The Gayly Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 22, No. 13, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 1, 2004 Page: 1 of 28
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Important Information
about Kennel Cough
TULSA - Sue Welch and Marcie Smith get all artsy like at TOHR s Annual
Art Show as part ot the Diversity Celebration. Photo by Timscottonline.
com.
OKLAHOMA CITY - Roxie Hart, Miss EOY 2000 with Simara Stone as
she is being crowned Miss Copa by Miss Gay Oklahoma Adrianna. The
Miss Copa Pageant was the nal preliminary for the Miss Gay Oklahoma
Pageant.
The Gayly Receives TOHR Community Hero Award
by Andrew Hicks
TULSA - As part of its an-
nua! Diversity Celebration, Tulsa
Oklahomans for Human Rights
(TOHR) presented their annua!
Community Hero Awards. The
Awards are presented annually to
deserving individuals who have
significantly contributed to the
northeast Oklahoma Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) &
allied community for the con-
tinuing struggle to achieve legal
equality and social acceptance.
This year's recipients repre-
sented a cross section of Tulsa's
gay community. The recipients,
each in their own way, have
helped forge Tulsa into a better
understanding of what diver-
sity truly means. Awards for
2004 were given to Sand Springs
high school senior Brett Wimmer,
Community Of Hope Pastor Rev.
Leslie Penrose and The Gayly
Oklahoman.
After coming out in his high
school newspaper, life for Brett
Wimmer changed drastically and
the acceptance he hoped to find
was nowhere in sight. During his
time as a high school
student at Charles
Page High School
Wimmer was sub-
jected to numerous
verbal and physical
attacks while school
supervisors stood
by and did nothing.
Wimmer joined Open
Arms Youth Project
and befriended Ken
Draper, the direc-
tor. Through the help
of Draper and his
partner Tim Gillean,
Wimmer attempted
to meet with the Sand
Spring Schools Superintendent
but each attempt was declined.
Then as luck would have it, openly
gay alumni Sam Harris was slated
to perform to raise money for the
school. Gillean and Tulsa I’FLAG
President Nancy McDonald plead-
ed with Harris to talk to school
officials about the treatment of
their glbt students. Harris came
through for Brett and as a result,
Mr. Wimmer was elected the first
president of the Charles Page High
Don Hawkins, owner of The Gayly Oklahoman, with
Mark Bonney, President of TOHR.
school Gay/Straight Alliance.
Rev. Penrose first came into
the spotlight when she was ter-
minated as a Methodist minister
for performing a civil union for
two people of the same gender.
Currently Penrose serves as Pastor
of Tulsa's Community of Hope
where she continues to be a gay
rights activist. Penrose recently
flew to San Francisco to officiate
the marriage of Soulforce Director
(continued on page 4)
Statewide GLBT News Source since 1983
jHR'
gayly Oklahoman
( Vol. 22, Issue 13 July 1,2004
Keith Smith - Optimist and Activist
By Paula Sophia
OKLAHOMAA CITY - A
picture of Gloria Steinem posing
with Keith Smith hangs on the
wall in his office amid a collection
of posters and awards, symbols
of achievements and beliefs. The
overall statement there is one of
equality for all people.
Smith pointed at the pic-
ture of him and Gloria Steinem.
"I'm a feminist," he declared.
"Misogyny, in my opinion, is the
root source for homophobia."
Smith related the struggles
of his mother, a single woman
trying to raise her child in the
1960's when there was a greater
social stigma attached to being a
single parent. "What got me going
as a feminist was being raised by
a single mother," Smith said. "I
realized that things were not fair
for women, i saw what sexism and
discrimination did to my mom."
When Smith realized he was
gay he understood what it meant
to be marginalized by society. At
an early age he began asserting his
voice, speaking up for the rights
of women. He worked closely
with the National Organization
for Women (NOW) and became
acquainted with the issues that
concern women to this day: re-
productive freedom, equal pay for
equal work, sexual harassment,
and domestic violence. NOW has
included gay and lesbian rights on
their national platform for many
years now, and the organization
helped Smith and others establish
the first gay rights organization
on the campus of Oklahoma State
University.
Because of his activist expe-
rience Smith has built
a career as a lobbyist.
The Smith Group rep-
resents a host of orga-
nizations including The
Sierra Club for envi-
ronmental concerns,
Planned Parenthood
for women's reproduc-
tive rights, Oklahoma
Policy Consortium for
people with disabili-
ties, and the National
Association for Social
Workers. He spends
many hours defend-
ing the rights of gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and
transgender people in
Oklahoma and nation-
wide. In fact he is one
of the cofounders of
the national Stonewall
Democrats, a political
advocacy group that
promotes the participa-
tion of gay and lesbian citizens
in all aspects of political involve-
ment. Currently he serves as
tho male co-chair of the Central
Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats
and as a board member of the
national organization.
As the national debate about
same-sex marriage rages, the po-
litical environment in Oklahoma
has become very hostile for gay
rights activists and those who sup-
port fair-minded measures that
affect the lives of Oklahoma's glbt
citizens. Recently Brad Carson, a
Democratic candidate for the U.S.
Senate, has publicly announced
that he supports the Federal
Marriage Amendment. Democrats
in the Oklahoma State Legislature
Keith Smith
have demonstrated a lack of re-
solve when it comes to issues that
affect glbt Oklahomans. They
allowed a proposal to amend the
Oklahoma State Constitution to
define marriage as a union of one
man and one woman to become
a general election ballot measure
without putting up much of a
fight. They did virtually nothing
to oppose an adoption law that
does not recognize same-sex
couples as adoptive parents even
if they are fully recognized as
such from other states. With all
of this, in addition to the usual
ways some Oklahoma politicians
abuse the glbt community to for-
tify their stands on moral issues,
why would someone like Keith
(continued on page 4)
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Hawkins, Don. The Gayly Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 22, No. 13, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 1, 2004, newspaper, July 1, 2004; Oklahoma City, Okla.. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc825289/m1/1/: accessed April 23, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.