gay peoples CHRONICLE

Vol. 2 No. 8

By DORA FORBES

CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

SEP 23 1986

PERIODICALS

Cleveland, Ohio

CLEVELAND STATE

SUMMERFEST '86

Page

ISIS BARS CHRONICLE

The manager of the Isis Club, a lesbian bar on West Sixth Street, refuses to allow distribution of the Chronicle there.

Armed Guard Bars Door When circulation manager Downing brought a stack of newspapers to Isis on August 8, the guard refused

let him enter. Valiantly defending the door against the unspecified dangers reppresented by the Chronicle, the guard responded to all questions by repeating, "We don't want those in here."

A Dangerous Letter? Speculation about the reasons for the Isis manager's actions centers on the June issue of the Chronicle. Its Letters section included a communication from Michelle Murrain, a student at Case Western Reserve University, who had been forbidden to enter Isis on May 24. Ms. Murrain attributed her exclusion to her being black.

A Dangerous Opinion? The June issue also included a statement, clearly labelled a guest editorial, by Customers Against Racist Exclusion, a group formed after Ms. Murrain was barred from Isis.

SEP 2 3 1986

PERIODICALS Overreaction?

said

Informed by another source that the Isis manager the CARE article, which was also circulating as a flier, distorted statements he had made during a confrontation with the group, the Chronicle offered him space to present his response. He declined the offer and relayed a message that he would consult his attorney.

The Chronicle Responds Charles Callender, editor of the Chronicle, said, "We had no idea we were so dangerous. And we still don't know what Chet the Isis manager thinks he has to guard his women patrons from reading.

the

comher I

"As a community newspaper, it's our obligation to carry expressions of opinion by gay men and lesbians. If a straight person wrote Plain Dealer a letter plaining about his or treatment at Higbees, doubt that Higbees would try to prevent their customers' reading the newspaper. Even if a group had a statement about the incident on the op/ed page, I'm sure Higbees would either ignore it or write a response. Why should behavior among gay people be

TS

CLEVELAND

September 1986

Two Cleveland medal-winners at the Gay Games: Tim Petrey'Silver in Racquetball, and Cindy Pizzino, Bronze in Women's Body Building

different?"

Retaliation Asked whether the Chronicle plans to retaliate, Callender said, "I suppose the logical step is to remove Isis from our Directory of Community Resources. This should be limited to publicservice listings, advertisand establishments at

ers,

which the paper is distributed. Isis doesn't fit any of these categories.

"On the other hand, it might be amusing to ask women who patronize Isis to smuggle in copies of our paper. Or we could set up a picket line on West Sixth Street, except that none of has time for that."

CHARGES AGAINST 1504 DROPPED

By CHARLES CALLENDER

The city of Lorain has dropped all charges against the 1504 Club, a gay bar city police raided June 3 under a recently enacted municipal obscenity law, claiming that nude dancing was taking place.

The city's case collapsed when three police informants who claimed they had seen the dancing refused to testify.

This anticlimactic end of the city's case supports statements by owner Charles Ellis that the charges were completely untrue and that police were harassing

the

his bar because it was a gay establishment.

Discrepancies in official police reports of the raid raised many questions. The reports said the raid took place when informants told the police that nude dancing had started. But the only dancing when they entered was clothed and not arrested.

man

was

Instead, the police arrested two other men, apparently because the informants claimed they had danced nude earlier. But the timing of the raid made this allegation unlikely. On very thin evidence, both men were charged with "pandering ob-

scenity and public indecency." The police also charged. the bar's owner with dering indecency."

"pan-

Besides the questions raised by police accounts, statements by Assistant City Robert Gargasz Prosecutor injected new doubts about the city's charges.

Explaining the police informants' refusal to testify, Gargasz cited "personal and family pressures."

"The witnesses are reluctant to become involved, and the star witness, who was to have seen the nude dancing, (italics ours] does not want to be involved in any way, shape, or form," Gargasz

said.

Besides implying that the "star witness" did not in fact observe any such dancing, Gargasz leaves another question hanging: Why would persons who did not want to be involved volunteer as police informants?

Gordon Friedman, attorney for the 1504 Club, offered a different explanation for the informants' refusal to testify. He told the Lorain Journal that they had seen no nude dancing. Owneer Charles Ellis has said from the beginning that none occurred. His statement now seems confirmed by the city itself.