NEWS

HIGH GEAR/JULY 1977

PAGE 1

U.S. HOUSE SLAMS DOOR ON GAY FUNDING

WASHINGTON, D.C. --On June 27, Rep. Larry McDonald (D-Ga.) introduced an amendment to the Legal Services Corporation Amendments Act of 1977 (HR 6666) which would prohibit any use of federally funded "legal assistance with respect to any proceeding or litigation arising out of disputes or controversies on the issue of homosexuality or so-called gay rights."

The amendment passed on a roll call vote of 230-133 with 70 not voting. It must now be voted on by the Senate and signed by the President to be enacted as law. If the amendment becomes law, it would mean that no poor gay person could use the

federally funded legal assistance program to defend his/her civil rights.

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When Rep. McDonald urologist by profession and a member of the national council of the John Birch Society) read the amendments from the House floor he was hooted and jeered, according to Gay Community News. On two preliminary voice votes, the McDonald amendment was defeated, said U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) but when McDonald pressed for a roll call on the issue, his proposal passed handily.

Rep. Ed Koch (D-New York), sponsor of the House Gay Civil Rights Bill (HR 2998) deplored

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the congressional action: "It is an outrage that the House of Representatives would vent its spleen on other Americans who their own children. But homosexuals can take heart in that they do not stand alone. The same villainy was practiced and against blacks, women those who are oppressed in other countries by their own governments using American arms for that purpose. The fight for human rights is larger than any one minority. As long as any one minority is not given full equality, the battle goes on."

The action was the first time that Congress had ever dealt with a gay issue on a roll call, and it caught the Gay Rights

National Lobby by surprise. Adam DeBaugh, lobbyist for GRNL, toid GCN, "It put us on the defensive, but 133 votes with no advance warning isn't that bad."

DeBaugh encouraged all gay -people to write their senators as soon as possible, urging them to oppose any anti-gay amendment. GRNL requests that copies of all correspondence be sent to Gay Rights National Lobby, Suite 210, 110 Maryland Ave., Washington, D.C. 20002.

The address of all members of Congress is U.S. House of Representatives,

Washington,

D.C. 20515. Senators (including Sen. Howard Metzenbaum and Sen. John Glenn, both D-Ohio,

can be written to U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510.

HOW OHIO

REPS VOTED

("Yes" means in favor of the anti-gay amendment. "No" means opposed).

YES: Ashbrook, Brown (R), Carney (D), Devine, Gradison, Guyer, Kindness, Latta (R), Luken (D), Miller (R), Mottl (D), Regula (D), Stanton (R), Vanik (D), Wylie (R).

NO: Ashley, Pease, Sieberling, Stokes (all D), Whalen (R).

THOSE NOT VOTING: Applegate (D), Harsha (R) Oakar (D).

CLEVELAND HOSTS TWO GAY PRIDE MARCHES

In an unexpected whirl of events (see story on Page 2), the city of Cleveland this year hosted two gay pride marches. The first, on June 25, was sponsored in the end by the Gay Caucus of Youth Against War and Fascism (YAWF).

The sidewalk parade attracted nearly 2250 people, despite con fusion over publicity that this march was to be canceled and received ample coverage on all three local television stations. Up to a third of those in attendance were from out of town, representing Columbus, Akron, Youngstown, Oberlin and other Northern Ohio cities.

Under the watchful eye of several police cruisers, the parade proceeded peacefully through the heart of the downtown shopping district. Three and four abreast, the marchers chanted, carried signs and greeted passers-by with leaflets sporting basic educational information on gays.

Fears that demonstrators would be physically abused or arrested proved unwarranted. The only police action occurred on narrow Prospect Avenue when a policeman left his car and politely asked marchers to provide enough space for shoppers to pass.

At the Public Square rally, harassment was limited to three drunken VFW conventioneers

who from a distance demanded the marchers "get away from the Soldiers and Sailors Monument." Mimicking gay people as "sissies," the conventioneers were recipients of returned taunts by demonstrators.

During the speakers' presentations, a Cleveland lesbian activist from the Women's Gay Rap Group, verbally confronted a bearded preacher who repeatedly interrupted her. As he threatened fire and brimstone, the woman calmly asked the crowd to turn around to face the man. She then said, " respect your right to believe the

way you feel; but I don't feel you have the right to impose your beliefs on others..." The preacher walked away, and the taste of triumph touched those present.

Held on July 9th, the second Gay Pride March, while not as big as the first (estimates ranged from 150-200 people), proved itself

awsome because of its street presence. As many shoppers lined the streets to watch the parade, marchers walked in groups of three and four abreast chanting, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Anita Bryant's got to go." Sponsored by the Cleveland Metropolitan Community

Church, this march included many MCC people from other Ohio cities; Toledo, Columbus, et. al. As in the June 25th march, the only harassment occurred when fundamentalist preachers implored gay marchers to "turn to God."

The July 9th parade received ample coverage in the city's two daily newspapers and coincided with a series of articles on gay life styles by Jane Scott in The Plain Dealer.

From spot interviews, it appeared that most of those attending the second march had not been at the first and vice versa. This lead one disgruntled participant to observe, "It's too bad. If we had been better organized we could have had over 500 at one march. Now that would have been impressive."

CLEVELAND PRESS COMES OUT

FOR GAY RIGHTS

Homosexual rights

Reprinted from the lead editorial, June 14, Cleveland Press

Much as we disagree with her views, Anita Bryant may have done the country a favor by demanding a public referendum on the rights and nonrights of homosexuals in Dade County (Miami), Fla.

Her crusade resulted in the repeal (by a 7 to 3 margin) of a new ordinance prohibiting job and housing discrimination against homosexuals in Miami. She is being ridiculed and probably with good reason as an intolerant zealot who's willing to sacrifice someone else's civil rights for her own religious beliefs.

But for all her exaggerated emotionalism, the former Miss Oklahoma turned orange juice promoter has forced the rest of us to confront an issue we've been shoving under a rug (or into a closet) for too many years.

The issue is whether homosexuals should be treated exactly the same, under the law, as other citizens.

There should be no quarrel, in this day and age, with the proposition that the state has no right to interfere with the voluntary sexual practices of consenting adults in the privacy of their own homes. Laws that try to police the bedroom are prudish and absurd and no longer exist in Ohio and many other states.

What gets some people uptight is the thought of homosexuals teaching, particularly in elementary schools where they might be bad "role models" for impressionable young boys.

Psychiatry is certainly not a precise science, but many psychiatrists believe the homosexual twig is bent even before a boy or girl enters school. And those who object to homosexuals teaching apparently have no concern about heterosexual teachers who in their heart of hearts might be coveting little Lolitas.

As a practical matter, discrimination against gay men and women is fading from American life, though not as fast as homosexuals would like.

We doubt Anita Bryant's promise to campaign nationally against homosexual rights will reverse that trend. After all, there is a federal law that should prohibit discrimination against minorities whether those minorities are blacks, women, homosexuals or Methodists with green eyes.