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VOLUME EIGHT, NO. 8--April 13, 1995--April 26 , 1995--Issue 177 FREE Give the People Light and they will find their own way. V The Wisconsin Light An Interview With A Gala Fireworks Display Will Light the Night Wisconsin's Fifth District Congressman Sky at Milwaukee's June 10-11 PrideFest Tom Barrett Venetian Boat Parade, Fine Arts Fest, Activity Tent New to Festival Congressman Tom Barrett (D-WI) is Mil- By Bill Meunier waukee born and bred. He is a graduate of It's becoming an annual ritual. In each of the Marquette University and served in the State last three years, PrideFest organizers have Assembly from 1984-1988. He was elected to announced a major expansion of Wisconsin's the State Senate in a special election in 1989 Gay/Les/Bi Pride event. 1995 will continue and reelected in 1990. that trend. In 1990, he was elected to the U.S. House PrideFest has announced that the June 10th of Representatives from the 5th District and 11th festival to be held at Veteran's Park (Milwaukee) and reelected in 1992. will include a number of new additions. Congressman Barrett lives in Milwaukee Added to the mix of hundreds of with his wife and baby son. entertainers, dozens of traditional exhibits, Recently, with Congress adjourned, he met displays and activities that include the with "Light" in his Milwaukee office. marketplace, the Volley Ball tournament, the * * * * Gay/Lesbian Pride Parade and Classic Car Wisconsin Light: Congressman Barrett, show will be such things as have never been when I lived in Washington, I used to go seen before, things that will, quite literally, down and look at the Capitol and just go light up the sky. "Ahhhhh." What's it like working there? Chief among the added features are: Tom Barrett: It's a very exciting job and FIREWORKS! you have to be someone who is first of all, an That's right, fireworks as in skyrockets, optimist, because on any given day there are bang-bangs, pinwheels and a whole host of so many things that could overwhelm you with other things in a grand and Gayly glorious pessimism if you wanted to let that happen to pyrotechnic display. you. If you're not the type of person who's On Saturday June 10th beginning at 10:00 always looking for the silver lining in a bad PM, hundreds of explosions will resound situation, you're simply going to be over- during the "Lite Up the Sky With Pride," whelmed by the problems. fireworks show. Sponsored by the Miller I love the job. I find it incredilly exciting Brewing Company the display will be and challenging. It's the hardest job I've ever produced by the world-famous Bartalotta had in my life and I love every minute of it. Company, that same company that produces I find that the opportunity is there, even in "skyrockets delight" at the annual 4th of July this atmosphere, which I consider a negative show and the other festivals as well. atmosphere, to do some good things, give PrideFest organizers and the Bartalotta's are people hope that their government can re- working together to design a display especially spond, even though many people feel that it's for Wisconsin's Gay and Lesbian pride. not responsive. There are good things that can For example, as now projected, there will be be done, because in its most basic sense, gov- a Pink Triangle blazing in the night, not only a ernment is the community working together. symbol of the Pride we take in ourselves, but a I'm not someone who spends his career memorial to all those of us who have gone bashing government. I'll be critical of it. before, those who suffered and died in the There are times I think it does a lousy job, but Holocaust. This is fitting, it is thought, for the over-all, I'll still take the United States system 50th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi of government over any other system in the camps. world. Of course, there will be other displays as Right now, as a Democrat, it's a time when well, exciting displays that will burst over pen- Mother Michigan, as our Great Lake is I don't suffer from over-confidence. The Fireworks will light up Milwaukee's lakefront on June 10 at PrideFest dulum has certainly shifted to the right. sometimes called around here. According to WL: Do you think that shift is perma- the International Association of Gay and nent?" A Federal Judge Strikes Down 'Don't Ask, Lesbian Pride Coordinators, Milwaukee will TB: I don't know whether it's permanent have the only Gay/Les/Bi Pride Fireworks and I don't know whether its reached the fur- Don't Tell,' But It's Only a First Step display in the country and it is going to be thest swing to the right. I don't know if it's quite a show! still swinging. The projections for the next New York, NY— A federal judge's ruling solution to the issue of how the military should THE PRIDEFEST FINE ARTS election are, for the Senate, at least, are that that the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" deal with homosexuality. FESTIVAL the Republicans will do very well. policy is unconstitutional will not be the final Under the policy, Lesbians and Gay men The two day Fine Arts Fest will be housed word on whether Gays and Lesbians should be who publicly disclose their sexual orientation in its own tent. Produced by Milwaukee's allowed to serve in the military, lawyers for are subject to honorable discharge but may renowned Dale Gutzman, the Fine Arts the soldiers and sailors said. continue to serve as long as they keep it secret Festival will include a stunning array of In ruling Thursday, March 31, U.S. District and refrain from any but heterosexual sexual theater, dance, classical music and choral Judge Eugene Nickerson called the policy conduct. groups. "Orwellian" and said it violated the First The military used the policy to begin dis- THE VENETIAN BOAT Amendment right of free speech and the Fifth charge proceedings against three of the six PARADE Amendment guarantee of equal protection. service members, who included two Navy en- Scheduled for Sunday June 11th at 9:15 Nickerson barred the government from fur- listed men on active duty and four reservists--a p.m., the Venetian Boat Parade will be a ther actions against the six Gays and Lesbians Navy commander, an Army captain, an Army fitting spectacle to end the weekend. who brought the suit, the first legal challenge sergeant and a female Army lieutenant colo- Sponsored by the Greater Milwaukee to a policy instituted by the Clinton admini- nel. Maritime Association, the Boat Parade is stration. Nickerson said the policy was "inherently expected to attract several dozen lighted and Gay activists were jubilant, but they said the deceptive" and "offers powerful inducements decorated boats. It will sail right alongside the issue is far from settled. to homosexuals to lie" about sexual orienta- PrideFest grounds affording everyone a great "This is an important first step in the fight, TURN TO MILITARY, PAGE 12 TURN TO PRIDFEST, PAGE 16 but it's not over," said Matthew Coles, an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) law- AIDS Housing Funds Gain U.S. Senate's yer who had argued the case in federal court in Brooklyn. "Thousands and thousands of other Support, 'A Sweet Victory,' Nelson Lesbians and Gays need to know that, at least Says for the time being." Milwaukee— In an update to an on-going rector Doug Nelson, "and the enormous Beatrice Dohrn, legal director of the Lambda story, the struggle to safeguard federal AIDS amount of advocacy that we have put forth to Legal Defense and Education Fund, which housing funds from massive budget cuts gained save HOPWA is paying off. joined the ACLU in the suit, was even more a victory in the U.S. Senate on April 6, when Both Nelson and David Clarenbach, Acting cautious. "We don't want people to read the the 1995 Rescissions Bill was passed without Executive Director of MASN, have been paper and think they can come out tomor- cuts in the Housing Opportunities for People spending considerable time in Washington lob- row," she said. With AIDS (HOPWA) program. bying Congress on behalf of HOPWA and Nickerson's 39-page decision applies only to National AIDS advocates have been working other AIDS programs. Congressman Tom Barrett the six service members who sued, so it does tirelessly to protect HOPWA, which provides "A lot of people at home may not realize The House, at least for the first 100 days, not bar the Pentagon from applying the "don't rent assistance and many other housing support what Nelson and Clarenbach have been doing has been more extreme than anything we've tell, don't ask" policy to other Gay people in services specifically for people with AIDS and down here," a Senate staffer told Light, "but seen in the last several generations. As a the military. HIV disease. they've been working their asses off (Can I say Democrat, I hope the American people realize Perhaps the most important implication of Both the Madison AIDS Support Network that in your paper?). Without their work, just how extreme this agenda is and decide to the ruling is that it sets the stage for appeals, (MASN) and the Milwaukee AIDS Project funding for AIDS may have suffered a real go for a more moderate approach.

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