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June. 1999
PRIDEFUL PAST I
POWERFUL FUTURE
OKC
The 3rd Annual Herland Cookout and Concert benefit
Oklahoma City will celebrate it's annual Gay Pride Week
June 20 -27. Pride Week activities will culminate with an Arts
Fest and the Pride Parade on June 27.
Parade activities will start at 1 PM with a rally in Memorial
Park, 36th and Western in Oklahoma City. Parade step-off is
scheduled for 4 P.M.
Pride week is held at this time every year to coincide with
the June 28 anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. 1999 marks the
30th anniversary of the Stonewall riots which are commmonly
held as the beginning of the Gay Rights movement.
For more information about vendor booths at the Arts
Fest, please call 524-2131 or 524-6000.
TULSA
The first ever Tulsa Gay Pride Parade will be held on June
12 with Congressman Barney Franks as the Grand Marshall
leading the parade on its route through the Brookside community.
The parade route begins at 10:00 A.M. at 38th & Peoria
and proceeds North on Peoria, through Brookside to 31st
Street; West on 31st Street to Riverside Drive, and North on
Riverside Drive. The parade will end at Veteran's Park at 21st
Street and Boulder Avenue, the site of the 18th annual Gay
Pride Picnic.
TORR, the sponsoring organization for the parade, has
faced numerous delays in obtaining the parade permit. At press
time, the Tulsa City Council is scheduled to vote on the permit
and is expected to approve the application for the parade permit
despite opposition from collllcil members which delayed the
vote on two previous occasions.
Pnde Weekend will kick off at 7:30 on Thursday, Jlllle 10
with the showing of the motion picture Stonewall, a documentary on the events of the Stonewall Riots in New York City In
1969. The movie will be shown at TOHR's Tulsa Gay
Community Services Center. Other Pride Weekend events
include an interfaith prayer breakfast and a $50-a-plate blacktie-optional dinner hosted jointly by TOHR and the Cimarron
Alliance Group, a statewide political action group for human
rights which focuses primarily on gay rights.
D
Volume 17Number6
HERLAND COOKOUTI
CONCERT TO FEATURE
LOTS OF VARIETY
will be held Saturday, June 26, at Hetland, 2312 N .W. 39th
St. in Oklahoma City.
The event is held in conjunction with the gay and lesbian
community' s annual Gay Pride parade and celebration.
The benefit will begin at 6 p.m. with a cookout and silent
auction, followed by entertainment and a live auction at 7
p .m.
A picnic meal of charcoaled hamburgers (including
"veggie" burgers), hot dogs, chips, salads and soft drinks will
be served on the lawn behind Herland. Suggested donation
is $5 per person.
Items ranging from Ellen DeGeneres' autograph to
vintage Star Trek memorabilia will be sold at the auction,
with all auction proceeds benefiting Hetland and the Herland
Legal Defense Fund.
''We have a lot of great items up for auction this year,"
said Laura Choate, benefit chair. ''There should be something for everyone."
Other auction goodies include autographed items from
Whoopi Goldberg, Chastity Bono and Margaret
Cammermeyer; gift certificates for chair massages, photography packages, bakery items, eye care and housecleaning
services, stained glass artwork, compact disc collections and
more.
Gift certificates for $200 worth of landscaping services
and $100 worth of auto parts also will be offered.
The evening also features a wonderful entertainment
line-up, Choate said. Peggy Johnson, Dee Britt and Marilyn
Moore, Darenda Boswell, Donna D, Nancy Nesser, Crystal
Bright, and the Jeri James Comedy Troupe are among those
performing.
''Herland welcomes everyone - women and men. gay,
lesbian or straight - to join us for an evening of food and
fun," Choate said. "It's agreatwayto show your support for
the community."
For more information about the benefit, or to donate
auction items, call Jeri Schaben at 755-4916 or Hetland at
521-9696.
D
Herland Sister Resources
2312 N.W. 39, OKC, OK 73112
- - - - -··-
PEGGY DURHAM
8/10/41 - 4/27/99
By Margaret Cox
"Well, you know Peggy Durliarn, of course" - I heard this
often from people who knew us both, and always I would
have to say, "I know of Peggy Durham, but I don't really
know her and I'm sure she doesn't know me." And now
'
Peggy is gone, much too young at 57, and I'll never know her,
though we were comrades in the struggle.
As everyone does, we came to our activism in our own
time. Some people, like singer/songwriter/bad-ass radical
Alix Dobkin, a "red diaper baby", are reared as activists ..
Others get downright old before they join the fray. Peggy,
although a few years younger than I, was a mature activist
while I was just a germinating malcontent.
In the desert, after a heavy rain, in joyful evanescent
puddles, one can find little bitty fish swimming around:
Imagine. Where on earth do they come from? In the brief
time before the puddles dry up again, these fish swim, mate,
write a sonnet or two, and lay their eggs, which will lie
dormant in the arid sand for decades, perhaps, before
another cloudburst brings them to life.
· The cloudburst that brought meto life was feminism, and
when the push to get the Oklahoma Legislature to ratify the
ERA came to life in 1981, so did I. I became a worker bee
in a movement in which Peggy Durham was already a leader.
She had been publishing Sister Advocate for many years by
then.
From Civil Rights to the ERA to NOW, Herland, Gay
Rights, and the Bill ofRights, I've had a fun journey. I have
met more wonderful people along the way than anyone has
a right to, and today I am sad that Peggy Durham was always
one of those yet-to-meet. And now, never.
Remembering a few who have moved to more hospitable
climes (yes, it is hard working in a city controlled by Gaylord)
but who are surely still working for progress: Kathy who sold
her house in Tulsa and moved to Oklahoma City to live on the
proceeds while she worked for the ERA; Deborah Fox, who
raises horses and sons and feminist consciousness in rural
Oklahoma, and seeks perfect connectedness with the earth
and sky. Barbara Cleveland, who will never not be radical.
Dreama Moon, Candy Tucker, Rosemarie Stupely.
Gone on before us to help organize the great Rally in the
sky: Thelma Shumake, Kathy Silovsky, Kris Delaney, Stephen
Hardway, and now, Peggy Durham
We need to remember, -and we need to remind those
wooderful youngsters in OLIC and the fourth wave of NOW
and other peace and justice organiz.ations, that we have in
Oklahoma a rich history of awesome women and men who
have seen. the need and tried to fill it. Here's to them all, to all
Page 2 Her/and Voice June, 1999
- - -- - - - - -
of us then and now and tomorrow: those in the struggle today,
as well as the moved on, the passed on, and the temporarily
burnt-out (waiting for another cloudburst!)
If we ever get around to establishing an Oklahoma
Activists Hall of Fame, Peggy Durham will be in the first group
of honorees. Goodbye, Peggy, and thanks. We salute you. 0
WALK TO FIGHT AIDS
(Oklahoma City, OK) Get your walking shoes on and
get ready for the 1999 Oklahoma City AIDS Walk! The
Walk will be a fun worthwhile event benefiting AIDS
service organizations in the OKC Metro Area. It will kick
off Sunday afternoon, October 17th, 1999 starting at the
beautiful Myriad Botanical Gardens. The Walk will have
entertainment at the Gardens followed by a 1+walk through
historic Bricktown. A large enthusiastic turnout is expected
to help out in this very worthwhile cause.
Currently the perception exists that HIV disease is no
longer a threat to our community. This is untrue. Persons
living with HIV/AIDS in Oklahoma are increasing. Although deaths have declined, infection rates have not. As
of 3/31/99, the Oklahoma State Department of Health
reports 3,918 living cases of HIV and AIDS.
Cleve Jones, founder of the NAMES Project AIDS
Memorial Quilt in San Francisco, will be this year's Walk
Marshal. Jones was one ofthe first gay community activists
to recognize and respond to the threat of AIDS. He founded
the San Francisco AIDS Foundation in 1983.
This year's co-chairs of The Walk are Pat Capra and
Linda Larason. Capra isthepresident-electofthe CarePoint
board of directors. Larason is with the Community Council
of Central Oklahoma as well as a former State Legislator.
Planning meetings are held twice a month at CarePoint.
Anyone interested in being a part of a "working committee"
can call Pat Capra (478-2664) or CarePoint (232-2437)
a
The Voice is published by: Her/and Sister Resources, Inc_
2312 N.W 39th, Oklahoma City, OK 73112.
The Voice is offered as an open forum for community di::r
course. Articles reflect the opinions of the author and not
necessarily those of Herland Sister Resources. Unso8cited
articles and letters to the editor are welcomed and must be
signed by the writer with fulf name and address. Upon request,
letters or articles may be printed under a pseudonym or
anonymously.
Subscriptions to The Voice are free upon request although a
donation is requested to meet publication and distribution
costs.
AUCTION ITEMS NEEDED
SPEAK UP FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Is it time to clean out the closets? Herland is looking for
auction items for our upcoming Pride Week Picnic, Saturday,
Jtme 26. If you're not ready to part with the wedding china,
orthatsilverteasetyou'retiredofpolishing,possiblyyouhave
a service to donate, such as carpentry, massage, auto mechanics, house cleaning, sewing, or any creative endeavor.
Donations are needed by Jtme 13. For questions or pickup, call Jeri at 755-4916.
D
A very exciting and important event for members and
supporters of the GLBT community is coming Tuesday, Jtme
1! The Citirens League of Central Oklahoma - a non-partisan
group which promotes civic involvement - has annotmced a
"SPEAK UP" on the subject of Human Rights in Central
Oklahoma.
The "SPEAK UP" will be a moderated, discussion-group
event, something like a town-hall forum. One of the topics to
be discussed will be the possibility of reinstating the former
D
Oklahoma City Human Rights Commission.
Herland Sister Resources
Presents
Don't Ask, Don't Tell ...
Everyone's Welcome ...
3rd Annual
Pride Week Cookout and Concert
Saturday, June 26, 1999
6 p.m. Cook-out, Refreshments and Si lent Auction
7 p.m. Entertainment
Featuring
Crystal Bright
Dee Britt
Donna D
Jeri James Comedy Troupe
Marilyn Moore
Nancy Nesser
Peggy Johnson
$5 suggested donation
For more information, or to donate items for the
auction, contact Jeri Schaben- 755-4916
BRING BLANKETS OR LAWN CHAIRS.
Her/and Voice June. 1999 P82e 3
Herland Sister Resources
2312 N.W. 39
Oklahoma City, OK 73112
NonProfit Org .
U.S. Postage
PAID
Oklahoma City, OK
Permit No. 861
Address Service Requested