December, 1998 Newsletter

Stevens, Hargreaves installed on new SD County Bar Board

THLA members Todd Stevens and Bill Hargreaves were installed on the 1999 San Diego County Bar Association Board on Friday, December 4, during holiday Bar party, "Step Up to the Bar," that seemed to be as much of a roast as a somber occasion. Stevens, the Bar president, is the first openly gay lawyer to hold the leadership position.

Hargreaves, a family law specialist and currently secretary of the THLA board, was elected to the county Bar board recently after 1998 Bar president Candace Carroll urged him to run. He is excited to be the second openly gay member of the current board and hopes that next year a lesbian will consider running.

Stevens celebrated his installation with a rousing speech that urged the county's lawyers to make the most of the coming year. He added that 1999 will be a challenging year for him and partner David Rubin, who has been tapped to prosecute the accused killer of Matthew Cecchi, a 9-year-old whose throat was slashed in an Oceanside restroom.

The proceedings could only stay serious for a short time, however, because as soon as Stevens yielded the microphone to Ken Turek, who started questioning why publicity photos for the event portrayed some, like Judge Joan Weber, like startled wax museum statues, but all the photos of Stevens managed to make him look young and handsome. Not satisfied with the obvious explanation that Stevens is young and handsome, Turek unearthed a letter from Stevens to the Bar Board lobbying to promote his "young and handsome" platform and admitting that there is something inherently suspicious about having two first names.

Stevens accepted the roasting with good humor and joined the rest of the party crowd in enjoying the musical talents of Judge Weber and Janice Brown.

From "queer" toward "Queer": A metamorphosis in meaning aimed at homophobic ties that bind
By THLA Co-President Kurt Hermansen

We're here! We're Queer! Get used to it! We're here! We're Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered! What a mouthful!

Recently, longtime THLA member Herb King wrote to the editor: "[A]s gays and lesbians, we don't want to be defined as too different - it's prejudice which defines us as separate. Calling ourselves by such names as 'queer' is self-deprecatory. We shouldn't seek to be placed outside the mainstream of society, resulting in being relegated to an inferior position."

I wish to answer Herb's charge because I identify with the word "Queer" and intend to continue to use it in the absence of a better alternative.

The word "queer" is defined as "differing in some odd way from what is usual or normal." WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 1863 (1993). A slang use of the term can mean "sexually deviate" or "homosexual." Admittedly, the dictionary definition is not a positive one. The dictionary also lists as synonyms for queer: "eccentric," "unconventional," "unexpected," "strange," "peculiar," and "curious." More telling, however, are the antonyms for queer: "conventional" and "ordinary"!

When we can embrace the fact that we, as sexual minorities, are not conventional or ordinary, we may be able to overcome the negative baggage the word "queer" carries.

Then we may claim the word as our own.

I researched why some sexual minorities use the word "Queer," and I found that many authors use the term without explaining why they do so. At least for some, "[t]he seeming revival of an old pejorative term is, in fact, an effort . . . to seize from . . . adversaries the naming initiative (and thereby the power that the act of naming represents), so that a weapon once used against lesbians and gays now becomes a lesbian and gay weapon and an instrument of their self-realization." Or, as Homer Simpson put it, in his best imitation of Archie Bunker to date: "I resent you people using that word! That's our word for making fun of you! We need it!"

Further research confirmed that use of the word "Queer" in academia is widespread (e.g., "Queer Studies," "Queer Legal Theory," and "Queer Musicological Theory"). However, this research brought me no closer to answering the query of why the term is used. Some authors who use the term drop a footnote that states they are "reclaiming" the term without further explanation.i It took looking close to home, to a founding THLA board member, Professor Francisco Valdez, to find an answer.ii I've borrowed from Frank (mostly verbatim) the words and ideas that follow.iii

As a slur, the term "queer," signifies the denigration of homosexuals. However, as reclaimed in the past few years, "Queer" - with a capital Q - captures a more recent, though still disputed and tentative, set of sensibilities. In a sense, "queer" and "Queer" form a pair of complex tropes that encapsulate the past, the present and, perhaps, the future of sexual minorities in this country.
The term "queer" invokes a past filled with oppression, horror, and shame, which inevitably makes it highly controversial. Many lesbians and gays who have personally endured and survived that past recoil at the reclamation of the term, regardless of the reasons given for it.

Reclaimed with a capital "Q," "Queer" speaks to the future, as well as to the present and the past, of sexual minority identity. Unlike its lowercase counterpart, "Queer" at once evokes a shame-filled and horrible past, exemplifies a difficult but hopeful present, and suggests a complex but open future. Moreover, in recent years the term has come to symbolize prideful sex/gender identity, and to exude a sense of continuing mission toward sexual minority emancipation and equality. Thus, the Queer self-denomination is increasingly being used to signify pride of self and community, and resistance to oppression and domestication. In recent years, the term increasingly has become known and understood as a proclamation and celebration of sexual minorityhood.

In time, the hopes that "Queer" signifies may eclipse the legacy that "queer" represents. If so, the tension of these two terms may abate or evaporate. For the moment, however, it seems clear that "Queer" already has acquired substantive, political, and practical dimensions of current and continuing relevance.

Substantively, "Queer" serves as a reminder to avoid replicating oppressive aspects of the past and present that we seek to discredit and displace. This term challenges us to honor the inclusiveness and egalitarianism that it, at its best, signifies.vi Politically and practically speaking, the term "Queer" has begun to take hold and is generally well-known and understood because the process of reclamation has been underway for some years. Moreover, this process continues to consolidate and disseminate the new understandings of the term. Given this substantive, political, and practical background, "Queer," though imperfect, is the term that best combines and signifies the advances, shortcomings, opportunities, and dangers that confront today's sexual minorities.

Despite the controversy or misgivings that the name attracts, it captures the sense of forward-looking and prideful mission, as well as the sense of sex/gender iconoclastic irreverence, egalitarianism, and inclusiveness, that ought to inspire, animate, and permeate legal scholarship. Although the term's sense of radicalism may not be necessary or beneficial forever, it is both necessary and beneficial now, and will remain so for as long as the subordination of sexual minorities remains lawful and real.

GENERAL MEETINGS
JANUARY GENERAL MEETING

"Pride Divide"
Thursday, January 7, 1999
7 to 8:30 p.m.
225 Cedar Street, Room 2C (Note room change)
How different are gay men and lesbians anyway? And why do we care? Join us for a video and discussion.
February: Domestic Violence in the Gay Community,
Thursday, February 4, 7-8:30 p.m.
Cal Western School of Law, 225 Cedar St., San Diego, Room 2C.

March: Diversity Takes Many Forms, Thursday, March 4, 1999, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., at Cal Western School of Law, 225 Cedar Street, San Diego, Room 2F.

SUBMISSIONS TO THLA NEWSLETTER

All THLA members are encouraged to submit articles or announcements to the Editor for publication in the Newsletter. Inclusion and editing are at the Editor's discretion. THLA cannot reprint copyrighted material without express permission. Send submissions before the 5th of each month to the attention of BECKY JONES as follows:

VIA U.S. MAIL: c/o 934 23rd Street, San Diego, CA, 92012.
VIA FAX: (619) 232-8271.
Becky can be reached by phone at 232-8649.
THLA wishes to thank
SMRH

SHEPPARD, MULLEN, RICHTER, HAMPTON for its support in producing the Newsletter.

HRC founds new Calif. Group

The Human Rights Campaign has formed a new lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender group for California called California Alliance for Pride and Equality, or CAPE. In 1999, CAPE plans to advocate in Sacramento; organize to fight the anti-gay Knight initiative that is slated to be on the March 2000 California ballot; and organize "Equality Begins At Home," a Call to Action to be held in Sacramento on March 21, 1999.

To join, contact The California Alliance for Pride and Equality at 584 Castro Street #501, San Francisco, CA 94114, or Email - Calcape@aol.com. The phone/fax number is 415-252-0810.
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SD couple brings home golden memories of '98 Gay Games

As THLA board member Lauri Stock walked through the archway into a Dutch stadium for the opening ceremonies of the 1998 Gay Games, she expected to feel a little thrill. After all, she had just flown halfway around the world to run four races in her first Gay Games. But Stock was not at all prepared for the riotously enthusiastic welcome she and 15,000 other athletes received from the crowd of 50,000 who gathered in Amsterdam to cheer on the world's most enthusiastic, if not most elite, gay athletes.

"It was an amazing experience," Stock recalled while reminiscing about the Games in her Kensington home. "I still get this tremendously warm feeling inside just thinking about it." Waving pink, green and orange banners labeled "Friendship," the crowd stomped and cheered for the athletes who had traveled to Amsterdam from around the world to spend August 1-10 competing in a variety of sports, from track and field to bowling to chess.

Stock, who began her career as a competitive runner relatively recently, and her partner, Jenny Stary, went to the games to participate primarily in track and field events. If Stock was unprepared for the electric welcome of the opening ceremonies, she was even more unprepared for the success she and Stary would encounter during the week. Between the two of them, they brought home nine beautiful -- and hefty -- medals, seven of them gold. Stock set Gay Games records in each of her running events -- the 10,000 meters, the 5,000 meters and the 1500 meters. She also received the highest honor of any American woman at the track meet by being nominated as one of four women to receive the "Most Outstanding Athlete" award. Each of the nominees, including the Dutch woman who won, had set multiple Gay Games records.

Stary, no slacker herself, took home gold medals in the shot put, javelin and discus and placed second in the 100 meters and third in the 400 meters. She might have brought home more, but she ruptured her Achilles tendon -- which has always been her true "Achilles heel" -- while competing in the hurdles. She spent the rest of their European trip hobbling around with a cane. Unlike Stock, Stary is no stranger to international competition. She is a former elite track and field athlete who was fortunate enough to be sponsored by the United States Olympic Committee and Nike while training for many years. Her original specialty was the pentathlon, which involved the 200 meters, shot put, long jump, high jump and hurdles. In 1980, the Olympics converted the pentathlon to a heptathlon, adding the 800 meters and javelin to the event. Stary converted as well.

Ultimately, Stary's support allowed her to take two years off from work to prepare for the 1980 Olympic trials. She found herself the tenth-ranked U.S. heptathlete competing against six other women for one spot on the U.S. team.

"Only the top three U.S. athletes go to the Olympics," Stary explained. "By the time I was training, Jackie [Joyner Kersee] had locked in the number one spot and Jane Frederick had the second spot. The rest of us were competing for third place."

Since her days of competing among the "straight" Olympic crowd ended, Stary has found herself to be a Gay Games stalwart, competing in each of the four Games held thus far. She also has become the keeper of track and field records.

Stock, on the other hand, never imagined herself to be a particularly elite athlete. In fact, until two years ago, she jogged and ran for fun more than anything else. Then Stary started coaching Stock.

"I think I must have won my first nine races after Jenny began coaching me," Stock said. "It's incredible the difference good coaching makes."

The two women, who at 41 call themselves "true masters," won not only their age divisions at the Games but also often bested all the other women.

In addition to her Gay Games road races, Stock had considered competing in a rock-climbing event before arriving at the Games. The time of the event, however, conflicted with the 800-meter race, and Stock believed the climbing competition involved a style of the sport with which she was not familiar. When they arrived in Amsterdam, Stock learned that the climbing event was the sort she knew. She signed up on the spot, and won, even though she had never competed in that sport before.

The competition was only part of the couple's August adventure abroad. When they weren't at the track and field stadium, Stary and Stock were busy falling in love with Amsterdam and the Dutch people. The women sported large Gay Games credentials that hung around their necks and permitted them unlimited access to public transportation. The credentials also identified them immediately to the natives as Gay Games visitors.

From Stary and Stock's experience, the credentials just as well might have said "Please come talk to me." Everywhere they went, friendly Dutch people approached them, asked them about their lives and their sports, generally making them feel at home.

They found that the Dutch (not surprisingly) are much more laid back and accepting of gays than are Americans. For example, Amsterdam held its Pride parade during the Games, and some of the participants felt perfectly comfortable letting it all hang out. Really.

"The parade was filled with floats of these buff guys wearing tiny G-strings or sometimes just holding a Games banner, which they would wave in the air every once in a while, in front of their cocks," Stock remembered. "No one seemed to mind at all."

Stary and Stock also enjoyed some of the many social events set up by Gay Games, which filled up all of the time around their events. Stock had planned to return to the city during breaks between races and found she just never got around to leaving. Concerts, parties and other activities filled up all the time between events and gave the women plenty of opportunity to make new friends. They also got to reacquaint, and share a room, with a friend from Ohio who made it her goal to kiss everyone who showed up at the Games. Stock and Stary's scrapbook bears testament to her success.

What's next for this dynamic duo? Stock is continuing road races, while Stary, who is still recovering from her injury, is volunteering as a coach with Frontrunners, a local running club. And they are both planning how they can take the South Pacific by storm during the 2002 Games in Sydney, Australia.

Poodles and prudes? THLA January meeting, video to explore conflict within lesbian and gay community

Lesbians mutter about bathhouses and tearooms and male cultural dominance. Gay men grumble about lesbians being in charge of all our organizations and a national television show known as "In the Lesbian Life." Are these complaints the normal by-product of a community in motion or is there an underlying hostility between lesbians and gay men which threatens our progress? THLA's January program will explore these issues with a one-hour videotape called "Pride Divide" which explores attitudes of gay men and lesbians toward each other. The feelings expressed are definitely not politically correct and, no doubt, some will feel insulted. Following the video, there will be a general discussion of the current relationship between the two main (and some believe only real) branches of the community.

This is not a new issue. In the almost 30 years since Stonewall, domination by one sex or the other has, at some point, been a sub rosa agenda in nearly every community organization. Like Blacks and whites, we are integrated in community affairs but often segregated in social life. Are these attitudes which can or should be changed? Or are the differences immutable?

What's your opinion? Do lesbians see gay men as a pack of tacky poodles, perpetually in heat? Do gay men see lesbians as a bunch of tight . . . lipped scowling schoolmarms trying to force the community into the failed model of heterosexual relationships? Are we a community or a coalition of irreconcilable diversities? Join us on January 7th for what promises to be an interesting discussion.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

To the editor:
The more things change, the more they stay the same -- unless you act now. After paying a dollar to cross the bridge and $3.50 an hour to park, I was eventually able to locate and attend a portion of the purported "public forum" on the Bar's future, as noted on page 8 of the recent Bar Report. Inconveniently enough it was at the Hotel Del during mid-afternoon. I found a roomful of people (40 or 50) all very earnestly trying to figure out ways to spend more of your tax money (dues) on their pet projects. There was no real sense among the vast majority that $500 a year was too much.

When I stated that I thought the involuntary Bar should spend my tax money only on basics and not on "nice to haves" I received nearly universal incredulous looks and muttering. Apparently, my not seeing why someone should reach into my pocket to pay for his or her pet project just showed there was something wrong with my perception. As this event played out it became clear the new President and the Exec. Dir. are so far only hearing from the insiders who want your money. If you want the Bar to change, you need to act and act now. Or, if you liked it before, act now to again raise the dues and restore it to its past.

Contact your state legislators and tell them what you think. As the discussion made clear, the Bar is a government entity supported by state taxation -- so treat the issue as politically determinable as it is. And, as the size of the extraction from you will be set by legislators, they, not the Bar, are actually in control. (My perception was that the pro-spending folks were almost dancing in the aisle at the thought of the largess they expected the new legislature and governor would transfer from you to them.)

You should also write to the Bar president, Ray Marshall (Bar Pres., 555 Franklin Street, S. F., Ca. 94102-4498) and tell him what you think. Although not a member-elected president, he seems like a reasonable guy who is currently hearing only one side of a multi-sided story. And, you should communicate with local reps to the state bar.

"Plus c'est change . . . . " some things just never change. The public forum was at the Hotel Del and the Bar Pres. and Exec. Dir. stayed (I believe at Bar (your) expense) at Loews Coronado Resort -- no nights at Holiday Inns for these frugal folks.

Tom Reeve

Editor's Note: Tom Reeve is an attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego and former co-chair of the Federal Courts Committee of the San Diego County Bar Association who graciously agreed to share his personal opinions about the future of the Bar with THLA readers.

Lambda celebrates 25th year, lauds local plaintiffs

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund -- the nation's oldest and largest civil rights legal advocacy group for lesbians, gay men and persons living with HIV/AIDS -- celebrated its 25th anniversary on Sunday, November 15, 1998, at a cocktail reception in San Diego. The event was held at the beautiful Mount Soledad home of Todd Stevens and David Rubin and raised more than $6,000 for Lambda. It was organized and supported by several members of THLA, including M.E. Stephens, Kurt Hermansen and Bill Hargreaves. Previous THLA co-presidents Al Garcia, Paula Rosenstein and Bridget Wilson also served on the host committee.

Featured speakers included Dan Kovatch, an insurance agent, and Dawn Murray, a high school biology teacher -- two courageous individuals who faced severe, anti-gay harassment while working in the San Diego area. Both plaintiffs are challenging that discrimination with Lambda's help. Their stories of their legal battles for respect moved several people to tears.

In Mr. Kovatch's case, the California Court of Appeal recently issued a landmark decision, reinstating his tort claims and establishing several significant new legal principles in sexual orientation discrimination law. Kovatch v. California Casualty Management Co., 65 Cal.App.4th 1256, 77 Cal.Rptr.2d 217, 1998 Cal.App. LEXIS 687. Mr. Kovatch spoke movingly about the trauma he experienced, going to work day after day and facing a hate campaign. He shared the pain of being forced to choose between a career he had loved and his health.

Like Mr. Kovatch, Ms. Murray, an award-winning teacher at Oceanside High School, is a true community hero. She goes to work each day, braced to encounter overt harassment from some, and an official response to her complaints of only slightly veiled hostility. And like Kovatch's case, Murray's attempt at legal recourse reached a premature end when the trial judge imposed an implausibly cramped interpretation of California's Labor Code '1102.1 (the statute banning sexual orientation discrimination in employment). The judge ruled, among other things, that harassment simply is not covered. Lambda is presently handling Ms. Murray's appeal, and THLA members Bob Lynn, Darin Wessel and M.E. Stephens are preparing an amicus brief in the case.

Lambda's guests also heard from Nick De Biase, Kovatch's private counsel, about the rigors of litigating sexual orientation discrimination cases before judges who neither understand nor sympathize with the real life challenges gay people face. Mr. De Biase described the transformation that took place in the case due to the gay and lesbian community's presence by virtue of Lambda's amicus participation. In addition to the breadth of the authority set forth in Lambda's brief, De Biase explained, knowing our community considered the case important probably helps to account for the appellate panel's scrupulous preparation for the hearing, and for its sensitive and insightful opinion.

THLA and Lambda have long enjoyed a close friendship. Many THLA members are longstanding Lambda donors and many have served as cooperating attorneys on Lambda cases in San Diego County. Lambda's Executive Director, Kevin Cathcart, said, "As we enter our second quarter century of service, Lambda is deeply honored by the generous support of those in the San Diego area who recognize the profound impact of this work and make it possible."

THLA is updating its means of contacting members and is collecting e-mail addresses. If you want to be online, send your address to Becky Jones at rputnamj@aol.com or to Kurt Hermansen at hermansenk@aol.com.

Lynn gets teaching spot

THLA board member Bob Lynn has been named an adjunct professor in advanced legal research and writing at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Lynn, who is an appellate attorney, will teach upper sections of research and writing.

THLA celebrates holiday season in style

About 30 THLA members and friends gathered for a late afternoon toast to the holiday season on Sunday, December 5. Always gracious host Al Garcia opened his lovely University Heights home (which fabulously supported the "myth" that gay men are the best decorators) to oldcomers and newcomers alike.

Merrianne Dean generously performed the necessary "Price Club" run to make sure the guests were well-fed on THLA's limited budget and financial contributions from board members. Hungry guests were not disappointed.

The event was a great opportunity for people to catch up with folks they haven't seen for a while and meet new friends.

Next year, THLA may schedule a Friday night party to kick off a weekend of celebration.

Appellate Defenders seeks new attorneys

Appellate Defenders, Inc., a nonprofit corporation serving the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, is seeking applications from THLA members to join its panel and accept appointed appeals.

The Fourth Appellate District has divisions in San Diego, San Bernardino and Santa Ana. Panel attorneys receive regular appointments through ADI and may be supervised by ADI staff attorneys, depending on their level of appellate experience.

Cases pay $65 per hour and range from juvenile cases to murders. For more information, contact Becky Jones at 232-8649 or ADI's Howard Cohen at 696-0282.

You may disagree with these ideas. Some argue that the radicalism of Queerness is unnecessary, and probably even counter-productive. See, e.g., BRUCE BAWER, Introduction to BEYOND QUEER: CHALLENGING GAY LEFT ORTHODOXY at ix-xiv (Bruce Bawer ed. 1996). What do you think? Please send your comments about his article as a letter (THLA, 1010 University Ave., #137, San Diego, CA 92103) or e-mail (rputnamj@aol.com) to the editor.

FOOTNOTES
i. Jeffrey G. Sherman, Speaking Its Name: Sexual Orientation and the Pursuit of Academic Diversity, 39 WAYNE L. REV. 121, 123 n.6. (1992). ii. The Simpsons, "Homerphobia" episode. iii. See. e.g., Amy Lovell, Comment, "Other Students Always Used to Say, 'Look at the Dykes'": Protecting Students from Peer Sexual Orientation Harassment, 86 CALIF. L. REV. 617, 623 n.23 (1998). iv. See Francisco Valdez, Queers, Sissies, Dykes, and Tomboys: Deconstructing the Conflation of "Sex," "Gender," and "Sexual Orientation" in Euro-American Law and Society, 83 CAL. L. REV. 1 (1995). v. See id. at 346-50. vi. See, e.g., Doni Gewirtzman, "Make Your Own Kind of Music": Queer Student Groups and the First Amendment, 86 CALIF. L. REV. 1131 (1998). As a Skadden fellow working for the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, Doni Gewirtzman uses the word 'queer' throughout the above entitled law review article, "as an inclusive, nonderogatory term to encompass gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered individuals." Id. at 1132 n.7.