Butterflies Are Grounded

SAN JUAN. PR-The queen-like butterfly "La Mariposa" and other negative portrayals of gay people won't be flitting over the airwaves much longer as a result of a successful campaign by the Gay Pride Community here.

Capping off a series of media successes was a resolution by the Puerto Rico Journalists Association condemning as "improper, ignoble and cruel the mockery to which homosexuals are being subject by radio and television" stations on the island. The Association, at its annual assembly Mar. 29, also resolved to name a committee of three which will ask the Radio Broadcasters Association and officials of the local television stations to discontinue allowing gay people to be ridiculed on the air.

The resolution, introduced by San Juan Star reporter Harold L. Lidin and Jose Manuel Alvarez, news director of the government-owned WIPR-TV, was approved by a vote of 25 to 5, with abstentions not counted.

The association is the largest of three journalist organizations on the island and has some 200 members, of whom about 50 attended the assembly. The resolution, which was unexpected, is the first public support given by any organization on the island to the local gay liberation movement.

Highlighting debate on the resolution was a statement by Carlos Montalvo, a freelance radio reporter.

"You all know I speak clearly," Montalvo said, "so to those of you who don't know it already, so everyone will know . . . I am a homosexual.

"I don't think I am a deviate, like our fellow member has said, nor am I going to allow that I be ridiculed in songs...

"The people here who know me, in radio and television, are going to have to accept me as gay.

Montalvo received an ovation, after which the resolution was amended to substitute the word "condition" for the word "abnormality" wherever it appeared.

The resolution says, "Every person, as a human being and child of God, should be safe from the ridicule motivated by any physical or psychological condition.

"We energetically condemn as improper, ignoble and cruel the mockery to which homosexuals are being subject by radio and television."

Radio and television officials are warned

in the resolution of the group's "disposition to complain formally, as an association, to the pertinent government authorities if the ridicule against homosexual citizens contin-

ues.

The media campaign began against the airing, on three radio stations, of a Vene-

zuelan song called "La Mariposa" which uses a stereotype queen as the brunt of several jokes.

The manager of one of the radio stations, Alfred D. Herger of WQBS radio, offered GPC three half-hour programs during the month of April in response to an equal-time request made by GPC.

The group also protested a character developed by television comedian Jose Miguel Agrelot, called Serafin Sin Fin, also a stereotype queen.

The producer of Agrelot's weekly program was ordered by the station to discontinue the Serafin character. The president of WAPA-TV, the station showing Agrelot's

Carlos Montalvo

Photo: Arthur Gaylor

weekly program, and a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures Industries' broadcasting division, wrote to GPC that "we have advised Tommy Muniz Productions to discontinue the character in question."

In conjunction with its protests to radio and television stations, the group also picketed a gay bar after its owners had refused to stop using the "Mariposa" record. The owners agreed to stop using the record after the third night of picketing. However, picketers were barred from ever entering the establishment again.

As a result of the picketing, two other gay discos also removed the record from jukeboxes.

(Ed. note: The address of the Gay Pride Community is: Comunidad de Orgullo Gay. Apartado 5523, Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, PR 00906.)

Marriage: Arizona Battleground

by Shelley Singer

PHOENIX, AZ-A schizophrenic state government has gone halfway toward making Arizona the first state to specifically ban gay marriage, but the comparatively liberal personality of the Senate may take control now and prevent HB 2024 from becoming law.

The "emergency measure," pushed by name-calling supporters, has had an easy downhill slide so far, flashing through conservative committees and winning House approval Apr. 12 by a huge 37 to 3 margin, with 10 abstentions.

Yet the Phoenix Gay People's Alliance says it has received assurances that the liberal-dominated Senate judiciary committee will kill the bill and it will never even come to a floor vote in the upper house.

If it does die there, it will at least have

had a fast and colorful life.

The bill and the Gay People's Alliance both came into existence in January, after the county clerk here issued a marriage license to two men. The resulting outrage among some members of the community led to the drafting of the bill by Republican Reps. James Skelly of Phoenix and Donna Carlson of Mesa. The gay community organized immediately to form the Alliance and to fight the backlash and the bill through lobbying, speaking engagements and other measures.

The big public battle came Apr. 7 at the House Health Committee's hearing. Cosponsor Skelly, a committee member, made repeated use of the terms "queer" and "fag." Members of the public who protested Continued on page 15

& BRIEFS

'No Discrimination Here,' Seven More Say

NEW YORK, NY-Seven corporate biggies have joined AT&T, NBC and CBS in saying publicly that they don't discriminate against gay people. The seven, according to a National Gay Task Force survey, are: IBM, Bank of America, American Airlines, Eastern Airlines, Avon, Citicorp and ABC.

The Task Force wrote to 86 corporations, taking names from Fortune magazine's list of the 500 largest. About 40 companies responded. Although none of the responses have been negative, several corporations skirted the issue by saying, "We don't ask." Corporations who say they con't ask are: Phillip Morris, Ford Motor Co., Transamerica Corp., Exxon, Motorola, Cheseborough-Ponds, MacDonald's, Mobil Oil, Dow-Jones, Proctor & Gamble, Dupont, Engelhard Minerals and Chemicals, F.W. Woolworth and Equitable Life Assurance.

Foster Takes New Party Post

SAN FRANCISCO, CA-Jim Foster, prominent gay Democrat, has been named co-chairperson of the Credentials Committee of the California Democratic Party's State Central Committee.

Foster believes that his appointment by Chuck Manatt, new chairperson of the Central Committee, shows the "enormous willingness of the Democratic Party to incorporate the gay issue as a valid, viable, human concern.

"It definitely proves that openly gay people can participate in party politics," he noted.

The Credentials Committee decides on the validity of the credentials of delegates to state party conventions.

Mayor Bradley Gives Advice to Police

LOS ANGELES, CA-Mayor Tom Bradley, in an Apr. 15 address to the National Police Roundation's annual conference, told members that one of the ways to improve police services is to "examine the relevance" of assigning officers to victimless crimes up to and including "surveilance of gay bars." The victimless crime statement was, of course, jeered by L.A.'s master of the "Officer Friendly" patrol, police chief Ed Davis.

Gay OK at Genesco U

GENESEO, NY-The president of the State University College at Geneseo has instituted a policy of non-discrimination toward all students and staff regardless of sexual orientation.

"A campus member, regardless of sexual orientation," Dr. Robert MacVittie said, announcing the policy, "shall continue to be afforded the same rights and protections under state laws and campus regulations as any other member of the college community.

"Further, sexual orientation shall not be considered in discriminating against campus members, e.g., equal opportunity for employment or fair grading practices."

Linguists Urge Equal Rights

ARLINGTON, VA-The 6,000-member Linguistic Society of America, reporting in its March bulletin, recorded the following resolution: "Be it resolved that we the members of the Linguistic Society of America in order to insure the rights of all linguists, urge that equal opportunity be provided in linguistics for all people, regarless of race, color, creed, sex and sexual orientation, including the right to fair treatment in admissions, financial aid, hiring, advancement and recommendations." The LSA's address is 1611 North Kent St., Arlington, VA 22209.

HUB Closes... 'No More Need'

BOSTON, MA-The Homophile Union of Boston, one of the oldest and most respected organizations within the national gay movement, was officially disbanded by unanimous vote of its Board of Directors on Mar. 23.

HUB was formed six years ago as a chapter of the Mattachine Society of New York, and rapidly became one of the most active gay organizations in the country, involving itself in almost every phase of gay liberation, from social events and rap groups to publications and referral services. HUB's acknowledged field of expertise, however, was in the area of law reform and legal assistance.

One former officer, commenting on his organization's demise, noted that "six years ago, a gay organization was something bold, even radical, and the concept of an active, all-purpose organization was acceptable. Now, though, how useful is an all-purpose organization going to be when you have so many other outlets for gay talents?"

May 7, 1975

THE ADVOCATE

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