January 1986

By MARK KROBOTH

During the holidays I took a weekend off and drove down to southeastern Ohio to spend a couple of days with Some close friends, Bob Nav is and Jeff Gerhardstein. We stayed at a cabin in a remote corner of a state park about half an hour from West Virginia. The weekend was going to be a time set aside for escaping school, job, and newspaper responsibilities that seem to build up toward the end of each month.

Upon arriving, we shared our holiday stories. Talk of family, friends, and gifts filled our cabin for hours. I started drifting off and was ready for bed, when Bob and Jeff started telling a story that set a different mood.

Night of Terror

On December 14 Bob and Jeff were awoken at 3 a.m. by a loud noise against the wall of their bedroom. Bob said his first thought was that someone had broken into their house. Then another noise. The sounds were coming from downstairs. Knowing their friend who lives downstairs was away for the holidays, they called the police. Within 20 minutes, officers had arrived and inspected the house, looking for signs of break-in. They told Bob and Jeff that everything seemed to be in order. A little shaken up, they decided to go back to bed.

Ten minutes passed, and then three more loud noises and the sound of breaking glass. Running into their living room, they found glass and mud all over the

Gay Peoples Chronicle

VIOLENCE

carpeting

and walls.

Jeff ran into the porch and saw a man about 20 years old, standing in the street holding what looked like a snowball. Seeing Jeff and realizing that he had been spotted, the man ran down the street to join three other men. They joined in a chorus, yelling Faggot, and left laughing.

Needless to say, I decided not to drift off to sleep. I found myself listening to Bob and Jeff's story and remembering situations, though not quite as threatening, that have happened in my life, just because I am gay: Intriguing was the fact that all four of us in the cabin that night had directly experienced acts of violence in Cleveland simply because we are gay. Determined not to dwell on these thoughts all weekend, I put everything on hold until I arrived home Sunday night.

Monday I started calling friends to find out whether or not they had experienced violence, verbal or physical, directed at them because they are lesbian or gay. The answers I received were as alarming as Bob and Jeff's story. Eight of the ten persons I talked to had experienced violence. Their stories ranged from being called a faggot or dyke on the street to being held for 30 minutes at gunpoint. One person told me that he and à friend had been chased from the intersection of West Blvd. and Clifton Blvd. (considered a heavily gaypopulated area) to Rest 117th St. by knife-wielding youths.

10 Years Ago in Cleveland

By CHARLES CALLENDER

*Cleveland Heights began a Positive Action Program for hiring city employees that prohibited discrimination because of sexual orientation. The plan was instigated by the Social Action Committee of Dignity.

A local activist commented, "The sky isn't falling

in Cleveland Heights...buses are still running, people are shopping at Severance Center. From now on it will

be much, much easier to get our programs passed throughout the county.

*The Cleveland Gay Political Union joined in the general euphoria, expressing hope that passage of the Cleveland Heights measure would spark other Greater Cleveland communities to pass similar legislation. Y

The CGPU approached Cleveland State University for full student organization status. Its January 7 meeting drew a record number of

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Perceptions

The perception of our city most of us in Cleveland have is that we are rarely touched by anti-gay sentiment. Unlike other large cities, during the early years, raids on bars were not frequent in Cleveland. Even today, our city council chambers are free of Biblewielding bigots, often a large part of local politics in other Ohio cities.

For the most part, antilesbian/gay violence occurs on a different level in Cleveland. More of a closet homophobia, the violence has a grass-roots flavor. Our antagonists are not often seen or heard over the air-

waves nor reported in the papers. Rather, we find them next door, at home or on the street.

Police Liaisons

So what are the answers? An unorganized kind of violence can be the most difficult to combat. Steps have been taken but seem to have gone virtually unnoticed or have been ignored.

While gay people in many cities much larger than ours have found working with their police departments to be somewhat difficult, Cleveland's police depart ment has organized liaisons to work with our community to combat anti-lesbian/gay violence. During a meeting with the Case Western Reserve Lesbian/Gay Student Union, Detective William Salupo of the Cleveland Police Department told LGSU members that names do not have to be given when notifying the police that a crime has taken place. Talking with the police depart-

17 women and men.

*The GEAR Foundation's Board of Trustees consisted of John Nosek, co-editor of High Gear Leon Stevens, coeditor of High Gear; David Holleb, newly appointed GEAR Services Director; John Vogel, coordinator of Radio Lambda; David Donovan; David Goodenough; Art MacDonald, Worship Coordinator of the Metropolitan Community

Church; and Peter Zelmer.

Nosek and Stevens told the Board that by February High

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Page 5

ment can provide assistance in apprehending the offender. Police liaisons with the lesbian/gay community are printed in the GPC Resource Directory (p. 15).

Discrimination Response

Bystem

For those of us not living within Cleveland or Lakewood, where police liaisons exist, there is the Discrimination Response System. This telephone line uses the Cleveland Lesbian/Gay Hotline to log all calls that crimination in housing and are made. Reports of disjobs, in addition to violence, are taken down and filed. The hope is that this system will help convince city and county officials of the need for a human rights referendum that includes lesbians and gays. All reports that the Discrimination Response System receives are confidential. The phone number is listed under Hotlines in the GPC Resource Directory.

Ideal Reactions Avoid high crime areas such as the Mall area downtown or Edgewater Park_during evening hours. If a crime occurs at home, as in Jeff and Bob's case, call the police department immediately. Later, notify the police liaisons, and the Discrimination Response System, both locally and the National Hotline run by the National Gay Task Force in New York.

These responsible actions not only ensure our own safety but that of those who share our neighborhoods and lifestyles.

Gear would be able to channel profits to the Gay Conmunity Center.

*The Gay Hotline held its first organizational meeting January 14, at the Metropolitan Community Church office, 2999 West 25th Street. The Hotline was seen first step toward establishing a Community Center.

as a

*Mr. Tiffany Jones, still playing Bayou Landing, did Page 13, col. 2

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