gay peoples CHRONICLE

Vol. 1 No. 12

GEAR

FUNDS

BLOCKED

Cleveland, Ohio

1985 in Retrospect

Pages 8-10

January 1986

By DORA FORBES

Early in December Rapid Rabbit Printers attached the GEAR Foundation's bank account, containing over $2,600, to cover GEAR's share of a debt incurred in 1983.

Nick Palumbo, president of the Foundation, said the services GEAR provides the Cleveland lesbian/gay community will continue in spite of Rapid Rabbit's action. The Cleveland Lesbian/Gay

Community main in

Hotline and the Center will re-

operation. Members

cf the Foundation's board are providing funds to cov-

er

telephones for the Hotline as well as the salary of executive director Shana Blessing.

The attachment has temporarily halted the receipt of funds from a City of Cleveland block grant. Palumbo fears it may jeopardize the Foundation's application for renewal of the grant.

The account, in a Euclid bank, was attached two days after trustees of the Foundation asked its treasurer to resign because she had not been attending meetings.

Palumbo said, "This action comes at a particularly bad time. The current GEAR board has been trying to work out payment of this debt, in-

GPC

P.O. Box 5426 Cleveland, OH 44101

Whoopi Goldberg (left) and Margaret Avery in The Color Purple. reviewed on page 7.

curred by an earlier administration, so its books would be fully auditable. As GEAR's image changed in the community, our membership was beginning to increase.'

M

Even after the Foundation's account was attached, it still owes $900.

Ohio Pride

The debt was incurred in the summer of 1983 by Cleveland Coast Advertising while producing the now defunct Ohio Pride magazine as a publication of the GEAR Foundation. In November 1984 Page 3, col. 1

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Cleveland, OH Permit No. 422

United Labor Agency Cosponsors AIDS Conference

By CHARLES CALLENDER

National and state authorities on AIDS will take part in an unusually comprehensive conference at Cleveland Clinic January 24. Titled "AIDS: An Enlightened Policy for the Work Place and the Community," the Conference will concentrate on the two aims of providing current information about the disease and dispelling myths surrounding it.

Conference

Michael

coordinator Murphy, executive director of the United Labor Agency, describes the conference as "specifically designed for health care workers, labor and management officials and community leaders for ongoing public awareness and education."

In a joint statement the three sponsors said, "This conference represents an educational milestone for our area of the country. We live

in a region of low incidence of AIDS, a situation that provides us with an opportunity to educate and thereby prevent the further spread of this devastating illness and its associated epidemic of fear. We hope that all attending this conference will use this as a starting point for increased community awareness and a dedication to eradicating this serious disease in our time."

Labor's Concern unique feature of this event is the initiative takin en by organized labor sponsoring a conference on AIDS and promoting AIDS education, an activity in which the gay community has had to play the major role. At its convention last October, the AFL-CIO expressed concern about AIDS education (see p. 2).

Page 12, col. 2