Stand up for gay
America
By Chris Karmiol, The Times from the Web, September 20, 2004
TRENTON, NJ -- Sitting in the shade of a white tent yesterday afternoon, her eyes looked thoughtful yet fiery when Maria Betters, a self-described "old hippie," discussed her cause.
"When you have a cause you stick it out until it's over," she said. "I've been at this cause nine years and it's not over."
Then she went quiet, and her eyes looked thoughtful and teary when she got to the reason for her cause.
"This is an important thing. Millions of people are dying every year," she said.
"The fact is, it's fatal." Betters, 59, from North Brunswick, referred to AIDS, which would have been obvious to anyone who saw her sitting in the tent where hundreds of handmade stitched-together memorial panels
-- part of the AIDS Memorial Quilt -- hung on display.
AIDS strikes an estimated 800,000 Americans, according to Gay Men's Health Crisis statistics, and New Jersey sits on the list of the top five states with the highest cumulative AIDS cases.
Betters is the regional coordinator of the quilt, which she displayed yesterday at Capital Rainbowfest, a gay pride event coordinated by the Trenton Gay and Lesbian Civic Association, a group that celebrates its tenth anniversary next year.
The fall pride festival was the organization's third annual event. AIDS, gay marriage and
transgender rights were among the major issues at the fair, which seemed as dog-friendly as it was gay-friendly, with furry friends running in the grass, sporting T-shirts and gay pride rainbow bandannas.
About 500 people showed up for the event, far less than organizers anticipated.
They blamed the emergency flood conditions in the surrounding areas that closed Route 29 and several other feeder roads leading to the event for the low turnout.
Besides vendors, food and entertainment, politics was in the air. Jacqui Charvet, wearing a button that read "Trans And Proud," wrangled passersby to sign a petition affording equal rights to transgender people.
Charvet said she had been discriminated against because of her gender identity.
"I've been to some job interviews where it took longer to choose my outfit than the interview," Charvet said.
"They took one look and said, `Thank you, we'll call you.' There should be protections in place."
Many festival goers wore "Kerry/Edwards" campaign buttons, and volunteers for both the John Kerry campaign and for Amy Vasquez, who's contesting Chris Smith's seat in New Jersey's 4th Congressional District this election, were on hand to register voters.
A. Tobias Grace, the editor of "Out In Jersey" magazine, called Smith an enemy of the gay community.
"Vasquez is definitely on our side," Grace said. "We'd really like to see her win."
While some were there for the politics and others clearly for the greasy fried food and rainbow T-shirts, Jetaun Monet, one of the festival's drag queen performers, summed up her own and probably most attendees' reason for being there.
She pumped out her chest, twisted her hips and said: "We're here to stand up for gay America."
Click
here for GayPASG event photos of the Capital Rainbowfest.
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