Frank, Baldwin, Kolbe To Attend SC Reception
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Letter From the Chair
Mark Your Meeting Schedules
1998 Annual Meeting Minutes
DC Off the Beaten Path
Directions to the Reception
Representatives Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin and Jim Kolbe To Attend Standing Committee Reception
Openly gay Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA-4th), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI-2nd), and Jim Kolbe (R-AZ-5th) will be among the attendees at the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues Reception on Tuesday, July 20th.
Congressman Frank, who has served in the United States House of Representatives since 1980, and has been noted by Politics in America to have a "penchant for trying to match liberalism with hard-nosed pragmatism in order to move the legislative ball." See http://www.house.gov/frank/orientation.html for his views on the Defense of Marriage Act, Domestic Partnership, and Sexual Orientation Education, and http://www.house.gov/frank/digital98.html for his statement on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Tammy Baldwin is the only open Lesbian ever to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the first person to win a seat in Congress as an openly Gay candidate during their first run for office. With her election in November 1998, she also became the first woman to serve in the House of Representatives from Wisconsin. According to her website biography at http://www.house.gov/baldwin/ "she is a leading advocate for health care reform, preserving and protecting Social Security and Medicare, and assisting people with disabilities in their efforts to lead productive lives. She has been a forceful supporter of civil rights and an advocate for those in our society whose voices, too often, are not heard."
Jim Kolbe is currently serving his eighth consecutive term in the United States House of Representatives. At a recent Log Cabin Club fund-raiser, he was quoted by the Washington Blade as saying, "'Just because we’re Gay doesn’t mean we can’t believe that capitalism can be a dynamic force that can create wealth and good for everybody in our society,' he said. 'Being Gay doesn’t mean that we want to spend our hard earned money on people who don’t want to work to better themselves or to take care of their families. Being Gay doesn’t mean that we want the government to tell us who we can choose to treat our illnesses or how we can run our businesses,' Kolbe said. 'In other words, I think it makes perfectly good sense for Gays to be Republicans,
The reception will be held in the beautiful and historic Woman’s National Democratic Club http://www.democraticwoman.org, centrally located in DC’s gay neighborhood just one block north of Dupont Circle. This 1892 mansion is on the National Register of Historic Places and houses numerous antiques and political memorabilia, including the desk on which Frances Perkins signed the first Minimum Wage Act. Additionally, Eleanor Roosevelt gave her weekly radio addresses from the library on the second floor.
The Standing Committee will have full use of the first two floors of the house, including the library, the music room (complete with baby grand piano), and an outdoor garden for smoking. The house is barrier free, has an elevator, and is one short block from Dupont Circle Metro. Please feel free to invite your friends and colleagues to this reception as we get reacquainted with old friends and make new ones.
The reception will include buffet style displays of crudite (celery, carrots, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, florets of broccoli and cauliflower, onion and garlic dip), round of beef (carved to order with Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, creamy horseradish sauce, and silver dollar rolls), and antipasto (mortadella, artichoke hearts, mozzarella, provolone, black olives, roasted peppers, mushrooms, marinated vegetables, ham, salami, anchovies, Italian bread, and sesame seed breadsticks).
Passed h’ors d’oeuvres of shrimp mandarin, lobster and kiwi, coppa ham with melon, English roast beef rolls with baby corn, boursin on cucumber with hazelnut, smoked duck canapés with chutney, and smoked trout mousse canapés will also be included in the $10 reception fee. This year’s event is generously sponsored in part by Lexis®-Nexis®, West Group, and CCH Inc.
A form is attached. Registrations *MUST* be made prior to your arrival in DC. Please register today!
Visit the Social Responsibilities SIS home page at http://www.aallnet.org/sis/srsis/index.html. This page is being maintained by Rebecca Alexander, zzalex@washburn.edu, who is doing an outstanding job. The page now contains back issues of the SIS newsletter, and contains back issues of COLLAGE. Also, check out the new Lesbian and Gay links.
The SR-SIS ListServ is a discussion list for members of AALL's SR-SIS and its standing committees: Law Library Services to Institution Residents and the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issue. To subscribe to SR-SIS, send a message to listproc@law.wuacc.edu and type the following command in the body of your message:
subscribe SR-SIS [your first and last name]
As the current chair of the Standing Committee, I would like to thank both Tina Ramoy and Laura Whitbeck for all their work in helping to organize this year's reception which is Tuesday evening, July 20. It looks to be a wonderful event at the National Women's Democratic Club in DuPont Circle. The menu is fantastic and we have obtained vendor support for the first time in our history. Be sure to thank Lexis(r)-Nexis(r), West Group, and CCH, Inc. for their financial assistance to our group. Their generosity is good.
All three openly gay members of Congress have accepted our invitation and have agreed to attend our reception. You can read more about Tammy Baldwin, Barney Frank, and Jim Kolbe in the accompanying article about the reception.
The project to survey the vendors about their policies regarding gay and lesbian issues is still pending. At our meeting in July, we hope to have a list of vendors to survey and the text of a letter to send to vendors. If anyone wishes to have any input or to do any work on this project, please contact me.
Please note that the time for our business meeting on Monday, July 19 from 4:45 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. instead of our traditional Sunday afternoon time.
Scott Burgh
Chief Law Librarian
City of Chicago Department of Law Library
Saturday, 2:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Diversity Symposium: Preparing for the 21st Century
Sunday, 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Business Meeting - Social Responsibility SIS
Monday, 4:45 p.m. - 5:45 p.m.
Business Meeting - Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues
Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Reception - Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues, Women's National
Democratic Club., 1526 New Hampshire Ave., NW (18th & Q).
Wednesday, 10:00 a.m. - noon
"A Capital Contribution" - volunteer at the Adams Elementary School in
Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, 12:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
"A Capital Contribution" - volunteer at the Adams Elementary School in
Washington, D.C.
Minutes of the Annual Business Meeting of the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Concerns of the Social Responsibilities SIS of the American Association of Law Libraries - Wednesday, July 15, 1998 - Anaheim Hilton, Anaheim California
The Chair, John Davey, called the meeting to order at 2:37 p.m.
OLD BUSINESS
- Holoch bequest
- The membership has voted to use the interest on this gift for scholarships
and grants. A committee is working with AALL to draft guidelines on how to
award the funds.
- Newsletter (Collage)
- The Chair congratulated Laura Whitbeck, the 1997-98 newsletter editor, for her excellent work over the past year. The Chair also reported that Laura plans to continue editing the newsletter in the coming year.
- SR-SIS Web Page
- Volunteers from the Standing Committee will help Prano Amjadi of the SR-SIS with this page.
- Membership Dues
- The Chair reminded the members that in order to be a member of the Standing Committee, one must also be a dues-paying member of the SR-SIS, the Standing Committee's parent group.
- Vendor Employment and Benefits Committee
- This committee (now under the Vice-Chair/Chair Elect, Scott Burgh) is planning a survey of legal information companies on their gay-related employment policies. The work of the committee currently involves identifying vendors to survey and drafting a letter.
- Diversity Committee of AALL
- A question has arisen regarding the inclusion of gay/lesbian issues in the purview of the Diversity Committee. (Right now "sexual orientation" appears in the charter of the Diversity Committee.) Next year's symposium, which will be on how to define diversity, will in part address this question.
It is important that the Standing Committee participate in this symposium. Those who are interested should contact the incoming Chair, Scott Burgh.- Question of converting the Standing Committee into an SIS
- In the past year, members of the Standing Committee have been exploring what the necessary steps would be to convert the Standing Committee into an SIS. A summary of the findings was published in the first 1997-98 issue of Collage. The Chair stated that while he feels that it is important to keep the issue open, it is premature to seek such conversion now, in part because the Standing Committee has not yet fully explored what might be gained from a more full collaboration with its current parent group, the SR-SIS. The SR-SIS has asked for the Standing Committee's feedback on how it might better serve our needs. Any member with ideas should pass them on to the incoming Chair.
- Thanks to 1997-98 Board
- The Chair thanked the 1997-98 Board, Sally Langston, Lee Ryan, and Scott Burgh, for their service as Treasurer, Secretary, and Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect.
NEW BUSINESS
- Election of Officers
- By acclamation the membership elected officers for 1998-99.
- Planning for 1999 Annual Meeting in Washington DC
- The Standing Committee is now beginning to plan for the 1999 Annual Meeting. Under consideration are such events as tours and receptions. The Chair is exploring the possibility of vendor underwriting. Several members volunteered to assist with planning.
Program proposals for the 1999 Annual Meeting were also discussed. The Chair will work with the SR-SIS on any program ideas advanced by the Standing Committee.- Mailing List Update
- The Chair asked that those with additions or changes to the Standing Committee's mailing list send the information to Lee Ryan.
- Open Discussion
- The membership discussed the pros and cons of various times for the Standing Committee's annual business meeting. Bruce Kleinschmidt of the SR-SIS reported that the SIS has bid on a perhaps-more-convenient Sunday afternoon time-slot for its 1999 business meeting. If this bid is successful, the Standing Committee meeting could once again "piggyback" on the SR-SIS meeting.
- Introduction of Incoming Chair
- The outgoing Chair introduced Scott Burgh, the incoming Chair. The incoming Chair asked the membership to pass on to him any ideas for programs for the 1999 Annual Meeting, or for subsequent Annual Meetings. He also stated that he would focus on the Vendor Benefits survey and on planning events for the 1999 Annual meeting.
At 3:16 p.m. the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Lee Ryan, Secretary
DC Off the Beaten Path
The Dupont Circle Area
by Elmo Dattalo
Editor's Note: This article is an excerpt from an article of the same title submitted to AALL Spectrum.
Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle is the center of Gay DC. From P to S Streets, NW and from
17th to 22nd Streets, NW, there are gay people and
businesses everywhere. The older section, west of Dupont Circle fountain
between 21st and 23rd Streets has Mr. P’s and the
Fireplace (30’s+ crowd) and dance clubs Badlands and Omega for the disco
bunnies at heart. If you worship the sun, P Street Beach (22nd
& P) is the place to be on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
On the 17th Street side of the Circle (Dupont Circle is the only traffic circle referred to as "the Circle" and everyone knows where you mean) there are more bars, but you really must try two restaurants here, not so much for the food, but for the ambiance. Trio’s & Annie’s Paramount Steak House are D.C. landmarks. Trio’s was known for cheap eats and big haired sassy waitresses. The prices have risen and most of the waitresses are gone -- but, you still might get to meet Margo, the inspiration for Wayland Flower’s puppet -- Madam. If she’s there now, - behind the cash register instead of waiting tables - you’ll know. She still wears a gray streaked bouffant hair-do. Annie’s is the place to be seen late (open 24 hours Friday and Saturday) or early (Sunday brunch) at some point over the weekend. It is wait wait wait (no reservations) for a table on every night of the week. But, the wait is fun. Everyone is friendly and the drinks are big and strong at the bar. The food is reasonably priced and the portions are HUGE! JR’s is, currently, the dominate bar on 17th Street. It is, however, full of twenty-somethings that won’t even let you NEAR the back of the room if you don’t "fit in." Enough said.
Also in the Dupont Circle area are two museums that do not get as much attention as the Smithsonian, which deserve a bit of your time if you can work them in. First is the Phillips Gallery (21st and Q NW) and the second is the Textile Museum (2320 S Street, NW). Both are private collections (there is an admission fee) and both are very much worth a visit. The Phillips can be crowded - depending on the show and you must call (202-667-0441) and verify the Textile Museum’s hours.
Sonny Bono Memorial Park
One of D.C.'s newest parks, this was actually a small green area traffic
triangle until a private citizen overcome with grief over Sonny Bono's death
worked (and paid for personally) with the National Park Service to create
this little memorial to Mr. Bono's memory. At the intersection of 20th S
treet, O Street, and New Hampshire Avenue NW -- you could actually go by
this one by cab and not miss much. Otherwise, it is just a block away from
the Dupont Circle (red line) metro stop's south exit. Unfortunately, only a
few D.C. residents know that this park exists, so getting directions outside
of the metro will not be easy. You are better to ask for directions to the s
treet's intersection. Be careful, traffic is heavy around there and cars may
be whizzing around you.
The Mansion on O Street
A fabulously interesting B & B that is a showplace for "stuff."
Everything, including the building(s) is for sale at any given moment, --
and the right amount of cash. There are pictures, sculptures, dishes,
clothes, ceramics, antiques, mirrors, niknaks, tchotchkes & bibelots all
over the place. Located at 2020 O Street, NW, and run by H.H. Leonards,
(a woman of mystery -- she is known only as "H" and her son is "Z'") this is
the place where President Clinton's mother would often stay when she visited
Washington. Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere have been guests. Just ring
and ask to see the House. H is very nice about letting people in to just
look around when there are no parties or guests scheduled.
While You're in the Circle ...
Current Events
Pick up a copy of the Washington Blade, the weekly gay
newspaper, available at bookstores, businesses, restaurants and bars
throughout the Circle and across town. See the "Out & About" section for
regular meetings (AA to Zen meditation), and events. Also check the
"Appointments" section for special events (concerts, shows, plays, readings,
etc.). Plan your trip now at http://www.washblade.com.
While you’re at it, get a copy of Metro Weekly a.k.a. MW for what the Blade doesn’t provide.
Coffee, Tea or ...
The Circle area has three Starbucks locations on Connecticut Ave:
1301 (at N Street), 1501 (at the Circle North), and 1700 (at R Street). Try
Xando Coffee and Bar at 1350 Connecticut (at the Circle- South) or at
1647 Connecticut (at R).
For a real change of pace, try Teaism at 2009 R (Connecticut and R) for everything its name implies.
While you're on 17th Street, visit Java House at 1645 Q St (17th & Q) for fresh roasted coffee. Also try Cyber Stop Cafe at 1513 17th (between P&Q) with see and be seen outdoor seating.
See the Dupont Circle Review, http://www.announce.com/khein/dupont/index.html, for a block by block analysis of Dupont Circle, with links for individual businesses. See the Rainbow tour section for gay specific sites.
Bookstores near the Circle
You can easily spend a day visiting just the bookstores in the Dupont
Circle area. This list is arranged from South to North for a little "walking
tour" of Dupont Circle bookstores.
Vertigo Books
1337 Connecticut Ave NW
Good collection of African American works - regular readings. (202)
429-9272.
Olsson's Books & Records
1307 19th St NW
Local chain with good selection and service. (202) 785-1133.
http://www.olssons.com/
Second Story Books
2000 P St NW
Used books and prints. (202) 659-8884.
http://www.secondstorybooks.com/
Backstage
2101 P St NW
Theatre and film. (202) 775-1488.
Kramerbooks & Afterwords
1517 Connecticut Ave NW.
Books and desserts. Extended hours. (202) 387-1400.
http://kramers.com/
Lambda Rising
1625 Connecticut Ave NW
Gay & lesbian. (202) 462-6969
MysteryBooks
1715 Connecticut Ave NW.
(202) 483-1600
Kulturas Books
1741 Connecticut Ave NW
Used (202) 462-2541
Newsroom
1753 Connecticut Ave NW
News & foreign language. (202) 332-1489
Lammas Women's Books & More
1607 17th St NW (at Q St)
(202) 775-8218
http://www.zzapp.org/lammas/
Directions to the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay
Issues Reception:
Tuesday, July 20, 1999, 7:00 - 11:00 p.m.
Women's National Democratic Club, 1526 New Hampshire Ave., NW.
Take Metro red line train to the Dupont
Circle Metro Stop.
Take the Q Street exit.
At the top of the escalator, turn right
and continue on Q Street across Connecticut Avenue two blocks to New Hampshire
Avenue.
The building is at the intersection of
New Hampshire Avenue, 18th Street, and Q Street, and the main entrance is on New
Hampshire Ave.