VOLUME ONE, NO. 12—September 22, 1988—October 5, 1988 FREE Give the People Light and they will find their own way. The Wisconsin Light Madison Light Inside... Alternative ARMY REENLISTS MIRIAM Measures Pass BEN-SHALOM; MAY APPEAL By David Burrill • RELIGIOUS OUTREACH By Sue Burke it is in Ben-Shalom's favor, Berigan Madison- Before a record crowd of over "It was hard not to cry" as she was sworn said, the Army will probably appeal the Page 6 300, the Madison Common Council in, said Miriam Ben-Shalom after she case to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of • LIVELY ARTS passed into law two parts of the reenlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves on Appeals in Chicago. alternative family rights ordinance Sept. 12. For her it was the latest victory The Army has also appealed the Skylight's "Die August 2nd, making Madison a leader in in a 14-year-long battle to remain in the contempt order allowing Ben-Shalom to Fleudermaus" alternative family issues. Although the Army even though she is a Lesbian. temporarily reenlist, he said. Reviewed Page 8 City Council also voted down two more If the Army hadn't let her in, it would But in the meantime, Ben- Shalom was controversial elements of the proposed have had to begin paying a $500-a-day able to sign up for another six years. She • FILM ordinance, supporters were heartened by fine for contempt of court. U.S. District began her duties on the weekend of Sept. the fact that the Interview With Tom votes on these two Judge Myron L. Gordon in Milwaukee 17. She hopes eventually to complete 20 proposals were so close. had ordered the Army to let her reenlist years in the service. Cruise Page 9 While many alternative family organizers or pay the fine until he makes a final The evening of reenlistment was a happy were disheartened about the prospects for ruling on whether she may permanently one for her. Ben-Shalom, a drill sergeant, • MEDICALLY SPEAKING their proposal, much of the pessimism remain in the Army. came in her dress uniform to the Hepatitis B Can Be changed to optimism when key members Ben-Shalom's attorney, Patrick Berigan, headquarters of the 84th Division, 4828 Deadly Page 11 of the Board of Estimates, the city's said the final ruling should be issued by W. Silver Spring Dr. budget committee and the last Gordon in September or early October. If She was accompanied by her daughter, • TRAVEL committee to review the alternative Hannah Richter, who families ordinance, announced that they was eight years old A Trip Through Wisconsin were going to try to split the ordinance when her mother's Backroads Page 16 into its various parts since it was felt that fight against the some of those parts could pass the Army began. Ben- Council., Shalom was also ac- TURN TO MADISON, PAGE 13 companied by her friend Alyn Hess, who has stood by her since the beginning, and by Berigan. Also present were a television crew from WTMJ, a photograph- Introduction er from UPI, and a re- porter/ photographer A TIME TO DIE from The Wisconsin By Terry Boughner Ph.d. any kind. No one mourned our losses or Light and Chicago Outlines. Only a few This is not a pretty story. For those who raised tear-filled and haunted eyes to other people were in think that the more bloody parts of comemorate our dead. We were outlaws the building that history should be sanitized, this series is before and so we remained. night. not for you. You, Gay women and men Raul Hilberg, author of The Destruction Ben-Shalom took an and non-Gays, should read no further. of the European Jews and a former oath from Col. Thom- This is the story of the Pink Triangle, member of the President's Commission as Swett, who shook the Holocaust of the Gays in Nazi on the Holocaust, was quoted in the Germany, told in all its horrors, much of December 10, 1979 issue of the New York Openly Lesbian Sergeant Miriam Ben-Shalom was sworn in by Col. her hand and congrat- it as remembered by Gay survivors. Village Voice as being opposed to Thomas Swett as she reenlisted for a six year term with the U.S. ulated her. Ben- Beginning with this issue, this tale of including Gays in any memorialization of Army Reserve on September 12 in Milwaukee, following a Federal Shalom signed her re- Court order finding the Army in contempt of court. blood, torture, destruction and death, Holocaust victims. "That would be a TURN TO will continue until next June, ending in travesty," Hilberg said, implying that SHALOM, PAGE 16 the month that is given over to any mention of Gays would somehow National Coming Out Day Gay/Lesbian Pride. detract from the blood sacrifice of the The Holocaust of the Jews at the hands of Jews. That Gays were not worthy to be To Be Held October the Nazis has been described in mentioned in the same breath with those 11 who had been driven to the gas chambers "Our silence is us." say, this step must be appropriate and countless volumes of prose and poetry. "Our invisibility is the core of our comfortable to you, but, at the same time, Some of the finest writers that the for their faith, whether Jewish or Christian. oppression." you should be willing to push yourself a Jewish people have produced in this Among the many messages coming from little. century have given their talents over to There are those historians, like Hilberg, who insist that Gays were "highly Gays and Lesbians at the Democratic Suggestions for Coming Out include: recounting the horrors of the systematic National Convention to our community at Put your lover's photo on your desk at extermination of 6,000,000 of their valued" prisoners in the camps. There is, as we shall see, not one shred of large, is that our political strength is being work. fellows. This is not to mention the greatly undermined by the large numbers Tell three people you're Gay or Lesbian museums and memorials to the victims evidence to support this contention and quite a bit to the contrary. Eugen Kogon, of us who are hidden, in the closet, Wear an openly Lesbian or Gay symbol that exist in the United States, Europe shivering cold, sweat-drenched in fear. It is or button for a week. and Israel. a highly respected authority on the Holocaust, himself interned at the silence of our "hidden majority" that is Acknowledge that "those roses" are not But the Jews were not the only ones allowing society to make the rules for us, from your mother. marked out for genocide. There were Buchenwald and author of The Theory and Practice of Hell states permits ignorance and intolerance to Call a radio talk show and introduce a millions of others and among them, oppress us all. Gay/Lesbian topic. Gays. uncatagorically that "The fate of the homosexuals in the concentration camps In an attempt to solve this problem, the Read a Gay/Lesbian paper on a bus or in Until very recently, there were no National Gay Rights Advocates and The a restaurant. memorials of any kind commemorating can only be described as ghastly." We shall see that this is true. Experience Weekend are sponsoring a Hold hands publicly. the Holocaust of the Gays. Even now, National Coming Out Day to be held Tell the truth when asked, "So are you there are only two books on the subject. We shall see as well that the mechanisms of genocide were set up to October 11, 1988. engaged yet?" In the histories of the Holocaust, if Gays The event is being co-chaired by Jean Move your favorite "fantasy" poster to a are mentioned at all, it is only in passing murder us. We Gays were the first. context for the story of the Pink Triangle O'Leary and Rob Eichberg, both of prominent place in your house. or if some incident is so terrible, so California. Send flowers to that "special someone" brutal, that it can not go unnoticed. has been easy enough to dig out, finding Gay survivors who were willing to talk According to one spokesperson for the and don't use initials on the card. Much of this has been by design. two groups, "Coming out is a continuum, a Write a letter to the editor of your local of the was much more difficult. Remember that According to Ira Glasser, head series of steps that often take place over newspaper commenting on Gay/Lesbian the Gays, who were criminals before the war American Civil Liberties Union, in the course of months or even years." coverage or lack of coverage. Use your full September 10, 1975 issue of The New remained criminals afterward. The German law (175) under which Gays were As one delegate at the Convention told name. York Times, "the pink triangle . lies Light, "the difference that most people Include your Gay/Lesbian family in virtual historical secret." persecuted by the Nazis remained on the buried as a miss is that to be a homosexual is one traditional family or religious functions. to say that "During books throughout the Allied occupation Glasser went on thing, being Gay is another. Being Gay is TURN TO COMING OUT, PAGE 7 World War II, no king, no premier, no and up until 1969. Even when it was an advance step toward personal integra- prominent citizen came finally removed, the prejudice and hatred president, no tion, acceptance and the good of the wearing a pink triangle, as it is remained.