Working Together:

Women And Men In GEAR

By Marycatherine Krause

In 1977, the GEAR (Gay Educational Awareness Resources) Foundation formed to serve the special needs of the estimated 160,000 lesbians and gay men living in the Greater Cleveland area. Since then, GEAR services have evolved to include peercounseling and information referral through the Hotline (Mon.-Sat., 7-11 pm, 621-3380); High GEAR, one of the oldest regularly published gay. journals, and the GEAR Gay Community Center located at 1645 W. 14th St., Cleveland. The Center, purchased by the Foundation in July, 1980, houses the Hotline, High GEAR, and the Foundation as well as provides meeting space for various foundation committees, community activities, rap groups and social events.

According to Dianne Fishman, ex-officio member of GEAR's Board of Trustees and Subscription Manager of High GEAR, and Erich Andrews, GEAR Vice President of Publications and interim editor of High GEAR, GEAR's acquisition of the Center 18 months ago and its subsequent expansion of services has been accompanied by a marked increase in membership. Interestingly enough, the 50% membership growth evidenced from June, 1980 to June, 1981 coincides with the highest level of female involvement in the organization, 30% as of June, 1981. This is in comparison to 5% less than 3 years ago.

Fishman, who has worked within the foundation at large for the past few years, is also a founding member of LIGHT, Lesbians In Gear Hanging Together, GEAR's women's coordinating committee. Linking increased GEAR membership to women's participation in the foundation, and, in particular, in LIGHT, Fishman said:

"Part of this has to be due to women's involvement. Because of the involvement of women in the organization, women are joining....It was about 2 or 3 years ago that I started seeing more women getting involved actively in GEAR. Right now the foundation is run by a Board of Trustees and there are 12. At present, there are 4 women and 2 exofficio, or non-voting, members that are women. There were 5...voting members last year. The year before that there might have been 1 or 2, the year before that there were probably none.... The women, a couple of years ago, started getting involved in the foundation and becoming more of a voice at meetings, getting more involved. in decision-making, actually running for and winning positions on the Board. [This enhanced] the visibility of women and the effort that was started by LIGHT in letting the women know what the possibilities were for getting involved in GEAR.". Erich Andrews, who began to participate in GEAR through the men's rap groups, has become more involved with GEAR through fundraising and, currently, working with the foundation's publications. Speaking of GEAR's need to continue to outreach to women and other segments of the area's gay community, Andrews commented on the concentration of women within LIGHT in terms of the foundation's history:

"GEAR started out as a men's organization because men were the ones who were doing it. Early on, the feeling was there that we couldn't continue to serve only 50% of the community and that there were women out there-not only did they need an organization, but we needed them. So once that issue was addressed, then it [GEAR] was opened up to women.

[Although true in the past], I would not say that the focus in the last 18 to 24 months has been primarily on men, because of what I mentioned before. There are two sides to the coin, there are two distinct groups. They both have distinct needs. The men tend to be more social, going to

A

-Fi Caym

bars, going to clubs, this type of thing. It has been my perception that women tend to be more homeoriented or more oriented to social activities outside of a bar setting, private homes for parties, this type of thing.

J

Commenting on the diversity of women within the community, Fishman outlined LIGHT's interest in filling the needs of the local lesbian community by creating social spaces and providing opportunities for networking, educational activities and special projects. Fishman explained:

"When I first started getting involved in the foundation, I was looking at what the needs were....My first thought was "why should women get involved, what is the foundation to women?" The women I know don't need the foundation. The women who are out, the women who are involved don't need the hotline, don't need the rap groups, don't need the Center. What I think we do. need are alternative social activities, places to go other than the bars.

...There's a lot of benefit for people who aren't already in the network, [who don't already know] what's happening.

[There are three LIGHT meetings. each month, two of which are open rap groups for women on the first and third Thursdays. A general LIGHT meeting is held on the first Tuesday of the month. This is not a rap group. As the women's coordinating committee for the foundation....we are here to see what we can do for the women's community and for the gay community as a whole as women."

Agreeing that "it's both women and men who are involved in this, who need to get involved", Andrews used High GEAR, one of his major concerns, as one area within GEAR in which women do participate but on a somewhat limited basis. Citing in particular the need for women writers to cover women's events and to expand the scope of the paper, Andrews continued:

"As Dianne has said, there are women's activities going on. But as I've found out they're for women only. We can't get a man in there to cover these activities because it's not conducive. So we've tried to get women to do some of this, and we've not had a lot of luck at it very frankly. So I'd like to see some women contributing to the paper in terms of some writing, to cover activities, to furnish news articles. I'd like to see some of the rap group themes expanded perhaps in the form of articles....I'd like to see some people from the various women's organizations in town volunteer as stringers to cover the activities and keep us informed so we can put these things on the calendar, so we can expand the information network.

I'm primarily addressing this to the women's community because I feel that's the biggest area we can expand into. There are lots of men's activities and we can get into and cover these. But the women's groups seem a little more reluctant to allow men to go in and cover these things, so I think: "Fine, let's get some women to cover these things and do some writing."

When asked about efforts to integrate the work of GEAR's women and men members, Fishman and Andrews pointed to joint rap groups on topics of concern to both. Fishman said: "There have been times in the past that for specific raps, a topic was set and it was noted that the men and the women were going to be working together for this one rap. We've done it on separatism, substance abuse, and other issues...but it's something we need to work on more to make that joint effort happen more often." Andrews went on to say:

*""I think you are going to see more and more activities aimed to bring both of these groups together, both the men and the women together as

a group and work out things and address issues that are of common interest. You're not going to. find that on every issue because of the diversification.... You're never going to get this all together. But you're going to find, I think, enough areas of common interest where the groups are going to get together. And this is important because it fosters a sense of unity as a group, and that's something that we've never really had before."

Among the issues yet to be resolved among women and men in GEAR is the influence of NOCI, the Northern Ohio Coalition, a local gay male business association. Andrews explained that NOCI was established by two male separatists who have tenure within NOCI and a long-standing commitment to the gay male community. "Consequently, because of their separatism and because of the fact that they do carry a great deal of weight, there has been sort of an adversary situation between them and us, NOCI and the GEAR Foundation. And that's unfortunate because we both have something to offer the other. So for the past three months we have been talking...and we are reaching an understanding to the point where I think we're going to be able to work together, because we both have a common interest here. And they're beginning to realize that their common interest includes women....I think a large part of that is that they don't know what the women's needs are and what they expect. And I think that is going to be a long road to haul....But we are beginning to talk now, we're beginning to communicate.'

One major challenge for the lesbian/gay movement is to integrate the experience and effort of both sexes in the pursuit of freedom of sexual preference. Erich Andrews and Dianne Fishman had this to say about their experience:

Andrews: "Organizationally, it presents problems because there are splinter groups who don't want to get involved in the larger things. I think most of the people I've worked with in the foundation are broad-minded enough so that they don't have a problem, we need more of those.

On a personal level, one of my dearest friends happens to be a real male separatist, and that has caused some lively discussion at the bridge table. But I think Bill's coming around, I think he has finally recognized that there are women in the world and he is going to have to deal with them.

1

Personally, I don't have any problem...if you can sit down and talk like adults and look at things. Women have pointed out to me nutty things that I've done and I've realized the logic of the situation and I don't get all upset about it. And I think if more people had that attitude that it wouldn't be a serious problem. I've got some areas of agreement, some areas of disagreement, but I'm willing to talk about them. I suppose that's the difference."

Fishman: "Education is the key word in almost everything we do-consciousness-raising. I know I am not here in the foundation with consciousness-raising of the males as my number one priority, but it's there and it's happening all the time. If I can work within the foundation, and on the back burner, as a constant thing, I'm trying to raise the consciousness of the males I'm working withwhether it's having somebody yell across the room: "Hey, girlie!" and not ranting and raving, because that isn't going to help him understand the situation. An explanation is....I've already seen how my discussions with the men of the foundation have helped [to raise] their consciousness. Because I can have a conversation with someone and 3 weeks later see that man that I've talked to out in our community, out there, not just within the foundation, talking to another gay male who is probably very separatist, and giving my explanation of why I shouldn't be called a girl. And I see that being passed on. And it wasn't through peti-* tioning, and it wasn't through protesting, and it wasn't through ranting and raving. It was through a discussion, having someone understanding where I'm coming from, my point of view. And all of a sudden, that person is now, unconsciously, an advocate for women's rights."

December, 1981/What She Wants/Page 9`·