SEPTEMBER 1976
HIGH GEAR
Page 5
ODDS AND ENDS ODDS AND ENDS ODDS AND ENDS ODDS AND ENDS ODDS AND ENDS
tacks made by homophobic youths "trying to prove their masculinity." Joanne Passaro, president of NYC's GAA has offered SMASH the use of its resources: contacts, phone numbers, media sources, etc. Although controversy has risen over SMASH's tactics setting up decoys followed by carloads of gays ready to "beat the shit" out of any youths who attacked the decoy, SMASH does not see the problem as being just a gay problem, but a problem for the entire community, and in some aspects a class problem. Attacks on gay men are spreading to other areas of the city according to GCN. But SMASH has achieved one of its objectives to make people aware of the problem.....
Quotable Quote provided by Chicago Gay Life from the Florida Gay Liberation Newsletter. Gay counselor Dale Perkins has this to say: "I have this fantasy where a room full of gay people are questioning a panel of heterosexuals. I stand up and ask them when they first noticed they were straight!"
Also from Gay Life: Lily Tomlin will star in the film version of "Grease" along with Paul Lynde Andy Warhol's new movie, "Bad" features many stars including Perry King in a role originally written for transvestite Jackie Curtis
The San Francisco Sentinel reports that Fr. Malcolm Boyd, Episcopal priest and author of the bestselling Are You Running With Me, Jesus, identified himself as a gay person, as he gave the keynote address at Integrity's second national con-
vention in San Francisco on August 7.....
Lesbian revolutionary Susan Saxe whose trial is scheduled to begin September 15 was denied the right to speak in her own defense, alongside of her lawyers. According to GCN, the motion specifically asked that Saxe be allowed to defend herself on one count of bank robbery, while her lawyers defended her on the second count of robbery and the felony under charge. Judge Walter H. McLaughlin denied the motion claiming that he did not want his courtroom to turn into "a circus."
Rochester's Empty Closet reports that another lesbian has been awarded custody of her two children, 5 year old Kristi and 8 year old Patrick. Cynthia Forcier of Santa Ana, California, unlike Carol Whitehead of Maine who also was granted custody of her children on the same day, was not being challenged by the father. Ms. Forcier was charged with "sexually molesting" Kristi last Christmas vacation by a Newport Beach, California physician who noticed a discharge causing clothing stains and bruises in the child's pelvic region. Kristi told him that she was kicked there by a little boy, but the doctor discarded her explanation when under further questioning Kristi mentioned sleeping with her mother during the vacation. According to the Empty Closet, the homophobic physician sent a letter to the child's social worker calling Ms. Forcier "unfit" because of her homosexuality
and the "violence of her lifestyle." Authorities tried to make a "deal" with Forcier to drop the charge if she would give up all rights to her children. Forcier called the proposal "judicial blackmail," retained attorney Nancy Bunn and launched a defense fund that carried her throughout the state raising money and spread her story. She was vindicated when the judge dismissed all charges on June 15th.
The Body Politic reports that in response to a July 12 conviction of Bill Holloway and Tom Field for committing an "indecent act (the two men had been kissing in front of Hudson's Bay store in Toronto), a kiss-in was held at the same spot by about 20 gays. As a means of publically demonstrating that gay people have the same right to small acts of public affection as straight people do, the participants paraded in couples and trios, kissing as they walked. Reactions from passers-by were mixed and the police did not intefere....
A September Playgirl feature on sororities quotes one interviewee as saying fraternity men "get into all these macho manuevers. The guys are a lot more comfortable with each other than with girls, at least in groups. They sit around drinking beer in the sun and oiling their gorgeous bodies... ya know, I think a lot of them are gay and don't even know it. I don't mind gayness, but their closetness 'bothers me."..
Another Quotable? Quote:
.....
Mississippi delegates at the homo-acknowledged Republican convention: "Jimmy Carter's a Christian, but he's a McGovern-type Christian, proabortion, pro-homosexuality and pro-legalizing marijuana.". In the August 13 edition of the New York Times, Richard Eder's review of the new movie, "The Ritz," a Richard Lester comedy which takes place in a gay bathhouse, unveils an undercurrent of homophobia. As reprinted in GCN Eder moans, "To have a tolerance, or even an acceptance of homosexuality doesn't rule out having an underlying physical distaste for it. Inevitably, perhaps, the camera emphasizes the physical element far more than it is emphasized on stage. To put it bluntly, it shoves up too close for most of us I think too much pale flesh, organized around undeclared intentions. There are simply too many homosexual stomachs, arms and faces at too close a range. It spoils the picture."...?
(among other things) Lou Reed is in the studios recording his first album on Arista records. The LP, tentatively titled, Rock and Roll Heart, will include a song dubbed, "Banging on My Drum," an ode to masturbation...
In Utica, New York anti-gay police violence has occurred again with a raid on the city's only gay bar. A report in GCN indicates uniformed police entered the Hub on August 18 and arrested five patrons, all of whom were black. According to one witness, two men were severely beaten, one requiring hospital treatment. Police were called to the scene after two men who had left the bar started arguing down the street from the bar. The raid comes ten months after a gay man was allegedly beaten to death by six Utica policemen in October. 1975.
Pat Boone on NBC talking to Rolling Stone reports that
7-BASKERVI000'8"/
COMPANY
PRESENTS
DECADENCE!
starring
Local Organization Spots, While Cleveland is still working out bureaucratic hassles on its gay community center, the city of Dayton has had one for some time now. Located at 665 Salem Avenue, the Center is accessible to all gays in the southwestern Ohio area. Call 278-3963 for further information. Next month High Gear will present a special feature on the Dayton Gay Center... Gays in that part of the state might be interested in a Center meeting on September 22nd, 7:30 p.m. which will discuss pertinent issues in this election year. Various candidates seeking the offices of County Commissioner, Congressmen, and State Senator and Representatives have been invited to the meeting...
The Cleveland Area Lesbian Feminist Alliance is planning all sorts of things for the fall. Women interested in developing lesbian culture, music, art, film, theatre, social gatherings, and general discussion groups on feminism and lesbian awareness should call (216) 932-2669..... Until next month, we at High Gear ask only one thing, that each and every reader register to vote. Call your Board of Elections today. We can make a difference!
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Scaggnolia the Great
and the World Famous Scaggettes SUNDAY, OCT. 3 and WEDNESDAY, OCT. 6
Showtime: 11:00 pm
Part 2
A touch of New York disco is now in Cleveland
DISSO UNTIL DAWN
Friday and Saturday at Baskerville's 2:30 am until 6 am
IN THE ELATS AT 1187 OLD RIVER RD CLEVELAND (216) 696-9021
Number One Disco after hours in Cleveland