November 3, 2000 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

communitygroups

Ohio Lesbian Festival land is sold; new location sought

Columbus-The Lesbian Business Association would like to say "thank you" to all those women who attended this year's music festival in Kirkersville. This was one of our most successful events to date. Crowd reactions to the performers and merchants were outstanding. The newly added carnival area was a huge favor-

ite. Look for more carnival games and fun at next year's festival.

The deadline for nominations is November 15. If you've been looking for a way to get involved in the women's community in a safe and fun environment, membership and being a board member are two great ways to start. Your involvement helps make a positive difference in the women's community and is a great way to have fun and meet many new friends.

The Frontier Ranch, where the festival has been located, is under contract to be sold to a developer. We would appreciate any suggestions for an alternate site within a one-hour driving radius of Columbus. Drop a note with contact information to the Lesbian Business Associtation, P.O. Box 82086, Columbus, Ohio 43202 or give us a call 614-267-3953.

We are already beginning plans for next year's event and would like to hear from anyone who would like to be involved.

Also, our membership renewal drive is currently under way. If you were recently a member of the LBA, you should've received your letter for renewal. Membership is open to all women and new members are always welcome. We ask that members return the renewal form by early November so we can mail you election ballots.

Speaking of elections, we have a number of positions available on the board of trustees. If you are personally interested or know a woman you would like to nominate, please call the LBA office and let us know. A member of the election committee will return your call with more specific information.

With our recent Town Meeting, surveys, and festival planning we have a very detailed list of goals for this coming year and would like you to help us achieve them. Your involvement is crucial in moving our organization ahead. We have many exciting new developments in the works and need women who are committed to our community and are looking to help make positive contributions.

This is also the time the year the LBA recognizes an individual or a group who has made a positive impact on our community through the "LBA Founders' Award." This award is in honor of those few women who first established the LBA and is given annually during the holiday season to a local business or individual who has provided outstanding service to the lesbigay community in Central Ohio during the past year.

On December 6, 1989, Mark LaPine walked into the University of Montreal School of Engineering, separated the men from the women, and ruthlessly murdered 14 of the women before he could be stopped. In memory of those women and women who continue to courageously fight gender-based violence and discrimination, the LBA created the "Montreal Women's Award." This

is a cash award given each year to a group or individual in central Ohio that provides support and affirmation to women in our community.

Please contact the LBA with nominations, at 614-267-3953. The final deadline to receive this information is December 1st. In closing, we would again like to say a

huge thank you to those women who continue to support and be a part of the LBA. Even more importantly we would like to extend this invitation to all women. We are one of the only area organizations exclusively dedicated to lesbians. There is room in our organization for all women, and all women are welcome.

Domestic violence up 7% from last year, report says

Columbus-The Buckeye Region AntiViolence Organization and the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs have released the 1999 edition of the Report on Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Bisexual Domestic Violence. Nationwide, 3,120 cases were reported including ten deaths.

Columbus reported 87 incidents in 1999, which is

sexual orientation or gender identity.

"The gender-based model used by most programs does not work in LGBT cases," said BRAVO executive director Gloria McCauley. "The common assumption that

BRAVO

Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization

a 7% increase over the 81 recorded in 1998. It is widely recognized that domestic violence in LGBT couples occurs at the same rate it does in heterosexual couples; 25 to 33% of all relationships involve violence or abuse. While the rate of occurrence may be similar, the level of services available to help survivors is not.

Mainstream domestic violence shelters and programs are often ill-equipped to handle the needs of women who identify as lesbian, bisexual or transgender and offer virtually no services for men, regardless of

the man is always the batterer and the women is always the victim, is over simplistic and does not translate to our relationships.

"Training service providers to rethink the issues in terms of power and control is critical if agencies are going to be able to help,” McCauley added.

BRAVO in Columbus is one of only four sites nationwide to be funded by the national coalition and the U.S. Justice Department to provide services to LGBT survivors. A portion of this funding allows BRAVO to provide technical assistance and educational outreach to domestic violence programs and law enforcement agencies in an effort to increase cultural competency when serving LGBT victims.

Gender theorist Butler to speak at Cleveland State

Cleveland-The internationally renowned gender theorist Judith Butler will be speaking at Cleveland State University on Thursday, November 16 at 5:00 p.m. in Waetjen Auditorium, located in Cleveland State University's Music and Communications Building, 2001 Euclid Ave.

Author of Gender Trouble (1990), Bodies That Matter (1993) and Excitable Speech (1997), Butler has become a leading figure in gender and queer theory, through her analysis of gender as a performative process.

Ultimately, she argues, gender identity is not based on the binary opposition of male and female, but is a performance that shifts and changes.

A Cleveland-area native and 1999 Guggenheim scholar, Butler has made major contributions to queer theory and identity politics, by challenging traditional conceptions of gender roles.

Butler's provocative analysis of gender first caught the public eye with the publication of Gender Trouble ten years ago. The enduring quality of this book and its power to continue to shape discussion was recently underscored by Routledge Press' release of a tenth anniversary edition. It was also named by the readers of Lingua Franca as one of the most influential books of the 1990s.

Butler's newest book, Antigone's Claim, which just appeared on bookstore shelves, offers a further challenge to standard heterosexual versions of political and social theory. In this work, she questions whether or not the famous heroine of this Greek tragedy ought to be viewed as a feminist icon. For Butler, Antigone shows how political structures based on traditional kinship systems continue to obstruct our capacity to realize full sexual freedom and political agency. Butler also asks how psychoanalysis would have been different, had it taken Antigone, whom she describes as the "postoedipal subject," rather than Oedipus, as its point of departure. Butler redefines Antigone's legacy, recovering her revolutionary significance and liberating it for a progressive feminism and sexual politics.

Judith Butler, who is the Maxine Elliott Professor of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, will speak on "Ethics, Politics, and the Humanities." This lecture is sponsored by Cleveland State University and the Ohio Humanities Council and supported by a grant from the Cleveland Foundation. For more information about Butler's talk or about the Cultural Crossings Lecture Series, see the web site www.csuohio.edu/ crossings or call 216-523-7173.

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