LAGAR Newsletter, No. 26 (June 2004)

NEWSLETTER NO. 26, JUNE 2004 

 
REPOSITORY UPDATE

lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Religious Archives Networkhttp://www.archivists.org/Documents%20and%20Settings/Susan%20Edwards/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/OLK37/www.lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderran.org

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Religious Archives Network (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderRAN) at Chicago Theological Seminary is a grass roots, activist venture to promote and conserve the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender religious movements.  lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderRAN serves as a resource center and information clearinghouse for preserving records of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender religious movements and also encourages historical study of them. Pass on news of this ground-breaking work by forwarding this email to friends and colleagues.

lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderRAN EVENT ON APRIL 16

lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderRAN marked its second anniversary with a special event at Chicago Theological Seminary on Friday evening, April 16, in conjunction with the annual meeting of its Advisory Committee. The dinner and program honored committee members Dr. James Anderson and Dr. Kenneth Rowe upon their retirement from professional careers and for their years of dedicated work to preserve lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender religious history.  In addition, prominent lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender historian Dr. John D'Emilio shared reflections on the importance of religious movements in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history.

FIVE MORE PIONEERS

New entries in the Pioneers Gallery this past month are: Kiyimba Brown, Issan Dorsey, Jeannine Gramick, Sharon Kleinbaum and Sherry Marts. You can learn more about these and other lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender religious leaders in the Pioneers Gallery athttp://www.archivists.org/Documents%20and%20Settings/Susan%20Edwards/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/OLK37/www.lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderran.org/Pioneers.asp. Kiyimba Brown, pastor in Uganda, has a particularly powerful witness with his ministry in a challenging and even dangerous setting.

COLLECTIONS CATALOG CHANGES & ADDITIONS

The online Collections Catalog, has been reorganized this month to allow browsing by religious tradition as well as browsing the whole list,http://www.archivists.org/Documents%20and%20Settings/Susan%20Edwards/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/OLK37/www.lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderran.org/Collections.asp. Due to the growing size of the catalog, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderRAN staff are working in the coming weeks on putting the catalog into the form of a database that will provide more search options.

New additions to the Collections Catalog include our first from the U.K. Four collections are records from lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender religious groups in the U.K.: Friends Homosexual Fellowship, The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, Quest: Group for Homosexual Catholics, and REACH: Organization for Christian Homosexuals. The Hall Carpenter Archives Ephemera Collection includes documents from several religious groups and activists. Other new collection listings are: the Nomenus Collection (at the Hormel Library in San Francisco) and the Robert J. Leach Papers (at Cornell University).

REPOSITORY FOR WICCAN RECORDS

Efforts of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderRAN archivist Doris Malkmus to locate archived collections of WICCAN records have been futile so far. However, she has learned that one of the central organizations, The Motherhouse of the Reformed Congregation of the Goddess, and the progenitorice of the women's spirituality movement, Z Budapest, have extensive and significant collections covering twenty to thirty years that they want to preserve. Any repository interested in considering housing these collections can contact Doris at dmalkmus@lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderran.org.

READ LESBIAN MOTIVE ISSUE ONLINE

A watershed event in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender religious movements in the U.S. was the 1972 publication of a lesbian and a gay male issue of Motive, the magazine of the Methodist Student Movement. The Methodist Church closed down the magazine and these two issues were published independently. The lesbian issue was produced by the Furies, a lesbian collective in Washington D.C. The  Rainbow History Project there has posted a digital version of this issue on its web site for reading: http://www.archivists.org/Documents%20and%20Settings/Susan%20Edwards/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/OLK37/www.rainbowhistory.org/motive.htm

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderRAN

·                 Invite friends and colleagues to learn more about preserving the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender religious movements by forwarding this newsletter to them or sending their email addresses to info@lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderran.org and we'll contact them.

·                  Contact us at info@lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderran.org with information about existing archival collections from lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender religious movements or about records that need to be archived.

·                 Volunteer to assist with some of our initial work in researching info about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender religious collections at volunteer@lgtbtran.org. The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderRAN staff will be pleased to help you get involved in whatever way is most appropriate for you.

·                 Make a financial gift to support the work on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderRAN on the web site:http://www.archivists.org/Documents%20and%20Settings/Susan%20Edwards/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/OLK37/www.lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderran.org. Click on the "Make A Gift" box in upper left corner of the page. You can provide information on individuals, foundations and organizations that might be interested in funding this ground-breaking historical work by emailing mbowman@lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderran.org.

AGENDA ITEMS FOR THE SAA MEETING

I'd like to propose a few changes to our by-laws (see below) in order to have discussion at the annual meeting.  The changes focus primarily on minute taking (another thing we've been skipping) and sharing information with the group via email instead of via postal mail.  Please be prepared to vote on these changes at the meeting in August.

Providing an appendix of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender repositories in the U.S. and Canada to the "Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in America" (due out in June) brought $1,000 into our coffers!  We need to figure out how we'd like to use this money.  Any suggestions?

We need to create a steering committee for LAGAR.  According to the by-laws (which will be posted on our website in the near future) the purpose of the steering committee is to advise and assist the co-chairs.  Dan and I also see its purpose to be assisting the newsletter editor and webmaster as needed and to work to create panels on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender matters at SAA.  According to the current by-laws there is no set number for how many members make up the steering committee but with two co-chairs, one newsletter editor, and one webmaster, I'd like to recommend 3 additional members making a total of 7 steering committee members.  Is anyone interested in serving in this capacity?  Since it's a new idea to LAGAR we can make it what we like!

Stephen Novak is the sole candidate for male co-chair.  Although we are delighted that Stephen is running, more than one candidate makes for a less ‘Soviet-style’ (as Jim C put it) campaign!  

-- Debbie Richards, Co-chair

BY-LAWS AND DISCUSSION

BY-LAWS

Lesbian and Gay Archives Roundtable, Society of American Archivists

I.              Article 1. Name.

The name of this roundtable shall be the Lesbian and Gay Archives Roundtable of the Society of American Archivists (SAA), hereinafter referred to as LAGAR. 

I.              Article 2. Objectives. 

A.            Bring together people who are concerned about the collection, preservation, description and research use of archival materials documenting lesbians, gay men, and their institutions.

B.            Keep lesbian and gay-male issues in archives and history more visible within SAA. 

C.            Educate archivists about the importance of identifying and preserving historical records documenting the lives, accomplishments, and culture of lesbians and gay men. 

D.            Act as a liaison between SAA and community-based lesbian and gay-male archives. Encourage and facilitate the participation of lesbian and gay-male archivists in SAA activities and the professional archival community. 

E.             Exchange information with other lesbian and gay-male professional groups. 

I.              Article 3. Membership.

A.            Membership is open to any person who shares the objectives of LAGAR. 

I.              Article 4.  Officers.

A.            LAGAR shall be guided by two co-chairs. They, with any committee chairs that may be functioning at the time, shall make up the Steering Committee.

B.            Terms of office. 

1.             The two co-chairs, one female and one male, shall each serve staggered terms of two consecutive years. [It is recommended, though not mandated, that chairs be rotated at least every three terms.]

2.             The newly elected co-chair shall assume office at the close of the annual LAGAR meeting at which they are elected and shall serve until their successor has taken office. 

3.             Committee chairs and members shall be elected for a term of two consecutive years with no stipulation on consecutive terms.  

C.            Nomination and Election. 

1.             Nominations will be taken from the floor of the annual LAGAR meeting. All nominations must be seconded and consent of the nominee is required. 

2.             Elections for each office shall be by a show of hands. A simple majority shall elect an officer. If there is any contest, the election shall be retaken by secret ballot with a simple majority rule. 

3.             Vacancies in office shall be filled by a Steering Committee member in the case of a co-chair and appointed jointly by the co-chairs in the case of a committee member.

D.            Duties of the officers.

1.             The co-chairs shall facilitate the LAGAR meetings with the advice and assistance of the Steering Committee. The co-chairs appoint Committee chairs, liaisons and the Newsletter Committee; submit the Three-Year Plan and summary to SAA Council; submit budget requests to SAA Council; and turn over the records of their administration to the new co-chair and non-current records to the SAA Archivist. 

2.             Newsletter Committee shall produce at least two issues of the LAGAR Newsletter and record the minutes of any meetings. 

3.             Committee Chairs shall ensure the progress of the committee's work as directed at the annual meeting or by the Steering Committee and keep a co-chair appraised by report. 

Article 5. Business

A.            Meeting times.  LAGAR shall meet once a year at the time of the annual meeting of the SAA. The time and agenda will be announced in the LAGAR Newsletter immediately preceding the meeting. 

B.            Other meetings.  Additional LAGAR meetings may be scheduled during the annual meeting of the SAA. Such meetings shall be  announced in the LAGAR Newsletter immediately preceding the annual meeting, if possible, or before the end of the annual LAGAR  meeting. 

C.            Voting.   All decisions of the LAGAR shall be determined by a plurality of members voting at the annual meeting.

Article 6. Parliamentary Authority. 

Any meeting shall be facilitated by the senior co-chair. Robert's Rules of Order, the latest edition, shall govern the proceedings of the LAGAR meetings, except as otherwise provided for in the by-laws of the LAGAR, or in the constitution, by-laws, or special rules of the SAA. 

Article 7. Amendments to the By-laws. 

A.            Notice and form. 

1.             Amendments to these by-laws may be proposed by any LAGAR member. 

2.             Such amendments must be submitted in writing to a LAGAR co-chair sixty days prior to the annual meeting. 

3.             The proposed amendments shall be mailed to the membership with the LAGAR Newsletter immediately preceding the annual meeting and available at the annual meeting. A discussion of the proposed amendment will take place at the annual LAGAR meeting. 

B.            Adoption of amendments. 

1.             After the appropriate notice has been given, amendments shall be voted on at the annual LAGAR meeting immediately following the mail notification.

1991.09.28

Proposed amendments to the by-laws of the Lesbian and Gay Archives Roundtable, Society of American Archivists,

I. Article 1. Name.

The name of this roundtable shall be the Lesbian and Gay Archives Roundtable of the Society of American Archivists (SAA), hereinafter referred to as LAGAR.

I. Article 2. Objectives.

A. Bring together people who are concerned about the collection, preservation, description and research use of archival materials documenting lesbians, gay men, and their institutions.

B. Keep lesbian and gay-male issues in archives and history more visible within SAA. 

C. Educate archivists about the importance of identifying and preserving historical records documenting the lives, accomplishments, and culture of lesbians and gay men. 

D. Act as a liaison between SAA and community-based lesbian and gay-male archives. Encourage and facilitate the participation of lesbian and gay-male archivists in SAA activities and the professional archival community. 

E. Exchange information with other lesbian and gay-male professional groups.

I. Article 3. Membership.

A. Membership is open to any person who shares the objectives of LAGAR. 

I. Article 4.  Officers.

A. LAGAR shall be guided by two co-chairs. They, with any committee chairs that may be functioning at the time, shall make up the Steering Committee.

B. Terms of office. 

1. The two co-chairs, one female and one male, shall each serve staggered terms of two consecutive years. [It is recommended, though not mandated, that chairs be rotated at least every three terms.]

2. The newly elected co-chair shall assume office at the close of the annual LAGAR meeting at which they are elected and shall serve until their successor has taken office.

3. Committee chairs and members shall be elected for a term of two consecutive years with no stipulation on consecutive terms.

C. Nomination and Election.

1. Nominations will be taken from the floor of the annual LAGAR meeting. All nominations must be seconded and consent of the nominee is required.

2. Elections for each office shall be by a show of hands. A simple majority shall elect an officer. If there is any contest, the election shall be retaken by secret ballot with a simple majority rule. 

3. Vacancies in office shall be filled by a Steering Committee member in the case of a co-chair and appointed jointly by the co-chairs in the case of a committee member.

D. Duties of the officers.

* 1. The co-chairs shall facilitate the LAGAR meetings with the advice and assistance of the Steering Committee. The co-chairs appoint Committee [REMOVE chairs, liaisons, and the Newsletter Committee] [ADD members, Newsletter Editor, and Webmaster;] submit the Three-Year Plan and summary to SAA Council; submit budget requests to SAA Council; and turn over the records of their administration to the new co-chair and non-current records to the SAA Archivist. 

* 2. Newsletter Committee shall produce at least two issues of the LAGAR Newsletter. [REMOVED: and record the minutes of any meetings.]

3. Committee Chairs shall ensure the progress of the committee's work as directed at the annual meeting or by the Steering Committee and keep a co-chair appraised by report. 

* [ADD 4.  A member of the Steering Committee shall record the minutes of any meetings.  Minutes will be sent within 30 days via email or postal mail to the LAGAR membership.]

Article 5. Business

A. Meeting times.  LAGAR shall meet once a year at the time of the annual meeting of the SAA. The time and agenda will be announced in the LAGAR Newsletter [AND on its listserv] immediately preceding the meeting. 

B. Other meetings.  Additional LAGAR meetings may be scheduled during the annual meeting of the SAA. Such meetings shall be  announced in the LAGAR Newsletter  [AND on its listserv] immediately preceding the annual meeting, if possible, or before the end of the annual LAGAR meeting. 

C. Voting.   All decisions of the LAGAR shall be determined by a plurality of members voting at the annual meeting.

Article 6. Parliamentary Authority.

Any meeting shall be facilitated by the senior co-chair. Robert's Rules of Order, the latest edition, shall govern the proceedings of the LAGAR meetings, except as otherwise provided for in the by-laws of the LAGAR, or in the constitution, by-laws, or special rules of the SAA. 

Article 7. Amendments to the By-laws.

A. Notice and form. 

1. Amendments to these by-laws may be proposed by any LAGAR member. 

2. Such amendments must be submitted in writing to a LAGAR co-chair sixty days prior to the annual meeting. 

*3. The proposed amendments shall be [REMOVE mailed] [ADD emailed] to the membership with the LAGAR Newsletter [AND posted on its listserv] immediately preceding the annual meeting and available at the annual meeting. A discussion of the proposed amendment will take place at the annual LAGAR meeting. 

B. Adoption of amendments. 

1. After the appropriate notice has been given, amendments shall be voted on at the annual LAGAR meeting immediately following the mail notification.

Suggested revisions: 11 May 2004, Debbie Richards, LAGAR Co-chair

NEW PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST

A Passion to Preserve: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture, Will Fellows, University of Wisconsin Press, 2004.

From large cities to rural communities, gay men have long been impassioned pioneers as keepers of culture: rescuing and restoring decrepit buildings, revitalizing blighted neighborhoods, saving artifacts and documents of historical significance. This penchant to preserve, though widely observed, is typically ignored or dismissed as a stereotypical gay cliché, even by many gay men themselves. A Passion to Preserve explores this authentic and complex dimension of gay men's lives by profiling early and contemporary preservationists from throughout the United States. This eye-opening and provocative book illuminates neglected facets of what it means to be gay and highlights contributions to the larger culture that gays are exceptionally inclined to make.

Fellow's first book was the best-selling Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest.  In A Passion to Preserve, Fellows expands upon the art of oral history he employed so successfully in Farm Boys.

May 2004; 280 pp. 6 x 9 ISBN 0-299-19680-1 Cloth

$30.00 University of Wisconsin Press

 www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/

--  Jack Termine

Monte Cassino, Jean Carlomusto, 2003. DVD/VHS. http://www.jeancarlomusto.com/

Filmmaker Jean Carlomusto is passionate about many things: women, justice, movies, and pasta sauce but most remarkable in this context at least, she is passionate about queer archives. An activist with ACTUP and an employee of GMHC during the 1980s, Jean videotaped demonstrations, funerals, and safer sex porno flicks. Her first fuller length personal work, “L is for the way you look” 1990, traces her dyke friends’ campy immersion in the reported appearance of Dolly Parton at a downtown performance by Reno, the ranting lesbian comedian. Replete with charm, rumor, and humor, the story of the celebrity sighting, with its tantalizing possibilities (Could all that titty really be for dykes?!), is an oral history snapshot of lesbian community.

Disclosure: Jean is a friend of mine. We demonstrated together in ACTUP, made a video about the construction of lesbian history in the 1990s Not Just Passing Through. NJPT and her subsequent works deal with strategies of memory and self-construction, particularly used by gays and lesbians. To Catch a Glimpse (1997) about Jean’s grandmother’s death from a suspected abortion and Shatzi Is Dying (2000) about the death of a beloved canine in the midst of the AIDS crisis, are constructions of “a trauma archive, using documentary to stage an encounter with death” (Ann Cvetkovich in  An Archive of Feeling: Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian Public Cultures. Duke University Press, 2003, p. 254).  Any archive of contemporary queer life features death.

Jean calls her personal works “unorthodox investigative reports.” She patches together personal stories, performing her own narration, always using the people closest to her – friends, girlfriends, family, and her very smart Buddhist teacher - to explore the social politics impacting her understanding of the question and her investigation of it. She lifts personal narrative out of a private sphere and thrusts the story into the video archive she shares with us. Jean’s self-exposed, self-referencing narratives also allow viewers to understand the back story, the persistent argument it takes to hold together fragile understandings while confronting indifference, shame, disease, and political insanity.

With Jane Rosett, Jean created A Portrait Gallery, an interactive multi-media installation which opened at the Museum of the City of New York April 21, 2001 to commemorate the 20^thanniversary of the AIDS/HIV pandemic. The Gallery allows viewers to “light” a candle featuring the name of someone who died from AIDS, which triggers a short video portrait. When some of the video vignette affronted the sensibilities of Museum administrators, officials “softened” the sexual content of the installation, but Jean and Jane went to the press about it (New York Times, April 27, 2001, Sec. B, p. 3). The exhibit was on display through September 10, 2001.

Jean’s work gathers the sensibilities of lesbians who inhabit and engage full-on with the world’s political terrain. In the commercial world of the ‘L-word’ lesbians don’t seem to care much about the implications of America’s War on Terror.  Jean’s work assumes that we do.

Her latest piece, Monte Cassino, features her father’s story. Tom Carlomusto grew up at the foot of Monte Cassino, a monastery and an archive positioned atop a hill overlooking a key stretch of Italian highway. Whoever controlled Monte Cassino controlled the road to Rome. Using home movies, WWII documentaries, Hollywood dramas, and Tom’s spoken history, Jean explores the devastation the 1942-1944 battle for Monte Cassino wrought upon her father’s life and psyche, and in turn upon her own childhood. Jean recounts Tom’s struggle and anger -“I watched him like a hawk, being anywhere near him was dangerous,” and their mutual desire to reflect each another - “I wanted to be his buddy, his paisano,” to be the boy, the son, Tom wanted.

With precision political timing, Monte Cassino arrives to explore the impact of war on front line civilians and with it the responsibilities of citizens to work for peace. Vintage dramatizations of Allied “precision bombing” mirror contemporary CNN cartoons of American planes carrying out similar activities on the civilians of Afghanistan and Iraq. 

A present day Monte Cassino tour guide points to the memorial to slaughtered Polish soldiers. Except for a little-known John Huston documentary war film, there is nothing to commemorate the civilians who died and survived the battle for Monte Cassino. The memory of years of bombing still brings tears to Tom’s eyes; Tom’s uncle cannot, despite considerable dramatic effort, muster the words to speak about it. Jean lovingly leads her father through the archive of his own trauma; we are the privileged witnesses. I am Monte Cassino, Jean-the-Narrator asserts. With this work, we all are. This film belongs in the libraries, archives, monasteries, and military bases of war mongering nations, and in collections valuing queer histories as well.

-- Polly Thistlethwaite, Librarian, CUNY Graduate School & University Center, New York City

NEWS

The H-Histsex Network at http://www.h-net.org/~histsex/ provides a forum for communication and discussion of matters of common interest. It is a place to post announcements of conferences, calls for papers, information about and reviews of new publications, requests for information, and points for discussion, concerning historical perspectives on (but not limited to):

·                 Sexual activity in historical context; the formation of sexual identities (e.g., different-sex, same-sex, bisexual and queer identities)

·                 Sexuality and marriage (premarital, courtship, adultery, divorce-related themes)

·                 Individual sexuality (celibacy and masturbation)

·                 Fertility and sexuality (menstruation; birth control, abortion, vasectomy and other technologies)

·                 Sexual subcultures; geographies of sexuality; prostitution; sexually transmitted disease

·                 HIV/AIDS and sexuality

·                 Representations of sexuality (e.g., pornography, erotica, safer sex campaigns)

·                 The medicalization of sexualities (e.g., sexology, psychiatry; perversions and paraphilias)

·                 Sex education

·                 Moral reform movements

·                 Legal regulation of sexuality

·                 Sexual violence

·                 Globalization and sexuality

·                 Historiographical and theoretical approaches to sexuality (e.g., Marxism, feminism, queer theory).

Position Announcement

Junior or Assistant Specialist, S2/S3, Researcher, correction and readvertisement, as appeared on 02/18/04, position #86318T, Hamilton Library, non-tenure track, temporary, full or half-time, General Funds, to begin 07/01/04 through 06/30/05, with possibility of extension pending availability of funds.  Duties: Organize, process and describe the 442nd Collection, including identification of photographs, organization of oral histories, creation of finding aids and development of a web site for the Collection.  Conduct research related to the collection. Prepare articles, brochures and external funding applications to support the Collection.  Minimum Qualifications: At S-2: Master's degree in American Studies, History, Library Science or related field. One year of experience in processing archival manuscript collections; experience working with microcomputers and basic software applications in a Windows environment; ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing; organizational skill and attention to accuracy and detail. At S-3: In addition to the requirements above, 30 credits of graduate study from a college or university of recognized standing.  At least 3 years of experience in processing archival and manuscript collections; successful experience in grant writing; record of publications; knowledge of standard archival procedures for handling and preservation of rare and archival materials; ability to plan and direct the work of an assistant. Desired Qualifications at both ranks: Professional archival certification from the Academy of Certified Archivists; Master's degree in Library and Information Sciences; successful completion of library science courses in archives and preservation; experience dealing with genealogical records, knowledge of the history of Japanese Americans in World War II; proven ability to obtain external funds and/or grants. Pay Range: Minimum Annual S2: $35,316; S3: $42,960, commensurate with qualifications and experience. To Apply: Submit letter of application, which addresses your ability to fulfill responsibilities for the position and how you satisfy the minimum and desired qualifications, resume, and names and contact information of three professional references to Personnel Officer, University of Hawai'i at Manoa Library, 2550 McCarthy Mall, Honolulu, HI. 96822. Interviewees may be expected to make a presentation to library faculty and staff as part of the screening process. Inquiries: (808) 956-7207. Continuous recruitment Review of applications will begin on May 27, 2004 and will continue until the position is filled.

UH is an AA/EEO employer and encourages applications from female and minority candidates. Rev. 04/28/04

New Website Looks to Help lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Cigarette Smokers Quit

San Francisco, CA, March 23, 2004 -  Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) recently launched iQuit - a free Internet-based smoking treatment study for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) smokers (http://iquit.medschool.ucsf.edu/).

This study comes on the heels of research showing high rates of smoking in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. In some parts of the community, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender smoking rates can be as much as 50% higher than their heterosexual counterparts. This along with the fact that smoking kills more people each year than HIV/AIDS, car accidents, and drug and alcohol use combined, makes smoking treatment programs an emerging public health priority for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.

The study will compare two Internet-based smoking treatments: one that provides general information that has been helpful in a variety of smoking treatment programs, another that includes the general information plus information and support designed especially for an lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender audience. Smokers will be randomly selected to participate in one or the other. Researchers hope to enroll 600 participants over the course of a year. The purpose of the study is to determine if either treatment results in higher rates of use, more quit attempts, or higher quit rates.

iQuit is unique in offering participants cessation services that are highly convenient and private. lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenders can access the site’s resources any time of day, from multiple locations, and their participation is kept confidential. To be eligible for the study, individuals must be 18 years of age or older and identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. For more information about this study, visit the iQuit website at http://iquit.medschool.ucsf.edu/.

Please pass this e-mail on to other lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenders who might be interested in the study. If you would like posters, flyers, or postcards to display in your community, please contact Anthony Taylor at taylora@itsa.ucsf.edu or by calling us toll free at 866-895-8050.

-- Anthony C. Taylor, Research Assistant
University of California, San Francisco
Habit Abatement Clinic, 1515 Scott Street, Suite 2, San Francisco, CA 94115  Office: (415)476-7459

The College of Saint Rose is looking for a home for a considerable run of the New York Native, a newspaper of gay and lesbian culture and news. The issues run from 1984-1995 (incomplete run). If you are interested and would like specifics on what is available, let us know and we can provide you with that information.
 As this is a considerable amount of newspapers, the College of Saint Rose will not be able to pay shipping costs. If you have any questions or interest, please contact: Steve Black, Serials Librarian, (518) 458-5494, blacks@strose.edu or Jean L. Root Mahalov, Assistant Library Director/College Archivist, (518)454-5190, mahalovj@strose.edu: The Neil Hellman Library, The College of Saint Rose, 432 Western Avenue, Albany, NY  12203.