LGBT History Project of the LGBT Center of Central PA

Located at Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections

http://archives.dickinson.edu/

Documents Online

Title: Gay Era (Lancaster, PA)

Date: December 1977

Location: LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection Periodicals Collection

Contact: LGBT History Project Archives & Special Collections Waidner-Spahr Library Dickinson College P.O. Box 1773 Carlisle, PA 17013

717-245-1399 [email protected]

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"A Monthly Publication Serving 'Rural' Pennsylvania"

DECEMBER 1977 vol. 3 no. 8 5Oc

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iMen Leming Men

f SAW DADDY 4 KISSING - lny ■B Ml SAAZ77I CLAUS a

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open daily 4p.m.-2a.m. DANCING

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Now under new ownership— —formerly “The Dandelion Tree” . In the News

the Governor's Council for Sexual personal conduct, freely chosen, NATIONAL GAY BLUE JEANS DAY Minorities. which is morally offensive and frank­ The Americus Hotel in Allentown ly obnoxious to the vast majority of HELD IN STATE COLLEGE suddenly reversed its decision two local citizens." months after it had agreed to host The Mayor and City Council also by Dave Leas look with disfavor on the proposed Gay Era staff the conference. This decision was made by the hotel's owner; the man­ bill and are unwilling to sponsor ager who had originally agreed to it. But a group called the "Lehigh the conference is no longer employed Valley Coalition for Human Rights" If you didn't notice, or remember, has been formed and is gathering October 14 was National Gay Blue by the Americus. In the two months the Americus support statements, probing the Jeans Day. This peculiar Gay holiday Council, and preparing to introduce started a few years ago as a form of Hotel owner took to reverse its decision, most of the alternative the gay rights bill shortly after consciousness raising in the gay as the elections. well as straight communities. sites have been filled. The confer­ Gay Blue Jeans Day worked a bit ence, therefore,will not only have to like this: It was announced and switch its locale, but most likely LESBIANS ON TRIAL its date as well. highly publicized (especially on col­ NEED YOUR SUPPORT lege campuses) as the day when all The decision was also made during the period when the negotiations Gays would wear blue jeans. As DETROIT — Two Black Lesbians could be expected, non-gays wore were still being conducted, before a contract had been signed. The will go on trial January 3» because something other than blue jeans or they stood up for their right to be wore them anyhow and took a bit of caucus was supposed to meet with the manager to go over the final de­ gay, to live with each other, and flak from their straight friends. to raise their children in peace. According to Chris Miller, editor tails prior to the signing of the contract. On several days that this Cynthia R. and Deborah P. (full of ZAP, the newsletter for the State names withheld to protect their College Gay Community, "There were meeting had been schedulted, the caucus was told that the manager was jobs) had been subjected to weeks many fewer blue jeans that day, and of harassment by their anti-gay many more khakis and painter's pants, out sick with a cold. Finally the caucus was infomred that the manager landlady and her two daughters. The not to mention double-knits and ter­ harassment included verbal abuse rible plaids. And some dresses." "no longer worked for the Americus," and that Mr. Moffa, the owner, had and physical attacks which has the Some people complained that their cooperation of the police. When they right to wear blue jeans was being refused to accomodate the conference. The Americus was closen over defended themselves they were ar­ violated. Jean Guertler, President rested and charged with felonious of Homophiles of Penn State (HOPS), other hotels because of Allentown's ■central location in the state and assault. wrote in a letter to ZAP, "I don't The landlady started harassing hear many complaints about one's because the hotel was the site for the Pennsylvania NOW convention. Cynthia and Deborah after she eaves­ rights to wear green on St. Patrick's dropped on a private conversation Day, unless, of course, that day Joseph Burns, co-chair of the Rural Caucus stated, " It is without and found out they were lesbians. falls on a Thursday." Last July 4, the landlady's 16-year- Much to everyone's surprise in doubt the most open and glaring example of discrimination against old daughter started an argument State College, HOPS received their with one of the gay women by calling October Action Report from the Nat­ gays we can document in the state. Under private, unincorporated owner­ her derogatory names in front of her ional Gay Task Force (NGTF) after children. The gay woman was physic­ Gay Blue Jeans Day was held. In the ship, without the existence of a written contract, and without a gay ally threatened by both the daugh­ report, the NGTF announced that they ter and her boyfriend. Later that decided to hold off the day until rights amendment in the local or state governments, their discrimina­ evening, another daughter, 22-year- next spring. The two reasons they old Sharon Stuggs, sat on the porch gave were : 1) they feel college cam­ tion is legal." A possible reason for the Amer­ with a butcher knife threatening the puses are still the best place to two women as they came and went. hold gay jeans day; and 2) they feel icus' about-face could be the cur­ rent battle among the citizenry of The gay women started carrying spring is more appropriate than fall Allentown over a proposed gay rights knives to protect themselves. The for gay jeans days. ordinance (see November, Gay Era, landlady called the police on them. page 6). A group termed Citizens The police said the landlady's ALLENTOWN BATTLE: Organized for Decency (C.O.D.) family had a right to sit on their STATE CONFERENCE IN LIMBO formed specifically to oppose the property with a butcher knife, but ordinance suggested by Allentown's the gay women could not carry knivesi. by Harry H Long Human Relation's Connission. C.O.D. During the following weeks, Cyn­ Gay Era staff has also been joined by the Citi­ thia, Deborah, and their four'chil- zen's Caucus which is self-identi­ dren, aged six through nine, were Already cancelled due to an over- fied as conservative politically. constantly threatened and Insulted optimistic timetable, the second Following Dade County tactics, with physical harm. Then, on August state-wide gay conference is once the Citizens Caucus ran an ad head­ 24, the landlady's daughters began more in limbo. The Americus Hotel ed: "Gay Rights or Perversion Per­ throwing bricks at the children and has refused to accomodate the event mit?" in the local papers. The ad their dog as they played in the which was to be held in January un­ cited Bryant's campaign and "reject­ front yard. When Deborah came down der the joint sponsorship of the ed the view that homosexuality is a to see what was happening, she was Pennsylvania Rural Gay Caucus and civil right... its... a form of attacked with a butcher knife by Sharon Stuggs. She was cut seriously on the arm, and had to be taken to the hospital. At the hospital, the police said Deborah could sign a complaint. But when the police learned that Deborah was a lesbian, they told her that (she could not sign the complaint. They went along with the landlady's story that Deborah had started the trouble, even though she was the on­ ly one hurt. The police, in effect, gave the landlady's family a green light to attack the gay family. The qay women had no choice but to take their defense into their own hands. Another confrontation took place the next day. This time Cynthia and Deborah defended themselves. This caped without Injury; six men were mitted that such a padlock might time the landlady's daughters got hospitalized and one of them remains have been lost as firefighters broke hurt. This time the police came in criticial condition. The cuase of through the door. right away and arrested Cynthia and the blaze is as yet unknown. A Wash- One survivor of the fire remem­ Deborah for felonious assault. ington Post account described the bered that he "held that lock in my During their questioning, Cynthia day after the fire as having "the hand — it was heavy brass or else and Deborah were verbally abused by grim, burned out appearance appro­ a brass-colored padlock. It was the the cops and told that gay people priate to a death trap." type you would put a key in from the are always causing trouble. However, The Cinema Follies blaze comes bottom to open it. When I held that the District Attorney was forced to four months after fire destroyed lock in may hand I was very angry. also charge Sharon Stuggs with fel­ the Everard Baths in New York City. I cannot explain the rage I felt at onious assault for her attack on In the Everard tragedy, which took that moment." Deborah, since it was clear she had place last May 25, nine men lost provoked the whole incident. thier lives while 10 others were — Gay Community News When they went home after being injured. released, Cynthia and Deborah found According to fire officials, the their apartment had been vandalized, cinema appeared to be in compliance SAVE WHOSE CHILDREN? and all of their possessions either with District of Columbia fire and damaged or destroyed. The police building regulations. These regula­ ROBBINS TAKES STAND said they could do nothing about it tions require every "assembly room" AGAINST BRIGGS because there were no witnesses to that holds fewer than 74 persons prove who had done it. to have one exit door with an exit California State Senator Alan The Gay Rights Defense Committee light above it. The Cinema Follies Robbins of the San Fernando Valley is organizing support for these two had that one required exit door, but has made a suggestion to his col­ women. Send donations to: Gay Rights the door was the front door of the league John Briggs about how Briggs Defense Committee, Box 503, Detroit, run-down cinema; it was from this might better protect the state's Michigan, 48221. door that the fire roared up the school children from sex-crazed steps into the cinema itslef. Anoth­ teachers. 8 DIE AS FIRE SWEEPS er door, which led from the inside Briggs is spearheading a petition of the theatre to the roof, could drive to place before the state's D.C. GAY MOVIE HOUSE not be opened, and fire officials voters next June a measure that are still attempting to discover would allow local school boards to WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the second why this was so. fire gay teachers. major fire in a gay-oriented estab­ Fire official Chief H. H. Shaffer Tongue in cheek, Robbins suggest­ lishment in recent months, eight said that he is investigating the ed to Briggs that his initiative man have died in a blaze that sweet "consistent claim" from several fire does not go far enough. Robbins sent a Washington movie house in late survivors that the theatre door to Briggs a letter and a news clipping October. The fire, which destroyed the roof was padlocked. "One of my about a 26-year-old female teacher the Cinema Follies, trapped 15 men own fire investigators said he saw a charged with seducing an 11-year-old as they were watching gay porno padlock on that door," Shaffer said. male student. films in the theatre, located on the "But there is no physical way to "In light of this article," Rob­ second floor of a cinder-block build­ hang such a padlock on it." He ad­ bins wrote, "and in view of the fact ing. Only one of the 15 patrons_es-__

GIOVANNI’S 1 ROOM

1426 SPRUCE STREET,PHILADELPHIA,PA.19102(215)732-9612 LOS ANGELOS — Reverend Troy D. tures needed by November 15 and would 5 Perry, founder and General Moderator lave "no trouble" in obtaining the that over 90 percent of reported in­ of the United Federation of Metropol­ lecessary number. But, because of a stances of sexual abuse against fe­ itan Community Churches, terminated :ourt challenge to the wording of the males under 14 involve male-female his water-only fast here yesterday, referendum by a San Fransisco gay contact, I presume that you will be Spokspersons for the church announc­ teacher, the Senator decied to with­ expanding your initiative effort to ed. He had been fasting since Sep-, draw the initiative in order to re­ prohibit the hiring of heterosexual tember 6. formulate it. Briggs now will start teachers. Perry announced earlier he would again from scratch and hopes to find "While the prohibition against fast until $100,000 had been raised ^nough signatures to place the pro­ both homosexual and heterosexual by the California fund for Human Dig­ posal on next November's electoral teachers may cause some minor prob­ nity to combat California State ballot. lems in the recruitment of new Senator John Briggs' action against teachers, the standard of protection Jay teachers. — Gay Community News that you will then be able to pro­ vide will be without compare in the BRIGGS WITHDRAWS ANITA BRYANT FLEES NEW YORK United States, or anywhere in the world. ANTI-GAY INITIATIVE AFTER DEATH THREATS "Many Californians rest easier every night knowing that the ll-year*- SACRAMENTO, CA — Facing a court olds of our state are, so to speak, NEW YORK — Singer and anit-gay challenge, California's State Sena­ crusader Anita Bryant has fled New in your hands. My best regards, tor John Briggs has temporarily with­ Alan Robbins." York after "death threats" which she drawn his initiative that, if ap­ asserted were made by "militant homo­ — The Advocate proved, would have made it possible sexuals." Bryant was in New York to for California school borads to fire appear on the NBC-TV "Today Show." ppenly gay teachers. Briggs claimed However, after three calls were made TROY PERRY ENDS FAST that he had gathered more than 100, to the network threatening the sing­ DOO signatures of the 312,404 signa­ ers life, NBC officials decied to tape the show in advance and Bryant left the city after moving up a news conference originally scheduled af- ter the show. Bryant was accompanied to her news conference by a security guard and proclaimed that she had been forced to turn her Miami home into a for­ JUHAIIIIS RANCH tress because of threats. Back in Mi­ ami, her husband, Bob Green, told /reporters, "If they want to kill us, let them do it." As Bryant's image appeared on tel­ evision screens across the nation, 300 gay activists demonstrated out­ side NBC-TV1s headquarters in New York. The deomnstration was called OLDIES by the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights and had the support of a va­ Butt riety of gay groups. Gay activists then met with NBC officials, asking them for "equal time" to counter Bryant's remarks. Although NBC officials did not make GOODIES any promises for equal time, the of­ ficials indicated that they would consider an opportunity for response. Ginny Vida of the National Gay Task Force "deplored" threats of vio­ NITES lence against Bryant's life. But, PORTA’S HOUie WIGS

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Phone 392 - 9362 NO CHARGE FOR ADMISSION OPEN 10;30 - 5 Mon. - Sat. 6 Vida emphasized, "things mu. c be ieen in their real context. It is gay rated movies should be allowed to people who are v1c1tms of violence, thrive free of any legal Interfer­ fiot Anita. We are murdered and beat­ ence? J , en up in many places of this country, Christina Cause lists itself as We are the real vicitms." sponsored by CALL (Christian Ameri­ can Liberties League), a non-profit, — Gay Community New? non-denominational religious organ­ ization. 'CHRISTIAN CAUSE' URGES flag to all communitites that Chris- ANTI-GAY CAMPAIGN tains and other moraaly upright — Gay Community News people better wake up and get in­ LOS ANGELOS — A well-financed, volved before they lose control of high-quality anti-gay mailing from their schools and their whole cit­ COURT CALLED THIS GAY POEM an organization called Christian ies," Green is quoted as saying. The 'BLASPHEMY' Cause is being circulated throughout letter praises Anita Bryant as a the country. The organization de­ "courageous wife" who "literally LONDON — The Gay News here has scribes itslef as"A Movement to Re­ put her professional career on the been found guilty in England's first store Moral Accountability to Amer­ line" and calls Bryant's Miami vic­ blasphemy trial in 55 years. ican Life" and lists the Los Ange­ tory "the most important single vic­ The newspaper and Editor Denis los police chief as special consul­ tory so far in our movement to re­ Lemon were convicted for publishing tant. The mailing, signed by Rev. store moral accountability to Amer­ a poem, "The Love That Dares to Robert G. Grant, the president of ican life." Speak It's Name," which depicted a the Christian Cause executive com- "Her fight is our fight... Our Roman centurian's lust for the mi ttee, is primarily an appeal for supporters are doing something about crucified Jesus Christ. funds and includes a "morality is­ the moral degeneracy in our society," Lemon was fined 500 English sues poll" in the mailing. writes Rev. Grant. "Would you want pounds ($870); the newspaper 1,500 The mailing is addressed "Dear an admitted, flaunting homosexual pounds ($2,610). Potential Vicitm" and leads off with teaching your children.. .serving as The poem, published in issue 96 a quote from Bob Greene, husband of your minister or priest... belong- of Britain's leading gay newspaper, Anita Bryant. "This is a warning Tng~to your local police or fire was written by James Kirkrup, a fighterforce?" asks the four-page professor at Cambridge and Harvard. mailing. The complaint was filed by anti- Cjay (greeting Cards Whatever policy is being made... pornographic campaigner Mary White­ Whenever individuals are deciding house, who said after the convic­ ethical issues which affect the tion, "Thank God, a line has at lives of millions of 'voiceless' last been drawn." Americans, CHRISTIAN CAUSE plans to But free press advocates jumped be there to promote the Christian to the newspaper's defense. The position loud and clear," the~organ- National Council for Civil Liberties ization states. TV messages, grass­ called the conviction censorship. roots organizing and national polls The council said the court's judge­ are listed as three ways to get the ment meant that England "must now Christian Cause message across. conform to the standards of reli­ The Morality Issues Poll, includ­ gion practiced by only a minority ed with the mailing, asks Christian of the country." Only 20 percent of Cause supporters: Britons are members of the state *Do you support Anita Bryant's church, The Church of England. stand against "gay rights" bills? Lemon said he was "shocked and *Do you think homosexuality, les­ disappointed" by the verdict bianism, and bisexuality are "nor­ reached by a 10-2 majority of the mal" and should be publicly sanc­ jury. Lemon also received a nine tioned? months suspended sentence — the ♦Would you want an admitted homo­ suspension conditional on not pub­ sexual teaching your children... lishing similar "blasphemous" mater­ serving as your minister or priest ial . ...belonging to your local police Defense attorney John Mortimer or fire fighter force? said the poem "did not attack Christ, ♦Are you in favor of abolishing but glorified him by asserting all laws against "victimless crimes" Christian beliefs and speaking a (e.g. prostitution or sodomy)? love for him." But prosecutor John ^^^^o^^oirthilU^porno^sho^s^andJC-^ VIRGINIA ESCAPING FROM PAUL. Smythe called the poem "so vile that it would be hard for even the most DANIEL G. SLOAN perverted imagination to conjure up TELEPHONE 1717) M6-36S3 anything worse." "We have free speech," the pros­ ecutor said. "You can say Christ was a fraud or a deceiver or may even have been a homosexual, provid­ ing you say in a reasonable, meas­ Inquire or order front ured, reflective, decent way." tr ssloan The last person convicted for COUNTRY STORE blasphemous libel in England was ISE OF ITS ASSOCIATES) ggL pamphleteer William Gott, who was SINCE 1976 QPZaS sentenced in 1922 for publishing "God and Gott" and "Rib Ticklers." □ CARLISLE. PENNSYLVANIA I7OI9— (f1 » MNM. M I Gott's health failed in jail and he died soon after his release. THIS 6 NF MAS BEEN DNC£>HD\TIONALLY ^UAREMTCED by TMEMAkRRS.' 6BSEPVE... Opinion

to introduce legislation to circumvent Governor Shapp's And the Pennsylvania legislature marches on Jn I Executive Order barring discrimination in state govern- its tireless fight to return the commonwealth to the ment. can be °ark {Addition to all its other barely enforceable I They're the ones whose attempt at progress summed up by a quote f.from _... the .Firesign . Z" Theatre: "For- victimless crimes, the bill gang has dec ded to come vard into the past!" — HL up with an anti-obscenity bill. And n°* e^t any anti-obscenity bill, mind you, but a detailedjolla I paTooza. The bill is so lovingly it obscene and pornographic that it s highly like y that selling copies of the legislation would be in V1°laThere°wereeprobably sticky seats thr0^9h°^ the House and Senate by the time the voting roll was Ca1l6zipped through both august bodies, the bill be­ came law without Governor Shapp s signature less than <4. a week before the elections. Easily one of the more blatantly obvious political moves since the well- L-> H timed "end" of the Vietnam war. Elections are now over and the bill will prob­ ably be conveniently forgotten until the next set of elections for District Attorneys comes along. Shortly thereafter we can probably expect a big test case which will attempt to strike down the law. This may In -j _ be difficult since the law is constitutionally con­ structed, even though it severly limits freedoms and mtroduc^s “?^°rgOtPthis poke> let's examine the pig

U C°Srbi 11 defines obscene matter as. that whJch appeals to prurient intersts and lacks serious (?) lit­ erary, educational or scientific value. (Well in defense of porn, we must say that it taught us things we might never have,thought up on our own but that's another story. Let s press on.) ’ it prohibits the sale and exhibition of printed matter, pictures and movies featuring 'patently of­ fensive sexual conduct " including masturbat on, ex­ cretory functions, lewd exhibition of genitals and

even fens-j ve to whom? We consider the orinte^rantlngs of that O.J. pusher, on the case his­ tories of homosexual behavior modification more pat­ ently offensive" than a pleasant photo of two man suck- and “ne’starts outlawing things simply because they are patently offensive where will it all end. Will the In the recent set of elections we once again heard Police Gazette disappear from the newsstands, also. a number of politicians hot out the old turnip about now ^TTVThoseconTnerci al s for record co lections and they’d consider a gay rights bill if we could produce kitchen aids disappear from UHF? Will Gideon Bibles "evidence of discrimination." , , vanish from motels? After all, one man's meat (you How dumb do they think we are? How dumb are they. should pardon the expression)..... Don't they read Time? It had a front-page story on Even more dangerous is the little phrase and Leonard Matlovich. Or wasn't that discrimination. exhibition." This means that one could purchase, say, Don't they read the newspapers? One constantly sees "Playboy" (out of state, of course as the new law de­ stories of Lesbian mothers denied custody, gay tatne clares it obscene) and violate the law by showing the denied visitation rights. Or isn't that discriminate . centerfold to one's neighbor! xf... What about gay teachers fired for their sexua y. Ridiculous? Of course. But this law takes effect Publications which constantly refuse to review boo on the first of the year. cc. , ______And who do we ______have to thank h for ththis„, blessing. . see the/re pulbn, the sane *'______«

ALLENTOWN Fiddler Lounge (bar), 10 South Prince Street. Rube's (bar), 844 Hamilton Street. Gays United of Lancaster, 3002 Marietta Ave,, Stonewall (bar), 28 N. 10th Street. 17601; (717)-898-2876. Gay Era, 332 N. Mulberry Street, 17603. ALTOONA Lancaster Gay Switchboard, (717)-898-2876, LaPiere (bar), Corner 6th & Union Avenue. Wed-Sun. 7:00-10:30 pm. Loft (restaurant, second floor), 201 West BERWICK Orange Street. The Steppes (private club), Hotel Berwick, Tally-Ho (bar), 201 W. Orange Street. 300 Market St., 18603; (717)-752-2282. V.D. Clinic, St. Joseph Hospital, 250 College Ave, (717)-291-8111, free, 24 hours. BETHLEHEM . „ Le-Hi-Ho, Box 1003, Moravian Station, 18018. Women Oriented Women (WOW), c/o Lancaster Women's Center, 230 W. Chestnut Street, BRIDGEPORT (717)-299-5381. The Lark (bar), 302 DeKalb St, (Rt. 202 north). MARCUS HOOK BRYN MAWR , , Captain Jack's (bar), Market Street. Bryn Mawr/Haverford Gay People s Alliance, George's (bar), Market Street. Room 24, College Inn, Bryn Mawr College, Paradise (bar), Market Street. 19090. MARIETTA CRESSON Railroad House Hotel,Ltd. (restaurant, bar), Castaways Inn, 629 Front St, (814)-886-9931. Front & Perry Streets, 17547, (717)-426-9811,

EASTON MILLERSVILLE Al's Beef House (restaurant, mixed), Gay Awareness of Millersville State College, 14 North 3rd Street. Box 3333, Gordinier Hall, M.S.C., Millers­ ville, 17551. ELIZABETH The Waterfall (bar), 116 Market Street, NEW HOPE (412)-384-9807. Cartwheel (bar), Rt. 202 West. Chez Odette (restaurant, mixed), Highway 32 ERIE at River Road. Midtown Lounge, 723 French Street. January's Inn, 218 Aquetony Road, Solebury. Washington Grill, Washington & W. 10th. New Prelude, one mile west on U.S. Rt. 202.

GREENSBURG NORTHUMBERLAND Golden Arrow Bar, 108 W. Pittsburgh St. Susquehanna Valley Gays United, Box 182, 17857, (717)-473-9923. HARRISBURG READING Class One, 6th & Hoffman (bar) Alternative Booksellers, 10 N. 4th Street, 19601, (215)-373-0442. D-Gem (bar), Front Street. Gay Coordinating Society of Berks County, Dignity, Box 297, Federal Square Station, 17108. Box 3131, 19603. Gay Community Services, Box 297, Federal Glass Door (bar), 300 block N. 5th Street. Square Station, 17108. Red Star Saloon, 143 N. 10th Street. Gay Switchboard, (717)-234-0328, Mon-Fri., This Is It (bar), 8th & Walnut Streets. 6:00-10:00 pm. Golden Coach (bar), 4309 Linglestown Road. SCRANTON Integrity/Greater Harrisburg, Box 3809, 17108. DeMitri Cafe, 237 Wyoming Avenue. Le Rose Rouge (bar), 400 N. 2nd Street. Metropolitan Community Church/Central Penna., SHAVERSTOWN 1001 N. Spring St, Apt. 1-2, Middletown. North East Pennsylvania Gay Alliance, Box 17)0, Neptune's Lounge (bar), 268 North Street. 18708. Pennsylvania Council for Sexual Minorities, c/o Office of the Governor, 238 Main Capitol SHIPPENSBURG Shippensburg Students for Gay Rights, Building, 17102. Pennsylvania Rural Gay Caucus, Box 1505, i/iuo. Shippensburg State College, 17257. The Rose Garden (club), 1522 Derry Street. STATE COLLEGE Gayline, (814)-863-0588, Mon-Sun. 7-9:00 pm. INDIANA Homophiles of India’hFuniversity of Penna., Homophiles of Penn State (HOPS), Box 218,1680). Box 1588, Indiana University, 15701. Lesbian Collective, c/o Women's Resource f . Center, 108 E. Beaver Ave, 16801. LANCASTER * . „u u . Metropolitan Community Church, all mail c/o Church of the Brefhren/Mennomte Church Gay Homophiles of Penn State. Caucus, Box 582, 17604. Mr. C's (mixed bar), 112 W. College Avenue, Contact (counseling), 24 hours, call collect (814)-234-l031. (717)-299-4855. My-Oh-My Bar, 128 E. College Avenue. Erotic Den (porno), 53 North Prince Street. Erotic Forum (porno), 227 N. Prince Street. GIY RESOURCE LIST WEST CHESTER rhpc.ter 718 Tyson Hall. West Gavs of West Chester, ioiro

(t.r). «•<" Street.

SWARTHMORE Liberation, c/o Swarth- Swarthmore College Gay Lite ™Xtla„d's Raeeh (Sued., e

Contributors Joseph Anthony Ken Burke Janet Cooper L R. Greiner Stephen McCreary Martin Miller Tony Russo Diane Shenk Bari Weaver jeff Willed

The W ERA it P»»'“ed the exception of August. ,..k Single copy: 5OC $5 00 COI’CC, 12 issue subscripts Mail all correspondence or subscrip­ \rriir^r'C>Ai 0 Pt • tions to; 332 N. Mu1bep:ry1S7603et Lancaster, PA 17603 xu nth nf each month; Published on the i 5th of each submission deadline is » month.

The official only'’!'' its edi- the GAY ERA ^""outforth in individual tori als. OP1" are those of the ~c.ss.riiy reflect

larry hermsen Body Politic SELF-OPPRESSION ..... __ sharingsharina of pleasureDie*sure that Gay people vailable to heterosexuals, cluttered can enjoy. The heterosexual world Part 2 as 1t Is with ceremonies of court­ by Andrew Hodges and David Hutter has no equivalent of a Gay sauna! ship and marriage and further poi­ Moreover our heterosexual detractors soned by a division of roles which UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE betray their limited vision by their condemns the man to dominate and the mistaken assumption that promiscuity woman to submit. A heterosexual Homosexual public speakers find is Incompatible with lasting rela­ pick-up is fraught with implications three complaints against Gay people tionships. Homosexuals are in the cropping up with monotonous regular­ of the man conquering and the woman happy position of being able to en­ ity. Thinly disguised as questions surrendering; It 1s unlikely to en­ joy both at once. A Gay couple in inevitably come the accusations that joy the sense of mutual agreement the street will be admiring the same Gay men are mannered and effeminate, enjoyed by Gay people. For this rea­ people, probably be exchanging re­ corruptors of children, and given to son 1t 1s easier for homosexuals to marks about them; already the hetero­ make sexual contacts, and once made a mindless animal promiscuity that sexual model Is Inadequate to de­ prevents their forming lasting re­ there is no tedious process of per­ scribe what is going on. It is per­ suasion—no ritualized escalation of lationships. "Responsible Gay ac­ fectly easy for a Gay couple to enjoy tivists respond in the appropriate intimacy to be carried out before all the mutual care In the world and apologetic, self-oppressive manner sexual pleasure is reached. also enjoy sex with others separate­ to the first two charges by pointing MORE THAN TWO CAN PLAY. When a- ly or together. These things are out that homosexual men do not nec- pologetlc Gay speakers mention and possible simply because homosexuals essarily look feminine and vice then disparage the accessibility of can identify with the sexual feel­ versa, and that few Gay people are Gay sex, they display a naive belief ings of those they care for 1n a way interested 1n the very young; but that non-Gay people themselves pay logically impossible for non-Gay probably none claim that only a more than lip-service to the value people. For this reason 1t 1s easy minority of homosexuals are pro­ of monogamy. Heterosexuals would for a Gay relationship to develop in- miscuous." ,, . . dearly like the availability of de­ Our spokespeople generally point sirable bodies and the affectionate out that there are many happily set­ tled homosexual couples whose lives of quiet fidelity pass unnoticed, and correctly they do on to po nt out that such permanent Gay rela­ tionships receive none of the recog- rition and support from family and social institutions that m«rried^ couples take for granted. Unfort­ unately these facts are all too often used as excuses, the assump­ tion that promiscuity is necessarily a bad thing remains unchallenged am* we are presented with an ideal to which we may be measured. We shall explain how in effect there is im­ posed upon us yet one more hideous oppression« HETEROSEXUAL MANNERISMS. It 1t a basic mistake to accept heterosexual conventions as God-given criteria by which Gay people may be judged. In­ stead we should use the insights that we have gained as homosexuals to criticize a sexist and hypocrit­ ical society. An example of the failure to do this can be seen when the fact that Gay couples are childless 1s pleaded as an excuse for their relationships ending; and our spokespeople fail to point out that 1f married couples stay to- gether only for what they imagine to I be the benefit of their children, they are not models of permanence but of thwarted impermanence. In­ stead of comparing our freedom un­ favorably with such unions, homo­ sexuals should feel pity for hetero­ sexuals who find themselves trapped in an unhappy marriage and rejoice 'in the liberty their own homosexual- ity bestows. OHAPHICt NICOLAS CANN Gay people have no reason to envy GCN the institutionalized sexuality a- 12 THE SEXUAL OUTLAW tn a non-sexual relationsh^Wh which (continued from page /l) t° ^norc share loving companion- SlpTut fUd s«ua> Pie’.sore outside triumpnantly, ^otugr^ou^o^the that .have spewed other out o^ Se’union-unlike many heterosexual

“S «nt fidplitv is rigidly enforced. The model of heterosexuaImarri- aqe often actually discourages Gay "“‘S'Lose singular bouts of sex people from entering into any kind the distrust of pr°hlSuniiersalUfear of permanent relationship, sin are unwilling to accept the exclu tanism thrives on th something for sivity which they imagine a relation that someone is getti g fQr ship must entail; moreover partner nothing. If plaaSp feel that it still ships which do begin often break up with money, people f eler way.; ^om_ because one partner thinks that he must be paid fo .^fy even a life- mitment, resp°r>sibi i y not She ought to feel jealous, or tne XherTs unnecessarily secret^ and time's mutual i^ompatib1inypay fQr guilty about "extra-marrital affairs. thought too greab aL sexual pleasure, occasional ^"^"Vnnists sometimes ford. If Jim is me y Sgek it is not the homosexual nature o for the desires of ^e men.w^ _ such relationships Uhich causes the Even Gay Libera seXuality had speak as though their^se him out, the partner else in trouble but the poisoned making like a!™ J Rendered Of the heterosexual mode1. An irony down3 sexual roles or the book) are similar V □ °f which we woueldfarcetra^datthhe terosex- u°a s9think nothing more comic than a, the idea of two poking and .ron- and air. »dhyet ?ng together, or more pathetic than v’^r’deSpSi; S’- two women struggling diange “ ai%en7S’o! of dubious respect real i ty* i?pl aced^n*the pai r-bonding ““e’d ty .Licking »”«rt nificantly, Jim s standard wish- hfSSf1nlS."’beSro(self)S-7 of KX: b’aeceXce. ■»sy:™!9S«s ® r?„in1B.’c£e L^SootW^ ■ Cw >rrt"L"ry Urn. Not least .ironies at every that although boldly.naked on the s 9”nSi “JiXo4’£\Pa“e and’waning of these^s aris-en because of a mixture nlJ4rkly converts MS that'promiscuous

*. rugged good looks The sun

■$ lickVthe sweaSfrom his body " cem into the narronrruw vuu • - ■— . A *, people to accept * union. ■’ Many homosexuals* have * :7sl’MeCnds-to-h'o.'Se, turn for As much as he rages ag^instj^ S^niS'ship .hd supp.rt^rte f.nd- appearance in hosti ^h a part of r arp trvinq to escape* < ., ^r^’S’wTA.PeeP’e S’el form, Macho is v y iust as Rechy/"Jim's" equip life are log « tSsPSrlK^nl? means left the irreconcilables 0UT- possess to for. deep ,de, SSe of ex-nlng’tVe long- Sletn2-St’SSSl, face a lonely very much a part u> corner- LAW. This,however, .m™rtance as "r\’cntrjS’u.°uLTt:Kpj»c ■VSefs’VeU S^per- stone of the b°°\Lahting and fore­ document: the h g apeas of gay life true, J°r unle^f^b^ one part­ the^variety and freedom in sexuality that G4y Ped°oPie r3enadefla3Sciae?iy0ethe grounding of thos 3 ked in the ner of even a^happy marriage will^e that ara Ke?h "aav liberation" and/ cause of both gay ”°er1ooked to hair upor^ce^W or gay revlsd? [hat we are forced to such an extent that we developed a total dpe nQvelty in aske, What exactly js what So eoyf 2e repressive dogma that being so promiscuous. uc p Is there such a thwg^^^ & roS-^sr.'raSur^ay^ goes under that " straight sex is only a tion to the norms jife" life? Perhaps g that has never is a myth, someth ng living that IXStV.ork2s.rari^™a existed: i.e., a * for the sake depends UP°" an a that does not of gay Pa°P1e’ "gect against the s’.) merely mimic or r could such San do the ponderous utterances of heterosexual mode a t from homosexual apologists who JJ^a y a 11 feS?nf thZ worl d, T^Tpl endi d a^ro^rexu^nvK'eaving eration so long a tQ heterosex- the rest of the w the ques_ adopting the standards in^ i-ictpners to form a niSr^of uihappy «y relationships of the non-Gay world. 5S„hnhVcK“fbr’pr»ddi«g us based onthe be’teresexua; ~de> of tempiating them. allowable monogamy and forbidae the pamphlet "With Downcast Gays ) pr°Puritanism lies at the heart of Martin Rock by Dave Leas

In October 1976, Martin Rock, who I belongs to the Church of the Breth- | ren, founded the Church of the Bre- ■ thren/'Mennonite Church Gay Caucus. ■ Martin, formerly from Martinsburg in I western Pennsylvania, now resides in I. Lancaster, PA. Martin is also a staff member of the Gay Era. DL: How did the Caucus come to >e formed? MR: We had been talking about doing something here in Lancaster. I talked to a few gay Brethren and I Mennonites in the area and they said that it sounded like a good idea. But some of them wouldn't do any­ thing since they were still in the closet. In October I was in Elgin, I Illinois, at the national headquar­ ters of the Church of the Brethren. Certain staff members urged that something be done. They wanted some channel to the church for raising the various concerns gay people have. DL: How many gay people have you been in contact with? MR: I would guess maybe a hun­ dred gay people. Only two women; they had been excommunicated from the Mennonite church and now reside up with the complaints from the in New Jersey. The only other women MR: There are about 65 different church members? we have been in contact with have groups of Mennonites, of which there MR: They said they would. Some been the wives of married gay men. are about 15 major ones. The largest of the staff at the Brethren head­ Most of the gays we have been in con­ one is called the Mennonite Church. quarters have been educating them­ tact with have been Mennonites. I The second largest is the General selves for the past year or so. They don't know why; maybe more Mennonites Conference Mennonite Church, the most have been reading on the subject of read gay publications! liberal. Then there is the Mennonite homosexuality. I have helped them DL: How are people finding out Brethren Church, not to be confused with some encounters and seminars, about the Caucus? with the Church of the Brethren which and have arranged for a few articu­ MR: We sent out news releases to is in a different category from the late gay people to talk to them. qay publications when we first start­ Mennonites. Maybe the fourth largest They felt when those news releases ed We also attended the "Gay and is called the Conservative Mennonite went out that they were ready to Christian Conference" held in Bangor, Church. There are about 150,000 answer the questions that would be PA, in May 1977. Several articles Mennonites in the U.S., and another coming in. were written about that conference 100,000 in Canada. I never realized There have been questions from such as in Christianity Today. There until a couple months ago that Sask­ some of the Brethren congregations was also a Mennonite publication that atoon, Saskatchewan, has a lot of about the statement from the National picked it up, called The Mennonite, gay people. Considering this is a Council of Churches on homosexuality. which is a General Conference Menno­ big Mennonite area, we must send in­ The Brethren headquarters had to send formation to publications and organi­ nite Church publication. We got staff members to the local churches several inquiries from people who saw zations there. to explain to them that just because it there. I thought it was very in­ DL: Have you gotten any backlash the Brethren belong to the NCC does teresting that a Mennonite publica­ from the Brethren and Mennonite not mean that they have to go along I churches since you first organized? tion would even pick it up. We have i with the statement since it is not MR: Not really, we're not that recently received a better from a binding. (That was the way it was very conservative publication called well known yet. explained, unfortunately, considering DL: Do you expect to get back­ Sword and Trumpet. We have also there is actually no official state­ written a couple letters to church lash? MR: Oh, yes. We talked about ment by the Church of the Brethren. publications that printed negative It did calm them down in any case.) articles about gays. In one letter, that when the first news release went The staff had to answer that way to a member of Caucus used a fictitious out. When I talked to some church Same and stated why he had to do so. leaders at the Church of the Breth­ the local congregations. A state­ They wrote back and said that if he ren headquarters I told them that we ment would need to come from the would give his real name they would would be protected by a box number, Brethren Annual Conference or from print his response to the article but that they would not. They would its General Board. With his name withheld. He probably have to answer to their constituency There are church leaders in both Jill so that letter will be publish- and that they could expect to get a the Church of the Brethren and Menno- lot of complaints about a gay caucus nite churches who are sympathetic to DL: How many different denomina­ forming in their church. gay people. For example, when we were talking for about an hour with tions are there of Mennonites? DL: Will they be willing to put MR: Both ways are effective. We would like to have state chapters 14 and also work at the national level a Mennonite theologian and the presi­ to convince the board members of the dent of a Mennonite seminary about various churches to do something gay people, we somehow got on the about the situation. They in turn subject of promiscuity. The theo­ would work on education among the logian said, "Oh, we're not going to local churches. It is very impor­ talk about that. I'm more concerned tant to work at the local level about heterosexual promiscuity. There since that is where acceptance is is much more of that." most important. I do think that by There is support to a certain de- working both ways we can give the correct information about gay people. If we can get some sort of bibli­ cal base, then it will be all clear. That is going to be the hard part. One Brethren theologian did a study of the Bible and even though he thought homosexuality was wrong, mainly because of his background and the way he was brought up probably, he couldn't find anything pro or con. This happened at a meeting where a Presbyterian theologian said the same thing. I thought, OK now I m 4 ready for the opposite view. I was sure that the Brethren guy was goinq T to say that the Bible does say things against homosexuality and start rattling off Bible passages. One person went gree in Mennonite circles, but not the past year. Instead he said "I agree." We were along with me to talk to a person we as well organized or thought-through & IVliy n iwn ----- all flabergasted. Then the chair­ as in the Church of the Brethren. had made contact with who was also person of the meeting asked if the In Mennonite circles you have the married. He could understand the two would go into it a little furth­ most liberal and most conservative complexities involved where I could er. The Brethren theologian thought groups; a very diverse group of not. I thought I had problems; I that there was a very fine line in people. To a certain degree, it is think married people have as many, certain points. When you go back to the same in the Church of the Breth­ if not more, problems to deal with. the Hebrew and Greek texts there are ren but I think they are a little We try to meet with everybody who different words used for the same more open to talking than some of has written to us. We talk to them thing. What we now have are di ffer- the Mennonite groups. Though the about their own problems as well as ent versions of the Bible or trans- Brethren don't have a statement yet, the concerns they want us to talk on lations made over the years. The the staff are working at it. They to the church leadership. If only Bible has been mistranslated from are reading, educating themselves, we could just reach more people. the very beginning. 1-He found this and having seminars on homosexuality Unfortunately, the numbers help when out when he did his study.. I was for some of their staff. The Breth­ dealing with boards. If we could go Vvery C I J Jsurprised M I I • — w. — that ------this man would| ren had a staff meeting where they to the church leadership and say, raiseJ questions. -ilike • i _ xthat. u 4- TI rirxndon 1 ft talked about their own sexuality, "Look,we've been in contact with 500 know how long it is going to take homosexuality, and then they invited people; you have to do something people to face the truth about the some gay people from Chicago to take about it. We know that there are at words that they "swear by." part in the discussion. It was just least 500 gays in your denomination. They are finding tnat even for a limited number of people at In the beginning some of the non-gay though the Apostle Paul wrote in the headquarters in Illinois. It church leaders made this suggestion Greek, he did not know Greek that means that they will be working with saying that it would be very effec­ well. There are different words for, the issues eventually. tive when approaching less-enlight­ let's say, homosexuals. They think A couple of the staff members ened church leaders. It would also that he used the wrong, wrods. He know some gay people and have talked be the motivation for the staff to was also talking about a culture. to other people. They're getting look at the issue officially and When you are writing in another the answers, getting rid of the take it to their board and at least language you are not writing in your stereotypes and myths that they have talk about it. mother tongue. You can certainly been taught all their lives. Event­ In the Church of the Brethren make mistakes. ... . there have been a few married people DL- Do "youyou think you will make ually, they will be the ones who • >. I. 2 ._ XUa f- li i i f Fl +" 0 will have to back us. There are a who have come out to their congrega­ enough headway within the church to lot of non-gay people who I think tions. In one case it was a modera­ make the effort worthwhile? would be very interested in working tor, who fills the top elected posi­ MR: I think so. It s going to with the Caucus. tion in the local church. They knew take a lot of work, a lot of educa­ DL: How does the Caucus function him all his life and took the issue tion, and years and years to do it. within itself and with those organi­ to the church council meeting. He I definitely think that it^is worth zations you confront? is still there and he is still the it. I think that the churches are MR: We have an advisory commitcommit-­ moderator. He has since divorced. going to have to change a little in tee. Gay concerns are so diversidiversi-­ His wife was very helpful during the general. They are starting to lose fied; there are so many different meeting, and another woman who was What good is an institution is there aren't any people who be­ kinds of.. concerns.------.... For instance, I in the same situation a few years don't understand bisexuality at all. ago helped also when she spoke up at lieve in it? . ... So, if I run into someone who is bi­ the meeting. Of course they knew There are differences in the sexual, I don't know how to answer him all his 1ife. methods that the churches have dealt that person's questions sometimes. DL: What would you consider more out violence, hatred and bigotry. A We do have a couple people on the effective: working on the national few centuries ago the Catholic Church advisory committee who are married level or on the local level with the and qay. That has helped a lot in individual churches? IS had very close ties with the military. pny men. I didn't answer that ques­ Of course, I am talking as a pacifist. tion on principle. I think they The church always moved in first with felt more or less that the answer jts missionaries; then the military Was yes, just because I wouldn't would have to go in and protect then. answer them. We really didn't get The Catholic Church and the military anything accomplished. have always worked together in con­ We were to have future sessions, quering other peoples. I think that and these were postponed or canceled 'a historic peace church is different* for various reasons. I knew that Where the Catholic Church used the the top executive does this to keep military, the Mennonite church would people off guard, so it didn't use more subtle ways. They're kill­ bother me. ing people, but just doing it differ­ Finally, on the morning of Febr­ ently. Perhaps the Mennonite church uary 3, I was called in very quickly does it on a psychological level. and told that we were going to have Institutional churches of all denom­ another session. I knew that they inations have had a very bad record. Friday was an average working were working on some conditions for They talk of love, sensitivity, car­ day, and on Saturday I thought that my continuation. They finally came ing and reconciliation, and when you I could use a little help so I made with two conditions. If I accepted get down to it, they don't do a a few phone calls to friends, both them, I could continue working un­ thing about it. They keep talking gay and non-gay. The Pennsylvania til the end of my agreement (July about how to do it but they don't go Rural Gay Caucus was very helpful as 15, 1977). The two conditions were any further than that. well as a Mennonite theologian who given to me and I was expected to DL: You used to work for the called his seminary president and respond immediately. I said no; Mennonite Central Committee, which an Executive Committee member of they were given to me cold and I had is the relief services arm of the Mennonite Central Committee. Many to think about them. Mennonite churches. Can you tell us people I had been in contact with They started with six conditions, what happened? over the years called in or wrote according to friends in many places. MR: This is exactly what I was letters of support or at least were Mennonite Central Committee sought just talking about. When I left concerned about the process. There legal and psychiatric counsel. From Mennonite Central Committee there was also a letter from my brother, six they went down to three. The were subtle ways of getting rid of his wife, and their two teenaged third they did not bring to me; that me and not dealing with the issue at sons. There was a lot of concern was to seek psychiatric counsel. hand. that proper personnel procedures 0F: ! According to the memo that About a week or so before Christ­ were not being used. you(received from the Executive mas, a supposed good friend told the Unfortunately, the next week the Secretary at Mennonite Central Com­ personnel director that I was gay. Executive Committee was to meet. It mittee, you were given two provis­ The personnel director then told my indeed was taken to the Executive ions for continuation. The first immediate supervisor and they pro­ Committee and I was not invited to of these conditions was "Dissocia­ ceeded on a little investigation of state my side of the story and tell tion from advocacy or promotion their own. They asked my friends on of my feelings about the subject. that would attempt to influence the staff, and a guy that I lived There were 18 years of feelings other persons towards your sexual with for awhile, about my gayness. involved in dealing with my gayness preference." Exactly how did they They asked the guy if I had ever and finally accepting myself; and explain this provision? tried to seduce him. Some of the another year to put my gayness and MR: The verbal interpretation people did know that I was gay, be­ Christianity together. That was the that was given was that I was not cause I had told them as friends. hardest part of my life. None of allowed to work on the Gay Era be­ They also checked with my pastor. this was brought up at the meeting. cause it promotes homosexuality. I My pastor felt that they were trying The next day an Executive Committee was not allowed to talk to any of to break his confidence as a pastor member, who is a good friend, told the staff members at Mennonite Cen­ and counselor by asking if he had me what happened and what was said. tral Committee about homosexuality, found out that I was gay. I thought The session lasted over an hour and because they were afraid that I that was a little too much. the Conwittee hardly ever talks would recruit them. I could con­ Mennonite Central Committee always about any subject more than 15-30 tinue to go to the Governor's Coun­ talks about Christian community. In minutes. I do feel that there was cil for Sexual Minorities meetings no way was there a form of Christian some soul-searching done at that and also the meetings of the Depart­ community. Christian community means meeting. They threw it back to the ment of Health advisory committee on that you approach the person, not do staff and said "dialogue." The last special health concerns and rights an indirect investigation. They resort would be to fire me. of sexual minorities. finally did approach me during a two My boss and the personnel direc­ DL: Did they know about the hour conversation; they asked me a tor told me what happened during the Caucus? lot of questions and I told them meeting in one or two sentences; it MR: I had mentioned it in one of everything they wanted to know. I was different than what the Committee the previous meetings, but they did had decided a year or so before that member told me. That really got me not bring it up. I wouldn't lie anymore. If someone We were told to dialogue and a week DL: The second provision was asked me if I was gay, I would an­ or so later we had a one hour ses­ that there would be "No sexual ac­ swer truthfully. I also decided that sion. It was more like a question tivities during the remainder of the I would not resign like everyone and answer period between my top Mennonite Central Committee con­ else before me had resigned. They executive and myself. I was told tract." would have to fire me. I told them from the beginning that we were all MR: I think that the wording was that too. They said they would con­ there to talk about the future. We a bit interesting; that means it sider everything that I had told didn't talk about how I felt and how would be all right when I didn’t them and if it was taken to the Exec­ I got to accept myself as a person work^there anymore! utive Committee (which they did not and as a Christian. We were talking the verbal interpretation was think it would be), I would be about the future; what was to happen that I would be allowed to date and present at the meeting. This happen­ to me next. They wanted to know go to the bars, in order to meet ed on a Thursday. whether I had ever been to bed with other gay people. nite publications so we can contact 16 more gay Mennonites and Brethren. DL: .. a. 1 that, t.. j still We know that they're o there all said that you couldn't have sexual over this country; we just don t activities? know who they are, of course. MR: Right. They were making We would also like to work more assumptions, since they had no evi­ with educating the staff of the dence that I had ever gone to bed churches at the national level. That has opened up a little more lately. with anyone. DL: Is this a general rule for We have gotten an inquiry, through a the non-gays that work on the staff ‘third party, from a staff member at a Mennonite headquarters saying that as wel1? MR: It is the belief that there they would like to know a little should be no sexual activity before more about gay people. That was a marriage. I guess they carried it breakthrough. A lot of good things over, though a little strangely, to have been happening. I m waiting my situation. They didn't interpret for the bad; nothing has happened it any further. vet. I'm sure its out there waiting DL: Did you ask them if they for us somewhere. We still have to would grant you permission to marry? find our direction. MR: Let's be a little serious! There are a lot of places that 1 I don't know how they would have re­ want to send some kind of news re­ acted if I had a Lover. They might lease with enough information to have interpreted it differently, but tantalize and get people to write. I doubt it. That way we would have more contact DL: The memo ends with It is with them. This past year we thought our understanding that you will re­ we were going to have some kind of ply to your supervisor on these two representation at two very important points. We hope that you will find Mennonite conferences. The water it possible to continue until July was not just right to do so. Maybe 15." Did you reply to your super­ in the next year or two we can do it. visor? The problem is that we have to have MR: I was given that memo in the some upfront, articulate people to morning of that day. When I asked do it. to have it in writing, the Executive DL: In the near future, are you Secretary typed it himself and car­ planning a meeting or gathering ried it over to my desk, handing it where all the people you have con- to me personally. I think it might tacted would be able to have been a first in church circles, Would you be able to get together, at least in Pennsylvania. It was since everyone is so spread out actually put on paper that I would across the country? be fired because I was gay if I did MR: I knew long before this MR: There has been some talk with not follow certain provisions. They happened that my job had been abo­ one person at a Mennonite office a- made no secret about why they were lished because of department reor­ bout getting some gay and non-gay going to fire me. ganization. I approached my super­ people together to talk in an un­ That evening, when I came home, I visor asking if I could re-apply for official session. We were thinking found a letter in my mailbox from another job. I was told by my boss about doing this in small groups, at the Jaycees saying that I had been that I would not be considered be­ a couple of places, around the coun­ nominated for "Outstanding Young Man cause I was too militant. That was try. We have already done this once. of America for 1977". I just sat absurd; I was fighting for my own A few gays and a few staff people down and laughed. It was so ironic. rights and my own job. Mennonite from the Church of the Brethren head- The church was trying to get rid of Central Committee fights around the auarters in Illinois had a session me because I was gay and I was being world for peoples' rights. Here during which we talked with them and nominated for my work with Mennonite they were doing the opposite. I was answered their questions. Later, Central Committee. At that point, I fighiing for my own livelihood and and a few other gays took some of had worked for the Mennonites for if that was militant, I guess I was. those staff people into Chicago to eleven years. They can't understand that by not thp aav bars, restaurant, etc. to I thought the provision through, saying anything you're also saying meet9other gay people and learn of waiting to be sure that my response something. Unless the top hierarchy their lifestyles, concerns, ^etc.^^ was right, and also to let them wait of Mennonite Central Committee ■" We wanted them to learn how these a little for my response. Twice changes its attitude, I know that I people felt as Christians. ItIt's s a they said that I could interpret would not get a job from them. I slow process, but J.think^that it I‘think that if non- these conditions according to my own would get my application back very Sid speak out .tout W conscience, and that my activities subtly saying no, we don't want you. would not be monitored. At this point, I'm still unem­ issues, it would have a lot more On March 20, I wrote a memo say­ ployed and I hope to get another impact, than gay they ing that I would agree to these con­ job with the church somewhere else. their rights and fighting as if they ditions if I could interpret them So ends the saga of working at W6T JhinkbthSeit is very important with my own conscience. However, I Mennonite Central Committee. added three pages of comments that DL: While you're looking for that we get in contact with more gay pointed out the myths and stereo­ another job, how do you see the Brethren and Mennonites. I hope types that produced their conditions. future of the Caucus and in what that those who do know of gay Breth­ After I agreed to their conditions, directions do you see it heading at ren and Mennonites will urge them to according to my conditions, there this point? write to us. was nothing further. MR: Our next step will be to People wishing to contact tne Brethren/Mennonite Gay Caucus can do uu: «nat happened when they work on some type of constitutional guidelines or objectives. We would so by writing: Brethren/Mennonite, finally decided that you could con­ also like to print a brochure and Box 582, Lancaster, PA 17604. tinue until the end of your agree­ take classified ads in a few Menno­ ment? | Viewpoints

WHAT IS COMPROMISE? perhaps downright absurd that an es­ been so begrudgingly cast to us. tablishment that caters to a gay Perhaps. Perhaps the great tragedy (Ed. Note: The following article clientele, considers itself a con­ of it all will be that.we accept and appeared in ZAP, the newsletter for tributor to the welfare of the com­ believe this kind of talk and let the State College Gay Community.) munity and whose very existence de­ them strip us of our self-respect pends upon gay dollars, will not al­ and our pride, bought with our own by Alan LaPayover low the word "gay" or the name of a blood, sweat and tears. For gay peop­ gay organization to appear on Its le and gay organizations to accept The issue was simple. The manage­ premises. How It could possibly con­ such insults and exploitation as ment of the Scorpion Lounge (State sider Itself a coimiunity supporter "compromise" because "people are tired" of hearing about us merely College) 1s approached for permis­ and why the community would continue sion to place in the bar a poster to patronize a place that appears strengthens those that would contin­ ue to oppose and destroy us and fur­ advertising a HOPS (Homophlles of ashamed of Its customers 1s beyond ther their campaign of hatred and Penn State) coffeehouse. Permission me. But the policies of the Scorpion is granted on the condition that no Lounge are nothing new and are not violent abuse. mention of HOPS or the word "gay" really the issue at hand. I can only hope that such a gross mistake as this episode will never is made. An obvious decision for Even more distressing than this HOPS. Or at least, at one time it kind of exploitation is the fact be made again. Until then , well, would have been. that an organization such as HOPS chalk up another one for Anita. The social committee, wanting to which Is dedicated to the liberation hang the poster, agrees to the con­ of gay people and raising up of gay ditions. But not without disapprov­ consciousness and pride in this com­ al of several gay community leaders munity and In the general, would who feel that such stipulations are make such a decision and put up the an insult to that community. After poster minus the "offending" words. some "sonsultatlons," the powers- A compromise? I wouldn't say so. In that-be decide to go ahead with the a compromise both sides make con­ amended signs. Remarks such as "we cessions to arrive at a mutually ac­ have to compromise" and "people are ceptable agreement. I'm not sure tired of hearing about homosexual­ what the Scorpion Lounge conceded or ity" and gay rights are given as that this agreement could be called rationale. Right? acceptable. Such a one-sided "com­ Wrong! It is rather ironic, and promise" smacks of a cop-out on the COMING OUT part of the HOPS authorities. If anything was compromised, it was our Wallace Hamilton principles and our dignity and our Signet, 1977, $1.75 pride. As Janis Joplin so wisely put 1t, "Don't compromise yourself; 1t's reviewed by Ian Young all you got." So what have we got left? Perhaps an extra 50 cents and When Roger Thorton, an architect one less bowl of onion soup. in his forties, recently divorced I have been a part of the Gay and even more recently gay, walks Liberation movement for close to six into a gay restaurant patronized years. And I am proud of every mo­ mostly by "sedate, middle-aged men", ment. I have been involved in HOPS he "could...imagine had his life on every level for the same six gone differently, himself among years and while I have occasionally them. But he had found a wife, had disagreed with certain decisions and children, had a career, and been actions, I have been proud nonethe­ shielded from the turmoil, loneli­ less of that involvement. But now, ness, and occasional violence that for the first time, I am sorry to was probably part of the lives of say that I am truly ashamed. everyone in the restaurant. When This matter may be a small thing they had cruised in the darkness of in Itself and not deserving of so the docks, he had taken his family many words, but there 1s much more for vacations in New England. While implicated here than meets the na­ they nursed their wounds, he had ked eye. It may be true that people laughed at fag jokes. Now, to are tired of hearing about homosexu­ Michael, they were "old queens", ality and gay rights. Perhaps the denied even the respect of the na­ little we have accomplished in the tives of their terrain, while he, an last 10 years Is merely a "compro­ immigrant, enjoyed what should right­ mise." Perhaps we shouldn't be so fully be theirs — their own younq- open, so bold, so "blatant." Perhaps ISIS er generation. irom a relief from the tomb of Tutanknamen, we alienate and offend. Perhaps we Cairo Museum. 18th Dynasty, 1339 B.C. "Yes, he had been saved. But af­ should now crawl thankfully back in­ ter the convulsions of consciousness to our dark little closets, content­ he had gone through that day, he ed with the few crumbs that have could think of standing up in that 5‘r have a gay Grace Livingston Hill or out itself. In the process, a few Emilie l.cring anc we can crash the important problems slide into view: the bisexual who is just visiting high school libra it with a sei.as restaurasic and saying, in a loud of love stories for the tennie-bop- voice, ‘Yes, gentlemen, I have been in the gay world and can go back to respectability, leaving the gays to per lesbians and gay males. saved. But I just don't want to be In the meantime, however, we do saved anymore.'" clear up the mess; or the immense need, and unsettling frailty, of gay seem to have produced a gay Jaque- Later, a business partner who line Suzanne in Walter Merrick, takes dim view of Roger's new "room­ community. But what sticks in the mind most, whose An Idol for Others (Avon, mate" harrumphs that "people do draw 437 pp., pb., $2.25) gives new mean­ conclusions." Well, Roger suggests, after Coming Out has been put on the shelf, is Wallace Hamilton's own ing to the words trashy and outrag­ "People can draw conclusions about eous. And to answer the first ques­ anything. Like you, playing with good-humored enjoyment of life's multiple ironies. It is a happy at­ tion of everyone who saw me reading your tie, subconscious desire for it: No it is not a continuation of strangulation." titude, one that could stand us all in good stead in years to come. the saga of Charlie and Peter; e- After a fight with his lover, he qually thankfully, it is not the be­ ends up at a gay baths for the — Body Politic ginning of a new "trilogy. Idol first time: "Roger hung his towel tells the story of a bisexual Broad­ — which looked like every other way wunderkind who not only directs towel, but it was his towel — on HAIL THE GAY SOAP OPERA! plays, but pastes up the posters the third hook from the left and by Harry H Long and even designs his and his wife s entered the shower room." clothing (but he's butch in bed ). Well-observed small ironies, in­ After the pioneering efforts of I won't bother to recount the plot, sights, ruminations, odd flashes it would be like summarizing the of a delightfully wicked sense of Patricia Nell Warren and Mary Re­ nault, the Gay Soap Opera has final­ last two years of "Secret Storm. humor, it's these that lift Coming ly become a literary force. There Let's just let it suffice to say Out above the common run of popular that Walter, the hero (?) 1/ enorm­ formula gay novels in which a thin may be those who disagree with my choice of terms (especially with Re­ ously ha.g :c; -ourse!) r but serviceable plot acts as a nault), but let us face the fact attractive, and every poor fag that framework for a trip through the that, despite any cloaking devices, can't keep him ends up either a sui- gay subculture — a familiar de- they involve us in the many tribu­ cide or a mental wreck. A real y vice from The Heart in Exile to lations of their lovers and leave liberated book, in other words. The Front Runner. us, at the end, teary-eyed over In Twins (Putnam, 316 pp., h.b., Before Roger Thorton can look at what did or didn't happen. In fact, $8.95), Bari Wood and Jack Gleasland himself in the mirror and see a gay after looking over the current crop examine something or other ^obut man, he goes through various famil­ of novels, it seems we only have to twins; mostly, I think, that they re iar self-deceptions, including the perverted addicts who need to be "I'm not homosexual, it's just that constantly with each other. One of the person I've fallen in love with the twins is homosexual (I refuse to happens, totally accidentally, to say gay) and their early life, he be male" symptom. The one who ushers can only have sex with a woman if Roger protectively through it all his brother is there. That s right, is Michael, a handsome and genial on the sexual level, the book starts young faggot "with a sangria voice" with threesomes, proceeds fairly who lives in the same hotel. through fairly tasteless interludes "Michael was an aborigine, a (including the one twin's affair noble savage, in a land where Roger with a terminal cancer patient — barely knew the terrain and would in her hospital room!) and ends with always be an immigrant carrying a the brothers fucking each other, backpack of history." Michael's which somehow kills them both. If terrain is the gay Manhattan of you've got nine bucks to blow, you cluttered crash-pads, back-room figure it out; I've got better bars, and no visible means of sup­ things to do with my time. port, and to Roger, the entry into Rita Mae Brown's brilliantly the new land provides a culture- witty "i about being differ— t snuck worthy of a squadron of anthro­ and loving it" (as the blurb has pologists. "All very well," Roger Rita Mae Brown it), Rubyfruit Jungle, has just been muses, "for Mann to write his mauve put outoy BantamW-95) to reach tragedy of Herr Professor. But what a wider possible audience than be­ if Tadizo had moved right in? Roger fore Probably one of the best com­ wondered if Mann's Teutonic sonoi- ing out" novels ever written, it de­ ties would have been equal to the serves this wider, popular-price material distribution. , Wallace Hamilton is more than e- Bantam, by the way, has been do­ qual to the material, and it's a- ing quite well by gay works Besides musing to watch him turn convention­ "Rubyfruit," they also handle both al assumptions on their heads: pro­ of Warren's books; and have just miscuous as a heterosexual, Roger released "The David Kopay (242 pp., becomes a devout monogamist when he $1.95), which was fully reviewed turns gay. His lover, though, catch­ last issue. Kopay and Perry Deane es the clap the first time he ven­ Young are also working on a sequel. tures away from the nest — which Arbor House has the first option on might be interpreted as Jehovah's that manuscript. just punishment for the unfaithful Elsewhere is paperbackbookland, homophile, but in fact is just a Ballantine is bring out several of little fillip to give the summary John Rechy's novels, including City plot a leg up. of Night" and "Numbers." Ballantine For both plot and characters are has also recently reissued John fairly rudimentary here. The main Reid's "Best Little Boy in the focus is on the business of coming David. Kopay 19 World," which is to gay males what ’'Rubyfruit Jungle" is to Lesbians, but from the other side of the mor- In the 12" field, Buddah has re­ leased a new cut by Andrea True, nav^What You Should Know About WHAT'S YOUR NAME, WHAT'S YOUR Homosexuality oy Morton Hunt (Faraari, NUMBER. It is a cut above her u- Status, Giroux, 210 pp.» h.b. $7.95) sual releases. It's high energy and has drawn fire from various review­ the hottest 12" disco on DJs' turn­ ers for political reasons, and its tables. easy to see why. One entire chapter MOON BOOT, ORS. Sal soul re­ examines possible “causes" of homo­ leased an import that with the right sexuality without ever asking the ob­ promotional play will be a big suc­ vious inversion: "What causes hetero­ cess. I and other DJs have decided sexuality?" A discussion of the var­ to promote this as much as possible. ious people who examine homosexuali­ The rythm is very sophisticated and ty, Hunt mentions such Germans as has a very European sound. The chor­ Krafft-Ebing, Freud and Ellis and us chants the theme throughout the somehow manages to overlook Magnus my first column with November re­ song and the breaks set it off to Hirschfield. Such obvious omissions leases that get a lot of response its wonderful climax. throw a certain lack of credibility from the Discos.. As my column pro­ JOHNNY, JOHNNY / DANCING on the book. And since Hunt's book gresses, it will go further into the FEVER by Claudja Barry. This was 1s primarily aimed at pubescenrs Disco field in regards to music, released by London label as an im­ and their parents, the section ex­ people, dee-jays, record companies, port back in late August. Salsoul amining what kind of gays are of- and of course, those steamy, hot Records is releasing it for domestic fensive to heterosexuals (!) smacxs Discos. So, I sincerely hope you en­ sales. "Johnny, Johnny" is the of programming: if you're going to joy your first month of ... DISCO strongest of the two. The beat is be a faggot, don't be this kind. SCENE. pulsating and can swirl anyone into Ten years ago, we all would have ONCE UPON A TIME, Donna Sum­ a hustle step. "Dancing Fever" has a gone easier on a book like this and mer's musical fairytale come true. big band sound and gets excellent thought it helpful; its language in Find this heroine-singing a beauti­ response from 'disco dancers in the 1977 is deeply offensive. One also ful new collection of lovely ballads Philadelphia discos. questions Hunt's qualifications as that have discos hustling and scream­ DANCE, DANCE, DANCE. Atlan­ a psychologist writer, especial y ing for more. ONCE UPON A TIME tic Records released this disc when considering one. glaring si ip is an adventure in a new musical fan­ which is pulsating speakers every­ of judgement. As noted earlier, the tasyland where happily-ever-afters where. The song has the sounds of book is aimed at helping young peop­ are always possible. This two record Dr. Buzzard, but the tempo is fast­ le and thier parents understand ho­ set will set your speakers on fire. er and keeps the dancers moving. mosexuality (which it will not), This LP is a must for every Summer­ LA SPANK by Pample Mouse. This vet in examining "causes," Hunt fan. The LP is on Casablanca, NBLP unusual cut starts off like Barry places the "blame" for "turning 7078-2. . . White's latest "Ectasy." As the out"a homosexual on the family unit. Donna Summer is performing her record progresses on, it gets very It doesn't seem that will help any wonderful talents of love at the . funky with the sounds of El Coco e- parents to accept or deal with their Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, NJ. She merging in the background. The rec­ child's homosexuality. 11 be there from Sunday, December lz ord is very hot in discos from NYC David Loovis' "Straight Answers to December 18. Her shows are a to Philadelphia. It may be another Ahout Homosexuality for Straight treasure to see. "The First Lady of hit for La Pample Mouse. It is on Readers (Prentice-Hall , 190 pp.» Love" won't let you be dissapointed. Avi Records. h b. 738.95) is aimed obviously LOVE SHOOK, Patti Brooks' debut If you are really into Disco where its title indicates. As such, LP, is swirling in discos every­ music, and love all recent songs it is difficult for a gay reader to played in the discos from NY to iudqe its effectiveness. Because of where and promises that she'll be another star. The LP is high-energy, Phila., I prefer listening to WCAU- this, I will merely offer my im­ and I guarantee it will keep you FM 98 in Phila. while I'm home re­ pressions rather than reviewing it. dancing. The LP was recorded back in laxing. It's a disco oriented sta­ Much like his earlier Gay Spirit, I tion with the more recent songs feel Loovis seems to equate“af1Tu- June and finally broke out among the Top 40 Disco List. The LP is on spun during the evening. They host pnce with qood sex. Although it is good S get certain -redneck- type Casablanca, NBLP 7066. "Disco Party" with DJ Bob Badonna CHARO is really breaking wide from the Library in Philadelphia. of questions out of the way, I doubt in discos everywhere. The "cuchi, He spins all new releases that are that anyone that unenlightened not sometimes available to the gen­ would (or even could) read the book cuchi" girl keeps her Spanish accent to make this LP one of the hottest eral public, yet. Don't worry ever­ ( and its doubtful Loovis would get around. Backed up by the fabulous ything you hear does become availa­ far in conversation with such a per­ Sal soul Orchestra, she really makes ble. He also spins alot of hot im­ son before getting his face you want to dance. I met Charo on ports that are being released. His punched in). I question .the view­ a promotional tour in Philadelphia. party also hosts the fabulous point that telling straights exact After leaving her, I can honestly Disco '77 from Miami, Fla., every ly what we do in bed puts them more say this LP will keep the "cucara- Saturday from 11-11:30 pm. Channel at ease by removing the mystery. In chas" dancing. The LP is fantastic 17 also airs the show on TV. So my dealings, I've found that they do and is on Sal soul Records. Sal soul, those who want to see the artist know what we do, and it makes them SZS 5519. perform, and see the lates disco sick. MAGIC LOVE, Michele releases steps,should watch. It's really a DISCO SCENE alot of talent in this LP. The LP good show. Remember... Disco Party, consists of four cuts, all of which every Saturday and Sunday from 9 -12 midnight and Disco '77 every by Jason Messner are very "hot" in the discos and 'should stay among the Top Forty for Saturday from 11-11:30 pm. So until next month, support your local Disco DISCO SCENE is a column for peop­ a very long time. The LP is very strong and promises a new start for Club and I'll see you in the grooves. le who love disco music and to dance. Have a Happy Holiday Season.... I spin at several Discoteques in the the lovely lady, Michele. The LP is Disco Kidd 2001. Philadelphia area. I decided to start on the Westend label. Westend, WE the SEXUAL OUTLAW there, nor politically sway those by John Rechy, for whom "gay 1ife" solely means (Grove Press, $8.95) cruising, cocksucking, and amyl ni­ trate). It is rather as a serious reviewed by Charles D. Leayman testament to the crucila contradic­ tions underlying both Rechy's stance "The promiscious homosexual is a and homosexual life generally that sexual revolutionary. Each moment or the book achieves its considerable jhis outlaw existence confronts re- importance. pressive laws, repressive 'morality. Chief among these contradictions Parks, alleys, subway tunnels, ga­ is that between Rechy/"Jim's" im­ rages, streets — these are the bat­ passioned calls for comradely, tlefields." Thus does John Rechy ex- generous love between gays as the bress the unifying image of his first line of defense against the latest book, THE SEXUAL OUTLAW, an straightworld's brutalizing behe­ Image and a reality that the book moth of persecution and hatred, and exists to promote and exemplify. the voluptuously ingrown, finally Ever since the monumental CI it ur debilitating life-style he has NIGHT, in which Rechy first intro­ chosen for himself. We are emphatic­ he cannily contrives at the same duced has hustler-observer-poet, ally informed that "public sex is time to exempt himself (and suppos­ "Jim" (whom we have always been in­ revolution, courageous, righteous, edly his brother elect) from the vited to understand as being the . defiant revolution.'.' Fine, stirring accusation. This, of course, would literary equivalent of the author s words, except that public sex "is be easier ■-> ^t realflffe persona), the figure of all too often involved in mutual "Jim" such «» ! , < the Sexual Outsider, the leather- exploitation and slaughter, of the with all the narcissist/hustler s and-denim angel ministering to the young and the old, the beautiful and private games of domination and collective fantasies of a gay under­ the unattractive." What's more, "for power. Attempting to sidestep, the world, has always implied for Rechy many drifting young men, hustling is author concedes that I do cultivat a type of sainthood composed quix­ their only means of experiencing a certain tough appearance because otically of narcissism, compassion, worlds otherwise totally locked to it attracts people sexually, and I and humorlessness. This character them. For moments their desired do equate sex with power. One has remianed virtually fixed through­ bodies are the keys to those worlds. would have thought: that the latter out a series of "documentary' quasi - Their fleeting youth is their one half of this remark would at least novels (including NUMBERS, THIS bid for attention. Beyond that, give pause to the writer s drift, DAY'S DEATH, THE VAMPIRES, and THE their lives will fade. But during but, nonplussed, he continues. But FOURTH ANGEL), but with THE SEXUAL those moments, hustling, they matter, I know the difference between that OUTLAW Rechy not only cracks apart importantly. The drabness lifts." and the most negative.aspect within the novel form (to which the earlier Let's tackle the second conten­ the qay world — S&M." books maintained a problematic re­ tion first. If, for "many drifting This review is not the proper lationship), but als° in *he youngmen," the supreme pleasures of forum for discussion the pros and freshly opened gaps with the grim existence lie in selling their bod­ cons of S&M; suffice it to say that political facts of gay life that had ies, the accompanying assumption a- John Rechy is opposed to it, pro­ remained more or less unspoken and bout the reality of their lives a- fessing to perceive in the psycho implicit previously. part from those too brief moments is logically serpentine motivations of Dividing up his narrative into so dispiriting as to make any talk those who practice it merely an a three-way split among a.) a typi­ about gay soladarity or anything assimilation of the straightworld s cal hustling weekend for Jim, b.) telse appears pointless and futile. hatreds and contempt. Thus, once straightforwardly didactic essays on By singling out such "fleeting" again, Rechy redirects Ms focus the subject of police oppression and peaks of ecstasy as a solution of away from What conc? the the straignt world's myriad illu­ sorts to abiding loneliness and would-be revolutionary - i.e.. tbe sions concerning sexuality in gener­ "drabness," Rechy reflects our at­ equation of sex with power - to a al and gay sex in particular, and specific manifestation of tention from the real causes of politics, thereby 1gnoring the S&M c.) items culled from the news media such misery, causes imbedded in the model that underlinej^he^hustl^^ concerned mostly with police crack­ social fabric of capitalist, bour­ downs on gay activity, Rechy at­ geois society. He would have us be­ eTouestiin in THE SEXUAL OUTLAW is: tempts to formulate a wide-ranging lieve that revolutionary activity How^does one construct a revolution Overview of gay life in the 70 s from confined to one area of life (i.e. the privileged vantage-point of one the sexual) can operate, success­ on the basis of Practices which who knows it, and has suffered for treat one's ostensible allies as it fully without any consideration of they were the Enemy to be mampulat- it, mostly intimately. However, as jthe economic ideology underlying all ed and exploited? How do you effect the opening extract indicates, the oppression, an ideology that can as­ Solution in «n»s of tone is not that of insider's "expo­ similate every single-thrust attack tt'S^e^urthe,'Sid of such se" of Augustinian confession, but made against it, and can only be is rather openly exhortatory, call­ affected finally by a broad-minded ing on gays to display their special contradictions, one need go no fur attack on all fronts: the sexual, ther than those persons most victim­ sexuality in public, in full view the economic, the philosophical, the of the very machinery of oppression ized. For all of Rechy s talk of aesthetic, the psychological. Hust­ comradship, love, and revolution he designed to stamp out such displays. ling may indeed ba a solace of sorts As a militantly sensuous call- still finds his solipsist s heart for those engaged in it, but one chilled and disgusted by that spec­ to-arms, THE SEXUAL OUTLAW'S effi­ must guard against momentary grati­ tre haunting gay life to its marrow: cacy will probably depend on the fication with revolution. al ready-formed political conscious­ Old Age. A not untypical example. Rechy is not unintelligent, and "An unnattractive loose-.leshed old ness of the individual reader ( I though he characterizes hustling as., doubt that the book will seduce from "mutual exploitation and slaughter," man lies... naked, his hand on his the closet those still residing men loving men

MEN LOVING MEN by Mitch Walker, Gay Sunshine Press, 160 pp. $6.95. Order directly from publisher: Box 40397, SanFransisco, Ca. 94140. Add $1 for pastage and handling.)

"All I've tried to do is describe And here we go with another book attitude is less "You must do this! how you can have sex by yourself and which informs us that the man with than "Have you tried this?" More­ with others 1f you want to. Sex is the melon must place his elbow on the over, Walker's Hrst-person narra­ just another way of being and doing. night-stand, his partner meanwhile tion gives a closer intimacy, with A lot of information has been hidden ierkinq him off and licking his the reader (one he doesn't abuse) and from us, and there's a need for testicles in a gentle circular mo- lends more credence to sections such clear simple explanation. This I ve as the one on genderfuck. tried to do here, because I've known The positions are illustrated too many men who got hurt, because er sexual how-to book, but not with line drawings which are nice to they just didn't know the precau­ look at but don't really do a hell tions3 to take in sucking and ass- ouite WalkerCT aat u least— doesn t try. to Jo more than suggest possibilipossibii- of a lot for clarity, as well as re­ fuckina I've known too many men who productions from historical sources. l»H« « was OK to «<«• that In addition there is a portfolio of fondle another man. - Mitch Walker photographs by David Greene which are £ AA VI; AA"?t” Eker's’X™' generally erotic, something of a — HL first in a sex how-to book.

almost consistently at variance with the Rear Guard," and most controvers­ the idealism of the Essay and Media soent qroin. Abandoned and desper- ? Ln alone - one of the many ially, "The Ugly Gay World," and sections. Rechy/"Jim" may manage to lingering1, ubiquitous, wasted, judg- "S&M." celebrate the infrequent but spec­ lg gS in the gay world Jim a- But throughout the book, the tra­ ial interludes that, along with the ditional dichotomies between sheer number of conquests, justifies voids him." Just as ^olds the Straight & Gay, Young & Old, Beauti­ the everpresent threat of police en­ imDlications of his avoidance. Earlier, Rechy/“Jim" had spoken ful & Ugly, are sadly maintained and trapment and the constant knowledge perversely celebrated (if unknowing­ of living a life completely opposed of the drifting youngmen and their ly), thus obscuring even further the to society's sense of itself. But brief moments. The ex^®ot Jim f necessity for a plan of (political) those celebrations cannot dissolve quoted is simply the °id action that would unite rather than the dense, pervasive ambience of sever. As precise a commentator as desolation that wafts through the Rechy is when skewering the fashion­ book like some acrid perfume. Che o,?.’KX» able hypocrisies of "bisexual chic" Guevara once remarked: "At the risk or when elucidating the supremely of seeming ridiculous, let me say SaldbiIaTHErSEXUALaOUTLAW with an biased readings of Holy Scripture that the true revolutionary is moti­ that fuel such righteous crusades as vated by great feelings of love." the recent Dade County debacle, he It is difficult to locate, in the just as frequently bypasses or skims passages devoted to Jim's nocturnal hot cars; hot knees touching hot the irreconcilable aspects of his knee^in hateful intamacy, throw wanderings, anything except a neur­ own gay lifehood, one grounded in a otic self-love that justifies it­ rocks, bottles, and refuse at cars reductio ad absurdum that compress- self by others' capitulations, and in cruising areas Fags es the world into the smoothly mus­ which finds itslef in direst crisis s etAne’ At t« cular contours of the author's own when such capitulations are not body -reflected back to him from a forthcoming ("Jim feels the brutal S'A'-X'oA essays frequent- mirror. passing of time. Nothing is happen­ Ethics being inextricable from ing! It does not matter that earlier aesthetics in a work of art, the he was paid for sex, that he was format for THE SEXAUL OUTLAW echoes £nhPthe insider's privileged exper­ abundantly desired in the park, does the schizophrenia of its thought. not matter that he has survived, ience of the gay, particularly in The weekend's accumulation fo sexual h Section entitled "Selective Sins encounters recorded in the book is (Continued on page 12) and Exhortations," "Four Factions of plaints from customers including INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL, Lancaster, Pa , Monday, Novombor 14, 1977—3 those in the restaurant upstairs. The only complaints have been from gays themselves who value their Campaigns Heat Up for Screwdrivers and Tequila Sunrises over their own pride and dignity. Copies of that poster are being made to be distributed to other School Prayer, Homos bars in the area. It's about time that the orange juice stops flow­ ing over the gay bars. MIAMI < API — Five months after vot­ referring to atheist Madalyn Murray 0‘Hair, "The community relations board den ers rejected an ordinance banning job and “it may very well be that God is asking onstrated there was a need for it," sh Oh, by the way, Anita Bryant's employment discrimination against homo­ another woman to get prayer back into the recalls. “I didn’t have the foggiest idea th; sexuals. the principals in the battle are tak­ schools. I am confident that’s what God such an intensity of emotions woul contract was signed for the next ing their fight down other paths. wants us to do. " follow.” year and a half. The Citrus Commis­ For Anita Bryant, the Florida Sunshine Jack Campbell, the Miami millionaire Girl who considered the law an affront to and chairman of the Dade County Coalition A petition drive led to a referenc* sion has given her a green light to her religious teachings, the next step will be for Human Rights, sees the need for another and after two months of bitter campaigt continue on her crusade. national campaign — this one to inform the voters rejected the law hv a vote of 20 public about homosexuality. to 92,000. The - OTHER FACTS OR FICTION: “If public relations can change Rich­ Childrer ard Nixon from a bitter loser in 1962 into a Brvar, Mr. Anita Bryant says that his victorious presidential candic ‘e six years wife's take from show business has later, imagine what it could us go^'* guys,' he says dropped by 70%. And Bob Kunst, lea* Anita has recorded, There's ry says bi—- the goOd-bye. I did. Nothing Like the Love Between a to break ? J “Pe The next morning there appeared Woman and a Man) No record company homos< the accompanying editorial by the has bought it yet. says edi tor. Sales are doing very well for sot Finally the Lancaster newspapers Bryant's 8th bock, The Anita Bryant have taken a position, even if it Story. is a very safe, middle of the road Also, for some unknown reason a national campaign to put prayer back in position. Mr. Anita Bryant asked on the Phil the schools Donahue Show, "Have you heard an I tell people that if one woman can ge ‘ ORANGE JUICE BOYCOTT? prayer taken out of the schools " she «" Anita Bryant record in the last six Gays and concerned straights cer­ months? He attributed this phenom­ ena to radio stations boycotting by Dave Leas tainly haven't gotten it together yet over the orange juice boycott. her records. My only response is that I have never heard one of her Lancaster, Pennsylvania — Gays, It certainly should be supported. records in my whole 22 years of life as well as straights, in this area There really is no organized boy­ are a bit confused about the posi­ cott taking place in rural Pennsyl­ on this planet. I only knew Anita tion of the Lancaster Intel 1igencer vania. Those of you who have been Bryant as some person who sold or­ Journal on Gay Rights. And rightly to the Railroad House in Marietta ange juice on television. We'd like so. To start off, an explanation of have seen the sign hanging in the to hear when was the last time you this areas media is due. Lancaster bar proclaiming that they don't heard an Anita Bryant record. Send boasts two "establishment" newspa­ serve orange juice and also explains your replies to me care of the Gay Era. pers, the morning Intel 1 and the why. There have been very few com- evening New Era. (Where do you think we got the name Gay Era?) Even Jlntplligpnrvr Son rttal though both papers are owned by the Steinman Family, who were re­ •Analysis cently forced to sell WGAL-TV, the ^Editorials •Opinion Intel 1 is supposedly the liberal ^18 — Lancaster, Pa., Tuesday, November 15, 1977 (Democrat) and the New Era (Republi­ can) the conservative. Much to everyone's surprise, the Drink Up And Enjoy Orange Juice Monday, November 14th edition of the Intel 1 had a bannerline at the Jt is an indisputable fact that no religion or code of moral values all he We believe Anita Bryant has every top of page 3 which read "Campaigns subject arouses more widespread inter­ needs to make up his own mind right to oppose homosexuality from Heat Up for School Prayer, Homos." est and passionate debate than another The question is not how Americans coast to coast because she has strong It was not so surprising to read person's sexual preferences and prac­ feel about homosexuals, but rather how convictions. And the orange grove own­ tices. to deal with people whose sexual prac­ ers of Florida should not have to face that now Anita Bryant is consoli­ This curiosity, or concern, or what­ dating her fight against gays with tices are considered offensive, or bankruptcy just because she appears in ever you wish to call it is what success­ immoral, or sinful television commeicials for orange getting prayers back in the schools, ful TV specials and series are made of. Should society deny full citizenship juice. as it was to see that word "Homos" and best selling books... and profitable to people who meet our disapproval? If glaring at you from the bannerline. movies. the controversy could be debated on But homosexuals have the same But when the sexual practice is that question only, there might besome right to he heard, the same right to try Furiously, I waited till that to persuade the American people that homosexuality, the interest, curiosity hope of resolving the conflict. evening when the Intel!'s staff their lifestyle is an acceptable alterna­ would be in the office to call and and. above all. concern is intensified. But instead of intelligent. construc­ Witness the letters to the editor tive debate on the issue of "gay rights." tive for some people. get an explanation. My friends were this morning. They are a few of the we ve reached the rather ludicrous We have a sad and dangerous state telling me to calm down, that it many we have received. . a selection state where every can of orange juice of affairs in America when we try to was probably a stupid mistake on chosen to represent the different you buy is interpreted as a vote for or settle controversies by silencing those the part of one of the staff mem­ viewpoints these letters express. We against something who speak out the loudest. Do we have bers. I called the news desk. Well, have tried to be fair in presenting a We intend to go on drinking orange so little faith in our own convictions the news desk said that they felt cross-section of opinion, but have elimi­ juice no matter what it means, because that we feel threatened by someone product boycotts have about the same it was a "perfectly acceptable" nated several letters from writers who who disagrees9 profess to be gays, because we could stature on our scale of values as do word to call gays by. I tried in not be sure the names given were kidnapings. skyjackings and bomb The truth is. two people engaged in vain to explain that it was not and authentic. threats. It's a desperate act by desper­ a homosexual act represent far less of a compared the word "homos" to The purpose ot this editorial is not ate people who want to flex a little threat to most of us than that drunken "nigger" and "spic." "Write us a to try to persuade people to any particu­ muscle when their Jarains run out of driver in the other car racing down the letter" was the final reply before lar position in this controversy. We be- worthwhile thoughts highway ’oward us at 80 miles per hour. in'.<■ each person can find in his own Bits ’n’ Pieces

The National Endowment for the Women in the Arts, Inc., a new Humanities (NEH), a Federal agency, non-profit organization has a new awards grants to support work in the approach for creative women. They humanities, according to Joe Acanfora, have scheduled a "celebration f an employee of the agency. Q. Patricia Neff Warren's novel "The front gunner," Women in the Arts Groups that might be eligible for about a track coach who falls in love with his star at the William Penn Memorial Muse runner—is Paul Newman really going to star in this urn, Harrisburg. The goa is to bring NEH funding include: gay historical archives; gay learning centers in movie?—S. Champaign, III. you together »s professionaland public libraries; gay community out­ A. Paul Newman was originally interested in starring non-professional creative women in reach and educational programs; high in "The Front Runner" but decided that playing a such fields as visual arts, photog_ quality films, filmstrips and video­ "gay" was not for him in this particular setting. A raphy, crafts, music, drama, liter tape educational aids; gay historical new producer is currently reading the screenplay ature and films. The celebration research, workshops and seminars for written by Jeremy Lamei. will include a juried exhibition, demonstrations, Performing arts and professionals concerning gay issues; development of responsible gay cur­ a laeturu aeries. Those >nteiv.$tau riculum at all educational levels; Q, Colt Porter, songwriter extraordinaire, graduate as World War I, socialized Time magazine commissioned a zations and individuals to develop with Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, stuHTon how Americans felt about proposals for eligible projects and Noel Coward, Elsa Maxwell, and Gerald and Sara sex and found that 70 Per“nR to apply to the NEH for Federal fund­ Murphy, who used to say, "Living well is the best Americans felt there *»ould be no ing." revenge." laws regulating sexual practices. Persons or groups wishing more in­ In 1937, Porter suffered a riding accident, under­ Other findings: 51 percent see noth­ formation about the NEH and possible went 32 operations, finally in 1958 had his right leg amputated. Porter was a vain man with dyed hair, ing wrong with living together out­ grants should write to: Mr. Darrel false teeth, and great courage He had a delightful side marriage, and *8 Percent ap­ de Chaby, Public Information Office, sense of humor, once ordered swimming trunks for prove of abortion while 44 percent Mail Stop #351, National Endowment his male guests which dissolved when immersed in for the Humanities, 806 15th St.N.W., oppose it. water. A recent biography, "Cole Porter" by Charles Washington, D.C. 20506. Schwartz, tells about many escapades of the com­ poser and his flamboyant crowd, but Porter's music, - ZAP (State College) the wit and sophistication of his lyrics will surely outlive revelations of his sex life

Plans' are under way to film THE Christ has a blatant affair with In.the . ■, ■ SEX LIFE OF JESUS, based on a movie. #i controversial book that depicts Christ “Casting is very Important, as a swinging homosexual, remarks Grant, "and wijl be the The film makers expect their movie ke^°,e ^2,2-^ ore-ented jr \. ■ 1 theaters and threaten their Ilves words {rom (he "Roman Catho||c The SI.2 million movie (being church "which isn't projected In a very financed partly by former Andy compi|mentary way," he admits. Warhobacker, Danish millionaire Hans Grant addshe hasn't had difficulty In A Smith, and an unnamed Canadian finding financial backers for the ■?' ■ ■ distributor) is based on a book by controversial project. He plans to have Danish writer-director Jens Jorgen the requ|red funds to finish the film by A ' ■ h Thorsen. . 'the end of 1978. The script will be distributed "Everyone's been coming to me so nationally in the U.S. near Christmas, far," he claims. "I haven't even begun and although a negative public to start selling the project and probably k . ..'U response is expected, the film will be won’t have to." shot in the U.S. next year unless the (ED. NOTE: What do you think public outcry is violently outrageous, readers? Should this film be banned L Thorsen will also direct the project, from the U.S.? Do you like the film? The executive producer is David Grant Send us your comments. Write to: K. from Britain. The stars have not been JESUS SEX FILM POLL, MODERN T||# w,c |f a|reody terGaming named, although Thorsen has signed a PEOTLE,_ 11058 W Addison St., obout a book whlch porfrayi Jolus French prostitute he met to play the F«nk''" ,,L “”3’’ Let your o. a swinging homosexual. part of Mary Magdalene, with whom voice be heard). " .Hi

24 |/f YOU FIND Mi STAKES spiritual crusade because the "gos­ pel" according to Anita seems to pontain more than its share of hat­ IN THIS PRPERPLERSE. ped and intolerence. "I think a lot of folks are fed Consider tnrt they zqre up with that pipeline-to-God routine She's using as an excuse to tell pur there for fl Purpose. pthers the 'correct' way to live PUBLISH SOPIttHM FOR their lives. EVERNOME FHD $OM\E — Gay Life F)RE fttuRYS Look in 6- Fok misrMEE'o 'SAVE OUR CHILDREN' TROUBLED PDE SUPPORTS AFFIRMATIVE The press release goes on to state MIAMI, FLA. — Two lawsuits have ■that ultimate accountability for the left the coffers of "Save Our Chil­ ACTION FOR GAYS program lies with the Department of dren" empty and placed the organiza­ Education's Executive Deputy Secre­ tion, which led the anti-gay forces tary, Robert N. Hendershot. in Dade County, under court order HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania to change its name. In an interview Department of Education supports — ZAP (State College) with the Associated Press, the affirmative action for Gays, accord­ The verdict isn't in, but an ad­ group's spokesperson Mike Thompson ing to a press release from the indicated that unless singer Anita Department's Secretary Caryl M. mittedly "straight" Pittsburgh vocal group has recorded a country/western Bryant comes to the group's aid with KI i ne. money and support, "Save Our Chil­ The equal opportunity/afformative single titled (Lord Knows) I Don't Need Anita on a new local label dren" may have 1/ -,!'-.'>and action will include finding addition­ Attn >ther (Prison Records, P.O. Box 1976, al sources of job applicants, pro­ leader of the anti-gay forces, con­ viding training opportunities to the Pittsburgh, PA 15230). The song, by a group going by the name of The curred with the Thompson view. employees, developing programs to ed­ "We've exhausted our treasury on ucate people in acquiring the skills Four Swallows, takes Anita Bryant to task for all her raving about these suits," said Brake. The two needed for maximum on-the-job poten­ lawsuits include one by "Save the tial and working for measurable year­ gays during the first half of 1977. "The idea behind the record is to Children" of Westport, Conn., to ly improvements in hiring, training, force the Miami group to change its entertain people of all consenting promotion and other employee bene­ name, and another by the family of fits to minority persons. sexual persuasions and to respond to Anita Bryant's attacks on human a murdered San Fransisco gay man, The policy statement says, in Robert Hillsborough. part, "The Department of Education rights without sounding either supports the Commonwealth's commit­ preachy or vindictive," said Ed De — Gay Community News ment to an Affirmative Action Pro­ Ment, President of Prison Records. gram to ensure equal employment op­ "This is more than just an an­ "Of all tyrannies a tyranny ex­ portunity for all persons, regard­ swer song to her bigoted remarks— ercised for the good of its victims less of race, color, religious creed, it's an anthem," he continued. "And may be the most oppressive. It may life-style, affectional or sexual it contains a chorus that even a be better to live under robber bar­ preference, handicap, ancestry, na­ dyed-in-wool redneck would love." ons than under omnipatent moral DeMent believes Bryant has dis- tional origin, union membership, age busybodies. The robber baron's cur-

WERE HERE BUT NOT FOR MEN ONLY! in the Need information?

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WE LL FILL THAT EMPTY SPACE aio aaawcorob 332 N. Muiberry Street AN AD. Lancaster, PA 17603 his ice show again after ten days as a 'crime drama,' but in my opin­ rest from a beating he received on ion the show is a love story between 25 a Kensington street. two men. If I love somebody, I'm not elty may sometime sleep, his cupid­ The 27 year-old Curry (who cre­ ashamed of it.. ity may at some point be satiated; ated an uproar when he disclosed he but those who torment -us for our was gay after winning the Gold Medal own good will torment us without end in the Olympics) was on h1s way home for they do so with the approval of alone when the attack occured. their own conscience... To be"cured" “The man came up and punched me against one's will and cured of on the nose. I fell to the ground states which we may not regard as. but I got up again and tried to talk disease is to be put on a level with to him." those who have not yet reached the But the man hit him again and age of reason... You start being when John fell to the ground, kicked "kind" to people before you have con­ him in the back - the kick that put sidered their rights, and then force him out of the show. upon them supposed kindnesses which Curry did not report the incident they in fact had a right to refuse, to the police. and finally kindnesses which no one Plans are underway to bring the but you will recognize as kindnesses show to the states this fall. and which the recipient will fell as abominable cruelties". - C.S. Lewis — Gay News (London)

WORLD CHAMPION SKATER The August 13 TV Guide contained ATTACKED a feature about singer/actor David Soul, in which he said about the ABC series, Starsky & Hutch (he's LONDON, ENGLAND — World skating Hutch): "Starsky & Hutch is listed champion John Curry is appearing in

"I DON'T HAPPEN TO BE homo­ sexual, BUT IF I WERE, I HOPE THAT I WOULDN'T BE ASHAMED OF lining's inti it. God makes you whatever you are." — Ed Koch, Democratic NOMINEE AND NEXT MAYOR OF NEW York, on WNEW news before the ELECTION. EXPERTS BACK ERA EXTENSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Jus­ tice Department and private legal experts told a House Judiciary Sub­ committee that Congress has the authority to grant individual states an additional seven years to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The sub­ w § committee is considering a proposed seven-year ratification extension for the ERA. Presently the deadline ftfr ratification is slated to expire in March, 1979, and women's groups are fearful that the three states SHOW...10PM still necessary to ratify the ERA will hot do so in time. So far 35 Phnna (717) 225-^79 for reservations and ALTERNATIVE information. BOOKSELLERS ten north fourth street reading, Pennsylvania 19601 telephone: (215) 373-0442 a bookstore for people Company LtOeaturing Steve, Sabrina & Cast • feminist books • best sellers • posters • crafts • jewelry • t-shirts Seafood Buffet *10.00 p‘’ • feminist records • non-sexist children's books & toys Revelations that the hospital was out of the required 38 sta _s Lave 26 1 major center of such operations ratified th? states the . «en ar­ paused a large controversy among Ok­ rest a bettering husband unless they The CSTter administration has en­ lahoma Baptists. The hospital board dorsed the extension of the deadline actually see him beatin his wife or Is dominated by Baptist ministers, and Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman and , have a warrant issued by a judge. Margaret Heckler have emphasized than all of whom believe that problems 6. Spouse-beating is not the ex­ the extension was needed as an "in­ that lead people to seek sex change clusive domain of the poor. Family reassignment be resolved spiritually. surance policy." violence cuts across race, class, The hospital's advisory board, medi­ and background. It is widespread and cal staff, and physicians have fa­ — Gay Community News occurs as often among the upper mid­ vored continuing the operations dle class as among the lower. BOYCOTTING MIAMI which had been suspended all summer. 7. The implications of the belief that "a man's home is his castle" is MIAMI BEACH, FLA. — The National — Gay Community News a partial cause for domestic vio­ Education Assn, and the American lence. Some men believe they are Library Assn, have written to Miami more the owners of their homes than Beach's convention bureau manager to are their wives, that their homes announce that they will not hold are inviolate, that they can do any­ their national conventions there be­ thing they like within them. cause of Florida's failure to rati­ 8. Acts of violence are committed fy the Equal Rights Amendment. While by women almost as frequently as by neither group had made formal com­ men. Yet women aren't as physically mitments to hold conventions in Mi­ strong as men. Moreover, they were ami Beach, had the two groups done raised to be subservient to men in so they would have spent about $8 some cases believe they deserve to million in the city. Florida refused be beaten. to ratifv th? ERA lest spring, shortly before anti-gay forces won ONE BIG UNION the repeal of the Dade County gay C0HGRESSW01UN IIIKUiMI rights referendum. Fear of homosex­ IS THERE HOPE FOR NEW YORK — At its 36th general uality played a large part in the conference, the Industrial Workers ERA'S defeat in the Florida lesgi- HETEROSEXUALS ? of the World (IWW) has taken a lature. stand in favor of gay rights. The In addition, gay boycotts of Mi­ Rep. Barbara Ann Mikulski (D., organization was one of the major ami Beach are beginning to take Md.), a woman of 41 with extensive forces in American labor until the some toll. "The impact from the gay experience as teacher, author, lec­ early '20s when it was led by now issue is not as great, but it is turer, and social worker, revealed legendary figures like Joe Hill and some alarming facts about family picking up momentum," Hal Cohen, Big Bill Haywood. executive director of the Miami violence in this country when last In its October statement, the or­ Beach Tourist Development Authority, month she introduced her Family Vi­ ganization resolved that "the IWW told the Miami Herald. Cohen noted olence and Treatment Act: recognizes the current crusade a- that a group of 100 Brazilians re­ 1. Approximately one-fourth of gainst the rights of homosexuals as cently cancelled out because of the all murders in the United States another attack on the rights of all gay issue by he doubted that they occur within the family. Half of working people. We support the ef­ were involved in the gay rights these are husband-wife killings. forts to defend homosexuals and bi­ 2. One-fourth of American coup­ movement itself. sexuals against these attacks, and les! engage in an episode of vio­ support the inclusion of sexual- — Gay Community News lence during their relationship; preference protection in the non­ 16% occur each year, and 10% in­ discrimination clauses of union con­ NO BAPTIST SEX CHANGES volve extreme admitted physical tracts. abuse. OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA - South­ 3. At leat 10% of the children — Gay Community News ern Baptist officials, meeting in ex­ who witness parental violence event­ ecutive session, have voted 54-2 to ually become batterers themselves. 4. More police die'as a result 11 II. ij<"\ i vi ban all sex change operations at the of answering domestic violence calls denomination's Baptist Medical Cen­ than die in following any other a- According to William "Fishbait ter. The Medical Center has been one Miller, Congressional doorkeeper for of the leading facilities in the U.S. venue of their duty. In 1974 one of every five policemen who lost 24 years, in his new book, Congress­ for such surgery, and over 50 trans­ man James Fulton was known as the thier \ives did so while trying to sexuals are in preliminary stages of gay caballero". The well-respected settle or put down a family fight. change, awaiting the board's deci­ Republican representative from 5. Only 2% of the men who beat sion. Operations had been suspended Pittsburgh's South Hills died in their wives or female living part­ for the summer at the Center, pend­ ners are ever prosecuted. In most 1971. ing the board meeting. Gll/G TH€ GhY €Rh FOR CHRISTMAS

At a loss__ about_ what to buy that FROM. special friend for Christmas? How nai about a gift subscription to the GAY adXft—------ERA? ao Upon receipt of your special gift subscription, we will send your ite —------~ friend one of JRM Cooper's Christmas > —------Cards notifying them of your gift. 27 Although Fulton's sexual orienta­ tion was not sensationalized in the news media during his Congressional terms, many of his colleagues (but few of his constituents) knew of it. Local gays who were among his friends report that he "kept" sever­ al Jamaican houseboys for a time at a rural retreat he owned.

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HELP ME! I hate typing. Our typist is leaving us for greener pastures in D.C. Just count the mistakes in 12 issues - $5.00 this issue and you'll know what I mean. If you can type, we have the GAY ERA latest typewriter to use: IBM Selec- 332 N. Mulberry Street tric II. It even has a correction button. Anyone can do it in half the Lancaster, Penn. 17603 time it takes for me. Call Dave @ 717-426-9811. Make check or money order payable to the above. Do not send cash through the mail. All copies are sent in sealed, no-peek envelopes.

Remember Miami? The Lehigh Valley . Coalition for Human Rights is about name _ to introduce a bill in city council similar to the one repealed in Dade add res County. A group calling itself the apt. no. Citizens Organized for Decency (COD) has already started fighting by run- I ning ads in the local papers. See si’dteZZ "Allentown Battle" this issue. We need your help. Send donations to zip____ The Lehigh Valley Coalition for I Any amounts in excess will be considered Human Rights, c/o Le-Hi-Ho, Box 1003, | donations, greatly needed and appreciated. Moravian Station, Bethlehem, Pa. | 18018. I BhH, HUMBUG! FEELING 4BOUT NEW YEAR’S €V€ THS W SCROOGE FELT 4BOUT XMhS ? JOIN OS foe<11 NEW YEAKfa ' ’J EVE N< N-I AEFV

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