HerlandVoice-1995-11-v13-no11_ocr.pdf

Title: HerlandVoice-1995-11-v13-no11_ocr.pdf
extracted text: 'Ifie

HERLANDV ICE
November, 1995

LESBIANS SEE RESULTS
AT WORLD CONFERENCE
ON WOMEN
A concerted effort by lesbian activists has led to
unprecedented recognition of lesbian concerns at the United
Nations Fourth World Conference on Women . .The "F1atform For
Action" adopted at the Conference includes strong language
recognizing women's right to have control over and decide freely
on matters relating their sexuality "free of coercion,
discrimination or violence," and tireless lobbying by over 30
members of the Lesbian Caucus resulted in significant support for
the inclusion of language specifically recognizing the existence of
discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Early Friday morning, in the final hours of negotiations,
the 185 governments present at the Conference debated the
inclusion of the term "sexual orientation" in four actions of the
Platform. After a heated debate in which many countries spoke
for and against the language, Chair Patricia Licuanan noted that
although sexual orientation was an issue that was sure to be raised
again in the future, without consensus she had no choice but to
strike it from the document. Among the countries speaking in
favor of retaining the language on sexual orientation were South
Africa, Jamaica, Barbados, Canada, the United States, Cuba,
Brazil, Slovenia, Colombia, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and
the countries of the European Union. The countries opposing the
language included Libya, Sudan, Uganda, and Syria.
"This Conference represents a significant victory for
. lesbians," commented Rachel Rosenbloom, Lesbian Project
Coordinator at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights
Commission (IGLRHRC). "At the last World Conference on
Women ten years ago, only one country -- the Netherlands -spoke out in support of lesbians, and at this conference over 30
countries have done so. The debate that occurred gives some
indication of the battles that lesbians must keep fighting all over
the world to gain recognition of their rights, but this conference
lays a firm groundwork for future action at the local, national, and
international level."
One of the paragraphs in question states in its final form
that "many women face particular barriers because of such factors
as "their race, age, language, ethnicity, culture, religion, disability
or other status or because they are indigenous people." While
sexual orientation was removed from this list, several countries
went on record as saying that they interpreted "other status" to
include sexual orientation.
IGLHRC was one of eleven lesbian and gay groups
Volume 13 Number 11

accredited to attend the World Conference on Women, and was a
central organizer of lesbian activities at both the Conference and
the parallel Non-Governmental Forum on Women. At the
Conference, IGLHRC released a report entitled Unspoken Rules:
Sexual Orientation and Women's Human Rights which details
human rights violations against lesbians in 31 countries around
the world.
At both the Conference and the Forum, lesbians from
every region of the world were active in unprecedented numbers
and brought a broad range of issues to the attention of conference
participants. On September 10, Human Rights Day at the
Conference, lesbian activists hung a large purple banner
proclaiming "Lesbian Rights are Human Rights!" during the
afternoon plenary session, and on Septembfr 13, South African
lesbian activist Palesa Beverley Ditsie received a standing ovation
when she addressed the assembled delegates at another plenary
session on behalf of IGLHRC and over 50 other nongovemmenta1 organizations. ~
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JAZZ lf1()l?

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Celebrate Mary Reynolds Night
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inOKC
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on November 4 with Miss Bown to You
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~ in concert at 8 PM at the First Unitarian Church.
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The concert will benefit REST,
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Oklahoma City's day shelter for the homeless. ~
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Tickets are $10 in advance and available at
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Rainbow Records.
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'41

NOTICE!

. Sister Resources will be
closed the weekend of Thanksgiving
(November 25-26). It's not too early to
start thinking about that gift for someone
special this holiday season. Drop on by
Herland and do your shopping with us!

Herland Sister Resources

2312 NW 39, OKC, OK 73112

REALITY CHECK
Dear St Sybil,
You don't think you're going to get away without
commenting on the Simpson decision and the race division in this
country, do you?
Thanking you in advance,
Jess Wondrin
Dear Jess,
Okay. First of all , keep in mind that about a third of
white Americans think Simpson should have been found Not
· Guilty, and about a third of black Americans think he should have
been found Guilty; so the divide is not quite as immense as people
are making out.
Secondly, keep in mind the old fable about the group of
blind men "seeing" an elephant for the first time. The one up front
at the trunk thought Elephant was mighty like a snake; one at the
ears thought Elephant was like a fan, useful on a summer day; one
at the legs thought Elephant must be a tree - the one thing they all
agreed on, was that Elephant was mighty smelly; and I think that's
the one thing universally agreed on about the Simpson trial as
well. BUT, my point is not that the trail was malodorous but that
people looking at it from different positions, different
perspectives, are bound to perceive very different things . The
black and white experience with the police and the justice system
in this country is so disparate that it is a wonder there is any
convergence of opinion on the case at all. It is neither surprising
nor unreasonable that a large number of black Americans feel that
the Los Angeles police department is very capable of setting out
with full malice aforethought to frame 0 . J. Simpson for what
might well be a drug hit or some other sort of murder.
Thirdly, keep in mind that some of the evidence was
tainted, or did not fit, or was contrived, or perjured. One womanon-the-street on television said that she would rather put nine
innocent men in prison than let one guilty person go free. That is
pretty harsh, and the consensus here where I am is the reverse - we
would rather see nine guilty go free than put one innocent person
in jail, just as we would rather give alms to nine undeserving
people than withhold them from one deserving soul. (Admittedly,
we're saints here).
Lastly, the ideal of the American system of justice is
more important than any one case. Yes, it is.
Love ya,
Sybil
Published by: Harland Sister Resources, Inc. 2312
N.W. 39th, Oklahoma City, OK 73112
Circulation: 1200 ·
The Voice is offered as an open forum for community
discourse. Articles reflect the opinions of the author and
not necessarily those of Herland Sister Resources.
Unsolicited articles and letters to the editor are welcomed
and must be signed by the writer with full name and
address. Upon request, letters or articles may be printed
The Voice is
under a pseudonym or anonymously.
printed on recycled paper.

The folks at IBM recently decided that their executive
secretaries - all women - make too much money and should take a
pay cut. The women will be paid $20,000 to $30,000 less
annually. In other words, they are losing as much as the average
U.S . worker earns in a year ($26,000). The top salary for a senior
executive secretary is $70,000. Not bad, but consider that the
announcement of the cuts - to take effect in 1996 - came at a time
when Big Blue also announced bonuses totaling $5.8 million to
five executives - all men. In fact, all the cuts from all the IBM
executive secretaries combined wouldn't equal the $2.6 million
bonus chairman and CEO Louis Gerstner received last year.
The typical wife in a dual-income household spends
more than 20 hours a week doing housework, while her husband
spends 5 hours or less . ~
(Info from Ms. Magazine, September/October 1995)

e•••••••••••••••••••••••aa.•••·
llfiHTHOfJSE Giff STORE
Lighthouse Gift Store for PLW As has been established
by the Lighthouse Metropolitan Community Church. The store
will offer the opportunity for persons living with AIDS to select a
couple of gifts to give loved ones for the holidays.
The store will be open on November 6 and December 4
from 6 P.M. to 8 P.M. at the Lighthouse Metropolitan Community
Church.
For information call Nancy Altman at 528-8359 or John
Nicholas at 942-2822. ~

ea•••••aa•••••••••••••aa••••••·
CONGRESSWOMEN BANISH
FEMINISTS
In what could hardly be a more appropriate metaphor for
the new right-wing Congresswomen who were elected in 1994,
Reps. Sue Myrick (R/NC), Linda Smith (R/W A) and Helen
Chenoweth (R/ID) are leading the fight to keep the statue of
women's suffrage leaders in the basement.
The statue honors Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia
Mott, and Susan B. Anthony and was donated by the National
Women's Party in 1921. It has been kept in the basement of the
capitol since 1921.
Honoring feminists is apparently too much for these
militant anti-feminists, who have proposed, "some other sort of
woman's suffrage display." Moreover, they want the money for
this to be raised at a fundraising event featuring Newt Gingrich,
so HE can get credit.~
(Reprinted from Political Women Online)

2

Her/and Voice

November, 1995

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ll21EVlllEW
by Jill Gamer
Kate Campbell - Songs From the Levee
I missed Kate Campbell's show the last time she played
at The Blue Door and I'm not going to make that mistake again.
She's coming back November 17 .(even after only three people
were at her show the last time). Shortly after she played in
Oklahoma City last spring, NPR did a story on Campbell and
played some of her songs. I loved her immediately and I love this
album.
Originally from the Mississippi Delta, her songs evoke a
southern spring afternoon, sitting on a big front porch with a glass
of iced tea, looking out over the fields with a gentle breeze
blowing through the wheat
Bury Me in Bluegrass is one of Campbell's prettiest
songs. She sweeps you to a farm that has been passed down
through generations, and captures the feeling of the stability and
family life enjoyed there. With no kids left who want to keep the
land though, it's being sold to developers. It's a heartbreaking
song because unfortunately family farms are rapidly
disappearing, being replaced by shopping malls and housing
developments. "Will you walk with me across the blue-green
pastures, I wanna see horses run one more time, You can lay me
down beside the ones gone before me, Bury me in bluegrass when
I die."
Campbell has a way with words that celebrate the beauty
of the south without forgetting its social troubles and ills. In A
Cotton Field Away, the South's history of slavery and the pain of
racism is captured with these lines; "The fires burn bright, A
window breaks, Another one dies, A mamma's heart aches,
Behind locked doors, A white man pray, And thanks the Lord he
lives, A cotton field away." Trains Don't Run from Nashville
addresses the inevitability of change. It romanticizes the past
when trains could bridge the miles between lonely lovers. "This
used to be where people stepped aboard a dream, Now it's just an
old hotel, people come to see, If I could buy a ticket I'd be in his
arms once more, But the trains don't run from Nashville anymore.
" Campbell also laments the fast pace of life and the coldness of
life in the modem world in South of Everything. "Why is
everyone in such a hurry, No one ever wins a rat race, And they
wonder why so many go crazy, I gotta get out of this place. I'm
going south of everything, Where the air is sweet and church bells
ring, Back where I come from, back where I belong, Down where
the sun shines in the rain."
If Campbell's voice, songwriting talent, and beautiful
songs are any indication, I can guarantee a great show at The Blue
Door. If you're sick of Oklahoma City radio and long for
something different than the same bands at the same bars, treat
yourself to an evening of music by this wonderful
singer/songwriter. Please support live music in Oklahoma City.
(continued on page 5)

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Do you know of someone that would enjoy
receiving The Voice? This Holiday Season
give the gift of our community's voice to
someone you know or treat yourself to a
subscription.
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YES! I would like to treat myself to a
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to the following address:
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Berland Sister Resources
2312 N.W. 39 Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73112

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3 Harland Voice

November, 1995

.

LESBIAN-ONLY COUNSELING - group or individual counseling.
M.E.D./M.H.R./l.CA.D./L.P.C. at 321-0134.

For more information contact Jo L. Soske

LESBIANS KISSING '97 - 2nd National Photographic Competition I A Call for Entries. A $100 cash payment for one-time
reproduction rights for each accepted entry. $1,100 in cash and prizes will be awarded to the photographer whose photo is selected for
the 1997 cover. Rules for Judging: 1) Submit either 5" x 7" or 8" x 10" color photographs. NO BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS .
Photographs must be of a high quality image to accommodate reproduction & enlargement. Both amateurs and professionals are invited
to participate. 2) To enter: Up to three photographs may be submitted for the $10 entry fee (make check payable to A Tom Boyz
Production). Decision of judges is final. 3) Entries must be postmarked by January 31, 1996. Only entries including a stamped selfaddressed envelope will be returned. Please ship protected. 4) Subject: Lesbians Kissing Each Other. Photos that celebrate our
diversity are particularly sought. 5) Mail to: Beth Corwin, A Tom Boyz Production, San Francisco, Ca 94141.

WE WANT YOUR JUNK ! ! ! Pride Summit is holding a series of Community Garage Sales to raise funds for SUMMIT 95
, the second Statewide Gathering of Lesbian/Bisexual/Gay/Transgender peoples from across Oklahoma. We need your donations of:
clothes, appliances, books, tapes, furniture (with advance notice for pickup), novelties, etc. SO EMPTY OUR THOSE CLOSETS!! We
will take anything ....... tacky shoes from the 70s, dusty records from the 80s, even those funky knick knacks that your ex left behind!
Even if you think no one could use it... ... WE WANT IT! For FREEPICKUP give Susan a call at 524-2507. The first Pride Summit in
1994 was attended by over 100 people. With your help we hope to make Summit 96 an even greater success!
CREATING CHANGE 1995 will be held this year in Detroit, Michigan on November 10-12 at the Westin Hotel, Renaissance Center.
For more information write to Creating Change 1995, NGLTF Policy Institute, 2320 17th St. NW, Washington, DC 2009.

to THE VOICE

~·fie ~ts • ant1que.5 ·
. .

-

• Plants •

bth1leen Rankin
-natasha RICE (405) 447-5111

Ci•~ts .c

hEAltac,E plaza_

-1961

w. l.mosf:Y _

norunan.-ok 73069 ·.

·,

-

Sarah J. Rucker
Certified Massage Therapist

Rebecca R. Cohn, Ph.D.
Cllnlcal Psychology

Norman, OK

lndlvldual,
Couples & Family

Therapy

321-2148

4

Her/and Voice

November, 1995

By Appointment Only
(405) M:M210

""\I U~ll 1 C

l[ !IE Vll lE W

(continued from page 3)

New Albums Released or Soon to Be
k.d. Jang - All You Can Eat
Melissa Etheridge - I saw the video for the title song recently and I was so floored that I don't remember the name. Whew! Go Girl!
Expected in late '95.
Indigo Girls - 1200 Curfews, live Double album
Cheryl Wheeler - Due in October
Four Bitchin' Babes - Fax It, Charge It, Don't Ask Me What's for Dinner. I've never heard them but I love the title. The group
consists of Christine Lavin, Patty Larkin, and Megon McDonough and with Lavin's sense of humor and Larkin's voice, it's worth taking
a chance on.
Tracy Chapman - Expected in October.'Ci:

D~kes To Watch Ont For
l.AP11'5 ANl> Gf~R£Mf)J cf(

'111f ~ltY, IS'Tl1~ Yot!lt .JfW1Cf,
.X> 5/li )bl! OIE, .5D 5A.>' )bl! AW.?

Tenth Annual

FALL
PEACE
FESTIVAL
A Celebration of Justice &
Compassion.

w~• L ,

A BLJ. Cl(f'Mt.I

BollGlf1' :Mric.£ , "11'1'1oW.
IF )'oU •lllH>J~ CAU. 11"

1JiA1'. A>JD "'IJOTGvi<fy"
DOE5"f Nfr.£5fAR IL'f

50 social justice and
environmental groups will
display 1,001 Holiday Gift
Ideas.

l'\ENJ "1,J,Joe£t1T."

ti Live entertainment all
day.

ti Healthy Food from the
EARTH and Grateful Bean
restaurants.
Saturday, December 2nd
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
St Luke's United Methodist
Church
222 NW 15th Street
Oklahoma City

5 Her/and Voice

November, 1995

Legends of Tennis In OKC

The tennis was truly legendary when Billy Jean King and Chris Evert squared off against
Rosie Casals and Martina Navratilova.

A surprise spectator - Melissa Etheridge!

6 Hertand Voice

November 1995

Legends Betty Stove,
Frankie Durr, and Martina
Navratilova joke with the
chair umpire.

November
Monday

Sunday

Tuesday

1995

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

1

2

3

--,

Saturday

4

Mary
Reynolds
NightinOKC
Miss Brown To
You in Concert
8 P.M. Unitarian
Church in OKC

5

6

7

8

9

.10

11

. Peggy Johnson
The Grateful Bean 8
P.M.

13OU Rap 314
15
Awarenes sWeek

12

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16

ln1 ormation 366-78, 2
Workahop and
Discussions at United
Take Back the Night
Candlelight Vigil at
Ministry Center 1017
March and Rally at South
the South Oval
Elm, Norman
Oval

Freefall
Medina's 8:30 P.M.

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25

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Thanksgiving

Peflly Johnson

Circle of Friends

Medina's 9:30P.M.

Medina& 9:30 P.M.

..

"'?l:30P.M HSR
Board Mtg.

18

Herland
Closed

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Herland
Closed

Fall Peace Festival
The tenth Fall Peace Festival on Saturday, December 2 promises "l,001 Holiday Gift Ideas" from more than 40
organizations and groups working for social change in central Oklahoma. The Festival is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the
Family Living Center at St. Luke's United Methodist Church, 222 N. W. 15th ~treet in Oklahoma City.
Live entertainment all day, the Earth deli and the Grateful Bean, a Children's Activity Area, and side workshops
and videos will make the festival the most inspiring and largest ever. " With the holidays coming, don't go to the mall,
come to the Peace Festival," said Nathaniel Batchelder, Peace House staff member.

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7 Herfand Voice

November 1995

I

NonProfit Org.
U.S . Postage

PAID
2312 N.W. 39th Street
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73112

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED
RETURN POST AGE GUARANTEED

Oklahoma City, Okla.
Permit No.861

Part of The Herland Voice : v.13: no.11(1995)