Saturday, October 16, 2004

Homoginized Tucson

Alternative lifestyles more welcomed by artists, free-thinkers, Kent Burbank of Wingspan says.

BRAD BRANAN

Tucson Citizen

About 80 couples gathered at a park near City Hall last year to join the city's domestic partner registry, giving them official recognition of their commitments.

The event was an example of how the city's gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender community has become more visible, with much of the activity centered in central Tucson, community leaders say.

"Artists and free-thinkers" in the downtown, Fourth Avenue and University of Arizona area have provided a very accepting environment for GLBT residents, said Kent Burbank, executive director of Wingspan, a GLBT community center at 300 E. Sixth St.

And increasingly, many are choosing not to hide their sexual identity.

"More and more people are becoming comfortable with being 'out' in Tucson," said Nancy Robinett, co-chair of the city's GLBT Commission. The commission operates out of City Hall, 255 W. Alameda St.

They often find an accepting heterosexual community, she said.

A survey taken at OUToberFEST, a festival that draws about 7,000 people each year to central Tucson's Reid Park, indicated 13 percent of respondents were heterosexual.

"Tucson was generally regarded as a fairly welcoming place for GLBT persons and most individuals reported that their own workplace was fairly nondiscriminatory," a report on the 2002 survey said.

"The issue now is, why don't we have the same rights as everyone else?" Robinett said.

GLBT activists held a Valentine's Day rally near City Hall to raise awareness about same-sex marriage, Burbank said.

The Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation, which merged three of the region's primary AIDS organizations, has also been one of the more visible GLBT activist groups, Robinett said. The foundation, based in central Tucson, provides AIDS/HIV case management and education.

"We want to be a part of that community," he said. "Our community has roots in people who have stood up and challenged very narrow societal norms."

In recent years, Wingspan has expanded with the acquisition of two buildings, going from a volunteer staff to a payroll of 16 employees, and increasing its annual budget to $900,000.

"What that has meant is that we have been able to do a lot more in the community - educate, inform and entertain the community," Burbank said.

To mobilize support on important issues, Wingspan uses a direct mail list of about 5,000 people, and a weekly e-mail newsletter sent to about 2,500 people, he said. The center moves quickly when the community needs to respond to a hate crime or other public concerns, he said.

The GLBT community has organized in other ways, forming its own chamber of commerce, the Community Business Association.

The association publishes a 23-page directory of businesses aimed at GLBT and heterosexual residents.

Popular GLBT businesses include It's 'bout Time, a gay bar, Rainbow Planet Coffee House, and Antigone Books, all on Fourth Avenue.

Fourth Avenue and Sixth Street are favorite destinations for Fred Hubbard and his partner, Tom Oliver.

"It's the 'go to' place," Hubbard said. "We go to Fourth and Sixth to shop, to the bars, to the (Wingspan) community center. It's the first place we bring a gay visitor."