Wisconsin Gaze

When Kyle Callen stepped onto the dance floor with another boy, the other kids at his high school homecoming party stared.

“A group of the more popular kids on the other side of the gym started pointing and laughing,” he said. “I stopped and walked away, but it was very embarrassing.”

“I welcome the news that the Department of Justice will not be defending the Defense of Marriage Act in two important cases in New England. This represents a real shift in Department of Justice policy and is one step toward the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.

A United Methodist minister in northwest Wisconsin faces a church trial and possible dismissal from the denomination’s clergy.

Charges were brought against the Rev. Amy DeLong of Osceola after she acknowledged conducting a holy union ceremony for a lesbian couple and registering with her longtime partner under Wisconsin’s domestic partnership statute. The United Methodist Church, the nation’s third-largest denomination, bans clergy from performing same-sex unions and allows gays and lesbians to serve as clergy only if they’re celibate or keep their sexual orientation secret.

A Valentine’s weekend forum explored the role of trust in relationships – specifically the trust between domestic partners and their professional advisors.

LGBT couples concerned about finances, relationship issues, legal affairs and estate planning attended the LGBT Relationship Forum, Feb. 12 at the Madison Club, 5 E. Wilson St., Madison.

Pioneering gay bar owner Charles “Chuck” Cicirello, 67, died Feb. 1. Also known as Chuck Balistreri, he is survived by wife Mary, sons Charles and Thomas, grandchildren Tommy and Teresa, and sister Marie Bozora.

According to the Milwaukee LGBT History Project, Cicirello was “perhaps the most prolific owner/manager of gay bars in Milwaukee’s history.” He opened his first bar, the Neptune Club, in the late 1960s, followed by The Factory in 1972. The latter was the city’s largest and most popular gay nightspot for many years.

Madison’s art community, HIV/AIDS activists and at least one national group are accusing The Overture Center for the Arts of censorship for removing a photo from an exhibit featuring the work of HIV-positive amateur photographers.

The photo, titled “Stripped,” was one of more than 40 that were originally displayed in the “Living with HIV/AIDS: Perspective Through The Lens” exhibit in the center’s Playhouse Gallery. UWHealth, Becker Law Office, the Wisconsin HIV/AIDS Program and The Overture Center sponsored the exhibit to commemorate World AIDS Day 2010.