gay peoples CHRONICLE

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Cleveland Gay Peoples Press Associates

RESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM

William Meltzer's letter criticizing The Chronicle's coverage of the Navis case confirms our belief that Cleveland went far too long without a gay newspaper.

Expressing the views of the Old Cleveland gay establishment, Mr. Meltzer epitomizes its faults. His concept of the gay and lesbian community as a fragmented collection of autonomous fiefdoms blocks real hope for progress. Beyond this, he does not understand the functions of a newspa-

per.

The Chronicle did not try to destroy Dignity/Cleveland's character and reputation. We criticized Dignity's leadership. Interviews that we published included statements about Dignity. The Chronicle clearly and explicitly limited itself to

Mr. Meltzer's "outrage" over our extensive coverage of what he calls "one local man's problems" appalls us.

Didn't he notice that the mainstream Cleveland radio, television, and press gave the Navis case more coverage than any other event in the Cleveland gay community ever received? So did the national gay press. When was the last time a Cleveland event made the news section of The Advo cate? We have received inquiries from gay papers in Philadelphia and San Francisco. The straight and gay media obviously regarded the Navis case as news. A gay newspaper that did not treat this event 35 important would fail its journalistic responsibility and its obligations to the community it serves. But Mr. Meltzer's "outrage" also saddens us. When a homophobic institution fires a gay man, does the community give him support or do its members rush into their closets, lock the doors, and redefine it as "one local man's problems?" Like those who took part in the Vigil, we chose the first course. We see no hope for gay people in any other course.

Mr. Meltzer's indignant question about the Columbus parade, the Ritz lawsuit, and other Cleveland events is puzzling. Didn't

notice that we covered these? Or does consider their coverage insufficient? We gave the parade a two-page spread, gave front-page coverage to the suit against the Ritz and HIT's appointment of Mr. Gearhart, and ran stories about the organization of P-FLAG, the North Coast Invitational Volleyball Tournament, the August Dancin' in the Streets fundraiser, and films of interest to gay people. In every case we printed all the information given us. To accomodate the Navis material we sacrificed the Directory and postponed a few features whose content is important but in no sense urgent.

Mr. Meltzer asks, "Since when is it proper journalism to have the same reporter interview both parties to an issue?" Since the beginning of journalism, Mr. Meltzer. This is standard and sound practice; and a Plain Dealer editorial writer confirms our view.

Mr. Meltzer says that whether Dignity supports Mr. Navis or the Diocese is its

business, not the Chronicle's. Again our views of the lesbian/gay community and the functions of its newspapers are hopelessly divergent. The position taken by the leadership of any organization issue of this importance concerns us as a newspaper. This view may be too radical for the Old Cleveland gay establishment, but reactions to our July issue confirm our opinion that a substantial part of this community welcomes journalism transcends pablum and gossip columns.

that

Mr. Meltzer objects that not one of the Navis articles was written as a news story but instead was a small editorial played

out as a news article." We published one news story, combining an account of the Vigil with the background of the case. It tallied quite well with the Plain Dealer account, even to our estimate of the number of participants, except that it was (properly written from the gay viewpoint and included several statements about the Cleveland gay community that we are eager to document, if challenged to. These clarified the significance of the Vigil. Its significance is a fact that Mr. Meltzer cannot make go away. How many nonrecreational gay events here have gathered 150 people, and on the street?

We also ran an interview, clearly labelled as such, in which Mr. Navis presented his views; and another interview, labelled just as clearly, where two spokespersons for the Dignity leadership presented theirs. As documentation, we printed statements from community organizations, including Dignity; and the official statement by the Diocese. In calling these "small editorials played out as news stories," Mr. Meltzer fails to understand their nature. Either he read them very carelessly, or he is relying on someone's inaccurate description of them.

Mr. Meltzer complains that we did not try to interview an official of the Catholic Diocese. Here we were remiss. Assuming we would have no more success_than the Plain Dealer, we did not try. In retrospect, it would have been better had we been able to report that the Diocese declined comment. We did publish its official statement.

Mr. Meltzer denounces our editorial as a personal attack on the character of Dignity and charges that it was based on gossip not fact.

Again, we point out that we criticized the Dignity leadership, not the organization; and add that the scope of the editorial ranged far beyond this.

Our criticism was based on fact, not gossip. The position of Dignity's leadership is spelled out first in the letter they issued, which we also printed. This, Mr. Meltzer, is fact. It is spelled out again in the interview with Ms. O'Donnell and Ms. Baskin, which we taped, and printed in their own words. Again, this is fact It was also spelled out at the Eleanor Roosevelt Gay Democratic Club meeting where argued against they endorsing the Vigil. This was not gossip that we heard. Four Chronicle staff members--the editor, assistant editor, and two writers--who belong to ERGDC attended that meeting. This is the evidence on which we based those sections of our editorial that criticized the Dignity leadership. If Mr. Meltzer considers this gossip, he has real problems. Whether or not he likes it, these are documented facts.

Meltzer says his letter "reflects the feeling of many people, gay and nongay." Perhaps. Certainly he speaks for a segment of our community. But we think a larger segment is represented by the organizations that supported the Vigil, the people who joined it, and the congratulations our coverage and editorial have evoked.

that

Mr. Meltzer writes, "What happened to Mr. Navis is not right. Fine. We agree on this point. The Dignity leadership disagrees with Mr. Meltzer and with us. They have consistently refused to make a statement. That is the basic issue and the reason we criticized them. Echoing a voice from the American past, we will not compromise, not equivocate, we will and we will be heard.

Advisory Board Rick Berg, Jerry Bores

Charles Callender Rob Daroff, Bob Downing Karen Giffen, Mark Kroboth, Joy Medley, Martha Pontoni Bob Reynolds

Business Manager Bob Reynolds Advertising Manager Joy Medley Circulation Manager Bob Downing Editor-in-Chief

Charles Callender Assistant Editor Rick Berg

Writers

Rick Berg, James Barnouw Charles Callender Katherine Clark, Rob Daroff Dora Forbes, Mark Kroboth Casimir Kuczinski, Sebastian Melmoth Martha Pontoni

Photographer Rob Daroff

Columnists

Peter Beebe, L. Kolke, Ales Liberacki, Jym Roe, Julian Wilde

Production Staff Ick Berg Charles Callender Rob Daroff, Mark Kroboth Jeff Lang, Joy Medley

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