gay people's

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FEBRUARY 1988 VOL.3-ISSUE.8.

CLEVELAND, OHIO

"NAMES" Quilt Visits Cleveland

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Names Project Executive Director, Cleve Jones, calls the AIDS memorial guilt "a gift from the hands and hearts of thousands of Americans who have not despaired. It stands as statement of hope and remembrance, symbol of national unity and promise of love." Mr. Jones, a longtime San Francisco community organizer and activist, will Cleveland to address the Case Western Reserve University Lesbian and Gay Conference held the weekend of March 25-27.

be

in

Inspired by the death of his closest friend in 1986, Jones organized a handful of volunteers around building an enormous quilt of panels each bearing the name of someone who had died of AIDS. This effort has grown quickly to include hundreds of volunteers, nearly 3000 panels, phant yet solemn inaugural display at the Oct. 11 National March in Washington, and starting this April, sections

a

25 city national tour of

lovers of people who have died have become involved making this a truly national AIDS memorial.

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this

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Jones' comments to The Advocate during the inaugural display give glimpse of the man who started tribute: "It is so beautiful," said. "I think it is a strengthening and empowering statement of hope and remembrance. If people come away from here with anything, I want it to be love: love for our community. I want people who come here to understand that this epidemic continues, we're a good people, we're loving people, we take care of each other, and we've got the strength and the will to beat this disease."

even

as

the

others panels

1,920 names then and it stretched for two city blocks on the Mall. Taking enormity of this memorial and experiencing the utter quiet as like myself searched the for people we knew and loved is a moment I cannot forget. Amid the news reports and statistics, it is to lose track of easy the real people behind them. The richness and gifts

of their lives were painfully, colorfully, and lovingly remembered

there.

Hopefully, the

Cleveland and

of gay community Northeast Ohio will

participate fully in this

and creative

epidemic. For

of the

the Jerry Braun, interested

Cleveland

me

the response to more information CWRU conference, please Bores (216) 621-8886 Doug TTY (216) 371-3489. Those in with helping the display of the Names Project Quilt, please contact Dale Melsness at (216) 281-1610.

positive AIDS on

call

or

By L. Kolke

One of the project's three objectives is "to illustrate the impact a trium-

of the quilt. Family, friends and

the AIDS epidemic by humanity behind This

the

was

showing statistics." powerfully evident to saw the guilt that Sunday morning in Washington. There

when I

were

Are You Ready For The Conference?

The

Case Western Reserve University Lesbian/Gay conference has announced the tentative schedule for the 7th annual conference to be held March 25 27 on the campus of CWRU. Registration will begin at 7 25 at Thwing Student Center. Registration process will be on sliding scale of $8,-$10-$15.

March

PM,

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Although there still might be some last minute changes, this year's scheduled speakers will include Cleve Jones, director of the name project; JEB (Joan C. Biran), a lesbian photographer; and Rosemary Denman, a lesbian Unitarian Minister who was frocked by the Methodist Church coming out as a lesbian.

JEB...

Other

activies and workshops include: Educating Men to Feminism; Coming Out in the New Age; Sexual Addiction; Civil Disobedience; Domestic Violence in Lesbian/Gay Relationships; Coming Out; and a presentation by P. FLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). Also scheduled are a showing of film shorts on Lesbian and Gay subjects, an open vol-

leyball game on Sunday night, and an Activities Fair on

noon.

Saturday

after-

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Organizers are seeking volunteers who would like to put together committment ceremony, patterned after the "Wedding" in Washington, D.C. If you are interested in helping, call (216) 621-8886.

Local Protest Ignored

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By Rady Ananda

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E.

One of the main events of the 7th Annual Lesbian/Gay Conference at Case Western Reserve university will be lecture and a slideshow by Joan Biren (JEB), lesbian photographer. JEB is one of the outstanding photographers to emerge from the feminist movement. For 15 years her photographs have both inspired and reflected growth and change among women.

Continued on Page 7.

On Jan. 11, President Reagan arrived in Cleveland to promote his policies and Mayor Voinovich's senatorial candidacy. About three hundred protesters gathered in front of Stouffer's Inn on the Square where the president was expected to appear.

Of all the divergent interests calling on Reagan to amend his policies, the largest was the gay contingency who brought a casket draped in black velvet. Dozens of signs shamed Reagan for not allocating enough funds for AIDS research and several black balloons formed a canopy over the heads of For

the protesters.

sus-

several minutes th protesters tained a single chant: "Money for AIDS, not the Contras." The three networks had camera crews on the scene filming the protest.

While Channel 5 gave the longest coverage of the protest on its 11pm report, special note must be made of the coverage given by Channel 3.

Instead of filming the casket, the memorial held at Tom Johnson Square, or the chanting in support of PWA's, Channel spitting

3 showed two senior citizens at demonstrators and re-

Continued on Page 7.