New group here joins in Pride events
By Pat Schneider


Mary Beth Dietz wants to see an end to homophobia.

Homophobia hurts not just lesbians and gays, she said, but also deeply affects the straight community. "It interferes with our ability to react to one another and know each other," she said.

She and other founders of Creating Visible Community formed the organization about six months ago as a way to fight homophobia through connections to "allied" people sympathetic to the cause of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Creating Visible Community is sponsoring some events as part of Madison Pride Community Events, today through Sunday.


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Colorado TV spot chastises Peter Coors for promoting gay rights


Television ads airing in Colorado this week claim Republican Senate candidate Peter Coors is promoting gay rights, escalating the increasingly bitter primary battle between him and former U.S. representative Bob Schaffer. The Coors campaign said the commercials amount to an illegal "soft money" contribution because the group sponsoring the ads has ties to the Schaffer campaign. Schaffer's campaign denied the charge, saying any formal links were broken last month.

Marriage rights and benefits for same-sex couples have become an issue in the primary campaign, as Coors and Schaffer battle for support from the GOP's conservative core. As an executive of his family's brewing company, Coors backed benefits for gay workers and promoted beer in gay bars, while as a candidate he endorsed a federal constitutional ban on same-sex marriages. Schaffer also supported the constitutional amendment. The ads, which ran in Colorado Springs and Grand Junction, were paid for by the group Colorado Conservative Voters, whose president, former U.S. Senator Bill Armstrong, has endorsed Schaffer. The Coors campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission and asked Comcast Cable to stop running the ads; its officials said Armstrong is a member of Schaffer's campaign, which would make the ads an illegal campaign contribution. "It is unfortunate that Bob can't raise his money legally and has to resort to these types of tactics," said Coors campaign spokeswoman Cinamon Watson.


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Waco Puberty Seminar Fuels Sex-Ed Program Debate
Argument Rages Over Effectiveness Of Contraceptives, Abstinence Education


WACO, Texas -- Taking her two teenage daughters to a sex-education seminar Thursday, Marilynn Dieterich walked by about 40 protesters and few dozen large red signs declaring "Stop Planned Promiscuity."

One of the Pro-Life Waco members handed Dieterich a pamphlet saying the Planned Parenthood-sponsored conference for fifth- through ninth-graders used sexually explicit materials.

"It gave me second thoughts about what I was doing, but I thought, 'o, I'm doing the right thing.' Kids aren't babies; they're old enough," said Dieterich, smiling at her 13- and 14-year-old daughters.

About 350 children attended the Nobody's Fool program, now in its 15th year. Organizers said attendance didn't drop this year, despite the protesters and recent radio ads lambasting the one-day conference in Waco.