-
LEAPING LACROSSENEWS February 1988Volume 8, Issue 2
RAUL RtJNH FOR2.1413 H HNATES
Former Governor AnthonyEarl has announced hie in-tention to seek
the Demo-cratic nomination for theU.S. Senate. The WisconsinSenate
seat in open becauseSenator William Proxmire isretiring. Governor
Earl'sdecision is good news forlesbians and gays, becausehe has
beena consistentsupporter of our civilrights.
When I was a member of theGovernor's Councilon Les-bian and Gay
Issues(created when Earl was Gov-ernor), he was open, sensi-tive,
and supportive to allthe concerns of the Coun-cil. Further, the
atti-tudes and cooperation ofhis staffconsistently re-flected his
attitude. Ibelieve he is a man of in-tegrity, rare in presentday
politics, and that hewould not deny us supportif the Council
becomes anissue in the campaign.
I expect, however, that hiscampaign will stress moretraditional
issues. cuttingof defense spending, asp
-port of working people,farm programs, and SocialSecurity. His
record on
environmental issues andfiscal responsibility islegacy from his
years anGovernor that will be apositive factor. Also no-table, is
his support ofcomparable worth in stategovernment.
Hy personal hope in thatGovernor Earl's support oflesbians and
gays done notbecome an issue in the cam-paign. As a campaign is-ue,
only negative public-ity wouldresult with theaccompanying bigotry
andstereotyping. I do notneed to be reassured of hissupport. Hie
record proveshis commitment.
I hope everyone will votein the primary election andthat if you
live in Wiscon-sin, you will support TonyEarl with your vote, and
ifpossible, with your timeand money.
JOY
PAGE 1
-
CELEBRATE AND DONATETO A 000D CADDIE
To celebrate my birthdayand help out a cause thatdeserves our
attention, Iwould like women to join meon February 27 to raisemoney
for Karen Thompsonand Sharon Kowalski.
Incase you are familiarwith thesenames, I willgive you a little
back-ground on their story.Kowalski became disabled inan accident.
At firstThompson, her lover of twoyears, was allowed to
visitKowalski, but when Kowal-ski's father found outabout their
relationship,
he had Thompson barred fromseeing Kowalski. Kowal-ski's father
had her movedfrom a hospital near thehome she had shared
withThompson, to a townmuchfarther away. Thompson hasbeen fighting
an expensivelegal battle ever since, inan attempt to be allowed
tosee Kowalski and accordingto the December 1987 OffOur Backs,
Thompson hasfiled anew motion askingthe court to declare Kowal-ski
capable of making herown decisions, so the fa-ther would no longer
havecontrol over her life.
Free Sharon groups fromaround the country haveraised over
$80,000 towardsthe $110,000 worth of legalbills all this has
costThompson. The groups havealso attempted to
pressurepoliticiansin Minnesota(their home) to intervenein the case
on behalf ofKaren.
This story and thefundraising is importantfor tworeasons. It
iscertainly important toKaren and Sharon and theirfuture lives, but
it isalso important to everyother lesbian. The outcomeof thiscase
could setprecedence for other suchsituations in the
future.Ifsomething happened toyou, who would you want tobe in
charge of your wel-fare? If you want yourlover or a good friend
fromthe community-family ratherthan someone in your bloodfamily to
be in charge,then this came is importantto you too.
I am asking for a $3 to $5donation to the KarenThompson Legal
Fund, in-stead of any birthday cardsor gifts for me. (Checkscan be
made payable to theKaren Thompson Legal Fund.)The party will be at
424South Third Street in LaCrescent,on Saturday,February 27,
beginning at8:00. We will be showingthe video from the 1987March on
Washington forLesbian and Gay Rights. Itwas professionally
producedand covers the entire weekof happenings.
Please just bring your-selves (and a donation forthe fund) and
drinks andmunchies will be provided.See you then.
LOIS
PAGE 2
-
ADVa70A4TINfilHURDHDThe Lesbians in Violent Re-lationships
(LVRC) Commit-tee has identified a needin our community for
les-bians willing to volunteerto be advocates for victimsof lesbian
battering. Ad-vocates would be availableto omelet and support
vic-time as they seek help,from medical or legal sys-tems, the
police, and ingeneral, support each indi-vidual woman's decisions
asshe takes actions to stopthe abuse. Advocates wouldalso work with
the LVRCCossittee, providing inter
-motion to the Committee andother interested groups.
If you would be iotereeted
advocate, volunteering to be an
e, the most impor-tent qualification is aconcern about leabian
vio-
lence and a desire to ;sup-port women who are takingaction to
end an abusiverelationship. Two to fourhours of training would
berequired, coordinated byLVRC.
Ideally, we would like tohave enough women volun-teer, so that
an on-callphone list could be estab-lished, but any volunteerswould
be very helpful. Youwould be able to respond asyou were able to
give thetime needed.
Forewoman who has beenabused, advocate whoancares is vital and
affirm-ing. This is a way ofshowingwe are a caringcommunity and
that we willnot tolerate violence.
If you would be interestedin being an advocate,please call Barb
R. at 896-6666 or Dana, at New Hori-zons, 784-6419.
If
A-0-26-4
Sgt' dl t God° Sphi(o) t heGoddess or
, s blessed
P.Lf7s:u'r 'th Y''r we7rLoOfbueY
has 's
:
ed
rtVed
you
seoi evenin, 1 n Vov r noise -"h)ASSAGE FoR 11,0"P
TSctPoTs$2?Inender
andles, and your own private masseuse for the
evening . Also included 1s a beautiful hand-letteed
card personalized with you and your Sweetheart's
name ready ro, gi,n, on Valentine's 0aY,me
ss tionsVw111 be accePted fo 1 thesedates only - phone
ear/y!
Tuesday, Aels - 6:00 pmThursday, Feb 18 - 6:00 pewsFrio,. Feb 10
- 1100 pm
Sunday. re
21- S:00 pm to261-1008
Kim Harmer, Massage Therapist
o issue ear■r,.
V
-
L.JEST .17 111124 1,1414:32.1 HHPAL
Three women from La Crosse are adventuring in Nepal and havebeen
sending wonderful long letters of their travels. Someof these have
made it to potlucks, but they are too long toput into the
newsletter. However, the moat recent letter,dated December /1,
1987, was excerpted by Kim (who spentome time with the intrepid
travelers), and I have includedit this month. (ED.)
Hello Everyone, dear friends and family,
We just returned from our 33 day, 180 plus mile trek aroundthe
Annapurna Circuit - through and around the Annapurnamountains - 6
to 8 of them are over 24,000 feet. We enjoyedthis trek more than I
can say...
We started in a subtropical jungle and ended in jungle, saw2 do
yen or more monkeys all jumping in the trees, enjoyedpoinsettia
trees with hu ge f l owers/leave. and marigoldbushels 3 feet high
and wide. We ate fresh bananas, mandarinoranges, apples, and
lemons. As we climbed higher we wentthrough alpine-like areas and
pine forests with occasionalturquoise colored ponds and followed a
big rushing mountainriver and its valley. The houses and "hotels .
where westayed changed from bamboo/reed with thatched roofs to
lean-to's made out of big pine branches to wooden 2 storybuildings
to homes made out of rocks piled one on the otherwith flat roofs
out of mud or clay. People would .haretheir apace with us and
provide food and shelter. Stillhigher, above 11,000 feet, the land
is arid with giant sand-like hills formed from years of erosion and
the Himalayatowering above...
After about 2 weeks of hiking, we came to the Pas., ThrongLa at
17,750 feet, which we crossed to get to the big rivervalley to
complete the circuit around the Annapurna.Wedid a lot of day hikes
to prepare for this and avoidaltitude sickness. The day of the
pass, we started out at4:30 a.m. in the dark. It was very cold and
very steep forthe first one and a half hours. We were hiking along
ledgesand dropoffs in the pitch black. Our flashlight. with
newbatteries died after 45 minutes. Fortunately, we had teamedup
with a Dutch couple and their flashlight worked great, sowe all
walked slowly like ducks in a row. Finally the sunrose in time for
us to crone a glacier with glare ice aboveand dropping below for
about 1,500 feet. There were severalplaces that day where we didn't
want to fall. We would allsurround ourselves and each other with
protection and goodenergy. The worst was the cold. We had to stop
and warm upKathy's and my feet before continuing, so they wouldn't
get
frostbite. We made the pass at 11:00 a.m., a 2,500 footclimb,
and had lunch on the top. If I walked faster myheart started
pounding and I got short of breath, and Kathywas very tired and
nauseated, but we made it with really noproblems. It was very
rewarding to be up there, because weknew we had made it. Downhill
from there and the view werewonderful. Even so, going down was hard
and longs to le round13,500 feet, at times over mountains of scree
(uneven rocksleft behind by glaciers), ice and snow fields. We
finally
CONTINUEDPAGE 4
-
arrived at a tea house at about 4:00 p.m., a long 11 hoursof
work...
The views and the challenge of the pass and the entire trekare
something we will never forget...
Another thing we loved about the first aide (of themountains of
Annapurna) was the many nice mani walls, prayerwheels, and sambas
(all religious artifacts). Many of thehill people follow a Buddhist
tradition. They have monksand monasteries called sambas, which are
ueually at thehighest point in the town. They also build mani
walls,which are rectangular walls out of layered atone , about
4feet by 10 feet by 12 feet, where they place other stoneswhich
have carved lettere or script or pictures on them.People will make
these stones and then carry them greatdistances and place them on
the math wall. You find themout in the middle of nowhere, on
mountain tops and inPore sts...
The Buddhists also make prayer wheels, which are
roundcylinder-shaped pieces of copper that have script pounded
orcast into them. These are placed 5 to 20 in a row, so youcan spin
each one and say a prayer... The older ones aremade of wood and are
painted, and inside are rolls of ricepaper with prayers written on
them... The prayer that isalways recited or written is, .0m mani
padme hum," whichmeans, "a jewel in the lotus," and has something
to do withpraying for the right reincarnation...
Our greatest joy has been connecting with the people. Wecontinue
to be moved by these open wars friendly folk.Their lives are hard
by our standards, yet they appearhappy... The average family here
makes 8150 a year, averagelife expectancy is 45 years. Everything
is done by hand...no electricity, a community tap for water, no
toilets, noheat... They eat what they can grow in this area,
whichisn't a big variety above 8,000 feet... They plow the fieldsby
hand or with buffalo... The women hand spin wool intoyarn and use
back-strap looms... They cook on one burnerkerosene stoves or on a
smal/ fire... Any supplies notimmediately available have to be
carried in by porters fromone of the two cities in Nepal. They
follow the samefootpaths we did and carry up to 200 pounds ineach
load...
In Katipani, we connected with a neat family... Kumair is a28
year old mingle woman, unheard of in Nepal, and shedoesn't want to
get married. Although she'd had offers.She told us that when you
marry, a woman hoe to go live withher husband's family and doesn't
have much say and doesn'tget to visit her family very often. She
would rather stayand help with her family's business, their lodge.
Themother was a real matriarch. You could feel her presencewhen she
entered the room. She ran the lodge for 30 yearsand raised very
independent children. The father was agovernmental official and we
heard many stories about hiswastefulness concerning money. We had
fun talking to Kumari-- us .single
PAGE 5
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
-
CONTINUED POOH PAOB 6
..We have received letters, usually 10 to 11 days aftermailing.
Thanks ao much. It's great to hear how your livesare moving. If our
plans (we really never have any) workout and the money holds out,
we will probably not be backUntil April...
Well dear friende,.., we will be thinking of all of you...Love
and peace from all of us.
Love: Nancy, Kathy, Andi
Pc5TaCg 4-P
CHINO131,113PITEI
February 13: The Third An-nual Tacky Red ValentineDance will
take the placeof this month's potluck.Find the tackiest red out-fit
you can (the SalvationAny and Goodwill are thein places to chop)
and beset to win one of the manytacky prizes. Bring afriend,
munchies, beverage,and your favorite dance mu-sic. Be set for a
goodtime. See the map else-where in this issue for thelocation of
the party, andmake sure you allow about ahalf hour travel time.
Theparty starts at 8:00.
February 19: LLN deadline.
February 27: Lois' birthdayparty and fundraiser forKaren
Thompson and SharonKowa/ski. See the articleelsewhere in this issue
formore details.
tk.c-K, P1 a
1 Yzyvv LC... c-....,art 6raix
N ZS A"¢-.4,,
Gseftc, ( 11.4 lef4--6,teslezi)
X,rn, Co.864,
6/FAdorl
Lo et c2 St-
PACE 6
-
A WIRSIELY RADIO PROGRAMFOR LNESSZANEI AND GAYS
insideOUT, a new interna-tionally-produced and dis-tributed
program series by,for, and about lesbians andgap men (and their
friends)will make its debut on pub-lic radio station coaet
tocoastin the U.S. andCanada during the firstweek of April.
The half hour program wasproduced as a result ofgrants and
donations. Itis designed to run weeklyand will include segmenteon
news briefs and morein-depth coverage of sto-ries of special
concern tolesbians and gay men, in-cluding coverage of thespecie/
concerns and uniqueperspectives of lesbian andgay men of color,
PhYei-cally challenged lesbiansand gays, and other minori-ties
withina minority.The program will also in-cludereviews of
books,films and videos, and tvprograms of interest, pluseome
multi-segment program.
otthe our history and
her related topics.
So far, KFAI in Minneapolisand WORT i Madison aresigned up ton e
arry the pro-gram, but perhaps we couldlobby WLSU asking them
tocarry it ae well. The pro-ducers of the program havesent
promotional materialto all Public Radio sta-tion., but says Greg
Gordonthe coordinating Producer,.Sometimes a station orprogram
director or generalmanager need to be remindedof the lesbian and
gay con-stituency in their listen-ing audience, and localcommunity
groups can pro-vide the pivotal in-persontype of support for
thisseries that promotionalmailings and phone callsalone can't
do."
If you would like to seeWLSU carry ineideOUT, writeto the
station manager atWLSU, University of Wiscon-ein-La Crosse, La
Crosse,WI 54601. Wouldn't it begreat to turn the radio onand hear a
program for us?Write your letter today.
MARY 0
MT CESTECRAWashington March Calendar:Frontline, the pro-gar
Pro-gressive political actionorganization has collectedphotographs
taken at theNational March on Welshing-ton for Lesbian and
GayRights in October and com-piled them into a 1988 cal-endar.
Called Marching forLove and Survival, the cal-endar is available by
mailfrom Frontline, PO Box2809, Dept. 8, Oakland, CA94609. (Sorry,
my sourcedidn't list a price.You'll have to write andask. RD.)
National Black Gay and Les-bian Conference: Black andWhite Men
Together and theNational Coalition of Les-bians and Gaye ie
sponeor-ing a conference in Los An-geles from February 12 to14, to
respond to "thechallenges of AIDS, racism,homophobia, and
eexismacross the country.... Formore information, contactBWMT/LA,
PO Box 29812, LoaAngeles, CA 30027, or callBevan Dufty or Phil
Wilsonat (213) 664-4716 or 667-2549.
PAGE 7
-
HMMHMHSH BOHAN H. ANTHONYI have been in on, or haveoverheard,
some interestingcomments in the past fewmonths. Paraphrased,
theyall say something like thefollowing: "Oh, it was aterrific book
(or movie, orarticle,or whatever), ex-cept that the author wento
and on about women'slib. I thought that fadhad passed." I hsd
notbeen aware, previous totheseconversations, thatfeninism was
either a fad,or that it had passed. But
ds I think about, the evi-ence is allaround me.
For example, now that femi-nism is out of fashion, whoever pays
any attention to
Susan B. Anthony's birth-day?
On February 16, 1820, thewoman who spent 50 years ofher life
working to 'getwomen full citizenship, weeborn. She was •
teacher,paid a quarter of whet asaw wee paid for the samejob, and
spent literallyher whole life working forequal rights for all
peo-ple. She worked forwomen'e rights, abolitionof slavery, and
temperance,but it was the women'srights iseue that she gavemoat of
her time to. Nei-ther she nor Elizabeth CadyStanton, with whom
sheworked, lived tosee theNineteenth Amendment passedin 1920. But
the work theyspent their liveson madeits passage possible.
Remember. George Washingtonhelped win the vote forfewer than 2
million whitemales; Abraham Lincolnhelpedwin the vote forfewer than
1 million blackmales; Susan B. Anthonyhelped win the vote for
26million American women!But whose birthday do wecelebrate in
February? Iam not saying that Washing
-ton and Lincoln and theirwork, is not worth respect,but I am
saying that SusanB. Anthony's work deservesrecognition too.
I don't know about you, butthis year, I as going tocelebrate
Susan B. An-thony's birthday by makingsure I mention her in
myconversations throughoutthe month, and I am goingto remind the
people that Italk with thata movement
that has been alive forover a hundred years is nota fad.
Feminism is not outof fashion,nor are femi-nists out of fashion.
Wewere never in fashion; webed more important thingsto think about,
and stilldo.
(The figures citedin theabove article were takenfrom a TABS
poeter.)
NARY 0
ET CETERALesbian and Gay ParentsMeeting: The Ninth AnnualGay and
Lesbian ParentsCoalition Inc. World Con-ference will meet June
3-5in Columbus, Ohio. Thegroup believes that les-bians and gays can
love and
nourish children and pro-videan environment wheretheir children
can matureinto loving and productiveadults. For more informa-tion,
contact Colum-bus/Central Ohio Chapter ofOLPCI at PO Box
13179,Columbus, Ohio 43213.
PAGE 8
-
ET CETERA
National Coalition of BlackLesbians and Gays: TheNCBLG, founded
in 1978, iscelebrating its tenth-niversary and is invitingnew
members to join. Thegroup has provided a sup-port and information
net-work, sponsored two ThirdWorld Lesbian and Gay Con-ferences,
held annual con-ventions, organized thefirst national conferenceon
AIDS in the Black Commu-nity, worked in coalitionwithnumerous other
groupson issues of racial, andsexism, and publishes anews magazine
calledBlack/Out. The board ofdirectors (Angela Bowen,Andre Lorde,
Michelle Park-erson, Barbara Smith) in-vite new memberships andsay
the tenth annual con-ference will be in Washing-ton next October.
For moreinformationcontact theNCBLG at PO Box 2490-W,Washington, DC
20013 orcall (202) 265-7117.
Satisfied Lesbians: ShoreNite'a latest book on thesex life of
American womenhas been really criticizedby media and reviewers
whosay the methodology of herstudy was sloppy and theresults,
therefore, inaccu Irate and unbelievable. haven feeling they
aresaying this primarily be-caue they do not want tobelieve
theresults. Thebook says, among otherthings, that 84% of
hetero-sxual women are NOT satie-fied emotionally with
theirrelationships. Generally,it paints a pretty dismalpicture of
heterosexualwomen's love life. Whatthe media isn't paying
at-tention to is Bite's report
on lesbian women. She saysabout lesbian.: 11% of thewomen in the
study have re-lationships only with otherwomen; 61% of women
overthe age of 40 now livingwith a female lover werepreviously
married; of thetotal lesbian population,31%are in relationships,52%
are living together,and 17% are single; in con-trast to the
heterosexualwomen, 96% of the lesbianssaid they felt "they
wereloved equally, or in anemotionally satisfying wayby theirwomen
partners..Hite ended the section onwomen loving women by ask-ing,
"Why should anyonehave to defend lesbianism
impers a way of life? It s
ativeeems
mperative for us to reviewour entire concept of sen-sua/ity-as
well as our pri-rities in terms of friend-ship/feelings for
otherwomen."
PAGE 9
-
BOYCOTT GE TIL THEY ARE NUCLEAR WEAPONS FREEYES! I'll Boycott
GE, and I'll help the Campaign in thefollowing ways:O Get involved
in the action program or volunteer al theCampaign Center.CI Help
the campaign reach hundreds of other peoplethrough my donation
of
O $25C71$200S1500ther.0 I nos01 like more infoon hew I can
speck/50e Bovcorr
Street
Cilv/Siate, Zto Phone
SUBSCRIBE TO THE LLN
12 wonderful issues for $8(more if you can, less if you
can't)
Name
Address
Amount
Send4602-09to:
LLN32. P.O. Box 932, La Crosse.
W I 5 .01
ADVERTISE WITH US
$15 for a full page$8 for a half page$4 for a quarter page50a
for a classified ad
(25 words or less)
Send to: LLN, P.O. Box932 La Crosse, WI54602-0932.
Help Stop Nuclear Weapons
Don't Buy GE Products!Why General Electric?
• GE is a critical hub of thenuclear weapons industry —involved
in more major nuclearweapons systems than any othercorporation.
• GE makes the neutron triggerfor every U.S. nuclear bomb.
• GE is an industry leader inlobbying for mom and mom taxmoney
to build an ever-growingarsenal of deadly nuclearweapons.
eaL)Isn't it Sims they reallybring good things told.",
Why a Nationwide Boycottof GE?While millions of people all
overthe world suffer and die fromlack of food, shelter and
healthcare, GE !urns preciousresources into extensiveprofile froman
increasingnuclear weapons buildup.We must voice our opposition
to these distorted prioritiesdirectly to the corporations
thatare the driving force behind thearms race.
INFACT's Campaign isGrowing:In just the first year morethan two
million consumershave joined the GE BOYCOTTnationwide. This
holidayseason add youreconornicstrength to this growingcampaign to
stopnuclearweapons production andpromotion.
INFACT, 5200 York Blvd_ Los Angeles, CA 00012 (215) 255.0287
PAGE 10
-
/rile:Atur-FeL/AgIC?
/q26— 6PtiF4o/ tic..KeK_} 11-4.2 80f) a
A ceho.im.e Rack ksio-wAnct - '5 /0
:Pa44 ".*A Ma-a, f-d-e4 , 61/414---. . .... k ,. 4 - . uretk
e'lvi *ii --/grAa ' 4 siaty - /I sid u.ilvz.6:e .46,, ,te4
,th2.'z„2, /5
PUMP PI ot,,,__ No CoNcEkr --- OPe-ikS To 61 PAIL— • . • `NEWS
PLAili : ft-iis 06TR6U5110
-u,s ... 1 . ........ 0,, , n, 7 ") 7 II s, cb,, V Ck. VC.. K1
ffil- 4ei'qp'2 14 1— 40411),DIA 7,..56-1/14 (dry MLFAi ,
fpvt .y .. k,, :coeiviSuglrf -/,ot 1214/oli& gwee-Iteatt
/ze-/z,vp),w al-/e4 ,7? q,44..f / gbdat-Z,7;1Xzl /i.lierd.----
4 Secodo 51104.1 Ms REAliti POEDN - . • . . '. . . . . . . . .%
: 00 p.m,
c22_0 t--- No kli-i\/ ,L1-61-i--* * ** - 5. co 630
PAMu499"Reiefac Con t?, _iievle, coe-n aq.th,/, i 4, -
,,,,,ifinw
o,i, io,,,- ,&s,;,-- — &,,z n.,/e."c 2fi im— ei-I-Oci:_
Fxj_E -4ioo 8,3 o PM
:rXr-ly dyzi* ce-i4-d. - ,.-.e.1( i t kl ,f74 0 6 .
1 &bra snip- /ucit, re-ea- *1.1- °
06p--?-7,ot Apuld--',1,4e/uxcmcuut I
151:4114 GO( < a- 77."
2141 z-t- )1116414 N G tr M----kre2-4m7
Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7Page 8Page 9Page
10Page 11
