Section A · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Friday, April 16, 1999
KU actors put on show of gay activism
By Ezra Sykes
By Ezra Sykes
esykes@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
They came in a pink Winnebago called the "Sodomobile."
The interior was covered in leopard skin material. Pictures of Oscar Wilde hung on the walls.
the walls.
The exterior sported signs that read "If the Sodomobile a Rockin' Don't Come a Knockin" and "Bugery on Board."
And tunes by the Village People and Madonna provided the soundtrack to it all.
michael provided the soundtrack to it all.
It was the anti gay protester's nightmare.
And the gay activist's dream.
And the eageray students had the chance to become Sodomobile passengers last October during the filming of an episode of *The Awful Truth*, a new television show by political activist and filmmaker Michael Moore. The episode will air at 7 p.m. Sunday on the Bravo network.
The Bravo network is only accessible via digital satellite in Lawrence, but will be available on regular cable in other areas including Kansas City.
including Kansas City.
In the episode, the students, along with other area homosexuals, traveled around Topeka in the Sodomobile, making stops at the Fred Phelps compound, the Capitol steps and other downtown spots.
steps and other footwork sports.
As Michael Moore conducted candid interviews with Phelps, the passengers hopped out and did what they could to disturb Phelps and his followers.
"We came out dancing and began to flirt with Fred and even handed him some
brochures about anal sex," said Seth Golay, Pittsburg freshman. "He was taken off guard and began preaching stuff out of the Bible."
For Golay, holding back his anger was difficult at times. Especially when the Pheeps clips declared that Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was beaten and left to die last year in Wyoming, deserved to burn in hell.
"That was the only time I physically wanted to lash out." Golay said.
attended to take out, Goody,
Rice, Golay, Milton Wendland and
Anthony Bernal decided to try for their
parts after seeing a poster in Murphy Hall
seeking openly gay actors for a "Michael
Moore-type" show. The four tried out in
Topeka and the next day cashed in their
tickets for the Sodomobile.
Passengers of the Sodomobile will make their television appearance on The Awful Truth at 7 Sunday night on the Brava network. Front (from left to right): Ross Freese, Kansas City; Richard Spedale, N.Y.; Seth Galay, Pittsburg. Back row: James Ferguson, N.Y.; Anthony Bernal, Shawnee; Milton Wendland, Lawrence; Christopher Rennman, Manhattan, Kan.; Eric Simmons; Xavier Rice, Kansas City, Kan.; David Kaiser, N.Y. Contributed photo
And in the end, Golay thought Moore's point was made.
"Our goal wasn't to slander Phelps or really hurt him but to bring out the ignorance of his protests," he said. "Michael brought out how sad it really is."
In the episode, Moore hands Phelps a large-print Bible, implying that he may need to read a little closer. Moore also raises the question of why sodomy, though widely practiced, is still illegal in so many states.
states.
Dressed in tight, skimpy outfits, the Sodomobile group played out gay stereotypes.
types.
"We were like the A-Team going against the rule," said Xavier Rice, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore.
They "vogued." They made out. Thev
formed chorus lines
formed chorus lines.
They danced to the Village People.
"We had to let loose, become free and willing to do anything," Golay said.
exploited while portraying such a zealous gay person, the sacrifice was worth it.
"I stood for what I believed in, and it all came from the heart," he said.
He said that although he felt somewha-
Edited by Kelli Raybern
Debate continues about trafficway in wetlands
By Dan Curry
By Dan Curry
decurry@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Lawrence needs a new road, and it needs to go through Haskell Indian Nations University or Baker wetlands, according to a report by the Kansas Department of Transportation and the Douglas County Commission.
But in these wetlands dwell 333 species of plants, 219 species of birds, 35 species of amphibians and reptiles, 22 species of mammals and 13 species of fish.
In these wetlands, 500 Haskell students per
ished and were laid to rest in unmarked graves between the years of 1884 and 1930.
Of the three proposed routes, the one that comes closest to Haskell would be mitigated by earth berms or a 12-foot cement walls.
There's no room for a four-lane trafficway, for the 12-foot concrete walls and earth berms, said Prentice Crawford, president of the Haskell Student Senate. The area already is full of spiritual significance.
Sweat lodges lie in areas considered sacred
by Haskell students. Nearby, the medicine wheel has existed since 1992.
with the Haskell students don't want it here," said Crawford yesterday before a public hearing on the cultural impact of constructing the South Lawrence Trafficway through these wetlands at the South Junior High School Auditorium.
Although the agencies said the earth berms wouldn't cause any serious drainage problems, Crawford said he didn't think they had conducted the study properly.
Above: The sun sets over the Baker wetlands. The new trafficway would cut through the wetlands and link U.S. Highway 59 to K-10, diverting traffic away from Iowa and 23rd streets.
Left: The Baker wetlands provide a refuge for a number of wildlife species and also have sweat lodges and a medicine wheel lying in areas that are considered sacred by Haskell Indian Nations University students. About 80 Haskell students last night crowded into the auditorium at South Junior High School to protest the trafficway. Photo by Daniel Elavsky/KANSAN
"By putting in earth berms they will create a mosquito pond on top of the medicine wheel," Crawford said. "They will be essentially drowning a sacred site."
VIEW OF
About 80 Haskell students, eight singing and
bearing a drum, crowded into the auditorium
to protest the construction.
twelve-foot walls would also obscure the view of the wetlands, he said.
The South Lawrence Trafficway was designed to reduce the amount of traffic through Lawrence. The road would link U.S. Highway 59 to K-10, diverting traffic away from Iowa and 23rd Streets.
Construction on the trafficway was stopped at the 3400 block of Iowa Street in November by a court order, which said construction could not resume until Douglas County and the Kansas Department of Construction completed a supplementary environmental impact statement, detailing how building the road would effect these areas.
Kirk Fredrichs, transportation engineer for the Federal Highway Administration, said that the statement had been completed.
tribute the statement of Of the three proposed routes, only the 31st street route would affect the historical and cultural areas of Haskell, Fredrichs said.
Angie Bitsie, Kirtland, N.M., senior and member of the Wetlands Preservation Organization, said the statement was only an advertisement for constructing berms and walls
Bitsie said that her group opposed each option, and that an option that would put the road south of Wakarusa River wasn't even being considered by the agencies any loner.
KDOT and the Douglas County Commission stated that putting the road south of the River wasn't feasible because it would not sufficiently reduce traffic on 23rd street.
Journalism class views 'BAD boys!'
By Heather Woodward
hwoodward@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
WEDNESDAY:
Larry Baden, assistant professor of journalism,
said he had not planned to discuss the e-mail in his
Communication in Society class but learned about it because of a Tuesday article in The University Daily Kansas.
The "BAD, BAD, BAD boys!" e-mail, which blacklisted some KU men, made its way onto an overhead display in a 12:30 p.m. journalism class Wednesday.
The e-mail arrived at University of Kansas from the University of Iowa at least a week ago. Listing KU men's names and fraternities along with derogatory sexual commentary, the e-mail has been passed from hand to hand and is growing in length.
About 31 men were listed on the longest e-mail that Baden received from his students.
"About 15 people in my class had the e-mail, so I had some of them forward it to me," said Baden, who has 93 students in his class. "We've been talking about free speech and what's appropriate and inappropriate, what's legal and what's illegal. We've looked at a bunch of abortion and hate crime Web sites, but this just hit a little closer to home."
Jackie Viel, Stoux Falls, S.D., freshman and a student in Baden's class, said that she had added two men's names to the list and forwarded the e-mail to three of her friends.
Viel let Baden copy her e-mail into a word document to show the class. He lapsed on the screen for short.
show the class.
"It flashed on the screen for about three seconds with three of the names," Viel said. "But then he decided it wasn't a good idea and took off the names."
Baden then projected the e-mail from a computer onto a screen at the front of the classroom, allowing students to read the first two or three comments.
"For our purposes, we didn't need to look at the names." Baden said.
Edited by Keith Burner
Mark Johnson, a Kansas City, Mo., attorney who specializes in First Amendment law, said that the student who sent the e-mail to Baden could be liable.
"It seems to me that the fact that he asked the student to send to it him wouldn't relieve the liability of the student," Johnson said. "But the additional damage to the men's reputation would be so small considering that this thing has been circulated so much. It really probably would be insignificant."
Johnson also said one element of defamation is communicating inaccurate information from one person to another.
Buden said that he thought he had covered his tracks by deleting the men's names.
person who informs
"We advise our clients to be very careful about e-mail," Johnson said. "People think that e-mail is somehow different from sending a letter."
"I'm really not overly concerned from a legal standpoint," Baden said. "I would hope that academic freedom would prevail."
Mary Wallace, assistant to the dean of the William Allen White School of Journalism, would not comment about the incident.
not comment about the incident.
James Gentry, dean of the Journalism School,
had been out of town and was not prepared to comment
about the incident.
Edited by Aerica Veazey
Th3 University of Kansas School of Fine Arts Department of Music and Dance