Random Musings

October 17, 2000: For this issue, I mulled over some thoughts that I formed last night while visiting one of the local lesbian bars. (Gee, there are so many...guess which one?!) The DJ announced that some out-of-town lesbian artist was performing the very next night. Now, while that is great news, it's also terrible at the same time. Why? Because there's no way that anyone, other than the women actually at the club last night, will know about the event. Same thing goes for the local gay and lesbian film festival that a group of dedicated, young University of Tulsa students put on. All that hard work for a handful of people to show up. And it didn't have to be like that!

Which brings me to my musings: why there is not a cohesive, active, lesbian community in Tulsa.

We are a city of over 300,000 individuals, many of whom are gay. Now, before you get angry that I haven't included "gay, lesbian, bi-, trans-", let me just say I'm going to lump everyone together for expediency's sake. Okay? So, in this city of over 300,000, one would expect that we would have numerous performances of gay artists, comedians, speakers, festivals, right? I have lived in Fayetteville, Arkansas and a city not even one-third the size of Tulsa has more performers visit than we do! Now, pray tell, what is wrong with this picture?

TOHR has done a great job of bringing in big-name individuals for the annual Pride festival, I'll grant you that. Congressman Barney Frank last year; Col. Grethe Cammermeyer, the Rev. Mel White, and Olympian Greg Louganis this year—that's pretty impressive. But why are we limited to once a year? Where are the events throughout the year? Yes, it takes money. Yes, it takes organization. And yes, it takes an incredible amount of hard work throughout the year. But we cannot expect the dedicated members of TOHR to carry the weight of event organization all the time! We have to have more volunteers and more involvement from those in the community.

It's time we get off our proverbial butts and quit being so divided! The event at the local lesbian bar could have brought in hundreds of women if only information was shared, posted on websites, sent through mailing lists, put on fliers. There are innumerable ways to get information disseminated in this day and age. We are living in the computer age, people. With the flick of a switch and press of the "return" key, we can have information sent to hundreds, thousands, if not millions of people instantaneously with the web. For the non-cyber people, there is a Kinko's on every single corner, it seems, and paper is still a great way to get information in people's hands. And word-of-mouth is still a great way to get news out.

So, why is it like pulling hen's teeth to find out things that are going on around Tulsa? Or, for that matter, to even have an event to announce?! OutLook has offered, free of charge, to post events and news. And yet, other than Dyke Divine, Diversity Coffee in Oklahoma City, and the folks at gayokc.com, we have to dig for stuff that's happening. We've even been contacted by the Sundance Channel (yes, you read that correctly—Sundance Channel and Sundance Films!) people who want get involved, but can't even get our local folks to get things going.

The time is now, people. Let's get off our duff and turn Tulsa into a happening place. Let's get Suzanne Westenhoefer, Melissa Etheridge, and the Indigo Girls to perform. Want to see a gay and lesbian film festival? Then support those young students at the University of Tulsa when they put on their next festival. Want a music festival of gay and lesbian artists? Get out and organize it! Love books? Organize a book signing by your favorite gay and lesbian writer. Nothing will ever happen if you don't ever try.

Until next time, remember...

You play, you win. You play, you lose. You play.

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