[Fwd: WHY JOHN FLECK'S NOT COMING]

John Fleck is a friend of mine who was one of the people the Congress and NEA decided they wanted the money back. He personally took his case all the way to the supreme court and lost. The other person on this list Johanna Went still to this day finds it extremely difficult to find anyplace to perform since venue are afraid they would never be available for funding. Recently when i took a few friends who had never heard or seen her to one of her performances and waited till afterward to "fill them in" on the past . Both were extremely surprised that the question of obscenity even came up.
Basically this person has been BLACKLISTED from performing except in the most infrequent way. John Fleck on the other hand, has appeared on numerous sit coms cause he is , in most cases brilliantly funny.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: WHY JOHN FLECK'S NOT COMING
Date: Sat, 06 Nov 2004 00:47:54 -0700
From: john fleck <fleckfleck@...>
Reply-To: fleckfleck@...

For what it's worth, here's a copy of the op-ed article I wrote to the
Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Advocate.

WHY THIS GAY MAN WON'T BE HOME CHRISTMAS

I grew up in Cleveland. For the last 20 years in Los Angeles,
I've survived fairly well as an actor/performance artist. Always, I
return home at least once a year, usually for a holiday visit to my 5
brothers & sisters and 12 nieces & nephews living in the
Strongsville, Brunswick area. However, I just notified my family I
won't be coming this year. It breaks my heart.. But, as a gay man, Ohio
has clearly disowned me. How can I call it home anymore?

What has truly poisoned Ohio for me is the passage of Issue One stating
that Ohio will recognize marriage only between a man and a woman. To
compound the injury, it also states that the state does not have to
recognize civil unions or domestic partnerships.

The burning issue for Ohio voters was morality, not the economy,
recently earning Cleveland the designation of America's poorest city.
Not the dubious morality of being lied to by a born-again administration
for invading a sovereign country that harbored no immediate enemy
killing over a 100,000 of its citizens and 1,200 of our men & women in
uniform.

Morals aren't mentioned when discussing the 46 million Americans living
without health coverage or the one out of five American children living
in poverty. And of course, morals are another issue when turning over
national public wild spaces to Oil Companies or giving away the publics
airwaves to a few corporate behemoths.

But morals are the issue when it comes to 2 gay people loving one
another and wanting some recognition of their long term commitments.
Given that the faith-based Republican Party now controls every branch of
government, when will a woman's right to choose be next on the chopping
block?

Marriage itself is not my issue. You heterosexuals have tainted
that sacred concept to the point that I don't want it. But to deny my
neighbors, a gay couple who have been together for 21 years with 3
children, even the slightest bit of dignity and legal protection of
their
union; to deny them a civil union contract that might enable them to get
health insurance for their children or the right to see one another in
the hospital if one of them falls ill is truly morally repugnant.

So I urge every gay man & woman not to return home to Ohio for the
holidays. We're not wanted. Perhaps our families will call others and
get the word out that some of Ohio's brightest and
loveliest won't be returning home this holiday season. But make no
mistake about it. We're not leaving for good. Once we get over the
betrayal, we will return soon, and in force with marching boots
on, because this is a fight for the soul of America. I believe gay
rights is the foremost civil rights issue of this decade. Let the battle
begin.

--
Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main.html> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9 pm Los Angeles