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HIGH GEAR

UEEN ANNE'S

LACE+

MAY 1976

By Yer Fat Aunt Annie Bicentennial ripoff time has really arrived in Cleveland. Like most people who are a little cynical, I can shrug off the special flag offers, super-duper plastic glasses with minutemen on them for opening a bank account and even the nerd I saw recently on an out-of-town UHF TV station who was selling shag rugs in the form of 13-star flags! But when the ripoff comes from gay people to gay people-and especially when it comes from drags; a group so close to my own way of thinking--I get pissed.

I know queens like to screw gay people. A walk through (or even near) several downtown bars will make that quite evident. I even know some of them insist on doing it for money. But when the screwing comes in the form of a $10 price tag for a drag show under the guise of our nation's Bicentennial Celebration, I think. that's going a little too far.

Someone once said "you don't have to be rich to be gay" but apparently the word never reached the crowd who are

putting together the show scheduled for a downtown theater around the end of April. It makes me sort of sad because I could visualize it as an opportunity for gays to "go legit," come out of their closets and let all of Cleveland know just how talented, accomplished and beautiful we are. I could see it as a great evening with people in their best clothes (drags included) gathering for pleasure, a few laughs and an opportunity for some excellent entertainment.

But then I picked up a flyer and got hit with the pricetag. And I realized something. One of the top draws in the nation-John Denver-will be in town soon. And all he gets is $10 tops. The musical Raisin is at the Hanna, straight from Broadway and it has a $10.90 tops for Saturday night! I can get to see Johnny Cash at The Front Row for only $7.50. I can see an excellent performance of the Met-with a huge cast to pay, by the way from a very fine seat that costs me only $10. Those are some pretty sound entertainment values by comparison. And even their prices make me wince a little and keep me home on nights I'd rather be out enjoying myself.

Maybe there are some very sound reasons why the price for that one-night-stand is so high.

But when it comes in a time that is rampant with blatant ripoffs in the name of a Bicentennial, and when it is compared with other live entertainment values available in this area in the same general time period, it is bound to seem as if it falls into that class. I hope there is an explanation. And that it becomes public prior to the performance. If not, it'll be

'COME OUT' CHIEF SAYS

SAN FRANCISCO According highest levels of the San to Boston's Gay Community Francisco Police Department, News San Francisco's Police since the chief's appointment Chief Charles Gain says that three months ago by the newly gays on that city's police force should "come out of the closet" and demonstrate to the world that gay people can be good policemen.

elected Mayor Moscone. GCN reported last month that San Francisco's Sheriff Richard Hongisto hired the first openly gay deputy in that department's history.

"There are 20 closet gays on the city's police force, but none But support from people like who admits to his sexual Sheriff Hongisto and retired orientation," Chief Gain told the officer Elliot Blackstone, who for largely gay Harry S. Truman more than ten years was the deDemocratic Club recently. "If partment's liaison with San they come out, it will help Francisco's gay community everyone. It will be hard for them, I know that, but they'll have the full support of the police chief."

Gain's remarks indicate a dramatic turnabout in policy at the

continue to pour in. Said Blackstone: "It's just as well the gays come out of the closet. It will make the other guys less nervous when they see that gays can do the job."

interesting to see how many rich people there are. Right now, all I know is what I see. And that's a high price tag in the face of some fierce competition.

Speaking of Bicentennial development, the word is out that general gays and drags in particular will have a tough time in Washington, D.C. this year. Crackdowns on gay bars and on drags on the street or in the bars have increased markedly since the first of the year. So be forewarned, if you plan to visit D.C. (and it is a great place to go because the bars are fantastic), leave your wig and heels at home--or you may end up parking in the local slammer. According to a recent letter I

received, Philadelphia is just beginning to experience the same sort of crackdown. Apparently the city fathers didn't much appreciate the five queens who draped themselves over the Liberty Bell for a photo one recent Saturday. And they thought even less of the oversized pair of pink lace panties they found flying from an independence Hall flagpole the next morning. Can't see why--after all, our founding fathers were real hot for silk stockings and lacy blouses (ok, so they called them shirts, but a rose is a rose).

Other news from around the country: The Pennsylvania Welfare Department's Bureau of

AN

鳳凰

Medical Assistance has helped pay for several sex change operations in the state. Recent meetings among M.D.'s in East Berlin showed that our Red Sisters have it even better--the East German doctors are estimated to be quite far ahead of the U.S. in treatment of "gender identity" problems! (Maybe detente isn't such a bad idea afterall....) And the Gender Identity Clinic of New England, based at Mt. Siani Hospital in Hartford, Conn. is now in its third year of operation. Even the University of Texas operates a clinic at Galveston. Doesn't it make you wonder how long it will take before Ohio steps into the current century?