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 July
Meeting In
this Issue
Board of Directors Ronald
Moore
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Key Proponents to Visit AEN in July by David Payne Is Atlanta ready for another major sporting event - this one totally gay? Join AEN for its July 19 meeting where our featured presenters will be two key proponents and organizers, Ray Hom and Margie Archer, both of Atlanta Games, Inc. Atlanta Games, Inc. has been working diligently to bring Gay Games VII to Atlanta in 2006. Currently, strategic partnerships are in place with the Atlanta Convention and Visitor's Bureau (ACVB) and with the influential Atlanta Sports Council. The ACVB is providing key assistance in its role as marketer for Atlanta as a premier meeting and leisure destination regionally, nationally and internationally. Another key alliance in bringing the Games to Atlanta is the Atlanta Sports Council, a division of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. The Council was formed to lead, organize and support sports development activities in Atlanta and Georgia. It was instrumental in bringing the Super Bowl to Atlanta in 1994 and 2000, the All Star Game in 2000, the World Figure Skating Championships in 2004, as well as the 1996 Olympics. The Gay Games have grown. The first Games were held in San Francisco in 1982 with over one thousand athletes competing and representing 12 countries. Impressively, three years ago at the 1998 Gay Games in Amsterdam, 15,000 athletes competed and 800,000 visitors watched, representing 68 countries. Next summer, the Games go down under to Sydney, Australia where seven days of sporting events are planned along with two weeks of cultural events. The plan for Atlanta is comprehensive and would be an enormous boost to Atlanta's image as a gay-friendly (and gay-populated) city. Join our guests as they share the vision of Atlanta Games, Inc. and how they plan to bring the Games back to our city. The meeting will be held on July 19 at the Colony Square Sheraton Hotel on 14th Street. Doors open at 5:45 for networking; program begins at 7 p.m. 
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Karla Drenner Reflects on Her First Year as a State Legislator by Carl Lange Most of us have heard that Georgia is home to Karla Drenner, one of the very few publicly homosexual legislators in the nation. Yet few of us really know what that meant for the woman who actually broke this barrier in Georgia. At the June AEN meeting, she shared her experiences with our members. Drenner represents Georgia's 66th House District, which includes approximately forty-five thousand people. But her constituency, as she described it, is actually much larger and includes all homosexuals nationwide who yearn to identify with gay elected officials. After all, as Drenner recited in her statistics, there are shockingly few "out" elected officials nationwide. In fact, when Karla began her race, and her door-to-door crusade across her Avondale Estates district, nobody thought she could win. She confronted her critics with a forthright attitude and told them, "You don't want to talk to me now, but you will the day after the election." And to the surprise of everyone, she upset an incumbent and won. Nothing about Karla's first year was typical. On her first day in the Georgia Legislature, she found her ironic seat assignment next to the most conservative minister in the House, who immediately rebuffed her. Other legislators wanted her to conceal her sexual orientation following her election telling her, "You made your point, now you can stop." But she had not made her point. As the weeks went by, she garnered extensive media coverage, bucking the trend for freshman legislators. When one colleague inquired as to how she could appear on the front page of his local paper, when he had never appeared there, she quipped, "If you switch teams, you get better press." In fact, she had to keep making her point. After she learned that 26 representatives planned a meeting to view defamatory videotapes of gay groups, Karla flooded the room with supporters. The anti-gay gathering lost steam as the largely gay-sympathizing crowd outnumbered them. Later in another controversy, Drenner was criticized for adding her partner's name under the spouse heading in the Legislative White Book, an annual picture directory of legislators. Drenner did receive support from some colleagues, and from two important men: Governor Roy Barnes and Speaker Thomas Murphy. Both men stood up to her detractors, something she said gay Georgians should not forget. Drenner concluded by adding that everyone in AEN can make a difference - the power of one, as she referred to it. Get to know your elected officials, support candidates that support gay issues, let them know you exist as a constituent, and of course, vote. |
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More Bridges to Cross: For media mogul Chris Crain, forward momentum is a way of life By Stephen Brown When living in Virginia and working in Washington, D.C., in the early '90s, Chris Crain was in the closet and felt like he was living a double life. By day he was a staunch Republican working for the most conservative judge inside the beltway. By night, he was dating both a man and a woman. So when his friend Michael took him in a car on the bridge from Virginia to head toward the gay bars of D.C., Chris just couldn't go there. "Michael was going to take me to my very first gay bar," Crain remembers. "But as we were talking, I realized that I could control who I tell about being gay but can't control who other people tell. I froze and made him do a u-turn." Soon he came out, and he saw life through a new lens: "Yeah, I lived in Virginia but somehow made my way to DuPont Circle from time to time." The Chris Crain of 2001is an out, proud, crusading journalist and media mogul. As a co-founder of Window Media (www.window-media.com), now one of the country's largest networks of gay newspapers anchored locally by Southern Voice, Crain is executing on a vision to "professionalize the gay press" and ultimately bring readers a more quality, personalized product. Crain has commenced scooping up these independent "mom & mom" and "pop & pop" shops to help underwrite the publications and take them to a new level. Like the newspapers of major chains such as Gannett and Cox, consolidation can bring shared content and efficiencies in covering national-interest news and commentary so local staffs can focus more on local news. Crain's organization followed its buy of Southern Voice with acquisitions of the Houston Voice, New Orlean's Network News, Atlanta's nightlife magazine Eclipse, and most recently the Washington Blade and New York's Blade News. His latest challenges: managing the disparate offices and 30 staffers in multiple cities and maneuvering the politics of controversial editorial content, especially in some of the papers that had not previously delved into the business of opinions. Crain says he's doing exactly what he wants: "Journalism has helped me escape the practice of law and crusade for human rights in a whole new way." While a lawyer in Atlanta, Crain enjoyed pro bono work on a lesbian custody case and a "don't ask, don't tell" dispute. His first taste of journalism had been acting as editor of the school newspaper at Vanderbilt. Although active in Washington on the Bush/Quayle ticket, Crain now possesses a fiercely independent political sensibility. Believing Clinton blurred the political lines when he mixed his social liberalism with mainstream budget balancing and global leadership, Crain began further noting the good and the bad of all sides of politics. Although Regan and Bush complained about partisan investigations, the Clinton impeachment was a "final draw" and akin in tone to some of the witch hunting gays have sometimes encountered, Crain believes. Looking at local Atlanta politics, Crain notes some "nice symbiotic policies that are sometimes unenforceable." He hopes to see further work to bolster these initiatives to protect the gay community. Crain's winning attitude and industrious work ethic are central to his success. In addition, he praises the Atlanta Executive Network for helping him in his early days of starting a media empire. "I credit the organization with helping facilitate the networking that allowed us to start Window Media," he says. In all of his efforts both entrepreneurial and journalistic, Crain remains in awe of the power of the press. Through Window Media, he believes many journalists are at last seeing the gay press as a viable career option. "I love doing what I do and have every bit the passion that I had four years ago," says Crain. "The business side of my job is a means to an end, but the journalism is what inspires." When not moving and shaking in the business world, Crain enjoys living in the Highlands with his eight-year partner Dale. Hanging out with friends and working out occupy his slivers of free time. An avid trend spotter, Crain has enjoyed following the rising visibility of the gay movement in entertainment and elsewhere, leading to sweeping public perception changes, such as 85 percent of Americans supporting legislation to end discrimination against gays in the workplace. He believes Georgia legislature's overturning of the sodomy law to be one of the biggest coups for the gay community in recent years. Two months after starting at SoVo, Crain became embroiled in controversy for writing an expose that detailed unsafe sex and drugs that were going on at an AIDS charity circuit party fundraiser. Twelve bar owners reacted to the article by pulling distribution of the newspaper. Crain again had to build bridges and made a speech soon after at AEN. Crain reflected at the time, "There's going to be something in every issue that will anger you and that you'll agree with." A week later the bars again stocked SoVo. Crain encourages provocative viewpoints and is looking for additional contributors, including more minority perspectives. One hundred thousand people read SoVo each week, and many readers see the publication as a forum for sharing their own stories. "When you've established yourself as a paper that will cover gay people being treated wrongly, a lot of people know they can share these sorts of issues with us," Crain says. Crain's track record of shepherding award-winning publications and continuing to push the envelope have made him a hero of the gay community. He's crossed bridges in life and bridges in business to achieve and inspire. If you're interested in ways you and your businesses can take part in the programs offered by Window Media and Southern Voice, contact Chris Crain at ccrain@sovo.com. Columnist Stephen Brown (stephen.brown@ketchum.com) is director of media relations for Ketchum Public Relations, where he serves clients including Cingular and IBM. |
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We're looking for an editor and contributing writers to help with the AEN eNewsletter. The newsletter reaches over 1,500 individuals in Atlanta and on 4 continents. If interested please send an e-mail to James Yancey at office@aen.org. The AEN online membership directory now has more than 100 members! Have you listed your information? If you'd like to see and be seen, the directory can be found at http://www.aen.org/directory.html. Become an eNewsletter sponsor The AEN eNewsletter reaches many of your business' target customers. Advertising is easy with AEN. Just visit our sponsor page and begin today! Click here for more details. House for Sale
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Special thanks to: Southern
Voice |
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Gay Games in Atlanta? 
'You
Made Your Point - Now You Can Stop'
One
of Us
