gay people's

MAY 1988

VOL. 3-ISSUE 10

Кос

L E

CLEVELAND, OHIO

Cleveland's quilt plans unfold

by Dora Forbes

The Names Project Quilt will be unfolded at the Cleveland Convention Center, Jun. 3 at 7:30pm. The Cleveland display promises to be the largest display of the quilt outside of Minneapolis and Houston.

The size of the display will vary from city to city; Baltimore will display the quilt in an art museum, while Minneapolis will use the SuperDome and display the entire quilt. Clevelnd will display 63 24x24" squares, with 32 ames within each square. This is the more squares than were isplayed on the Mall in Washington D.C. on Oct. 11, 1987.

Most of the squares will be laid on the floor with walkways between them, but because of the many posts in the Convention Center some of the squares will be suspended by wire around the posts, so more panels can be displayed.

Cleve Jones, on his recent trip to Cleveland to speak at the All-Ohio Lesbian/Gay Conferance was SO impressed by the level of organization and cooperation here in Cleveland among display volunteers that he has decided to come back for the opening ceremonies. He is not planning to do this in any other city.

The quilt will remain in Cleveland Jun. 3-5. All money raised will go to direct services to AIDS patients in Northeast Ohio. Direct services as defined by the Names Project Committee in San Francisco are: meals, emergency cash, medical expenses, rent, hospice care, housing, emotional support, and mental health counseling. Some of the agencies which will benefit from this fundraising effort are: Neighboring, Lake County; Nord Center in Lorain County; Northeast Ohio Task Force on AIDS, Akron; The Cleveland

WRAF: Profile

by L. Kolke

Seven plus years into the AIDS epidemic, it has become quite clear that the lesbian and gay community cannot go it alone. An effort to engage the understanding, assistance and involvement of the community-at-large may now be occurring in Cleveland through the newly formed Western Reserve AIDS Foundation (WRAF). Dr. John Carey, President of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation, spoke with the Chronicle in order to give the lesbian and gay community an understanding of this organization and its objectives.

John Carey is a Doctor of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at University Hospitals of Cleveland whose considerable experience with AIDS has involved both patient care and medial research. He traces the roots of the Foundation back to last summer when several individuals separately approached Carey and Dr. Len Calabrese of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation about organizing a fundraiser for the support of patient services, education, and research. Calabrese and Carey got the

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G&L parents gather

by J. Robinson

The Gay and Lesbian Parenting Coalition International is holding its annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio Jun. 3-5. The convention will include a wide variety of events, including seminars on gay topics, the Greater Columbus Arts Festival, Downtown bar activities, and transportation to many of the scheduled events. The conference will culminate with a dinner/dance that will include speeches and awards in a dressy part environment.

There will be 42 different workshops in the programming. Some of the topics that will be covered include marrying well, AIDS, financial and legal planning, step-parenting issues, latch-key children, coming out/different stages, gay history, keeping a relationship alive, a discussion with a child psychologist,

and communication in relationships.

The convention will feature three keynote speakers. Craig Corbett will discuss his role as a gay-parent and his struggle to obtain custody of his lover's son. Rhonda R. Rivera, a noted authority on sexual orientation law, will talk about homosexuality and the law. Reverend Zalmon O. Sherwood will present the issues of spirituality and AIDS, and homophobia in religious institutions.

For further information contact the following people in Columbus: Ric Halterman at 614-2913234, Kelly Fraley at 614-476-6099, Sammiek Doering at 614-846-1306, or Steve 614-864-6196. Ship at Information is also available through the GPC.

Treatment Center; AIDS Housing Council; North Coast Care Associates; and Health Issues Task Force.

Dale Melsness, coordinator of the project, says that hundreds of volunteers are needed to see that the process of unloading, unfolding and displaying the quilt goes off smoothly. "Our biggest problem right now is the amount of people that want to read names during the opening ceremony. But we have many jobs to do, from unloading the truck, selling concessions, hanging some of the quilts, security, grief counseling and many many more. Everyone who wants to get involved can."

MARY

Melsness says that unfolders will be people who have experienced a direct loss of a loved one from AIDS, or someone who has made a panel. There will be sixty readers of the names on the quilts; twenty will be politicans, twenty will be from the medical community, twenty will be parents, friends, and lovers of people represented on the panels. Any remaining slots will be filled on a lottery basis. Melsness says that the not political community has yet responded well to his request for Readers. Tim Hagen at this time is the only one to answer yes so far.

(Continued on Page Four)

Jones shares message

by L. Kolke

Cleve Jones, Executive Director of The Names Project and long-time gay and political activist, was the opening speaker at the 7th Annual All-Ohio Lesbian and Gay Conference held at Case Western Reserve University on Friday, Mar. 25.

At first, Mr. Jones seemed unsure of what to say to the audience, but this quickly changed as he recounted how the idea of the quilt came to be. On Nov. 27, 1985, at a candlelight march in remembrance of the 6th anniversary of the slayings of Harvey Milk and George Moscone and

at a time when San Francisco had already experienced 1000 deaths from AIDS, marchers were encouraged to carry pieces of paper on which they had written the name of someone they knew with AIDS. These simple pieces of paper were placed all over the front of the City's Department of Health & Human Services Building and the resulting array bore some resemblance to a patch-work quilt.

In 1986 Jones found out that he himself was HIV+ and shortly thereafter was assaulted near his San Francisco apartment after appearing (Continued on Page Four)

Holly Near Responds

by Rady Ananda

In response to January's Guest Editorial regarding lesbian-feminist singer/songwriter, Holly Near, this paper, What She Wants and Oven Productions took advantage of Near's presence in Cleveland to interview her. Near offended the lesbian-feminist community and labor organizations in Cleveland by contracting with Belkin Productions to perform at a non-union hall on a night when Bluefish Productions (another woman-owned production company) had already scheduled the Chevrei Tikva Gay Men's Choir. Near rescheduled the

performance date and place Peabody's Down Under for January 31st. On that night, Near met with Cleveland's lesbian and feminist press for over an hour, explaining her political and philosophical views on her career and her goals, and gave her apologies for the "mistake" which raised the ire of so many here in Cleveland.

Apparently, Near's booking agent, Elizabeth Rush made a package deal (Continued on Page Four)