State University of New York College at Buffalo - Buffalo State College Digital Commons at Buffalo State The aM deline Davis Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, The iF fth rF eedom Transgender Archives of Western New York 11-1-1978 Fifth rF eedom, 1978-11-01 The aM ttachine Society of the Niagara Frontier Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/fifthfreedom Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons Recommended Citation The aM ttachine Society of the Niagara Frontier, "Fifth rF eedom, 1978-11-01" (1978). The Fifth Freedom. 69. http://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/fifthfreedom/69 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the The aM deline Davis Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Archives of Western New York at Digital Commons at Buffalo tS ate. It has been accepted for inclusion in The iF fth rF eedom by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons at Buffalo tS ate. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 5thFreedom FREE Publication of the Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier NOVEMBER 1978 S.A.G.E. National Works For we won! Switch" Funding Voters in November elections in Cal- Board In ifornia have given us continued permission / Buffalo State's Gay organi- to teach their children, and in Seattle «v. ft* *r\ zation, SAGE, Student Alliance we have been given eaual rights in hous- pro- vWit for Gay Equality is in the inp and employment. These are our first «yj J"~ Operation cess of organizing their goals — big political victories. Congratulations, mother is told by and objectives for the future. gang, and let's work for more. When a Their major task at the \^ her daughter that she's a Les- moment is to get an office on bian, who can she talk to about campus which they can work out her daughter's gay feelings? of. They are also trying to Or the boss who finds out Chaw get budgeted some funds from he has several gay employees, the campus Student Government, who can he talk to about his (USG), so they could offer a confusion? The Gay National Drop-In Center for gay students Educational Switchboard re- that need counseling, and hold ceives calls such as these monthly dances for the gay daily from heterosexual indi- community. viduals across the country The funds that USG has are seeking support for accepting derived from a thirty-five dol- people with gay feelings into lar activity fee that each stud- their lives. These callers ent has to pay once a year. include parents whose children This amounts to about half a are gay, children of gay par- million dollars which is divided ents, and heterosexual people among the campus organizations- with gay friends or relatives. on the basis of need. The switchboard also receives SAGE, along with a few calls from psychologists, mm other smaller clubs, was cut Continued On Page 8 from this year's budget, mainly because of a drop in enrollment of students, resulting in a drop of funds. SAGE is now U.B. Passes trying to obtain funding for next -year. In order to get these funds they have to show USG that they will be offering Preference students more than just a duplication of the services al- ready being offered by other Clause campus organizations. An amendment to the Univer- If they can't get funded, sity of Buffalo's non-discrimi- SAGE may have to resort to Buffalo Man New nation code was unanimously- charging dues of a quarter or passed by the College Council half dollar at each meeting. on a motion from Michael Pierce The meetings are held on Fridays the only student representative at 4:30 pm in room 414 of the N.Y.S.C.G.O. Head Pierce, an openly gay student, Student Union at Buffalo State. had Miranda Dunne made the motion backed by The important thing about For the first time in NYSCGO, etc. a of Channel Seven's Eyewitness petition signed by seventy SAGE this year is that it has several years, Buffalo hosted students a News team on hand filming asking that state- several dedicated members work- the New York State Coalition was ment be added the (NYSCGO) several segments of the con- to non-dis- ing hard to try to achieve of Gay Organizations crimination to at the State Uni- for a news story she code outlaw bias these goals. conference ference on the of is on in grounds sexual orien- versity College at Buffalo doing Gay life Buffalo tation The Ms. Dunne and Bill Coplon, or affectual preference. on October 20, 21, 22. The Council, a of the President of the Mattachine body conference was hosted by community and business leaders Buffalo State Students Alliance Society of the Niagara Fron- the workshop selected by the governor along for Gay Equality and the Matta- tier, conducted with one elected the straight media and gave out non-voting chine Society of Niagara on student member is the pointers on how to attract governing Frontier. Members of NYSCGO some body of the By represented Gay the news media into reporting University. who attended passing the amendment to the and Lesbian groups throughout on Gay issues. Besides these, however, the main the non-discrimination code which the state. work of is in accord with is to back conference took place in two the 1968 It hard look Civil Rights Act the three intensive board and three general con- College on days of Council footnoted and defined conferencing any kind of ference meetings. A myriad with sex. Sex, now according to the composure; it was exciting, of decisions had to be made, footnote election of a new Board, and is defined not only enthralling, tiring, and at by gender, but also by There were sev- a policy for next year. one's times boring. sexual preference. In practical Itcnt Havtt eral workshops e.g. how to deal One of the conference terms this means that amend- highlights "as the election the with non-profit organizations, ment is not just an straight of Bill Coplon as Upstate empty phrase how to deal with the but an effective one for the media, legislative goals of Continued On Page 3 protection of gays. FROMOURMAILBAG sth5th Freedom AS FRIEND iating with females eliminates these feel- Publication WOMAN ings to a great extent. One may ask how are these feelings reduced by associating with I had become somewhat curious to the females? It seems females are not bound of the reasons behind the fact that gay men seemed by the restrictive male attributes. Fe- to have mostly women as real friends. Gene males are not required by society to Possedento reported, in the October issue achieve prescribed male attributes and of sth Freedom, that most men who attended Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier accomplishments. I don't feel the need the "Men's Center" organizational meeting to compete with other males to achieve indicated "they had no real male friends, those particular "male attributes and just 'buddies or acquaintances they worked accomplishments". with. They said they had women as real I feel women are more understanding friends most often." than men towards others. I can allow my- sit- I briefly examined my own living self to truly express my emotions and feel- and found uation, friends, relationships, ings without the fear of ridicule. I Nov that women were .also my real friends. I would feel more restricted among non-gay 1978 had Why is it that . very few male males of the friends. because fear of being viewed a sizeable percentage of gay men have as feminine in some way. I know.this is many more women as friends than men? one of the hang-ups preventing mc from 1) Could it be that gay men have associating with non-gay males. The fear \Ad1.8,N0.5 more things in common with women of expressing my total feelings in front than men, and if so, WHAT? of non-gay males is further complicated i\ lt== II =iV -II 3E 2) Could it be that gay men feel less by the fear of the possibility of the non- and as a re- threatened by women gay men discovering I am gay. sult, tend to associate with I can only explain my personal reasons women? for associating mostly with women. I would sth FREEDOM is a monthly publication 3) Could it be that women are more very much like the gay and non-gay readers of the Mattachine Society of the understanding and sensitive to of sth Freedom to write in their comments, Niagara Frontier. It is distributed other individual's feelings? reasons for phenomena, feelings about this . Free of charge in any establishment 4) Could it be that women enjoy article. and with any organization permitting associating with gay men because SBP such distribution. Our monthly it eliminates the threat of a ici rcul at ion is 4,0 00 relationship developing into a deeper sexual one? A THANK YOU . The fact that I have mostly female The presence of the name or picture friends I to resolve or other representation of a business troubles mc. want the of in straight To all the people who generously organization or person(s) in articles problem existing both gay worlds. want to have a great offered to open up their homes to the vis- or advertising in this newspaper is and I deal of gay male and non-gay male friends. iting delegates for the NYSCGO conference not an indication of"the sexual orien held in Buffalo October 20 to 22, thank tation of such I don't want to restrict myself to making person, organization you! More people offered housing than was or business.