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S.E.C.L.G.M. CONFERENCE
ASSERTS GAY IS GOOD
Karen Button and Stewart Butler, co-chairs of the SECGLM's steering committee:
"from gay pride to gay joy, from believing to knowing."
by Peter Dakutis
"You cannot discriminate against anyone for
any reason," said Sidney Barthelemy, recently
elected mayor of New Orleans, "because the
minute you accept discrimination for one
reason you accept it for another. "Barthelemy,
who as a member of fhe New Orleans City
Council supported unsuccessful attempts to
pass gay rights legislation, officially opened the
11th Annual Southeastern Conference for
Lesbians and Gay Men (S.E.C.L.G.M.) held at
Tulane University in New Orleans June 5-8.
Barthelemy was told that voting for gay
rights would end his political career.
Obviously, his stand against discrimination
and for human rights didn't hurt his campaign
for mayor; Barthelemy pledged to continue
actively supporting gay rights legislation. And
the conferees made clear their approval and
support with two generous ovations for the
mayor.. Barthelemy wished the group success
as they began their business of raising and
discussing serious issues.
Karen Button, one of the co-chairs of the
conference steering committee, told the
assembly, "We have come to share our common
interests to better our lifestyles." Button said
that helping to organize the conference had
been a valuable learning process for her and
expressed gratitude, to be a part of this
conference as she and the others gathered to
work for equal rights and to develop an even
greater sense of pride in gay communities.
The best part of the conference, Button
added, would be the networking. The
S.E.C.L.G.M. was held in conjunction with
New Orleans' local Celebration '86, the
Southeastern AIDS Conference, and a regional
meeting of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and
Gays (P-FLAG).
In his opening remarks, Button's co-chair
Stewart Butler said, "We need to develop a
religious fervor. Being gay is not just ok, but it
is good, it is positive-it gives us the advantage
to see things others can't see." Butler
expressed a desire to see a movement "from gay
pride to gay joy, from believing to knowing."
Urging those present to continue
contributing to a climate that will make it
easier for others to come out, Butler noted that
the combined membership of the Ku Klux Klan
and the Neo-Nazi Party is 15,000, twice the
membership of the National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force (NGLTF). He encouraged all gay
people to keep giving until it hurts and quoted
Sojourner Truth: "And the truth shall make
you free."
Butler officially dedicated the conference "to
those lost to AIDS and anti-gay violence." A
similar dedication appeared in the conference
program: "It is our hope that memories of them
will instill in each of us a new faith in
ourselves...a faith that will inspire acts of true
courage and meaningful sacrifice that wifi far
surpass the grandest dreams of those for whom
we mourn."
So the conference officially began on the
morning of Friday June 6. Yet there was plenty
of "official" activity the day before: The
Southeast. Regional Political Training
Seminar, presented by The National
Association of Gay and Lesbian Democratic
Clubs; a meeting of the S.E.C.L.G.M. Board of
Directors; a New Orleans/AIDS (NO/AIDS)
Task Force fundraiser honoring Dr. Mathilde
Krim, co-chair of the American Foundation for
AIDS Research (AmFAR); and a Mardi Gras
Cocktail Party honoring Dr. Krim and
conference keynote speakers Boston City
Councillor David Scondras and poet and
activist Lea Hopkins. The cocktail party
featured a jazz band, king cake, and an
impromptu parade, in which conference staff
and volunteers, dressed in Mardi Gras
costumes, threw beads and doubloons to
partygoers.
The festive mood continued throughout the
next three days of the conference. Friday night
saw a concert featuring the New Orleans Gay
Men's Chorus, cabaret performer Lynn Lavner,
and singers Romanovsky and Phillips. And as if
the concert didn't offer enough entertaining
diversion, it was immediately followed by a
dance.
The Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus entertained at
the official closing ceremony Saturday night
and later joined with the New Orleans Gay
Men's Chorus to sing "I Am What I Am,"
jokingly dubbed "the gay national anthem."
Later Saturday night several conferees visited
the French Quarter an*d attended a fundraiser
in white dress at a local disco.
But the play was not the thing for those
attending the conference. People attended for
different reasons-to discuss political, social,
and health issues; to share ideas about
organizing and building stronger gay
communities; to make new friends and to
develop networks; to express grief and loss
caused by the AIDS crisis; and to find
inspiration to use in their personal lives and
public service. The conference more than
adequately met the needs and desires of those
in attendance.
In fact, perhaps the biggest complaint made
about the conference was that there was too
much to do, that there were too many
interesting workshops and activities scheduled
at the same tiijae, and that there was a sense of
being overwhelmed by an embarrassment of
riches.
Workshops and activites presented in
conjunction with the Southeastern AIDS
Conference included a keynote address by Dr.
Krim, a discussion of the effects of AIDS on
groups other than white gay men, a survey of
several approaches to treating AIDS and ARC,
an examination of Buddy programs, and an
opportunity for people with AIDS to meet and
discuss their experiences in a closed round
table discussion. Members of AID Atlanta gave
a safe sex party, and Luis Palacios-Jiminez
from the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) in
New York conducted a session on eroticizing
safe sex and showed A Chance of a Lifetime, an
explicit safe sex video.
Several nationally known gay leaders took
place in a panel discussion entitled "AIDS; The
National Agenda." Present were Jeff Levi of
NGLTF, Tom Stoddard of Lambda Legal
Defense and Education Fund (LLDEF), Paul
Bomberg of National Mobilization Against
AIDS (NMAA), Sue Lovell of Houston's
KS/AIDS Foundation, Gary MacDonald of
AIDS Action Council (AAC), Billy Burton of
National Association of People With AIDS
(NAPWA), Paul Kawata of National AIDS
Network (NAN), and Luis Palacios-Jiminez of
GMHC. These representatives discussed how
their organizations are working on the AIDS
crisis at a national level. All praised the efforts
of local AIDS Qiganizations but stressed the
need for a strong national political agenda for
AIDS.
The movie Buddies, the first dramatic film
about AIDS, was given its Louisiana premiere
at the conference. Made by independent
producer and director Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.,
Buddies chronicles the relationship between a
PWA and a man who volunteers to be a buddy.
Hero of My Oum Life, an award-winning video
about David Summers, a person with AIDS,
was also shown. Summers was on hand to lead
a discussion about the video.
Those people interested in videos and films
were given plenty of opportunities to see gay-
themed works such as Lianna, By Design,
Therese and Isabelle, This Special Friendship,
You Are Not Alone, The Times of Harvey Milk,.
and even Song of the Loon. The video Sappho
Goes Hollywood, produced by Judy Katz of the
Women's Media Network, offered a look at
lesbian images in movies and television
programs from 1914 to the present.
Almost every other aspect of gay and lesbian
life was covered by still more workshops. P-
FLAG presented several, including ones on
coming out to parents and on parents' coming
to terms with a child's homosexuality. There
were workshops on being gay in rural areas and
on the radical faerie movement Others dealt
with homophobia, discrimination, and anti
gay violence. Alternatives to going to bars were
discussed in one workshop; financial planning
for gay and lesbian individuals were discussed
Conference Continued Page 2