COMMUNITY VOICE

IS THERE LOVE AFTER SEX?

The scene is all too familiar.

There he stands, with his perfect posture and expensive clothes and not a single hair out of place. And he's returning your glances!

Sooner or later the inevitable happens. Amidst the loud music and cigarette smoke permeating the bar the two of you manage to strike up a conversation. The lines are typical and often empty, but that doesn't matter because you are talking to each other, whether or not you're communicating.

You find yourself inexorably drawn to this person, and you hope he feels the same about you. Your heart beats faster and you've become very selfconscious about your appearance. After all, you do want to make a good impression.

As the topics of your dialogue grow deeper you may become even more attracted to this individual. You like him; you may eventually even love him. Sometimes the fantasy extends to contemplating lifetime together.

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The glow inside of you turns to fire, and that's where the trouble begins: it's all happening too fast.

"Why don't you come over to my place?"

The night of passion replaces the lifetime fantasy. The physical climax replaces the prospects of an emotional one.

Then morning comes, and you find yourself in bed with a stranger. You exchange telephone numbers, leave, and promptly forget everything, except perhaps an occasional gnawing of conscience. That one night could have very well replaced the propsects of a lifetime relationship, all because you weren't patient.

Sex is strange. It can be the ultimate compliment that people pay to each other; but we aren't often that complimentary. Oh, we may be trying to get away from our base physical impulses; after all, most of us prefer to consider ourselves as gay rather than homosexual. But there is a destructive potential in sex that can leave us jaded and old before our time. It is the desire for physical gratification too soon in a relationship that can preclude the establishment of emotional ties necessary to make a relationship last.

The body ages no matter what we do, but the mind doesn't have to age as well. It can mellow if only we give it the attention it deserves and requires in order to grow. It is primarily emotional compatibility rather than sexual prowess that keeps people together, yet too many of us act as though the opposite were true.

This does not mean that there can't be or shouldn't be conemotional gratification comitant with sex. On the contrary, having sex with someone can be a tremendous mental gratification as well; pure physcial pleasure is obtainable by just having sex with oneself. Mindless copulation should be for dogs, not people. But it is precisely the mental trip we take by sharing ourselves with some-

HIGH GEAR/JULY 1977

from all of you.

It's time to put forth positive outlook on the gay lifestyle to the straight community.

Your donations are needed if the Board of Trustees of the Lambda Society is going to help put forth educational material to the straight community.

For more information about the Lambda Society, write, Lambda Society, P.O. Box 134, Dayton, Ohio 45401. Also please help support local community activity to raise money to stop Anita Bryant! Thank you.

Leslie Sheward on behalf of the Lambda Society

one of the same gender that FRIENDS

distinguished someone who is gay from someone who is merely homosexual. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.

Before sex can be an enjoyable emotional experience as well, however, a non-sexual emotional tie between the must be people involved

estabished. People must be able to like each other before they can love each other and expect any fulfillment from that love. Sex between strangers will often

Friends,

Being in business myself, I understand and support the need of the bar to make a profit. No profit no business! But I don't like being ripped every weekend for a cover charge that amounts to nothing more than a "Gay Tax."

Gays, unite! Refuse to patronize bars that charge "Gay Tax." High Gear readers -comments?

Sincerely, Ron Meyers

FAMILIAR

Dayton, Ohio PATTERN

We are not gay, but we care. Our voice has been heard by Congress. You must be equal... Keep it up!

FIRE

Brian Thomas Karen Morgan Cleveland, Ohio

serve to keep those people TRAPS

strangers to each other; mechanical, empty, tawdry sex is destructive and oppressive. But sex that is preceded by an emotional attraction can complement and enhance the feelings between the people involved and help ensure relationship that is more human and potentially longer-lasting.

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For there to be love after sex, there must be something approaching love before it.

by Dennis Highland, Cleveland, Ohio

DAYTON POWER

Friends

The following is an appeal to all Ohio gays to continue the struggle for human rights in Dayton.

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Due to daily comments by the media and newspaper editorials and local radio stations stating, "Let's change our WSOC in dedication to Anita Bryant," it's particularly difficult for gays to come out politically and still maintain their jobs. In Dayton, there has been a general uprising in the tarassment of gays.

Dayton needs. O create a strong, positive gay movement now. The community has been falsely projected. It's time for the silent majority to tell it like it is!

There is a current movement for the Lambda Society to be representative of the gay community in Dayton. The majority of gays are in favor of this structure. In order to change the structure from that of one person's ego to the voice of the community, we need support

Editors:

Since the recent disasters at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Kentucky, and at the Everard Baths in New York City, we have all wondered, "Could it happen here?" After a quick tour through half a dozen of the local gay bars, I realize why it hasn't happened here sheer luck.

I won't name names; all of the places I visited had violations of the city's code and violations of common sense from inadequately marked exits, and doors that opened inward, to plainly marked exits which are locked.

We will have to look out for ourselves, because the fire department is not looking out for us. It is apparent that we should all take the time when entering a bar to check how we would get out in an emergency.

Drinking at home may be duller, but it is probably safer. Then again, when did you last check your living quarters for fire safety?

Bill Antolik Cleveland, Ohio

COVER RIP-OFF

Dear High Gear Editors:

What is the rationale for a cover charge every Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday to enter some gay bars when there is nothing special planned? (I do not consider disco a "special event.") The rationale is: "Charge a cover! Where else can gays go?"

When I go to the bar that has no cover, I feel obligated to buy. But when I am forced to pay a cover, I usually buy nothing.

Last month I attended the opening of the MGM Festival at the New Mayfield Theater, "Singing in The Rain" and "An American In Paris." Granted these are popular cult films which quite probably explained the near sell-out on a Thursday night. Something happened, however, that disturbed me a little. At the end of each musical number · bar none the audience cheered and applauded so wildly that you'd think that they were watching live performers. It disturbs me because there seems to be an obvious trend towards the "family-wholesome"

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fool you. That is the average of all socio-economic levels. The higher levels are not reproducing but the lower levels are at an alarming rate. And they are our enemy for they are ignorant of our ways, and we are convenient to blame since the Adolph of Dade County has brought us out into the limelight. It would be wise for all of us to follow these trends carefully.

Bob Kovach Cleveland, Ohio

TAX BOYCOTT

Editor:

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If the U.S. Congress does not pass the "Koch Bill," how about nationwide income tax boycott next year? Why should we gay people pay taxes to a government that won't guarantee us our civil rights? Perhaps if 50 million U.S. citizens refuse to pay income tax, the government will decide to grant us our guaranteed rights!

Your truly, Milo R. Trayer Dover Road Wooster, Ohio 44691

lifestyle STATE

that we dropped in the late fifties. This could not have come at a worse time for us because we are neither family nor wholesome in the eyes of the American majority. Couple this with the headline stories of the past couple of weeks, from Anita to Ralph Perk, and you can begin to develop a familiar pattern.

Just prior to World War II the Jews in Germany were in a similar predicament. They worked hard as a minority to establish themselves, mostly in the merchant and banking professions, and consequently made money and lived what amounted to an enviable life in the eyes of most Germans. Their ways were alien to the Germans and therefore, not to be trusted. The economic conditions in Germany were similar to ours, inflation forcing many people to give up many luxuries that they, were accustomed to. The wrong levels of society were reproducing at a faster rate also. Someone had to be blamed for the conditions but, because, like most people without a leader to consolidate them, the majority were content with just muttering under their breaths. Then came Adolph and the rest is history.

We are the alien minority today. We live the enviable lives, following the fashion trends, taking the exotic vacations, free of the household responsibilities and threat of divorce, keeping in shape and remaining youthful long after our counterparts in the straight world have resigned themselves to middle age. We are not compatible with the "New Morality" (even Carter asked the nation to get married instead of living together.)

And don't let the fact that our population growth is near zero

PATROL

Dear Fellow Gays

I'm writing to you about what happened to a couple of friends and me at a rest area just south of our city limits, We were in the parking area watching who came in and out and planning when we were going to wash and wax my car before we went to Toledo.

As we were standing outside of our cars, a State patrolman pulled in and stopped. He asked for some identification, which we gave him. After using his police radio, he asked if we knew the rules of the park, and as one of my friends started telling him that we did, he started talking and told my friend to keep his goddamn mouth shut while he was talking. He went on, sticking his finger in my friend's face and saying, "You keep your goddamn mouth shut and don't be so damn smart." He seemed to imply that we were there for some reason other than what we told him.

He was very rude, which made me angry, and when I got home! called information in Columbus and got the phone and address for the State High Patrol Headquarters. I then sat down and wrote a letter.

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A few days later, I received a letter from Col. Adam G. Reiss, State Superintendent, saying an investigation regarding the complaint would be undertaken. Evidently, the who harassed us, who was the post commander, was removed from his position; so, it looks as though sending in a complaint did some good. My friend has been out to the rest area several times since the incident took