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hitting a blue note Bald is Bluetiful: The Blue Man Group plays Milwaukee, Madison. WiGOUT! Page 18 the voice of Progress for Wisconsin’s LgBt community December 29, 2011 | Vol. 3, No. 4 a year of TOP NATIONAL STORIES of 2011 upheaval TOP LocaL STORIES By Louis Weisberg The new majority unilater- Staff writer ally enacted laws and policies The year 2011 marked a more reflective of Mississippi turning point in Wisconsin’s and Texas than of a state history, but the ultimate with Wisconsin’s progressive direction of that turn has yet tradition. to be determined. The most Rather than working important stories of the year to sell their ideas, Walker for the state’s LGBT resi- and the state’s GOP lead- dents and their progressive ers launched a campaign ICONIC KISS allies include: to destroy or disenfran- the full repeal of “don’t ask, chise their foes. Organized don’t tell” in september 1. PoLiticaL labor, the most influential paved the way for this uPheavaL Democratic Party constitu- historic kiss in December. Wisconsin’s top news ent, took the first hit when see story page 10. story of 2011 unfolded in Walker proposed a budget numerous headlines that plan that included stripping Photo: AP Photo/ together represent a seminal public unions of collective t h e V i r g i n i A n-Pilot/Bri A n J . C l A r K moment in state history. bargaining rights. Notably It all started in January, exempt from the measure when Gov. Scott Walker and were the police and firefight- the Wisconsin GOP took ers unions, which endorsed control of state government Walker in his gubernatorial ‘Don’t ask’ repeal and wrenched it in a whol- bid. Republicans also passed ly new direction – without a new voter photo ID law warning, discussion or public – one of the strictest in the approval, according to critics. nation – designed to make tops year’s events it more difficult for tradi- tionally Democratic voters, By Lisa neff DADT was enacted 18 years ago. full repeal on Sept. 20, about nine including minorities, college Staff writer Bill Clinton, who courted the gay vote, hours after gay bars in major cities This students, the handicapped The year ending Dec. 31 proved had campaigned on a promise to lift the hosted gay sailors, marines, soldiers and the elderly, to vote. that LGBT Americans are on an inevi- long-standing ban against gays in the and pilots at coming-out parties. issue Walker’s budget rewarded table path to equality. WiG’s picks for military. But facing staunch opposition “As of today, patriotic Americans inside and online at his corporate backers with top national stories of the year, in from a conservative Congress, Clinton in uniform will no longer have to lie wisconsingazette.com huge tax cuts that were order of importance, are: agreed to a “compromise” that did about who they are in order to serve positioned as “job-creation” not end but rather codified the ban. the country they love,” the president News measures. So were new laws 1. DaDt’s DONE: DADT barred military officers from said. “As of today, our Armed Forces WiGWAG ��2 that erased environmental the Lifting of the asking recruits and servicemembers will no longer lose the extraordinary Regional Gaze ��3 regulations and limited cor- miLITARY Ban about their sexual orientation, but it skills and combat experience of so National Gaze ��6 porate liability. At the same “Don’t ask, don’t tell” officially also barred gay servicemembers from many gay and lesbian servicemembers. Editorial �� 12 time, Walker hired unquali- ended at 12:01 a.m. on Sept. 20, a date disclosing their sexual orientation. And today, as commander in chief, Faith Gaze �� 14 fied political cronies to head greeted like a holiday by the politicians From 1993 through 2011, at least I want those who were discharged major departments and divi- and activists who fought for repeal, by 14,346 men and women were dis- under this law to know that your Features sions of government and gay servicemembers were previously charged under DADT. country deeply values your service.” WiGOUT! �� 18 awarded them shocking rais- forced to live in the closet, and by mili- President Barack Obama issued a At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Theater �� 19 es over their predecessors. tary veterans who felt disrespected. mid-morning statement confirming NATIONAL page 10 Film �� 20 LOCAL page 8 Music �� 25 On the Town �� 26 streeP’s ‘iron LaDy,’ craig’s iron Pecs grace fiLms Pages 20, 22 2 W ISCONSINGAZETTE . c o m | December 29, 2011 W ISCONSINGAZETTE . c o m | December 29, 2011 3 By Lisa Neff & Louis Weisberg LGBt news with a twist WiGWAG Got news? Tell us regionAl gAze [email protected]. Party imPLosion reported that three of the women Minnesota Republican state Sen. Amy are pregnant. One of the preg- Koch abruptly resigned her position as nant women, who is in a same- Best of 2011 foley & Lardner docked for anti-gay activities majority leader on Dec. 15 amid allegations sex relationship, described Johnson as a she had an improper relationship with a “really nice … really supportive guy.” But By Louis Weisberg only company to receive an male employee. Koch, who is married, was Johnson’s wife Kathy, who had a hysterec- Staff writer overall negative score. The a champion of a proposed constitutional tomy 10 years ago, said she was unaware The Milwaukee-based law Irving, Texas-based oil giant, for the recorD amendment to “preserve the sanctity of of her husband’s sperm donations. She told firm Foley & Lardner was which ranks No. 2 on the Other Wisconsin companies that received ratings – marriage” by denying same-sex couples the Alabama Press-Register, “This is a really, one of three companies to Fortune 500, failed to meet on a scale of zero to 100 – included: the right to marry in the state. Within really difficult time for our family. I’m still in be penalized on the Human any of the criteria for the • Rockwell Automation Inc., Milwaukee, 90 days of the Koch scandal, the leading con- disbelief and very hurt, and our family has a Rights Campaign’s annual 2012 index. In addition, HRC • Quarles & Brady LLP, Milwaukee, 85 tender to take control of the financially lot of healing to do.” Corporate Equality Index deducted 25 points from the • Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Milwaukee, 79 troubled Minnesota GOP dropped out of for engaging in activities that company’s score, giving it a • American Family Insurance, Madison, 55 the race after revelations of an arrest for an gross receiPts undermine LGBT equality. score of minus-25. • Aliant Energy, Madison, 50 expired car registration and an earlier sex- Greg Davis, the mayor of Southaven, Foley & Lardner was Before Exxon and Mobil • Manpower Group, Milwaukee, 50 ual harassment lawsuit. And a Republican Miss., inadvertently outed himself when LaDy in ’11 hernanDez as hero docked 25 points for repre- merged in 1999, Mobil • Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, 50 candidate challenging popular Democratic he used the city’s charge card to make a Lady Gaga arrived at the Grammy Daniel Hernandez had been working senting the anti-gay National offered domestic partner- • CUNA Insurance Group, Madison, 30 Sen. Amy Klobuchar next year admitted a $67 purchase at a gay sex shop in Toronto. Awards in February in an egg, which as a congressional intern for just five Organization for Marriage ship benefits and had an • Johnson Controls, Milwaukee 30 2005 arrest for carrying a loaded gun at the In 2008, Davis mounted an unsuccessful hatched onstage. “Born This Way” was days when his boss, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle in its campaigns against mar- employment nondiscrimi- • Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, 15 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. campaign for Congress, describing himself born and a movement began. AP’s Giffords, D-Arizona, was shot and criti- riage equality in the District nation policy that includ- • Harley Davidson Corp., Milwaukee 15 as a “conservative pro-life Republican” and Entertainer of the Year traveled the cally injured outside a Tucson grocery of Columbia and Minnesota. ed sexual orientation. • Kohl’s Corp., Menomonee Falls, 15 a “happily married man.” The Mississippi world promoting tolerance and battling store. The young gay man worked to The firm received an overall ExxonMobil did away with • Oshkosh Group, Oshkosh, 15 auditor has demanded that Davis pay back bigotry and bullies. Discussing her own stop the flow of blood from Giffords’ rating of 60 out of 100 pos- both the benefits and the – L.W. a total of more than $170,000 for personal troubles in the classroom and school- head while awaiting the arrival of para- sible points on the index. policy after the merger, expenses that he billed to taxpayers, much yard, she became an It Gets Better icon. medics. He was hailed as a hero – from The recently released 2012 and has repeatedly resist- of it for expensive meals and liquor. Tucson to D.C. to Milwaukee PrideFest. edition of the Corporate ed shareholder efforts to ees,” HRC spokesman Paul deduction for taking action Equality Index rated 636 amend the policy to protect Guequierre said. “They con- against LGBT equality after DoWnsizing major companies based on gay employees. tinue to give us, and the it nixed a shareholder reso- Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia De their LGBT-related employ- “For over a decade, HRC entire LGBT community, the lution to add gender identity Rossi recently purchased Brad Pitt’s Malibu ment practices. This year was has urged ExxonMobil to cold shoulder.” to the company’s employ- manse for $12 million, according to People the first in which HRC hand- re-evaluate its employ- New York-based Verizon ment non-discrimination magazine.

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