,,Suite 804,
New York, NY 10001.. ....... 212-727-0135
WWW ......... ......... http://www.GLSEN.oriy
Gender PAC ..............New York, NY
WWW ................. .... http://www.gpac.oriy
HRC (Human Rights Campaign), 919 18th
Street NW, Washington DC 20006
Ph.. 202-628-4 I 60
FAX.. 202-34 7-5323
E-mail ........................ hrc@hrc.org
WWW ................... .... http://www.hrc.oriy
IFGE (International Foundation for Gender
Education), PO Box 540229, Waltham, MA
02454-0229
FAX.. 781-899-5703
Ph.. 781-899-2212
E-mail ................... info@ifge.org
WWW ................... ....http://www.ifge.org
LAMBDA Legal Defense & Education
Fund, 120 Wall St., Suite 1500, New York,
NY 10005 ........................ 212-809-8585
Fax ................................. 212-809-0055
WWW ........................ http://www.

Local Counseling
CDRS (free substance abuse referral)
Phone .............................. 231-929-13 l 5
Toll-Free ........................... 800-686-0749
THIRD LEVEL Crisis Intervention Center,
1022 E. Front St., Traverse City, Ml
49686 ........... 231-922-4800
Toll-Free .................. 800-442-7315
WWW ...... http://www.travese.net/
members/third level/

Local HIV/AIDS Health
Counseling & Information
HIV Testing Anonymous

& Confidential

Community Health Clinic (same day)
Phone .............................. 231-929-4448
Grand Traverse County Health Dept.
Phone .............................. 231-922-4831
Planned Parenthood Northern Michigan
Phone .................... 800-230-PLAN (7526)
Thomas
Judd
Care
Center
Phone .............................. 231-935-8140
Emmet County Health Dept.
Phone .............................. 231-347-6014
Wellness Networks ......... 231-933-0279
Toll-Free ........................... 800-947-1160
WWW.... http://www.WellnessNetworks.org

Local Service/Social/Political
Common Voices: The Friends North Rap
Group, Call Tom ................. 231-275-6127
Friends North of Michigan, PO Box 562,
Traverse City, MI 49685-0562
Northern Michigan Help Line
Phone ............................231-946- I 804
E-mail. ................. .info@friendsnorth.org
WWW ....... .... http://www.friendsnorth.org
OLSEN, PO Box 9, Traverse City, MI
49685-0685 ........................ 231-943-5050
WWW ...... www. TraverseAreacom/GLSEN
E-mail. ........... GLSEN@TraverseAreacom
Gay Alcoholics Anonymous,
Grace
Episcopal Church, Traverse City
Call
John .............................231-922-0746 or
Hilda................................231-938-9294
WINDFIRE Gay & Lesbian Youth Support
Group... Call Third Level for location &
time ............................... 231-922-4800
Toll-Free ............................ 800-442-7315
Human Rights Commission .......... 922-4447

WOMAN'S RESOURCE CENTER
Phone ............................... 231-941-1210
Susan Odgers, PhD .................... 946-0331
Barbara Jones Smith, PhD ............ 947-1444
Bay Area Counseling, LLC ........... 933-4009
Susan RBreuer, PhD, Benzonia.... 882-4455

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,
Transgendered?
Have Questions, Need Help?
Call the Northern Michigan
Help Line
231-946-1804



P:-operty of t he C .r, ~e r

Volume 15
Issue 2

FRIENDS NORTH of MICHIGAN, INC.

April/May

2001

.Rn association of lesbians, gays,
bisexuals, transgendered and their friends.

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Hundreds Gather to Launch
Campaign Against Discrimination
TRAVERSE CITY Hundreds of area residents
gathered Sunday evening to
formally launch the Traverse
City Campaign Against Discrimination, which hopes to
defeat an anti-gay initiative on
the November ballot.
The concerned citizens gathered in a sold-out
Milliken Auditorium for the
"Concert Against Discrimination," which featured more
than 90 area artists and

Sunday, MAY 20TH at 1:00 p.m.

Jeff Haas, Anne-Marie
Oomen and Bob Hicks participated, along with several
ensembles. The evening concluded with a Native American Honor Song by the Medicine Lodge Singers.
"The work to defeat
this cruel initiative will be
difficult," Tarsa said.
"We wanted with this concert
to send people out energized,
inspired and focused."
Speakers explained
how local anti-gay activists
want to amend the City
Charter to make it legal to
discriminate against gay
people.
"The citizens of
Traverse City will not have to
embrace or even be comfortable with homosexuality in
order to vote NO in November," Bonnie Deigh told the
crowd. "They need only to

attheOPERA HOUSEinT.C.

Cont. page 8, see Hundreds .....

musicians.
"We wanted, in a very
positive way, to make strong
statement with this event," said
Kevin Tarsa, artistic director.
Tarsa said the concert was a response to the recent anti-gay activities in Traverse City, including the recent visit by Fred
Phelps and the efforts by a
downstate anti-gay group to
amend the City Charter.
Local artists and musicians including John Wunsch,

·.
...·· ....
.... .

:
\

•••• •·

Friends North of Michigan, Inc.
.•: •.. are having their annual
..... .

·•........·...: ···... _············.:::: ... •···· ........I P

.....................

HIGH TEA

Lesbian? Gay?
Bisexual?
Transgendered?
Have Questions?
Need Help?

There will be a Silent and Live Auction
plus Great Food and Entertainment
and special guest PRINCESS LAURA

Tickets $15. 00
Tickets may be purchased at the Bookie Joint and Side Traxx
or from F.N. Board members or by calling 938-9865

Call the Northern
Michigan Help Line!
(231) 946-1804
For Emergency Help
(231) 922-4800
(800) 442-7315

Networking 45° North

Page2

April/May 2001

From The President
By Tom Kincaid
The Mission of Friends North of Michigan, Inc., is to provide
social, educational and support activities and opportunities for the
gay men, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities in
Northern Michigan.
Please note: Friends North is not a dating, nor dating refe"al service.

Networking 45° North is the newsletter of Friends North of Michigan,
Inc. For information, write to Friends North, PO Box 562,
Traverse City, MI 4968S-0562.
www.friendsnorth.on?
Vie"l'Oints expressed in Networking do not necessarily represent those of the
Board of Trustees or the general membership.
Friends North of Michigan, Inc. , is an association of lesbians, g;,y men, bisexuals, transgendere<I and their friends from Northwestern Lower Michigan centered in Traverse City.
Friends North provides social activities, a newsletter, an information line, workshops, a web
site and a scholar.1hip fund for financial assistance.

Friends North'• Board of Trust... is elected each December at the Annual Meeting.
Regular Board meetings are held at Grace Episcopal Church, at the comer of Wash in gton and
Boardman Streets in Traver.,eCity, at 6:30 pm on the 1st Tuesday of every month except July.
Everyone is welcome lo attend. Please contact Friends North in writing ahead of time if you
have an item for the agenda Cum:nt members of the Board include:
Tom Kincaid, President, (231) 929-2919
Gwm Sanford, Vice President,(231) 946-0(33
Toni Poole, Secretary,
Richan! Pozniak, Treasurer, (231) 933-3969
Bob Buck, Trustee
Dianna Johnson, Trustee, (23 I) 933-0571
Joe Kaubenaw, Trustee, (23 I) 947-8402
Craig Philip Richan!, Trustee, (231) 922-1967

Al Kitzmiller, Trustee.

The Frimds North N.,...letter Committee is responsible for the publication of
Networking 45° North.

Publisher Gwen Sanford, GwenChris@worldnet.att.net
Editor: Dianna Johnson, Huntgoddess@aolcom
Advertising: Gwen Sanford, GwenChris@worldnet.att.net

Oassified Advertising and notices are run without charge. Please submit your ads in writing.

Display Advertising in Networking is available in business card sized displays at a rate ofS25
per space per issue or an annual rate of$125. Inserts and larger sized ads are available; please
contact the advertising editor for more infonnation.

Contributions to Networking are welcome. Letters, essays, features. reflections, poetry,
original are work etc. should be sent to Networking 45° North, PO Box 562, Traverse City, Ml
39685--0562, or to either the publisher or editor listed above. Networlang will not aocept
material that is sexist, discriminatory or sexually explicit. Contributors are responsible for
obtaining pennission from those whose names they submit for publication. Please include
your name, address and a phone number where you can be reached. If you would like your
contribution to be printed anonymously, please let us know.

Add...., Otanges should be sent to the above address.

Subsaiptioo, & Mnnbenbips are $15. Please send checks or money orders to the above
address. Complimentary subscriptions are also available to those who are unable to pay .

Distribution: Networking is sent via bulk mail in a plain envelope to subscribers. Additional
copies are available at select local establishments.

Within the past
two months, the face of
hatred has shown itself
right here in Traverse
City ("The All American
City"). First, gays and lesbians were accused of promoting
"an agenda" when the rainbow
background appeared on some
tax-payer bumper stickers that
were printed to show that Traverse City is inclusive and welcomes ALL people. Then the
notorious Reverend Fred
Phelps decided to pay us a visit
with his ''hate circus" in tow.
After a few days of marching
around in the cold with his ugly
picket signs, he went home to
Kansas. Now, we are faced
with the fact that the religious
extremists in our community
had successfully gathered
enough names on their petition
and will put an anti-gay initiative on the ballot this November.
Shameful events as
these are almost enough to
make a person think that Northern Michigan is not a welcoming community and if we want
to fit in, we had better go back
into the closet. Well, no more
closets for this queen ... there's
too many pairs of high heels
and ball gowns taking up my
closet space.
Last weekend, I had
the pleasure of attending "A
Concert Against Discrimination" which was a fabulous
sold out event. Some of our
area's most talented poets and
musicians donated their time to
provide an evening of entertairunent. The proceeds went
toward TCCAD (Traverse City
Campaign Against Discrimination). The concert contained a
beautiful theme about building
a beautiful home by honoring

diversity and taking a stand
when others try to discrim'inate
against a group of peoe.le just
because they happen to·be different. I have never felt such
warmth and hope.
The concert really inspired me to get involved and
help TCCAD defeat this ballot
issue in November. I'd also
like to encourage everyone
here to get involved in some
way-after all this is OUR
home too. If we don't stand up
for ourselves, who will?
On other fronts, we
had a very successful Winter
Chili/Sledding party at Bahle's
Warming Hut in Suttons Bay.
Unfortunately, I was unable to
attend due to a previous family
commitment. However, I have
every intention of winning
back the ''unique" Chili Crown
next year.
Please make plans to
attend our Annual High Tea/
Silent Auction on May 20th at
the Opera House in downtown
Traverse City. Every year this
event gets better and this year
promises to be the best yet.
OUr newest board
member is Alan Collard. We
welcome his expertise and talents. I can tell you first hand
that he gives a great massage.
Check out his advertisement in
this newsletter and make an
appointment_
The Friends North
Board is looking for a few
good men and women to serve
as trustees. Please contact me
if you' re interested.
That's all for now. I
hope this finds everyone well
and ready to have a great summer.
Tom

I

Networking 45° North

April/May 200 I

Page3

homTbeV.P.
By Gwen Sanford

Last January during the 2001
Board Of Trustees Retreat, we discussed writing articles relating our experiences with the advertisers who pay for ads
in Networking 45° North. While we encourage our readers to support those who
support Friends North, we never hear any
feedback about doing business with them.
So, beginning in this issue of Networking,
I will pick one of our advertisers whose
expertise I have required and share my
satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, with you.
I also encourage our readers to
write to us about your experience of doing
business with our advertisers. They don't
have to all be glowing reports either. This
may perhaps, put some pressure on them,
but hey, if one of them give crummy service, we should probably know about it.
In fact, if a business produces a poor
product or provides poor service, perhaps
Friends North should not accept advertising from that business.
Another place to see who supports Friends North is at the High Tea
held in the Traverse City Opera House.
We have many sponsors and donations
from individuals, and businesses for this
premier event. And they're all listed for
your viewing during the High Tea, which
by the way, will be held on Sunday, May
20, 2001. You should be aware also, that
I have it on good authority promising
this year's event to be the "best there
ever was."

Subject: GRS Presentation from
Dr. Schrang, a renound Gender
Reassignment Surgeon Date:

Cross in Valparasio. We believe this
would be a good time for your email
subscribers to review this surgery overview if they are interested.
Especially if they are located in Southwestern Michigan area.

Good day:
My name is Randi Cook and I
am the president of TONI {Transgender
Outreach of Northern Indiana.) We are
having one of the world's most noted
Gender Reassignment & Plastic Surgeons,
Dr. Eugene Schrang
(http://www.drschrang.com/) coming to
speak on June 23rd. at the American Red

We will start the meeting at
7:30pm (local time in Valparasio) and
the meeting will conclude when all the
questions are answered. We encourage
you to post this message.

American Red Cross
755 West Lincolnway
Valparasio, IN 46385
219-462-8543
I personally want to thank you
for your time and considering posting
this information to your members. In the
future, if your group has any such meetings like this one planed, please advise
TONI of the content and we will be glad
to reciprocate the posting! Thank you
again.
With regards,
Randi Cook

2001 FN Board Retreat (planning session)
followed by a wonderful potluck dinner.

Networking 45° North

Treasures
Report
By Richard Pozniak

For everyone's information,
we will try to give a more detailed
financial report in the newsletter. It
will not be the most current because of
deadlines needed to get it to press. I
will list money coming in and money
going out [deposits and checks to pay
bills]
JAN. & FEB. BUDGET as of JAN l st
WE HAD $2768.23
MONEY COMING IN:
$150.00 for 6 memberships
$137.00 for 5 memberships/donations
from sledding party

Page4

April/May 200 l

newsletter
$125.65 phone cards/sledding party

!Mark Your Calendar!
May 20th

stuff
$597.00 newsletter/Copyworld
$14.77 binders
$ 60.21 Ameritech 800#
$ 24. 79 AT&T phone bill
$ 40.00 postmaster/p.o.box rental
$1 ,799.00 from $3,055.23 leaves
$1,256.23 as of March 1st
Please note we still have to pay for
the newsletter you are reading and
other expenses leading up to the High
Tea, Sun. May 20th and Pride Day,
Sat. June 2nd. So please keep your
Newsletter subscription current and, of
course, all donations are greatly appreciated. Have a wonderful Spring and
come out for our great events!

Do you have a Silent Auction item
to donate to Friends North?

Your Treasurer, Richard Pozniak

$287.00 added to $2768.23 for a total
of$3,055.23
MONEY GOING OUT:
$102.00 postmaster/stamps
$428.25 newsletter/Copyworld
$125.00 postmaster/bulk mailing for
newsletter
$ 69.50 new e-mail address
$ 56.00 Ameritech 800#
$155.83 postmaster/bulk mailing for

ommun,iiJ Health

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~------------------------------------------------------,
Are You A Friends North Member?
Join Friends North or Renew your membership today! Just $15 single or $25 for a couple.
Name: _ _ __ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _____Amount Enclosed:_for Single0, Couple0plus_ Donation
Address:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _City:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _State:_Zip:_ _ __
E-Mail: _____________________0Please include me in Friends North e-mail updates.
Comments:- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0 Check this box if you are unable to contribute the full membership amount and would like to be considered for a reduced rate or
complimantary membership.
Mail this form and your check to Friends North Inc. ~ PO Box 562 ~ Traverse City, MI 49685-0562 ~ Attn: Memberships

Friends North 's membership list is strictly confidential, and mail from Friends North is sent in plain envelops.

Networking 45° North

ApriVMay 2001

Pages

Friends North of Michigan, Inc.
Minutes of the February &, 200 l Board Meeting
Held at Grace Episcopal Church Library,
341 Washington Street, Traverse City, Ml
Board Members Present: Tom Kincaid, Gwen Sanford, Toni Poole, Dianna Johnson, Craig Richard,
Richard Posniak
Others Present: Sheila McRae
Board Members Absent: Joe Kaubenaw, Bob
Buck, Al Kitzmiller
Meeting called to order at 6:36PM

•
•
•

•

•

•

Toni read the minutes.
•
- Motion by Tom to accept the minutes, seconded by
Richard, carried unanimously.
Richard gave a short Treasurer's report. He stated approximately $1200 in bank.
A discussion about the Treasurer's report being included in
the newsletter was held.
Motion by Dianna to include the Treasurer's report
in the newsletter, seconded by Toni, carried unanimously.
Discussion about the upcoming Chili Cookoff & Sledding
Party was held.
Richard organizing this event.
Richard is obtaining wood for fire.
At minimwn, Dianna, Gwen, Toni, and Richard will be
making chili.
There is left-over coffee and hot chocolate we can use.
Event to be held at Bahley's in Sutton's Bay at 1:00PM.
•
Discussion about the Bike tour was held.
Tom went to Bike Tour meeting. Reports that everything is "going well". Bike Tour budget should be ready
for submittal to board at March meeting.
•
Price for entry being raised by $5.00.
•
Scholarships will be available for those that can't pay.
25% of entrants could not pay last year.
Bike tour will not be supplying soda this year.
•
Glass bottle's will not be allowed this year due to substantial broken glass last year.
More portable restrooms will be made available this
•
year. A request was made to separate these by gender
this year. This will be communicated to Bike Tour committee by Tom.
•
Dianna talked about the High Tea.
Date changed to May 6th to accommodate Chef Charles.
Dianna expressed displeasure at not being given the
•
chance to be chair ofthis event. Much discussion en-

sued. ·
At recent High Tea meeting, discussion was held about:
■
Auction items.
■
Theme.
■
Decorations.
■
Food.
■
Entertainment
■
What went well last year.
■ Consensus to focus more on entertainment this year
versus food.
Next High Tea meeting scheduled for Feb. 1t,ili at
6:30PM.
Gwen mentioned she has obtained an auction item.
Gwen gave a newsletter report and asked for opinions on
changes.
Discussion about paper color was held - consensus was
reached that it was fine .
Title font was discussed. Changes will be made next
time.
Advertising was discussed.
Gwen suggested doing away with single/couple membership in favor of only a single membership. Discussion ensued.
Motion by Tom to leave membership as is, seconded
by Craig, carried unanimously.
Gwen talked about raising advertising rates. Gave current rates. Consensus was reached on leaving rates the

same.
Richard talked briefly about calendar. He suggested
special events be highlighted. Gwen agreed, and will
implement this in next newsletter.
Tom talked about contest for new Friends North logo.
Motion to hold a contest for Friends North logo, seconded by Toni, carried unanimously.
Toni talked about web site and new friendsnorth.org domain
name. Explained email functionality.
Tom mentioned that he and Richard now have a phone card
to use for return phone calls.
Toni talked about upcoming GLBT Summit held by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Grand Traverse to be
held March 18th from 2-4PM.
Sheila talked about the Concert Against Discrimination held
by the Traverse City Campaign Against Discrimination on
March 18th at 7:30PM.
Tom talked about board member absentees meeting after
meeting. We may need to recruit new board members to replace the absentee board members.
Richard left message with Andy about 501 C3 status. Andy
has not returned call.

Networking 45° North

Page6

April/May 2001

Friends North of
Michigan, Inc:.
Minutes of the l'ebruary 6,
2001 Board Meeting c:ont.
~

•

Dianna asked why we made donations to the Triangle Foun
elation. Much discussion ensued.
Richard talked about Pride.
Questioned if Joe would be chairing the event this year.
Tom will contact Joe to determine this.
Location was discussed. Tom mentioned past events
were held at the Robb farm. Tom will talk to Cindy to
see why this practice ended.

Moved to adjourn at 7:55PM by Richard, seconded by
Dianna, carried unanimously.

•

Toni Poole, Secretary
Friends North of Michigan, Inc.

hieads North of
Michigan, lac.
Minutes of the March 6,
2001 Board Meeting

Board Members Present: Tom Kincaid, Toni Poole,
Dianna Johnson, Craig Richard, Richard Posniak,
Bob Buck, Joe Kaubenaw
Others Present: Alan Collard, Mary B.
Board Members Absent: Al Kitzmiller, Gwen San-

ford
Meeting called to order at 6:37PM

•
•
•
•

Toni read the minutes .
- Motion by Joe to accept the minutes, seconded by Richard, carried unanimously.
Richard gave a short Treasurer's report. He stated $1256.23
in bank as of March 1st •
Tom initiated a discussion about postal fees and methods of
payment.
Dianna gave a report on the High Tea.
Date changed to May 20th to accommodate Laura Wilcox.
Decision was made to sell more tickets than seats in antici-

-

pation of no-shows.
Dianna reiterated the fact that more focus would be put towards talent this year than food.
Posters will be made and disseminated throughout town.
Tickets are almost ready and will be made available at
GLBT Summit March 18th •
Consideration of separate mailing to members to advertise
event is being made.
Next High Tea meeting is March 16th 6:00PM, at Border's.
Joe gave a report on Pride.
Joe made note of previous minutes mention of confusion
over discontinuation of Pride being held at Robb farm. He
explained that this was due to an ongoing desire of the
Robb's to move the location from there eventually. It was
never intended to be a permanent location. Joe also suggested that a TC Pride should actually be held in Traverse
City. All agreed.
Date for Pride is June 2™1, from 1 IAM-5PM.
Theme this year will be "Blending in Diversity".
Monica will emcee, with possibly Laura Wilcox as well.
T-Shirts and Hats will be available. An estimate for this
will be obtained from Jentees. Richard suggested single
color shirts to save money. Tom suggested a design that
could be sold all year.
Press releases will be mailed to GLBT publications instate
and via the Advocate.
Discussion of sponsors and donation amounts occurred. A
flat $80.00 sponsor amount was agreed upon.
Entertainment will be provided by Black Boots, Keyboard
& Plastic Duck, and the Fabulous Fakes.
Randy Nash of Sound Environments .will provide sound.
Food this year will be provided via a pig & turkey roast
organized and carried out by Les Crandall. Total cost of
this will be $140.
A meeting with the Commons board was reviewed.
►
Pride event has been approved.
► A "Cancer Survivor's Group" (CSG) that has an event
the same weekend and has already purchased tents
agreed to allow FN to utilize them.

~ Joe askedfor opinions on donating money to CSG to
offset their cost of $800 for the tents.
~ Bob suggested splitting the cost evenly.
~ Much discussion ensued. Several board members
thought CSG would be happy for any donation.
~ Motion by Craig to offer $200 to CSG for tents, seconded by Richard, Carried Unanimously.
►
Commons board needs a letter saying Friends North will
be responsible for half of the total cost of any damages
incurred to the Commons area for time CGS and FN are
holding their events. Toni will write that letter.
Joe talked to the sector police and notified them of the day/
Continued on page 8,

Networking 45° North

April May 200 l

Page7

Comine on May 20th

Announcements
00000000000

1? 4,? 4,? 4,? 4,? 4,? 4,? 4,? 4,? 4,? 'i?
0

Hey,hey,hey! ! !
Don't forget about the monthly
potluck dinner held the fourth
Thursday of every month. This
purely social get-together starts at
6:30 PM in the cafeteria of Grace
Episcopal Church.

0

?
❖
41
41

YO'

v
0

1?

•

The Annual Friends
North High Tea held at the
Traverse City
Opera House
beginning 1:00 PM. Like last
year, there will be entertainment, and a silent auction along
with plenty of wonderful cuisine.

i We need volunteers!
v
High Tea,
Pride Picnic,
'1J
iJ'
Bike Tour
.,9.,,
•w
w
This is definitely one of
❖
They Don't run i}
the best events of the year, so be
themselves.
it sure to mark your calendar.
iJ'
·L?
Give us a call to 'F
iJ'
i
help out.
❖
Side Tran: Activities:
❖
(231) 946-1804
❖
0

0

*
o

0

0

0

0

o

Have you had a recent addition to your family? Did you and
your partner just get hitched?
Would you like to announcement
an engagement but your town
paper won't publish it? Send us
your announcements at
huntgoddess@aol.com

Jenni Allen and Dana
Rosselit, after having been
together for over a year, have
decided to show their love and
devotion for one another in a Holy
Union in August. Give it up for
Jenni and Dana!!

0000000000.,.9

1? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? iJ'

G/L/Bff Book Group

Sunday Nite
Val's Movie Nite 7:30pm showing new releases and old favoites.

Now Forming at Borders
Read and discuss contemporary
and classic g/1/b/t fiction and
nonfiction. Book titles will be
discussed at this first, organizational meeting on April 22nd
at 6:30 p.m. and the fourth
Sunday of every month thereafter. All chosen books will be
made available with a 20% discount and free tea and coffee
will be served.

Monday Nite
Karaoke with the Princess. Yes
that's right Princess. Laura is
back! and we have her.
Tuesday Nite
Euchre nite, play with your
friends for cash!
Wednesday, Friday and
Saturday Nites
Come on down and enjoy great
dance music spun by your
favorite DJ's Mike and Fred.

T~ comfortobk gathering place for fm,uls und c:Ull(Jla.

Open? .Days

935 T 1666

' '"':~?..-

·.,,

.; ~ .·_~; ·l . -~, .,

"t.~~~ ~t

Open7 days
y 520 Franklin 'Y Traverse City, MI 49686 'Y

David Schulz & Jun Walker
212 Pad( Sueet, Bellaire, Michigatt 49615
Ero-S4S-0780 • (616) SlJ-6077

Networking 45° North

Friends North of
Michigan, Inc.
Minutes of the
February 6, 2001
Board Meeting
continued from pg. 6 •

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

time of Pride.
Joe anticipates greater attendance
this year.
Next Pride meeting will be held
March 11, 5:00PM at Joe' s house.
Dianna asked about vendors. Joe
hopes to have more booths and
vendors than last year.
Tom mentioned insurance needs.
FN policy will be renewed in April
at a cost of$400.
Tom talked about bike tour. Planning is "progressing well".
Alan volunteered to offer massage
service at event.
Tom asked Dianna about newsletter.
Deadline for submissions is March
15 th .
Alan asked about his ad change.
Tom agreed to make sure it gets in.
Toni asked about PFLAG ad.
Dianna said that no info was received.
Tom talked about last Thursday potlucks. A total of 14 people showed
up for last month's event.
Tom asked everyone to think of new
people that may be willing to be
board members and/or volunteers.
Tom brought up GLBT Summit on
March 18th .
Dianna suggested as many board
members as possible should
attend.
Richard suggested bringing High
Tea flier.
Tom agreed to give presentation of
FN.
Tom suggested Alan Collard be
made a board member.
Motion by Tom to appoint Alan
Collard to the FN Board, seconded by Richard, carried
unanimously.
Tom obtained many "We Are Traverse City" bumper stickers from
Hate Free TC. Tom asked Richard
to write check for $40 to HFTC as a

Page8

April/May 200 I

•

donation for stickers. Richard agreed.
Richard suggested we send Thank
You notes to those that donate to FN.
Dianna volunteered to design and print
these out. Tom will sign & send as
needed.

Moved to adjourn at 7:40PM by Toni,
seconded by Alan, carried unanimously.

tllV/ AIDS Wellness Networks
Grand Traverse Area Inc.
Invites Volunteers
Old&New
ToOur

Toni Poole, Secretary
Friends North of Michigan, Inc.

Volunteer Open House

Hundreds .......... .
Continued from page 1
believe that discrimination is wrong -- that
we should not single out one group of people and forever deny them basic protection."
Themes of home and diversity
wove throughout the evening. A community children's chorus sang "A world of
difference," whose lyrics include, "It takes
a world of difference to make a difference
in the world."
Proceeds from the evening will
be used to educate voters about the proposed anti-gay City Charter amendment
that will be on the November ballot.
"We know that this will be an
expensive campaign," said Carol Anderson
of Traverse City, a spokeswoman for the
Campaign Against Discrimination. She
said the organization from downstate that
has spearheaded the anti-gay initiative here
and in other towns has provided money
and support for other campaigns.
For more information, visit the
TC Campaign Against Discrimination
online at www.tccad2000.org or call
883-1058.

Wedneadag, Mag 2-d

6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
At our NEW office location at

516 P.. 8•1a Street
TraveneCitlJ
We're rea.clivating old volunteers
and seeking new volunteers.
Come see our new office and learn
about volunteer opportunities.

Refreshments will be served.

:Wellness
NctworRs
ORANO TRAVERS£ AREA. INC.

Pli011e Brooke 929....Jlt1 or Joe 2fil-274J
for furtlaer hdorm4tiOD.

Char P. Kirchner,

CPA,. MSA

Tax Returns - Confidential & Discreet
Single ToxpaS,ll!J"S - Use S,'OVr /ilfng stolus to ~ r aduanauge
Un-Married Couples - Toke oduuntage of atl pou,- options
ApPC>inlmenls in WilrJomsburg or Tn2wne Oty

P.O. Box 1040
Wilflomlhurg, Ml 49690-1040

(6l6) 267-5818

Networking 45° North

April/May 200 l

Page9

Sledding Party
and Chili
Cook-Off

Planned
Parenthood
Provides
Respectful
Environment

The sledding party at
Bahle's Warming Hut in Suttons Bay
was well attended and a great informal community event. Over 50
people enjoyed the beautiful sunny
day and there was plenty of snow for
sledding and snow shoeing. We built
a big fire in the fireplace which felt
cozy after being out in the snow.
We tasted six different chili
contenders for the "Chili Crown" and
Dianna Johnson won by greatest
applause with her HOT MAMA
chili. Every spicy combination came
out of her pantry to create that one!
What a perfect day and wonderful
time. Plenty of dogs enjoyed the
party, as well.

Many gays and lesbians
might not think that an agency called
"Planned Parenthood" would be a
place where they could or would want
to receive health care but, in fact,
Planned Parenthood Northern Michigan (PPNM) provides a wide range of
health care services to both women
and men in an atmosphere that is open,
respectful, non-judgmental, and totally
confidential.

Photos of the Party

\

r.

The coveted

Chili Crown

Lesbians coming to Planned
Parenthood for annual gynecological
and breast exams will find that PPNM
doesn't make assumptions about their
sexual orientation. The history form,
which includes questions about sexual
behavior to assess risk and the need
for services, asks "Do you have sex
with men, women, or both?" The
female nurse practitioners who provide the exams and counseling have
the same attitude of openness and
respect. In addition to annual exams,
PPNM provides testing and treatment
for sexually transmitted diseases and
HIV counseling and testing. Bisexual
women can also take advantage of
birth control and pregnancy testing
and counseling.
Gay men who visit PPNM for
testing and treatment for sexually
transmitted diseases, HIV testing, or to
Cont. pg 12, see Planned Parenthood

ll112..ll tv1. DAy Db.6IC,N
Q.J6 TOtv1 INTb..RIOR Db..61<'.;N

61Ul~6t.fL~
231-883--6422
P.O. BOX 6422
n;2.AV'b.R.6b. QTY. Ml 49696

~-MAL IUl<.llDAYD6N®AOLCOM

Page IO

Networking 45° North

April/May 200 I

Proudly
Unashamed

flipped through in my head.
The first could be that I'm
proud to be who I am - a transsexual
hwnan being - and now I want everyone
to know it. Billboards and airplane banners announcing the fact would be pretty
costly for me, so I opted for the easy and
cheap method. Sounds reasonable,
right? Well, no. I certainly work hard to
be proud of who I am, but proud to be
transsexual? Nab. After all, it's not like
I had to do anything to make it happen.
It just did. In addition, I don't relish advertising that fact, quite the opposite. I
certainly don't hide, but really, I just
want to blend in and go about life on my
own merry way. The sticker actually
acts contrary to that goal, truth be
known.
Next in the series of mental
flash card images came the possibility
that I want
to, in my
l'\l'l1 il'\\lll cill' l,ll,tlh
own little
llllL lU!,tlh llJ1l'll. ,111d
small way,
tntalh ,·lllllftl1Lii1k
jab back at
,, ith "11(), llll a1\· d'- a
those who
oppose
the
J1l'l'>\ll1. I hl·li,·\l' thi!t
stickers,Ill itt,-hitt\ ll'l'll\ till\
those
lllOhl'J ,ll. ,._l7,lllll' ,'1\'t'Jh
mean peoi11tu \,H1r hl·i11!.l 1·n1111
ple-but
ill\ll ill'-'. l Ill· ,llll i - '-'.,1\
that's
pretty
ril l 'l ,1ri C
silly. Silly
and even sillier because I'll probably
never know ifl obtain my objective.
Sure, Joe and Jane Homophobe might be
tailgating me and become irritated as
they notice the sticker, but short of a little road, how would I ever know?
Continuing on through my repertoire of justifiable reasons, I came
upon the "being part of the crowd" op-

By Toni Poole
I finally did. It took me several weeks of thought, and a further
two weeks of"getting around to it",
but I finally plucked up the courage to
do it. What task, you might inquire,
did I find so terribly difficult to proceed with? Ask my boss for a raise?
No. Bungee jump off an unstable platform perched a hundred feet high on a
breezy spring day? Nope. Dive into a
frigid Lake Michigan in the middle of
a stormy February? Ha, not a chance.
What I found so difficult to
do was to affix one of those cute little
"We Are Traverse City'' rainbow
stickers to the rear window ofmy car.
I created a whole article in this newsletter around them last month, and I
thought the least I could do was have
the integrity to ''walk the walk".
That's it. Clean the window, line it
up, and press hard against the glass.
The task itself took all of about two
minutes.
But a day later, a question
came blaring at me from the depths of
my mystical and sometimes complicated mind. Why? What's the point?
Exactly what did I hope to gain from
it? After all, I'm not a bumper sticker
kind of person. Indeed, I have never
placed a bumper sticker of any kind on
any vehicle I've ever owned. Why
now? The question has plagued me
ever since that seemingly tumultuous
two minutes. There are a number of
possible and plausible answers I've

tion. For a moment, I thought I'd struck
gold. I told myself"That's gotta be it!"
I went through the mental reasoning
gymnastics-I consider myself so divergent from others I interact with and here
was my chance to be part of the crowd.
My crowd. Partaking in unity. But alas,
my excitement waned when a major case
of cognitive dissonance set in and I realized I really truly already feel included
in fray of people I respect. A bumper
sticker isn't about to change or enhance
that. "Darn", said I.
And then it hit me like a proverbial ton of bricks. It's rooted in both
being proud, and being ashamed. OK, I
know what you're thinking. I'm reverting to my first reason after all. I want to
show everyone that I'm proud to be me.
But that's not it!
Our society teaches us, through
so-called "moral" lessons, to be ashamed
of ourselves if we don't tow the straight
and narrow line (pun intended). If we've
strayed significantly to the outer edges
of the bell curve, we've failed the
course. As gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgendered people hear day after day,
especially lately here in Traverse City
with the hate mongers in full combat
mode, that we are "sinful", "deviant",
"anti-family'', and other blasphemies.
We hear it from people we don't know,
acquaintances we barely know, and
sometimes even from those who are
closest to us. It begins to wear on us.
How many GLBT people do you know
that bristle any time a remotely anti-gay
sentiment is put forth? I know my spine
tightens when I hear a stupid anti-gay
statement, joke, etc.
Thus, even if you are totally
out, totally open, and totally comfortable
Continued on page 14

DOUGLAS ASHWORTH
REALTQR9

COLOW<?LL
BAN~eRU

SCHMIDT
REALTORS•

Anc1ntW

Accr8dQd

(231) 775-1737 BUSINESS
(231) 775-1798 FAX
(231 I 775-1950 RESIDENCE
(231) 920-6467 CB.1.

L

Mltclleft

Business Accountart

2721 ~NYSIDE OR
CAOII..LAC, Ml 48801

EadlOllceta...,...,.,_AndW

lrm!III Taic Ptlpalatlan arid flllnnng
SmlllBlllillM~

AllcollllilO

Pliant 1231) 947-1-412
Fax 1231)

w-tm

E-NII brllrllleeeal.oam

fRH

~2001

RTH

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Wind.fire

8

FN Board Mtg.
6:30PM@
Grace

10

9

LAMBDAAA
6:30 PM @ Grace

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM @ Grace

Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

11

12

13

LAMBDAAA
6:30 PM @ Grace

14
LAMBDAAA
11:00 am@ Grace

Wind.fire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

15

16

17

18LAMBDAAA

19

20

6;JO I!M @ Gm~

22

23

24

25
LAMBDAAA
6:30 PM @ Grace

Wind.fire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

29

30
Windfire

LAMBDAAA
11 :00 am @ Grace

PFLAG 7:00 PM
@IhirdLevd
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

Wind.fire

21

26
Potluck Social
6:30PM@
Grace

27

28
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@ Grace

~ 2001
.Sun • • ..

Mon - . • .; Tue

-(0) TH

Tllf41tDNC,l'#ft'>~ liJq'l1 . ." ' f - ~

. • Wed
'··

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4

5

LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Grace

.

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@ Grace

Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P
9

10

11

12
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

15

17
16LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Gme
PFLAG 7:00 PM
@ Ihird Le:rd
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

18

19
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

22

23
LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Grace

25

26
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

8

LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Gm;e
Windfire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P
13

14
Windfire

20

21

High Tea@
City Opera
House 1 PM
27 •

Windfire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

28

29

30
LAMBDAAA
6:30fM@Gme

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Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

24

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6:J0PM@
Grace
31

'1,i•.

jww 2001
1

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LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

PRIDE FEST
llam-5pm

3

5

4

6

7

8

LAMBDAAA
Windfire

10

FN Board Mtg.
6:30PM '@
Grace

12

11

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

6:30 PM @ Grace
Friends U .P. NorJi
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

13

14

15

LAMBDAAA

16
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM @ Grace

6:30 PM @ Grace

Windfire

9

Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

17

19

18

2OLAMBDA AA

21

22

6:30 PM @ Grace

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

PFLAG7:00PM

Windfire

23

@ Third Level

Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

24

25

26

27
LAMBDAAA

Windfire

6:30 PM @ Grace
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

28

29

, 30 ,

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LAMBDA AA;;,
11 :00 AM @ Grace

$4 2001
Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Windfire

8

FN Board Mtg.
6:J0PM@
Grace

10

9

LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Grace

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM @ Grace

Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

11

12

13

LAMBDAAA

14
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

6:30 fM @ Gr.Ke
Windfire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

15

16

17
Windfire

22

23

24

18LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Grace
PFLAG7:00PM
@ Ihird Levd
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

19

25

26 -

20

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM @ Grace

27

LAMBDAAA

6:30 fM @ Gr.Ke
Windfire
• Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

29

30

31 .

FN Bike Tour
Windfire

21

28
FNBikeTour

FN Bike Tour
Fri, Sat, Sun

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@ Grace

Property of the Center

Real Estate for the Real World ...

Thinking of Selling
or

Buying?
Now is the time!
Linda Zajac and Tom Elliott
Friend and Sponsors of
"Friends North"
Century 21 Pearson-Cook
241 East State Street
Traverse City, MI 49684
Office:
Tom:
Linda:
E-mail:

(231) 941-0444
(231) 883-4866
(231) 938-3267
elliottzajac@nmre.net

••••• •
•
•
•• :• • ••
:
••• •
Friends North of Michigan, Inc.
•.
• •. . are having their annual
.. , .
••
•• • •• • •
•
•
•
••
•
•
•
• • • • • • •• • • • • •

.

...

..... ...

... ... ..

•

• • • •. • • • • • • • • •.•.•, •• •.• • •

••••••

......

• • •• •

A.

~~~-~
~

I

j· -

HIGH TEA ·
Sunday, MAY 20TH at 1:00 p.m.

attheOPERA HQUSEinT.C.

There will be a Silent and Live Auction
plus Great Food and Entertainment
and special guest PRINCESS LAURA

Tickets $15.00
Tickets may be purchased at the Bookie Joint and Side Traxx
or from F.N. Board members or by calling 938-9865

ApriVMay 2001

Networking 45° North

Concert Against
Discrimination a
Success!
By Toni Poole
There was a very exciting and
entertaining event in Traverse City on
Sunday, March 18th . Traverse City
Campaign Against Discrimination
(TCCAD), a grass roots committee
formed to defeat a charter amendment
put forth by a downstate anti-gay group,
held the Concert Against Discrimination
in the sold out Milliken Auditorium.
As part ofTCCAD, I had the
inside privy on the work that went into
the event. Being a regular Sunday attendee at the
I l·ould prnhahl,
Unitarian
\\ 1itL' t \\ ( 1 pd1 c1~raph-, Universalist
I'm 1..·, 1..·n ;1..:1 t h<11
(UU) Congregation in
l\lPk tl11..· -,t:l,:!-L'. hut
Traverse City,
thl'l.l' \\lTL' ()\ l'I ' 1()
I know of the
1K·1-i'orn11..·r-,'
very special
and unique
talent lent to the artistic production by
Kevin Tarsa, UU's music director. Additionally, the task-oriented Phil Hoffman, who gave his time in the position
of production manager, kept things running in an utterly smooth manner. With
marquee names like John Wunsch, Jeff
Hass, and Where's Norman?, there was
no doubt that the event would hold an
evening of surprises, high talent, and
artistic splendor.
I was still blown away. The
evening started with a percussion prelude. Several performers around the

Page 11

auditorium beat on drums and various
noise making devices randomly dispersed throughout the crowd prior to admittance, which encouraged audience
participation. The magic of the drums
was enhanced by an ensemble spread
throughout the audience, making it just
one of several unique experiences of the
evening.
I could probably write two
paragraphs for every act that took the
stage, but there were over 90 performers!
Some highlights for me included a stunning display of guitar mastery by the
award winning local artist John Wunsch.
His "Tango Dorissimo" contained both
an exciting Latin flavor and a rhythmic
flair that found me aching for more at
the last note.
The UU Vocal Ensemble gave
an outstanding performance as usual.
Two UU regulars, Bob Hicks on trumpet
and Shelley Bums with her beautiful
voice interspersed their talents throughout the program. In the middle of the
second act, Mary Anne Rivers gave an
incredible piece with six strings and
voice on her song "We Are Love". As if
that wasn't good enough, Jeff Haas and
Jack Dryden were incredible on piano
and bass respectively with
"Awakenings". A Gaelic offering was
served by The Gael Tones with the wonderful Karen McCarthy and Jackie
Richer awing us with Irish dance. A folk
rock number, "Pete's Song", by local
trio Where's Norman?, also left me
yearning for more. Other notables included the superb Children's Chorus on
two or three different songs, the awesome Karen Kay with her "Out The
Window'', the CAD impromptu orchestra, and of course who doesn't like Keyboard and Plastic Duck's "Spaghetti"?

In between songs, various performers
moved us with heart felt poems, stories,
and spoken word pieces.
I'm sure I must have missed
several acts, but it's hard to remember
them all, especially with my senses overwhelmed while sitting and taking it all
in. Suffice it to say that the total talent
on the Milliken Auditorium stage that
night eclipsed the best professional concerts I have ever attended.
After the concert, I sat at the
TCCAD information table and person
after person told me how much they
liked the concert, many proclaiming they
were moved to tears. I've been a part of
TCCAD for about a year now, and I can
honestly say that I have never been more
proud of our accomplishments than I
was for the Concert Against Discrimination. I'm sure there are bigger and better
,things to come, especially in November,
but this musical extravaganza was definitely the first major high point of the
year for me. Talk after the concert
among the volunteers was peppered with
comments of the "next time", with
thoughts of a fall date. I'm excited already!
TCCAD may be a grass roots
campaign, but the sheer organization and
style of this concert showed me that as a
community we can come together and be
a force to be reckoned with - and one
that the big anti-gay organizations from
downstate and out-of-state should take
seriously. More importantly, it shows
me that the talent and intelligence in this
community is significantly bigger and
more prestigious than a few anti-gay nay
Sayers stirring up trouble. If you'd like
to contribute in any way to the campaign's efforts, please call 883-1058.

Tom Elliott ~.,a

~21.

Linda Zajac ••• • '

Pearson-Cook
241 E. Stale St.
T •averse C11y, Michigan 49686
Business (800) 424:9618
Ce I To:T (23 ~) 893--1866
Residence L1ri":1a ,231: 938-3267

fax i2~ 1) 941-7125

~,_/i..ify

"4'

&,uu wilh ..L,utalun n

Assoc ate Broker REALTOR

.l}ldlolli?ru.n
(616) 947-8908
Todd A. lldlllln

326 E. ~,ont Street • Trave~e City, Ml 49684

Networking 45° North

Reviews of Our Supporting
Advertisers
In Touch Chiropractic
and Healing Center
by Gwen Sanford
I have seen Dr. Suzette Corbit's ad in our newsletter for a long
time now and have read some articles
written by her in The Healing Garden
newspaper. So when I hurt my back a
few weeks ago, and naturally wanted to
turn to someone in the community for
help, my first choice was Dr. Corbit.
So I called and made an appointment.
Although not sure that she would be the
right chiropractor, I felt the only way to
find out was to meet her.
I place great value on first impressions when meeting someone new.
I try to find that inner connection where
our energy fields merge. Do they feel
synchronous, or is there an uncomfortable feeling? This may seem a rather
odd way to determine whether or not
you like a doctor, but I have done it the
other way for most ofmy life. Now it's
time for my inner self to have a say in
my decision-making. So far it hasn't
failed me.
When I arrived for my appointment, I found her office to be
modest, but certainly adequate. Dr.
Corbit was in the adjoining room with a
patient, but soon came out to greet me
and have me start filling out the medical survey. I dido 't seem to feel anything uncomfortable so far, so went to
work on the forms.
She soon finished with her patient, and turned her attention to me. I
liked her straightforward and friendly
approach immediately. After the forms
were completed, she spent some time
describing Chiropractic Care, and how
and why it works. Then she started a
physical assessment of my skeleton.

Page 12

April/May 200 I

This is the point where l was sure she
was indeed a person that I could relate
to. Touch is a biggie with me. I believe
you can tell a lot about a person by their
touch and the energy that surrounds
them.
I have been going back to Dr.
Corbit on several occasions since the
first meeting, and my lower back feels
trouble free. Not only my back, but also
my neck is much better, and I don't need
the wrist splint to keep my hand from
going numb when I sleep. And it is especially wonderful to leave her office
feeling like it is no effort at all to stand
straight.
Perhaps I should add that if you
have had "not so good" experiences with
other chiropractic doctors, it is my opinion that Dr. Corbit's Chiropractic Care is
light years ahead of my prior experience.
She explains what she is doing and is
happy to answer the "dwnb questions"
that I come up with. And, she doesn't
hurt me - a nice thing. Would I recommend her to anyone else? Absolutely!
Dr. Corbit's office is located on
Veterans Drive just north of South Airport Road in the Town Hall Office
Building. It is on the top floor, so you
may want to drive around to the rear of
the building.

Planned
Parenthood
Continued from page 9
purchase condoms will experience the
same atmosphere of openness. PPNM
staff do not make assumptions about a
client's sexual orientation or behavior.
PPNM is designated by the
Michigan Department of Community
Health as a HIV counseling and testing
site. Testing can be done on an anonymous or confidential basis.
In addition to the clinical
services, PPNM offers a wealth of information -- books, videos, pamphlets -- on a
wide variety of sexual health topics. Supplies including both male and female condoms, Slippery Stuff, and Hot Lixx are
for sale at PPNM -- at terrific prices!
PPNM has three health centers
located in Marquette, Petoskey, and Traverse City. The health centers are open
Monday through Friday including evening hours twice a week. The Petoskey
health center is also open on Saturday
mornings once a month. Fees for services
are very reasonable, and teens can receive
services free. For information or to
make an appointment, call 929-1844
(Traverse City) or 347-9692 (Petoskey)
or 225-5074 (Marquette).

[I
Volunteers getting the newsletter
ready for mailing at Copy World.

Networking 45° North

April/May 200 I

Page 13

An excerpt from the soon to be published
The Big Book of Great Lake Folklore
As told by Appaloosa
Edited by Craig Philip Richard
I first met Appaloosa years
ago, while I was still studying Anthropology at Olivet College. I drove to
Interlochen to visit my parents for a
long weekend. It was an unusually hot
August day. I had decided to hike, in
my typical rustic fashion, from Interlochen to Acme, with the intention of
camping somewhere in the state forest
along Four Mile Road just outside of
Traverse City.
My canteen was almost
empty. It was about nine p.m. The
sun had just dipped below the horizon,
but was still almost ninety degrees.
There was no noticeable breeze. I had
walked most of the day wearing only
my hiking shorts and boots. Yet, I had
been unable to get relief from the oppressive heat.
As I rounded a bend in the
trail there was, standing right in front
of me, a young man the likes of which
I had never seen. He was about 5'10"
tall wearing only a buckskin breechcloth and moccasins. He also wore a
small collar of white plumes around

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his neck. His ears each had about five
holes in them and were fringed with
beads. His nose was pierced with an
ornamented stone that dangled over
his upper lip.
Appaloosa's deep, olive skin
glowed in the light of the evening sun.
His build was slight, as ifhe was not
well nourished, but he was well muscled. His legs resembled those of a
marathon runner and had no body hair

whatsoever. He wore his hair in typical
Ottawa fashion: head shaved except for
a strip in the middle, all combed up toward the forehead, rather short, and
sticking straight up. He looked to be
about twenty years old.
A large knife was resting in his
belt. I was immediately struck by its
composition. I had only seen such
things at the Museum of the American
Indian at Michigan State University.
The blade was of hammered copper.
The bone handle I immediately recognized as being of the late Dahagan family. Such a thing had not been locally
produced in over eight hundred years.
But the blade showed no signs of corrosion. It appeared to have been hammered the day before!
Appaloosa's smile was sincere.
His teeth were large and straight, white
and shiny as wet marble. As he introduced himself, his eyes began to investigate me. I had the feeling that he was
taking more than a curious interest in my
anatomical features. I had the uneasy
feeling that he knew exactly what I
looked like underneath my clothing.
Appaloosa took particular interest in the hair on my chest and legs.
When he lifted a finger to touch my
chest I pretended not to be alarmed. He
began to run his finger very slowly
across my skin. He looked me straight in
the eye and asked me ifl had a wife, his
face almost touching mine. When I told
him that I did not he immediately asked
me how many husbands I had. His English was perfect but I couldn't make
sense of the question. I felt as if I were
going to faint. The ground on which we
stood began to slowly spin. Then it
seemed as though I were viewing the
scene from far, far above. From that
height I could barely make out the spot
on which we stood. I recognized the features of the Lake Michigan basin. I followed the course of the Boardman River
as it meandered down the hills from the
south toward the Great Lake. But

Boardman Lake was not there! In its
place were tall beech and slippery elm
trees, numerous small groups of sleek
deer, and rolling grasses.
I realized that Traverse City
was no longer there. There wasn't a
building in sight. No cars, no airport, no
roads. The entire area was virgin forest!
Here and there wisps of smoke from
small fires slipped up through the pines
into the silent, silvery-blue sky.
Again I heard the young man's
voice. A wave of nausea passed over
me.
I was once again staring into Appaloosa's face. He was telling me about
something from his boyhood.
As he spoke, a large turkey vulture soared into view over the hill to the
southwest. Appaloosa rotated his head
to follow the flight of the large scavenger while the sun glanced across the surface of his left eye. For about a half second I thought I saw some kind of tiny
digital readout in the iris. There appeared
to be four quadrants in the readout. The
numerals were not Arabic. Their appearance did not resemble any system with
Continued page 13, see Appaloosa

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the sky. The air had finally begun to
cool. I still did not feel well. I rubbed
my face in my hands. When I looked up
again Appaloosa was gone. I called out
his name repeatedly, but to no avail. I
would not see him again for months. All
of our subsequent meetings would have
the same air of ephemeral and spontaneous mystery to them.

Appaloosa
Cont. from page 13
which I was familiar, although there were
some stylistic affinities with Old Kingdom , Egyptian glyphs. The numbers
were in constant, rapid motion.
To this day I have no explanation for the strange appearance of his left
eye. It may simply have been the heat of
the day and my exhaustion playing tricks
on my mind. I asked Appaloosa more
than once about it. He seemed not to
even understand the question. I soon
gave up the inquiry.
Appaloosa told me that he had
been following me for the last three
hours.
From the start, he seemed especially eager
to share with me the details of his village
and clan. He wanted me to meet his
friends. I immediately learned of some of
his clan's myths, games, songs, and
dances. And he told me the story of how
the stars were created, an account full of
improbable proportions and grand homosexual imagery.
By nine forty-five p.m. the light
of the sun had all but disappeared from

Proudly
Unashamed
Cont. from page 10
with who you are as a person; I believe
that an itty-bitty teeny tiny morsel of
shame creeps into your being from hearing the anti-gay rhetoric. Most of us
simply verbalize that we aren't ashamed,
and many times that regurgitates the
morsel from your soul. Often it isn't
effective, or at least, not always (for me
personally). So, I took the battle a step
further - I fought back visually with a

Get In Touch
.with your Mind,,
Body & Spirit
• Gentle Chiropractic

• Massage Therapy

Dr. Suzette Corbit, D.C.

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Res: 231-922-9272 Office: 23! -9;,3-9388
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Carolyn R. Delo
Sale:i & Leasing
Phone 231/946-.5540 • Fa, 23 lf9.16-0258
UOl S. Garfield Road • Tm a St: Citv . \ fl .t%Rfi
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rectangular piece of self-adhesive,
mass-produced art - the bumper
sticker.
The point for me isn't to
tell everyone how proud I am to be
part of the GLBT continuum. I finally realized for me that the real objective is to say I'm not ashamed of
that fact, which I think can be different. While I see no reason to be
proud I' m transsexual, I've worked
very hard to gain the honesty and
self-respect that allowed me to accept
it. I am proud of that. The bumper
sticker acts as an antidote and reinforcement against the influx of shame
others try to inject into me. It's a
way to quietly say, "Go away, your
services aren't needed" to the homo/
transphobic crowd attempting to burn
their poisonous brand of morality
into our brains.

verse
tors

In Touch ChiroP-ractic

. Hn ubu

Page 14

April/May 200 I

Networking 45° North

T r a v e

rs e

C i t y,

M l

Par ti~ ipatin g Prov i d er wi t h Blu e C r oss / B lu e S hi eld

Weekdays
8:00 am - Midnight
SAT • 10 :0 0 - 5:00
SUN• 12:00 - 5;00

Networking 45° North

Letter Page

Friends My name is Linda Dear. I just
moved up from downstate and found a
great house to rent in a great location
and would like a roommate or two. I'm
female, 35, professional, and lesbian.
Would prefer to live with my own kindgay / lesbian, etc. I am not looking for a
relationship this is strictly a roommate
quest. Thought I'd go this route before
placing an ad in local papers. House
particulars: 116 N. Oak, Traverse City,
cross-streets: Oak & Front, 5 bedrooms:
4 upstairs, I downstairs ( 2 have small
view of bay), 2 full baths: upper/ lower,
Lots of room - house privileges, Full
Basement - a lot of storage space, Front
porch, Enclosed back porch - lots of
windows, 3 blocks from Bay / 2 blocks
from downtown.
I am the responsible lease
holder. My rent is $1400 + utilities. So,
that's $700 + utilities with {I) other person, or $470 + utilities with (2) additional people. My lease allows me to
sublease, however all tenants must be
nonsmokers and no additional pets. The
landlords made allowance for my small
dog but no additional animals. Just a
note, the landlords are lawyers whose
office is next door so any deviations
from my lease are not an option.
This is a great alternative to the
small and very expensive housing options for downtown. It truly is a great
house!
Thank you for any help you
may provide.
You may reach at all times on
my cell phone: 231-883-9175
Sincerely,
Linda Dear

t,.pril/May 200 I

FAQ's
Taken from the
Traverse City
Campaign Against
Discrimination
Web Site
www.tccad2000.org

Q: Why is the downstate group working to amend the city charter?
A: The downstate group is virulently
anti-gay. Because the City Commission's resolution says we should oppose
discrimination based on sexual orientation -- a characteristic that EVERY human possesses -- the group somehow
sees this as applying only to homosexual
people. They are trying to circumvent
our legislative process, since the City
Commission --the people elected to represent us -- overwhelmingly opposes discrimination.
Q: Who is circulating the petition?
A: An ultra-conservative, anti-gay group
based in Tupelo Mississippi is behind
the petition drive. Using misleading and
inflammatory language, this same group
has worked to repeal nondiscrimination
ordinances elsewhere in Michigan. They
also continue to work in other cities to
deny gay, lesbian and bisexual people
protections from discrimination.
Q: What does the petition seek?
A: The petition seeks a permanent
amendment to our City Charter (the
city's version ofa U.S. Constitution).
The amendment would make it impossible for the city to ever pass a law or policy that would protect a gay, lesbian or
bisexual person from discrimination.
Q: Aren't gay people already protected from discrimination?
A: No. There are no laws in Traverse
City -or at the state or federal level- that
prevent a person from being fired, or
denied housing or public accommodation because of their actual or perceived
sexual orientation.
Q: Then what did the City Commission's non-discrimination resolution
do?
A: The resolution passed in February did
not change any laws or policies. The

Page 15

resolution was a statement of principle
that the City Commission opposes discrimination. The resolution is not binding in any way.
Q: Isn't the resolution just a first step
toward a law?
A: Two members of the City Commission who supported the nondiscrimination resolution have said that they are not
sure whether they would support a law
banning discrimination based on sexual
orientation. No such law is proposed.
Any new legislation would require a majority vote of the City Commission.
Q: What can I do?
A: You can educate your friends and
neighbors about this assault on Traverse
City. You can help them understand that
the innocent-sounding language these
people will put on the ballot will actually
make it LEGAL to discriminate against
. gay, lesbian and bisexual people. Your
can get active and volunteer your energy
and donate!
Q: What if this conflicts with my religious beliefs?
A: There are no policies or laws either in
place or proposed that would force a person to behave in a way contrary to their
religious beliefs. The downstate group
will use a variety of scare tactics to have
you think otherwise. Mainstream people
of faith --people of all religions -- believe that all humans should be treated
equally, and therefore oppose the extremist measures being proposed by the
anti-gay group.
Q: Is there discrimination in Traverse
City now?
A: Yes! The city Commission and Human Rights Commission have had numerous gay people testify before them
regarding acts of discrimination in Traverse City.
Q: What happens if this ballot measure passes?
A: The charter amendment would handcuff our elected officials, preventing
them from ever passing any iaws or policies that could protect gay, lesbian and
bisexual people from discrimination. For
example, it would be possible for the
city to exclude people from public housing based merely on their sexual orientation. Worse, it would portray Traverse
City as an uninviting, unwelcoming city.
That would be bad for everyone who
lives and works here.

Networking 45° North

Page 16

April/May 2001

On The Headboard and Beside The Bed
By Dianna Johnson
Several of the titles that I
have read over the past couple of
months are definitely gay and lesbian
fiction, some have been selected as
Lambda Award finalists (winners will
be announced in June, check out the
Lambda Book Report for other titles),
but I am finding more and more that
the Gay and Lesbian Literature section
is shrinking because titles are being
mainstreamed and put beside Charles
Dickens and Ernest Hemingway. I
read Tea by Stacey D' erasmo because
it is a finalist, but before the list came
out it slipped through my fingers. I
didn't know a thing about it. It was
shelved in the literature section, not
the ''Lesbian lit'' section which I keep
an eye on. Wow! A lesbian author is
shelved in the regular lit section!
Christopher Rice, a flaming gay man,
is shelved in literature, but anyone
who reads his books says, "Oh yea,
there are some pretty blatant homoerotic scenes in his book, aren't
there?" Armistead Maupin's Tales of
the City is also shelved in lit. Maybe
it's just that Borders' is starting to integrate these titles, but maybe there's
hope that gays and lesbians are on the
edge of being considered regular, ordinary, mainstream people, too.
A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice took my preconceived notions completely off guard I expected
fluff. The son of a well-established
author writes this book and I had wonderings of nepotism. I knew that Ms.
Anne Rice surely got her son's book
published by pulling some strings in
that mysterious publishing underworld. Coat tails came to mind.
George W. came to mind.
I should not judge. After
about the second page, all of those
thoughts went right out the window.
This kid is a good writer. He knows a
lot for 18 years old and his ability to
put you in the middle of the story is
masterful. There are four main characters-Brandon, Meredith, Greg, and
Stephen-high school kids who grew
up together and they are trying to find
their place in the world. How do foot-

ball jocks (Brandon and Greg) shake
memories, homophobia, and same sex attraction (and action)? Of course, they target the guy that they believe was responsible, the "out" fag in school (Stephen). This
is the core to a story that is dark and haunting and I couldn't put it down. Rice is
very skillful in giving the reader pieces of
the puzzle without the box top so you
really don't know what it looks like and
the only way to find out is to keep reading.
Several questions aren't answered until the
last few pages and it is exceptional to the
very end.
Beyond the Pale by Elana Dykewomon is an extremely well written, wellresearched story about Russian Jews in the
late 1800's who live in the Jewish settlement called ''the Pale". It is very rich in
history as well as anti-Semitism. There is
an enormous wealth of information about
how the Christians persecuted, controlled,
harassed, and condescended to their Jewish
brothers and sisters as a means of creating
themselves as more important. Life in the
Pale was difficult and dangerous and the
idea of getting to the United States where
"streets were paved with gold" was their
life goal. The main characters, Rose and
Chava, become aware of women loving
each other, transgenderism, and organizing
unions all at the same time, after coming to
America.
Some things that occurred to me
while reading this remarkable tale-how
awful must it have been to immigrate to
this country, even though there were so
many promises. Think about transporting
across the ocean with many others without
any form of fresh food or clean water, not
to mention overflowing toilets and seasickness. Where does all that vomit go? Then
once you get to Ellis Island and get
"accepted" and have your name changed to
something less ethnic, where do you go?
You take another boat to the lower tip of
Manhattan with a suitcase and a glazed
look in your eye? This is definitely an
awesome read; makes me appreciate a little
more what my ancestors went through to
get their bloodline here.
I only wish that ALL Lambda
award finalists were of the quality of
Beyond the Pale (1997) and A Density of

Souls. Tea by Stacey D'erasmo
makes me realize how few good titles
are out there with a gay theme.
There's some great stuff happening in
this book, but after the millionth obvious metaphor hits you over the head ...
there are glimpses of good fiction, but
it seems we learn EXACTLY what
D'erasmo learned in Creative Writing
101. Her symbol, tea, gets beaten to
death. One part of the book got my
attention though, a highlight: the main
character, Isabelle, faces a chance to
take her life with pills in her hand and
die the way her mother did, by committing suicide. D'erasmo did a superb job of tracing the character's
thoughts during this scene. It's a good
exchange, a good dynamic and well
set up. There's something that good
lit does for me that this didn't do.
Someone said to me, if you leave a
movie and say, "Those special effects
were really good" ... then are they
really? If the metaphor and symbolism and foreshadowing is so obvious
in a book on the first read, is it good
fiction? It doesn't work for me.
I have a feeling that I will be
committing blasphemy with my next
review. I finally read Tales of the
City by Armistead Maupin and I have
to say I wasn't really that impressed. I
know that it is considered "classic"
gay fiction, and I know it was ground
breaking at the time. Gay people didn't exist in fiction, much less live next
door. But it seemed too simple; no
chapter read more than four pages.
There is a lot of dialogue and seems to
have been written, not as a great piece
of lit, but as a B-rated screenplay
(which I realize it was.) It is interesting in the sense that it suggestively
describes 1970's San Francisco at the
height of bathhouses, one nighters,
cruising, free love and lots and lots of
sex-pre Aills. Entertaining but not
extraordinary, just an eyes wide-open
view of gay life in San Francisco in
the 70's.
If Tales of the city is a first
hand account of gay SF in the 70's
then Valencia is one oflesbian SF in

Networking 45° North

April/May 2001

Page 17

On The Headboard
cont. from pg. 15
9 3

If Tales of the city
is a first hand account of gay SF in the
70's then Valencia is one oflesbian
SF in the new millennium. YIKES
Dykes!! And lots ofthem ... Michelle
Tea takes us on a thrill ride through
the Mission district of San Francisco
where girls and drugs corrupt her
every thought. I particularly liked her
images of the Dyke March during
Pride. However, by the middle of the
book, same girl, same drugs or different ones, I started not to really care.
Her writing style is like she is journaling, fast paced in some places, but
same old topics ... girls and drugs.
Gets old.

6ooketo Note (wi1ttout
g/ll'o/t U1emea)
Expecting Adam by Martha
Beck; Beck, a scholar with two Harvard degrees, becomes pregnant with a
Down's syndrome baby and everything she knows turns upside down. It
all shakes out and she comes to huge
realizations about people's perceptions
and her own priorities. Every page
closer to the end made me sad that it
was closer to over. Beck writes so we
that we not only see her grow, we feel
her grow as well. It's inspirational
and funny and jabs at Harvard and it's
scholarly society.
Vagina Monologues by Eve
Ensler; empowering, sometimes
funny, sometimes sad essays about
your "down there". Started a huge
feminist movement called V-day created to stop violence toward women.
An absolute must for your feminist
bookshelf.
Winterdance by Gary
Paulsen; Sheila and I read this out
loud while road tripping to Ann Arbor.
I'm sure there were times when she
couldn't see the road for the laughing
tears. This book should be read for a
number ofreasons: 1) Belly laughing
has been proven by medical experts to
be good for you. 2) It gives a great
first hand account and appreciation for

l:DOlltUiWWW! ■ BW&a

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what the dogs go through (and mushers) on
the Iditarod. 3) Paulsen is an outstanding
storyteller. 4) Paulsen's passion for dogs,
the race and sledding is catching. I wonder
how I would do on the Iditarod? Just need
some dogs .... my favorite passages were
training with the old bicycle, buffalo
games, the five skunk night, the coyote and
his amazing hunting style and any story
that included Devil.

0
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~

:)

~

JQ-May I ask a question?
FN-Sure, go ahead.
JQ-Isn't there supposed to be a
cool spring function coming up?
HIGH TEA, MAY 20th!
FN-Ahh-well yeah. Do you
read the newsletter much?
HIGH TEA, MAY 20th!
JQ-Well sure; when I get time.
FN-Have you read much of this
issue yet?
JQ-Nope. Haven't had a
chance
HIGH TEA, MAY 20TH!
JQ-Say, you
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don't suppose
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FRIENDS NORTH 10th ANNUAL BIKE TOUR 2001
Friends North is sponsoring our 10th annual bike tour in beautiful Benzie County!
This bike tour is intended for G,L,B, T and their friends. It will be held the weekend of
July 27, 28, 29 2001. This is a biking, camping and canoeing/kayaking weekend on a 15acre private ranch. The activities this year will be a Friday night Welcome reception
with a Pasta Extravaganza prepared by our site hosts Sheryl and Hilda. Also a Sunday
afternoon canoe/kayak trip down the Platte River (bring your own canoe, kayak, tube or
rentals available). Afterward meet us on the beach, we'll have a grill and volleyball net
(BYOStuft). All this along with our beautiful various bike tours on Saturday and the
fun-filled dinner at the ranch on Saturday night. No hints about the entertainment will
be allowed©
Your registration/donation to Friends North will include:
• Weekend camping, 2-3 nights, camper/trailers welcome, no hook-ups.
• Routed bike tours Saturday with varying route lengths to choose from for all
riding abilities.
• Canoe/kayak/tube down the Platte River Sunday, with everyone meeting at the
beach for grilling and beach volleyball.
• Sumptuous dinners both Friday & Saturday catered on site for added convenience.
• Continental breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.
• Friends North bike tour 2001 T-shirt.

If you know enough about the tour and would like to sign up now, please fill
out the registration/release form and send it back to us with your donation
check. (Those registering before May 20, 2001 may send in the reduced rate).
Students and those with limited funds (who would not participate in the tour
because of cost) have a discounted rate.
LOGO CONTEST - Design our 10th anniversary logo and win a free Bike
Tour weekend. Logo must be a one color design and will need to be submitted by June 1st to be considered. If you send your registration in prior and
your submittal is chosen, your registration will be reimbursed for your prize.
We will send out directions and more about the weekend by early July. In the meantime, if
you have questions about the tour you may call Kirk Mallow at 231-933-3311, E-mail Tim
Schmidt at TCTimber@aol.com or Rose Clement at RSCNGC@aol.com.
We look forward to having you join us for OUR TENTH ANNUAL beautiful weekend in
Northern Michigan!

Univi1i l1~[11l~11ii jJ ~il11f1[~11li1~i~11~11md,OK
M 001 111 485

FRIENDS NORTH BIKE TOUR 2001 • REGISTRATION FORM
Please fill out an individual form for each participant
NAME: ........................................................................................................................ .

ADDRESS: .................................................................................................................... .
CITY, STATE, ZIP: .......................................................................... PHONE: ..................... .
CIRCLE SHIRT SIZE: M

L

XL

2XL

3XL

4XL

SXL

YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS: ................................................................................................ .
EMERGENCY CONTACT PERSON (NOT ON THE TOUR)
NAME: .................................................................................. PHONE: ............................. .
Check donation:

.......... $70.00 Full Weekend Package - discounted rate prior to May 20th
Full Weekend Package - after May 20th
.......... $55.00 Full Weekend Package - Limited funds
.......... $15.00 1 year membership to Friends North
.......... Interested in participating in the Sunday Canoe (11 :00 a.m.)

..........

$85.00

Enclose check or money order payable to Friends North and send to:
Friends North Bike Tour, P.O. Box 332, Grawn Michigan 49637

Canoe/Kayak rates: Please note that each individual is responsible for paying for the rental of
their own canoe/kayak on Sunday afternoon.
Canoe - $28.00 for two people in canoe, $36.00 for three people in canoe
Kayak - $20.00 for one person, $40.00 for two person
Tube - $15.00 for one person

In signing below, I state that I am 18 years of age or older and I understand
the hazards involved in riding a bicycle on busy highways. I accept the risks
involved as a participant of this bike tour as my own. I will not nor will any of
my heirs, bold Friends North or the organizers and site owners of this event in
any way responsible or liable for any accident, injuries, mishap, trauma, or
loss that may occur at any time during this weekend activity.
Signature: ..................................................... Date: .......................... .
Riders registering after 7/15/2001 are not assured a T-shirt. Cancellations made prior to 7/7/2001 will
receive½ of the original donation. After 7/14/2001 NO refunds will be made.
Please contact to receive a parental consent form if under the age of 18. Please contact to receive information on Financial
Hardship Scholarship.

Networking 45° North

Page20

April/May 2001

RESOURCES
State And National Hotlines
Department of Justice............ 800-347-4283
Gay/Lesbian National Youth ............ .
800-347-TEEN (8336)
Michigan Wellness Networks ............ .
800-872-AIDS (2437)
Triangle Hate Crime Reporting.......... .
877-7-TRIANGLE (877-787-42640)

Statewide Services
ACLU Of Michigan ........................ .
1249 Washington Blvd., Suite 209,
Detroit,
MI
48220
Office ......................... 248-398- 7105
Help Line ................. , ...... 800-398-4297
E-mail ................. michaclu@aol .com
WWW .. ............... http://michigan.aclu.oriy

thebody.com/lambdahtml
NGLTF (National Gay & Lesbian Task
Force), 2320 Seventeenth St. NW,
Washington
DC
20009-2702
Ph .. 202-332-6483
FAX.. 202-332-0207
WWW ......................http://www.ngtlf.oriy
PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays), 1101 14th St. NW,
Suite 1030, Washington DC 2005
Ph.. 202-638-420
Email..info@pflag.org
WWW ......... ............ http://www.pflag.oriy

Lesbian and Gay Aging Issues Network
WWW ............. http://www.asaging.
org/lgain.html

Local Spiritual
Circle of the Sacred Earth,
Rev. Nancy Hayward ............. 231-223-7999

Lansing Association of Human Rights ..... .
PO Box 18062, Lansing, MI 48826
Phone ...................... 517-332-3200
http://www.macatawaoriy~lahr

Journey in Light Ministries,
Rev. Linda L. Wilson .............231-271-2529

Triangle Foundation ..... .
19641 W. Seven Mile Rd., Detroit, MI
313-357-3323 ....... Fax ..... 313-537-3379
WWW .............. ........... http://www.tri.org

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Grand
Traverse, Rev. Emmy Lou Belcher, 6726
Center Rd., Traverse City, MI 49686
Home.. 231-938-9079 Office.. 231-947-3117

OLSEN
WWW ............ www.GLSEN-Michigan.org

Unity Church, Rev. Judy Grimes,
3600 Five Mile Rd., Traverse City,
MI 49686 ..........................231-938-9587

National Services

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of
Petoskey, PO Box 873, Petoskey,
MI 49770 .......................... 231-347-8916

OLSEN (Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education
Network), 121 West 127th St.,,Suite 804,
New York, NY 10001.. ....... 212-727-0135
WWW ......... ......... http://www.GLSEN.oriy
Gender PAC ..............New York, NY
WWW ................. .... http://www.gpac.oriy
HRC (Human Rights Campaign), 919 18th
Street NW, Washington DC 20006
Ph.. 202-628-4 I 60
FAX.. 202-34 7-5323
E-mail ........................ hrc@hrc.org
WWW ................... .... http://www.hrc.oriy
IFGE (International Foundation for Gender
Education), PO Box 540229, Waltham, MA
02454-0229
FAX.. 781-899-5703
Ph.. 781-899-2212
E-mail ................... info@ifge.org
WWW ................... ....http://www.ifge.org
LAMBDA Legal Defense & Education
Fund, 120 Wall St., Suite 1500, New York,
NY 10005 ........................ 212-809-8585
Fax ................................. 212-809-0055
WWW ........................ http://www.

Local Counseling
CDRS (free substance abuse referral)
Phone .............................. 231-929-13 l 5
Toll-Free ........................... 800-686-0749
THIRD LEVEL Crisis Intervention Center,
1022 E. Front St., Traverse City, Ml
49686 ........... 231-922-4800
Toll-Free .................. 800-442-7315
WWW ...... http://www.travese.net/
members/third level/

Local HIV/AIDS Health
Counseling & Information
HIV Testing Anonymous

& Confidential

Community Health Clinic (same day)
Phone .............................. 231-929-4448
Grand Traverse County Health Dept.
Phone .............................. 231-922-4831
Planned Parenthood Northern Michigan
Phone .................... 800-230-PLAN (7526)
Thomas
Judd
Care
Center
Phone .............................. 231-935-8140
Emmet County Health Dept.
Phone .............................. 231-347-6014
Wellness Networks ......... 231-933-0279
Toll-Free ........................... 800-947-1160
WWW.... http://www.WellnessNetworks.org

Local Service/Social/Political
Common Voices: The Friends North Rap
Group, Call Tom ................. 231-275-6127
Friends North of Michigan, PO Box 562,
Traverse City, MI 49685-0562
Northern Michigan Help Line
Phone ............................231-946- I 804
E-mail. ................. .info@friendsnorth.org
WWW ....... .... http://www.friendsnorth.org
OLSEN, PO Box 9, Traverse City, MI
49685-0685 ........................ 231-943-5050
WWW ...... www. TraverseAreacom/GLSEN
E-mail. ........... GLSEN@TraverseAreacom
Gay Alcoholics Anonymous,
Grace
Episcopal Church, Traverse City
Call
John .............................231-922-0746 or
Hilda................................231-938-9294
WINDFIRE Gay & Lesbian Youth Support
Group... Call Third Level for location &
time ............................... 231-922-4800
Toll-Free ............................ 800-442-7315
Human Rights Commission .......... 922-4447

WOMAN'S RESOURCE CENTER
Phone ............................... 231-941-1210
Susan Odgers, PhD .................... 946-0331
Barbara Jones Smith, PhD ............ 947-1444
Bay Area Counseling, LLC ........... 933-4009
Susan RBreuer, PhD, Benzonia.... 882-4455

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,
Transgendered?
Have Questions, Need Help?
Call the Northern Michigan
Help Line
231-946-1804



P:-operty of t he C .r, ~e r

Volume 15
Issue 2

FRIENDS NORTH of MICHIGAN, INC.

April/May

2001

.Rn association of lesbians, gays,
bisexuals, transgendered and their friends.

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Hundreds Gather to Launch
Campaign Against Discrimination
TRAVERSE CITY Hundreds of area residents
gathered Sunday evening to
formally launch the Traverse
City Campaign Against Discrimination, which hopes to
defeat an anti-gay initiative on
the November ballot.
The concerned citizens gathered in a sold-out
Milliken Auditorium for the
"Concert Against Discrimination," which featured more
than 90 area artists and

Sunday, MAY 20TH at 1:00 p.m.

Jeff Haas, Anne-Marie
Oomen and Bob Hicks participated, along with several
ensembles. The evening concluded with a Native American Honor Song by the Medicine Lodge Singers.
"The work to defeat
this cruel initiative will be
difficult," Tarsa said.
"We wanted with this concert
to send people out energized,
inspired and focused."
Speakers explained
how local anti-gay activists
want to amend the City
Charter to make it legal to
discriminate against gay
people.
"The citizens of
Traverse City will not have to
embrace or even be comfortable with homosexuality in
order to vote NO in November," Bonnie Deigh told the
crowd. "They need only to

attheOPERA HOUSEinT.C.

Cont. page 8, see Hundreds .....

musicians.
"We wanted, in a very
positive way, to make strong
statement with this event," said
Kevin Tarsa, artistic director.
Tarsa said the concert was a response to the recent anti-gay activities in Traverse City, including the recent visit by Fred
Phelps and the efforts by a
downstate anti-gay group to
amend the City Charter.
Local artists and musicians including John Wunsch,

·.
...·· ....
.... .

:
\

•••• •·

Friends North of Michigan, Inc.
.•: •.. are having their annual
..... .

·•........·...: ···... _············.:::: ... •···· ........I P

.....................

HIGH TEA

Lesbian? Gay?
Bisexual?
Transgendered?
Have Questions?
Need Help?

There will be a Silent and Live Auction
plus Great Food and Entertainment
and special guest PRINCESS LAURA

Tickets $15. 00
Tickets may be purchased at the Bookie Joint and Side Traxx
or from F.N. Board members or by calling 938-9865

Call the Northern
Michigan Help Line!
(231) 946-1804
For Emergency Help
(231) 922-4800
(800) 442-7315

Networking 45° North

Page2

April/May 2001

From The President
By Tom Kincaid
The Mission of Friends North of Michigan, Inc., is to provide
social, educational and support activities and opportunities for the
gay men, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities in
Northern Michigan.
Please note: Friends North is not a dating, nor dating refe"al service.

Networking 45° North is the newsletter of Friends North of Michigan,
Inc. For information, write to Friends North, PO Box 562,
Traverse City, MI 4968S-0562.
www.friendsnorth.on?
Vie"l'Oints expressed in Networking do not necessarily represent those of the
Board of Trustees or the general membership.
Friends North of Michigan, Inc. , is an association of lesbians, g;,y men, bisexuals, transgendere<I and their friends from Northwestern Lower Michigan centered in Traverse City.
Friends North provides social activities, a newsletter, an information line, workshops, a web
site and a scholar.1hip fund for financial assistance.

Friends North'• Board of Trust... is elected each December at the Annual Meeting.
Regular Board meetings are held at Grace Episcopal Church, at the comer of Wash in gton and
Boardman Streets in Traver.,eCity, at 6:30 pm on the 1st Tuesday of every month except July.
Everyone is welcome lo attend. Please contact Friends North in writing ahead of time if you
have an item for the agenda Cum:nt members of the Board include:
Tom Kincaid, President, (231) 929-2919
Gwm Sanford, Vice President,(231) 946-0(33
Toni Poole, Secretary,
Richan! Pozniak, Treasurer, (231) 933-3969
Bob Buck, Trustee
Dianna Johnson, Trustee, (23 I) 933-0571
Joe Kaubenaw, Trustee, (23 I) 947-8402
Craig Philip Richan!, Trustee, (231) 922-1967

Al Kitzmiller, Trustee.

The Frimds North N.,...letter Committee is responsible for the publication of
Networking 45° North.

Publisher Gwen Sanford, GwenChris@worldnet.att.net
Editor: Dianna Johnson, Huntgoddess@aolcom
Advertising: Gwen Sanford, GwenChris@worldnet.att.net

Oassified Advertising and notices are run without charge. Please submit your ads in writing.

Display Advertising in Networking is available in business card sized displays at a rate ofS25
per space per issue or an annual rate of$125. Inserts and larger sized ads are available; please
contact the advertising editor for more infonnation.

Contributions to Networking are welcome. Letters, essays, features. reflections, poetry,
original are work etc. should be sent to Networking 45° North, PO Box 562, Traverse City, Ml
39685--0562, or to either the publisher or editor listed above. Networlang will not aocept
material that is sexist, discriminatory or sexually explicit. Contributors are responsible for
obtaining pennission from those whose names they submit for publication. Please include
your name, address and a phone number where you can be reached. If you would like your
contribution to be printed anonymously, please let us know.

Add...., Otanges should be sent to the above address.

Subsaiptioo, & Mnnbenbips are $15. Please send checks or money orders to the above
address. Complimentary subscriptions are also available to those who are unable to pay .

Distribution: Networking is sent via bulk mail in a plain envelope to subscribers. Additional
copies are available at select local establishments.

Within the past
two months, the face of
hatred has shown itself
right here in Traverse
City ("The All American
City"). First, gays and lesbians were accused of promoting
"an agenda" when the rainbow
background appeared on some
tax-payer bumper stickers that
were printed to show that Traverse City is inclusive and welcomes ALL people. Then the
notorious Reverend Fred
Phelps decided to pay us a visit
with his ''hate circus" in tow.
After a few days of marching
around in the cold with his ugly
picket signs, he went home to
Kansas. Now, we are faced
with the fact that the religious
extremists in our community
had successfully gathered
enough names on their petition
and will put an anti-gay initiative on the ballot this November.
Shameful events as
these are almost enough to
make a person think that Northern Michigan is not a welcoming community and if we want
to fit in, we had better go back
into the closet. Well, no more
closets for this queen ... there's
too many pairs of high heels
and ball gowns taking up my
closet space.
Last weekend, I had
the pleasure of attending "A
Concert Against Discrimination" which was a fabulous
sold out event. Some of our
area's most talented poets and
musicians donated their time to
provide an evening of entertairunent. The proceeds went
toward TCCAD (Traverse City
Campaign Against Discrimination). The concert contained a
beautiful theme about building
a beautiful home by honoring

diversity and taking a stand
when others try to discrim'inate
against a group of peoe.le just
because they happen to·be different. I have never felt such
warmth and hope.
The concert really inspired me to get involved and
help TCCAD defeat this ballot
issue in November. I'd also
like to encourage everyone
here to get involved in some
way-after all this is OUR
home too. If we don't stand up
for ourselves, who will?
On other fronts, we
had a very successful Winter
Chili/Sledding party at Bahle's
Warming Hut in Suttons Bay.
Unfortunately, I was unable to
attend due to a previous family
commitment. However, I have
every intention of winning
back the ''unique" Chili Crown
next year.
Please make plans to
attend our Annual High Tea/
Silent Auction on May 20th at
the Opera House in downtown
Traverse City. Every year this
event gets better and this year
promises to be the best yet.
OUr newest board
member is Alan Collard. We
welcome his expertise and talents. I can tell you first hand
that he gives a great massage.
Check out his advertisement in
this newsletter and make an
appointment_
The Friends North
Board is looking for a few
good men and women to serve
as trustees. Please contact me
if you' re interested.
That's all for now. I
hope this finds everyone well
and ready to have a great summer.
Tom

I

Networking 45° North

April/May 200 I

Page3

homTbeV.P.
By Gwen Sanford

Last January during the 2001
Board Of Trustees Retreat, we discussed writing articles relating our experiences with the advertisers who pay for ads
in Networking 45° North. While we encourage our readers to support those who
support Friends North, we never hear any
feedback about doing business with them.
So, beginning in this issue of Networking,
I will pick one of our advertisers whose
expertise I have required and share my
satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, with you.
I also encourage our readers to
write to us about your experience of doing
business with our advertisers. They don't
have to all be glowing reports either. This
may perhaps, put some pressure on them,
but hey, if one of them give crummy service, we should probably know about it.
In fact, if a business produces a poor
product or provides poor service, perhaps
Friends North should not accept advertising from that business.
Another place to see who supports Friends North is at the High Tea
held in the Traverse City Opera House.
We have many sponsors and donations
from individuals, and businesses for this
premier event. And they're all listed for
your viewing during the High Tea, which
by the way, will be held on Sunday, May
20, 2001. You should be aware also, that
I have it on good authority promising
this year's event to be the "best there
ever was."

Subject: GRS Presentation from
Dr. Schrang, a renound Gender
Reassignment Surgeon Date:

Cross in Valparasio. We believe this
would be a good time for your email
subscribers to review this surgery overview if they are interested.
Especially if they are located in Southwestern Michigan area.

Good day:
My name is Randi Cook and I
am the president of TONI {Transgender
Outreach of Northern Indiana.) We are
having one of the world's most noted
Gender Reassignment & Plastic Surgeons,
Dr. Eugene Schrang
(http://www.drschrang.com/) coming to
speak on June 23rd. at the American Red

We will start the meeting at
7:30pm (local time in Valparasio) and
the meeting will conclude when all the
questions are answered. We encourage
you to post this message.

American Red Cross
755 West Lincolnway
Valparasio, IN 46385
219-462-8543
I personally want to thank you
for your time and considering posting
this information to your members. In the
future, if your group has any such meetings like this one planed, please advise
TONI of the content and we will be glad
to reciprocate the posting! Thank you
again.
With regards,
Randi Cook

2001 FN Board Retreat (planning session)
followed by a wonderful potluck dinner.

Networking 45° North

Treasures
Report
By Richard Pozniak

For everyone's information,
we will try to give a more detailed
financial report in the newsletter. It
will not be the most current because of
deadlines needed to get it to press. I
will list money coming in and money
going out [deposits and checks to pay
bills]
JAN. & FEB. BUDGET as of JAN l st
WE HAD $2768.23
MONEY COMING IN:
$150.00 for 6 memberships
$137.00 for 5 memberships/donations
from sledding party

Page4

April/May 200 l

newsletter
$125.65 phone cards/sledding party

!Mark Your Calendar!
May 20th

stuff
$597.00 newsletter/Copyworld
$14.77 binders
$ 60.21 Ameritech 800#
$ 24. 79 AT&T phone bill
$ 40.00 postmaster/p.o.box rental
$1 ,799.00 from $3,055.23 leaves
$1,256.23 as of March 1st
Please note we still have to pay for
the newsletter you are reading and
other expenses leading up to the High
Tea, Sun. May 20th and Pride Day,
Sat. June 2nd. So please keep your
Newsletter subscription current and, of
course, all donations are greatly appreciated. Have a wonderful Spring and
come out for our great events!

Do you have a Silent Auction item
to donate to Friends North?

Your Treasurer, Richard Pozniak

$287.00 added to $2768.23 for a total
of$3,055.23
MONEY GOING OUT:
$102.00 postmaster/stamps
$428.25 newsletter/Copyworld
$125.00 postmaster/bulk mailing for
newsletter
$ 69.50 new e-mail address
$ 56.00 Ameritech 800#
$155.83 postmaster/bulk mailing for

ommun,iiJ Health

1:, :Clj1d1

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.~
'?O ·e. Ei~~.th Stre.•i':'J"-averte\pcy: Ml 49686

L.-;:;,./ "•..~, o·92 9-4448
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•

~------------------------------------------------------,
Are You A Friends North Member?
Join Friends North or Renew your membership today! Just $15 single or $25 for a couple.
Name: _ _ __ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _____Amount Enclosed:_for Single0, Couple0plus_ Donation
Address:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _City:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _State:_Zip:_ _ __
E-Mail: _____________________0Please include me in Friends North e-mail updates.
Comments:- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0 Check this box if you are unable to contribute the full membership amount and would like to be considered for a reduced rate or
complimantary membership.
Mail this form and your check to Friends North Inc. ~ PO Box 562 ~ Traverse City, MI 49685-0562 ~ Attn: Memberships

Friends North 's membership list is strictly confidential, and mail from Friends North is sent in plain envelops.

Networking 45° North

ApriVMay 2001

Pages

Friends North of Michigan, Inc.
Minutes of the February &, 200 l Board Meeting
Held at Grace Episcopal Church Library,
341 Washington Street, Traverse City, Ml
Board Members Present: Tom Kincaid, Gwen Sanford, Toni Poole, Dianna Johnson, Craig Richard,
Richard Posniak
Others Present: Sheila McRae
Board Members Absent: Joe Kaubenaw, Bob
Buck, Al Kitzmiller
Meeting called to order at 6:36PM

•
•
•

•

•

•

Toni read the minutes.
•
- Motion by Tom to accept the minutes, seconded by
Richard, carried unanimously.
Richard gave a short Treasurer's report. He stated approximately $1200 in bank.
A discussion about the Treasurer's report being included in
the newsletter was held.
Motion by Dianna to include the Treasurer's report
in the newsletter, seconded by Toni, carried unanimously.
Discussion about the upcoming Chili Cookoff & Sledding
Party was held.
Richard organizing this event.
Richard is obtaining wood for fire.
At minimwn, Dianna, Gwen, Toni, and Richard will be
making chili.
There is left-over coffee and hot chocolate we can use.
Event to be held at Bahley's in Sutton's Bay at 1:00PM.
•
Discussion about the Bike tour was held.
Tom went to Bike Tour meeting. Reports that everything is "going well". Bike Tour budget should be ready
for submittal to board at March meeting.
•
Price for entry being raised by $5.00.
•
Scholarships will be available for those that can't pay.
25% of entrants could not pay last year.
Bike tour will not be supplying soda this year.
•
Glass bottle's will not be allowed this year due to substantial broken glass last year.
More portable restrooms will be made available this
•
year. A request was made to separate these by gender
this year. This will be communicated to Bike Tour committee by Tom.
•
Dianna talked about the High Tea.
Date changed to May 6th to accommodate Chef Charles.
Dianna expressed displeasure at not being given the
•
chance to be chair ofthis event. Much discussion en-

sued. ·
At recent High Tea meeting, discussion was held about:
■
Auction items.
■
Theme.
■
Decorations.
■
Food.
■
Entertainment
■
What went well last year.
■ Consensus to focus more on entertainment this year
versus food.
Next High Tea meeting scheduled for Feb. 1t,ili at
6:30PM.
Gwen mentioned she has obtained an auction item.
Gwen gave a newsletter report and asked for opinions on
changes.
Discussion about paper color was held - consensus was
reached that it was fine .
Title font was discussed. Changes will be made next
time.
Advertising was discussed.
Gwen suggested doing away with single/couple membership in favor of only a single membership. Discussion ensued.
Motion by Tom to leave membership as is, seconded
by Craig, carried unanimously.
Gwen talked about raising advertising rates. Gave current rates. Consensus was reached on leaving rates the

same.
Richard talked briefly about calendar. He suggested
special events be highlighted. Gwen agreed, and will
implement this in next newsletter.
Tom talked about contest for new Friends North logo.
Motion to hold a contest for Friends North logo, seconded by Toni, carried unanimously.
Toni talked about web site and new friendsnorth.org domain
name. Explained email functionality.
Tom mentioned that he and Richard now have a phone card
to use for return phone calls.
Toni talked about upcoming GLBT Summit held by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Grand Traverse to be
held March 18th from 2-4PM.
Sheila talked about the Concert Against Discrimination held
by the Traverse City Campaign Against Discrimination on
March 18th at 7:30PM.
Tom talked about board member absentees meeting after
meeting. We may need to recruit new board members to replace the absentee board members.
Richard left message with Andy about 501 C3 status. Andy
has not returned call.

Networking 45° North

Page6

April/May 2001

Friends North of
Michigan, Inc:.
Minutes of the l'ebruary 6,
2001 Board Meeting c:ont.
~

•

Dianna asked why we made donations to the Triangle Foun
elation. Much discussion ensued.
Richard talked about Pride.
Questioned if Joe would be chairing the event this year.
Tom will contact Joe to determine this.
Location was discussed. Tom mentioned past events
were held at the Robb farm. Tom will talk to Cindy to
see why this practice ended.

Moved to adjourn at 7:55PM by Richard, seconded by
Dianna, carried unanimously.

•

Toni Poole, Secretary
Friends North of Michigan, Inc.

hieads North of
Michigan, lac.
Minutes of the March 6,
2001 Board Meeting

Board Members Present: Tom Kincaid, Toni Poole,
Dianna Johnson, Craig Richard, Richard Posniak,
Bob Buck, Joe Kaubenaw
Others Present: Alan Collard, Mary B.
Board Members Absent: Al Kitzmiller, Gwen San-

ford
Meeting called to order at 6:37PM

•
•
•
•

Toni read the minutes .
- Motion by Joe to accept the minutes, seconded by Richard, carried unanimously.
Richard gave a short Treasurer's report. He stated $1256.23
in bank as of March 1st •
Tom initiated a discussion about postal fees and methods of
payment.
Dianna gave a report on the High Tea.
Date changed to May 20th to accommodate Laura Wilcox.
Decision was made to sell more tickets than seats in antici-

-

pation of no-shows.
Dianna reiterated the fact that more focus would be put towards talent this year than food.
Posters will be made and disseminated throughout town.
Tickets are almost ready and will be made available at
GLBT Summit March 18th •
Consideration of separate mailing to members to advertise
event is being made.
Next High Tea meeting is March 16th 6:00PM, at Border's.
Joe gave a report on Pride.
Joe made note of previous minutes mention of confusion
over discontinuation of Pride being held at Robb farm. He
explained that this was due to an ongoing desire of the
Robb's to move the location from there eventually. It was
never intended to be a permanent location. Joe also suggested that a TC Pride should actually be held in Traverse
City. All agreed.
Date for Pride is June 2™1, from 1 IAM-5PM.
Theme this year will be "Blending in Diversity".
Monica will emcee, with possibly Laura Wilcox as well.
T-Shirts and Hats will be available. An estimate for this
will be obtained from Jentees. Richard suggested single
color shirts to save money. Tom suggested a design that
could be sold all year.
Press releases will be mailed to GLBT publications instate
and via the Advocate.
Discussion of sponsors and donation amounts occurred. A
flat $80.00 sponsor amount was agreed upon.
Entertainment will be provided by Black Boots, Keyboard
& Plastic Duck, and the Fabulous Fakes.
Randy Nash of Sound Environments .will provide sound.
Food this year will be provided via a pig & turkey roast
organized and carried out by Les Crandall. Total cost of
this will be $140.
A meeting with the Commons board was reviewed.
►
Pride event has been approved.
► A "Cancer Survivor's Group" (CSG) that has an event
the same weekend and has already purchased tents
agreed to allow FN to utilize them.

~ Joe askedfor opinions on donating money to CSG to
offset their cost of $800 for the tents.
~ Bob suggested splitting the cost evenly.
~ Much discussion ensued. Several board members
thought CSG would be happy for any donation.
~ Motion by Craig to offer $200 to CSG for tents, seconded by Richard, Carried Unanimously.
►
Commons board needs a letter saying Friends North will
be responsible for half of the total cost of any damages
incurred to the Commons area for time CGS and FN are
holding their events. Toni will write that letter.
Joe talked to the sector police and notified them of the day/
Continued on page 8,

Networking 45° North

April May 200 l

Page7

Comine on May 20th

Announcements
00000000000

1? 4,? 4,? 4,? 4,? 4,? 4,? 4,? 4,? 4,? 'i?
0

Hey,hey,hey! ! !
Don't forget about the monthly
potluck dinner held the fourth
Thursday of every month. This
purely social get-together starts at
6:30 PM in the cafeteria of Grace
Episcopal Church.

0

?
❖
41
41

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0

1?

•

The Annual Friends
North High Tea held at the
Traverse City
Opera House
beginning 1:00 PM. Like last
year, there will be entertainment, and a silent auction along
with plenty of wonderful cuisine.

i We need volunteers!
v
High Tea,
Pride Picnic,
'1J
iJ'
Bike Tour
.,9.,,
•w
w
This is definitely one of
❖
They Don't run i}
the best events of the year, so be
themselves.
it sure to mark your calendar.
iJ'
·L?
Give us a call to 'F
iJ'
i
help out.
❖
Side Tran: Activities:
❖
(231) 946-1804
❖
0

0

*
o

0

0

0

0

o

Have you had a recent addition to your family? Did you and
your partner just get hitched?
Would you like to announcement
an engagement but your town
paper won't publish it? Send us
your announcements at
huntgoddess@aol.com

Jenni Allen and Dana
Rosselit, after having been
together for over a year, have
decided to show their love and
devotion for one another in a Holy
Union in August. Give it up for
Jenni and Dana!!

0000000000.,.9

1? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? 4.? iJ'

G/L/Bff Book Group

Sunday Nite
Val's Movie Nite 7:30pm showing new releases and old favoites.

Now Forming at Borders
Read and discuss contemporary
and classic g/1/b/t fiction and
nonfiction. Book titles will be
discussed at this first, organizational meeting on April 22nd
at 6:30 p.m. and the fourth
Sunday of every month thereafter. All chosen books will be
made available with a 20% discount and free tea and coffee
will be served.

Monday Nite
Karaoke with the Princess. Yes
that's right Princess. Laura is
back! and we have her.
Tuesday Nite
Euchre nite, play with your
friends for cash!
Wednesday, Friday and
Saturday Nites
Come on down and enjoy great
dance music spun by your
favorite DJ's Mike and Fred.

T~ comfortobk gathering place for fm,uls und c:Ull(Jla.

Open? .Days

935 T 1666

' '"':~?..-

·.,,

.; ~ .·_~; ·l . -~, .,

"t.~~~ ~t

Open7 days
y 520 Franklin 'Y Traverse City, MI 49686 'Y

David Schulz & Jun Walker
212 Pad( Sueet, Bellaire, Michigatt 49615
Ero-S4S-0780 • (616) SlJ-6077

Networking 45° North

Friends North of
Michigan, Inc.
Minutes of the
February 6, 2001
Board Meeting
continued from pg. 6 •

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

time of Pride.
Joe anticipates greater attendance
this year.
Next Pride meeting will be held
March 11, 5:00PM at Joe' s house.
Dianna asked about vendors. Joe
hopes to have more booths and
vendors than last year.
Tom mentioned insurance needs.
FN policy will be renewed in April
at a cost of$400.
Tom talked about bike tour. Planning is "progressing well".
Alan volunteered to offer massage
service at event.
Tom asked Dianna about newsletter.
Deadline for submissions is March
15 th .
Alan asked about his ad change.
Tom agreed to make sure it gets in.
Toni asked about PFLAG ad.
Dianna said that no info was received.
Tom talked about last Thursday potlucks. A total of 14 people showed
up for last month's event.
Tom asked everyone to think of new
people that may be willing to be
board members and/or volunteers.
Tom brought up GLBT Summit on
March 18th .
Dianna suggested as many board
members as possible should
attend.
Richard suggested bringing High
Tea flier.
Tom agreed to give presentation of
FN.
Tom suggested Alan Collard be
made a board member.
Motion by Tom to appoint Alan
Collard to the FN Board, seconded by Richard, carried
unanimously.
Tom obtained many "We Are Traverse City" bumper stickers from
Hate Free TC. Tom asked Richard
to write check for $40 to HFTC as a

Page8

April/May 200 I

•

donation for stickers. Richard agreed.
Richard suggested we send Thank
You notes to those that donate to FN.
Dianna volunteered to design and print
these out. Tom will sign & send as
needed.

Moved to adjourn at 7:40PM by Toni,
seconded by Alan, carried unanimously.

tllV/ AIDS Wellness Networks
Grand Traverse Area Inc.
Invites Volunteers
Old&New
ToOur

Toni Poole, Secretary
Friends North of Michigan, Inc.

Volunteer Open House

Hundreds .......... .
Continued from page 1
believe that discrimination is wrong -- that
we should not single out one group of people and forever deny them basic protection."
Themes of home and diversity
wove throughout the evening. A community children's chorus sang "A world of
difference," whose lyrics include, "It takes
a world of difference to make a difference
in the world."
Proceeds from the evening will
be used to educate voters about the proposed anti-gay City Charter amendment
that will be on the November ballot.
"We know that this will be an
expensive campaign," said Carol Anderson
of Traverse City, a spokeswoman for the
Campaign Against Discrimination. She
said the organization from downstate that
has spearheaded the anti-gay initiative here
and in other towns has provided money
and support for other campaigns.
For more information, visit the
TC Campaign Against Discrimination
online at www.tccad2000.org or call
883-1058.

Wedneadag, Mag 2-d

6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
At our NEW office location at

516 P.. 8•1a Street
TraveneCitlJ
We're rea.clivating old volunteers
and seeking new volunteers.
Come see our new office and learn
about volunteer opportunities.

Refreshments will be served.

:Wellness
NctworRs
ORANO TRAVERS£ AREA. INC.

Pli011e Brooke 929....Jlt1 or Joe 2fil-274J
for furtlaer hdorm4tiOD.

Char P. Kirchner,

CPA,. MSA

Tax Returns - Confidential & Discreet
Single ToxpaS,ll!J"S - Use S,'OVr /ilfng stolus to ~ r aduanauge
Un-Married Couples - Toke oduuntage of atl pou,- options
ApPC>inlmenls in WilrJomsburg or Tn2wne Oty

P.O. Box 1040
Wilflomlhurg, Ml 49690-1040

(6l6) 267-5818

Networking 45° North

April/May 200 l

Page9

Sledding Party
and Chili
Cook-Off

Planned
Parenthood
Provides
Respectful
Environment

The sledding party at
Bahle's Warming Hut in Suttons Bay
was well attended and a great informal community event. Over 50
people enjoyed the beautiful sunny
day and there was plenty of snow for
sledding and snow shoeing. We built
a big fire in the fireplace which felt
cozy after being out in the snow.
We tasted six different chili
contenders for the "Chili Crown" and
Dianna Johnson won by greatest
applause with her HOT MAMA
chili. Every spicy combination came
out of her pantry to create that one!
What a perfect day and wonderful
time. Plenty of dogs enjoyed the
party, as well.

Many gays and lesbians
might not think that an agency called
"Planned Parenthood" would be a
place where they could or would want
to receive health care but, in fact,
Planned Parenthood Northern Michigan (PPNM) provides a wide range of
health care services to both women
and men in an atmosphere that is open,
respectful, non-judgmental, and totally
confidential.

Photos of the Party

\

r.

The coveted

Chili Crown

Lesbians coming to Planned
Parenthood for annual gynecological
and breast exams will find that PPNM
doesn't make assumptions about their
sexual orientation. The history form,
which includes questions about sexual
behavior to assess risk and the need
for services, asks "Do you have sex
with men, women, or both?" The
female nurse practitioners who provide the exams and counseling have
the same attitude of openness and
respect. In addition to annual exams,
PPNM provides testing and treatment
for sexually transmitted diseases and
HIV counseling and testing. Bisexual
women can also take advantage of
birth control and pregnancy testing
and counseling.
Gay men who visit PPNM for
testing and treatment for sexually
transmitted diseases, HIV testing, or to
Cont. pg 12, see Planned Parenthood

ll112..ll tv1. DAy Db.6IC,N
Q.J6 TOtv1 INTb..RIOR Db..61<'.;N

61Ul~6t.fL~
231-883--6422
P.O. BOX 6422
n;2.AV'b.R.6b. QTY. Ml 49696

~-MAL IUl<.llDAYD6N®AOLCOM

Page IO

Networking 45° North

April/May 200 I

Proudly
Unashamed

flipped through in my head.
The first could be that I'm
proud to be who I am - a transsexual
hwnan being - and now I want everyone
to know it. Billboards and airplane banners announcing the fact would be pretty
costly for me, so I opted for the easy and
cheap method. Sounds reasonable,
right? Well, no. I certainly work hard to
be proud of who I am, but proud to be
transsexual? Nab. After all, it's not like
I had to do anything to make it happen.
It just did. In addition, I don't relish advertising that fact, quite the opposite. I
certainly don't hide, but really, I just
want to blend in and go about life on my
own merry way. The sticker actually
acts contrary to that goal, truth be
known.
Next in the series of mental
flash card images came the possibility
that I want
to, in my
l'\l'l1 il'\\lll cill' l,ll,tlh
own little
llllL lU!,tlh llJ1l'll. ,111d
small way,
tntalh ,·lllllftl1Lii1k
jab back at
,, ith "11(), llll a1\· d'- a
those who
oppose
the
J1l'l'>\ll1. I hl·li,·\l' thi!t
stickers,Ill itt,-hitt\ ll'l'll\ till\
those
lllOhl'J ,ll. ,._l7,lllll' ,'1\'t'Jh
mean peoi11tu \,H1r hl·i11!.l 1·n1111
ple-but
ill\ll ill'-'. l Ill· ,llll i - '-'.,1\
that's
pretty
ril l 'l ,1ri C
silly. Silly
and even sillier because I'll probably
never know ifl obtain my objective.
Sure, Joe and Jane Homophobe might be
tailgating me and become irritated as
they notice the sticker, but short of a little road, how would I ever know?
Continuing on through my repertoire of justifiable reasons, I came
upon the "being part of the crowd" op-

By Toni Poole
I finally did. It took me several weeks of thought, and a further
two weeks of"getting around to it",
but I finally plucked up the courage to
do it. What task, you might inquire,
did I find so terribly difficult to proceed with? Ask my boss for a raise?
No. Bungee jump off an unstable platform perched a hundred feet high on a
breezy spring day? Nope. Dive into a
frigid Lake Michigan in the middle of
a stormy February? Ha, not a chance.
What I found so difficult to
do was to affix one of those cute little
"We Are Traverse City'' rainbow
stickers to the rear window ofmy car.
I created a whole article in this newsletter around them last month, and I
thought the least I could do was have
the integrity to ''walk the walk".
That's it. Clean the window, line it
up, and press hard against the glass.
The task itself took all of about two
minutes.
But a day later, a question
came blaring at me from the depths of
my mystical and sometimes complicated mind. Why? What's the point?
Exactly what did I hope to gain from
it? After all, I'm not a bumper sticker
kind of person. Indeed, I have never
placed a bumper sticker of any kind on
any vehicle I've ever owned. Why
now? The question has plagued me
ever since that seemingly tumultuous
two minutes. There are a number of
possible and plausible answers I've

tion. For a moment, I thought I'd struck
gold. I told myself"That's gotta be it!"
I went through the mental reasoning
gymnastics-I consider myself so divergent from others I interact with and here
was my chance to be part of the crowd.
My crowd. Partaking in unity. But alas,
my excitement waned when a major case
of cognitive dissonance set in and I realized I really truly already feel included
in fray of people I respect. A bumper
sticker isn't about to change or enhance
that. "Darn", said I.
And then it hit me like a proverbial ton of bricks. It's rooted in both
being proud, and being ashamed. OK, I
know what you're thinking. I'm reverting to my first reason after all. I want to
show everyone that I'm proud to be me.
But that's not it!
Our society teaches us, through
so-called "moral" lessons, to be ashamed
of ourselves if we don't tow the straight
and narrow line (pun intended). If we've
strayed significantly to the outer edges
of the bell curve, we've failed the
course. As gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgendered people hear day after day,
especially lately here in Traverse City
with the hate mongers in full combat
mode, that we are "sinful", "deviant",
"anti-family'', and other blasphemies.
We hear it from people we don't know,
acquaintances we barely know, and
sometimes even from those who are
closest to us. It begins to wear on us.
How many GLBT people do you know
that bristle any time a remotely anti-gay
sentiment is put forth? I know my spine
tightens when I hear a stupid anti-gay
statement, joke, etc.
Thus, even if you are totally
out, totally open, and totally comfortable
Continued on page 14

DOUGLAS ASHWORTH
REALTQR9

COLOW<?LL
BAN~eRU

SCHMIDT
REALTORS•

Anc1ntW

Accr8dQd

(231) 775-1737 BUSINESS
(231) 775-1798 FAX
(231 I 775-1950 RESIDENCE
(231) 920-6467 CB.1.

L

Mltclleft

Business Accountart

2721 ~NYSIDE OR
CAOII..LAC, Ml 48801

EadlOllceta...,...,.,_AndW

lrm!III Taic Ptlpalatlan arid flllnnng
SmlllBlllillM~

AllcollllilO

Pliant 1231) 947-1-412
Fax 1231)

w-tm

E-NII brllrllleeeal.oam

fRH

~2001

RTH

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Wind.fire

8

FN Board Mtg.
6:30PM@
Grace

10

9

LAMBDAAA
6:30 PM @ Grace

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM @ Grace

Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

11

12

13

LAMBDAAA
6:30 PM @ Grace

14
LAMBDAAA
11:00 am@ Grace

Wind.fire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

15

16

17

18LAMBDAAA

19

20

6;JO I!M @ Gm~

22

23

24

25
LAMBDAAA
6:30 PM @ Grace

Wind.fire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

29

30
Windfire

LAMBDAAA
11 :00 am @ Grace

PFLAG 7:00 PM
@IhirdLevd
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

Wind.fire

21

26
Potluck Social
6:30PM@
Grace

27

28
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@ Grace

~ 2001
.Sun • • ..

Mon - . • .; Tue

-(0) TH

Tllf41tDNC,l'#ft'>~ liJq'l1 . ." ' f - ~

. • Wed
'··

1

FN Board Mtg.
6:J0PM@
Grace
6

7

,

. . -Thu .

2

•
~

3

,

Fri

Sat

4

5

LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Grace

.

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@ Grace

Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P
9

10

11

12
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

15

17
16LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Gme
PFLAG 7:00 PM
@ Ihird Le:rd
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

18

19
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

22

23
LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Grace

25

26
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

8

LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Gm;e
Windfire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P
13

14
Windfire

20

21

High Tea@
City Opera
House 1 PM
27 •

Windfire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

28

29

30
LAMBDAAA
6:30fM@Gme

Windfire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

24

Potluck Social
6:J0PM@
Grace
31

'1,i•.

jww 2001
1

2
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

PRIDE FEST
llam-5pm

3

5

4

6

7

8

LAMBDAAA
Windfire

10

FN Board Mtg.
6:30PM '@
Grace

12

11

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

6:30 PM @ Grace
Friends U .P. NorJi
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

13

14

15

LAMBDAAA

16
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM @ Grace

6:30 PM @ Grace

Windfire

9

Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

17

19

18

2OLAMBDA AA

21

22

6:30 PM @ Grace

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

PFLAG7:00PM

Windfire

23

@ Third Level

Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

24

25

26

27
LAMBDAAA

Windfire

6:30 PM @ Grace
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

28

29

, 30 ,

Ci

LAMBDA AA;;,
11 :00 AM @ Grace

$4 2001
Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Windfire

8

FN Board Mtg.
6:J0PM@
Grace

10

9

LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Grace

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM @ Grace

Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

11

12

13

LAMBDAAA

14
LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@Grace

6:30 fM @ Gr.Ke
Windfire
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel @ 7:00P

15

16

17
Windfire

22

23

24

18LAMBDAAA
6:30 fM @ Grace
PFLAG7:00PM
@ Ihird Levd
Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

19

25

26 -

20

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM @ Grace

27

LAMBDAAA

6:30 fM @ Gr.Ke
Windfire
• Friends U.P. North
Perry Hotel@ 7:00P

29

30

31 .

FN Bike Tour
Windfire

21

28
FNBikeTour

FN Bike Tour
Fri, Sat, Sun

LAMBDAAA
11:00 AM@ Grace

Property of the Center

Real Estate for the Real World ...

Thinking of Selling
or

Buying?
Now is the time!
Linda Zajac and Tom Elliott
Friend and Sponsors of
"Friends North"
Century 21 Pearson-Cook
241 East State Street
Traverse City, MI 49684
Office:
Tom:
Linda:
E-mail:

(231) 941-0444
(231) 883-4866
(231) 938-3267
elliottzajac@nmre.net

••••• •
•
•
•• :• • ••
:
••• •
Friends North of Michigan, Inc.
•.
• •. . are having their annual
.. , .
••
•• • •• • •
•
•
•
••
•
•
•
• • • • • • •• • • • • •

.

...

..... ...

... ... ..

•

• • • •. • • • • • • • • •.•.•, •• •.• • •

••••••

......

• • •• •

A.

~~~-~
~

I

j· -

HIGH TEA ·
Sunday, MAY 20TH at 1:00 p.m.

attheOPERA HQUSEinT.C.

There will be a Silent and Live Auction
plus Great Food and Entertainment
and special guest PRINCESS LAURA

Tickets $15.00
Tickets may be purchased at the Bookie Joint and Side Traxx
or from F.N. Board members or by calling 938-9865

ApriVMay 2001

Networking 45° North

Concert Against
Discrimination a
Success!
By Toni Poole
There was a very exciting and
entertaining event in Traverse City on
Sunday, March 18th . Traverse City
Campaign Against Discrimination
(TCCAD), a grass roots committee
formed to defeat a charter amendment
put forth by a downstate anti-gay group,
held the Concert Against Discrimination
in the sold out Milliken Auditorium.
As part ofTCCAD, I had the
inside privy on the work that went into
the event. Being a regular Sunday attendee at the
I l·ould prnhahl,
Unitarian
\\ 1itL' t \\ ( 1 pd1 c1~raph-, Universalist
I'm 1..·, 1..·n ;1..:1 t h<11
(UU) Congregation in
l\lPk tl11..· -,t:l,:!-L'. hut
Traverse City,
thl'l.l' \\lTL' ()\ l'I ' 1()
I know of the
1K·1-i'orn11..·r-,'
very special
and unique
talent lent to the artistic production by
Kevin Tarsa, UU's music director. Additionally, the task-oriented Phil Hoffman, who gave his time in the position
of production manager, kept things running in an utterly smooth manner. With
marquee names like John Wunsch, Jeff
Hass, and Where's Norman?, there was
no doubt that the event would hold an
evening of surprises, high talent, and
artistic splendor.
I was still blown away. The
evening started with a percussion prelude. Several performers around the

Page 11

auditorium beat on drums and various
noise making devices randomly dispersed throughout the crowd prior to admittance, which encouraged audience
participation. The magic of the drums
was enhanced by an ensemble spread
throughout the audience, making it just
one of several unique experiences of the
evening.
I could probably write two
paragraphs for every act that took the
stage, but there were over 90 performers!
Some highlights for me included a stunning display of guitar mastery by the
award winning local artist John Wunsch.
His "Tango Dorissimo" contained both
an exciting Latin flavor and a rhythmic
flair that found me aching for more at
the last note.
The UU Vocal Ensemble gave
an outstanding performance as usual.
Two UU regulars, Bob Hicks on trumpet
and Shelley Bums with her beautiful
voice interspersed their talents throughout the program. In the middle of the
second act, Mary Anne Rivers gave an
incredible piece with six strings and
voice on her song "We Are Love". As if
that wasn't good enough, Jeff Haas and
Jack Dryden were incredible on piano
and bass respectively with
"Awakenings". A Gaelic offering was
served by The Gael Tones with the wonderful Karen McCarthy and Jackie
Richer awing us with Irish dance. A folk
rock number, "Pete's Song", by local
trio Where's Norman?, also left me
yearning for more. Other notables included the superb Children's Chorus on
two or three different songs, the awesome Karen Kay with her "Out The
Window'', the CAD impromptu orchestra, and of course who doesn't like Keyboard and Plastic Duck's "Spaghetti"?

In between songs, various performers
moved us with heart felt poems, stories,
and spoken word pieces.
I'm sure I must have missed
several acts, but it's hard to remember
them all, especially with my senses overwhelmed while sitting and taking it all
in. Suffice it to say that the total talent
on the Milliken Auditorium stage that
night eclipsed the best professional concerts I have ever attended.
After the concert, I sat at the
TCCAD information table and person
after person told me how much they
liked the concert, many proclaiming they
were moved to tears. I've been a part of
TCCAD for about a year now, and I can
honestly say that I have never been more
proud of our accomplishments than I
was for the Concert Against Discrimination. I'm sure there are bigger and better
,things to come, especially in November,
but this musical extravaganza was definitely the first major high point of the
year for me. Talk after the concert
among the volunteers was peppered with
comments of the "next time", with
thoughts of a fall date. I'm excited already!
TCCAD may be a grass roots
campaign, but the sheer organization and
style of this concert showed me that as a
community we can come together and be
a force to be reckoned with - and one
that the big anti-gay organizations from
downstate and out-of-state should take
seriously. More importantly, it shows
me that the talent and intelligence in this
community is significantly bigger and
more prestigious than a few anti-gay nay
Sayers stirring up trouble. If you'd like
to contribute in any way to the campaign's efforts, please call 883-1058.

Tom Elliott ~.,a

~21.

Linda Zajac ••• • '

Pearson-Cook
241 E. Stale St.
T •averse C11y, Michigan 49686
Business (800) 424:9618
Ce I To:T (23 ~) 893--1866
Residence L1ri":1a ,231: 938-3267

fax i2~ 1) 941-7125

~,_/i..ify

"4'

&,uu wilh ..L,utalun n

Assoc ate Broker REALTOR

.l}ldlolli?ru.n
(616) 947-8908
Todd A. lldlllln

326 E. ~,ont Street • Trave~e City, Ml 49684

Networking 45° North

Reviews of Our Supporting
Advertisers
In Touch Chiropractic
and Healing Center
by Gwen Sanford
I have seen Dr. Suzette Corbit's ad in our newsletter for a long
time now and have read some articles
written by her in The Healing Garden
newspaper. So when I hurt my back a
few weeks ago, and naturally wanted to
turn to someone in the community for
help, my first choice was Dr. Corbit.
So I called and made an appointment.
Although not sure that she would be the
right chiropractor, I felt the only way to
find out was to meet her.
I place great value on first impressions when meeting someone new.
I try to find that inner connection where
our energy fields merge. Do they feel
synchronous, or is there an uncomfortable feeling? This may seem a rather
odd way to determine whether or not
you like a doctor, but I have done it the
other way for most ofmy life. Now it's
time for my inner self to have a say in
my decision-making. So far it hasn't
failed me.
When I arrived for my appointment, I found her office to be
modest, but certainly adequate. Dr.
Corbit was in the adjoining room with a
patient, but soon came out to greet me
and have me start filling out the medical survey. I dido 't seem to feel anything uncomfortable so far, so went to
work on the forms.
She soon finished with her patient, and turned her attention to me. I
liked her straightforward and friendly
approach immediately. After the forms
were completed, she spent some time
describing Chiropractic Care, and how
and why it works. Then she started a
physical assessment of my skeleton.

Page 12

April/May 200 I

This is the point where l was sure she
was indeed a person that I could relate
to. Touch is a biggie with me. I believe
you can tell a lot about a person by their
touch and the energy that surrounds
them.
I have been going back to Dr.
Corbit on several occasions since the
first meeting, and my lower back feels
trouble free. Not only my back, but also
my neck is much better, and I don't need
the wrist splint to keep my hand from
going numb when I sleep. And it is especially wonderful to leave her office
feeling like it is no effort at all to stand
straight.
Perhaps I should add that if you
have had "not so good" experiences with
other chiropractic doctors, it is my opinion that Dr. Corbit's Chiropractic Care is
light years ahead of my prior experience.
She explains what she is doing and is
happy to answer the "dwnb questions"
that I come up with. And, she doesn't
hurt me - a nice thing. Would I recommend her to anyone else? Absolutely!
Dr. Corbit's office is located on
Veterans Drive just north of South Airport Road in the Town Hall Office
Building. It is on the top floor, so you
may want to drive around to the rear of
the building.

Planned
Parenthood
Continued from page 9
purchase condoms will experience the
same atmosphere of openness. PPNM
staff do not make assumptions about a
client's sexual orientation or behavior.
PPNM is designated by the
Michigan Department of Community
Health as a HIV counseling and testing
site. Testing can be done on an anonymous or confidential basis.
In addition to the clinical
services, PPNM offers a wealth of information -- books, videos, pamphlets -- on a
wide variety of sexual health topics. Supplies including both male and female condoms, Slippery Stuff, and Hot Lixx are
for sale at PPNM -- at terrific prices!
PPNM has three health centers
located in Marquette, Petoskey, and Traverse City. The health centers are open
Monday through Friday including evening hours twice a week. The Petoskey
health center is also open on Saturday
mornings once a month. Fees for services
are very reasonable, and teens can receive
services free. For information or to
make an appointment, call 929-1844
(Traverse City) or 347-9692 (Petoskey)
or 225-5074 (Marquette).

[I
Volunteers getting the newsletter
ready for mailing at Copy World.

Networking 45° North

April/May 200 I

Page 13

An excerpt from the soon to be published
The Big Book of Great Lake Folklore
As told by Appaloosa
Edited by Craig Philip Richard
I first met Appaloosa years
ago, while I was still studying Anthropology at Olivet College. I drove to
Interlochen to visit my parents for a
long weekend. It was an unusually hot
August day. I had decided to hike, in
my typical rustic fashion, from Interlochen to Acme, with the intention of
camping somewhere in the state forest
along Four Mile Road just outside of
Traverse City.
My canteen was almost
empty. It was about nine p.m. The
sun had just dipped below the horizon,
but was still almost ninety degrees.
There was no noticeable breeze. I had
walked most of the day wearing only
my hiking shorts and boots. Yet, I had
been unable to get relief from the oppressive heat.
As I rounded a bend in the
trail there was, standing right in front
of me, a young man the likes of which
I had never seen. He was about 5'10"
tall wearing only a buckskin breechcloth and moccasins. He also wore a
small collar of white plumes around

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his neck. His ears each had about five
holes in them and were fringed with
beads. His nose was pierced with an
ornamented stone that dangled over
his upper lip.
Appaloosa's deep, olive skin
glowed in the light of the evening sun.
His build was slight, as ifhe was not
well nourished, but he was well muscled. His legs resembled those of a
marathon runner and had no body hair

whatsoever. He wore his hair in typical
Ottawa fashion: head shaved except for
a strip in the middle, all combed up toward the forehead, rather short, and
sticking straight up. He looked to be
about twenty years old.
A large knife was resting in his
belt. I was immediately struck by its
composition. I had only seen such
things at the Museum of the American
Indian at Michigan State University.
The blade was of hammered copper.
The bone handle I immediately recognized as being of the late Dahagan family. Such a thing had not been locally
produced in over eight hundred years.
But the blade showed no signs of corrosion. It appeared to have been hammered the day before!
Appaloosa's smile was sincere.
His teeth were large and straight, white
and shiny as wet marble. As he introduced himself, his eyes began to investigate me. I had the feeling that he was
taking more than a curious interest in my
anatomical features. I had the uneasy
feeling that he knew exactly what I
looked like underneath my clothing.
Appaloosa took particular interest in the hair on my chest and legs.
When he lifted a finger to touch my
chest I pretended not to be alarmed. He
began to run his finger very slowly
across my skin. He looked me straight in
the eye and asked me ifl had a wife, his
face almost touching mine. When I told
him that I did not he immediately asked
me how many husbands I had. His English was perfect but I couldn't make
sense of the question. I felt as if I were
going to faint. The ground on which we
stood began to slowly spin. Then it
seemed as though I were viewing the
scene from far, far above. From that
height I could barely make out the spot
on which we stood. I recognized the features of the Lake Michigan basin. I followed the course of the Boardman River
as it meandered down the hills from the
south toward the Great Lake. But

Boardman Lake was not there! In its
place were tall beech and slippery elm
trees, numerous small groups of sleek
deer, and rolling grasses.
I realized that Traverse City
was no longer there. There wasn't a
building in sight. No cars, no airport, no
roads. The entire area was virgin forest!
Here and there wisps of smoke from
small fires slipped up through the pines
into the silent, silvery-blue sky.
Again I heard the young man's
voice. A wave of nausea passed over
me.
I was once again staring into Appaloosa's face. He was telling me about
something from his boyhood.
As he spoke, a large turkey vulture soared into view over the hill to the
southwest. Appaloosa rotated his head
to follow the flight of the large scavenger while the sun glanced across the surface of his left eye. For about a half second I thought I saw some kind of tiny
digital readout in the iris. There appeared
to be four quadrants in the readout. The
numerals were not Arabic. Their appearance did not resemble any system with
Continued page 13, see Appaloosa

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the sky. The air had finally begun to
cool. I still did not feel well. I rubbed
my face in my hands. When I looked up
again Appaloosa was gone. I called out
his name repeatedly, but to no avail. I
would not see him again for months. All
of our subsequent meetings would have
the same air of ephemeral and spontaneous mystery to them.

Appaloosa
Cont. from page 13
which I was familiar, although there were
some stylistic affinities with Old Kingdom , Egyptian glyphs. The numbers
were in constant, rapid motion.
To this day I have no explanation for the strange appearance of his left
eye. It may simply have been the heat of
the day and my exhaustion playing tricks
on my mind. I asked Appaloosa more
than once about it. He seemed not to
even understand the question. I soon
gave up the inquiry.
Appaloosa told me that he had
been following me for the last three
hours.
From the start, he seemed especially eager
to share with me the details of his village
and clan. He wanted me to meet his
friends. I immediately learned of some of
his clan's myths, games, songs, and
dances. And he told me the story of how
the stars were created, an account full of
improbable proportions and grand homosexual imagery.
By nine forty-five p.m. the light
of the sun had all but disappeared from

Proudly
Unashamed
Cont. from page 10
with who you are as a person; I believe
that an itty-bitty teeny tiny morsel of
shame creeps into your being from hearing the anti-gay rhetoric. Most of us
simply verbalize that we aren't ashamed,
and many times that regurgitates the
morsel from your soul. Often it isn't
effective, or at least, not always (for me
personally). So, I took the battle a step
further - I fought back visually with a

Get In Touch
.with your Mind,,
Body & Spirit
• Gentle Chiropractic

• Massage Therapy

Dr. Suzette Corbit, D.C.

3 3 0 1

V

e

Drive, Suite 215 •
49684
Res: 231-922-9272 Office: 23! -9;,3-9388
t e r a n s

Carolyn R. Delo
Sale:i & Leasing
Phone 231/946-.5540 • Fa, 23 lf9.16-0258
UOl S. Garfield Road • Tm a St: Citv . \ fl .t%Rfi
2311486-8904 • Toll

I-re, 8{(\/\J.f2

4

7

2

4

e-nMil: carolynd@tra\crsemotor;.com

1:\

OPENT}~
Ml~

• Wellness Education
• Stress Reduction

.\ ~mmrl Hr11fu,g Wt,y

i.1/

rectangular piece of self-adhesive,
mass-produced art - the bumper
sticker.
The point for me isn't to
tell everyone how proud I am to be
part of the GLBT continuum. I finally realized for me that the real objective is to say I'm not ashamed of
that fact, which I think can be different. While I see no reason to be
proud I' m transsexual, I've worked
very hard to gain the honesty and
self-respect that allowed me to accept
it. I am proud of that. The bumper
sticker acts as an antidote and reinforcement against the influx of shame
others try to inject into me. It's a
way to quietly say, "Go away, your
services aren't needed" to the homo/
transphobic crowd attempting to burn
their poisonous brand of morality
into our brains.

verse
tors

In Touch ChiroP-ractic

. Hn ubu

Page 14

April/May 200 I

Networking 45° North

T r a v e

rs e

C i t y,

M l

Par ti~ ipatin g Prov i d er wi t h Blu e C r oss / B lu e S hi eld

Weekdays
8:00 am - Midnight
SAT • 10 :0 0 - 5:00
SUN• 12:00 - 5;00

Networking 45° North

Letter Page

Friends My name is Linda Dear. I just
moved up from downstate and found a
great house to rent in a great location
and would like a roommate or two. I'm
female, 35, professional, and lesbian.
Would prefer to live with my own kindgay / lesbian, etc. I am not looking for a
relationship this is strictly a roommate
quest. Thought I'd go this route before
placing an ad in local papers. House
particulars: 116 N. Oak, Traverse City,
cross-streets: Oak & Front, 5 bedrooms:
4 upstairs, I downstairs ( 2 have small
view of bay), 2 full baths: upper/ lower,
Lots of room - house privileges, Full
Basement - a lot of storage space, Front
porch, Enclosed back porch - lots of
windows, 3 blocks from Bay / 2 blocks
from downtown.
I am the responsible lease
holder. My rent is $1400 + utilities. So,
that's $700 + utilities with {I) other person, or $470 + utilities with (2) additional people. My lease allows me to
sublease, however all tenants must be
nonsmokers and no additional pets. The
landlords made allowance for my small
dog but no additional animals. Just a
note, the landlords are lawyers whose
office is next door so any deviations
from my lease are not an option.
This is a great alternative to the
small and very expensive housing options for downtown. It truly is a great
house!
Thank you for any help you
may provide.
You may reach at all times on
my cell phone: 231-883-9175
Sincerely,
Linda Dear

t,.pril/May 200 I

FAQ's
Taken from the
Traverse City
Campaign Against
Discrimination
Web Site
www.tccad2000.org

Q: Why is the downstate group working to amend the city charter?
A: The downstate group is virulently
anti-gay. Because the City Commission's resolution says we should oppose
discrimination based on sexual orientation -- a characteristic that EVERY human possesses -- the group somehow
sees this as applying only to homosexual
people. They are trying to circumvent
our legislative process, since the City
Commission --the people elected to represent us -- overwhelmingly opposes discrimination.
Q: Who is circulating the petition?
A: An ultra-conservative, anti-gay group
based in Tupelo Mississippi is behind
the petition drive. Using misleading and
inflammatory language, this same group
has worked to repeal nondiscrimination
ordinances elsewhere in Michigan. They
also continue to work in other cities to
deny gay, lesbian and bisexual people
protections from discrimination.
Q: What does the petition seek?
A: The petition seeks a permanent
amendment to our City Charter (the
city's version ofa U.S. Constitution).
The amendment would make it impossible for the city to ever pass a law or policy that would protect a gay, lesbian or
bisexual person from discrimination.
Q: Aren't gay people already protected from discrimination?
A: No. There are no laws in Traverse
City -or at the state or federal level- that
prevent a person from being fired, or
denied housing or public accommodation because of their actual or perceived
sexual orientation.
Q: Then what did the City Commission's non-discrimination resolution
do?
A: The resolution passed in February did
not change any laws or policies. The

Page 15

resolution was a statement of principle
that the City Commission opposes discrimination. The resolution is not binding in any way.
Q: Isn't the resolution just a first step
toward a law?
A: Two members of the City Commission who supported the nondiscrimination resolution have said that they are not
sure whether they would support a law
banning discrimination based on sexual
orientation. No such law is proposed.
Any new legislation would require a majority vote of the City Commission.
Q: What can I do?
A: You can educate your friends and
neighbors about this assault on Traverse
City. You can help them understand that
the innocent-sounding language these
people will put on the ballot will actually
make it LEGAL to discriminate against
. gay, lesbian and bisexual people. Your
can get active and volunteer your energy
and donate!
Q: What if this conflicts with my religious beliefs?
A: There are no policies or laws either in
place or proposed that would force a person to behave in a way contrary to their
religious beliefs. The downstate group
will use a variety of scare tactics to have
you think otherwise. Mainstream people
of faith --people of all religions -- believe that all humans should be treated
equally, and therefore oppose the extremist measures being proposed by the
anti-gay group.
Q: Is there discrimination in Traverse
City now?
A: Yes! The city Commission and Human Rights Commission have had numerous gay people testify before them
regarding acts of discrimination in Traverse City.
Q: What happens if this ballot measure passes?
A: The charter amendment would handcuff our elected officials, preventing
them from ever passing any iaws or policies that could protect gay, lesbian and
bisexual people from discrimination. For
example, it would be possible for the
city to exclude people from public housing based merely on their sexual orientation. Worse, it would portray Traverse
City as an uninviting, unwelcoming city.
That would be bad for everyone who
lives and works here.

Networking 45° North

Page 16

April/May 2001

On The Headboard and Beside The Bed
By Dianna Johnson
Several of the titles that I
have read over the past couple of
months are definitely gay and lesbian
fiction, some have been selected as
Lambda Award finalists (winners will
be announced in June, check out the
Lambda Book Report for other titles),
but I am finding more and more that
the Gay and Lesbian Literature section
is shrinking because titles are being
mainstreamed and put beside Charles
Dickens and Ernest Hemingway. I
read Tea by Stacey D' erasmo because
it is a finalist, but before the list came
out it slipped through my fingers. I
didn't know a thing about it. It was
shelved in the literature section, not
the ''Lesbian lit'' section which I keep
an eye on. Wow! A lesbian author is
shelved in the regular lit section!
Christopher Rice, a flaming gay man,
is shelved in literature, but anyone
who reads his books says, "Oh yea,
there are some pretty blatant homoerotic scenes in his book, aren't
there?" Armistead Maupin's Tales of
the City is also shelved in lit. Maybe
it's just that Borders' is starting to integrate these titles, but maybe there's
hope that gays and lesbians are on the
edge of being considered regular, ordinary, mainstream people, too.
A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice took my preconceived notions completely off guard I expected
fluff. The son of a well-established
author writes this book and I had wonderings of nepotism. I knew that Ms.
Anne Rice surely got her son's book
published by pulling some strings in
that mysterious publishing underworld. Coat tails came to mind.
George W. came to mind.
I should not judge. After
about the second page, all of those
thoughts went right out the window.
This kid is a good writer. He knows a
lot for 18 years old and his ability to
put you in the middle of the story is
masterful. There are four main characters-Brandon, Meredith, Greg, and
Stephen-high school kids who grew
up together and they are trying to find
their place in the world. How do foot-

ball jocks (Brandon and Greg) shake
memories, homophobia, and same sex attraction (and action)? Of course, they target the guy that they believe was responsible, the "out" fag in school (Stephen). This
is the core to a story that is dark and haunting and I couldn't put it down. Rice is
very skillful in giving the reader pieces of
the puzzle without the box top so you
really don't know what it looks like and
the only way to find out is to keep reading.
Several questions aren't answered until the
last few pages and it is exceptional to the
very end.
Beyond the Pale by Elana Dykewomon is an extremely well written, wellresearched story about Russian Jews in the
late 1800's who live in the Jewish settlement called ''the Pale". It is very rich in
history as well as anti-Semitism. There is
an enormous wealth of information about
how the Christians persecuted, controlled,
harassed, and condescended to their Jewish
brothers and sisters as a means of creating
themselves as more important. Life in the
Pale was difficult and dangerous and the
idea of getting to the United States where
"streets were paved with gold" was their
life goal. The main characters, Rose and
Chava, become aware of women loving
each other, transgenderism, and organizing
unions all at the same time, after coming to
America.
Some things that occurred to me
while reading this remarkable tale-how
awful must it have been to immigrate to
this country, even though there were so
many promises. Think about transporting
across the ocean with many others without
any form of fresh food or clean water, not
to mention overflowing toilets and seasickness. Where does all that vomit go? Then
once you get to Ellis Island and get
"accepted" and have your name changed to
something less ethnic, where do you go?
You take another boat to the lower tip of
Manhattan with a suitcase and a glazed
look in your eye? This is definitely an
awesome read; makes me appreciate a little
more what my ancestors went through to
get their bloodline here.
I only wish that ALL Lambda
award finalists were of the quality of
Beyond the Pale (1997) and A Density of

Souls. Tea by Stacey D'erasmo
makes me realize how few good titles
are out there with a gay theme.
There's some great stuff happening in
this book, but after the millionth obvious metaphor hits you over the head ...
there are glimpses of good fiction, but
it seems we learn EXACTLY what
D'erasmo learned in Creative Writing
101. Her symbol, tea, gets beaten to
death. One part of the book got my
attention though, a highlight: the main
character, Isabelle, faces a chance to
take her life with pills in her hand and
die the way her mother did, by committing suicide. D'erasmo did a superb job of tracing the character's
thoughts during this scene. It's a good
exchange, a good dynamic and well
set up. There's something that good
lit does for me that this didn't do.
Someone said to me, if you leave a
movie and say, "Those special effects
were really good" ... then are they
really? If the metaphor and symbolism and foreshadowing is so obvious
in a book on the first read, is it good
fiction? It doesn't work for me.
I have a feeling that I will be
committing blasphemy with my next
review. I finally read Tales of the
City by Armistead Maupin and I have
to say I wasn't really that impressed. I
know that it is considered "classic"
gay fiction, and I know it was ground
breaking at the time. Gay people didn't exist in fiction, much less live next
door. But it seemed too simple; no
chapter read more than four pages.
There is a lot of dialogue and seems to
have been written, not as a great piece
of lit, but as a B-rated screenplay
(which I realize it was.) It is interesting in the sense that it suggestively
describes 1970's San Francisco at the
height of bathhouses, one nighters,
cruising, free love and lots and lots of
sex-pre Aills. Entertaining but not
extraordinary, just an eyes wide-open
view of gay life in San Francisco in
the 70's.
If Tales of the city is a first
hand account of gay SF in the 70's
then Valencia is one oflesbian SF in

Networking 45° North

April/May 2001

Page 17

On The Headboard
cont. from pg. 15
9 3

If Tales of the city
is a first hand account of gay SF in the
70's then Valencia is one oflesbian
SF in the new millennium. YIKES
Dykes!! And lots ofthem ... Michelle
Tea takes us on a thrill ride through
the Mission district of San Francisco
where girls and drugs corrupt her
every thought. I particularly liked her
images of the Dyke March during
Pride. However, by the middle of the
book, same girl, same drugs or different ones, I started not to really care.
Her writing style is like she is journaling, fast paced in some places, but
same old topics ... girls and drugs.
Gets old.

6ooketo Note (wi1ttout
g/ll'o/t U1emea)
Expecting Adam by Martha
Beck; Beck, a scholar with two Harvard degrees, becomes pregnant with a
Down's syndrome baby and everything she knows turns upside down. It
all shakes out and she comes to huge
realizations about people's perceptions
and her own priorities. Every page
closer to the end made me sad that it
was closer to over. Beck writes so we
that we not only see her grow, we feel
her grow as well. It's inspirational
and funny and jabs at Harvard and it's
scholarly society.
Vagina Monologues by Eve
Ensler; empowering, sometimes
funny, sometimes sad essays about
your "down there". Started a huge
feminist movement called V-day created to stop violence toward women.
An absolute must for your feminist
bookshelf.
Winterdance by Gary
Paulsen; Sheila and I read this out
loud while road tripping to Ann Arbor.
I'm sure there were times when she
couldn't see the road for the laughing
tears. This book should be read for a
number ofreasons: 1) Belly laughing
has been proven by medical experts to
be good for you. 2) It gives a great
first hand account and appreciation for

l:DOlltUiWWW! ■ BW&a

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what the dogs go through (and mushers) on
the Iditarod. 3) Paulsen is an outstanding
storyteller. 4) Paulsen's passion for dogs,
the race and sledding is catching. I wonder
how I would do on the Iditarod? Just need
some dogs .... my favorite passages were
training with the old bicycle, buffalo
games, the five skunk night, the coyote and
his amazing hunting style and any story
that included Devil.

0
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~

:)

~

JQ-May I ask a question?
FN-Sure, go ahead.
JQ-Isn't there supposed to be a
cool spring function coming up?
HIGH TEA, MAY 20th!
FN-Ahh-well yeah. Do you
read the newsletter much?
HIGH TEA, MAY 20th!
JQ-Well sure; when I get time.
FN-Have you read much of this
issue yet?
JQ-Nope. Haven't had a
chance
HIGH TEA, MAY 20TH!
JQ-Say, you
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don't suppose
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FRIENDS NORTH 10th ANNUAL BIKE TOUR 2001
Friends North is sponsoring our 10th annual bike tour in beautiful Benzie County!
This bike tour is intended for G,L,B, T and their friends. It will be held the weekend of
July 27, 28, 29 2001. This is a biking, camping and canoeing/kayaking weekend on a 15acre private ranch. The activities this year will be a Friday night Welcome reception
with a Pasta Extravaganza prepared by our site hosts Sheryl and Hilda. Also a Sunday
afternoon canoe/kayak trip down the Platte River (bring your own canoe, kayak, tube or
rentals available). Afterward meet us on the beach, we'll have a grill and volleyball net
(BYOStuft). All this along with our beautiful various bike tours on Saturday and the
fun-filled dinner at the ranch on Saturday night. No hints about the entertainment will
be allowed©
Your registration/donation to Friends North will include:
• Weekend camping, 2-3 nights, camper/trailers welcome, no hook-ups.
• Routed bike tours Saturday with varying route lengths to choose from for all
riding abilities.
• Canoe/kayak/tube down the Platte River Sunday, with everyone meeting at the
beach for grilling and beach volleyball.
• Sumptuous dinners both Friday & Saturday catered on site for added convenience.
• Continental breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.
• Friends North bike tour 2001 T-shirt.

If you know enough about the tour and would like to sign up now, please fill
out the registration/release form and send it back to us with your donation
check. (Those registering before May 20, 2001 may send in the reduced rate).
Students and those with limited funds (who would not participate in the tour
because of cost) have a discounted rate.
LOGO CONTEST - Design our 10th anniversary logo and win a free Bike
Tour weekend. Logo must be a one color design and will need to be submitted by June 1st to be considered. If you send your registration in prior and
your submittal is chosen, your registration will be reimbursed for your prize.
We will send out directions and more about the weekend by early July. In the meantime, if
you have questions about the tour you may call Kirk Mallow at 231-933-3311, E-mail Tim
Schmidt at TCTimber@aol.com or Rose Clement at RSCNGC@aol.com.
We look forward to having you join us for OUR TENTH ANNUAL beautiful weekend in
Northern Michigan!

Univi1i l1~[11l~11ii jJ ~il11f1[~11li1~i~11~11md,OK
M 001 111 485

FRIENDS NORTH BIKE TOUR 2001 • REGISTRATION FORM
Please fill out an individual form for each participant
NAME: ........................................................................................................................ .

ADDRESS: .................................................................................................................... .
CITY, STATE, ZIP: .......................................................................... PHONE: ..................... .
CIRCLE SHIRT SIZE: M

L

XL

2XL

3XL

4XL

SXL

YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS: ................................................................................................ .
EMERGENCY CONTACT PERSON (NOT ON THE TOUR)
NAME: .................................................................................. PHONE: ............................. .
Check donation:

.......... $70.00 Full Weekend Package - discounted rate prior to May 20th
Full Weekend Package - after May 20th
.......... $55.00 Full Weekend Package - Limited funds
.......... $15.00 1 year membership to Friends North
.......... Interested in participating in the Sunday Canoe (11 :00 a.m.)

..........

$85.00

Enclose check or money order payable to Friends North and send to:
Friends North Bike Tour, P.O. Box 332, Grawn Michigan 49637

Canoe/Kayak rates: Please note that each individual is responsible for paying for the rental of
their own canoe/kayak on Sunday afternoon.
Canoe - $28.00 for two people in canoe, $36.00 for three people in canoe
Kayak - $20.00 for one person, $40.00 for two person
Tube - $15.00 for one person

In signing below, I state that I am 18 years of age or older and I understand
the hazards involved in riding a bicycle on busy highways. I accept the risks
involved as a participant of this bike tour as my own. I will not nor will any of
my heirs, bold Friends North or the organizers and site owners of this event in
any way responsible or liable for any accident, injuries, mishap, trauma, or
loss that may occur at any time during this weekend activity.
Signature: ..................................................... Date: .......................... .
Riders registering after 7/15/2001 are not assured a T-shirt. Cancellations made prior to 7/7/2001 will
receive½ of the original donation. After 7/14/2001 NO refunds will be made.
Please contact to receive a parental consent form if under the age of 18. Please contact to receive information on Financial
Hardship Scholarship.

Networking 45° North

Page20

April/May 2001

RESOURCES
State And National Hotlines
Department of Justice............ 800-347-4283
Gay/Lesbian National Youth ............ .
800-347-TEEN (8336)
Michigan Wellness Networks ............ .
800-872-AIDS (2437)
Triangle Hate Crime Reporting.......... .
877-7-TRIANGLE (877-787-42640)

Statewide Services
ACLU Of Michigan ........................ .
1249 Washington Blvd., Suite 209,
Detroit,
MI
48220
Office ......................... 248-398- 7105
Help Line ................. , ...... 800-398-4297
E-mail ................. michaclu@aol .com
WWW .. ............... http://michigan.aclu.oriy

thebody.com/lambdahtml
NGLTF (National Gay & Lesbian Task
Force), 2320 Seventeenth St. NW,
Washington
DC
20009-2702
Ph .. 202-332-6483
FAX.. 202-332-0207
WWW ......................http://www.ngtlf.oriy
PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays), 1101 14th St. NW,
Suite 1030, Washington DC 2005
Ph.. 202-638-420
Email..info@pflag.org
WWW ......... ............ http://www.pflag.oriy

Lesbian and Gay Aging Issues Network
WWW ............. http://www.asaging.
org/lgain.html

Local Spiritual
Circle of the Sacred Earth,
Rev. Nancy Hayward ............. 231-223-7999

Lansing Association of Human Rights ..... .
PO Box 18062, Lansing, MI 48826
Phone ...................... 517-332-3200
http://www.macatawaoriy~lahr

Journey in Light Ministries,
Rev. Linda L. Wilson .............231-271-2529

Triangle Foundation ..... .
19641 W. Seven Mile Rd., Detroit, MI
313-357-3323 ....... Fax ..... 313-537-3379
WWW .............. ........... http://www.tri.org

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Grand
Traverse, Rev. Emmy Lou Belcher, 6726
Center Rd., Traverse City, MI 49686
Home.. 231-938-9079 Office.. 231-947-3117

OLSEN
WWW ............ www.GLSEN-Michigan.org

Unity Church, Rev. Judy Grimes,
3600 Five Mile Rd., Traverse City,
MI 49686 ..........................231-938-9587

National Services

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of
Petoskey, PO Box 873, Petoskey,
MI 49770 .......................... 231-347-8916

OLSEN (Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education
Network), 121 West 127th St.,,Suite 804,
New York, NY 10001.. ....... 212-727-0135
WWW ......... ......... http://www.GLSEN.oriy
Gender PAC ..............New York, NY
WWW ................. .... http://www.gpac.oriy
HRC (Human Rights Campaign), 919 18th
Street NW, Washington DC 20006
Ph.. 202-628-4 I 60
FAX.. 202-34 7-5323
E-mail ........................ hrc@hrc.org
WWW ................... .... http://www.hrc.oriy
IFGE (International Foundation for Gender
Education), PO Box 540229, Waltham, MA
02454-0229
FAX.. 781-899-5703
Ph.. 781-899-2212
E-mail ................... info@ifge.org
WWW ................... ....http://www.ifge.org
LAMBDA Legal Defense & Education
Fund, 120 Wall St., Suite 1500, New York,
NY 10005 ........................ 212-809-8585
Fax ................................. 212-809-0055
WWW ........................ http://www.

Local Counseling
CDRS (free substance abuse referral)
Phone .............................. 231-929-13 l 5
Toll-Free ........................... 800-686-0749
THIRD LEVEL Crisis Intervention Center,
1022 E. Front St., Traverse City, Ml
49686 ........... 231-922-4800
Toll-Free .................. 800-442-7315
WWW ...... http://www.travese.net/
members/third level/

Local HIV/AIDS Health
Counseling & Information
HIV Testing Anonymous

& Confidential

Community Health Clinic (same day)
Phone .............................. 231-929-4448
Grand Traverse County Health Dept.
Phone .............................. 231-922-4831
Planned Parenthood Northern Michigan
Phone .................... 800-230-PLAN (7526)
Thomas
Judd
Care
Center
Phone .............................. 231-935-8140
Emmet County Health Dept.
Phone .............................. 231-347-6014
Wellness Networks ......... 231-933-0279
Toll-Free ........................... 800-947-1160
WWW.... http://www.WellnessNetworks.org

Local Service/Social/Political
Common Voices: The Friends North Rap
Group, Call Tom ................. 231-275-6127
Friends North of Michigan, PO Box 562,
Traverse City, MI 49685-0562
Northern Michigan Help Line
Phone ............................231-946- I 804
E-mail. ................. .info@friendsnorth.org
WWW ....... .... http://www.friendsnorth.org
OLSEN, PO Box 9, Traverse City, MI
49685-0685 ........................ 231-943-5050
WWW ...... www. TraverseAreacom/GLSEN
E-mail. ........... GLSEN@TraverseAreacom
Gay Alcoholics Anonymous,
Grace
Episcopal Church, Traverse City
Call
John .............................231-922-0746 or
Hilda................................231-938-9294
WINDFIRE Gay & Lesbian Youth Support
Group... Call Third Level for location &
time ............................... 231-922-4800
Toll-Free ............................ 800-442-7315
Human Rights Commission .......... 922-4447

WOMAN'S RESOURCE CENTER
Phone ............................... 231-941-1210
Susan Odgers, PhD .................... 946-0331
Barbara Jones Smith, PhD ............ 947-1444
Bay Area Counseling, LLC ........... 933-4009
Susan RBreuer, PhD, Benzonia.... 882-4455

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,
Transgendered?
Have Questions, Need Help?
Call the Northern Michigan
Help Line
231-946-1804