The Betty Pages April 2010

THE BETTY PAGES The region’s most inclusive alternative-lifestyle entertainment tabloid

April 2010

a Desire Enterprises publication

About our Contributors...

The Betty Pages - April 2010 Betty’s Corner

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By Betty Desire

Photo By Lea Kelley

In The Mix

By Bridget Adams

Sudoku for Tom

Written by Brian Spencer

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Sergeant Discharged Over “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

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Singing out the Notes: Author Alyx Dellamonica

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Even More In The Mix

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By Nick Milhoan

By Jory M. Mickelson

By Bridget Adams

Gay Film Bibliography: Not Such Strangers

By Bichoo Vrishchik

GLBT Resource Guide

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Miss Betty Desire has been entertaining anyone who would listen in Bellingham for nearly 10 years, and is proprietor of The Betty Pages, the monthly publication that you are reading at this very moment. It is her hope that your perusal of the Betty Pages will enrich your life one chuckle at a time.

Managing Editor Brian Spencer is a title-holder and board member with the ISCEE, aside from his involvement with various community organizations and work in graphic design. His interests include men, computers, drag queens and politics. Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Live well, love much, laugh often.

Writer Bridget Adams currently resides in Washington State but that is always subject to change. Lucky enough to be a full-time, if poor, writer, she is most likely somewhere in front of her computer with a cup of coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

Queer Film Historian Bichoo Vrishchik (Scorpio Scorpion) has published in FILM QUARTERLY SIGHT AND SOUND, INTERNATIONAL FILM GUIDE, FILMFARE, YOUTH TIMES, MANSHOTS, and now THE BETTY PAGES. With a BA from Pacific Lutheran College (1959) and a MA from San Francisco State College (1968), he has also taught film at Western Washington University. His main interest is Indian cinema and articles on it are forthcoming.

Staff Writer Nick Milhoan is a student at WWU majoring in Journalism with a minor in LGBT studies. He is the current chair of the Bellingham Pride Festival and member of Whatcom PFLAG Board of Directors, as well as Princess for the ISCEE. His interests include movies, music, politics and the pursuit of equality.

Photographer Lea Kelley is a local artist, photographer, and writer. She is a recipient of the Mayor’s Arts Award for her local photography project, Faces of Bellingham. Her abstract paintings can be found on line at leakelley.com.

Contributor Jory M. Mickelson is a journalist and poet who resides in Bellingham, WA. His work has appeared in Collective Fallout and Oranges & Sardines and is forthcoming in Knockout and New Mexico Poetry Review. He is nonfiction editor of the magazine 5x5 (www.5x5litmag.org) and maintains the queer writing blog Literary Magpie (www.jorymickelson.blogspot.com).

Betty’s Corner Betty Desire

Speaking of keeping busy, there are a plethora of events closing in on us this month. As I have mentioned join me at the Anchor on the first at 8pm. To those who celebrate resurrection or the arrival of spring, happy Easter! On the 10th yours truly will be in Kent at Vibes for a Betty hits the Metro-Plex show. A friend of mine has booked me in the Rainer Valley gay club and I am just beside myself with excitement! Also it is time to break out your wallets for Pride!

The Purple Passion Swing band will be at the Mt. Baker (in the small theater) at 6pm on April 24th for a fundraiser to benefit PFLAG and Bellingham’s Pride Celebration. We are

Third party outings account for almost 20% of the discharges under DODT... In the AP article Ms. Newsome states “she was not sure where the marriage license was in her home when police came to her house “It seems odd to me that the couple would leave a document like that lying around on the kitchen table. Just to be safe if you are in the military and married and of the same sex hide your documents, or at the very least hang them on a wall far enough away from any window so that a peeping tom police officer that you may have pissed off can’t read them. Every morning you should thank the gods you worship that you live in Bellingham and not Rapid City South Dakota because nothing like this could happen here right? Or could it?

I wouldn’t be me if I did not comment on an event that occurred recently. The incident involves Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the police department of Rapid City South Dakota, after nine years of service, Jene Newsome was discharged from the Air Force earlier this year after police officers noticed an Iowa Marriage license on her kitchen table and notified the officials of Ellsworth Air Force Base. Jene, a 28 year old Air Force Sergeant had always played by the rules and never told anyone in the military about her orientation.

Thankfully all this may be relegated to the ash heap of history when our government pulls its According to the police Chief Ms. Newsome head out of the latrine and joins the rest of the was not co-operative when she refused to come industrialized world allowing gay and lesbian right home from work at the base to help them citizens to serve openly. Until then if you are locate her partner who had an outstanding serving in silence be careful, those who should warrant for an investigation of theft in Alaska. be your closest allies may end up scuttling your According to a statement he released to the career. I wonder what would happen if every AP he said” It’s an emotional issue and it’s single gay and lesbian serviceman got fed up unfortunate that Newsome lost her job, but I with this nonsense on the same day at the same disagree with the notion that our department and walked in to their commander and said “Ill might be expected to ignore the license, or not save you the investigation costs I’m gay and I document the license, or withhold it from the quit.”

Air Force once we did know about it,” We will continue to raise our voices loud and Ignore the license? Of course not! Document clear on your behalf. We salute you! The repeal the license? Of course you should! Withhold of DADT should come very soon…though not it from the Air Force once you new about it? soon enough for Sergeant Jene Newsome.

Absolutely! What does the Air Force have to do with the investigation? That’s right, nothing, Until next month, nada, zilch! The only reason to involve the Air Force would be to make sure Ms. Newsome paid Be You… Be True… Be Proud! dearly for her unwillingness to rush home from work and help incriminate her LEAGALLY MARRIED WIFE! This third party outing of Ms. Newsome provides lessons for all of us.

Get Involved with the stories and Until DADT is changed no gay person serving issues that matter to you! Share your in the military is truly secure in their career, no thoughts and comments on this article matter how hard they try to “play by the rules”

Betty Desire

at www.thebettypages.com

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April is here! I intend to have a great time this April Fools Day at the Anker Café! I will be there at 8pm ready to sip a sugar free breve and rock the night away! There was a great turn out last month and I want to personally thank all of you that made it out. I think it is very important that we venture out of the clubs and provide opportunities for those under 21 to have something to do at night. You know what they say idle hands are the Devils workshop we need to keep busy!

calling this our 10th anniversary (I think it’s actually11) and are gearing up for a huge event, we need money to do that so join us at 6pm, we need you! Together we will rock this town!

Remember this years theme “Be you Be true Be Proud!”

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If you would like to be a Page Three model ontact msleakelley@gmail.com

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In The Mix Bridget Adams

Hi Poppets! Guess what? I might be on the move again. I know, I know. Never put my address in permanent ink. That’s just a bad idea. While I always look forward to a move, this one is good for me on another level, as well. This one is causing me to face and rethink some prejudgments I didn’t even realize I had. See, we’re moving to Alaska. Yep, this city girl is going to the home of flannel shirts, lumberjacks, moose and Sarah Palin. Need I say I wasn’t very excited about it at first?

Anchorage has a gay scene to rival any city’s in the lower 48 – and better than many – but it’s not just in Anchorage (although in fairness, much of it is in Anchorage but much of everything in Alaska is in Anchorage so…). The whole state has LGBT friendly resorts and towns and tours. Even the main airline, Alaska Airline, is officially one of the best places to work in the US if you are homosexual and/or a transgendered person. Plus, the Alaskan men on the site David and I belong to are oh so numerous and oh so very cute.

Somewhat grudgingly, I started researching Anchorage. After all, we would need a place to live, buy groceries, see the occasional It was quite a wake-up call for me. My assumptions were of closedmovie. And what I discovered surprised me. A lot. minded bigots and people who couldn’t make it down here in the contiguous United States. I was already prepping myself to go in as a sociologist, simply observing, keeping my head down until it was time for us to move on. More Written by Brian Spencer than being surprised by Alaska, though, I was surprised by myself…and the chip on my shoulder. The negative 9 1 8 stereotypes I was so willing to believe, without proof one way or another. Instead, I have found a thriving and healthy LGBT community.

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Learn from my mistakes this month, Poppets. Watch yourselves. Watch your assumptions. Be open to having your minds changed for the better, not just the worse.

And until next month, take care of you.⁂ Get Involved with the stories and issues that matter to you! Share your thoughts and comments on this article at www.thebettypages.com W W W. T H E B E T T Y P A G E S . C O M

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Admittedly, we haven’t moved yet. It may be very different living it than it is researching it. Whatever living it is actually like, though, Anchorage still has an LGBT community center, a PFLAG office, a youth center, an Imperial Court, several dance clubs, and a handful of social clubs. Regardless of if they are there because they are welcome or if they are there because they are fighting for acceptance, they are there. Which is more than I was expecting, or willing to give them.

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Sergeant Discharged Over “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell�

Nick Milhoan

Def. Sec. Gates Implements New Rules Regarding DADT

S.D. police showed up at her home and saw an Iowa marriage certificate on her kitchen table, though the window of her and her Air Force Sergeant Jene Newsome had played partners home. by the rules of the military all her life. She was an accredited aircraft armament system Newsome and the American Civil Liberties craftsman for nine years. She listened to her Union filed a complaint against the western superiors and followed all the rules set forth South Dakota police department, claiming by the U.S. Military, including “don’t ask, the officers violated her privacy when they don’t tell. Yet in January of this year Newsome informed the military about her sexual was honorably discharged from the Air Force orientation. The case also highlights concerns under “don’t ask, don’t tell� after Rapid City, over the ability of third parties to “out� service members, especially as the Pentagon has started reviewing the 1993 “don’t ask, don’t tell� law.

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The Rapid City Police Department says Newsome, was not cooperative when they showed up at her home in November with an arrest warrant for her partner, who was wanted on theft charges in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Newsome was at work at the base at the time and refused to immediately come home and assist the officers in finding her partner, whom she married in Iowa, where same-sex â&#x20AC;&#x153;I played by â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ask, marriage is legal, in October of last year. donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tell,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?

Newsome told The Associated Press Police officers, said upon arriving at the home by telephone in a recent and peaking through the kitchen window the marriage license was visible on the table interview. and claim that the license was relevant to â&#x20AC;&#x153;I just donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t agree with the investigation because it showed both what the Rapid City police the relationship and residency of the two department did. ... They women. violated a lot of internal policies on their end, and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an emotional issue and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unfortunate I feel like my privacy was that Newsome lost her job, but I disagree with the notion that our department might violated.â&#x20AC;? be expected to ignore the license, or not The â&#x20AC;&#x153;donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ask, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tellâ&#x20AC;? document the license, or withhold it from policy has come under the Air Force once we did know about it,â&#x20AC;? renewed debate after Allender said Saturday. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a part of the Defense Secretary Robert case, part of the report and the Air Force was Gates called for a sweeping privileged to the information.â&#x20AC;? internal study on the law He said his department does not seek to earlier this year. expose gay military personnel or investigate As the review is under way, the sexuality of Rapid City residents. officials announced on March 25 that they would Allender said in a report released Friday, begin to relax enforcement March 19 that he regrets his departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in hopes it would minimize outing of a lesbian Air Force sergeant led to cases of third-party outings. her military discharge, but that his officers In particular, Gates said the followed department protocol.

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Pentagon is raising the threshold for what constitutes an appropriate level of information necessary to launch a â&#x20AC;&#x153;credible inquiryâ&#x20AC;? into allegations of homosexual behavior. These new rules will go into affect in 30 days.

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The report also said that the Rapid City Police Department will review policies on sharing information with other agencies and meet with members of the gay and lesbian community in the wake of Jene Newsome’s honorable discharge under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

the military, and Newsome said she and her of alleged homosexual conduct to a general attorney have not yet decided on whether to or flag officer in the accused service member’s file a lawsuit. chain of command.

“The ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ piece is important • Only a lieutenant colonel, Navy commander and critical to this, but also it’s a police or higher ranking officer will be authorized to misconduct case,” Doody said. conduct a fact-finding inquiry.

• Only a general or flag officer in an accused service member’s chain of command will be authorized to initiate expulsion proceedings.

• The Pentagon will revise what constitutes credible information to begin an inquiry or separation proceeding. For example, Gates, said, the Defense Department will specify that information given by third parties should be given under oath. The use of “overheard statements” and “hearsay” will be discouraged.

• The Pentagon will revise what constitutes a “reliable person” upon which an inquiry can be initiated. According to Gates, “special scrutiny” will be given to “third parties who may be motivated to harm a service member.”

• Certain categories of confidential information will no longer be used in discharge proceedings, including information provided to lawyers, clergy and psychotherapists.

Information provided to a doctor as part of a service member’s medical treatment or to a medical official in the course of a public health inquiry also will not be used in discharge proceedings. Information given for either a security clearance investigation or in the course of seeking professional assistance for domestic or physical abuse also will be excluded.⁂

Get Involved with the stories and issues that matter to you! Share your thoughts and comments on this article at www.thebettypages.com

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A U.S. Air Force spokesman, Senior Airman Adam Grant, said Ellsworth follows all laws set out by Congress and the Defense Department, and he would not comment specifically on Newsome’s discharge, citing Allender said the department was finishing privacy policy. its internal investigation and has determined the officers acted appropriately. They More than 13,500 service members have have not been placed on leave during the been discharged under the law since 1994, according to the Servicemembers Legal investigation.

Defense Network, which is lobbying for its Newsome’s partner is currently out on bail repeal. on one felony and three misdemeanor counts of theft stemming from an incident last According to the Servicemembers web site year, court officials in Fairbanks said. More third-party outings, though rare, third-party information was not immediately available, outing can be especially damaging to service and Newsome said she didn’t know the status members who wanted to keep their sexual of the case and didn’t provide more details orientation hidden, experts say. about it.

Even though 80 percent of “don’t ask, don’t In February Newsome filed a complaint with tell” discharges come from gay and lesbian the department and has sought the help of service members who out themselves, thirdACLU South Dakota who said police had no party outings are “some of the most heinous legal reason to tell the military Newsome was instances of ‘don’t, ask, don’t tell,’” said a lesbian and that officers knew if they did, it Nathaniel Frank, a research fellow with the Palm Center think tank at the University of would jeopardize her military career.

California, Santa Barbara and a New York Newsome, claims she didn’t know where the University professor. marriage license was in her home when police came to her house on Nov. 20 and claims the In light of this story and the investigation into officers were retaliating because she wouldn’t the removal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” Defense Secretary Gates will implement changes that help with her partner’s arrest. do not need Senate approval.

“This information was intentionally turned over because of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and to out Some of the new changes, which will go into Jene so that she would lose her military status,” affect in 30 days are: said Robert Doody, executive director of • The Pentagon will raise the level of the ACLU South Dakota. The ACLU is focusing officer authorized to start a fact-finding its complaint on the police department, not inquiry or separation proceeding as a result “I trust through discussion and cooperation we can enjoy a mutual goal of healing and understanding,” Allender wrote in the report.

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Singing out the Notes: an Interview with Author Alyx Dellamonica Jory M. Mickelson Alyx Dellamonica writes novels and short fiction. Her work has appeared in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, SciFi.Com, and Realms of Fantasy. Her first novel Indigo Springs was released in October 2009. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her wife Kelly Robson and is hard at work on the sequel to Indigo Springs.

Jory Mickelson: I am currently reading an essay by Durs Grünbein in Poetry Magazine where he talks about the questions that writers are always asked after a reading. He states that the question, “How long have you been writing?” is really a search to see what made someone into a writer. Do you feel that you were inclined to write from early on or were there factors that shaped you?

Does that mean I think it was all nature, no nurture? No. My surroundings in those years utterly reinforced my bookish tendencies.

My parents were deeply involved in Community Theater and were producing shows for adults and kids. My home was full of books and scripts, actors and singers. It was a very arts-identified atmosphere.

I have trouble imagining what it might have been like to grow up among people who were actively hostile to creativity, or even one that was simply focused on elsewhere... say, on becoming a dentist, or serving a church community, or being outdoors-y.

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Alyx Dellamonica: Writing is very much something I am compelled to do--if I go more than a few days without writing fiction, I become restless and unhappy. This began, for me, in early childhood.

I wrote my first Doctor Seuss-inspired doggerel when I was five. As a kid, I wasn’t a gifted athlete or especially graceful socially. The first thing I learned to do at all well was read, and I ran with it, as fast and as far as I could.

JM: I know that you sing in the Vancouver Lesbian and Gay Choir. Do you feel that singing has informed your writing? And conversely, has your writing given you any insight into singing?

AD: I haven’t written anything long with choral singing in it (though I’ve had a novel idea on the back-burner for awhile that would use this experience, if I ever manage to write it.) VLGC are among my biggest supporters--they sang at my November book launch-and they are an inspiration. Indigo Springs has a bisexual main character whose mother is a Trans man, and I think they’re both more convincing, as people, because I get to spend time with this wonderful, diverse group of singers.

My other artistic pursuits do creep into my writing, definitely. I have written about photography, and I’ve written a couple stories

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about my having been in a concert band, in high school--there’s “The Riverboy,” for one. I’ve also just finished the draft of a book called Daughters of Zeus, which is set in a small-town community theater company based heavily on the acting and technical theater I did in the Seventies and Eighties.

I love learning new things, and weaving those new experiences into my writing is a form of research I particularly enjoy.

JM: Rebecca Brown said that her nonfiction essays were the justification for her obsessions. She said it became “research.”

Do you listen to music when you write? Did your novels have soundtracks as you write--any CDs or artists that helped you enter into the space you write from?

AD: The sequel--and the two books I’ve drafted since--definitely have a soundtrack!

character and a transgendered character. The sci-fi and fantasy genres have traditionally been set within heterosexual paradigms.

Were there any challenges for you in creating these characters or the world in which they interacted?

Also, who do you think handles queer characters and ideas well in the sci-fi and fantasy genres?

AD: I didn’t have much trouble with Astrid’s sexuality or with Ev’s transition, really--they seem very much like so many of my friends, or people I’ve, to some extent, been. I’m further from my comfort with other subcultures--Olive is a practicing witch, Patience is one of the last survivors of a (fictional) First Nations band, and the military world of Colonel Roche is very far from my day to day existence. Giving these characters authenticity was a lot harder, for me, than writing about a bisexual gardener or a working-class Trans guy.

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I do almost all of my draft-writing and a good chunk of my revision at Cafe Calabria on Commercial Drive in East Vancouver. It’s a big, noisy family business with lots of writers and no Internet, and the music is programmed by the patriarch of the family that owns the place, Frank Murdocco. Frank is from Italy, by way of Montreal. He speaks halfdozen languages fluently, and he loves to make mix CDs. He favors Italian pop, including cheesy covers of well-known pop songs (think ABBA or the *Grease* soundtrack, in Italian), French chanteuses, obscure Fifties rock and roll, a bit of country, and the occasional pop rendition of an opera classic, like “Va, Pensiero.”

You never know what you’re going to get at Calabria. You can walk in to comfort music, something like Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me,” and ten minutes later Joe Dolce will be bellowing “Shaddup You Face” or Dalida will croon “Ti Amo” at you. Or some unrecognizable tenor will sing something simply gorgeous and heartbreaking. I’ve made some great musical discoveries there, though it’s sometimes hard to identify the songs--for some reason, Frank will rarely tell you who you’re hearing, and his sons claim not to know. As I type these words, he’s playing a French version of Kenny Rogers’ “Lucille.”

About a year ago, it looked like I might move away from Vancouver, and I immediately started assembling a Calabria mix--I was that worried that I might not be able to function without my random cafe tunes.

I rarely write to any of my favorite bands, the material I think of as “my” music. I find it draws too much of my attention, because part of me is trying to actively listen to it.

JM: The Cafe sounds like a lot of fun; I love the Commercial Drive neighborhood. Your book Indigo Springs features a bisexual main

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Specials every day of the week!

Friday: Jagermeister @ $4.00 Saturday: Top Shelf Gin @ $4.00 Sunday: $4.00 Brunch (Includes Biscuits and Gravy, Quiche, Cheesy Grits & Eggs Benedict), Double Bloody Mary @ 4.00, Cap’s Coffee (Java, Whiskey, Bailey’s) @ 4.00, Mimosas @ $3.00 and HAPPY HOUR ALL EFFING DAY!!!

One book I’m currently in love with is Elizabeth Bear’s CARNIVAL, which reunites a pair of guys whose relationship fell apart because of heterosexist politics in a very creepy and well-realized far-future universe.

It’s messy and complex and heartbreaking, a really terrific book. Jo Walton’s Small Change series, which is alternate history, is amazing too. And then there are Nicola Griffiths Aud Torvingen mysteries: THE BLUE PLACE, STAY, and ALWAYS, which are so beautifully written; they really soak you in Aud’s unique worldview.

JM: You are a Canadian and legally married to your wife. Do you feel that the lack of civil rights for gays and lesbian in the United States colors queer literature there?

The larger question being do you think oppression shapes a body of literature?

Does that have something to do with the fact that “The Riverboy,” which was written before my legal marriage, has a gay-bashing in it, while “What Song the Sirens Sang,” which came afterward, has an upbeat vision of a futuristic queer community? It’s impossible to say. So many other things go into any given piece; we’re never just one experience.

JM: Many times in interviews with authors I ask what kind of advice you would give to others queer writers. Let’s mix it up. What advice or guidance would you give to queer readers?

AD: Besides a hearty “Thank you!”, for being into books and stories when there’s so much else out there, mediawise? In my own reading, I know how easy it is to just hit ‘my’ sections of the bookstore--the history and political and SF shelves--and to fall into the rut of only looking for things that match my expectations. I’m not always delighted by what I find when I range out of my comfort zone, but I have made some of my best discoveries that way. So, on the theory that what works for one may work for more, that’s my advice: prowl beyond your favorite shelves, at least now and then. You might find something new and remarkable.⁂

Get Involved with the stories and issues that matter to you! Share your thoughts and comments on this article at www.thebettypages.com

It’s fair to say, though, that any artist is going

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AD: Interesting question! I have read more than one essay where Canadian SF writers try to define what it is that makes our fiction different from that written by U.S. authors. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a similar piece that focuses on queer writing.

to be affected by oppression, and that most of us probably couldn’t keep that out of our work if we tried. For me, every little thing tied to the legalization of my marriage was profoundly affecting and memorable: the moment I realized the law was going to change within my lifetime, hearing the Supreme Court decision on CBC Radio, getting to go into a drug store a few days later to buy a marriage license for two women (like any other ordinary human being!) and of course the day itself, when Kelly and I exchanged vows with our family and friends present. I could go on and on. Everyone’s wedding is earth shattering, unforgettable, and deeply emotional to them, I know. But being told you can have something that has been arbitrarily forbidden you your whole life, being allowed to exist... it’s mindboggling.

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Even More In The Mix Bridget Adams

Hi Poppets! Can I check in on something with you, please? It’s something I’ve been aware of for years now but has been back up in my face the last month. Why, when we talk about the LGBT community, do we not actually mean the LGBT community?

Because we don’t.

My friend, Helen, is bisexual.

She has had four long-term, committed, bring-your-partnerhome-to-meet-the-family relationships. Two have been with men. Two have been with women.

And yes, the last one she had was with a man, whom she married and is still quite happily married to today. She is also still bisexual.

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Copies of The Betty Pages are available at these fine local establishments: Bellingham: •The Black Drop* •Camden Chameleon* •Cap Hansen’s* •Casa Que Pasa* •Film is Truth* •Grand Avenue Ale •House* •Great Northern Books* •The Horseshoe Café* •La Rue Costumes* •Mallard Ice Cream* •Old World Deli* •Pizza Pipeline* •Re-Threads* •Rumors Cabaret* •Slo Pitch* •True Blue Boutique* __________________ •Allied Arts •The Archives •Avalon Music •The Bagelry

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•Bandito’s Burritos •Bellingham Public •Library •Cabin Tavern •Community Food Co-op •Evergreen AIDS •Foundation •Everyday Music •Fairhaven Laundry •Fiamma Burger •La Patisserie •The Love Zone •Lover’s Package (Meridian) •Lover’s Package (Telegraph) •Merch Bot •Mt Bakery •Pandora’s Box •Pel’ Meni •Public Market •Rocket Donuts

•Studio Galactica •The Sub Shop •Temple Bar •The Teriyaki Bar •Tony’s Coffee •Up N’ Up •Village Books •Whatcom Community College •Wild Buffalo •WWU Viking Union & LGBTA Mt. Vernon: •Draft Pic’s Sports Bar & Grille •Same Ol’ Grind •Skagit Valley College •The Tattered Page Bookstore (*Indicates our advertisers!)

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He knows it. She certainly knows it. They have an open relationship because, while he is the man she wants to be married to, she is still bisexual, and there are needs he just can’t meet. Mostly, though, their relationship is open in theory alone. Why? Because the attitude is that she is betraying the community by being married to a man; she is, literally, sleeping with the enemy.

My husband, David, still selfidentifies as gay. I am the person he loves and I happen to be female. That doesn’t mean he isn’t more attracted to men than he is to women. It means he happened to fall in love with a person, rather than just a gender.

However, many of his gay friends have ostracized him, accused him of just “slumming” when he was hanging out with them. I would willingly accept that they just don’t like me – except that the ones who have accused him of the betrayal haven’t and won’t even meet me.

Another friend, Lilo, is bisexual and married, courtesy of Canada, to a woman. Yet she still has to

listen to her wife’s friends warn her wife that Lilo will leave her for a man, for the ease of heterosexual life. And not in a joking, funloving sort of way, either. They are bitter, spiteful warnings, implicit with, should Lilo leave one day, her wife will only have gotten what she deserved for getting involved with “one of them” anyway.

Until next month, Poppets, take care of you – and each other.⁂ Get Involved with the stories and issues that matter to you! Share your thoughts and comments on this article at www.thebettypages.com

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Excuse me, but what the hell? This makes no sense, Poppets. If what we fight for, what we rally for, is the right to be accepted for who we are and love who we love, why are we not willing to give that same respect to others?

Others who we claim to include? Helen still can’t talk openly about going out on a date with a woman because she risks her job if she does (and not because of an adultery clause).

David still opted to remove the pink triangle decal from our car before starting a new job, until he gets a feel for how homophobic his new company is. Lilo is still only married because another country gave her that right.

They are still facing the ostracism, the lessthan attitudes, the danger, the opposition.

They shouldn’t have to face it here, among their own community. We should be better than that.

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Gay Film Bibliography: Not Such Strangers Bichoo Vrischik

Alfred Hitchcock met Goldwyn-boy Farley Granger at Warner Bros. “I will tell you all about ROPE he said, Granger writes in his autobiography INCLUDE ME OUT (New York: St Martin’s Press, 2007),” its murder and revelation taking place in a New York penthouse “between 7:00 and 8:40 on a specific evening.” The title page read “Screenplay by Arthur Laurents,” a name Granger remembered from tending Judy Garland’s parents’ cat. Arthur phoned the following morning, inviting Farley for vodka, ROPE discussions, dinner, theatre gossip and brandy, but Granger declined

his invitation to spend the night. “Several days later” he did accept, for a week before ROPE rehearsals. “We discussed the text and the subtext,” writes Granger, in “an extremely valuable learning experience.”

Arthur had bought property in Laurel Canyon. After ROPE, the pair toured war-torn Europe in Arthur’s Hillman Minx, meeting Orson Welles and Eartha Kitt in Vienna, before Farley heard from Hitch again.

Thus Robin Wood incorrectly references Lev Kuleshov’s theory that an actor’s blank close-up intercut with objects always deceives its audience: “Hitchock might, of course, have anticipated Cary Grant’s performance[s] from prior knowledge …

But … Robert Walker?” Wood may be correct in suggesting that Walker’s role as Bruno was Hitch’s primary interest: “…one can point to the exact moment where the film goes wrong (which is also where it departs decisively from its source, Patricia Highsmith’s novel) -- the scene where Guy [Farley] doesn’t kill Bruno’s father.” Without exploring “the disturbing

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On the ROPE set “Hitch would end with the camera on someone’s back,” Granger first, but more often his co-star John Dall. But Granger on set discussed the gay subtext only with Dall, not Jimmy Stewart nor Hitch: “What discussions? It was 1948.” James Mason, to Granger, would have been better than Stewart as the possibly gay professor who discovers the crime. Cary Grant “dropped by for lunch;” Granger, Dall and Hitch giggled one lunch as Noel Coward imitated Gertrude Lawrence. However “not being able to be honest about the real relationship between the characters, Granger wonders, what “if he had not had to worry about censorship?”

Granger met Hitch again in at his Bel Air home. “Over tea he told me the story of STRANGERS ON A TRAIN [1951], playing all the parts with great relish.”

Robert Walker, known as a MGM boynext-door, actually divorced by Jennifer Jones for David Selznick (for whom Hitch had unhappily directed several films), recently “institutionalized for almost a year,” and “drinking heavily,” was to costar. Hitch shocked Granger by hoping that a scandal might ensue: “Wouldn’t it be interesting if something happened on our film?” One night in a Washington D.C. hotel (Hitch had moved the action from New York, Texas, and Mexico), the drunken Walker broke down about Jennifer, asking Granger, “Please, please don’t leave me alone!” Granger spent the night: STRANGERS ON A TRAIN was his “happiest filmmaking experience.” But Walker died of alcohol and sedative abuse before it premiered. Granger “began to receive dinner invitations” from Hitch, at home and at Ciro’s, with Ingrid Bergman, et al.

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implications of his hero’s behavior,” Hitch does displace interest onto Bruno.

“Hitchcock’s most satisfying endings,” Jean-Luc Godard might agree, “express catharsis,” e.g., “the firing of the gun at the end of ROPE.” Jesuit-educated Hitch’s “Bruno pursues Miriam [Guy’s wife, and Bruno’s tit-for-tat victim] through the Tunnel of Love” in a boat named Pluto.

Normality interests Hitch “only when he can present it satirically, as with the society party” where Bruno almost strangles a matron, making explicit that “subversive, destructive desires exist in all of us.”

“What is repressed is never annihilated” to Wood, but “perverted into the drive to dominate.” To Freud “repression [not homosexuality itself ] was intimately related to [every] disorder.” It led to Hitchcock’s practical jokes against gay actors, earlier Ivor Novello and later

Montgomery Clift, if not Granger. Bruno, in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, “hates his father,” his mother paints a Dorian Grey-like portrait of him, he “seems rather to enjoy murdering women, and dresses flamboyantly…he becomes not only its most complex and detailed character but its most vulnerable.” To Wood “Hitchcock identified masochistically with his villain victims:” he originally wanted Clifton Webb as the NOTORIOUS (1946) villain.

The cigarette lighter than Guy accidently leaves on the train, to Wood, “is one of the visual equivalents Hitchcock finds for the interior, psychological analysis” of Highsmith’s novel. But Wood ignores the original clue. In the novel, Guy leaves not

a cigarette lighter but a volume of Plato, remembering Plato’s chariot analogy, the soul as a charioteer controlling two horses, one troublesome and the other wellbehaved, perhaps like Guy and Bruno, the guilt of one corrupting the other. It comes from Plato’s most explicit treatise on same-sex desire, PHAEDRUS (c. 370 BC).⁂

Get Involved with the stories and issues that matter to you! Share your thoughts and comments on this article at www.thebettypages.com

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GLBT Organizations in Whatcom and Skagit Counties www.theslowlane.com This website includes a gay resource guide for Bellingham located at www.theslowlane.com/guide.html.

There is also a Yahoo Groups at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ alternativebellingham/ Sean Humphrey House An apartment complex for people living with HIV/AIDS in Bellingham. For more information call 360-733-9357 Triskeli Guild TheTriskeli Guild is Bellingham’s BDSM group that promotes community and education for safe, sane and consensual play. They encourage participation by all sexual preferences, race and age 18 and up people. They meet monthly every 2nd Tuesday, at Pandora’s Box at 314 W. Champion St. at 7 m. www. triskeli.org Queries—triskeli@triskeli. org

Washington Gender Alliance A support and educational organization for anyone dealing with issues of gender identity or expression, and the people in our lives. We have weekly Open Support meetings in Bellingham and Everett. For more information, please write to us at info@ WashingtonGenderAlliance.com or call 360-445-2411, or visit our web site at www.WashingtonGenderAlliance.com.

ISCEE The Imperial Sovereign Court of the Evergreen Empire is affiliated with the International Court System and has been actively raising money for charity for over 25 years by sponsoring drag shows and pageants. The group is open to all regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation, seeking to provide social activities and community service opportunities for gays, lesbians, and their friends and allies in Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan Counties.

PFLAG of Skagit County Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays’ Skagit County Chapter meets at the Central United Methodist Church at 1013 Polte Rd. in Sedro-woolley on the second Monday of every month at 7 PM. For directions and information all 360-856-4676 Counseling Line To connect with a licensed therapist in Whatcom County who is educated about kink, polyamory, and LGBTQI lives and lifestyles, call 360-756-0718.

Individual, couples, and family and phone sessions are available.

Lavender Light Meeting An LGBT Lavender Light meeting of Narcotics Anonymous meets at 1209 Girard Street every Wednesday and Friday night at 7 PM and Sunday at noon. This group has been meeting since June of 2001.

Whatcom County PFLAG Whatcom County Parents Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays meets the 2ND Thursday of each month, 7pm at First Congregational Church, 2401 Cornwall Avenue, Bellingham. For more information and events visit www.whatcompflag.com Skagit Young Men’s Group A place for young, gay men (ages 2035) to meet new people, get support, make conversation and have fun.

Meetings held at Central Methodist Church, Sedro-Woolley.

Rumors Cabaret Rumors Cabaret caters to Bellingham’s GLBT and alternative lifestyle community and has done so since the 1980’s. An award winning dance club, Rumors provides a gathering place to celebrate party and mingle. From the Betty Desire Show at 10:30 PM on Wednesday nights, to Fetish Nite on the third Sunday of the month, to hosting foam parties and drag shows, there is

something for everyone at Rumors. Go to rumorscabaret.com for info.

group/BellinghamRadicalFaeries/

Evergreen AIDS Foundation Evergreen AIDS Foundation provides support services for people living with HIV and AIDS who reside in Whatcom, Skagit, Island, San Juan and Snohomish counties. 1509 Cornwall Ave. 360-671-0703 Western Washington University LGBTA The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Alliance at Western Washington University is a student organization which supports lesbians, gays, bisexuals, people who identify as transgender, and their allies; in the various stages of their coming out process, in the creation and affirmation of positive self identities, and in the promotion and defense of their human and civil rights.

The LGBTA is located on Western’s Campus in Viking Union 515 and is open from the first day of Fall quarter until the last day of Spring quarter. For information call 360-650-6120.

Whatcom County KINK is a group to help organize events, munches, help if you have items to sell, or just a way for people to get to know each other. Meetings are the 1st Tuesday of the month at Rumor’s Cabaret. Happy Spankings!

Bellingham Radical Faeries Community of queerfolk interested in lifestyles celebrating queer sexuality, spirituality and sustainability of the natural world. 18+ recommended.

Meet at Three Trees Coffeehouse, 118 W. Holly St, Saturdays from 11am-ish to 1pm-ish. http://groups.yahoo.com/

The Betty Pages Copyright Notice While The Betty Pages and/or its contributors generally reserve all rights and privileges of copyright, several parts of this publication are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. For more information and permissions, contact The Betty Pages at thebettypages@gmail.com or send a letter to The Betty Pages, c/o Desire Enterprises, PO Box 2724, Bellingham, Washington, 98227-2724, USA.

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On Eagle’s Wings Counseling Sue Stackhouse offers counseling services to the GLBT community in Whatcom and Skagit County. For information call 360-599-2627

Gay and Lesbian Alcoholics Anonymous Meets every Wednesday night at 7:30PM at St. Joseph’s South Campus.

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