Wisconsin Gaze

LGBT-supportive state Sen. Jim Sullivan, D-Wauwatosa, is holding a campaign picnic from 1–3 p.m. on Saturday, June 19, at McCarty Park on West Beloit Road and South 78th Street in West Allis.

Participants are invited to arrive at noon to help distribute campaign literature to the neighborhoods surrounding the park.

U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin and Wisconsin Public Service Commissioner Lauren Azar have ended their nearly 15-year partnership. The couple announced they will terminate their registered domestic partnership. According to a Baldwin spokesperson, neither Baldwin nor Azar will make any further statements on their breakup.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force honored U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore at a May 11 fundraiser in Washington.

Moore, who has represented Wisconsin’s Fourth Congressional District since 2005, was cited by NGLTF as “a leading ally for LGBT fairness and a force for social justice.”

You don’t have to wait until October or travel to Munich to enjoy a beer festival. For three days at the end of May, beer lovers can sample beers from more than 30 national and Wisconsin-based breweries at the 2nd annual Kohler Festival of Beer held in Kohler, Wis.

To properly kick off the festival, the folks in Kohler will be using the same type of opening ceremony fanfare as their brewmeister brethren in Germany, including a Friday night Tapping Party.

A number of LGBT Pride events are on the state’s calendar this summer. Pride Alive returns July 10, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., at Joannes Park in Green Bay (newpride.org). Wisconsin Capitol Pride hosts a celebration Aug. 20–22 in Madison at Willow Island at the Alliant Energy Center (wisconsincapitolpride.org). LaCrosse Pride, sponsored by the LGBT Resource Center for the 7 Rivers Region takes place Aug. 28 (lacrossepride.us). And Duluth Superior Pride is scheduled for Sept. 2–5 (dspride.com).

Gov. Jim Doyle has signed a new law allowing physicians and advance practice clinics to prescribe an extra dose of antibiotics for people with STDs to give to their sexual partners. The legislation applies to the three most common STDs – chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichononiasis.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends expedited partner therapy as an effective way to reduce the incidence of STDs.  Twenty-one states currently use the strategy.

Fair Wisconsin (FW) is honoring individuals and organizations for their leadership in the LGBT community.

On June 11, the opening day of Milwaukee PrideFest, FW will present awards at Henry Maier Festival Park to U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (statewide leader), WiG CEO Leonard Sobczak (community advocate) and attorney Lester Pines (community advocate).

OutReach, Madison’s LGBT Community Center, is looking for volunteer health promoters to help LGBT people quit smoking.

Volunteers would talk to smokers in their social networks about the risks of tobacco use, and they would also support individuals who have decided to stop smoking and refer individuals who have already quit to services provided by the rm2breathe program and its partner agencies.

When Wisconsin’s domestic partner registry went into effect on Aug. 3, 2009, there was an initial rush of applications. By December, more than 1,300 same-sex couples had registered.

But the pace of registrations has dropped off sharply this year. In Milwaukee County, for example, only 22 couples have registered in 2010, down from 200 in 2009.

A measure approved by the Wisconsin Legislature could bring more than $1 million annually in new federal HIV/AIDS money to Wisconsin. The dollars will supplement the state’s funding for the care and treatment of Medicaid patients.

After two years of stagnant funding and with a record number of people in Wisconsin living with HIV/AIDS, the resources provided by the HIV Medical Home Bill are badly needed, said Bill Keeton, of the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin.