HIGH GEAR, MARCH, 1977

Page 4

ODDS&ENDS

Compiled by John Nosek

GPU News reports a Georgia medical specialist says there's no physical reason why men cannot produce "mother's milk." Dr. Robert Greenblatt claims only "enough stimulation" is needed for men to produce milk. Such stimulation can be obtained by having a baby suck at a man's nipples for several weeks. As well, there are drugs which can turn men into breastfeeders. The drugs work to overcome the same hormone inhibitors that prevent women who have never been pregnant from producing milk...

41 homosexuals announced their candidacy in France's Aixen-Provence municipal elections. According to Seven Days the women and men said at a press conference that they decided to seek elected office because they "could not identify with any of the party slates." Their intention is to "campaign against the repression which makes it impossible for homosexuals to live their sexuality except as abstinence or in the form of passing encounters in special ghettos."...

Quotable Quote from Rita Mae Brown when asked by Seven Days to comment on what she would like to see happen in America's future: "I want the American public to discover the difference between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party is the difference between syphilis and gonnorhea..."..

After 17 years of togetherness, the musical entourage Labelle, (presently made up of Patti Labelle, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash) has decided to call it quits so that each can pursue a separate career...

program on lesbian lifestyles was cancelled as being "inappropriate for Sundays."....

The Uncircumcised Society of America (U.S.A.) has been recently formed in San Francisco, according to The Sentinel, and has already published two issues of The Uncut America Newsletter. The newsletter includes information on the personal experiences of cut and uncut men, including those circumcised in adulthood; excerpts from books dealing with the pro-circumcision, antimasturbation hysteria of the 19th and early 20th centuries and discussion of the campaign against routine infant circumcision...Members who fill out the Foreskin Finder Questionnaire also receive the Foreskin Finder List. Membership is open to both cut and uncut men. Write U.S.A., Box 26011, San Francisco, CA. 94126....

Former Air Force Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a lifelong Republican, has become a Democrat, according to a Washington Post interview. Matlovich who was dismissed from the Air Force after revealing his homosexuality, made the change after his attempt to form a "Gays for Ford" group was rebuffed. Commenting on the D.C. social scene, Matlovich said, "Before I came to Washington I thought a gay bar was a grimy, tiny little place filled with fearful people. When I came here I couldn't believe it...the rugs...the dining rooms...Richard Nixon would feel comfortable there..."...

As reported in Gay Community News, several Catholic groups have signed a joint letter castigating the Jesuit Order for refusing to ordain a priest openly gay Thomas Sweetin simply on the basis of his homosexuality. In a correspon. dence to Rev. Albert P. Bartlett

of the New York Province of the Jesuits, the signers wrote, "You have a critical opportunity to set a precedent that can help demolish the fears, myths and stereotypes that continue to oppress gay people in our society...(Your action) will also tell the world that the church is not really serious about its commitment to foster justice for all people."...Among the signers were William Callahan, a Jesuit priest who heads the 1300 member Priests for Equality and Dolores Pomerlau who heads the 100 member Catholic Women's Ordination Conference.....

Also from GCN: A group of 50 lesbians picketed the British Broadcasting System in London after a scheduled BBC radio BBC radio

ground for a teacher's dismissal. Judge Horowitz, who wrote the majority opinion, criticized the teacher because "he desired no change and has sought no psychiatric help. because he feels comfortable with his homosexuality."...

A team of investigators are prowling the cities of the West, asking folks to show off their belly buttons and most people are complying. The questioners, Chris Harris and Linda. Reingold, are researchers for a firm that runs self-improvement seminars. The two use the belly button route as a means of distracting people so that they will be more likely to answer questions about their lives truthfully Everyone from store clerks to male shoppers in Seattle's Pike Place Public Market

GCN reports the United States Department of State has announced it is relaxing its rules on the employment of gay people. Previously, the State Department had an absolute policy requiring the automatic discharge of any employee known to be homosexual. Now, however, the department will decide matters on an individual basis. (Up to this point the State Department was exempt from the 1975 Civil Service Guidelines which prohibit the firing of an employee solely because of homosexuality)...Some speculated the change came directly from the new Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance. As head of the New York Bar Association, Vance had testified in favor of Intro. 554, the gay rights bill, before the N.Y. City Council...

John Rechy, author of "City of Night" has recently completed a new documentary tabbed "The. Sexual Outlaw" to be published by Grove Press and available this spring...

Bad news for Washington teachers... The Supreme Court of the state of Washington recently ruled that the firing of a gay high school teacher was justified. By a 6-2 vote, the court ruled that admission of homosexuality qualifies as immorality an and thus is, adequate

judge's decision to place the youths on probation spurred the local gay community to action and influenced the City Council to pass the ordinance... Throwaway Quote from Dr. Irving Bieber, Gay Public Enemy No. 1..."A homosexual is a heterosexual derailed.".

William Eugene Allen, age 55, has spent 26 years in a mental institution in Florida for the "crime" of being gay. According to Worker's World, Allen was 28 when charged with "an abominable crime against nature." He was, however, never finally convicted. In light of the repeal in 1971 of the Florida anti-gay statute, finally, five years later, he was moved to a center for the retarded (having been diagnosed as such by psychometrists)...

Labor organizers, striving toward unionization of active duty soldiers, have come out strongly in favor of gay rights within the military. Affiliated with the AFL-CIO, the American

THE NAVEL HAS IT!

were asked to pull up their clothing and display their wares. One woman coldly refused, saying "My navel is for my husband and I to see." Another asked "Is my navel going to be famous?......

From GCN: At a recent Boston press conference Diana Ross gave this answer when asked whether she should give her support to the feminist movement: "Well, what I have to give to others, to women, is my image. I believe women are fragile and delicate and should be treated that way." Ross, the mother of three daughters, added that of all the options open to her, she'd rather be a "supermommy." !...

Tucson has become the 39th community in the U.S. to pass a gay civil rights bill. The bill was passed unanimously by the newly elected seven member City Council on February 7. Tucson, readers may recall, was the recent site of the brutal murder of a gay activist by a group of high school students. The local

RH

the comedian tossed a plate of french fries at the perpetrator and "carried on cooly until the place closed."...

Art MacDonald, former minister of Cleveland Metropolitan Community Church and original co-founder of both G.E.A.R. and High Gear, is presently involved with regular monthly worship services for the deaf in Chicago...

Federation of Government Employees has pledged to fight to insure "freedom of sexual preference" for all soldiers...

Shorts from Gay Life...Gay athlete David Kopay's book has been selected by the Playboy Book Club as alternate selections...Integrity founder, Lewis Crew is publishing "The Gay Academic," an anthology of essays by gay teachers from various disciplines. It will contain one of the last items written by CWRU grad Dr. Mark Friedman...Truman Capote is suing Tennessee Williams because he implied that Capote did not personally write his book "Answered Prayers."...New Books..."Loving Someone Gay" by Don Clark about the reactions of family and friends of. gays; The Young In One Another's Arms" by Jane Rule, author of "Lesbian Images."...

The Georgetown Grill, Washington D.C.'s second oldest gay bar (20 years running), was bought out last month by the owners of the Grill's neighbors to the north, the Au Pied de Cochon (Foot of the Pig) Restaurant. The Blade indicated that although the new owners have made a verbal commitment to keep the establishment gay, Grill employees are fearful that Washington's best known gay bar may soon be phased out of existence. Said Stewart Roche, the Grill's current manager, "Many people ask me what they can do to keep the place gay. I tell them the answer is simple: keep coming back.".

From Gay Scene: Paul Lynde and his party of five men were visiting the new N.Y. gay spot, The Cowboy when a heckler began to taunt Lynde. Not one to take anything from anyone,

Lesbian mothers and child custody is the subject of a twopart edition of Woman, Thursday, March 17 at 11 p.m. on Channel 25, Cleveland. Both Parts and I will be shown back-to-back...

A Bit of Local Pride...Reports from Chicago's Gay Life indicate that bustling city is only now getting its first gay radio program and women's newspaper...Cleveland's had What She Wants for nearly five years and Radio Free Lambda for over two...

David B. Goodstein, publisher of The Advocate rattled New York City gay activists when he spoke at N.Y.'s West Side Discussion Group on Feb. 22. According to a report in GCN, Goodstein said the NYC Gay Movement was politically behind

many areas of the nation when it should be in the fore. (Its gay leaders are involved in) ... "a race for the limelight... fighting with each other... and claiming the entire universe as each one's individual turf." Goodstein urged the audience to work within the system, saying that "flamboyancy" hurts the movement because it drives closeted individuals away. A confrontation developed between Morty Manford and David Goodstein when the former charged Goodstein with being a liar for accusing Morris Kight with fiscal mismanagement of funds raised by the National New Orleans Memorial Fund to help the victims of the 1974 fire at the Upstairs Lounge in New Orleans. Manford's final call was "Advocate go home!" and was met with cheers and applause.... In the past Goodstein has created some controversy in the Gay Movement by saying "selfappointed gay leaders ... are disconnected from their constituency. they appear unemployable, unkempt and neurotic to the point of meglomania." Jan. 14, '76 .... "It is incredible that one movement can have attracted so many angry losers as