IN
JULY
31,
MANY
gay
civil
rights
advocates
as
well
as
journalists,
lawyers,
teachers,
clergy
members
and
other
Fenceberry
fans
got
the
e-mail
they
all
knew
would
come
one
day.
It
contained
three
words:
“That’s
all,
folks!”
For
the
last
eight
years,
two
lesbians
in
Omaha,
Neb.
—
Aleta
Fenceroy,
55,
and
Jean
Mayberry,
54
—
have
been
the
driving
force
behind
a
gay-news
distribution
service
that
many
found
indispensable
in
keeping
updated
on
the
whirlwind
of
gay
news
unfolding
worldwide.
“I
knew
I
would
know
when
the
time
was
right
to
quit,
and
I
just
did,”
Fenceroy
says.
“The
day
before,
I
probably
wouldn’t
have
said
I
was
ready
to
quit,
but
then
[on
that
day]
it
was
just
time.”
The
e-mail
service
was
started
in
1993
by
Bill
Stosine
of
Iowa
City,
Iowa.
At
the
time,
Fenceroy
and
Mayberry,
who
have
been
a
couple
for
13
years,
were
living
in
Sioux
City,
Iowa,
and
putting
out
a
print
newsletter
that
informed
local
supporters
about
gay
issues
around
the
world.
The
two
women
came
to
rely
on
Stosine’s
service
for
much
of
their
newsletter.
When
Stosine
decided
in
1996
to
stop
operating,
Fenceroy
and
Mayberry
acquired
his
e-mail
list
and
resources
and
began
distributing
“Fenceberry”
through
e-mail.
Subscribers
received
several
e-mails
every
day
from
the
two
women,
chronicling
gay-related
news
stories,
columns
and
letters
to
the
editor
that
appeared
in
news
publications
around
the
world.
It
was
a
labor
of
love
—
neither
of
them
ever
received
a
penny
for
their
efforts.
During
the
eight
years
that
they
published
Fenceberry,
finding
the
news
actually
became
much
easier,
despite
the
fact
that
compiling
it
took
much
longer
near
the
end
of
their
run
because
of
the
sheer
volume
of
gay
news
available
by
then.
“Over
the
years,
it’s
changed
a
little
bit,
because
in
’96,
not
that
many
papers
had
Web
sites,
and
[gays]
weren’t
written
about
that
much
either,”
Fenceroy
says.
“Now,
it’s
much
easier.
There
are
a
lot
more
search
engines
for
us
to
find
that
material.”
TWO
ROADBLOCKS
pushed
Mayberry
and
Fenceroy
to
stop
operating
Fenceberry.
The
first
was
AOL
blocking
them
from
sending
mass
e-mails.
On
Friday,
July
30,
they
said
they
were
told
that
the
Internet
giant
had
received
seven
different
complaints
about
Fenceberry
spam
from
their
readers
and
had
labeled
them
“spammers.”
Fenceroy
says
the
two
never
sent
their
e-mail
service
unsolicited.
The
overriding
reason
for
the
couple’s
decision,
however,
was
their
desire
to
get
their
lives
back.
For
the
first
few
years
they
operated
the
service,
Mayberry
did
the
bulk
of
the
work
while
Fenceroy
was
a
student.
They
worked
on
the
project
equally
the
following
year,
before
Fenceroy
took
over
the
bulk
of
the
research
with
Mayberry
there
to
“make
coffee
and
for
emotional
support.”
“It
was
nice
staying
in
touch
with
the
people,
but
it
was
intensely
demanding,”
Fenceroy
says.
“I’m
more
obsessive-compulsive
than
[Mayberry]
is.”
Fenceroy
says
she
worked
a
minimum
of
three
to
four
hours
a
day
on
research,
selection
and
distribution
of
the
news
stories.
During
the
week,
she
spent
an
hour
before
heading
off
to
work
as
a
computer
programmer.
She
spent
part
of
her
day
at
work
looking
through
various
Web
sites
of
newspapers
and
organizations
for
gay-related
stories.
When
she
returned
home,
she
would
spend
at
least
two
more
hours
working
on
the
project
before
sending
off
the
mass
e-mails.
On
the
weekends,
she
still
made
time
to
cull
the
news
and
distribute
it
to
eager
readers.
The
day
the
Massachusetts
Supreme
Judicial
Court
opened
the
door
for
gay
couples
who
want
legal
marriage
rights,
Fenceroy
stayed
home
from
work
so
her
readers
could
be
the
first
to
hear
the
news.
Fenceroy
says
that
the
time
demand
was
the
hardest
part
about
working
on
the
listserv.
“The
work
itself
wasn’t
difficult,”
Fenceroy
says.
“The
only
thing
stressful
about
it
was
trying
to
find
the
time.
…The
process
was
very
simple,
actually
—
I
had
my
search
routine
set
and
I
sent
it
out
through
e-mail
—
but
it
just
took
a
lot
of
time.”
When
asked
if
the
workload
ever
put
a
strain
on
her
relationship
with
Mayberry,
Fenceroy
says
it
did
not.
“Not
really
—
we’re
both
pretty
independent
people,”
Fenceroy
says.
“Yeah,
Jean
is
relieved
now
that
I
have
more
time
to
spend
with
her,
but
she
never
guilted
me
about
doing
it.
She
knew
that
when
I
was
ready
to
quit,
I
would
quit.
I
have
been
neglecting
her.
But
it
hasn’t
really
put
a
strain
on
the
relationship,
because
she’s
been
tolerating
that,
and
she
recognized
that
it
was
important,
too.”
WHEN
FENCEROY
AND
Mayberry
acquired
the
distribution
list
in
1996,
it
consisted
of
about
250
e-mail
addresses.
By
the
time
they
signed
off
on
July
31,
it
had
more
than
1,000
names.
One
of
Fenceberry’s
most
avid
supporters
has
been
lawyer
Evan
Wolfson,
founder
of
the
New
York-based
organization
Freedom
to
Marry
and
author
of
“Why
Marriage
Matters:
America,
Equality,
and
Gay
People’s
Right
to
Marry.”
“The
service
has
been
invaluable,”
says
Wolfson,
a
subscriber
for
many
years.
“To
have,
every
day,
news
from
all
around
the
country
pulled
together
in
such
an
intelligent
and
creative
way
has
been
a
bedrock
for
my
work.
And
they
have
built
community
in
the
truest
sense
—
through
connection
and
information.”
Wolfson
has
met
Mayberry
and
Fenceroy
many
times
and
says,
“They’re
lovely
people
on
top
of
being
incredibly
dedicated
and
successful
activists.”
Another
huge
fan
is
the
man
who
started
the
service,
Bill
Stosine.
In
an
e-mail
sent
to
listserv
members
after
the
couple
announced
their
retirement,
he
says
he
started
the
listserv
so
he
could
send
editorial
letters
to
newspapers
about
gay
issues.
He
told
a
few
other
activists
about
the
service
so
they
could
do
the
same,
and
the
...
