HIGH GEAR, MARCH, 1977

CHEAP

Have you ever gotten ready to go out and "boogie," dressed to a T, sure to be a knockout; body, spirit and morale finally honed and tuned, only to discover that by two o'clock you feel like "bird material"

The contemporary gay bar has become, whether some of us politicos like it or not, an organic social institution. Going to the bar is not the same for us as going to a singles disco is for straights. Gay bars do not pickup until twelve o'clock and they supplement rather than occupy a gay weekend evening. Bargoing is a physiological function. It is a canteen, a private club, more by accident than design, a family picnic and an on-going Polish wedding. The sleet and snow that stops the mail carriers doesn't phase the gay bar-goer. So then why do I feel cheap?

The bar is a magnet, a siren and a lorelei. The reason I feel cheap is because as a community we cannot accept the fact that we are not compellec or coerced or trapped into going to "the bar" but we go because we want to. The most extravagant and populous gay parties end up spilling over into the bars, as do the most conscientious radical feminists, the busiest students and the most funerary mourners. As hard a truth as it may be to swallow, the bar is not a vice. It is a tradition.

I like to go out on Friday and Saturday and once in a while on Wednesday. And don't mind going to my favorite disco both Friday and Saturday for several successive weekends. I don't mind being an "old face." I'm proud of it!; but I can't help wondering if anyone else sees me the same way. I say this because I'm hypocritically afflicted by "same face" prejudice. I can't help devaluing slightly (or a lot) others I see week after week.

It is truly amazing that there is as yet no respectable alternative to the homosexual nuclear family. As hard as I try to be a responsible, stoic, gracious firstrate citizen, I can't help feeling

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gays who are parents treat their children with as much love and concern for their development as individuals as straight parents do. The argument that a gay parent provides a model of family instability rather than stability may be true but only in the same sense that any divorced parents demonstrate the dangers to the stability of the family in our society.

Some would insist that gays should not have children, even if they want them. One feels compelled to question anyone's right to make such a decision for any other person. There is no reason that a lesbian who is willing to take on responsibility of child rearing should not have children. The validity of singleparent families is now being recognized by adoption agen-

By Rudi Haaken

trashy on occasion and I can't help seeing my comrades-inarms as a bit trashy too. Do people think I'm a whore? Is there some way to make love with various people and not come across as a gigolo?

And what about the politics of pursuit? Do I lose points if after dancing with someone for the first time, he walks away without talking to me? Do I lose more points if i try to strike up a conversation later? Do I plummet if the whole scene repeats itself? And do I run the risk of not being sloughed off but of eventually becoming a comic, a sexual sidekick? What a fate! To be banished from the knights of the roundtable. To become a squire first, a page next and lastly a jester.

If one is a first pick for Ivan I's "Druzhina" and wants to die with his sword in his hand and ascent to Valhalla fighting, is it worth the risk to try to solicit acceptance from other "goodlookers?" Is it better to ride nobly and alone like the Night of the Black Hammer? And what about vengeance? If someone's turned me down in the past, do I lose points by giving him a second chance or do I climb by "squashing him?"

I will never forget the expression on the face of a tribal aristocrat who was rudely shoved aside by a puny Ethiopian policeman his slaves staggering, his umbrellas falling. What a shock to be so worthy and yet so worthless. I've often heard people remark, "I hate playing games." The truth is the same complex, unwritten and, in most cases, subconscious rules which restrict us, also protect us. Far better to bluff someone into thinking it was his loss than to ask him to rate you systematically and scientifically in actual percentage points on a score card, or to determine who's "better" via the old reliable shootout. Sour grapes is the best psychological invention since social living. After all, while we convince ourselves that the grapes were bitter, they may have, in fact, been sour.

cies. The fact that an applicant for adoption, male or female, is gay should not be sufficient grounds for eliminating that person as a candidate for parenthood; ability to provide a stable home and willingness to expend the effort to live and nurture the child should be the criteria, and gayness does not mean that the prospective adoptive parent cannot meet those standards.

False assumptions operate in calling gayness a threat to the family. A double standard is applied so that behavior in the straight world that does threaten the concept of the family is accepted or viewed with only mild concern while gayness itself evokes outcries of panic. Most gays want the right to be them-

selves, but they see no need to destroy, in gaining that right, an institution that is recognized as valuable to all of society.

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The Gay Community Center needs your donations of items of furniture. Items urgently needed include: Chair Tables Couches Lamps Area Rugs Pillows Bamboo-type shades Bulletin Boards Decorations Partitions Coat Rack Desk File Cabinets Wooden doors

If you have any of these items call the Gay Switch board (216) 321-6632 Tuesday evenings or write Furniture, P.O. Box 6177, Cleveland, Ohio 44101.

(TRAXX)

1812 Payne Ave. Cleveland 241-1769

Special Attraction

ST. PATRICKS DAY

Thursday March 17 10:30 & 12:30

The Ebony Sensation

MR. TIFFANI MIDDLESEXX

(Courtesy of the Bayou Landing)

And His Sexx-sational Revue

Starring

MONA DESMOND

TERRY VEGAS

MR. TIM JOHNSON MR. MARK D'ALESSIO

Reservations Suggested ★ 241-1769

Open 7 Nights 8 til 2:30