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Oldest Gay Bar in the US Set To Close It's Doors

The Cedar Brook Cafe, located in Westport, Connecticut, and reputed to be the oldest gay bar in the United States, is scheduled to shut its doors later this month after 71 years. Clem Bellairs, who has owned the club for 12 years, said his reasons for closing the Cedar Brook were financial. "The landlord died, and the people who bought it doubled my rent," he said. "I can't afford it anymore." Bellairs, 57, bought the club in 1998 after going there since he was 21. "It was closing down, and they were going to turn it into a strip mall," he said. "I wanted to see it stay alive." Dan Woog, author of School's Out: The Impact of Gay and Lesbian Issues on America's Schools,  said the Cedar Brook has played an important role within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community for many years.

"In the early days, when bars were the only place gay people could congregate, it was a refuge," he said. "In the 1970s, when gay people came out more publicly, it was the center of Fairfield County gay life. In the 1980s, when more women started going, it helped bring the gay and lesbian communities closer together. Always, it was a rite of passage for young people -- for many, their first introduction to the gay community."

But Woog said the club was important to more than just the LGBT community. "When it closes, there will be one less club in Fairfield County," he said. "So it's a loss for anyone, gay or straight, and one more indication of the dwindling night life in this area." Woog described his first experience at the Cedar Brook as "eye-opening." "For a long time, the Brook had a mystique for gay teenagers growing up in Westport," he said. "You wanted to know what it was like inside, but you didn't want anyone to know you wanted to know. I saw so many people having a great time, being themselves. I never knew there were so many gay people in Fairfield County!" Recently, the club has become a social gathering place not just for the gay community, but also for racial minorities, according to Bellairs. "Racial minorities are having a hard time being accepted, so it's a safe haven for them," said Bellairs. "It's Latin night every night." Bellairs described the atmosphere of the Cedar Brook as "comfortable." "There were never security incidents," he said. "It had a very homey atmosphere." Erik Anderson, 24, of Norwalk, said that the Cedar Brook was "not your typical gay bar." "It's got a lot of character to it; it's very unique," said Anderson, who has been to the Cedar Brook several times in the past year. "Other bars all kind of have the same feel to it, but the Cedar Brook is very distinct; I know I'm there." Anderson described its closing as "extraordinarily sad." "It's sad to see it go because it means so much to the older generation, and to the newer generation who doesn't really know it as well," he said. "I hope something new comes to the area, but you can't truly replace the Cedar Brook." Bellairs said he is going to miss everyone who used to frequent the Cedar Brook. "They weren't customers, they were friends," he said. "The people who went there were extraordinary." Woog said the Cedar Brook "represented a little bit of gay history, right here in Westport."

"I found it intriguing that for many years, it was located directly across from the State Police barracks (now Walgreens) and that it flourished in suburbia, with no adversity beyond a few homophobic remarks yelled by passing teenagers," he said. "I thought it said a lot about Westport that we had a gay bar here."

A closing party featuring local musicians will take place June 26. Admission will be free.

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2,100 Sex Offenders Banned

More than 2,100 registered North Carolina sex offenders were found on the social networking site MySpace, the state attorney general's office said Tuesday. North Carolina bans sex offenders within the state from social networking sites where children are members. In response to a subpoena from state Attorney General Roy Cooper, "MySpace turned over the names, IP and e-mail addresses of 2,116 convicted North Carolina sex offenders found on its social networking Web site," Cooper's office said in a written statement. Cooper has requested similar information from Facebook, another popular social networking site, the statement said. MySpace has told North Carolina authorities that the sex offenders it identified have been removed from the site. North Carolina's State Bureau of Investigation is sharing the sex offenders' information with all 100 sheriffs in the state, Cooper's office said. "It's no secret that child predators are on these Web sites," Cooper said in the statement. "Turning over information about these predators to law enforcement helps, but MySpace, Facebook and other social networks need to do much more to protect kids online." North Carolina passed a law last year banning sex offenders within the state from social networking sites where children are members, making it a felony offense. Sex offenders on social networking sites is not a new issue. Last month, Newsweek magazine reported that Facebook said it had removed 5,585 convicted sex offenders from its site between May 2008 and January 2009. MySpace also announced it had removed 90,000 sex offenders in a two-year period, the magazine said. Last June, the Texas attorney general's office said it had arrested seven convicted sex offenders who violated their parole conditions by creating MySpace profiles, according to an article on the TechNewsWorld Web site. Cooper and Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut's attorney general, for more than three years have led a group of attorneys general in working to make social networking safer, Cooper's office said. The group is pushing social networks to use technology such as age and identity verification to better protect users who may be children. After discussions with the group, MySpace became the first social networking site to develop technology aimed at finding and removing sex offenders, the North Carolina statement said. Cooper is pushing Facebook to take similar steps. But, Cooper's office said, "the information provided by MySpace does not include sex offenders who have not been convicted, are not registered or may be using aliases on the site. Cooper remains concerned about other sex offenders on the site who may be lying about who they are, and is continuing to ask MySpace to do more to protect children on the site

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Check Your Florist Out

Does your local florist serve up its flowers with a little gay scent?Lawmakers in Connecticut are considering changing old state laws that were passed before the State Supreme Court made gay marriage legal. Unable to overturn that action, the Connecticut Catholic Conference are now embarrassing themselves with arguments: Like any of us would want to pay an anti-gay florist to do flowers for our wedding!  W.T.F.   And besides, do you know any florist who isn't gay or employs one or more? Do these so called christians realize how dumb they sound? 1.) The law does not require Catholic priests or any other clergy member to preside over same-sex weddings. 2.) Wants to ensure that a florist opposed to gay marriage on religious grounds not be forced to sell flowers to a same-sex couple.

"Same-sex couples have their liberties protected fully. Religious people are wondering 'how is this going to effect me?"' David Reynolds, lobbyist for the Catholic Church, told members of the legislature's judiciary committee. Reference This Article: Florists Should Be Allowed To Say No To Gay Weddings

To check if your florist serves up the scents to our community click here for a directory of Gay Owned/Friendly Florists.

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Wedding Bells In Connecticut

Despite setbacks in California, Florida and Arizona, there is some good news: this week Connecticut officially opened it's doors to marriage equality and began issues marriage licenses for same-sex couples.

Last month, on October 10, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that gay couples must have the same rights to marriage as straight couples. And now that ruling has gone into effect.

Among the couples that gathered in New Haven, Peg Oliveira and Jennifer Vickery (pictured, above) were the first same-sex couple in Connecticut to exchange vows and become legally married.

"Today, Connecticut sends a message of hope and inspiration to lesbian and gay people throughout this country who simply want to be treated as equals by their government," Ben Klein, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the case, said shortly after the final ruling was issued. The Connecticut decision, Klein said, is "living proof that marriage equity is alive and well and making progress in this country."

Congratulations to all of the couples in Connecticut who are now able to legally marry! Be sure to read the complete story in the Boston Globe. 
 

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Connecticut Gay Marriage +

Connecticut Ruling Overturns Ban on Same-Sex Marriage

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Connecticut's Supreme Court ruled Friday that same-sex couples have the right to marry, making the state the third behind Massachusetts and California to legalize such unions. The divided court ruled 4-3 that gay and lesbian couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry under the state constitution, and Connecticut's civil unions law does not provide those couples with the same rights as heterosexual couples. "I can't believe it. We're thrilled, we're absolutely overjoyed. We're finally going to be able, after 33 years, to get married," said Janet Peck of Colchester, who was a plaintiff with her partner, Carole Conklin. Connecticut will join Massachusetts and California as the only state to allow same-sex couples to marry. "Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice," Justice Richard N. Palmer wrote in the majority opinion that overturned a lower court finding. "To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others," Palmer wrote. Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Friday that she disagreed, but will not fight the ruling. "The Supreme Court has spoken," Rell said in a statement. "I do not believe their voice reflects the majority of the people of Connecticut. However, I am also firmly convinced that attempts to reverse this decision -- either legislatively or by amending the state Constitution -- will not meet with success." The lawsuit was brought in 2004 after eight same-sex couples were denied marriage licenses and sued, saying their constitutional rights to equal protection and due process were violated. They said the state's marriage law, if applied only to heterosexual couples, denied them of the financial, social and emotional benefits of marriage. Peck said that as soon as the decision was announced, the couple started crying and hugging while juggling excited phone calls from her brother and other friends and family. "We've always dreamed of being married," she said. "Even though we were lesbians and didn't know if that would ever come true, we always dreamed of it."