Recording of a lecture by noted anthropologist Walter Lee Williams given at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, titled, "American Indian Societies and Sexual Variance," in which he focused on "those [Native American] societies that do not have a homophobic response to same-sex relationships." The lecture was taped as part of a recorded letter to Christie Young by an unnamed correspondent. Williams, after his retirement in 2013, was arrested and convicted in 2014 for "illicit sexual contact with boys aged 14 to 16 in the Philippines." Sentenced to five years in prison he was released in 2017. Information on Williams' career and arrest, together with correspondence to/from Dennis McBride--who brought Williams into the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas as a volunteer while Williams was living in a halfway house in Las Vegas--may be found in MS-01099 [McBride's personal papers] deposited in the Special Collections Department of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Box 12, folders 12-14.

Eddie Anderson was an outspoken and iconoclastic radio commentator in Reno, NV in the 1980s and '90s, who covered liberal politics and issues in his call-in program, Radio Free Reno. The program recorded here was broadcast on October 22, 1990, and includes a lengthy biography of conservative activist Janine Hansen of Nevada's Independent American Party; a short interview with then-Nevada State Senator Randolph Townsend; commentary on Question 7, Nevada's pro-abortion initiative petition legislation; pungent comments on Nevada's U. S. Representative Barbara Vucanovich; and comments suggesting that Jesus Christ was gay. It was at the end of this broadcast, captured on this tape, that "Pro-Life" Andy Anderson [Charles F. Anderson (1927-2011)], a notorious religious bigot and anti-abortion crusader who drove a Volkswagen around northern Nevada with a big fetus on the roof to emphasize his point, broke into the studio while Anderson was still on-air and assaulted him for his comments on Jesus. Andy Anderson and Eddie Anderson [no relation] had been acquainted since the early 1970s when both were janitors at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center. Andy Anderson was found guilty of battery in March 1991 and sentenced to community service. See "Abortion Foe Punches Reno Talk Show Host" [Reno Gazette-Journal, October 23, 1990, 1B]; "Pro-Life Andy Anderson Turns Himself In, But Cops Won't Take Him" [Reno Gazette-Journal, November 10, 1990, 1B]; and "Abortion Foe Guilty in Attack" [Reno Gazette-Journal, March 23, 1991, 1A]. Eddie Anderson's description of the attack may be found on pp. 144-145 of his oral history deposited in the Special Collections Department of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas [HQ75.4 A54 2000]. Also see Anderson's manuscript collection in Special Collections [MS-00457].

Titled, The Rhetoric of Intolerance: An Open-Letter Video to Pat Robertson from Dr. Mel White, this video provides a point-by-point destruction of Robertson's homophobic social and religious paradigm. Throughout the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, Pat Robertson--founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network [CBN], Regent University, and the conservative American Center for Law and Justice, and one of the loudest voices in the Religious Right--spread a relentlessly homophobic message through his television program, The 700 Club. Mel White, a closeted gay man who ghost wrote autobiographies for such homophobic Christian fundamentalists as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Billy Graham, came out in 1994 and became an outspoken queer activist associated with the Metropolitan Community Church. For documentary materials associated with The Rhetoric of Intolerance ..., see MS-00802, box 8 ["Discrimination - The Rhetoric of Intolerance"] in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Special Collections Department. [00:00:00 - 00:30:03]

Peter Todd was a significant figure in the gaming, entertainment, and financial industries of Las Vegas, as well as a queer activist in the Las Vegas AIDS community. Todd was co-founder, with Bree Burgess, of the Golden Rainbow AIDS organization and served as financial officer for Aid for AIDS of Nevada [AFAN]. When Todd was diagnosed in 1992 with lung cancer that had spread to his liver, he had no medical insurance. This benefit was a fundraiser to help cover expenses for Todd's treatments. The event's host/emcee was queer entertainer RIchard Powell [d. October 29, 2021]. The event included performances by Las Vegas Strip entertainers, testimony from Todd's friends and a thank-you speech from Todd himself, who died April 8, 1993. For biographical information on Todd, see "Four Individuals Win AFAN Humanitarian Award" [Las Vegas Bugle, April 1991, pp. 26-28, 30], and "Todd Honored as LV Men's Club 'Man of the Year' " [Las Vegas Bugle, September 1992, 24]. For information on the benefit event, see "300 Persons Honor Peter Todd at Benefit" [Las Vegas Bugle, November 1992, 18]. For Todd's obituary, see the Las Vegas Sun, April 9, 1993, 2B, and "Peter Todd Leaves Golden Legacy of Memories" [Las Vegas Bugle, April 1993, 20] [00:00:00 - 01:59:06]

Titled, 70s Fever, this videotape records a stage production/dance party with a 1970s disco theme in an unidentified Las Vegas nightclub. The production includes several lip-synched performances by female impersonators. [00:00:00 - 00:25:14]

The Honorarium, first celebrated in 1994, is an annual awards ceremony where the LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada recognizes significant members of the Las Vegas queer community, as well as community supporters and allies. For more information on the 2004 Honorarium, see "Gay, Lesbian Center to Host Honorarium" [Las Vegas Sun, August 11, 2004, 9B] and "The Center to Honor Community Leaders [QVegas, August 2004, 20]. Of particular interest at the 2004 Honorarium is recognition of the cast of the Las Vegas Academy's production of The Laramie Project which drew a raucous protest from members of the virulently homophobic Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, Kansas, led by Fred Phelps and members of his family. See "Las Vegas Academy Theater Cast to Receive Youth Activist Award [Las Vegas Review-Journal, August 14, 2004, 14B]; "Group Plans to Picket Play at School: Anti-Gay Protesters Target High School [Las Vegas Sun, May 6, 2004, 1B, 8B]; "Anti-Gay Group Targets LV School: Protest Set on Content of Student Play" [Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 7, 2004, 1B, 13B]; "Counterprotest Planned by Community Groups" [Las Vegas Sun, May 7, 2004, 7B]; "Anti-Gay Group Outnumbered" [Las Vegas Sun, May 12, 2004, 1B, 4B]; and "Anti-Gay Protesters Picket School: Hundreds Turn Out to Support School Targeted by Church" [Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 13, 2004, 1B, 4B]. [00:00:00 - 01:26:47]

The Equal Right to Marry Project in Las Vegas was established in 1996 through the LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada to fight for marriage equality. One of the organization's first events was a panel discussion at the Clark County Library featuring Evan Wolfson, an attorney with the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. This videotape of the panel discussion is Part 2 of 2. For a short history of the Equal Right to Marry Project in Las Vegas, see Out of the Neon Closet: Queer Community in the Silver State, by Dennis McBride [North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016], pp. 274-275. Still photographs of this event may be found in photograph collection 00263 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Special Collections Department, photo nos. 2728-2737. Oral history interviews with panel members Dan Hinkley, Lori Lipman Brown, Lee Plotkin, and Mike Mas are also deposited in the Special Collections Department. [00:00:00: - 00:38:33]