COMMUNITY VOICE

Page 8

CHRONICLE: THE PEOPLE OF COLUMBUS

By JAY ABDON

It was an age ago that seems like it was yesterday. It was the year of "69". It was the year of footprints on the moon. It was the year of the wakening of Gay consciousness. It was the year of the Stonewall and on the morning after, the dawn of the Aquarian Age.

A full seven years have passed since that day. The following is a short history of the struggle of Gay people in the Columbus, Ohio area. May it show you truths that perhaps it has concealed from us. May it give you strength whereby we, may come out further together., THE EARLY DAYS

in 1969 Gay Liberation in Columbus was an outspoken individual at a local bar. With no formal movement, sheer defiance of police and local bar estaoishments were the only clues of a revolution that was yet to come. The winter of "6970 appeared and we settled down to the party season amidst the occasional gossip and hear say of travelers from the east and west coasts. Some said such talk was mere bravado. We were thrilled, but the fact that we were uncertain was real and the spring of "70" came.

I didn't go to the bar all that much because i'd just turned 18 and if the bouncer thought you were, "chicken", to the front door you were shown. Sometimes it didn't happen that way and got to stay and party some. As the spring wore on all the kids got into a more rebellious mood. It is believed that the local police were having difficulties at the negotiating table over their cuts in bar profits. People were getting busted so frequently that we left the bars in small herds. Woe to he who was caught alone and breathing wrong in those days.

It was in August that the war dance happened. The police always dropped by on weekend nights to spread the gear of god. They stepped in that night to a full house just as a heavy sound

was coming out of the box. Ninety per cent of the clientele sprang for the dance floor and danced in silence of the spoken word. For as long as those two straight men live they'll never forget those angry faces and four hundred thundering feet. So it was in the early days. THE FIRST DYNASTY

The day was Nov. 1, 1970. ! woke up in a hospital psychiatric ward. They had branded me a homosexual, a "sickie", in need of therapy. I was. I wanted to go straight. Psychiatrists at the hospital thought this to be the height of

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hilarity until my release in December. Then came college.

It was the early part of spring of 1971 that I noticed, "GLF", and, "Gay is best" slogans scrawled on the pavement in the middle of the O.S.U. main oval. It took me another twelve weeks. to attend my first meeting. Anybody who d been hospitalized for being Gay would had been paranoid and I was busy indulging to the max. I went by the door of that first meeting six times. The seventh time I looked in and saw my first glimpse of Patrick Miller, and Mark Brock I strode in and sat

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down among assorted hippies, yippies, and Gays. The discussion under way was why we should change the name of the G.L.F. to the G.A.A. Pat Miller was very persuasive with his point by point elucidation of why such a change should occur. At the end of that meeting the Columbus Gay Activist Alliance became a reality and My world was never the same. Seventh Avenue and

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The G.A.A. was an officially recognized organization of the University at first. The University gave us a room each week so that we could meet and a church at Woodruff and High gave us temporary office space. Things were slow for awhile but Pat Miller, Colin Nieburger, Toney Rogers, Jack Shaw and David Treadwell along with John Coverdale collectivized their living arrangements for the benefi 01 the Gay community.

Seventh Avenue, as it was called by all, became the prime motivational force behind Gay Activism More was accomplished in a mon than in a previous year. with most of the officers of the Alliance living in one house together numerous types of queer", plots were hatched. The Gay Activist Newsletter and O.F.F. (ie. Ohio Framing Faggot) had a circulation o: 500 and better. The Columbus city codes drag provisions were tested and revised. John Quigley, O.S.U. law professor and faculty advisor to the Gay Activist began legal research for legislative testimony upon the repeal of Ohios' sodomy laws. Pat Miller was moving things toward an eventual showdown at city hall on equal rights for Gays. David Treadwell's All Ohio Gay Pride Committee began designing the reality of Ohios' first Gay Pride conference. Colin Nieburger was busy at the negotiating table of the Paris Peace Talks and collecting money for the Gay Bail Fund. John Coverdale,

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Jack Shaw, and Toney Rogers were busy doing the dirty work that everybody hated to do Gay conscious raising sessions were held weekly at seventh avenue The Speakers bureau was created and lectures and speeches were given to hundreds of classes and gatherings. NO, the world wasn't quite the same.

The majority of activity at seventh avenue centered around the elected coordinators of the Gay Activist. Two coordinators were elected to office every quarter. These coordinators and their collective made grea changes for Gays in the Columbus community, but as always, all things come to pass. Seventh Avenue's time came and the first age ended in the year of "72". THE SECOND DYNASTY

The passing of seventh avenue saddened some, but strange things were beginning to happen at the corner of Northwood and Neil. Jon Hartis had just rented the house at that location and Neil House was born. Politics and festive occasions were the business of the day. Little else could be done. A serious mistake had been made. It is believed by some that local politicos had noticed the advance of Gay consciousness in the city. This unknown faction had decided inat conditions were intolerable. Pressure was probably placed upon University officials to restructure the Gay Activists internal organization. Instead of coordinators, presidencies were forced upon us through University policy. To this very day, this is the greatest stigma ever placed upon the Gay community in Columbus. presidents and capitalism

The change in the internal structure had a profound effect upon involved and uninvolved people in the city. Neil House had disappeared by the latter part of "73" or early "74" and a brief interim period passed of which I have no knowledge. I

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