ADVOCATE

Executive and Editorial Offices 2121 South El Camino Real San Mateo, California 94403 Telephone (415) 573-7100

Publisher

David B. Goodstein

Associate Publisher

Bob Doggett

Assistant to the Publisher

Norma Hayes

Editor

John Preston

Art Director

Dennis Forbes

News Editor

Sasha Gregory-Lewis Copy Chief

Aristide Laurent

Graphics Assistant George DeWoody

Editorial Assistant Dean Gengle Editorial Assistant

Robert Kiggins Staff Writer

Shelley Singer

Business Manager Jim O'Brien

Reader Services Manager

Tom Mitchell

Distribution Manager Tyke Brown

San Francisco

Advertising Account Executive

Jack Kyne (415) 665-3315

Los Angeles Bureau

and Advertising Offices Mail: Box 74695

Office: 238 S. Oxford Avenue

Los Angeles, California 90004 Telephone: (213) 487-3696

Bureau Director and National Advertising Director Baxter Lowery

National Marketing Director Robert White

Advertising Account Executive Chris Ellis

Advertising Production Manager Paul DeGiorgio

The ADVOCATE welcomes unsolicited manuscripts. However, we cannot acknowledge or return them unless accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Please allow at least four to six weeks for the processing of your manuscript.

The ADVOCATE is published biweekly by Liberation Publications, Inc. Second class postage paid at Post Office, Los Angeles. California and at additional entry points. Subscriptions: 26 issues: $9.00: Canada and Mexico $10.00 (U.S. funds): 52 issues: $16.00: Canada and Mexico: $18.00. The ADVOCATE is available on microfilm from the University of Southern California Library, Los Angeles. California. Back issues may be purchased from ONE, Inc... 2256 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, California 90006. Liberation Publications, Inc..

1975.

ISSN 0001-8996.

A Liberation Publication

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California's Doubleheader

by George Mendenhall

Willie Brown's consensual sex bill is on its way to the California State Senate and it looks like an easy pass; the employment rights bill looks good too-it may have passed the Assembly by the time this ADVOCATE reaches its readers

Minnesota's Double-Dealing

by Carl Griffin, Jr.

4

Everyone thought the housing and employment bill had a pretty good chance, until the gay community split in two

4

Editorial Comment

30

The Lavender Rhino

by George DeWoody

It weighs a ton, it's horny, it screams of lavender and it rides the Boston subway

8

Moving Up

by E. Donnell Stoneman

Actor Phil Blackwell rode to San Francisco success on the flip of a coin. 21

Love A Parade?

A Photo Essay by Crawford Barton

It's called Polk Gulch, Polkstrasse, and sometimes just Polk Street; whatever you call it, it's a place to see and be seen, shop and sell

24

Backside Fashion

Thongs are in this summer, and they leave a lot (out) to be desired

33

'Runner' Heads for Hollywood

by E. Donnell Stoneman

One year later, Patricia Nell Warren's acclaimed gay love novel is racing toward moviemaking history.

38

Departments

News and Briefs.

Religion People

Calendar

Trader Dick and Friends following Lifestyle

Entertainment

Opinions

Humanities

Outrageous

Columns

Films

Records

One Woman's Viewpoint Christopher Street

Prison Rap

Ask Dr. Fleming Insight

Cover subject Phil Blackwell, young actor on his way to success.

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Photo: Ken Howard

May 7, 1975

The Publisher's

OPENING SPACE

In issue 157, we promised to share with you the major results of our Readers' Survey. For your information, the highlights are below. We equally want to thank the over two thousand of you who responded to our questionnaire.

The results so far give a pretty clear picture of our "average" reader, who isn't average at all. First of all, he's male. We may have more woman readers than the survey indicates, but only six responses came from women.

He [average reader] likes the new ADVOCATE, with more than twothirds (67%) of the responses registering strong approval, 12% opposed to the changes, and the remainder uncertain at the time of the survey.

He is probably between the ages of 21 and 40. It is most likely he is 26 to 30 (22.3%) or 31 to 35 (18.4%). His job is professional or technical (45%) and he got it because he's well-educated. An overwhelming 59.1% have college degrees, and of those, nearly half (26% of the total) have advanced degrees. Another 27.5% have some college.

His income is good. More than half (50.7%) earn more than $15,000 a year, and 73.4% earn more than $10,000. He has a savings account (81.9%) and is likely to own stocks, bonds or mutual funds (53.1%). More than a third of the respondents own their own home (34.4%). More than half (54.1%) rent apartments.

He's a great reader, and buys an exceptionally large number of books, both paperback and hard cover. He's also I very much interested in high fidelity (45%), gourmet cooking (37%), photography (33%), art collecting (30%), and antique collecting (23%). He likes theater and concerts of all varieties more than he likes sports.

He's a movie fan. His favorite section of the ADVOCATE is the movie review (60.6%), followed by Smoke from Jeannie's Lamp (52%), editorials (49%), book reviews and theater columns (48.2% and letters to the editor (47.8%). He has probably been buying the ADVOCATE for two or three years. Nearly half the respondents read it from cover to cover, and 74% read at least three-quarters of each issue.

Our circulation, our size, and especially our subscriptions are growing. Naturally we are delighted. This growth, like all other similar changes, puts strains on our technical capabilities. One change some of you have noticed is our going from envelopes to wrappers for our mailed copies. Not only are we getting too fat for envelopes, we also have too many subscribers for hand-stuffing. Consequently, we chose to use a wrapper. The alternative would be a label on the paper itself. We believe many of our readers still prefer the ADVOCATE inside something. Wrappers are more secure than envelopes.

There is no way we can grow without change. We are doing our best to satisfy your interests with additional coverage and to give you good delivery service. The fact that more of you are subscribing and buying the ADVOCATE than ever before indicates to us that we are succeeding.

Enjoy the ADVOCATE!

D. B. Rondatern

THE ADVOCATE

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