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Gay rights organization forms after 4th Ave. hate crime

After the Feb. 6 stabbing of a gay UA student outside a Fourth Avenue coffee shop, a group of people gathered to plan a protest march and speak-out.

Now, more than a month later, the march planners are continuing the activism with a new gay rights group, OUTRage.

Jerrod Davis, OUTRage director of public affairs, said the organization is still in its formative stages but already has about 40 members.

Davis, a University of Arizona English literature and philosophy junior, said OUTRage is not an official campus organization but does consist primarily of UA community members.

Davis said the group will take a city-wide, community approach to raising awareness of gay issues.

"There's a whole litany of them I could string through," he said, mentioning domestic partner benefits, marriage rights and hate crime legislation as focus areas for the group's activism.

"The list goes on and on," he added.

The still-settling organization's future plans involve raising societal consciousness with political and social events, Davis said.

"We've been talking about doing something during Pride Week in the summer, some type of possible parade or march of some kind," he said. "I hope that it (OUTRage) will organize into a group that not only takes on obviously political activities, but also community education.

"But right now what we're doing is playing it by ear," Davis added.

The first step in steering the club's direction is to officially recognize it as a non-profit organization.

"We are filing for non-profit status and once we do that we'll be filing for grant monies," he said.

OUTRage member Dace Park, who is also a member of the Tucson Lesbian Avengers group, said she hopes the young club will become an "active, humorous, witty, in-your-face direct-action group."

The first "direct-action" activity the group participated in was a "zap" at the State Employee Appreciation Day celebration on March 10.

Organization members interrupted welcome speeches by Gov. Jane Hull and other state officials, including Secretary of State Betsy Bayless and Sen. Ann Day, with questions about domestic partner benefits, which are not currently offered to gay Arizona state employees.

Park said the "zap" was successful, with response ranging from supportive to refusal.

"The governor obviously ended her speech early when she was confronted by the issues," she said. "There was a range of reactions from very supportive 'It's about time' comments to refusal to accept the fliers. One of the people there representing Cigna Health Plan, one of the HMOs available to campus employees, was handed a flier and stated, 'I'm not taking that, that's just sick and we don't insure those people.'

"My girlfriend is currently with Cigna but is changing her plan because of the homophobia," Park added.

OUTRage member and anthropology senior Keith Gawronski was skeptical of Hull's response that domestic partner benefits will be getting future attention.

"The governor said that was a state legislative issue but she would never be a party to supporting that," Gawronski said.

Hull's dedication of a new automatic teller machine at the State Complex during the state employee celebration was ironic, Gawronski said, because the money gays contribute to Arizona's economy is just as valid as money from heterosexuals.