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Fabulous Entertainment Lined Up
For KP Decadence Party

The Krewe of Petronius' 1st Annual Decadence Party, to be held at the Mint, 504 Esplanade Ave., Sat., Sept. 5, from 8pm to 1am, has lined up a bevy of beauties to entertain the guests. And anyone willing to fork over a $10 donation is invited. Not only will there be non-stop entertainment but the the krewe will also be offering one of its famed all-you-can-eat buffets and a costume contest. Preview your Sunday parade attire Saturday night.

The show, which will be hosted by Petronius' own Goddess, will feature the talents of Lisa Beaumann, Monica DuBois, Teryl-Lynn Foxx, Ferdinand Jackson, Paloma and Bobby Ramon. The Male Dancers will be led by hunk Rayne. There will also be special appearances by a number of past Southern Decadence Grand Marshals along with this year's, SDGM XXVI Robin Malta, who is also the past Queen of Petronius XXIX.

Tickets for this soire can be purchased at the Mint, MRB or at the door the night of the party.

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Kocktail Bunch Host
3rd Annual Bowling Tournament

The 3rd Annual Big Easy Annual Tenpin Invitational Tournament (BEAT IT, Inc.), will take place Sept. 2-3 at the Host Bowling Alley, Fazzio's Rainbow Lanes in New Orleans East. It is being sponsored and hosted by members of the Mid-City Kocktail Bunch Bowling League, which bowls every Monday throughout the year at Mid-City Rock `n' Bowl Lanes.

The Kocktail Bunch is a member of the IGBO, Inc.-International Gay Bowling Organization, Inc. and will be hosting bowlers from the entire U.S., including Hawaii and Canada. IGBO, Inc. is currently the largest Gay and Lesbian sports organization in the world, with members throughout Australia, New Zealand, Canada and parts of Europe.

Sponsored by Bud Light, Feelings Cafe, Oz, Wood Enterprises, RubyFruit Jungle, Ambush Mag 2000, Quarter Scene Restaurant and many other establishments throught the city, the Host Hotel is the Hilton Riverside.

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Arkansas & Texas Seek To Ban
Gay & Lesbian Fostering

State sodomy laws were cited by both an Arkansas state regulatory commission and a Texas state legislator as they seek to prohibit foster parenting by Gays and Lesbians, despite legal challenges to the laws in both states.

Arkansas' 9-member Child Welfare Agency Review Board, created last year to establish minimum licensing standards for child welfare agencies, held its second discussion on Gay and Lesbian fostering Aug. 25. Based on legal advice, the board acted to delete a planned prohibition against unmarried individuals fostering, but board member Robin Woodruff is still in search of a means to stop Gay and Lesbian fostering, and a committee was established to research that issue before the board's Sept. 9 meeting.

On July 28, the board had adopted by a 6-1 (with 2 absences) vote a motion by Woodruff to require that all foster parents be legally married and heterosexual. At that time, not only was the state's sodomy law cited (although it applies to heterosexual as well as same-gender acts, and despite a major legal challenge having been approved in June for trial), but also the state's legal rejection of same-gender marriages, which was represented by Gov. Mike Huckabee's office in the foster placement context as "an environment that the Legislature has specifically and purposely removed from legal sanction and recognition."

Because of the July vote, at the Aug. 25 meeting there were some 25 people present to contest the resolution, including single foster parents and representatives of Little Rock's Women's Project and the Arkansas chapter of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). The foster parents were particularly concerned at still more violation of their personal privacy in what is already a highly invasive qualifying process.

Arkansas Department of Human Services attorney Joel Landreneau outlined some of the issues involved in creating a legally sound rule to prohibit fostering by Gays and Lesbians. He said such a rule would have to both define "homosexual behavior" and make exceptions for those who may have engaged in such behavior in the past, but were currently living as heterosexuals. He also said that the rule would have to "establish a rational relationship" between homosexuality (however defined) and the legitimate state interest of providing for the best interests of the child, such as increased likelihood of child abuse, substance abuse or suicide.

Woodruff claimed to have found two studies showing a significantly increased likelihood of homosexual orientation among children raised in Gay and Lesbian homes (although other studies have failed to find such a difference), research indicating that homosexuals average 50 sexual partners per lifetime compared to a heterosexual average of four, and research demonstrating a significant higher risk among homosexuals for HIV, hepatitis and "Gay bowel syndrome." [Ed. note: See the "Journal of Homosexuality" Dec., 1997, Vol. 34, No. 2, for a discussion by Michael Scarce on why that term should be abandoned-just as "Gay-Related Immune Deficiency," or GRID, was abandoned as a name for AIDS-since the medical problems referred to are not Gay-specific, are not confined to the bowel, and fail to meet the medical definition of a syndrome.]

The Board will meet again on Sept. 9 to discuss its findings on Gay and Lesbian foster parents, and then hold a further meeting (likely on Sept. 22) to draft final wording for the regulation, which would then be subject to a 30-day public comment period.

The ACLU says it will sue the Arkansas Child Welfare Agency Review Board if the board institutes this proposed regulation.

Meanwhile, Texas state Representative Warren Chisum (R-Pampa), who has a long and consistent record of opposition to Gays and Lesbians, is now drafting a bill to prohibit both foster placements and adoptions by same-gender couples, and promises that, "We will need to leave no stone unturned to make sure this bill happens." He says such placements are "clearly not in the best interests of the child." Specifically, the bill would prevent foster placements in a home where the state Department of Protective and Regulatory Services finds that any offense under the Texas Health and Safety Code is occurring or reasonably likely to occur; Chisum notes that homosexual activity is a violation of the state penal code (which remains on the books although court rulings have left it on shaky legal ground). Chisum's interest in this specific issue was sparked by the widely-publicized case of a Dallas children's protective service worker who was disciplined for removing a baby from foster placement with a Lesbian couple: that case revealed that the state has no official policy on sexual orientation and fostering or adoption. Chisum's bill is expected to be considered by the state legislature in the coming year. [from NewsPlanet; the Advocate]

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Spermicides Fail To Protect
From HIV

A study challenges the popular belief that spermicides protect against AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. The research, conducted on prostitutes in Cameroon, found no sign that combining the common spermicide nonoxynol-9 with condoms worked any better than use of condoms alone. The findings were first reported in Washington, D.C. last year. They were published in the Aug. 20 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study was conducted between March 1994 and December 1996 on 1, 292 HIV-negative prostitutes and directed by Ronald E. Roddy, MD, of Family Health International of Durham, NC. The women were given condoms and were randomly assigned to get either a spermicide film or an inactive placebo film. They were told to insert the film into their vaginas before intercourse and to require their sex partners to use the condoms. Les than 7% of women in both groups became infected with HIV during the course of the study. The spermicide also did not reduce the risk of gonorrhea or chlamydia infection. The research contradicts earlier work suggesting that nonoxynol-9 is moderately effective against gonorrhea and some other sexually transmitted infections. Tests on animals and in test tubes have also shown signs that spermicides can inactivate the AIDS virus, but studies of people have produced conflicting results. A study of the contraceptive sponge, conducted on prostitutes in Kenya, was stopped early because users actually had a higher rate of HIV infection.

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Mexican Transgender Seeks Canada Refuge

Canadian officials stopped deportation proceedings for immigration violations against Mexican Transsexual Luis Ezequiel Manzo Chavez, also known as "Shadmith" or "Shameif," to allow her to argue that her life would be endangered if she returned to her homeland. Manzo has been held in a detention center in Malton since appearing at Pearson airport for deportation late Aug. 17 dressed as a woman. Officials ordered a psychiatric assessment. A hearing was delayed to enable Manzo to obtain counsel.

Miqqi Alicia Gilbert, who has been supporting Manzo's bid for asylum, reports that Manzo has been living in Toronto for 3 years, where her work as a counselor and activist has won her popularity and admiration in the Transgender community. Manzo also recently held a two-bride wedding ceremony with her partner Crystal.

Mexican diplomat Alfonso Nieto, stationed in Ottawa, publicly denied Manzo's claims of danger in Mexico, saying, "There are many transvestites in Mexico. It's illegal in Mexico to discriminate," adding that those who feel they have experienced discrimination can file a complaint with Mexico's human rights commission. Nieto continued, "What he's saying is false and just a story. Sounds like a good excuse for him to try and stay here.... I don't believe he'll face any problems at home.... People can behave as they want in Mexico. It's very easy to say these things to try and stay here."

However, earlier in August, Mexico's Citizen Commission Against Homophobic Hate Crimes distributed a report to the Spanish and European Parliaments citing the assassinations of 125 Gays "with visiousness and extreme violence" since April, 1995. In May, Proceso magazine reported increasing numbers of Mexican Gays seeking asylum in the U.S., leading Deputy David Sanchez Comacho to tell the Mexico City council that, "Arbitrary discrimination, exclusion and segregation against homosexuals and Lesbians affects all facets of their lives, from the family, in which they suffer the first rejection, to social repudiation...including police extortion, raids on Gay gathering spots, beatings, firings, being kicked out of rented housing due to the stigmatization of which they are the object, on up to unpunished murders." Sanchez Comacho's PRD (Democratic Revolutionary Party) went on to hold a pioneering conference in Mexico City in May to look at legal reforms to protect the rights of LesBiGays and Transgenders. There journalist Carlos Bonfil said, "In the history of Mexico, homosexuals have been burned alive, systematically morally lynched, disowned by their families, fired from their jobs, imprisoned, banished from their hometowns...excommunicated and murdered-solely for the crime of their sexual orientation." [from NewsPlanet]

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L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
To Open Primary-Care
Medical Facility

On Sept. 21, the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center will open Lambda Medical Group, believed to be the first U.S. primary-care facility staffed by physicians specializing in health care needs of Lesbians and Gay men. Lambda Medical Group is expected to serve 4,400 patients a year.

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James Dean's Tombstone Returned

1950's film star James Dean's tomb stone is back in place in Fairmont, IN, the town where he grew up, according to an Associated Press report. In 1983, the original tombstone was stolen, recovered and stolen again, to be replaced with the current 400 lb. hunk of rose-colored granite. That was stolen on July 14 and discovered some 60 miles away by an off-duty sheriff's deputy who crashed his car into it. Just slightly chipped in the collision, the tombstone was returned to its base on Aug. 12, in time for the annual James Dean Festival in Sept. Generally agreed to have been Bisexual, Dean once told an inquiring reporter that sexually he couldn't see going through life with one hand tied behind his back. More than 30 years after the death of the star of Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden, the tombstone is visited by thousands every year, and a commemorative stamp featuring him was by far the U.S. Post Office's best-seller in 1996. [NewsPlanet]

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Special Counsel Intercedes
For Lesbian Employee

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) says it has stepped in to investigate whether a Midwestern Labor Department manager is being discriminated against based on her sexual orientation. OSC did not disclose the manager's name but did say that she asked to work out of her home temporarily so she could help care for her partner of 18 years, who has breast cancer. The employee says that heterosexuals would be granted such a request. Instead, two weeks before her partner was to undergo another operation, the employee was told she was being transferred permanently to an office 400 miles away. The Labor Department has agreed to postpone the transfer for 60 days while OSC investigates. [GLAAD]

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