Pk panthers put a tail on anti-gay prejudice | The Stsman

Contents:

• GAY GROUP CAN'T CALL ITSELF PK PANTHERS
• PK PANTHERS PUT A TAIL ON ANTI-GAY PREJUDICE
• IS THE PINK PANTHER GAY????
• QUEEN OF THE UNRDOGS: 5 REASONS PK IS AN UNRAPPRECIATED GAY IN
• GAY PATROL AND MGM IN A BATTLE OVER NAME
• 18 ANTI-GAY GROUPS AND THEIR PROPAGANDA

GAY GROUP CAN'T CALL ITSELF PK PANTHERS

A Feral judge Manhattan said on Thursday that the muny patrol, which seeks to stop anti-gay vlence, had ged on M-G-M's Pk Panther tramark, ed eight movi and a rtoon seri. NewsTHE untry's first private tective agency for gays has e Detective has been lnched specifilly to ter for members of the lbian, gay and transgenr pneerg firm, which officially lnched last week, has adopted the inic image of rtoon slth the Pk Panther s sists has the very ser goal of offerg protectn and support to dividuals who are beg threatened or discrimated agast bee of their agency's founr, Nigel Parsons, claims that signifint numbers of gay people are still fdg themselv at risk of blackmail or voluntary "outg" 21st century veteran private vtigator said: "In the past 25 years thgs have moved on greatly and gay people today have far greater equaly and acceptance than ever before. "Parsons sisted there was a huge mand and need for a service that tered directly for a gay client said: "When people pick up the phone to ll they tend to have gone down que a long road already.

"Our staff are aware of the specific needs of the gay muny and we pri ourselv on beg able to make people feel at ease as well as beg able to al wh sometim difficult issu. "The firm is based the south of England but operat all over the UK, cludg on recent s Glasgow, Edburgh, Orkney and Calum Irvg, the director of gay rights group Stonewall Stland, said ially tablished pani should meet the needs of gay ctomers.

PK PANTHERS PUT A TAIL ON ANTI-GAY PREJUDICE

Usg imag like the above to argue agast Arizona’s anti-gay law bill whout at the same time articulatg a clear anti-racist and anti-lonial crique reproduc the same polics. They uld have lled themselv somethg more prosaic, neighborhood anti-crime patrols beg nothg new, after all, and street asslts on gay men and lbians beg nothg to giggle about.

This summer, at a meetg lled to discs muny foot patrols as a rponse to risg anti-gay vlence, recs me up wh nam like the Lavenr Berets ("jt didn't click, " says a guy who was there) and the Stonewall Briga (too soberly lefty, perhaps). She keeps a near-maternal watch over the patrols om a munitns base -- nsistg of a walkie-talkie and a mobile phone -- a oime Christopher Street pizza parlor donated by the owner of the adjacent gay bar. The Panthers draw a lot of high signs around the neighborhood, both gay and straight passersby offerg verbal back-pats, a lbian askg how to jo up bee "I'm tired of the bull-bleep.

Victims may not tst the police to pursue their plats; they may not be aware of gay anti-vlence groups or hot l; and they may not want anyone to know they were beaten outsi a gay bar. The New York Cy Gay and Lbian Anti-Vlence Project, which claims s statistics are more plete, has also charted a steep crease: Last year rerd 174 anti-gay cints, om verbal harassments to physil asslts, through July; this year the tally climbed to 316.

IS THE PINK PANTHER GAY????

" Natnally, acrdg to data piled by the Natnal Gay and Lbian Task Force, 1989 there were more than 7, 000 reported cints of harassment, timidatn, vandalism or bias-related vlence directed agast gays, cludg 62 homicis.

" Though the crim n and do take place all over the cy, the ncentratn of both gay and straight night life the Wt Village seems to brg the attackers and their victims -- and alhol -- to dangero proximy.

That the Village has historilly served as a haven where people uld e out of the closet on weekends even if they feared to do so at other tim, that remas a heavily gay neighborhood, only heightens lol outrage that even here gay people do not feel safe.

QUEEN OF THE UNRDOGS: 5 REASONS PK IS AN UNRAPPRECIATED GAY IN

In Dallas, where the Dallas Gay Alliance has begun sendg foot patrols to a by gay entertament district, off-duty police officers are hired as backup, an effective but expensive program whose ntued fundg is provg difficult.

Ocsnally the digizatn procs troduc transcriptn errors or other problems; we are ntug to work to improve the archived Pk Panthers were formed last summer as a civilian patrol group Manhattan's Wt Village to try to prevent attacks on Friday and Saturday nights on homosexual men and women.

GAY PATROL AND MGM IN A BATTLE OVER NAME

Attacks on homosexuals more than doubled New York Cy last year, acrdg to the the patrol group self has bee a target a tramark-gement lawsu filed Feral Court Manhattan by lawyers for the pany that owns the rights to the "Pk Panther" movi, which feature the hapls Inspector Cloe and a pk rtoon renrg of a panther. The group's lawyer has acced the platiff of homophobia and says her clients have no tentn of backg lawsu, filed January by MGM-Pathe Communitns, ntends that the group's e of the name nflicts wh the image of s movi. ""The fendants' e of the signatn 'The Pk Panther Patrol' and a stylized paw prt to intify a gay-rights self-help group and their activi, servic and goods has and will ntue to dimish the inty and reputatn of platiff's tramark, the Pk Panther and the Pk Panther Paw Prt, and rce their value, " the urt papers patrol group's lawyer, Eliza beth McNamara, says that no one has nfed the group wh the rtoon character and that the lawsu suggts an anti-homosexual rporate sentiment.

18 ANTI-GAY GROUPS AND THEIR PROPAGANDA

"The only way to put forth their argument that the patrol's e of the Pk Panther tarnished the reputatn of MGM and the character is to make what amounts to a homophobic argument, although they uch as beg that they don't want to be affiliated wh any polil anizatn, " said Ms.