"Mr. Backstreet Contest" Sunday, June 21st 3 BIG PRIZES

listeners at MSU's Erickson Kiva.

Afterward, a campus group called The Lost Boys threw a party at their home.

Sunday afternoon, Dignity sponsored an ecumenical religious service. And, later, about sixty people flocked to an East Lansing park for food, frisbee, softball and volleyball.

Throughout the week, MSU's newspaper, "The State News", ran a very positive series of articles on the gay experience.

Also, three of us participated in a call-in talk show on the local country radio station. Many felonies were threatened, but we kept our cool and, I think, got a lot of good information out to a group of people who needed to hear it.

All in all, it was an excellent week. It involved a lot of hard work by about 10 people, some hard work by another 20 or so, and some effort by an additional 30 or 40.

More energy from more people would have made the week even better but what was done showed all of us here that we can accomplish almost anything once we set our minds to it.

As someone once said, "The only difference between something that might be and something that is is doing it."

Suddenly We're News

DETROIT The non-gay media, both print and broadcast, has recently increased their coverage of lesbian/gay issues on a national and a local level. The increased interest is thought to by many to be the combined result of the mounting controversy surrounding the lesbian/gay rights struggle and the celebration of lesbian/gay pride that traditionally occur during the late spring/early summer seasons. Some of the recent media reports include:

Behind the Closet Door: The Hidden Lives of Detroit Gays" by Nancy Kool in the June issue of Monthly Detroit Magazine.

"Palmer Park, Palmer Park" by Don Kubit in the same Monthly Detroit issue, making prominent mention of the Park's large gay residency.

"The Lonely Life of Gay Teens" by Ruth Seymour, Detroit Free Press, 5/4/8q. "How The Gay Lobby Has Changed TV" by Richard M. Levine in TV Guide's May 30th June 5th (Part 1) and June 6th June 13th (Part II).

•Recent TV coverage of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus performance at Ford Auditorium.

Recent Sonya Friedman shows featuring such topics as Gay/Lesbian teachers and the coming-out of a 73 yr. old woman.

Radio talk shows featuring gay/lesbian people presenting views, answering questions, and dispelling erroneous notions and stereotypes.

BACKSTREET...

EDITORIAL

PRIDE POWER POLITICS

In this issue we begin a comprehensive, and hopefully personally relevant, look at your rights (or lack thereof) under current or proposed legislation at a national, state, and local level. Civil rights protection for gay people varies widely not only in law but in practice from state to state, county to county, even from police precinct to police precinct. We have had some real victories and some discouraging defeats, but our survival as a visible minority depend on our ability to recognize our goals and our problems and act in a cohesive manner. As we grow in self realization and pride in what we are, pride in our humanity, we become less and less tolerant of de facto or de jure discrimination or harrasment. What began at the Stonewell Bar in 1969 was a realization that the closet was no place to live. The march that followed in 1970 in New York drew 2,000 people and is viewed by most as one of the most, if not the most, important event in gay/lesbian history. It was the first mass demonstration that generated the feeling of power, it made gay people around the country begin to throw off the feeling of helplessness and despair and don the badge of liberation. It was our genesis.

Despite the generally more conservative and repressive mood in the country today our struggle continues. The Gay Rights National Lobby, National Gay Task Force, Lambda Legal Defense Fund, and others fight on a national level. The Michigan Organization for Human Rights has worked effectively on a state and local level and has had real and significant success on our behalf. Other group and individuals donate their time and efforts to the cause, many more their money. But we all share the responsibility to do our share, more if we can, because it is we who will benefit from the change. Or suffer from the lack of it.

Family Protection Act Leads Anti-Gay Initiative List...

Senator Paul Laxalt (R-Nevada), Ronald Reagan's Campaign Chairman and closet friend in the Senate, has again agreed to

Milk.

Editor Mike Ray

serve as chief sponsor (although some say he agreed reluctantly) of the so-called "Family Protection Act."

Laxalt first introduced the inappropriately named bill during the 96th Congress at the urging of Rev. Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority. The bill was a virtual "shopping list" for the New Right of anti-woman, anti-labor, anti-minority and anti-gay provisions.

......you would have to drive at least 250 miles to find a Disco this popular on Wednesdays, FRIDAYS, or Saturdays

15606 Joy Rd. Detroit 272-8959

METRA MAGAZINE 25