Page 8

620 CLUB

there's plenty -at six-twenty :620 Frankfort Ave. Cleveland

Downtown between W. 6th and W. 9th Just steps West of Public Square and the Mall

Phone 241-9719

Free Parking Sunday Thru Thursday Attendant at All Times

HIGH GEAR

DECEMBER 1976

Is Frisco

a Gay Mecca ?

Village Grotto

GERMAN VILLAGE VICTORIAN BAR 622 South High Street Columbus, Ohio Open 1:00 pm to 2:30 am Daily Happy Hour 1 pm to 8 pm Mon. thru Sat. Tap Room

Outdoor Patio

Lighted Dance Floor

Wednesday Nights DJ Disco & 40

Thursday Nights

Busch Beer 60 Scotch

Friday & Saturday Nights

DJ Disco Buffet

Sundays

NO COVER

NOW OPEN ABOVE THE GROTTO

The THE LOFT

for the leather/levi crowd

Look for our big

Christmas PARTY Dec. 25)

& New Year's EVE PARTY NO COVER

MERRY CHRISTMAS MERRY CHRISTMAS

by John Nosek

San Francisco. Even the roll of the syllables brings awe to the eyes of the average Midwestern gay. Perhaps many of us flirt with the thought of eventually transporting ourselves to this mythical citadel of gay freedom, away from what we perceive as the drab dullness of Cleveland, Columbus or Akron.

To be sure, the sheer numbers of gay people in San Francisco immediately give one a sense of belonging. No matter where one goes in the city, s/he runs into gay men and lesbians. There are at least three major gay ghettos Polk Street, Castro Street, and Haight Street, all sporting meticulously renovated homes. In fact, the gay areas which border black neighborhoods are actually pushing straight blacks toward Oakland, as inspired gay home-seekers snatch up rundown but architecturally sound adobes. Gay owned shops. neatly line sections of the city and one is overwhelmed with a sense that gay people are securely in charge of their own destiny.

On a social level there is a directness of intent which is refreshing to the outsider. Unlike Ohio where people stand and cruise for hours without talking to a sought-after person, in S.F. one approaches or is approached almost upon arrival. Promiscuous sex abounds and can be had anytime in the day, anywhere in the city. The list goes on...

Readily accessible to all, social alternatives and services include organized gay sports, a potpourri of religious gay organizations, travel agencies, beaches and rural retreats, political groups, rap sessions, physical and mental health clinics (There is no community center per se as groups and services are scattered throughout the city in modular units), and three newspapers, The Sentinel, The Gay Crusader, and Newswest.

Yes, there is no question that San Francisco is the gayest

metropolis in America. If one can bear the higher standard of living and the keen competition for jobs, a move to this golden city will no doubt prove at least. momentarily gratifying.... But when one looks beyond the surface, it becomes painfully apparent that gay San Francisco is nowhere near the model community many picture it to be. In-. deed, numbers alone do not guarantee a sense of cohesion.

visited S.F. report cars driving into gay neighborhoods throwing lit firecrackers and shouting

obscenities at the residents.

On October 30, the annual Halloween entertainment on Castro Street was marred by the presence of gangs of teenage punks harassing gay celebrants. A gay activist was arrested by a plainclothes officer for "disturbing the peace" because he came to the aid of a friend! Only the night before, two men were arrested by plainclothesmen who would not identify themselves for jaywalking on Folsom Street.

Meanwhile, a San Francisco woman, Marge Martin, has or-

"There is more discrimination toward older gays in the Bay areas than anywhere else in the country," says the founder of an over-forties rap group (The Fifth Freedom from an article by Tim Denesha) and similarly for obese or hirsute gays. Only re-ganized the Concerned Citizens cently, the Eighth Street Club of California, a group whose Baths were picketed by The Gay goal is to combat the proliferLiberation Alliance for turning ation of gay people in the Castro away patrons considered "too Street neighborhood. Leafletting old." (The rejected men were Ms. Martin calls gays an "undebetween ages 40-45). sirable element" and is doing all she can to force gay people out.

The Madison Avenue ideal continues to be embraced as the

Perhaps it was inevitable, but

ultimate erotic fantasy in San inner power struggles among Francisco, only with much more the city's activists have divided fervor than in other parts of the the community. The most dramatic of these conflicts incountry. With tens of thousands of people to compete with for volves Reverend Broshears, sexual attention, the pressures editor of The Gay Crusader and to rise to and remain in that 10% facilitator of the Gay Liberation "cream of the crop" are unyield-Alliance. Broshears recently ran ing. As Denesha notes, "The for the Community College tension is a familair one, but Board and sparked a good deal more suffocatingly pervasive of controversy by supporting than anywhere I have known." Sen. Hayakawa in the latter's U.S.. Senate. race (Hayakawa

On another front, gay San Francisco, is a self-contained community. Unlike Cleveland, little outreach is made to the 4/5 of the city which is straight. While used to the gay presence, S.F. heterosexuals know little more about gay culture than many of their Midwestern counterparts. Their lack of a negative attitude toward gays is due. more to apathy and visual saturation than understanding or accept-

ance.

This lack of gay outreach is beginning to have destructive ramifications. While police harassment of overt gay behavior is minimal (holding hands, etc) straight hazing of gays within their own communities appears to be on the increase. Friends who recently

has said, "I am deeply, deeply prejudiced against homosexuality, and I will vote that way." but Broshears claims Hayakawa is the best friend gays have.) The Reverend has also alienated bar entrepreneurs by attacking them for not paying employees union wages and not doing more to combat the widespread drug problem. Recently, of all things, Broshears joined the Republican Party.

Michelle, another political leader who is also a drag entertainer is now being reprimanded by some for having mustered gay support for the election of Mayor Moscone. Since Moscone (who presumably supports gay rights) has been in office, violence has intensified in all