Kent conference draws 100

Jay, Young, Cooper, Fisher, Rubin join locals

KENT-Over 100 active paricipants attended the second annual Gay Liberation Conference here in early April, sponsored by the Kent Day Liberation Front (KGLF). National gay movement 'celebrities" joined KGLF leaders n fulfilling a commitment to hold a successful confab.

On Friday evening, April 2, the conference got under way with a joint address by Karla Jay and Alan Young, co-editors of Out Of The Closets: Voices of Gay Liberation, a primer for the "new" Movement, and its sequel, After You're Out. Young spoke of the past, declaring, "For the past two hundred years Western culture has been defined by straight white males. They have deprived gay people (among others) the right of historical acknowledgement of their own customs and habits. This is significant. We cannot be a people without a culture. "

Karla Jay, summing up Young's commentary as it applies to lesbians, added, "The problem in the study of lesbian culture is more acute than that of gay males. Lesbian culture is not only invisible, but has also been destroyed. Since the Justinian Code, the persecution of witches was often that of lesbians; interestingly, witchcraft is. characterized by a matriarchal structure around the goddess Diana, an image which is no doubt threatening to the male god of Judeo-Christian heritage. Any

Registration: Kent Gay Liberation Front Second Annual Conference.

major woman author or painter of the recent past has been a lesbian-Mary Wollstonecraft, George Sand, Jeanette Foster, Amy Brooks, and Natalie Barney and Renee Vivian (both incidentally, from Ohio)."

In a quick shift to present-day culture, Young continued, "The American cultural mainstream clusters around the nuclear family of Judeo-Christianity and the

com-

petitive ethic of capitalism. Gay people don't duplicate the family and by their very existence represent action in rebellion. What the gay movement must now do is maintain its openness and honesty. The closet is a form of hyprocisy. It perpetuates the presumption that everyone is heterosexual. We need to find outlets for ourselves to build a contemporary gay culture that will

stand the test of time. ...We must remember that culture and politics are indistinguishable."

On Saturday morning, conference attendees had their choice of participating in one of three workshops: "Socialism and Gays," "Racial and Ethnic Minority Gays,"

and "Women and Politics."

"Socialism and Gays" was moderated by KGLF member Bill Hoover, and included an exploration of the attitudes which have developed in socialist and communist nations towards sexual minorities.

"Women and Politics" included an examination of the role of feminists within the gay movement and in the political arena. The accomplishments of Massachusetts State Legislator Elaine Noble, an open lesbian who addressed the 1975 KGLF conference, were discussed and an opportunity was given for participants to express

their feelings about sexism.

"Racial and Ethnic Minorities," a workshop restricted to persons described by the title, centered on the role or lack of a role for black and third world persons within the gay movement.

Cleveland gay activists were unable to persuade local "straight" TV and radio outlets or newspapers to cover the conference, although KGLF notified all major media of its scheduled press conference just before the lunch break. Media representation from other parts of Northern Ohio was almost as disappointing, with only the Gay News, (Continued on Page A11)

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Page A8 OHIO EAST GAY NEWS May 1976