GAY WOMEN'S NEWS

For the past three years I have been heavily involved in the gay revolution in Ohio, serving as co-chairperson of the Cleveland based G.A.A. and as coordinator of the 1974 All Ohio Gay Pride Conference. During those three years, those of us who were close to G.A.A. experienced sisterhood, brotherhood, success, satisfaction, triumph, as well as disappointment, defeat, disillusionment and heartaches. There were marches and demonstrations; there were court battles and law suits; there were arrests and beatings; but but most of all we will always remember the picnics, the parties and of course the gratitude that was shown by those we managed to help along the way. On May 15th, I officially resigned as co-chairperson of the Gay Activists Alliance of Cleveland in order that I might devote more time to personal endeavors. It saddened me deeply to step-down from a positionthat enabled me to wield an occasional effective blow at the restrictive, oppressive soc-iety that gays live in. There is no question in my mind that alone I could not have managed to wage my war against the oppressor. Instead G.A.A. grew along with me, allowing me to develop into a person who now ignores fear and detests oppression. When I first assumed the co-chairmanship, I was like many other gays.... ignorant of the oppression, oblivious to the needs of my brothers and sisters. It was a slow tedious development for all of us and especially for me. I will always cherish the days with G.A.A., both the darker ones and the brighter

ones.

position in the predominately male G.A.A.

It has been longer for the gay women to get together because as all women, we believed in male superiority ... even though we sexually rejected them. Our invisibility and our "not so serious evaluation" of ourselves protected us from "straight" hostility. Stereotypes created by a confused society obscured us from view. People assumed that Lesbians must "want to be men", and they imagined moustaches, short hair, and cigars. And those of us, a majority, who do not fit those stereotypes, escaped unnoticed. Our anonymity, while it sometimes shielded us from overt oppression, nevertheless kept us apart. Isolated in single relationships, with our friends or in the bars, we felt little sense of political identity. We felt little need to align ourselves with other women. But, thanks to the women's liberation movement which tried its best to ignore us or shove us aside, and thanks to the gay male revolution under the guise of Gay Liberation Fronts and Gay Activists Alliances that managed to use us for "go fors" and secretaries or mother figures, we have realized our position as "vanguard of the women's movement." We realize that the culturally conditioned disgust aimed at "Dykes and Lesbians" has been triggered by women working with other women and seeing each other in an environment without men, recognizing each other, not as appendages to the male body, but as total human beings united in a common cause. Lesbianism has become a direct threat to the hierarchical structure. Instead of perpetrating an aggressor/victim situation, the yielding female, the conquering male, we offer a union of equals. To be a gay woman means that we are in total opposition to the present sexist structure. We have been ostracized because we are different and

oppressed because we vehemently disavow a culture which amputates almost the entire selves of those who live within its structures. We are "sick" because we are reclaiming our minds and our bodies and we are "evil" because we affirm our innocence.

But, throughout those years, it has become obvious to me as well as to some of my sisters that there were vast differences between the Lesbian and the gay man. Lesbianism is not simply the echo of the flamboyant, role-playing and sexually-oriented gay male. It was not merely a sexual definition but rather a political one, with a definite direction towards feminism. We usurp male control of our sexuality, contradicting their definition of sexual roles, and we cheat him of his monopoly on women's sensuality. Most of all we just don't need men and have little in common with them. And through the years we have managed to develop a consciousness about Gay/Feminism that has resulted in the bonding together of women as an oppressed majority, and the avoidance of compromise, sexual or otherwise, with men. Gay sisterhood has been growing while the male dominated gay revolution has been stagnating. And so, knowing what I know and possessing a fierce desire to fight alongside my sisters in the gay women's revolution, I have relinquished my matriarchal

An Army of

Ants ......

We'll move you and your belongings anywhere in the Cleveland area...call DOC... 321-7787

Whether or not I ever belong fully to another organization or involve myself deeply in the gay women's liberation, and whether or not

earth

I choose to continue my existence in Cleveland, I wish to leave a legacy to the women that, although my sisters, failed to understand what i was trying to say. Cleveland is a unique city with very backward concepts about "gay". And regard less of our politics, regardless of our differences, we are all gay and our oppressor is very real. And every blow that I struck for G.A.A. and its men, was a blow in support of sisterhood as well. They know we're here now, and all any of you have to do is carry on the fight and win. Rhetoric is fine but it doesn't change laws or people's minds. The gay women's movement cannot afford to waste any more time. There's a law suit against Case Western Reserve University regarding its refusal to allow gays free speech and assemblage, there's a 40 page proposal for a sexual minority counseling center with the department of Health, Education and Welfare, as well as direct contact with many area colleges and public facilities and organizations. If the gay women's liberation movement is going to make any gains it has got to pipe into these facilities or create definite, visible and available alternatives for the women who need to know sisterhood. We have got to make ourselves apparent and open so that our sisters can reach us. Enough time has been spent on contemplating our "belly buttons" and spouting rhetoric. And if you don't think sister-. hood and a visible organization is needed then you don't understand what I've been about.

seafood

announɑ. Vegetarian cuisine

sunday brunch 11 a.m. 8p.m. and new hours tuesday through saturday 11a.m. 1a.m.

our new menus

by april

2151 lee rd. at cedar cleveland heights 371-1438

page 9/What She Wants/July 1974