Warren’s review was way off base
We are independent film producers and have been producing films for more than 10 years, including many films for the gay and lesbian community, such as our latest award-winning film, “Out At The Wedding.”

As film producers who happen to be gay,we have received numerous awards (more than 25) for our films, received distribution deals for every film we have ever produced and have been to literally hundreds of film festivals around the world and been recognized for our work in the LGBT community over the past decade.

We are writing to let you know that we were very disappointed to read the”review” written by your “contributing film critic” Steve Warren about our film, “Out At The Wedding” (“Reel pride: Lesbians at bat and sex docs — What’s playing at Q Cinema,” Dallas Voice, May 30).

We’ve read many reviews of our work over the years, not all good, but have never read such anelementary “stupid” review until now. It’sone thing tohave someone not like our film, as they are very subjective in their nature. It’s another thing to have someone completely “bash” it, especially someone who didn’teven bother to watch it with the audience who loved it so much this May 30 night at Q Cinema in Fort Worth. We were in the audience in Fort Worth and can tell you that your “film critic” was not in touch with this Texas audience, nor is he in touch with allof the “sold out”enthusiastic audiences from around the world who love the film.

By the way, it also won the New York LGBT Film Festival for Best Feature Film last year and was just picked up by Viacom-owned Logo as their first-ever DVD release.

Is this really the best person you have to “review” films? DoesSteve ever attend actual screenings with live audience members?Do you really believe he is in touch with any audience? He is so off base with his comments that he can’t even tell that the leads are Southerners with real Southern drawls.

Since there are so few really good gay and lesbian films, especially ones with lesbian content, what ever happened to supporting the work of the good ones in our community?


Ordinance doesn’t protect us
I am writing in response to John Wright’s article (“City shrouds anti-bias ordinance in secrecy,” Dallas Voice, May 23) regarding the Dallas City Ordinance “protecting” gays and lesbians from discrimination.

I lived in the heart of Oak Lawn for several years upon my return to Texas from New York. It seemed logical to me. Living in a gay community should lend some comfort and protection.

My girlfriend at the time and I decided to live together. My lease was coming to an end and I went to my landlord and asked that my girlfriend be added to my lease. Being that marriage is not legal for us yet, in my mind I wanted to make our relationship and living arrangement as legal as possible, and I did not want to hide the fact that someone was living with me from my landlord. I really loved where I lived. The rent was reasonable, the location was great and the community was immaculate.

With some thought overnight (and discussion with her husband), my landlord told me that in order for my girlfriend to be added to my lease we had to be either related by blood or married.

There were no stipulations in my lease agreement or the rules and regulations given to me upon my move in regarding such. Needless to say, my rights were completely trounced upon.

I thought I chose to live in Oak Lawn for a reason. Very long and stressful story short, I retained an attorney and filed a complaint with the Fair Housing Office.

This legal battle went on for months while the investigation was conducted. It began June 2003 and we were finally forced to move out in June 2004. In the meantime, I regularly came home to nasty notes attached to my door regarding evictions, etc.

My vehicle was even towed one evening from my own parking place.

The investigation concluded that I was not discriminated against based on my sexual orientation, but instead on my marriage status. Therefore, the city of Dallas determined that by asking me to move out, my landlord did not discriminate against me because I was gay, but because I was not married — which is not protected.

As you might imagine, I have not forgiven the city or my landlord — nor have I forgotten. I did everything I knew to make my case known.

I wrote letters to every influential person within our community, had a story in the Dallas Voice, contacted many city council members and Mayor Laura Miller — all to no avail. One city council member admitted to knowing of similar situations with my landlord but would not reopen my case unless I got an additional person from my apartment complex to come forward. I even contacted Lambda Legal who had the nerve to tell me that they only handle civil rights cases and my civil rights had not been violated.

On paper, the ordinance reads wonderfully, and we feel safe thinking that we, as gays and lesbians, are protected by our city. But, in reality it absolutely allowed me to be discriminated against. Maybe that is why it is shrouded in secrecy.

Thank you for bringing the story to the surface once again. I hope the truth eventually comes out of the closet.

GLAAD it’s back.
As a former national board member of GLAAD and the former chair of the Dallas Leadership Council, I am very pleased to see the start of what will hopefully be the resurgence of GLAAD in North Texas (“GLAAD to be back: Dallas chapter sees new life,” Dallas Voice, May 23).

I am confident in speaking on behalf of myself and the three former Dallas national board members that our efforts in the early 2000s were filled with not only excitement for the cause but also a great share of pride in our accomplishments. In our first 18 months, those accomplishments included growing from a handful of donors to more than 50 major donors, raising more than $150,000 in annual revenue, securing an agency for the GLAAD Annual Report, spearheading messaging for the GLAAD Digital Initiative Capital Campaign, underwriting staff travel to strategic planning sessions in NYC and creating the “And The Nominees Are…” event which has now become an annual fixture of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

The national organization, leadership and vision of GLAAD have changed significantly since the days we were involved. Change is part of the natural evolution of any national organization, but it’s important that an organization draw on its institutional knowledge and translate that into useful knowledge and wisdom for the future — otherwise history is bound to repeat itself.

I applaud the Dallas Voice for bring some historical context to GLAAD’s efforts in Dallas.

GLAAD, in the days we were involved, was focused on raising funds to support activities in Los Angeles and New York City. We succeeded in getting Dallas added to the Media Awards tour by creating “And The Nominees Are…” — an event that was all about creating something tangible that Dallas supporters of GLAAD could hold on to and feel was a return on the investment they had made with their dollars. The event was entirely funded by local individual and corporate donors.

With the absence of a Dallas presence on the national board, the event was quickly relocated to Sundance.

Dallas has an incredible GLBT community that provides phenomenal financial support behind the organizations with which it connects. I am thankful to all the donors that supported our efforts in the past on behalf of GLAAD.

Many national organizations that don’t have a vibrant local volunteer group often fail (as did GLAAD of the past) in maintaining relationships with donors (new and old). But its my sincerest hope that GLAAD’s new local efforts will successfully reconnect with them and I look forward to seeing a new GLAAD visible in a very concrete way in Dallas.

Hate crime or bad judgment?
I read and re-read Richard Allen’s account of his “hate crime” to make sure I understood his side of the story. I’ve concluded that what he calls a “hate crime” I call “a drunk man who made a bad decision to break all the rules.”

The rules for avoiding being hurt are:

• Be aware of your surroundings and those around you.

• Be alert.

• Never walk alone after dark.

• And never walk down alleys near Lucas Drive early in the morning when you’re drunk.

My dad said, “Bad decisions always have a price.” Mr. Allen apparently paid a price and now he’s trying to deflect the responsibility for his bad decision onto the thugs.