GayCommunityNews

Vol. 7, No. 31 (617)426-4469 ©GCN, 1980 March 1,1980

Second Bathhouse Raid in 3 Months Nets Over 100

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Gays CRUISING r,AY CATHOLICS

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Nationwide Picket Lines Mark Opening of Cruising

By Warren Blumenfeld

The movie Cruising opened across the United States in a reported 600 theatres on Friday, Feb. 15. Included here is a sample of the protest demonstrations that occurred around the opening.

West Springfield, MA

The committee, Lesbians and Gays Against Violence (LGAV), an ad hoc organization from Hampton, Franklin, and Hampshire Counties in Western Massachusetts, sponsored a demonstration against the Show¬ case Cinema in West Springfield on Friday, Feb. 15 from 6:00- 10:30 p.m. Organizers told GCN that both the police and the man¬ agement of the theatre made it dif¬ ficult for the demonstration to take place. Knowing of the demonstration over one week in advance, the police did not notify the committee of their need for a permit until one day before the protest. With the aid of a local lawyer, the group was able to re¬ ceive the permit from the West Springfield police close to the time the demonstration was to begin.

Once the picket line began, the management of the theatre threatened to have the demonstra¬ tors arrested if they stepped either on private property or onto the highway. The demonstrators stayed within the limited confines and no arrests were made.

The group is anticipating a simi¬ lar action at the Mountain Farms Mall Theatre in Hadley later this month and hopes also to demon¬ strate at the opening of Windows scheduled for sometime in early March.

Hartford, CT

Three demonstrations took place in the Hartford area on Feb. 15. At the Westford Mall in West Hartford, seven people picketed the theatre in the mall. The mall security force asked the picketers to leave because it was declared to be private property.

Another demonstration

occurred at the United Artists Parkade in Manchester (CT). Ap¬ proximately nine members of the University of Hartford Gay Alli¬ ance formed a picket line near the

street after being asked to leave the parking lot area.

A third demonstration took place at the Cinema City in Hart¬ ford. Organizers estimated the picket line to include 30 people, 60 percent women and 40 percent men. The manager of the theatre gave the demonstrators permission to picket the theatre as long as they did not block the en¬ trance. The Hartford group has received legal counsel from a local lesbian lawyer in determining the

rights of demonstrators.

Organizers are calling for a community meeting to raise the issues of a boycott of the movie Cruising and continuing with Windows when it opens. According to Pam Smith, a spokesperson for the group, “What has been bothering us most is the large number of gay men going in to see Cruising.”

Coverage in the Hartford Cour- ant has been favorable to the pro¬ testers, as has been the coverage on TV Channel 8. However, re¬ ports on Channel 30 have alleged¬ ly been biased against the demon¬ strators.

New Haven, CT

The Committee Against the Films Cruising and Windows (CAFCW), composed of members from local gay and lesbian groups, demonstrated on Friday, Feb. 15, at the Showcase Cinema Theatre in Orange (CT), a suburb of New Haven. Approximately 50 people met in the parking lot to leaflet automobiles and form a picket line. As they started to form, police officers surrounded them and asked them to leave the parking lot. Eleven people chose to remain and were quickly arrested on charges of disorderly

conduct. They were taken into custody and soon released without having to post bail. The eleven are scheduled to appear for trial on Monday, March 3 in the Milford (CT) courthouse.

Shirley Pripstein, a lawyer and member of the New Haven Femi¬ nist Union, will be defending the group in court, presumably on First Amendment grounds.

Organizers have planned for pickets to continue at the entrance Continued on page 7

WASHINGTON, DC — A na¬ tional march on Washington for “righteousness and morality” has been set for April 29, with the indication that fundamentalist organizers fully expect to draw a goal of one million persons to the nation’s capital. According to the Gay Rights National Lobby (GRNL), the march, known both as “Washington for Jesus” and “One Nation Under God,” may have very serious implications for the lesbian/gay movement, as well as for a number of other human rights movements.

Among the supporters of the march are two persons prominent in the fundamentalist religious community — Pat Robertson and Jim Bakker — with extensive reli¬ gious broadcasting networks at their disposal. Robertson is presi¬ dent of the Christian Broadcasting Network and host of the program, The 700 Club. Bakker is president of the PTL (“Praise the Lord”) Network.

“Informed sources” have indi¬ cated to GRNL that more than 100,000 persons have already made reservations to attend the march and its attendant activities. Travel assistance is being provided by the Greyhound Bus Lines, which has established a toll-free

Compiled by Dan Daniel

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — For the second time in less than three months a gay bathhouse has been raided by the city’s vice squad and more than 100 men have been ticketed by Minneapolis police. In the wee hours of Sunday, Feb. 10, vice squad “street leader” Lt. Kenneth Tidgewell led his officers into the Locker Room Health Club, where they proceeded to kick in doors, tear paneling from walls, harass patrons, and confis¬ cate, among other things, some confidential medical records from a V.D. clinic which operated on the premises. The club’s member¬ ship list and weekend receipts were also seized.

Patrick Schwartz, an employee of the Locker Room, told GCN that two men — who later turned out to be members of the vice squad — checked into the Locker Room, signing a statement (as all patrons must do) stating that they were aware of the nature of the establishment and that they were not police officers. According to the terms of a search warrant issued by District Court Judge Douglas Amdahl, they were there to search for juveniles suspected of prostitution.

Amdahl said he was informed before the issuance of the warrant that there were juvenile prostitutes in the bathhouse. He said later that he was “mislead” by vice squad officers and that he never would have issued the warrant if he had reason to believe there were no such persons present in the Locker Room.

telephone number. Said GRNL, “With massive financial resources at their disposal and an extensive communications network of nu¬ merous television and radio pro¬ grams available to reach their con¬ stituency, there is every reason to believe they will reach their goal.”

While an ordinary religious re¬ vival in the nation’s capital should not be of major concern, this par¬ ticular event does not appear to be merely a religious revival. “A number of progressive organiza-

Steve Endean, Executive Director of Gay Rights National Lobby

The raid is seen by many in the Twin Cites gay community as a last fling by Tidgewell, who has been described by more than one activist there as “an animal.” He staged the raid the day before a new police chief was to be sworn in, acting on his own initiative and without the knowledge of acting police chief Leonard Brucianni or Mayor Don Fraser. Brucianni said he was not aware of the raid until 7:00 that morning, nearly four hours after the last of the vice officers had left the Locker Room. Fraser, telephoned at home at 2 a.m., refused to call off the raid.

There is conflicting information about how many men were arrested and how many were ticketed, but the vast majority re¬ ceived tickets. Some men were taken to jail because they had no identification on their persons and therefore could not be issued tickets. Two men were reportedly apprehended outside the bath¬ house: one account had them at¬ tempting to slash the tires of police vehicles, another said they were merely attempting to deflate the tires of police vehicles. Most of those who received tickets were cited for participating in or oper¬ ating a disorderly house.

One of the men ticketed was Dennis Miller, who sits on the State Executive Committee of the Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) Party, the largest political party in Minnesota. He plans to contest the ticket.

“I would hope,” said Miller, Continued on Page 9

tions have concluded that the heavy hand of the ‘New Right’ is behind the [march and] rally,” said GRNL. “These groups be¬ lieve that the rally’s real goals are not religious but political. Many fear that the rally’s organizers will attempt to use the cover of a reli¬ gious event to try to impose their own brand of political ‘morality’ on elected officials and that they will attempt to influence the Con¬ gress on a wide variety of issues, including civil rights for gays, prayer in public schools, abortion, etc.”

Literature about “Washington for Jesus” cites several activities occurring on both April 28 and 29, including a youth rally at RFK Stadium, constituent lobbying with members of Congress, and the march and rally on the Mall in front of the Capitol. Nowhere in the literature are there references to the issues to be addressed in meetings with members of the Congress, a fact which GRNL finds disturbing.

Internally circulated literature from the organizers of the march and rally, however, entitled A Christian Declaration , indicates “in highly emotional religious lan¬ guage” that GRNL’s fears of the Continued on page 6

Church and State Issues Raised by Planned March By Fundamentalist Groups

Page 2

Gay Community News, March 1, 1980

News Notes

quote of the week

"Except for his right to make any movie he chooses, Friedkin can’t be defended on any other level. He’s trashed his considerable talent by making a sleazy, execrable pile of rubbish for no discernible reason other than commercial profit, harassing minorities and creating more hate and bigotry along the way. The important issues of gay rights and the violence perpetrated against homosexuals in an apathetic society are more important than Cruising, but they are subjects that remain unexplored. There must be filmmakers with responsibility and ethics and a moral conscience out there somewhere, but Billy Friedkin is not one of them.”

—Critic Rex Reed writing in a review of William Friedkin’s Cruising in the New York Daily News, Feb. 15, 1980.

killer sentenced to probation

NEW YORK, NY — Richard Schreiner, 30, of Queens, has been sentenced to probation by Manhat¬ tan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Blyn for the death in 1978 of 22-year old Edward Maloney, a gay man. The sentence was denounced by District Attorney Robert Morgenthau as “totally inadequate.” In denying the prosecution’s request that Schreiner be sentenced to up to 15 years on his conviction for non- intentional manslaughter, the judge stated that the defendant, afflicted with a "personality disorder,” would not benefit from a prison sentence.

Maloney was found in the bedroom of his Man¬ hattan apartment the day he was killed. He had been bound at the hands and feet, a kitchen knife was stuck in his chest, and he had been strangled with a rope. Schreiner testified that he had no recollection of the murder, saying that he frequently blacked out after consuming a daily average of 18 cans of beer and four joints of marijuana.

As a condition of the sentence, Blyn ordered the defendant to seek treatment at a mental health clinic and to strictly refrain from the use of drugs and alcohol.

transcending the sexual

HOLLYWOOD, CA — The ABC television net¬ work is developing a comedy series about two mid¬ dle-aged gay men, according to a report in Panorama magazine. The series, to be entitled Adam and Yves, is expected to go into production early in March, according to its creators, Danny Arnold and Chris Hayward.

Arnold said the idea for the series came about as a result of the success in this country of the film La Cage aux Folles and of the acceptance of gay char¬ acters on the television programs Barney Miller and Soap. (Arnold is co-creator and executive producer of Barney Miller.)

The characters in Adam and Yves will reportedly be “upper-middle-class.” Its creators claim the show "transcends the sexual.”

jp80 committee gets support

BOSTON, MA — The Ad Hoc Lesbian and Gay Committee for an Open Community has announced its support for the JP80 Committee to Elect Demo¬ cratic Ward Committees in Boston’s Wards 11 and 19, which comprise most of Jamaica Plain, the Fort Hill section of Roxbury, and the Forest Hills section of Roslindale.

These slates, formed by progressive community supporters of mayoral candidates Mel King, Kevin White, and Joseph Timilty, are pitted, according to committee spokespersons, “against the entrenched ward committees controlled by State Representative James Craven. Craven,” the spokespersons con¬ tinued, “who has consistently voted against gay and women’s legislation throughout his 24-year term in the State House, is the first publicly elected official to be cited by the state Ethics Committee for mis¬ conduct in office.”

The committee urged lesbian and gay voters to support the entire slate in each ward on primary day, March 4. The slate in Ward 11 is headed by John Hughes; the two slates in Ward 19 are headed by Neil Savage and Patricia Shea, respectively.

state senate passes child porn bill

OLYMPIA, WA — The Washington State Senate has passed a controversial measure aimed at curbing the use of children in pornography and returned it to the House for action on amendments. Some oppon¬ ents of the bill have stated that it is unconstitutional but its approval in the Senate was unanimous.

State Sen. Phil Talmadge (D-Seattle), author of the amendments, said they were aimed at removing the constitutional objections.

Under the terms of the legislation, anyone who encourages the participation of a minor in a “sexually explicit” photograph — or a parent who permits such participation — would be liable to up to 10 years in prison. The sale or distribution of such material would be subject to a five-year prison term.

slayer sentenced to forty years

ALFRED, ME — Leland B. Philbrick, 24, has been sentenced to a 40-year prison term in the Maine State Prison at Thomaston. He was convicted last Oct. 29 in his second trial for the shooting death of Charles M. Porterfield, 18, in July 1977.

His conviction in the earlier trial was set aside by the Maine Supreme Court on the grounds that the judge made errors in charging the jury. The sentence, imposed by Judge Sumner J. Goffin at the re-trial, was the same as that imposed on Philbrick at the original trial. Said Goffin, “I see no reason not to impose the same sentence.” Defense attorney George Wood immmediately filed an appeal of both the jury’s verdict and the sentence.

Testimony indicated that Porterfield had picked up Philbrick, who was hitchhiking, and a short time later a struggle broke out, during which Porterfield was fatally wounded. The defense charged that Phil¬ brick drew a pistol and shot Porterfield as the result of sexual advances on the driver’s part. The prosecu¬ tion contended that Porterfield could as well have been shot during a robbery attempt.

job issues facing women

BOSTON, MA — The Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) has organized an all-day conference focused on health and safety hazards in jobs and industries which em¬ ploy a large number of women, as well as on toxic substances and reproductive hazards to which women and their unborn children are exposed in the workplace. The conference is entitled "Women’s Work— Women’s Health” and will take place on Sat¬ urday, March 22 at the University of Massachusetts- Dorchester Campus.

The agenda for this conference is to provide a forum where information and concerns can be shared about work hazards facing women at their jobs. Laurie Stillman, a member of the Women’s Commit¬ tee of MassCOSH who is sponsoring the event ex¬ plained, “This is one of the first conferences of this kind in the Boston area. It will be a grand opportunity for women from all over the state, from all sorts of oc¬ cupations to learn together about health hazards we face in our work and what we can do about them.”

It is recommended that participants register in advance in order to guarantee placement in a par¬ ticular workshop by calling or writing to the MassCOSH office at 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA. There will be a $5 registration fee.

lesbians of color exhibit

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Great American Les¬ bian Art Show (GALAS), in cooperation with Lesbians of Color, announces that two exhibition spaces in Los Angeles will be reserved to provide black and Latina lesbians an opportunity to exhibit their art work in their own communities, as part of the GALAS regional network.

Lesbians of color who are interested in exhibit¬ ing their work should contact Mikhalia Cortez at (213) 464-7400, ext. 231.

GALAS is a national network of lesbian art exhibits and events which will take place in May 1980. Lesbians who wish to participate can do so in a number of ways: by organizing GALAS shows in their own communities, by sending slides of their art work to be included in the archives and in a slide presenta¬ tion at the Woman’s Building, by assisting other women organizing shows, and by writing to give feed¬ back about the project.

Lesbians of color are encouraged to contact GALAS to find out the names of regional coor¬ dinators in your area, and for information about set¬ ting up special programs in your region. For more information, write: GALAS, c/o GCSC, P.O. Box 38777, Los Anqeles, CA 90038.

gay lutherans call convention

LOS ANGELES, CA — Lutherans Concerned will observe its sixth anniversary by holding the second national meeting of its members June 19-22 at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco. Called As¬ sembly ’80, the meeting was announced by Coordin¬ ators Diane Fraser and Howard Erickson.

They said the Assembly will provide an oppor¬ tunity for speakers, workshops, worship and plan¬ ning for the future of Lutherans Concerned. The As¬ sembly meets several days before the opening of the biennial national convention of the three million- member Lutheran Church in America in Seattle, and four months before the convention of the 2.3 million- member American Lutheran Church (ALC) in Minne¬ apolis.

Lutherans Concerned is the organization of gay and non-gay women and men seeking gay under¬ standing in the Lutheran churches. Formed in 1974 in Minneapolis, with financial assistance from the mis¬ sion division of ALC, it now has nearly 20 chapters around the country.

Information about the group and Assembly ’80 is available by writing to Lutherans Concerned, Box 191 14A, Los Angeles, CA 90019.

design a logo for pride week 1980

BOSTON, MA — You could win a one-year sub¬ scription to GCN and $25 if your logo is selected for use in this year’s Lesbian/Gay Pride Week festivities. The theme for this year’s celebration is “All Our Voices — All Our Visions,” and anyone may submit a design for possible logo. The official logo will be selected by the Lesbian/Gay Pride Committee and used on T-shirts, posters, and the parade banner. Designs must be submitted by March 1 to receive consideration. Send your entry to 285 Harvard St., #102, Cambridge, MA 02139.

rape crisis center re-opens

BOSTON, MA — The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center has re-opened. Staffers are available to talk with any woman seeking information and/or support with regard to rape. To contact the center, call (617) 492-RAPE.

atty. general installs tty

BOSTON, MA — Massachusetts Attorney Gen¬ eral Francis X. Bellotti has installed a telecom¬ municator for the deaf (TTY), hearing impaired, and speech impaired residents of the Commonwealth. This move provides access to the Attorney General’s office to the approximately 350,000 members of the deaf community in Massachusetts.

The TTY will be located in the Public Protection Bureau, which has responsibility in the areas of con¬ sumer protection, civil rights, public charities, en¬ vironmental protection, antitrust, utilities, and insur¬ ance. Bellotti suggests, however, that persons with impaired speech and/or hearing may use the device to communicate with his department on any subject within his jurisdiction.

The number to call is (617) 727-0434.

the search is on

LOS ANGELES, CA — Western International Pic¬ tures (WIP), producers of the upcoming feature film Vera, are searching for a transsexual person to play the title role. An audition is planned at the Barnum Room in New York City. A WIP spokesperson said that although some 150 persons were interviewed and auditioned at Los Angeles’ Queen Mary, the role remains open.

The two-day audition will be held the first week in March. Information can be obtained from “The Search is On,” P.O. Box 885 8, Los Angeles, CA 90072.

goodstein to appear in boston

BOSTON, MA — David Goodstein w1" -tppear at New England Life Hall, 225 Clarendon St., boston, on Tuesday, March 25 at 8 p.m. to discuss the Advocate Experience.

The Advocate Experience, a two-day learning and self-discovery experience which consists of in¬ formation, group and individual processes and com¬ munication, is a project of The Advocate Research and Education Fund, a non-profit charitable corpora¬ tion.

This event is being sponsored by Boston area lesbians and gay men who have graduated from the Experience. Tickets are $5. For information call (617) 426-1607 from 12 midnight to 6 a.m. or (617) 661-8594 at other times.

dutch church admits gays

AMSTERDAM — The Dutch Reformed Church, the State Church of The Netherlands, has decided to admit lesbians and gay men as fully accepted mem¬ bers. By a nearly unanimous vote, the decision was made by the General Synod.

A report in the RES News Exchange said, “In the mind of Synod, others do not have the right to sit in judgment upon people with a homosexual preference and their practice of it, nor to bar them from the Lord’s Supper.”

rape project wants performers

BRIGHTON, MA — The Rape Action Project is looking for women to perform in a theatre piece en¬ titled They Say We Ask for It. No acting experience is necessary.

Volunteers are also needed to help with work on an informational brochure, letter writing, typing, and the circulation of petitions. Interested women are asked to contact the Rape Action Project at P.O. Box 94, Brighton, MA 02135, or by calling (617) 782-7685.

plan now for the jubilee

BOSTON, MA — An open community meeting will be held Tues., Feb. 26, to discuss lesbian and gay male visibility and participation in Boston’s anniver¬ sary celebration, Jubilee 350. The meeting com¬ mences at 7 p.m. at the Old West Church, 131 Cam¬ bridge St.

Gay Community News, March 1, 1980

Page 3

Board Fills Post To Implement Order

LOS ANGELES, CA — The California State Personnel Board has filled a position created to implement an Executive Order banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Los Angeles attorney Leroy Walker has been named to coordinate the project.

On April 4, 1979, California Gov. Jerry Brown issued an Executive Order prohibiting em¬ ployment discrimination for rea¬ sons of sexual orientation by all state agencies under the Govern¬ or’s jurisdiction. The State Per¬ sonnel Board was given authority to implement the order.

Soon thereafter, the National Committee for Sexual Civil Liber¬ ties offered its assistance and ex¬ pertise to the Governor’s office and to the Persorfnel Board to help them set up a program for implementation of the order. Paul D. Hardman of San Francisco, publisher of The Voice (a news-

Leroy Walker

paper primarily directed to the gay community), and Los Angeles at¬ torney Thomas F. Coleman, co¬ chair of the National Committee for Sexual Civil Liberties, set up a series of meetings with govern¬ ment officials to discuss methods, goals, and timetables for imple¬ mentation. Instrumental in the creation of this position were J. Anthony Kline, Brown’s Legal Affairs Secretary; Irene Tovar, president of the Personnel Board; and Ron Kurtz, the Personnel Board’s Executive Officer, as well as other board and staff members.

Also cooperating in the imple¬ mentation effort were several groups from the lesbian/gay com¬ munity in California, including the Advocates for Gay State Em¬ ployees and the Gay Community Services Centers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego.

Upon learning of the selection of Walker to fill the position, Coleman commented, “Some of us have been working for years to sensitize the state bureaucracy to the needs of the gay community and the unfairness of sexual orien¬ tation discrimination. Governor Brown has taken a firm position to work toward an end of such discrimination. He issued an Ex¬ ecutive Order on the subject and his administration has created a position to see to it that the order is carried out and obeyed. This is a significant event for the entire country in that this is the first full¬ time state government position anywhere that is devoted to sexual orientation issues.”

Thomas F. Coleman

Asked to comment on his new assignment, Walker stated, “We live in a relatively free society. I , like to see as little government reg¬ ulation of our lives as possible. But, where arbitrary discrimina¬ tion in something as basic as em¬ ployment is involved, there is no choice but to look to the govern¬ ment for some protection for groups that have been historically discriminated against, such as ra¬ cial and ethnic minorities, women, and sexual minorities. The Executive Order prohibits diffen- tial treatment of people similarly situated. That is, people who are private about their sexuality or people who are public about their sexuality are to be treated alike re¬ gardless of their sexual orienta¬ tion. I am grateful to have the op¬ portunity to serve the government and the community toward reach¬ ing this goal. I am particularly grateful to those who worked so hard to create this position and therefore make my work on this project possible.”

Center is Target of Arson

GARDEN GROVE, CA — Two molotov cocktails were hurled at the Gay Community Center of Orange County in the early morning hours of Feb. 10, causing what a spokesperson for the Cen¬ ter termed “minor damages.”

Neighbors who were awakened by barking dogs at 3:50 a.m. re¬ ported a “small wall of flames” outside the building and said that “a youth” was observed running from the scene of the blaze to a waiting automobile. Spokesper¬ sons for the Center said that “of the two cocktails thrown, only one made it inside the building, the otehr doing negligible damage outside.”

The Garden Grove city Fire De¬ partment arrived only “minutes” after the incendiary devices were thrown, extinguishing the flames before any extensive structural damage could be done.

“We were extremely lucky that our neighbors were fast-acting and having a fire department that

responded quickly,” said Dennis Marquardt, the Center’s Admin¬ istrative Coordinator. “Because the door to the room was closed,” he said, “the fire had trouble re¬ ceiving oxygen and burned only furnishings and carpeting. Even the hardwood floor was un¬ touched.”

The arson attack is the latest in a series of “repeated acts of van¬ dalism and harassment” against the center, which began when the Gay Community Center moved into a new and larger location on a busy boulevard in Garden Grove. On Jan. 26, the Center installed a “double-faced four foot by ten foot sign that increased their visi¬ bility.”

Said Doug Farson, Vice-chair¬ person of the Center’s Board of Directors, “I don’t think it’s fair to say that the sign caused this act of aggression. It was a somewhat controversial decision to put up the sign with our full name on it, but we firmly felt that it was im¬

portant for us to let our presence be known in the community and also make it clear to gays in the county that we are not ashamed to say who we are.”

Because of the molotov cocktail incident, certain basic procedures at the Gay Community Center have undergone some changes. Said Marquardt, “We now will close every interior door in the Center when unoccupied. The closed door [on Feb. 10],” he said, “kept the fire and smoke contained to just one room, mini¬ mizing damage.” Damage to the Center was estimated at $1,000.

The attack on the Gay Com¬ munity Center is the second in¬ cident of arson involving a gay in¬ stitution in the past 13 months. On Jan. 23, 1979, the Metropoli¬ tan Community Church Christ Chapel in Santa Ana was the tar¬ get of an arsonist. The Chapel, which was uninsurable due to its old age and wood construction, burned to the ground.

Catholic Group Urges Bishops To Retract Anti-Gay Statement

MT. RAINIER, MD — A Roman Catholic nun and a priest who have worked in ministry to gay persons since 1971 have called upon the bishops of New England to retract a policy statement which excludes non-practicing

homosexuals from ordination in the Church.

Responding to a letter on voca¬ tions published by the bishops, Sr. Jeannine Gramick, SSND, and Fr. Robert Nugent, SDS, Co- Directors of the Maryland-based New Ways Ministry, termed the policy “dangerous” and said it was “another sign of official re¬ jection and consignment to an inferior position” in the Church for Catholic gay people. While conceding the right of the Church

to require celibacy for ordination, Gramick and Nugent stated that neither Jesus Christ, Church Tradition, nor Canon Law has ever required “heterosexual maturity” for the practice of celi¬ bacy. Excluding a person solely on the basis of sexual orientation is as unjust and morally repugnant as excluding a person on the basis of skin color or ethnic background, the Co-Directors stated.

The bishops declared that persons who are “psychically homosexual,” even though they do not indulge in homosexual acti¬ vity, should be excluded from or¬ dination because “they are unable to tolerate the demands of a cele- bate priestly ministry or rectory

living.”

Gramick and Nugent termed “a scandalous contradiction” the bishops’ position which officially teaches that a life of chastity and celibacy is the only permissible option available to gay Catholics at the present time and yet refuses to ordain individuals who are living according to this teaching of the Church. They called upon the bishops to refrain from depriving the Church of competent ministers “because of myths and stereotypes,” reminding the bishops of their 1976 pastoral statement that homosexual persons “should have a special place in the Christian com¬ munity.”

Teacher Charged in Incidents of Sodomy

WASHINGTON, DC — Cole¬ man E. Allen, a junior high school English teacher, has been indicted on 13 counts of sodomy involving male students in the school where he is employed. The indictment was returned Feb. 13 in D.C. Su¬ perior Court.

Allen maintains his innocence, and his attorney, Dovey J. Roundtree, said that pleas of not guilty would be entered in her client’s behalf. Roundtree attri¬ buted the allegations to “vicious” students whose stories would not hold up in court. The incidents in which Allen is alleged to have been involved took place between September 1978 and December 1979. The boys involved are be¬ tween the ages of 14 and 16, and Allen is charged with the commis¬ sion of “unnatural and per¬

verted” sex acts with them.

When the allegations were first brought to the attention of the police department last fall, police and school officials were reluctant to believe the story proferred by the student who brought the charges, as he had recently been disciplined by Allen, who was not named at the time of the com¬ plaint. It was as a result of that reluctance that a grand jury heard evidence in the case before any ar¬ rest had been made.

George H. Margolies, an attor¬ ney for the school system, said that routine procedure in such a case, now that Allen has “been in¬ dicted, is that the person charged would be placed on administrative leave and the school system would launch its own investigation to see Continued on Page 9

Restroom Bust Nets 3 Prominent Figures

OLYMPIA, WA — Three prominent Washington men were arrested recently in an investiga¬ tion into alleged homosexual ac¬ tivity in a municipal park rest¬ room. The restroom, on Capitol Lake and in the shadow of the Legislative Building, had been under police surveillance for two weeks.

Those arrested were Leopold “Rick” Schmidt, president of the Olympia Brewing Company; Eric Rohrback, co-chair of the state’s House Insurance Committee, and Joseph Dean Gregorius, head of the state’s Bureau of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse. All three were booked under lewd conduct statutes.

Olympia Police Chief John Wurner, explaining that the police surveillance had been established in the wake of complaints of al¬ leged homosexual activity, said that more arrests may be forth¬

coming, including those of more prominent persons in the state, as a result of the stake-out on the restroom.

“Altogether,” Wurner said, “about two dozen people fre¬ quented the restroom more than they should have, unless they had awfully weak kidneys.” He fur¬ ther commented that this particu¬ lar restroom had attracted people who return to it time after time and that an undercover detective was forced to arrest Schmidt, Rohrbach, and Gregorius after he was propositioned. “It had to be stopped,” he commented. “We couldn’t allow it to continue.”

Wurner said that police have compiled a list of people who have allegedly been frequenting the restroom and that those whose names appear on the list will be called in by police, “at least for a talk.” He added his feeling that Continued on page 6

Bettye Lane photo

MAKE LOVE NOT WAR: An anti-draft protest in New York City’s Times Square on Feb. 9 drew those smiling women to speak out against Pres. Jimmy Carter’s request to the Congress to once again register people for conscripted service. For the first time in history, an American President has asked the Congress to allow the registration of women for the draft.

Page 4

Gay Community News, March 1, 1980

Gay

Community

Hews

THE GAY WEEKLY

Volume 7, Number 31 March 1, 1980 22 Bromfleld Street Boston, Mass. 02108 (617) 426-4469

Managing Editor	Richard Bums
News Editor	Dan Daniel
Features Editor	Amy Hoffman
Design Director	Eric Peterson
Office Manager	Mike Riegle
Classifieds	Nancy Walker
Promotions Mgr.	Mel Home
Circulation	Jil Clark
Distribution	Barbara Cischke
Advertising Manager	Neuma Crandall
Ad Representatives	Kim Mohr Cilia Fallon
Copy Editor	Gordon Gottlieb
Art Intern	Jennie Ruiz
Typesetting	Xanadu Graphics Inc.
News Staff
Rick Hillegas	Philip Shehadi
Harold Pickett	Neil Miller
Nancy Wechsler	BenKlein
Warren Blumenfeld	John Zeh
Chris Guilfoy Features Staff
Tomml Avicolli	Lisa Nussbaum
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Community Voices

■

‘moral responsibility

Dear GCN:

Leah Fritz gives good advice to gay men on the variety of disguised ways in which the perverse values of the straight white male creep into our relationships. How unfortunate that she is oblivious to this same process in herself. She seems to equate all sex between so-called adults and persons under 16 or whatever arbitrary age the state decrees with rape. That is the only way she could possibly accuse GCN of defending men who rape boys since no GCN article or editorial has ever treated even slightly favorably an instance of the real rape of a boy. Later she con¬ demns ALL adult sexual fantasies — those of tenderness and intimacy evidently right along with cannibalism — as fantasies which will harm children and adolescents if acted upon.

The central and evil doctrine of the straight world that sex is a dangerous weapon and not to be allowed “out of control” is the key to understanding such so-called feminist ideology. It is an extension of the corollary that women especially, and children certainly, should not and cannot enjoy sex. If we believe in human revolution through sexual revolution, we may treat sex as beautiful, intimate, playful, loving, passionate, adventurous, boisterous, gentle, rebellious, honest, natural, provocative or seductive, but never as wrong, heavy, dirty, harmful, oppressive, dominating or possessive in and of itself. It is these latter things only when it is tied to the values of death, property and control present in the family, the church, the state and in capitalism itself.

Ms. Fritz furthers these institutions by assuming that the parent role includes “moral” responsibility which dictates sexual choice and erotic experience for children and adolescents. She assumes that the laws of the state can and must protect children by preserving parental prerogative. She takes the stance that children are the property of the parents — in this case “the mother of daughters.” Evidently unaware of her contradictory assumptions, she exhorts gay men not to allow the desirability of boys to entice them into the infantile game of giving gifts and extracting “good behavior” from boys and thus controlling them and stifling their developing independence. I agree. There are quite a few gay men who do that to boys through sex. More frequent in my experience are the mothers, teachers, social workers and other “protectors” of children who do precisely the same thing — with worse effect usually because they are wrapped in the authority of power.

Three boys I know were recent victims of such protection. One thirteen-year-old was almost snatched from his mother and put in a locked mental hospital ward by the court because there was evidence the boy’s mother had not interfered with his sexual relationship with a man. A six¬ teen-year-old with a developing gay con¬ sciousness was seduced on the streets by a Chris¬ tian sect which attempted to destroy his good feelings about sexuality and about the gay men with whom he lived. A fifteen-year-old, who went to his lesbian mother to confide a long-term tender and sexual relationship with a man of for¬ ty, was whisked away to another state by the mother who asserted her property rights.

The attempt to dominate and control children and adolescents, to mold them in our images, and to enjoy the “rights” of the owners of their flesh, minds and souls permeates our society. We gay men and boy-lovers are not immune to it. If the official child guardians from mothers and school boards to the vicious advertisers who target the children’s market will also hold off, I would put all children and adolescents off limits to adults — if that is what THEY choose. The Kikuyu of East Africa encourage adolescents to set up “youth houses” where they live wholly un¬ molested by adults. Until we adopt such a radical program, however, I will involve myself with as many as I can. I will encourage them to untangle themselves from the web of straight control clos¬ ing fast around them. I will assist their rebellions. To paraphase Ms. Fritz, I don’t see how those who want to complete human libera¬ tion can possibly ally themselves with those who would limit, censor or control that liberation.

Sincerely,

Tom Reeves

C&VTI Boston, M A

Dear John Stoltenberg,

A yin for your yang —

“Hum on my wang.”

Rick Hillegas Porter Mortell Cambridge, MA

NOTICE

Advertising Rate Increases

Effective March 1, 1980, Vol. 7, #33. Display and Classified advertising will cost slightly more in GCN. Advertisers may pick up new rate sheets at the GCN office or have them mailed directly by calling Neuma Crandall at 426-4469. All advertising contracted before the Vol. 7, #33 issue will be billed at the present rates.

unwavering

commitment

Dear GCN,

Mitzel’s unwavering commitment to present¬ ing news about the vicious attacks on boy-lovers, and his commitment to pushing the issue as an inescapable one for any gay “community,” fills me with awe. Only very rarely have I ever ac¬ knowledged my own attraction for younger men, yet by the standards used by some of the Thought Police I am “a despicable, vile creature, a disgrace to the human race” (what would my poor mother say!) and my conduct is “worse than murder.”

A straight friend went to San Francisco recent¬ ly, and visited with a mutual friend who came out last fall. Back in Seattle, she wondered why he insisted on “flaunting” his gayness. The reason is what Mitzel points to in his articles, I think: there are people with power over our lives who have decided that we are dirt, beyond any human redemption, and fair game for their own most despicable urges. Who can contain their rage or fierce pride in the face of that terrible re¬ jection? Who among us can rest assured that our own fantasies and desires may not some day be ruled “a disgrace to the human race”? Can any of us have forgotten so soon what it was like in the 1960s or 1950s? Homophobia is not just a strange and awkward word, disassociated from our lives. It is the dead certainty that the country that sent over 100,000 Americans to Manzanar and nine other concentration camps forty years ago, is definitely capable of resurrecting the Nazi pink triangle and utilizing those “relocation camps” once again.

How is this thought conjured by the boy-love issue? Because I can fathom absolutely no basis behind the loathing of boy-love. Certainly, we must all struggle against coercion, rape, and ex¬ ploitation. But whatever on earth is the basis for an absolute, unreasoning, unqualified repug¬ nance towards sex between older and younger men? Or even more incomprehensible, repug¬ nance towards pictures of naked boys, or of sex with or among boys? Why this categorical asser¬ tion of an undocumented relationship between exploitation and boy-love?

And Mitzel’s writing reminds me that if the gay community itself is willing to sacrifice any¬ one connected with boy-love to the rapacious maw of the police, then what protection is af¬ forded me by a mere relaxation of attitudes towards homosexuality among the straight popu¬ lation? If this inarguably harmless love of mine is going to be scapegoated, then it doesn’t matter how many children I’m allowed to adopt, how many gay churches get into the ecumenical Councils, how much job protection I have, how many legally-adult lovers I have, or how safe it is for us to hold hands on the streets. If we support state attacks on boy-lovers, then we help to create our own gallows. That lack of safety, that insufficiency, is what Mitzel relentlessly drives home to me. As much as it terrifies me, I also thank him for it. We must continue to “flaunt” boy-love as much as we “flaunt” being gay: that is, we simply must acknowledge it, endlessly.

Which also segues nicely into my other accolade for this issue of GCN, for Scott Tucker’s “The Lavender Left.” Some of Scott’s information was news to me (I knew something like that would happen if I didn’t go to that damned Washington march — but really, 4000km is a bit much!), but his viewpoint is one I support absolutely. He made me uncomfortable on only two points, and in each case it was because I agree with him.

First, that he talked at all about a left perspec¬ tive and presence in the gay community reminds me that I often neglect to do so in my own spheres. I thank him for the reminder. And second, his assertion that a Lavender Left must somehow learn to embrace an enormous diver¬ sity of opinions is a serious challenge to me. Being strongly identified with one of the strands of left thought which he identifies, I often find it hard to work with people from others. Scott re¬ minds me of what is at stake, and of the need for genuine and sincere unity around specific strug¬ gles and goals. He reminds me (even though he doesn’t say this and may not agree) that the pre¬ eminence of any revolutionary idea or group will only come about because millions of people sin¬ cerely agree with that idea or group. Practice, therefore, becomes incomparably more impor¬ tant than any amount of petty bickering. My thanks to Scott for insistently putting this fact back in front of me.

(The one thing I missed in his piece was a way to contact the regional conference. Please have pity on us poor commie queers out in the hinter¬ lands! I have found no left group in Seattle with which I am comfortable, and only a very few gay comrades — although I’m sure there must be more. Any information I can get about the amor¬ phous Lavender Left of which Scott speaks is very important to me.)

Thanks for letting me speak to these issues, and thanks again for printing GCN\

In loving struggle,

Denys Howard Seattle, WA

the lavender left

Gentlefolk:

I have read and reread Scott Tucker’s “The Lavender Left,” and am trying to follow its logic to its conclusions. Stripped of the rhetoric, he says that many gay persons support some form of socialism and hate any other political idea, for whatever reason (he doesn’t say why, and at the moment it doesn’t matter; it need not be a logical reason). This group, the lavender left, is also opposed to free speech for its opponents, a typical socialist tenet. (That without freedom of the press, his article, or the entire paper, could not be published is irrelevant.)

Without a detailed platform of the aims and goals of the lavender left, let us deduce what we can from just the informatin he offers. The lav¬ ender left proposes a society in which the state would control all activities, and in which anti-gay activities would notr be tolerated. This presup¬ poses that the state, from police to President, would be controlled by the lavender left itself. To maintain this total, and totalitarian, control, the lavender left would have to prevent — by force

— any other group (straight socialists, gay capitalists, or whatever) from doing whatever it would want to do. It would have to prohibit not only families of the traditional sort but also heterosexual communes; to prohibit not only underground churches but private gay bars; to prohibit not only heterosexual cops and teachers but also unlicensed gay hustlers.

The last time this was proposed seriously was about 30 years ago, in Stalin’s time, when both the communists and the anti-communists accused each other of being engaged in a homo¬ sexual plot to take over the U.S. (You think I’m joking! Sen. Joe McCarthy actually married quite late — ■ not necessarily to stop these rumors

— and others like J. Edgar Hoover and Roy Cohn remained lifelong bachelors.)

Anita Bryant, a private citizen in a pluralist society, is not the worst enemy of gay people imaginable. Remember Stalin, Hitler, Mao and the other socialist despots who tried for a final solution of the “homosexual problem.”

Sincerely,

J. Harlie Libertarian Party of South Carolina Florence, SC

class canceled

Dear GCN,

Rather than do something about violence the members of the gay community evidently prefer to hold meetings and cry on each others’ shoulders. Well over a hundred people seemed to attend the “Lesbian/Gay Town Meeting” re¬ garding violence yet only three attended an or¬ ganizational night for a self-defense class which included a video demonstration of the type of de¬ fense to be taught.

Even though I had taken out a good sized ad in GCN to notify the community, and hired a TV crew and equipment, I thought perhaps I still hadn’t done enough, so I had flyers printed and put up in bars. The result was one phone call. A total of four people who were interested in doing something personally about violence to them¬ selves.

I called GCN and tried to have something mentioned on the News Notes page and was told that page was reserved for “newsworthy items” and notices of national conventions. The same week I was told this there was the equivalent of a want ad on the page for the Redbook bookstore!

Due to lack of interest (what an understate¬ ment) the class is cancelled until further notice.

Yours truly,

Fred Wagstaff Cambridge, MA

—ADVERTISING — = MANAGER

GCN is looking for an Advertising Man¬ ager. Advertising experience as well as a commitment to the goal of eliminating the exploitation of women and men in advertising necessary. Please address in¬ quiries and resumes to Richard Burns, GCN, 22 Bromfield Street, Boston, MA 02108.

— DESIGN DIRECTOR™

Applications are now being accepted for the position of Design Director. Back¬ ground in graphic arts necessary. April 1 opening. Direct inquiries and resumes to Richard Burns, GCN, 22 Bromfield Street, Boston, MA 02108.

Speaking Out _

The Fire in our Hearts:

On Burning Draft Cards

By Karen Lindsay

I just want to say that my faith in our president has been restored. He’s done nothing whatever about the ERA, and he fired Bella Abzug for daring to suggest that under his administration, women were suffering economic hardship. 1 was beginning to doubt that he really cared about equal rights for women. But last week, he proved me wrong. Equal pay, equal voice in government — these he may not care about. But when it comes to equal forced labor, suddenly he’s our champion once again.

Somehow, though, I don’t think he’s going to get too many feminists to go along with him. War is a patriarchal game, and we’re tired of obeying patriarchs. And to the liberals’ challenge, “If they draft men, why not draft women?” there’s really only one answer — it’s not okay to draft men. Forced labor, whether they call it registration, the draft, or serving your country, is still forced labor, and it’s wrong. But for women, the issue goes even deeper.

I think we can discount all the hand-wringing gallantries of the conservatives who can’t bear to think of women getting killed in a war. I doubt, really, that any draft would really send women into combat duty — not because of their concern for our lives, but because of their concern for their lives. No male supremacist culture can afford to have a population of young women trained to respond to provocation with violence. Women are harassed every day ver¬ bally, physically, and sexually by men, and I don’t think the government will risk training us to fight back with force. No, we’ll be drafted into so called peaceful work — typing, nursing, or in the liberals’ “alternative” service schemes, into doing useful social work in hospitals, etc On the surface, this can sound deceptively benign. Why not have young women doing decent work for society for a few years? In the first place, because the horror of forced labor isn’t in the nature of the work, but in the fact that it is forced: slavery is slavery, whatever the masters have the slaves doing.

And secondly, even if you could justify forcing men into alternative service — and you can’t — I’d still argue that it would be wrong to draft women. We’ve paid our dues for cen¬ turies — and not for any two or four year time limit, either. If we ever owed that kind of work to society, we’ve paid what we owed already, a thousand times over.

But let’s not kid ourselves. The draft isn’t, ultimately, about emptying bedpans. The draft is about war. The draft is about providing a ready force of soldiers to go out and kill at a moment’s notice. And no feminist — no woman who cares about the welfare of other women — can support that. Whatever else it is, war is a patriarchal institution, and every war is a war against women. Because women are the mothers of the men who fight and die in war, cer¬ tainly. But also — and our government would love for us to forget this — because women are the victims of war, whether or not we are soldiers, whether or not we are trained to fight. The reward that is built into every war that has ever been fought — the prize that every soldier has a right to, and that many soldiers claim — is the right to rape and kill women who belong to the enemy. In Against Our WiW', Susan Brownmiller quotes a marine sergeant’s description of a Vietnam gang rape, which concludes: “They raped the girl, and then the last man to make love to her shot her in the head.” Such “lovemaking” is the right of every soldier in every war

men have fought. It’s easy to forget this, living in a country on whose soil no war has been fought for over a century. But if we really care about sisterhood, about fighting the destruc¬ tion of patriarchy universally, we must remember it. And we can’t allow ourselves to be used as workers in innocuous jobs so some man can be freed to go and kill our people. I’m not say¬ ing that every soldier rapes and kills women, but every soldier is permitted to — even, I sus¬ pect, encouraged to — and the social restrictions that often work to mitigate male violence in civilian life, weak enough in themselves, are entirely absent in war.

The institution that men officially call war is an escalation of the war against women that patriarchy has been waging for thousands of years and the notion that women should support this in the name of “equal rights” is an obscenity.

At the same time, it’s important that we, and not men, define the terms of our participa¬ tion in the anti-draft movement. Fifteen years ago, ten years ago, our role in the anti-draft movement, and indeed in the left as a whole, was epitomized in the words of a woman who, like many of us, has grown considerably in the decade since: we were to be “the girls who said yes to the boys who said no to the draft.” That “yes,” of course, was many things besides sexual — we were the leafletters, the typists, the coffee-makers, the comforters, the girl-fri- days, and, very infrequently, the token honchos who thought-like-a-man. Since then there has grown up a movement that I believe is the most profoundly radical social change movement in history — the women’s liberation movement. We who are in this movement can and, I believe, at times should, work in alliance with men fighting against oppression. But as allies, not as servants — and not as tokens either. As allies, we can, and will, refuse to continue any alliance in which we are not treated with absolute respect, with absolute dignity. We’re not the girls who say yes to the boys who say no to the draft anymore — we’re the women who say no to the draft — no to drafting women, no to drafting men, no to perpetuating the institutions that have sanctified rape and murder and violence against us for too many many centuries.

As a feminist — as a woman who’s been raised to believe there’s something shameful in being over 30 — I’ve fought every impulse in myself to regret growing older. But right now, with Carter trying to co-opt my movement into providing more human ammunition for more Vietnams, I could wish myself fifteen years younger. I wouldn’t mind the privilege of being among the first women to burn their draft cards.

“Speaking Out” is the column designed for the benefit of GCN readers. It is part of our continuing effort to provide a true forum of opinion for the community. We encourage you to send your thoughts, ideas, feelings and comments to us and we encourage you to respond to any ideas expressed in this space. The opinions expressed in “Speaking Out” do not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper, the staff or the advertisers. Write c/o Speaking Out, GCN, 22 Bromfield St., Boston, MA 02108

Community Voices

communist drafts

Dear GCN:

Letters from “communists” opposing the mil¬ itary draft have already begun to appear in GCN and other leftist journals. These letters are bound to give readers the impression that pacifism is an essential part of Communist ideology. Is it really necessary to remind you that the draft exists in every Communist nation in the world? In Cuba, for example, the legal voting age was lowered to sixteen, and then this was used as a legal basis for including sixteen-year-old boys in the Cuban draft. At this moment, sixteen-year-old Cuban boys are being drafted and sent to Ethiopia to fight and die in battle with the Eritrean national¬ ists. At this moment, boys as young as fourteen are being drafted into the armies of Communist Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia; and Russian draftees are being sent to fight and die in Af-

in the navy

To the Editor,

Fund-raising campaigns frequently strike one as a bit of a public nuisance. There are just too many of them. Gay organizations, particularly, have difficulty raising monies because their appeals are not successful when directed outside the confines of the homophile community. And it is a sad reality too, that many gay persons, especially those who are affluent, tend not to give to gay causes.

The Chiltern Mountain Club does not wish to burden the gay community with yet another fund-raising effort. Nevertheless, we find our¬ selves in a peculiar bind. There are a number of worthwhile activities we would like to pursue, but unfortunately they require initial expendi¬ tures beyond our meager resources. We would like to encourage public-spirited individuals to consider a donation to our club and its unique function.

Since its modest beginning (no one showed up on our first hike!) in the fall of 1977, the Chiltern Club has sponsored an increasing variety of out¬ door activities. These have included bird¬ watching, cycling, skiing, climbing and canoeing. More recently volleyball, basketball and swimming have been added. Additionally, we hope in the near future to supplement these with tennis and track.

This past spring one of our new members began organizing canoe trips. These proved splendidly successful and culminated in a week- long white water trip down the St. Croix River in Canada in September. Unfortunately, the cost of renting canoes is not insubstantial and, for that reason, precludes the participation of some people. Three or four club canoes would advance the art considerably!

Numbers of gay people sail. Many others would, of course, like to. Messing around in boats has a certain genteel air about it. Certainly,

ghanistan. So much for the theory that opposi¬ tion to the draft is an “essential” part of Communist ideology. The actual fact of the matter is that American communists oppose the draft only while America is a capitalist nation. If a communist government were to be installed in America, these same communists who are now so loud in opposition to the draft would suddenly become the most fanatical proponents of a draft to defend Communist America from her capital¬ ist enemies in Great Britain and elsewhere! Fur¬ thermore, the American communist support of the Children’s Liberation Movement would lead them to do the same thing Castro did — lower the legal age of adulthood and then use this as an excuse for drafting young boys.

Yours,

Stephen W. Foster Miami, FL

one could do worse. It happens that one of the more popular one-design racing classes on Boston Bay has a number of wooden boats for sail rather cheaply as boats go (that is to say, under $1000). It would be nice to know that among the white sails off Boston next summer would be those manned by gay crews. How nice, too, to have Chiltern boats competing in local regattas and winning their share of silverware. This embellished by day sails to Boston’s many harbor islands, and, perhaps, a real gay cruise somewhere.

It seems an amusing irony that with all the gay people along the Charles (on the Esplanade) there are so few in the Charles. One pleasant way to remedy this, of course, is for all of us to take up sculling. No body of water in the country is more noted among rowing enthusiasts. Indeed, spotting gay sculls might become a popular new diversion for strollers. The first season one might expect to witness more than the usual splashing and capsizing. Some members might even culti¬ vate the art of rescue. In any event, crew is a pleasurable sport, building both muscles and egos.

The idea of a little gay navy offers limitless possibilities. The diversity and talent in the gay community is extraordinary and a waterborn Chiltern Club would do much to demonstrate that. We would very much like to hear from people who might wish to contribute to that end or who might like to join our numbers. Those wishing more information can reach me at (617) 227-6167 or at Box 104, 104 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114.

Sincerely,

Sturgis Haskins President, Chiltern Mtn. Club Boston, MA

police protection

To the Editor:

On Friday, January 18, four of us witnessed an unprovoked assault on two women by members of the Boston Police Department.

As we turned onto Broad Street from Battery- march Street, we saw two police officers grab¬ bing and shoving a woman who was yelling, “Take your hands off of me!” As we aproached and asked the women if they were all right, the officers released her and turned to talk to a man standing nearby.

We asked the women what had happened. They told us that the man talking with the police had just missed hitting them as he sped down Broad Street in his car. In anger, one of them kicked the car, injuring her ankle. They said the police approached them at that point, having witnessed the entire incident.

After relaying this story to both the police and us, the two women began to leave. One of the officers strode over, grabbed one of the women by the arm, and announced that she wasn’t going anywhere. When pressed for the reason why, he responded by going to his car to radio for reinforcements. Again we asked why. When we received no response, the women again tried to leave. The officer grabbed one woman by the wrists while his partner and the driver of the car looked on. The officers steadfastly ignored our questions, refused to give their badge numbers, and maneuvered so that we could not see their badges in the dim streetlight. This went on until a paddy wagon and two more police cruisers pulled up.

The woman who had been held by the wrists all this time was shoved and pulled toward the paddy wagon. When she resisted, four officers converged on her and threw her in. When her friend sat in the front seat in order to accompany her, the driver told her to get out. She refused to do so, and a shouting match ensued. It culminat¬ ed with three officers dragging her towards the back of the wagon. When they opened the door the other woman tried to get out. Both women were subjected to excessive force by the officers, one of whom drew his nightstick. From inside the wagon we heard banging and screams and crying. Finally the wagon, three cruisers, and a second paddy wagon drove off. At no time was any explanation given for the officers’ actions.

Those of us who witnessed the whole scene were extrememly angry and upset. Clearly, it was the aggressive and abusive attitude of the police that escalated the incident to such proportions. Their intent was to harrass and intimidate. What other excuse could there be for such an assault upon two women who had almost been run down by a car?

The incident raised a whole plethora of questions. Basically, the questions boil down to: who can we turn to for protection and help? How can we protect ourselves against the vio¬ lence of men? What recourse do we have when we are brutalized by our supposed protectors, the police?

Consider the above incident; consider the abuse of and assault upon Bellanna Borde by a Boston police officer (Equal Times , Jan. 21); consider the documentation of police assaults upon women as reported in a series on WGBH radio about violence against women; consider the Boston Police Department’s disregard of the murders of twelve black women and one white woman last year. Can we really count on the police for help?

Sincerely,

Linda S. Stephenson Earlita Horne Salem, MA

nobody’s victim

To the Editor:

I hadn’t really thought much about whether or not I should see the movie. Cruising. However, now that there are those who have taken it upon themselves to decide for me that I should not see the movie and that I would not like the movie, I wholeheartedly intend to attend.

I very much resent anyone deciding my tastes for me whether or not I come to the same conclusions. It is my right to find out for myself. And, as for “passive victims," let these self- appointed orators speak for themselves. I have never been, nor ever will be, anyone’s passive victim; least of all, the passive victim of the whims of a bunch of malcontent paranoid gays that can’t survive socially beyond their narrow “woe is me” clique.

Maybe the best solution to all these “woe is me” people is to place them all in one large playpen where they can hold sniveling contests while the rest of us go about the business of living and solving real issues.

Yours truly,

John B. Fitzgerald Jr.

East Boston, MA

GCN welcomes letters to “Community Voices”. If at all possible, your letters should be typed and double-spaced. Anonymous letters will not be pub¬ lished, but names will be withheld upon request. Letters should be addressed to Community Voices, GCN, 22 Bromfield St., Boston, MA 02108.

Church and State Issues

Boycott

Initiated

By Bob Hilliard

BUFFALO, NY — The Buffalo Area Lesbian and Gay Coalition (BALGC) came together to mobi¬ lize people for the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights last October. It suc¬ ceeded in sending two busloads of lesbians and gay men and their supporters.

One of the places where they distributed their posters and those of the National March Committee was the Towne Hots Restaurant, an all-night place in Buffalo’s Allentown section, the “hip,” ur¬ bane section of the city, noted for its boutiques, shops, its annual “Art Festival.” The city’s few gay bars are in this area and many gay people live around there. Towne Hots used to be a popular stopping place for gay people. Al¬ though it was not a gay establish¬ ment, a large percentage of its clientele was gay, and straight people kndw it.

The owner, however, consis¬ tently tore down' the March pos¬ ters from the community bulletin board in the restaurant. When BALCG members asked him about it he said his customers found the material offensive, and that he would not allow “contro¬ versial” material. BALGC ob-

Continued from page 3

“I don’t think any should be let

off.”

“We weren’t looking out for this sort of thing,” he said, “but reacted to a number of citizen calls to the city . . . That restroom is a very popular spot . . . There jvere quite a number of individ-

jected that gays and lesbians were his customers and should have the same rights as other community members to announce their activi¬ ties.

After the March, the Coalition organized a boycott and a picket of Towne Hots. Oq two occasions in November the picket rallied some 140 lesbians, gays and their supporters from local progressive groups, chanting “Gay Money, Gay Pride, We Won’t Eat Where Rights are Denied,” “Without Souvlaki We’ll Do Fine, Towne Hots Won’t Get a Dime.”

The picketing was the first time in Buffalo that there had been any public action for lesbian and gay rights. Much of the leadership and initiative came from the women. Gay men were not successfully drawn into the activity in compar¬ able numbers. The support from local progressive groups’is a posi¬ tive result of the March on Wash¬ ington, in that the “gay question” was put on the agenda in a practi¬ cal way.

As for Towne Hots, the owner has rejected all offers to settle, in¬ cluding agreeing to an open com¬ munity bulletin board with a dis¬ claimer that Towne does not ne¬ cessarily endorse the events posted. BALGC held another picket on February 2, and called on all its supporters to permanent¬ ly boycott Towne Hots Restau¬ rant. Canadian visitors were urged to eat elsewhere when visiting Buf¬ falo.

uals congregating there and the activity was taking place day and night.”

All of the arrested men were re¬ leased after posting $265 bail. Be¬ cause the offense with which they are charged is a misdemeanor, they may avoid a trial by simply forfeiting their bail.

Continued from page 3

political goals of the event are well

founded.

Stating that “this nation might be a haven of refuge for the op¬ pressed of this world, with liberty, justice and freedom for all,” the Declaration goes on to say, “We call upon this nation to repent of conduct contrary to the purposes for which it was founded and clear the commandment of the Word of God.” As examples of such “con¬ trary conduct,” the literature cites homosexuality, divorce, pornog¬ raphy, fornication, and “human¬ ism.” It is also believed that abor¬ tion is a high ranking target on the list.

“Our government has aided our enemies and destroyed our friends,” the Declaration states. “We have assisted the oppressors and weakened the victims. Gov¬ ernment has encouraged the athe¬ istic enemies of God while often repressing the godly.” Moving further into the area of the consti¬ tutionally guaranteed separation of church and state, the Declara¬ tion asserts that “when govern¬ ment usurps the role of God, it be¬ comes tyrrany” and goes on to urge a drive to “frame laws, stat¬ utes and ordinances that are in harmony with God’s Word. Re¬ peal those rulings, laws, statutes, and ordinances which have of¬ fended Him.”

The plans for “Washington for Jesus” have received the support of Christian Voice, the first open¬ ly anti-gay lobby on Capitol Hill, although the lobbying group is not involved in the sponsorship of the event. In addition to the already nagging fears that the goal of this event is political rather than moral, GRNL said that “the extremely suspicious plans for the Day of Congressional Visits indi¬ cate that something is awry. Only hand-picked persons will be al¬ lowed to participate in the con¬ gressional visits. One possible explanation for this highly un¬

usual procedure,” GRNL con¬ tinued, “might be a desire to en¬ sure that the visits are tightly or¬ chestrated and that a uniform message [perhaps that of the Right Wing] is presented.”

Steve Endean, GRNL Executive Director, commented that “countless numbers of innocent people will attend this rally be¬ cause of their commitment to their religion, unaware that they are being ‘used’ by the New Right to advance its anti-human rights, anti-civil liberties goals.”

Stressing that lesbians and gay men are not the only people who might have cause to be distressed at such a fundamentalist presence in Washington, Endean said, “Jewish leaders must feel ex¬ tremely apprehensive about the march’s stated intention to ‘point America back to Jesus’ — slated for the same day as our nation’s memorial to the Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust. And surely Catholics, who gathered by the tens of thousands in Washington last October to hear the Pope, must feel ill at ease when they hear of what is expected to be an over¬ whelming fundamentalist Protest¬ ant rally described as ‘what a thrill

it will be to see the Church of the United Stales come together in the nation’s capital".”

GRNL urged that concerned lesbians and gay men inform themselves about this event by calling the toll-free information number (800-446-8306) and the toll-free transportation number (800-528-0369). Also, the group urged that lesbians and gay men contact their local media to urge an investigation of the “real pur¬ pose” behind “Washington for Jesus.” GRNL further urged that all lesbians and gay men take the time to meet with their Senators and Representatives in their dis¬ trict offices to express support for pro-gay legislation at the federal level.

Said Endean, “Members of Congress could well be intimi¬ dated by the massive numbers [of ‘Washington for Jesus’ marchers] and by the fear that a vote for basic justice for gays will be mis¬ represented as a sign of ‘godless¬ ness’ and a disregard for morality. Unless the march is effectively offset by constituent meetings in the home districts, it could create a climate where anti-gay amend¬ ments could flourish.”

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Gay Community News, March 1, 1980

Page 7

Cruising Met With Picketers

Continued from page 1 to the parking lot of the theatre to remind people of the issues of the movie.

Information tables have been placed on the gay men’s and lesbians’ floors of the Partners bar in New Haven.

George Chauncey, Jr., a member of CAFCW, told GCN, “There has been a remarkable re¬ sponse from the straight media, particularly in the printed media and radio call-in shows during the last week. I’m also impressed by the number of gay and lesbian groups which have come together to work on these actions. It should be emphasized that one-half of our participants are women and one-half are men.”

New York City

Demonstrations occurred at two New York City theatres for the opening of Cruising. One took place at the National Theatre at 47th St. and Broadway in Times Square on Friday, Feb. 15, be¬ ginning at 6:15 p.m. and lasting until 9:30. This action involved an estimated 200 demonstrators making up a coalition from the Responsive Gay Collective, the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Film Makers, the Gay Media Alliance and Youth Against War and Fascism. This same coalition protested at two theatres in Manhattan earlier this winter for the opening of Win¬ dows. The coalition requested and received a permit from City Hall for the demonstration. At the be¬ ginning of the protest, the police reportedly grabbed one of the de¬ monstrators, but the demonstra¬ tor was released when the permit was shown. Coalition organizers expressed disappointment over the number of protestors who took part in the action, but according to one organizer, “Last summer in Greenwich Village when the film was being made, the demon¬ strations were filled with violence which could have scared people away this time. The demonstra¬ tions last summer were filled with police brutality and illegal arrests.”

During the opening of the movie at the National Theatre, re¬ ports indicate that a few demon¬ strators paid the price of admis¬ sion and entered the theatre. At the point of the first gay murder on the screen, they began to chant and handed out leaflets to the

people in the theatre, thus stopping the film temporarily. The demonstrators were then es¬ corted out of the theatre by police officers. No arrests were made.

A second demonstration oc¬ curred in New York City at the Manhattan I and II Theatres lo¬ cated at 59th St. and 3rd Ave. Or¬ ganized by the Gay Activists Alli¬ ance (GAA), approximately 75 people participated in a picket line. The New Jersey chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) reportedly sent representatives to take part in the demonstration.

A spokesperson for the GAA told GCN, “It is important to point out that we are not against the movie because there is sex in it. The movie is destructive be¬ cause it shows gays killing gays

and it is exploitative.”

Chicago

A group calling itself the Com¬ mittee to Stop the Movie Cruising (CSMC) organized a picket line at the Carnegie Theatre, 1026 N. Rush St., on the evenings of Fri¬ day, Feb. 15, and Saturday, Feb. 16. Originally scheduled to be shown at the McClurg Coart Theatre where Windows had been shown earlier this winter, the management of the theatre consi¬ dered Cruising to be an X-rated film and decided one week before its scheduled opening not to show it.

An estimated 70-100 people took part in the Friday demon¬ stration which consisted of a picket line at which informational leaflets were distributed to people going in to see the movie. The

Saturday night demonstration was slightly different in scope. Ap¬ proximately 20 demonstrators were involved in a line spending time talking to the people entering the theatre to educate them to the issues involved in the movie and attempting to dissuade them from seeing the movie, at which they were partially successful.

Follow-up demonstrations are planned for Feb. 23 and 29. Houston

Approximately 25 members from the Coalition Against Cruising (CAC) demonstrated in front of the Shamrock VI Theatre complex in Houston beginning at 6:00 Friday, Feb. 15. A CAC spokesperson told GCN that the purpose of the demonstration was to convince people not to go into the theatre. During the evening, some people decided not to see the movie after talking with the de¬ monstrators. The demonstrators used a bullhorn and handed out educational leaflets.

Members from the Montrose Patrol, a group dedicated to pa¬ trolling the streets in an attempt to reduce violence against gay men and lesbians, met with local police leaders. The purpose of that meet¬ ing was to educate police officers to the issues surrounding the movie and the potential for vio¬ lence against gays. In a CAC leaf¬ let being circulated in local gay and lesbian bars, the Montrose Patrol asked community people to prepare themselves for a six-week commitment to the patrol after the movie’s opening.

Los Angeles

There were demonstrations at two Los Angeles area theatres. A coalition of approximately one hundred individuals picketed the Vine Theatre in Hollywood. The demonstrations occurred on Fri¬ day, Feb. 15 from 12:30-11:00 p.m.; on Saturday, Feb. 16, from 12:30-11:00 p.m.; and Sunday, Feb. 17 in 30-minute slots around the time the film was to be shown. An estimated 15,000 leaflets and educational brochures were printed and distributed and buttons reading “Stop the Movie Cruising” were made. Organizers told GCN that the picket line had the effect of turning some people away from the theatre. Some of these same demonstrators picketed the Pacific Theatre in January during the opening of the movie Windows.

A demonstration at the Regent Theatre in Westwood was spon¬

sored by the Gay Student Union at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). A line com¬ posed of approximately 10 people picketed on Friday, Feb. 15 from 12:30-11:00 p.m.

The coalition is attempting to establish a communication link with the nearby counties of Orange, Riverside, Ventura, and San Bernardino. It is offering to reprint its educational brochures and to exchange organizing strate¬ gies with other groups. Still in the planning stages is a demonstration to protest the Academy Awards in the spring.

San Francisco

The committee Stop the Movie Cruising (SMC) organized a de¬ monstration at the St. Francis theatre on Market Street on Fri¬ day, Feb. 15, between the hours of noon and 10:00 p.m. An esti¬ mated 500 demonstrators partici¬ pated.

Early in the week a sound permit was granted and on the evening of the demonstration a rally was held in front of the theatre. Among the speakers were two members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors — Carol Ruth Silver and Harry Britt — and representatives frofn the Na¬ tional Lawyers Guild, Women Against Violence in Pornography and the Media (WAVPAM), and Teddy Mathews and Konstantin Berlandt of SMC.

During the rally, San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein looked on from police headquarters across the street. On Wednesday night, Feb. 13, Feinstein attended an SMC organizing meeting and expressed concern about the film and violence in the media in gen¬ eral. She vowed her support for the SMC-sponsored boycott of TransAmerica — the corporate headquarters of United Artists — and its subsidiary corporations.

A line composed of approxi¬ mately 30 people picketed the Empire Theatre, also in San Fran¬ cisco, beginning on Saturday, Feb. 16, and continuing during the first week of the film’s opening. At this site, demonstra¬ tors suffered from abusive com¬ ments and threats from people in passing automobiles.

SMC next plans demonstrations around the movie Windows scheduled to open in San Fran¬ cisco on March 7, coincidently the day before International Women’s Day.

600 Boston Pickets

By Warren Blumenfeld

BOSTON, MA — An estimated 600 demonstrators picketed in front of the Sack Cinema 57 at the opening of the movie Cruising on Feb. 15. Carrying signs reading “End Violence Against the Gay and Lesbian Community,” “Boycott ‘Cruising’ and ‘Windows’,” and “Protest is not Censorship,” the demonstrators established a line beginning at 7:30 p.m. and lasting for approximately an hour and a half. Two separate picket lines were soon formed, one on each side of the driveway leading to the theatre.

Among the demonstrators were representatives from the Dis¬ abled Persons Liberation Front (DPLF) who took part to show soli¬ darity with gay and lesbian issues. It is this group which is waging an ongoing struggle with the Sack Theatre chain, demanding wheel¬ chair accessibility in the theatres. Also among the demonstrators was Robin Tyler, a lesbian comic who gave a performance at Boston University following the demonstration.

It was estimated that an equal number of women and men were represented at the protest and organizers encouraged men to join the with women to protest the opening of the movie Windows at the scheduled Boston opening on March 7.

The ad hoc committee, Boston Gays and Lesbians Against Vio¬ lence (BGLAV), which was responsible for organizing the action, printed and distributed an informational leaflet meant to educate the public and the media to the issues involved in the demonstration. Organizers used bullhorns to elicit support from people going in to see the movie. Throughout the demonstration, chants such as “Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Cruising and Windows got to go” were heard.

John Mitzel, a member of BGLAV, told GCN, “The protest was considered a success because it helped to crystallize and focus the anger that is running around the gay and lesbian community.”

Robin MacCormack, gay liaison for Boston Mayor Kevin White, was in contact with city police officials to inform the depart¬ ment about the issues involved with the movie and the implications it could pose to the gay and lesbian communities. MacCormack at¬ tended the demonstration with Police Superintendent Ed Connolly. It was reported that a few police officers actually joined the picket line for a short time. After the demonstration, MacCormack en¬ tered a police cruiser and visited all gay and lesbian bars in the city to meet with bar managers. The purpose of these visits was to urge the managers to immediately report to the police all instances of har¬ assment of their patrons by individuals coming into the bars.

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Gay Community News, March 1, 1980

• Page 9

Second Bathhouse Raid in 3 Months Nets Over 100

Continued from Page 1 “that by contesting my ticket that other people might do the same. The only disorderly conduct that I witnessed was on the part of the police. They pushed people around, called people sissies and fairies, and elbowed their way around.”

According to Schwartz, one of the people who was “elbowed around” was news reporter Julie Brown, who works for Channel 11, the NBC affiliate in Minnea¬ polis. He said Brown was attempt¬ ing to get some unique film footage when she was “roughed up” by police officers. The foot¬ age would have shown police offi¬ cers attempting to place on top of a police wagon a 12-foot replica of a penis which had been carried out of the Locker Room as evidence. Police first attempted to place it inside the wagon, but it wouldn’t fit, so they tried to place it on top of the vehicle. GCN attempted, unsuccessfully, to contact Brown for comment.

“The honeymoon is over,” were new police chief Anthony Bouza’s widely reported first words after he was sworn in. The ceremony took place in the City Council chambers, which had been packed to overflowing before things got underway. After the swearing-in, he announced that he would “take some ques¬ tions.”

“What are you going to do about the vice squad?” was the first one, asked by one of approxi¬ mately 80 gay activists who were present for their first contact with the new chief. Noting that he had been chief of police for less than five minutes, Bouza said he wasn’t sure what, if anything, he would do about it. He added that police relations with the gay community “is a complex problem with no facile answers,” but said that it was an issue to which he would pay close attention in the months ahead.

Bouza was described in the pages of the St. Paul Pioneer Press as “5 1 , a tall, calm man with 24 years on the New York Police Department behind him.” He was quoted by Claude Peck on the news segment of KFAI-FM’s “Fresh Fruit” program as saying, “Where I come from, the police left the gay community alone.” Bouza was further quoted as saying, on the subject of the re¬ cruitment of openly lesbian or gay police officers, “I have not been persuaded that a gay should be deprived of employment in the police force. I would have no ob¬ jection.” (The Minneapolis Police Department placed at least one

officer recruitment advertisement in a Minneapolis gay newspaper before Bouza began his tenure.) He later said, however, that there were no open lesbians or gay men on the 3, 000-member New York Police Department.

With specific regard to the bathhouse raid, Bouza commented that “I’ve had some doubts about these bathhouse raids being high priority items for the department,” cautioning, however, that “if you seek to get my commitment to abolish the vice squad or increase it tenfold, you seek in vain. There are no magical solutions. I refuse to be married to any policy.”

The swearing-in ceremony had so many people in attendance and so many questions to be asked that the session had to be moved to the Mayor’s conference room. “I understand your anger and your impatience,” Bouza told the assembled lesbians and gay men, “and I could give you easy an- sweres, but I won’t. You’ll just have to wait and see.” When the question-and-answer period ended, two gay men who had been cited in the Locker Room raid, Patrick Schwartz and Doug Victor, burned their tickets in full view of the Mayor, Bouza, and the assembled media.

On Tuesday, Feb. 12, two days after the latest Locker Room raid and the day following Bouza’s swearing in, it was announced that Lt. Kenneth Tidgewell, “street leader” of the vice squad, and Capt. Thomas Whelan, the head of the vice squad, had been trans¬ ferred “at their own request.” Schwartz told GCN Tidgewell had been transferred “down to Robbery and given a desk and a pencil.” Tidgewell had worked in the department’s Robbery division before his transfer to Vice. Whelan was transferred to the organized crime unit.

Bouza explained that he spoke with Tidgewell and Whelan the day he took office and told them of his wish that the vice squad concentrate on “street condi¬ tions,” i.e., prostitution, gamb¬ ling, and drugs, rather than on “secluded” places such as bath¬ houses.

“I told them I was satisfied with 90 percent of what they were doing,” he said, “but the empha¬ sis on gays was counterproduc¬ tive.” He added his feeling that “I’m against bathhouses. I think it’s dirty and disgusting,” but said that he felt the vice squad was merely “spinning wheels” in con¬ centrating on bathhouse raids, as several raids have thus far resulted in no prosecutions.

Teacher Charged in Incidents of Sodomy

Continued from Page 3 if punishment is warranted. He explained that such investigations usually proceed independently of court action and more quickly.

In one of the complaints filed in the case, a 14-year old student al¬ leges that a sex act took place last October in a third floor room at the Hine Junior High School shortly after the end of classes for the day. Five days later the in¬ cident was reported to the police.

The indictment was expected, Roundtree said, because her client had been approached by the U.S. Attorney’s office with a plea-bar¬ gain arrangement. She said the proposed arrangement was reject¬ ed because “we think these

youngsters are unworthy, unreli¬ able, and without credibility.”

Roundtree said that some of the charges involve the commission of sexual acts under “fantastic cir¬ cumstances,” including incidents in classrooms with classes going on next door or incidents in hall¬ ways. Roundtree described Allen as “a fine clean-cut young fellow who has worked with young peo¬ ple and tried the best that he can. Anybody can be a victim,” she said, adding, “These boys are very sophisticated.”

The assistant principal at the school, James Winston, said that this is Allen’s third year at Hine and that he is considered to be a good teacher.

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By Cindy Stein

any events in 1978 and 1979 prompted work in the Boston women’s community around the issue of racism. Last winter, as the numbers of black women murdered in the city grew, a racially mixed group of women, called the Bessie Smith Memorial Collective, organized a meet¬ ing at Amaranth, the women’s restaurant, to discuss the problem of community racism. This initial meeting sparked two subsequent gatherings where workshops were held and various aspects of the problem were dis¬ cussed. One such workshop was facilitated by a few women who had been meeting in a small group to recog¬ nize and confront their own racist attitudes and feelings. They urged others to begin their own groups.

The six women interviewed here have been meeting regularly, once a week, since last winter. Their own words illustrate what they do, how their process works, what they hope to accomplish and what their fears are in confronting the attitudes and feelings that they have about people of color.

In our discussions about this interview, one con¬ cern that surfaced was an apprehension that their responses to questions would be interpreted in a manner different from the way in which they were intended. I would, therefore, urge readers of this article to keep in mind that the issues being confronted are difficult ones which involve attitudes taught to us from the first day of our lives right up to the present. Questions like “What is racism?” are complex and have no ready-made answers. None of what is said is meant to pose definitive answers or is meant to show that these groups are the way to end racism. In addition, an attempt to grapple with these questions does not always produce clear and articulate responses, especially when an interviewer puts one unac¬ customed to public speaking on the spot. What is shown is simply one method chosen by a group of lesbians that has helped them examine an ugly aspect of their social¬ ization and has been instrumental in forming their vision of a saner society.

Cindy: How does the group work? What kind of pro¬ cess has developed over the last year that’s helped things go smoothly?

Martha: We’ve been meeting as a group since about April and we meet once a week. There are several specific procedures that have evolved and that we’ve incorporated into our meeting time. One is that we always start out our meetings by saying one thing that’s good for us in our lives. One of the reasons that we did this was because we knew that the work that we’re doing is really hard and often painful work, so we thought that it was real important to start our with a positive frame of mind and something that was self-affirming. It can be something from any aspect of our lives that we’ll go around and share. Also, it brought us as a group closer personally. It helped to develop trust.

After we finish that, we go around and each of us will say one thing that we have thought, done or some¬ how participated in during the past week that we consider racist. It took a lot of work for us to pare down all of the qualifications that go around whatever that experience was. It occurred to us that what we had to do was to just say it: specifically, outright, unqualified and direct. Sometimes that engenders discussion, sometimes we say it, acknowledge it and pass on. That varies a lot. Then, after that, we either carry on a discussion from one particular comment that someone has made or talk about something we’ve all read, or we share some kind of educational experience that we had during the week.

Sharron: Also, we’ve begun to have discussions about positive things we’ve been doing to fight racism. That is one thing that allows us to feel good about the things we do.

Martha: A couple of other things we’ve done together are cultural, political or educational. We went to Music for Peace which was a concert to promote racial peace at New England Conservatory. We went to the Art of Black Dance and Music. That was really terrific. We also went to a hearing on the closing of some Boston public schools which is very related to the issues of busing and desegregation. We’re going to have a counselor come in to work with us for two or three hours specifically on racism. We’ll be discussing our feelings and delving deeply with counseling skills that we feel can help us.

Cindy: Some people have seen an irony in the practice of forming racism groups that are all white. Yet many groups, like yours, are deliberately all white. Why?

Margie: A lot of issues came up about how, when white people try to “deal with their racism,” we end up just sapping people of color of their energy and we dump on them. If, for instance, there was a black woman in the group, we would all even just physically look at her when we were talking about something and really load it all on her shoulders. Also, we wouldn’t say probably three-quarters of the things we end up saying. It’s really scary to say a lot of stuff and really own up to it because some of it’s really racist. I thing that if there was a black person in the room I would be totally inhibited.

Gail: They shouldn’t have to hear it. I feel that white people are responsible for dealing with our own racism and admitting it to ourselves. There’s no need for people of color to listen to a lot of the shit that’s inside us. Their role isn’t to take care of us.

Sharron: We have more than enough material from our own lives, from our own guts to educate ourselves about what we need to do to change racism, starting with ourselves.

Martha: One other thing, too, is that part of our being .white is to recognize that racism is a specific problem for us as white people to deal with in our lives. It is a problem for us and, therefore, we must confront it from our viewpoint as white people.

Gail: It’s also very painful and dehumanizing for us as white people to be racist. It’s not something we want to be. It hurts us as well.

Cindy: Why an all lesbian group?

Fredi: I feel that our shared lesbianism and feminism gives us a whole lot of support and strength in our own lives in many ways. It’s recognizing our own oppression and instead of being bowled under by it, we have the guts and the will to fight it. I carry over the sense of feeling the weight of power in the world against me as a lesbian into my feeling that I need to fight and deal with any kind of power that’s used against a group of people, as a group of people, by the political, economic and social systems. I recognize oppression when I see it because I myself have experienced it directly in my life. I need the support of other women to fight it, too. Sharron: Initially, 1 wasn’t opposed to being in a group with straight women. One thing that was important to me was that they had some consciousness around race and class issues. But I was not willing to extend any energy in the group educating someone who was straight about lesbianism. I know that there are straight women who don’t need that education.

Cindy: What can lesbians and gay men take from our experiences as oppressed people to help us deal with racism in ourselves?

Carol: It has often turned out that when we have been trying to make some connection with how it feels to feel invisible or how it feels to be misunderstood, that’s the place where we connect with it. It’s by knowing the ways that that’s happened to us as lesbians in a homophobic world. There’s some shared emotional pain and anger. Martha: One thing though that I always feel is important to distinguish is that we, as lesbians, have the choice to be invisible. (There are ways, though, that we are made invisible by the lack of acknowledgement that we exist in the same way that people of color or women are made invisible.) Yet as we walk down the street, we have that choice that we can make ourselves known or not as gay or lesbian people.

Cindy: What is racism?

Sharron: For me, for someone to be racist, there has to be an implied sense or position of power. In other words, when people make comments about black people being racist toward whites, that isn’t what the issue is. In order for anyone to be racist, they have to be in a position of power and privilege. Just as when women make statements that express prejudice against men, it’s a totally different thing than a man expressing negative comments against women.

Gail: Racism is the systematic oppression of one group, blacks and other people of color, by another group, whites, specifically because of color or race.

Carol: Some of the stereotypes that we have of blacks and other people of color are not accidents. The stereo¬ types provide a way to say, “That person’s where they are because they deserve to be there,” which is exactly how the power works to keep us thinking that things are OK when in fact we are living in a society that system¬ atically oppresses people of color.

Cindy: Do you have any boundaries in the group which you set when you discuss racism? What I mean is, do you talk solely about the oppression faced by blacks, or by all people of color?

Fredi: I work in a multi-cultural center with Spanish¬ speaking people who are of similar skin color to me, but who are distinguishable as a cultural and racial group. I realize that that affects my ways of dealing with Hispanic people and I’ve talked about that in the group. Cindy: Why do you think it is important for white people to form small groups to discuss racism? Sharron: I can remember when I first became a part of this group, I didn’t even know what “racism” was. Ii was so terrified of any thought that I had about blacks.

I thought it was going to be so unacceptable for me to admit the feelings that I had. And I think that everybody in this group shared that. And as a result of; us being able to create a forum where we feel comfortable and open with each other, to explore some: of those feelings, and then in fact find out what they1 are, we can move past them and grow.

Gail: For me, racism is a really ugly thing and a really painful thing to see inside of me, so it’s been important to have the support of the group, to first of all be able to acknowledge that it’s there. Second, to begin to be able , to deal with it. To understand its origins and understand ; ways in which I can work to get rid of it in myself. And , also to begin to feel that I can get rid of it myself and it , doesn’t have to be a permanent fixture inside me, where ( I don’t want it.

Martha: It’s absolutely imperative for oppressed groups ( to work together, to begin to understand and support l each other’s work. The Willie Sanders case is a clear t example of racism and sexism working hand in hand to | oppress black people and women and to enable crimes | of intense violence against both groups to be j committed. My understanding of racism will empower , me to fight sexism as my understanding of sexism empowers me to fight racism.

Page 10

Gay Community

(Willie Sanders is a black man who was arrested and tried for one of a series of rapes that occurred in a mostly white neighborhood of Brighton in the fall of 1978. Many feel Sanders was falsely charged with the crime by a police force desperate to dispel the fears of neighborhood women and to quiet complaints that they weren’t doing anything to catch the rapist. A protest movement, initiated by the city’s black community and joined by many whites, exposed a series of unconstitutional and exploitative methods used by the police to build a case against Sanders.)

Cindy: How do you handle the type of criticism which sees the work you’re doing as pure “talk and no action.” Is there a difference between talking and doing? When can the two come together, if at all? Carol: Mainly what we do in the group is talk. The way that it becomes incorporated in “doing” is apparent to me in the difference between our discussions now and our discussions when we started. When we started, most of us were so afraid of being racist that we couldn’t look at any of what we did. Now, we look at some of what we do and discover that we are beginning to make our positions known when we feel that something that is going on is racist. And so, the connection is, that by talking about racism and becoming clear about what it is, so that we’re not so scared of it, we can begin to find ways to do things differently.

» Gail: Another way in which the talking, the thinking and the reading has really helped in terms of my own personal life, is that I’m better able to interrupt something racist. I’m better able to actually see what’s going on and understand what’s going on. Whereas before, I may have been confused and felt bad and not have really been able to act in particular situations. So i it’s helping me in terms of my everyday life, i Martha: On a very specific level, my work involves me a ■ lot with people of color and so on a daily basis I hold myself responsible for my actions in my work. So that \ it’s imperative to me to be able to shed my fears, set ) aside my guilt and to be clear with the people I workj } with and to be able to see, identify and act on racism } when it’s there. Also, to distinguish things that are not' i racist. A lot of things that go on are occurring because i of the people who are involved as personalities. To be able to make that distinction, I feel, is a real crucial ■1 aspect of understanding racism.

| Margie: I think that something Martha said about guilt J really struck home because a lot of what we were doing i at the beginning was plowing through all the guilt that | we were having, that was impeding us from doing anything. I think that really owning up to racist things I that we were doing and saying and putting aside the i guilt, helped us start working instead.

1 Sharron: One of the things that’s been a real turning point in my life was that I made a conscious decision to

I move to an integrated neighborhood. The reason I did this was that I looked around at my world and realized that most of my neighborhood was white, most of where I worked was white. That was what my background had been, too. I can remember the first week or two, after I moved, I went to a nearby park and saw a huge group of black people, men, women, and children, riding horses. Just seeing blacks in a variety of different settings forced me to examine a lot of those deeper gut feelings that I grew up with and to move past them in a way that wasn’t just “heady.” In order for me to break down the stereotypes that I grew up with, it’s necessary for me to throw myself into a situation where I’m going to come into contact with people of color and have positive individual relationships and work with 4 people of color politically.

ws, March 1, 1980

Cindy: How has the experience of this group helped you to deal better with people of color, and in particular, women of color?

Fredi: I think it’s helped in two ways. In one sense, I’ve felt that I have a lot of racist feelings inside of me. For instance, when I see a white person doing something I dislike I see it as an individual doing something I don’t like, yet when I see a black person doing something I don’t like I see them for their color instead of for who they are. I didn’t want to admit that I felt that way, so what I did was to back off from dealing with people of color. Now I admit it and try to deal with why I feel thatway and change it. That leads into the second thing, which was that I felt so uncomfortable being around people who are different from me, that I just avoided it entirely and kept my world white. For example, if I knew that there was a multi-racial group of women working on a feminist issue, six months ago, I would have been terrified of working on that because I would have been afraid to make a mistake, a blunder, etc. Now I feel that I can do it. If I make a “mistake,” I’ll deal with it. So being in this group would enable me to work in that group, and I think, work well.

Sharron: One thing for me that’s felt really positive is to be able to ask questions of people of color. For instance, black people learn to protect themselves from white people, and because of that they might not trust me in situations where we need to work together, but we need to get that out in the open. That’s something that I’ve broken through and it’s been really helpful for me. Cindy: It sounds like some progress has been made. But what remains to be done? Where do you encounter problems and stumbling blocks in discussing and dealing with racism?

Carol: I think that a big stumbling block for us, in the process of the group, is that we got to a position where we’ve started to realize what’s racist in us. The first thing that happens is that we felt it was overwhelming. When you recognize that it’s horrible, it’s still there; it doesn’t immediately go away. There are a lot of meetings that,ended in frustration where we’d say, “OK, so here it is, I know where it is, how am I going to do anything different from it?”. And that’s still, personally, a stumbling block for me whenever I come up against something new or something that I hadn’t realized.

Fredi: I know one of my fears is to feel like I’m not doing enough. To feel like I’m moving at a snail’s pace and to get discouraged. And I have to realize that I learned racism for a long, long time and it’s going to take me a lot of hard work to get rid of it and change it, and even to recognize it.

Gail: Another area that’s been a real stumbling block is just the intense amount of guilt that gets in the way of recognizing racism in ourselves, in dealing with it. The guilt is just paralysing in a lot of ways.

Martha: I think it’s crucial to realize that the work goes on forever. There’s always more to do. Primarily, what I feel we’re working on is to recognize how we’ve been socialized and to separate our present values that we each hold from the ones we learned growing up. Racism is a part of a whole system of oppression that must be fought.

Carol: One thing we’ve done with this group is to take very seriously the suggestions and the reaching out that come from women of color. That’s there. It’s not like it doesn’t exist. We just have to pay attention to it and use it.

Cindy: What kinds of fears do you have about publicly discussing racism and your group’s process?

Sharron: I think I’m afraid of judgements. I think that it’s still hard for me not to judge myself and so I’m still sensitive to the judgements of other white women and of women of color.

Gail: I think also we’re all really aware that we’re definitely not there yet and it’s going to be a long struggle and it’s hard to be honest about where you are when you know you’re not where you want to be.

Cindy: I want to ask you to describe your backgrounds particularly as they relate to relationships with people of color or how they might have shaped your views toward people of color?

Martha: I realize in answering this that we haven’t in this interview addressed the issue of class at all. I come from an upper middle class background, a very white, largely Protestant neighborhood. The schools that I went to were primarily white, very few people of color. My experience with people of color whose lives are significantly different from mine was limited until recently.

Fredi: I also came from an upper middle class background which meant I had a lot of choices in my life. I grew up in Newark, New Jersey, at a time when it was changing from a city with a white power structure to as city where blacks were struggling for and getting power within the city. It was also a time of white exodus to the suburbs. In high school I moved to the suburbs away from an all black high school and ever since then have been out of touch with black people ... I’m Jewish. As a Jew, I was brought up with a sense that one needs to constantly fight against oppression and that there’s real survival threats if you don’t. I was also brought up within a community of activists and activism was presented to me as a way that people who were struggling together had the most power. I think that those are roots that I draw on now.

Margie: I grew up in a fairly homogeneous neighbor¬ hood of Jewish and Italian middle class people. That pretty much isolated me from any contact with black people until high school when black students were bused in. There was quite a division there. I think that was the beginning of my realization about racism. Another thing that helps me to focus on things in the group sometimes is that I am the child of immigrant parents who are still quite very “foreign” when people meet them. That has helped me in dealing with people who are “different” because they speak differently or don’t do everything the way American, white, middle class people do. That’s given me a different outlook on things.

Gail: I come from a white middle class background as well. I didn’t have much experience with people of color until I worked at the Massachusetts state prison in Framingham a few years ago. That’s a prison for women.

Sharron: I grew up in the South and come from a white, middle class, heavy Irish-Catholic background. When I was twelve, I moved to Guam, an island in the Pacific, where I had a lot of exposure to people of color from Micronesian islands and from Japan.

Cindy: How can we as white women help to alleviate the anger and frustration that is often voiced and felt by women of color why try to work within the gay or lesbian movements? What can be done to eliminate tokenism and the exhausting of the energies of the same third world people again and again?

Carol: We must learn to be honest in our dealings with people of color. I know that when I encounter, for instance, a straight woman who’s able to ask questions, who is able to say where ever she really is, and isn’t scared, I can feel that difference.

Continued on Page 14

Page 11

Page 12 • Gay Community News, March 1, 1980

EfmonQQfde Keep Smiling

The Perfect Man?

By Gregg Howe

I have been pursuing that elu¬ sive ideal, the perfect man, for seven years. In that time I have in¬ terviewed many candidates for the position, ranging from five min¬ ute encounters in the bushes, to one-year, we-bought-the-

furniture-together, relationships. There are two problems concern¬ ing relationships as I see them, both equally grave. One is having a relationship and the other is not having one. This breaks down the faggot population into two categories, faggots and fag gets. The faggo/s already have a man with whom to share their bed and the fag gets are trying to get a man to share their bed.

I, of course, approached the finding of the perfect man with complete naivete and trust. I sim¬ ply equated good sex with love. That is a mistake I discovered ini¬ tially when the man who made all my bodily chords sing like the Vi¬ enna Boys Choir also began to dis¬ play an avid interest in money — specifically other people’s. (Given the guilt 1 suffer when I knowingly allow the grocery cashier to give me 30 cents extra in change, I quickly retreated.)

1 then assumed that anyone who shared my interests would be the ideal mate. This solution only threatened to convince me that my interests were boring. In order to preserve my self-image, I tried to find a man who was my exact op¬ posite. This experiment taught me that I am, indeed, perfect, so the approach quickly lost its allure.

It was at this time that I began discovering that my preoccupa¬ tion with finding the perfect man was not an isolated case. In fact every faggot I encountered seemed to be involved in the same trau¬ mas: the names might be dif¬ ferent, although several times, much to our mutual chagrin, we discovered they were the same, and the circumstances might vary, but in essence the ordeals were similar. For quite some time I took great consolation from the ill-fated romantic efforts of my friends. This was until one of those friends met the right mat. and disappeared for six months, only to resurface creating obnox¬ ious, euphoric displays in all the places he appeared with his per¬ fect man. I learned from that ex¬ perience that I was not truly — deep down, in my very soul — happy for my friend’s happiness. In fact, I was sick about it. The perfect man he had managed to unearth was a slob, had the mind of a mongoose, and his idea of scintillating conversation was eulogizing his childhood compan¬ ion, Max, a Doberman pinshcer now long dead, who by this per¬ fect man’s description bore a striking resemblance to my friend.

The trend set by my friend and his canine-oriented perfect man continued: all my friends would find perfect men, for various lengths of time, who were entirely unsuitable for them. I realized then that the search for the perfect man defies all intelligent analysis. My friends, I must admit, found my candidates for perfect man status wanting as well. This I firm¬ ly believe was simply their baser instincts (jealousy, negativity, and spoil sportism) coming to the fore. My objections however were and still are based in objective reason¬ ing and a genuine desire for my friends’ continued happiness.

After years of experience, re¬ search and observation I have compiled a list of key words which, when used by my friends in describing a new relationship, im¬ mediately gives me a handle on the direction of their feelings and in¬ tentions.

“Oh, he’s different!”

This statement is used exclusive¬ ly when a friend has found the latest candidate for perfect man¬ hood. I always want to ask, “dif¬ ferent from what?”: a blue billed canary, their last candidate who thought sex was an unnatural act, or a tuna melt with coleslaw? This phrase however does not allow for such comparisons. It absolutely establishes the fact that never has such a creature existed before. Therefore logic, reason, and ana¬ lytic thought, those milestones in human development, are inapplic¬ able.

“An absolute dear!”

Your friend is about to commit the unforgiveable gay relationship in the eyes of sophisticated fag- gotry. His new perfect man will hereafter be referred to as baby, honey, sweetie, or even lamby-pie. Their behavior will reflect adoles¬ cent love affairs as depicted by Mr. Walt Disney. You will be sub¬ jected to hearing their plans for moving to a cottage in the country where they will plant a garden, raise Airedales, read the classics aloud to one another, and pursue crafts — such as knitting and quilt making.

The correct name for this condi¬ tion is the Affair of the Sugar Plum Fairies.

“So sensitive!”

This statement is a clear indica¬ tion that your friend has no idea as to why this man is the perfect man. Sensitive is used when the latest find is beyond conventional understanding. This candidate’s moods are totally erratic, and this is often the first indication that the new perfect man is a manic de¬ pressive, a pathological liar, or simply nuts.

“A fuck buddy”

This statement is reserved for thos who have fully, both intellec¬ tually and emotionally, realized the distinction between good sex and love. The fuck buddy is great sex, often has a lover of his own, is rarely an odious or unattractive individual and will not cause undue emotional trauma.

“He’s nice but . . .”

The perfect man may be called fabulous, flawless, fucking gor¬ geous, or even funky, but never nice. The word nice in faggot terms is inevitably followed by the qualifying conjunction “but,” and the words following “but” always tend toward the more negative attributes of human kind such as dull, dumb, disgusting, dizzy, or drug addict. This rela¬ tionship will be short and nothing for you to concern yourself with.

“Who?”

When inquiring as to the health

of a friend’s current perfect man and said friend turns to you and answers with an interrogative and staccato “who?”, the aforesaid perfect man is now beneath con¬ tempt. He is not even to be af¬ forded the dignity of having in¬ flicted pain or suffering.

“That pig!”

This statement implies hatred of the former perfect man. He has obviously transgressed all boun¬ daries of good taste, social grace, sexual decorum, and elan. He has been reduced to the sub-animal status of the meat basis of an Egg McMuffin.

“Why me?”

This short exclamation means only one thing. You must prepare for a long evening of cigarettes, alcohol, and Billie Holliday albums. Your friend is about to recount to you in a minute, pain¬ ful, self-indulgent manner the his¬

tory of his love life, his miserable childhood, the fact that he is not gorgeous, brilliant, or able to make money. Your only hope for a fulfilling evening is for you to re¬ count your own life story, match¬ ing him disaster for disaster.

* * *

It was very difficult for me, ini¬ tially, to overcome the traditional “till death do us part” (the only hope of release available to many couples) attitude concerning rela¬ tionships. My own experience with marriage is based on the fact

that my parents are. The ikon- esque image of the perfect partner (there was never a doubt in my mind that this partner would be male) and the promise of eternal happiness with which I was pre¬ sented concerning the miraculous powers of the partner (this despite the realities of my own parents’ union) still haunted me.

Abandoning naivete and fairy tales, I persevered with fortitude. The following definitions of types of relationships are based once again on bitter personal experi¬ ence and observation.

The Monogamous Relationship

This type of gay male relation¬ ship most closely imitates the heterosexual marriage, with all its requirements of fidelity. My ex¬ periences with this form were all shortlived. I quickly realized the monogamous relationship was most successful when both in¬ dividuals had little sexual desire, or no imagination. The monoga¬ mous relationship is most enter¬ taining when at the end of the first six months both parties begin to confide to you, their friend, in graphic, lurid details that they are cheating. The best remedy for these individuals’ guilt is for you to act as cover for both and send them to the same bathhouse on the same night. This is not a mali¬ cious act; it is quite self-sacrificing because after they havebroken up both will blame you.

The Open Relationship

This relationship is designed to allow for infidelities, freedom and honesty. It is more successful in my opinion when there are infidel¬ ities, freedom, and no honesty. The current vogue for honesty in relationships is an overrated en¬ deavor. The confessional ap¬ proach lacks proper melodrama and setting without incense, a lovely mahogany booth, and a dis¬ creetly attired confidant. Outside of the now decaying mother church, a friend’s ear is the appro¬ priate receptacle for such admis¬ sions.

Infidelities like wet dreams oc¬ cur naturally and need no state¬ ment to justify them.

Living Together

This is still considered by many to be the major test of a relation¬ ship. It leads to only one thing, community property, and that, as we all know, leads to divorce. Any arrangement that will lead to something similar to a heterosex¬ ual divorce action should be avoided. And besides, in this ar¬ rangement , both parties learn things about the love object that are better left unknown. It is not necessary to know that your beloved wears dirty socks, has no aesthetic eye for interior decora¬ tion, cannot bake a TV dinner without burning it, has an ability to make long distance calls which rivals that of the State Depart¬ ment, and has no respect for other people’s property.

These are my observations, but I would just like to add that al¬ though they may seem cynical, bitter, and even downright hateful — this is not so. I would like to confide to you, dear reader, that last week I met a man who is dif¬ ferent, sensitive, an absolute dear, fucking gorgeous, and flawless.

He lived in the 17thCentury and visits me every night. We have no fear of the problems I feel could beset a relationship and no inten¬ tion of living together.

24 December, 1979

Gregg Howe 898 14th St.

San Francisco, CA 94114

Dear Gregg:

"The Perfect Man?" is perfectly delightful, and we'd like very much to have you write for us. However, if you are at all familiar with IN TOUCH For Men, you know that "The Perfect Man?" totally refutes just about every one of our basic premises.

Gregg, we are painfully aware that there are very few gays who can resist the temptation to leap madly from bed to bed; that the shits of the world are frighteningly numerous. (I, personally, dearly love Rita Hayworth's line from "Fire Down Below": "Armies have marched over me." I know exactly how she feels.)

But, damn it, we stubbornly insist upon seeing the world as it should be, rather than as it is. Bambi lives. For us, it i_s possible for two mature men to live happily — and faithfully — with each other. (Statistics may show that this happens only one time out of 347, but, by God, it can and does happenl)

Gregg, we're writing for the guy in Sheepdip, Wyoming, for whom we are the only contact with the gay mainstream. We're writing for the disco darling in New York who's just broken up with his 47th lover in the past three weeks. We're saying to both these guys that "hey, look... it can happen! NEVER give up hope!"

We've often been accused of — and cheerfully admit to the charge — being unrealistic. The world's up to it's eyebrows in "realistic." Fuck "realistic." If our being unrealistic can make just one person feel better, then that's what we'll do.

Sorry about the soapbox bit, Gregg, but there are a few things on which I feel very strongly, and monogamy happens to be one of them. Now that that's out of my system, I'll get back on the track and say that we'll look forward to seeing anything you'd care to send us for consideration.

May 1980 find you your "Perfect Man."

Cordially ,

Roger Margason, editor

1316 North Western Avenue • Hollywood • California 90027 • (213)466-6333

Gay Community News, March 1, 1980

• Page 13

Why are Lesbians & Gay Men working to make this person the

next president of the United States?

Because Ted Kennedy will:

— issue an executive order banning discrimination against lesbians & gay men in all federal employment;

— continue to oppose current Immigration & Naturalization Service policy excluding foreign gay people from our country;

— endorse gay rights plank as a part of the Democratic Party platform;

— continue vigorous support for the ERA & for pro-choice legislation.

“Senator Kennedy has been one of the leading progressives in the United States for a decade. His strong support of human rights for all women, gay men and lesbians, and racial minorities — is only one of many reasons why I support his candidacy for president”

Massachusetts State Rep.— Barney Frank

“Based on an airing of policies and the issues important to our community as gay men and lesbians, plus an ability to succeed,

I enthusiastically support Senator Kennedy’s candidacy.”

Robin MacCormack Boston Mayoral Liaison to the Gay Community

JOIN US IN SUPPORTING KENNEDY FOR PRESIDENT IN 1980!

Ann Maguire Tom Durand Bob White Yvonne Pratt Ellyn Bloomfield

Robin MacCormack Cindy Rizzo Charles Ash Joe Martin Neil Miller

Beth Broderson Ronnie Allen John Delmond Kevin George Mary Beth Bronson

Gary Dotterman Michael Campbell Steve Tierney Warren Blumenfeld Tom Kirley Bobby Stevens

Eric Rotes Paul Bentley Ed Hougan Lois Johnson Sheri Barden

Kennedy has been endorsed by Midge Costanza, the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club of Washington D.C., the Americans for Democratic Action, CPPAX, & has received Boston NOW’s “sentiments of support”.

VOTE FOR EDWARD KENNEDY IN THE MARCH 4th

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY! INDEPENDENTS AND DEMOCRATS MAY VOTE

IN THE PRIMARY!

FOR MORE INFORMATION & TO BECOME INVOLVED IN THE CAMPAIGN IN MASSACHUSETTS CONTACT KENNEDY STATE COORDINATORS FOR THE LESBIAN & GAY COMMUNITY, ANN MAGUIRE & ERIC ROFES,

KENNEDY HEADQUARTERS, 53 STATE STREET, 973-4200.

_ ADVERTISEMENT _

Almost 100 years after universal acceptance of the germ theory of disease, it is appalling that every individual is still not being taught the significance of the role of personal hygiene in the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. All VD Prevention programs must emphasize personal hygiene principles which should be taught from the beginning of adoles¬ cence in every health and sex education course. Past efforts to treat VD out of existence have failed; there¬ fore, we must use ail available methods of PREVEN¬ TION, in conjunction with treatment, to combat the present VD epidemic. Here are some highlights from our widely acclaimed booklet — (soon available in Spanish and Japanese)

THE NEW

VENEREAL DISEASE PREVENTION FOR EVERYONE Personal Hygiene is Significant to VD PREVENTION and Good Health

Page 2: THE SEXUALLY ACTIVE MALE

Careful washing after sex will reduce the possibility of catching VD. The germs that cause syphilis and gonorrhea, as well as some other sexually transmitted diseases, are sensitive to soap and water. Wash before sex for hygienic purposes.

IMMEDIATELY AFTER INTERCOURSE:

Soap genitals working a bit of soft mushy soap into urinary

opening.

Rinse.

Repeat procedure.

Then urinate (which may sting).

Extended exposure or delay before washing diminishes the effectiveness of this preventive measure. Washing is doubly important since even in the absense of syphilis and gonorrhea, other sexually transmitted germs can cause infec¬ tions such as NGU (non-gonococcal urethritis) or NSU (non¬ specific urethritis).

If lubricants are involved in the sex act, use water- soluble preparations that will wash away. Do not use an oil base that will leave a film to trap the germs.

NOTE: The foreskin that covers the head of the penis may trap germs which can cause infections. Therefore, spe¬ cial attention should be given to washing the uncircumcised penis.

When vaccines against gonorrhea and syphilis will have been developed, personal hygiene will remain necessary to prevent other sexually transmitted diseases. For example: A gonorrhea vaccine will not prevent approximately half of the reported cases of male urethritis which are not gonorrhea.

Page 3: SOME ASPECTS OF PERSONAL HYGIENE FOR MEN AND WOMEN

Infectious germs which are commonly found in the lower digestive tract may be transmitted from the rectum during certain sex activities. Among the dangerous germs present may be the virus which causes hepatitis, and parasites which cause gastro-intestinal disorders if they enter the mouth (anal-oral route).

The mucous membranes of the genito-urinary system are highly susceptible to infection by some of these germs from the rectum. For example: As a result of careless wiping from rectum towards vagina by the female after toilet, germs are easily spread to the vagina where they may cause infec¬ tions, and from which they may be transmitted during vagin¬ al, as well as rectal, intercourse. Therefore, females must not wipe in the direction of rectum to vagina. . . .

Personal hygiene before and after sex can be greatly aided by the bidet, a low bathroom fixture, designed to facilitate washing for disease prevention and proper clean¬ sing after toilet. Not everyone, unfortunately, has been ade¬ quately informed as to the advantages of the bidet; it is not found, for instance, in homes or hotels in the United States, whereas in many parts of the world it is widely used and sig¬ nificant to personal hygiene. Good hygiene requires careful washing of genital and rectal areas before and after sex.

* * * *

‘Men and Women: In our booklet learn also about—

The significance during treatment of no sex contact which may spread the disease, and particularly during treat¬ ment for urethritis, no alcohol which may irritate the GU system, delaying cure. The importance of a follow-up visit to the physician to see if further treatment is required.

For the sexually active male — the commercially avail¬ able germicidal preparation (Sanitube® ) for use after inter¬ course to prevent gonorrhea and syphilis.

For the sexually active female — certain commercially available vaginal contraceptive foams, creams, suppositories and jellies, which also have germicidal properties that may prevent VD.

Send your tax-deductible contribution for a copy (quantities available). We need your support. Learn these facts. Help us distribute these booklets and educate the public.

AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR THE PREVENTION OF VD, INC.

335 BROADWAY NEW YORK, NY 10013

Film _

Stop Cruising/Smash Windows!

Cruising.

Written and directed by William Friedkin.

From the novel by Gerald Walker. With A I Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Richard Cox.

By Michael Bronski Does anyone really want to read more about Cruising ? For the past eight months we have heard the plot, followed the changes pro¬ mised, made and unmade, and watched the straight press attack and defend Friedkin. We have now read all the reviews — mostly bad — and what are we left with? A mediocre film that has made a great rallying point for our anger and frustration over the treatment of gays in movies. Not that Cruising shouldn’t have been targeted — it’s as slighting and abusive a film as you’d want to see — it’s just a shame we have to fight this. It almost makes one wish there is a really good anti-gay movie to protest.

Everyone knows the plot so I’ll keep my review to a few brief thoughts about the film and its consequences. First of all I’ve never seen a “gay” film with so few gay characters. If we are to believe Friedkin (in his Village Voice interview) neither the killer nor the policeman are gay. This of course presents a problem since that was the core of the book, and we are now left with a murder mystery/thriller with no real char¬ acters, motivation, or psychologi¬ cal underpinnings. This leaves us with the four victims, each of whom have several lines — hardly characters. And a gay playwright and his lover. Friedkin has made the mistake of taking all the play¬ wright’s dialogue right from the novel. It is excruciatingly bad. The lover has only one scene, and all it shows is that he has a temper. What we are left with are 500 faceless, nameless gay men having

Racism

continued from page 11 Fredi: One of the things I’ve learned in this group is about see¬ ing things through white eyes and thinking that that’s the way that everybody sees things. One of the ways in which we can make more room for people of color to feel comfortable and to feel effective in working with us is to make sure that we listen to what they have to say. We have to learn that this is everybody’s struggle and that everybody’s views are important. We don’t just go ahead with what we think and what we see and assume that everybody else feels and perceives the same way. Fredi: One more way that our rac¬ ism really comes through is if we think that there are only a few black women who have thought about being women or that there are only a few black gay people in this world. Those are the racist thoughts that are behind token¬ ism.

Cindy: As lesbians, many of us have formed attitudes toward men as a class of oppressors. Our feel¬ ings are often expressed through fear, anger, or even hatred. How do those feelings toward all men fit into a discussion on racism, where racist attitudes we’ve learned are focused on all people of color, both female and male? Are men of color treated differ¬ ently by you than white men are? Carol: Sexism is no excuse for rac¬ ism and racism is no excuse for sexism. In dealing with our feel¬ ings toward men of color, we’ve had to allow ourselves to feel

sex in bars and parks. Cruising could easily have been set in the garment district and racks of coats substituted for the gay men. (Per¬ haps he could have called it Stitching. )

The basic problem with the film is that it has barely enough mater¬ ial to fill a half hour TV police show: it’s Dragnet stretched out to an hour and forty-five minutes. What makes Cruising such a bad (and offensive) film is not that it deals with gay murders, or the leather scene, or S/M (all interest¬ ing and acceptable topics) but that it steadfastly refuses to deal with any of them. The material could raise interesting questions: the re¬ lationship between sexuality and standing in society; the payabil¬ ity of any sexual identity; the con¬ nections between sexuality and violence. You wonder what a good filmmaker (one who is inter¬ ested in character as well as slam- bang visuals) could do with them. Friedkin does nothing except throw in some artsy ambiguity, a la Antonioni, in one or two scenes. The haziness of the final murder is ripped off from Henri Georges Clouzot’s Diabolique. (No surprise, since Friedkin stole most of his film Sorcerer from Clouzot’s Wages of Fear.) Cruising isn’t about gay murders — it’s about marketing a film by using an exotic and unusual locale (gay leather bars) to titilate audi¬ ence interest.

It is interesting that some critics are still making the hollow argu¬ ment that if Cruising is anti-gay because of the gay-as-victim syn¬ drome, then any film in which a heterosexual is killed must be anti¬ straight. Boston’s own Alan Friedberg (a self-proclaimed hus¬ band and father) has said that he didn’t take offence that the mur-

angry about something that’s sex¬ ist coming from, let’s say, a black man, while not excusing the things that we can find in ourselves that are racist toward that same black man.

Gail: Also I’ve realized that it’s real easy for us to respond to sex¬ ism from a black man with racism. We would like to not do that any¬ more.

Martha: There is a conflict because black men belong to the group which oppresses us and also belong to the group which we op¬ press. This causes a lot of confus¬ ion.

Cindy: What are the goals of the group? If it ever terminates at any time, what would you like to come away with?

Martha: One of the women in the group is going to be leaving it. Her reasons are very positive. She feels that she has found ways to inte¬ grate her political work against racism with her consciousness raising. We realize that that is one of the primary goals that each of us has — to find a place where action and thought and feelings merge, so that we can activate our lives in such a way to find that integration ourselves. In a sense, that could be the goal for each of us and yet we also know that we’ve established among the six of us a really wonderful, beautiful trust and a support for each other, so that years hence, we may not be meeting together but we do have a really common, solid foundation of support that we can always refer back to.

derer was a Columbia student - his alma mater. Mr. Friedberg seems to forget that he never had to worry about being beaten up, deprived of a job, or killed, solely because he was a Columbia stu¬ dent. It is also interesting that these same critics who are so eager to point out “bad” portraits of straights in a frantic attempt to “even out” the score (and render gay protests illegitimate) are also the ones who, like Andrew Sarris, complain that Hollywood has be¬ come obsessed with homosexual “buddy movies” and bemoan the lack of heterosexual romances.

Then there is the question of censorship. This is usually men¬ tioned by people who say they are against it: that’s because none of the gay protestors have said that they were for it. Contrary to Alan Friedberg’s fear-mongering tele¬ gram printed as an advertisement in the New York Times (he said that theater owners had an obliga¬ tion to show Cruising to stop the bad gay censors), gay people have no power to censor. First, they in¬ vest us with this illusory power, then they attack us for having it.

Last week’s Variety showed a tremendous financial loss for Windows. It is hard to imagine it getting many more bookings with such terrible reviews and no in¬ come. Hopefully the same will happen to Cruising. The film may not play suburban theaters: not just because of the violence, but the film has such a “gay” reputa¬ tion now, many straight people just won’t want to see it. If films like these lose enough money, maybe someone in Hollywood will take the chance — and they take enough chances on truly terrible projects — and finally put up the money to film Rubyfruit Jungle.

Sharron: We want to have a conference with other women in the city who are involved in groups similar to ours. I’m very curious to be in touch with those people and other people who may not be involved in groups but who really rcel that struggling against racism is a political priority. It would be wonderful to come to¬ gether to share those things. Fredi: We want to be more effective in working with people of color, particularly women of color, against oppression.

Those who wish to respond direct¬ ly to this group, other than through the Community Voices pages of GCN, or those who want more information about forming racism groups, may write to these women c/o Cindy Stein, Gay Community News, 22 Bromfield Street, Boston, MA 02108. All let¬ ters will be forwarded.

Bibliography

“Face to Face, Day to Day, Rac¬ ism C-R” by Tia Cross, Freada Klein, Barbara Smith and Beverly Smith, Sojourner, May, 1979. “Disloyal to Civilization: Femin¬ ism, Racism, and Gynophobia” by Adrienne Rich, Chrysalis, #7. Letter to GCN from Barbara Smith, GCN Vol. 7, No. 6.

Black Scholar, May-June, 1979. “The Myth of Black Macho: A Response to Angry Black Femin¬ ists” by Robert Staples, Black Scholar, March- April, 1979. Conditions: Five, Vol. 1, No. 2, Autumn, 1979.

Gay Community News, March 1, 1980

• Page 15

Odyssey of q Unicom _

Paley, Piercy and French

By Nancy Walker

Some time ago Pat Bond (WAC ‘‘ in ‘‘Word is Out” and fabulous fabricator of Gertrude Stein in a one-woman show) said that I reminded her of Grace Paley. “Who?” asked I in my usual alert manner. “Oh, she’s a writer from New York, and she talks like you.” Or words to that effect. I tucked the bit of information away in the cluttered storehouse 1 of my head and went about my business. A few weeks ago, when I last descended upon my friends in New Hampshire, I filched from them (with permission, of course) a volume of Grace Paley’ s short stories entitled, Enormous Changes at the Last Minute. The book was released by Dell paper¬ backs in 1975, but some of the stories were originally published as far back as 1960. What was I doing in 1960, 1 asked myself. . . . Waiting for something good to happen, I suppose. I was surely not writing anything glorious and memorable, though I was living in New York, and all Paley’s scenes and sounds were familiar to me. 1 knew the people she talks about. Her characterizations ring abso¬ lutely true. Her sympathies are deep and broad, covering, from all appearances, most of humanity. Paley takes for her sub¬ ject, life among the unrich in one of the culturally richest and most varied cities in the world — New York. She shows us Irish, Italian, Jewish human beings at their un¬ heroic best. She shows us real suf¬ fering and real compassion, and offers extraordinary insights into mortality, the condition, like it or not, that we all, gay and straight, share. And she does it with the economy of language generally associated with first-rate poetry. Prose is not usually so direct and succinct.

Paley writes about what she knows most intimately — what it means to be a woman, then and now, but mostly, what I’ve been reading about is “then” — the fifties and sixties. “Women’s lib” was not a subject discussed or en¬ visioned by her women, nor, most likely, was it wished for. Her women love their men, their chil¬ dren and each other. Instead of large and unbridgeable chasms be¬ tween people, the human condi¬ tion creates the human family, all- inclusive, though certainly not all- approving.

I just finished reading a story in which there were several demon¬ strators bearing one poster asking, “Would you burn a child?”, a second answering, “When necessary,” and a third showing the hideousness of napalm. They have been told to leave the park by a cop known to the little group of women and their children who form the nucleus about which many of the stories are written. Richard, the precocious, outspoken and beloved son of Faith (failed Jewish mother and daughter) by Ricardo (non- Jewish, mostly deserter husband) wants his mother and her friends to force Doug, the cop, who is their friend, after all, to let the demonstrators (four obviously quiet and peaceful individuals) continue with their solemn parade. They can’t persuade Doug to allow the demonstration, and he forces the marchers to disperse. Richard is in a fury and he writes in “pink flamingo chalk” on the sidewalk, “Would you burn a | child?” Beneath it in red “When necessary.” Faith, who narrates the story, says at the end of it that something in her changed that day, and that she “thought more and more and every day about the world.”

My sketchy retelling of that small portion of the story cannot do it justice. Faith is a rather dull- witted, schlemiel, who is never the less lovable and teachable. Life teaches her through her painful errors and her own children’s in¬ sistence. Paley manages to get inside the heads of so many differ¬ ent people and lets us see those people, “who they are.” The un¬ adorned essence of a human being is very difficult to uncover. Paley does it with astonishing accuracy, and little, if any, sentimentality. She calls things by their proper names without euphemism or crudeness. Somehow everything seems both natural and in place in her work.

It should be quite apparent that I am enamored of Grace Paley. I recommend her to all of you who like to read something more than narrowly parochial gay literature. But better than frozen words upon a frozen page, better by far, is the experience of seeing the woman herself. On Wednesday, February 13 Paley appeared in a benefit reading, along with Marge Piercy and Marilyn French. The benefit was for the “BU Five,” five tenured members of the Boston University faculty who had been fired because they re¬ fused to cross a clerical workers’ picket line.

The moment I saw the announcement of this combination of women, I deter¬ mined that my sother (significant other) and I would go. My sother had had the rather dubious dis¬ tinction of being in one of Marilyn French’s literature classes at Hof- stra University years ago, and 1 thought she might like to see what had happened to Marilyn in the interim. My sother had no desire whatsoever to see Marilyn, but she shared my wish to see Grace Paley. Marge Piercy was a slow second on our list.

We arrived at the Arlington Street Church at about 7:15. The readings were scheduled to begin at 7:30. The church steps were mobbed. Lots of women, some men, a few affluent looking folks. Mostly not affluent. I saw a number of familiar faces, as well as people I knew I knew. It was about 8:15 before the rocket was finally launched. And it started, with a bang. Grace Paley was the first reader, and what she read, gum chewing all the while, was a story about a woman who was dying, and her small group of friends who had travelled five hours on a train to say good-bye to her. Not maudlin. Just a truth¬ ful look at one of our harder reali¬ ties. What mattered in this story, as in most of Paley’s work, was the unbreakable bond forged between women who share in all the basic events of each other’s lives — birth, death, abandon¬ ment, poverty, and so forth. We were enraptured. So was the rest of the audience. The applause after Paley’s reading was strong and sustained. She had reached just about everybody, and the assembled throng was very largely lesbian. They had gotten Paley’s essential message. It was a message of love. Love between women. Not sexual love, but the kind of genuine affection and concern that lasts a lifetime and can exist only in relationships between people who take life whole, as Paley’s people do.

Marge Piercy, whose books I had read and even reviewed, well before I had heard of Grace Paley, was second to “perform.” She seemed quite rattled by the fact that she had lost the manu¬ script from which she had in¬ tended to read. She mentioned

that detail three times during the course of her reading. It really upset her. It didn’t matter very much to us, however. She read a number of poems, some old, some so new that they hadn’t even been titled yet. A couple of them had considerable merit, in my opinion. One, in particular. It was about q carrion-eating bird that, when it is attacked by a predator, regurgi¬ tates. The point at the end was that sometimes the only way to revolt successfully is to be success¬ fully revolting. Disgust your per¬ secutors enough and maybe they’ll stop persecuting you. There’s no doubt in my mind about Piercy’s talent. She was able to read a poem about a relationship that had just ended after 18 years. She felt the pain of loss but she was going to use that pain to help change things in the world for the better. I admire her, though I do not find her as spiritually satisfy¬ ing as Grace Paley.

Last, and absolutely least, was Marilyn French, fresh from her unearned (once again in my not so humble opinion) triumph with her novel The Women’s Room. She sauntered up to the microphone, took a beat for dramatic empha¬ sis, and then offered the audience a choice. “I know it’s getting late, so I have two segments prepared. One is five minutes, the other is 20.” “20, 20,” said the beguiled audience. I wanted to shout out “Five,” but my sother would not have approved. The 20 minutes managed to drag out to 35. Could Marilyn French possibly believe that she was treating us to rare en¬ joyment by her interminable reading of her latest nonsense about a 45 year old adolescent female who thinks it’s neat to smoke cigars (five ariay), and has a dream in which she leans her head on some strange man’s stomach and finds comfort thereon. Yuk. I guess what is so wrong with French’s perceptions is that she does not see any love in the world. She sees unfulfilled sexual desires, and she sees the terrible inequities that exist between men and women, but she never sees what should be an obvious solution. She never sees that the ideal love relationships are between women, one way or another. All her characters are in¬ tellectually and spiritually un¬ attractive, both men and women. There seem to be no adults in French’s world — just silly adole¬ scents, just people loaded with either sex drives or rhetoric, but never genuine affection or commitment, never, most assuredly, wisdom.

As French read, people began to drift out of the church. Mostly gay women. She was not address¬ ing in any recognizable way either our actual or our metaphorical lives. She was, in short, BORING.

I feel sorry for Marilyn French.

I am writing this on Valentine’s day. You will read it when the glow is already cooled from this romantic occasion, but I find it appropriate to have seen Grace Paley the day before Valentine’s day. She spoke of love. She writes of love. Love is at the center of her creative universe. Love is what keeps the world going despite all the horrors that we cannot ignore or avoid. The three authors at the reading presented almost violent contrast. I came away wanting nothing to do with Marilyn French, interested in reading Marge Piercy’s poetry, and thirsty for all I can find of Grace Paley. Thank you, Pat Bond, for bringing her to my attention, and a belated Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone.

mew-

Dr. LARRY SILBERTl Dr. HENRY BOGEN

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HEADS OF CAMPUS ORGANIZATIONS get a set for your group; pressure your campus library to get GCN on microfilm and thus have back issues accessible to the entire college/university community.

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Page 16 •

Gay Community News, March 1, 1980

Quick Goy Guide

Boston Area (617)

INFORMATION/SERVICE/SOCIAL

BAGALS (Boston Area Lesbian and Gay Schoolworkers) P.O. Bo* 178, Astor St., Boston, 02123 Boston Asian Gay Men & Lesbians c/o Glad Day Bookshop, 22 Bromfield St.

Boston, 02108 5426114

Chiltem Mountain Club 227-6167

Box 104, 104 Charles St., Boston 02114 Clearspace, Box 119, 104 Charles St. Boston 02114 Committee for Gay Youth,

GCN Box 10GY, 22 Bromfield St. 02108 266-6103

El Comlte Latino de lesblanas y homosexuals de Boston P.O. Box 365, Cambridge, 02139 354-1755

Frenz & Luwers Assoc.

'P.O. Box 814, Boston 02123 Gay Speakers Bureau, P.O. Box 2232,

Boston 02107 354-0133

Gay Recreational Activities Committee (GRAC), c/o GCN Box 8000 282-9161

Lesbian and Gay Folkdanclng 661-7223

c/o GCN Box Dee, 22 Bromfield St., Boston, MA 02108 Lesbian and Gay Hotline (6-12pm, Mon.-Fri.) 426-9371

Lesbian and Gay Media Advocates c/o GCN, 22 Bromfield, 02108 367-9000

Lesbian and Gay Parents Project

21 Bay St. Cambridge 02139 492-2655

Older and Other Gays, c/o GCN, Box 1500,

22 Bromfield St., Boston 02108 Outreach Institute

Box 368, KenmoreSt., 02215 277-3454

Parents of Gays 542-5188 (days), 426-9371 (nights)

Project Place 267-9150

Tapestry Counseling Inc.,

20 Sacramento St., Cambridge. 661-0248

POLITICAL/LEGAL _

BLAGMAR (Boston Lesbians and Gay Men Against the Right) 266-6103

B.U. Gay and Lesbian Legal Association 236-4710

B.U. Law School, 755 Comm. Ave, 367-1394

Cambridge Gay Political Caucus,

P.O. Box 218, E. Cambridge-02141 491-0968

Civil Liberties Union of Mass. 742-8020

GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, 2 Park Sq. 426-1350

Harvard Committee on Gay Legal Issues Roscoe Pound Hall, Cambridge, 02139 Robin MacCormack, Mayor's Office 725-4410

Mass Gay Political Caucus

Suite 407, 739 Boylston St. 242-3544

National Lawyers Guild, 595 Mass. Ave.,

Cambridge 02139 542-5415,542-6837

STUDENT _

Gay People at BU, c/o Program Resources Office George Sherman Union, Boston University. 353-3646

Gay Academic Union of New England,

P.O. Box 212, Boston 02101 6616500

Gay/Lesbian Concern Group of Boston College

P.O. Box L199, Chestnut Hill, MA 02167 661-4059

Gay People's Group, UMass/Boston (Harbor Campus), Bldg 1, 4th ft, Rm 178 287-1900x2169

Harvard-Radcliffe Gay Student Assn. 498-7059

MIT Gays, Rm. 50-306 253-5440

Northeastern Gay Student Org., c/o Student Activities Office, 255 Ell Ctr.

Tufts Gay Community, c/o Student Activities Office, Medford 02155

WOMEN _

Arcadia Counseling for Women, 520 Comm Ave

247-4861 x58 3546807

(Kenmore Sq

Cambridge Women's Center Daughters of Bilitis, 1151 Mass. Ave.,

Cambridge 02138 661-3633

Gay Professional Women's Assn.,

Box 308, Boston U Sta., Boston 02215 Janus Counseling for Lesbians,

21 Bay St., Cambridge 661-2537

Lesbian Liberation, c/o Women's Center 354-8807

Massachusetts Feminist Federal Credit Union 186VS Hampshire St., Camb. 661-0450

National Organization for Women 6616015

99 Bishop Allen Dr„ Cambridge 02139 Tufts Women's Center 628-5000 x793

Womanspace, 636 Beacon St. (Kenmore Sq.) 267-7992

Women's Alcoholism Program,

1348 Cambridge St., Cambridge 02139 661-1316

Women's Community Health Center,

639 Mass. Ave., Cambridge 547-2302

RELIGIOUS _

Am Tikva, P.O. Box 11, Cambridge, 02138 Dignity, 355 Boylston St., Boston 021 14 5366518

Friends (Quaker) for Lesbian and Gay Concerns 7766377

Integrity, P.O. Box 2582, Boston 02208 262-3057

Lutherans Concerned for Gay People 536-3788

Metropolitan Community Church 523-7664

Fr. Paul Shanley (Exodus Center) 964-0996

Unitarian Universalists Office of Gay Concerns 25 Beacon St., Boston 02108 742-2100

MEDIA

Closet Space WCAS (740 AM) Esplanade Fag Rag Gay Community News Gay Way Radio WBUR (90.9 FM) Good Gay Poets Hit Parade, 104 Charles St., Boston, 02114 Musically Speaking WMBR (88.1 FM) MEDICAL/COUNSELING	4926450 787-1084 661-7534 426-4469 353-2790 2666103 268-5800 253-4000
Alcoholics Anonymous Arcadia Counseling, Lesbian Support Group	426*9444
520 Comm. Ave.	739-2200 x58
Fenway Community Health Center	267-7573
Gay AlAnon (families of alcoholics) Gay Nurses' Alliance/East P.O. Box 673, Randolph, MA 02368	843-5300
Gender Identity Service	864-8181
Homophile Alcoholism Treatment Service	542-5188
Homophile Community Health Service	542*5188
Mass Bay Counseling 31 Channing St., Newton Corner 02158 Sexual Health Centers of N.E., Inc.,	9631311
739 Boylston St., Boston 02116	266-3444
Tufts Skin Care Clinic (VD treatment) Turley & Assoc.,	956-5293
31 Channing St., Newton, 02158 DOOKS/DARS/DUSINESSES	965-2040
Glad Day Book Shop, 22 Bromfield New Words, 186 Hampshire, Cambridge	542-0144
02139	876-5310
Red Bookstore, 136 River St., Camb. The Bar (Disco Dancing, Mostly Men)	4916930
252 Boylston St. Buddies (Cruise-Disco)	247-9308
733 Boylston St. Chaps (Denin, Men)	262*2480
27 Huntington Ave. Delivery Entrance (at the House Restaurant)	266-7778
12 Wilton St. Harry's Place (Dancing, Men)	783*5701
45 Essex St. Herbie s Ramrod Room (Leather. Men)	338*8816
1254 Boylston St.	247-0989

Jacques (Mixed, Dancing)

79 Broadway

Napoleon Club (Men, Dancing Frl.-Sun.)

52 Piedmont St.

Paradise (Talking, Mostly Men)

180 Mass. Ave. (Cambridge)

Playland (Men, some Women)

21 Essex St.

Saints (Women)

Somewhere (Disco Dancing, Mostly Women) 295 Franklin St.

Sporter's Cafe (Men) 228 Cambridge St.

Together (Dlscq Dancing, Mixed)

110 Boylston St.

Club Boston (Gay men's baths)

4 LaGranqe St.

338-9066

338-7547

864-4130

338-7254

354-8807

423-7730

4266086

4261451

Eastern Mass. (617)

INFORMATION/SERVICE/SOCIAL

363-2286

851-6711

753-8360

Gay Hotline 7566730

Mass. Teachers Assoc./Gay Rights Caucus P.O. Box 75, New Salem 01355 Montachusett Gay Alliance, Fitchburg 342-5117

North Shore Gay Alliance 7456966

Box 806, Marblehead, 01915

Provincetown 24-Hour Drop-in Center 487-0387

Survival Crisis Line 471-7100

RELIGIOUS _

Christian Community Church,

112 Emerson, St., Haverhill 01830 Dignity Merrimack Valley P.O. Box 348, Lowell 08853 MCC Worcester, 2 Wellington St.,

WOMEN _

Everywoman's Center, Box 949, 14 Center St., Provincetown 02657 (46pm)

Lesbian Support Group, Mercy Otis Warren Women’s Center, 298 Main St., Hyannis 02601

New Bedford Women's Clinic Origins, Inc., A Women’s Center 169 Boston St., Salem 01970 The Women's Bookstore 1087 Main, 01603 Women's Meeting House 89 Downing St. 01610

STUDENT

7716739

999-1570

745-5873

791-5127

752-5905

Clark U. Gay Alliance, 950 Main, A-70 Salem State Gay Task Force Salem St. College, Salem 01970

745-0556 (ext. 209)

Western Mass. (410)

INFORMATION/SERVICE/SOCIAL

Berkshire County Gay Coalition, P.O. Box 1562, Pittsfield 01201 Gay Counseling Collective 406F Student Union UMass, Amherst Help Line Together, Box 427, Forest Park Sta., Springfield 01108 WOMEN	447-7818 5432645 6646391,6646392
Common Woman Club, 78 Masonic St., Northampton 01060	584-4580
Everywomen's Center, Amherst	545-0883
Gay Women’s Caucus, Amherst	5433438
New Alexandria Lesbian Library P.O. Box 111, Huntington 01050 Southwest Women’s Center	5430626
Womonfrye Books	5866445
RELIGIOUS

Dignity/Springfield, P.O. Box 1604 Springfield 01101

STUDENT

Lesbian Union, 920 Campus Center, UMass, Amherst 01003 People’s Gay Alliance, RSO 368 Student Union, UMass, Amherst, 01002

545-3438

5456154

Connecticut (200)

INFORMATION/SERVICE/SOCIAL

Conn. Gay Task Force, P.O. Box 1139,

New Haven 06505 4366945

Gay Switchboard, Hartford, M-F 11-2 pm,

6-1 1 pm, P.O. Box 514, Hartford 06101 522-5575

Gay Switchboard, New Haven, M-F 8-11 pm,

P.O. Box 2031, Yale Station,

New Haven 06520 4366945

Gay Youth-New Haven, P.O. Box 2031 Yale Sta., New Haven 06520 4366945

George W. Henry Foundation (counseling),

45 Church St., Hartford 06103 522-2646

Institute of Social Ethics/Gay National Archives, One Gold St., Suite 22-BC,

Hartford 06103 547-1281

So. Conn. Org. for Human Rights,

P.O. Box 3792, New Haven 06525 562-1007

WOMEN _

Gay Women's Collective, c/o Women’s Center,

Box U-1 18, UConn, Storrs 06268 486-4738

Heartroots Feminist Therapy Collective, 522-2763

214 Laurel St., Hartford 06105 747-5451

Lesbian Rap, New Haven, 148 Orange St.,

New Haven 06510 4366645

Women's Center, Hartford, 57 Pratt St.,

Rm 301, Hartford 06103 525-2382

Women's Center, Manchester Community College, P.O. Box 1046, Manchester, 06040 646-4900

Women’s Center, UConn, Box U-118,

Storrs 06828 486-4738

Women's Center, Wesleyan, Box WW,

Wesleyan Sta., Middletown 06457 347-941 1

Women’s Liberation Center, New Haven,

148 Orange St., New Haven 06510 4366645

STUDENT _

Eros, Gay Students at Trinity College c/o Chaplain's Office, Hartford 06106 527-3151

Gay Alliance, New Haven & Gay Alliance at Yale,

P.O. Box 2031 , Yale Sta., New Haven 06520 436-8945

Gay Alliance, UConn, Box U-8, Storrs, 06268 486-2273

Gay Alliance, Wesleyan, c/o Women's Center,

Box WW, Wesleyan Sta., Middletown, 06457 347-9411

Gay and Lesbian Alliance, So. Conn. St. College,

386 Sherman Ave., New Haven 0651 1 865-2802

Gay Community, Conn. College P.O. Box 1 295, New London 06320 442-1807

Lesbians, Wesleyan, c/o Women's Center,

Box WW, Wesleyan St., Middletown 06457 347-941 1

Yalesblans, P.O. Box 2031, Yale Sta.,

New Haven 06520 436-8945

RELIGIOUS _

Dignity/Fairfield County,

P.O.Box 348, Belden Sta. Norwalk, 06850 Dignity/Hartford, P.O. Box 72,

Hartford 06141 233-8325

Dignity/New Haven, P.O. Box 285,

West Haven 06516 436-8945

Integrity/Hartford, P.O. Box 3681,

Central Sta., Hartford 06103 522-2646

Integrity/New Haven, P.O. Box 1777,

New Haven 06507 787-1518

MCC/Hartford, P.O. Box 514,

Hartford 06101 - 232-5110

MCC/New Haven, P.O. Box 1273,

New Haven 06505 777-9808

MEDICAL/COUNSELING _

Gay Alcoholics Anon, (information) 775-0615

Gay Health Workers at YNHH,

Box 2031 , Yale St., New Haven, 06520 436-8354

Rhode Island (401)

IHFOUMATlOH/SEUVICEfSOCIAL

Gay Help Line 751-3322

Gay Community Services of R.I., 728-9269

Box 6563, Providence 02940 728-6023

MEDICAL/COUNSELING

Lesbian Herstory Archives, P.O. Box 1258, 10001 Lesbian Switchboard 243 W. 20th St. 10010

POUT1CAL/LEGAL

741-2610

Providence Gay Group of AA

WOMEN

333-1396

Gay Women of Brown, c/o Sarah Doyle Women's Center, 186 Meeting St.,

Providence, 02912 863-2189

Lesbian Feminist Union, Sarah Doyle Center Box 1829 Brown Sta., Providence 02912 863-2189

Support Group for Gay Women Over 25

Box 755, Pawtucket 02860 942-5368

STUDENT _

Brown/RISD Gay Students, Box 49, Brown U.,

Providence 02912 863-3062

RELIGIOUS _

Dignity/Providence 724-0132

Box 2231, Pawtucket 02861

MCC/Providence, 5 Junction St., Providence 272-9247

MCC Innovative Ministry (terminally III, aged and handicapped), Rev. Michael Nordstrom m 272-8482

Hew Hampshire (603)

INFORMATION/SERVICE/SOCIAL

Dignity/Integrity 52 Pleasant St., Concord 03301

Nashua Area Gays, P.O.Box 3472,

Nashua 03061

NH Coalition of Lesbians & Gay Men Box 521 , Concord 03301 228-8049

NH Lambda, Box 1043, Concord 03301 Concord 224-3785, 431-1541; Keene 399-4927;

Nashua 889-1416

Speakers Bureau, Box 521, Concord 03301;

Box 3472, Nashua 03061

MEN

228-8049

Central N.H. Men’s Support Group 31 Union St., Concord 03301 Concord Bisexual Support Group 67 Thorndike St.

Seacoast Gay Men, P.O. Box 221 Portsmouth 03801

WOMEN _ -

Full Circle, monthly feminist news

Mainely Gay, P.O. Box 4542, Portland 04112

MEN/WOMEN _

Aroostook Lambda, P.O. Box 990, Caribou, ME 04736 Maine Lesbian Feminists P.O. Box 125, Belfast, 04915 Midcoast Gay Men P.O. Box 57 Belfast, ME 04915

STUDENT _

Wilde-Stein Club, c/o Memorial Union,

U. of Maine, Orono 04473

New York City (2-12)

IHFORMATIOH/SERVICE/SOCIAL

Ass'n of Gay Social Workers, c/o Gay Switchboard Message. Center,

1 10 E. 23rd St., Suite 502, 10010 777-7697

Chelsea Gay Association

164 W 21st St. #1979 10011 691-0057

FOLKS (Friends of Little Kids 989-6653

Gay Atheists League of America

P.O. Box 248, Village Sta NYC 10014 260-3944

Gay and Lesbian Blind, 110 East 23rd St.

Suite 502, NYC 10010

Gay Switchboard 777-1800

Gayellow Pages

P.O.Box 292, Village Sta. 744-2785

Mirth and Girth Club 734-7748

New York Gay Prisoners Support Committee,

P.O. Box 2, Village Station, 10014 677-0237

Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop,

1 5 Christopher St. 255-8097

SAGE, Inc.

487 A Hudson St. 10014 West Side Discussion Group,

26 Ninth Ave. (at W.14 St.) 675-0143

WOMEN _

All The Queens Women, 36-23 164th St.,

Flushing 11358 359-9204

Dykes & Tykes

Room 502, 110 E. 23rd St. 10010 Gay Women's Alternative,

4 W 76th St. 10023 5326669

Coalition for Lesbian & Gay Rights 29 W 21 St St. 924-2970

Committee of Lesbian and Gay Male Socialists 988-3012 Dykes & Tykes Legal Custody Center,

Rm502, 110 E. 23rd St., NYC 10010 7776358

Gay Activists Alliance,

P.O. Box 2, Village Station 6776237

Gay Lawyers & Law Students' Group

Postal Address: Law Group P.O. Box 1899 Grand Central Station 10017 628-8532

Lambda Legal Defense, P.O. Box 5448,

Grand Central Sta., 10017 5326197

National Coalition of Gay Activists,

P.O. Box A-711, Grand Central Sta., 10017 National Gay Task Force,

80 Fifth Ave., Rm 1 601 741 -5800

National March on Washington 29 W. 21st St., 2nd fl„ 10010 924-2970

RELIGIOUS _

Church of the Beloved Disciple,

348 W. 14th St., 10004 2426616

Integrity-Episcopal Gay Society,

G PO Box 1 549, 1 000 1 9896653

MCC/NY, 201 W. 13th St., 10011 242-1212

MEDIA/ENTERTAINMENT

Gaysweek, 216 W. 18th St. 10011 Gay Theatre Alliance WBAI Gay Rap	929-7720 5932597 2796707
STUDENT
New York U. Gay People's Union Loeb Student Ctr, Rm 810	5987056
MEDICAL/COUNSELING

Gay Men’s Health Project

74 Grove St. Rm 2RW, 10014

691-6969

National Gay Health Collective

55 West 26 St. #402, 10010

7230114

OCCUPATIONAL

Paul 888-1305 Gay Teacher's Association, 204 Lincoln

PI., Brooklyn 11217

255-5969/499-1060

journal, P.O. Box 235, Contoocook, NH 03229 Lesbian Feminist Collective, Box 47, Penacook

STUDENT _

Dartmouth Gay Students’ Assoc.

Hinman Box 5057, Hanover 03755

Vermont (602)

INFORMATION/SERVICE/SOCIAL

Southern Vermont Lesbians/Gay Men's Coalition, P.O. Box 1034, Brattleboro 05301

Washington County Gays 2236843

P.O. Box 1264, Montpelier 05602

WOMEN _

Southern Vermont Women's Health Center,

187 N. Main St., Rutland, 05701 775-1946

Women's Center,

P.O. Box 92 Burlington 05401 8631236

RELIGIOUS _

Integrity, P.O. Box 11 Winooski, 05404

STUDENT _

Gay Hotline, U of VT 656-4173

Gay Student Union, U of VT,

Burlington 05401, M-F, 7-9pm 656-4173

Gay People at Middlebury

Box D56, Middlebury College, 05753

Maine (207)

IHFOUMATION/SERVICE/SOCIAL

Center for Being, Alternative Counseling Service Boothbay Harbor Down East Gay Alliance Box 594

Bar Harbor 04609

MEDIA

Hew York State

INFORMATION/SERVICE/SOCIAL

Alternatives Corner (516)4832050

374 Woodfield Rd. W. Hemstead, 11522 Broome County Gay Alliance, P.O. Box F-1711 Binghamton 13902

Capital District Gay Community Center (7-1 1pm),

332 Hudson Ave., Albany 12210 (518)4626138

Confide— counseling for transvestites and transsexuals. Box 56, Tappan 10983 East End Gay Organization,

P.O. Box 87, Southampton 11968 Empty Closet Collective, 1255 Uni¬ versity Ave., Rochester 14607 Gay Alliance of The Genessee Valley,

713 Monroe Ave., Rochester, 14614 Gay and Lesbian Alliance,

P.O. Box 22740, Albany 12222 Gay Helpline

(Fri-Sun, 7:30-10 p.m.)

Gay Light Collective, 389 W. Onondaga St.,

Syracuse 13202

Gay Task Force, 713 Monroe Ave.,

Rochester (Mon. 7pm) (71 6) 244-8640, 244-9030

Gertrude Stein Book Collective,

262 Central Ave, Albany 12206;

(by mail: Box 1807, Albany 12201)

NY State Coalition of Gay Organizations,

Box 131, Albany 12201 Parents of Gays/L.l c/o Gay Concerns Comm.

109 Browns Rd., Huntington, 11746

WOMEN

(516)324-2468

(716)2716750 (716) 244-8640 or 244-9030

(607) 797-3453

(315) 4756857

(518)4639246

(518)4626138

Bisexual/Gay Women's Action Line Herizon — A Woman's Space 77 State St., Binghamton Lesbian Resource Center, 713 Monroe Ave., Rochester 14607 Lesbian Switchboard (Mon, 7-9 p.m.)

MEN

(516)791-5565

(716) 244-9030 (607) 722-3629

Westchester Gay Men's Assoc.

255 Grove St„ White Plains, 10601 Gay Hotline (811pm)

RELIGIOUS

(914)9484922

6335264

2883773

(716)2326521

Affirmation (Unitarian Unlversalist Gay Caucus), 34 Chestnut Rd., Delmar 12054 Dignity/Integrity/Rochester 42 Tyler House, 17 So. Fltzhugh St., Rochester 14614

Dignlty/L.l., P.O. 487P, Bayshore 11706 Gay Concerns Committee of the Unitarian Unlversalist Fellowship of Huntington, 109 Browns Rd.,

Huntington 11743

STUDENT

(607) 2566482

(716)244-8640

(716)2736181 (516)420-2134 (516) 2487943

Gay People at Cornell 528 Willard Straight. Ithaca 14853 Gay Brotherhood of Rochester,

713 Monroe Ave., Rochester Gay Liberation Front, U. of R.. Wilson Commons, Rochester 14607 Gay Men and Women at Farmingdale Gay Student Union, S.U.N.Y. Hamllton-Kirkland Gay Alliance, Box 80, Hamilton College, Clinton 13323 Harpur Gay Alliance SUNY, Binghamton, Box 2000, 13901 Harpur Lesbian Alliance SUNY, Binghamton, 13901 Lambda Univ.,

Box 131, Albany 12201 Teen Gays of New York 385 W. Onondaga St. Syracuse 1 3202

MEDIA

(518)4626138

(315)4736857

Capitol District Alive, 262 Central Ave, Albany 12206;

(by mail: Box 1807, Albany 12201)

The Other Voice (Gay Publication) c/o Looking Left, SUNY Binghamton 13901

POLITICAL/LEGAL

Capital District Gay Political Caucus, Box 131, Albany 12201

(518)4626138

If your organization feels that it has been miscategorized, please contact GCN so the error may be corrected.

To update your listing or to put a new list¬ ing into the Quick Gay Guide, send informa¬ tion to Listings Editor, GCN, 22 Bromfield Street , Boston, MA 02108.

The GCN Crossword Puzzle

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By Pat M. Kuras

ACROSS

1 . Greek measure

2. absolute

8. sacred representation

12. Bear constellation

13. gay rocker, Robinson

14. tooth and _

15. cop a _ (lewd behavior)

16. sight organs 18. forward

20. dive or Lake

21. Mr. Onassis 23. woman’s name 27. gay women

32. Roentgen ray

33. Jai _

34. Gay Teachers’ Union

35. French wing

36. employer, one using

37. toe sucker

39. dolt

40. baby newt

41. thick slice

44. piece

49. take advantage of

53. travel

54. Picano’s novel, The

55. direction

56. frosts

57. lawn

58. editors

59. type of moss

DOWN

1. English faggot

2. popular cookie

3. one who utilizes

4. _ of the earth

5. gobbled

6. Mart Crowley’s play

The _

7. sawbill duck

8. involved with a test (3 wds)

9. James Dean in East of Eden

10. vinegar’s companion

11. Nat’l Labor Service 17. Bachelor of Arts 19. fencer’s cry 22. from _ to riches

24. fall

25. tall or fairy

26. Massachusetts town

27. sieve for clay

28. if not

29. tenant, early Irish

30. aviary pellets

31. breaking waves 38. possessive pronoun

42. Lesbian Liberation

43. first class

45. journey

46. fried or brown

47. notion

48. bothersome person

49. soar

50. Bantu, Congo

51. make a mistake

52. _ Moines, Iowa

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