Gay Community

Thousands of lesbians and gay men gathered beneath the sunshine in Wyman Park yesterday to proclaim pride in their homosexuality and enjoy a colorful festival including performances by flamboyant female impersonators, carnival games and music by gay bands from throughout the East Coast.But many admitted that once they left the park, their sexual preferences would remain secret -- for the sake of relatives, careers or out of fear of being attacked. Some shied away from television cameras. Others asked that their identities be withheld.

It constantly amazes me what liberals find important. Unemployment is over 9 percent, the budget deficit is at a record high, states across the country are in fiscal disarray, gas prices have risen 75 percent since President Obama took office, and the Middle East is engulfed in political turmoil. Yet with all these nightmare scenarios, Martin O'Malley and the legislature want us to focus on gay marriage . Are they kidding? Less than a year ago, representatives of the so-called "gay" community sat down with the Maryland legislature to discuss "civil unions.

BOSTON -- Let me see if I have this right. The Republicans are now accusing the Democrats of being insensitive to gay Americans? Or to one gay American, at least? After John Kerry mentioned Mary Cheney in the third debate, talk-radio hosts finally found a lesbian they wanted to protect. Even the homophobic wing of cable TV rallied to the support of a family with a gay offspring. Meanwhile, Dick Cheney described himself as "a pretty angry father." And Lynne Cheney said of the senator: "This is not a good man."

Few in mainstream America recoiled in horror when AIDS seemed restricted to the gay community and IV drug users. Magic Johnson changed all that yesterday. Too late for too many. But maybe in time to save countless others.The disease has claimed nearly 2,500 lives in Maryland since 1981, but for too many of us, it took Johnson's shocking disclosure of testing positive for the AIDS virus to bring the tragedy into sharp focus once and for all.Granted, that's small consolation to the families of those already dead.

If Leslie J. Cale is elected Howard County court clerk she said last night that, "I'd love to be the first clerk to marry a same-sex couple." If Steven H. Adler, a Republican, is elected Howard County executive, he said, "I would support benefits for same-sex partners." County Council candidate Diane Wilson, a Republican, got a round of approving laughter when she revealed she has a campaign volunteer who is openly gay -- and he stood up at the meeting wearing her campaign T-shirt. And both candidates for state's attorney -- Democrat Timothy J. McCrone and Republican Robert R. Tousey promised a gay and lesbian group they would vigorously prosecute anyone who commits hate crimes against gays.

In yesterday's editions of The Sun, the name of John Hannay was misspelled in an article about the gay community in Baltimore and in an accompanying photo caption.The Sun regrets the error.When Joaquin Alvarez decided to leave State College, Pa., he drew up a wish list for a new hometown. He wanted an affordable Northeastern city with a strong gay community.He chose Baltimore."Baltimore had passed an ordinance including gays and lesbians as a protected class, which made it very attractive," said Mr. Alvarez, 30, a doctoral student at Pennsylvania State University.

A state delegate from Virginia recently wrote on this page that "Sexual orientation is not limited to same- or complementary-sex attractions but includes attractions to children, prostitutes, multiple wives (polygamy), dead persons (necrophilia), animals, inanimate objects and others that could not printed in the Baltimore Sun out of deference to readers. " Not only is this statement erroneous and misleading, it demonstrates a reckless disregard for the gay community. As licensed marriage and relationship therapists in practice with straight and gay couples for 23 years, my husband and I have seen firsthand the relationships of gay and lesbian couples.

The city's housing commissioner is set to return today from a monthlong leave he took after a drunken episode during which witnesses say he made anti-homosexual remarks at a bar - and he has scheduled a meeting with gay activists. Paul T. Graziano, who was sworn in as commissioner in December, took the paid leave Jan. 4 after admitting to a drinking problem and saying he would enter an alcohol treatment program. Many leaders in the gay and lesbian community wanted Mayor Martin O'Malley to fire Graziano for making what witnesses said were sexually explicit, disparaging remarks about homosexuals on Dec. 29 at Bertha's bar in Fells Point.

Thousands of people gathered in Druid Hill Park yesterday to paint the park with rainbows, triangles and a sense of pride.The Baltimore Pride festival brought community health and legal services, clubs, and activist groups together with area gays, lesbians, transsexuals, their friends and families.The event, sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore, drew an estimated 20,000 people last year and organizers expected a larger turnout yesterday.The festival, in its 19th year, is designed to provide a haven for gay celebration.

It would be stretching the point to attribute the Baltimore City Council's decision to reject a surrogate-marriage bill, favored by homosexuals and opposed by mainstream religious groups, to a sudden outbreak of councilmanic common sense.Probably the council was motivated by plain old politics, concluding that on this issue at least it was safer to vote with the straights than with the gays. But that's all right. In a democracy the people's common sense often finds its clearest expression in their representatives' timidity.