GIFT '88

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After a dinner break, 340 bowlers, guests, and members of the Cleveland community enjoyed a chartered lake and river cruise on the Goodtime II. A disc jockey was spinning great music for dancing, but most of the guests were content to enjoy a spectacular sunset and equally dazzling river and lake views of the city. Bowling resumed Sunday morning at 11am with three games of team competition. The weekend's grand finale was an excellent banquet and awards ceremony Sunday evening at the Marriott. Four thousand dollars in cash prizes were given out to the top bowlers and teams. Furthermore, the banquet provided a chance to recognize the hundreds of hours that volunteers spent in organizing and making this weekend a great success.

Names

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names were, Ed Feighan, and Tim Hagen. Helen Smith and Jane Campbell who were scheduled to read did not show up. Those who did not answer invitations or decline to come included, Mary Rose Oakar, Carl Stokes, Dennis Eckart, George Voinivich, George Forbes, John Glenn, Howard Metzambaum, and Richard Celeste.

The Office of the Mayor proclaimed the week the tour was here as "Name Project Week" and the city council issued a resolution in support of the Project.

the

Melness attributed the low attendance and difficulty in fund raising to lack of support by the business community. "[We were a] big success, thanks to politicians and corporations. It was a success because of people's support". "We didn't have the connections", continued Melness, "We weren't legitimate like Western Reserve AIDS Foundation, so we didn't get the support". Melness reported that some companies told Quilt fund raisers that they would contribute to WRAF for the quilt but members of the WRAF committee denied any funds were sent to them for direct distribution for the Names Project.

During the display of the Quilt many volunteers stayed long past their work times just to "be there". Several

Non-bowlers may not know it, but there are Lesbian and Gay bowling leagues in most major American and Canadian cities. Furthermore, an umbrella group called IGBO (International Gay Bowling Organization) regulates and sanctions over 30 gay bowling tournaments a year, providing women and men who enjoy bowling an opportunity to travel, make new friends, and compete for cash prizes on a handicap basis. In fact, IGBO is the nations largest gay sports organization with over 2000 members. Cleveland's league and annual tournament are unique and a source of community pride. They are well attended by both women and men-a situation many other cities do not enjoy. ▼

people returned every day to view the Quilt again and again. One man who had once been a member of the San Fransisco Gay Men's Chorus sat by their panel most of the three days it was displayed because he knew most of the many, many names on the panel. Everyone who experienced the Quilt had a story to tell and some wrote it on the signature panel in the center of the Quilt. Mothers and Fathers wrote good byes to their sons, brothers and sisters apologized for not loving their now lost relative "enough". Members of the community wrote their feeling seeing so many of their friends names. All signature panels will be displayed in Washington October 8th and 9th.

Closing ceremonies were emotional and soothing. Rainsong and the (Gay) Men's Chorus performed and the Names of the local persons who have past away from AIDS were read.

Despite being ignored by local business and politicians the Names Project display in Cleveland was rendered a success by the hundreds of local volunteers who spent many long hours of work insuring that Clevelanders would have a chance to view what is already being called an historical monument to those we have all lost to AIDS.

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Matlovich

(Continued From Page One) next twelve years in the service.

While in the service, Matlovich served three separate tours of duty in Southeast Asia, for which he was highly decorated. For metitorious service performed in Dong Ha, Vietnam, on his first tour of duty he received a Bronze Star. Four years later, in Da Nang, he stepped on a mine and was awarded a Purple Heart. He also received an Air Force Commendation Medal in 1971.

After leaving Vietnam for good in 1971, Matlovich served as a counselor with the Air Force's Drug and Alcohol Abuse Program. He later became a Race Relations instructor, winning praise from students and supervisors alike for his hold and innovative classroom techniques. It was while teaching race relations that he began to study the problems of other second-class citizens in America, including homosexuals. It was then that he also began to explore his own homosexuality, which he had hitherto suppressed.

In 1974, Matlovich met Dr. Frank Kamemy, a gay activist who was looking for a serviceman servicewoman with a perfect record to challenge the military's policy excluding openly gay people. After considerable deliberation, Matlovich agreed to serve as the gay community's test case, and in March 1975, he delivered a letter to his superior officer at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia stating, "I consider myself to be a homosexual and fully qualified for further military service. My almost twelve years of unblemished service supports this position."

Both the military and the media response was swift. In May 1975 the Air Force commenced discharge proceedings. That same month, Matlovich's picture appeared on the front page of the New York Times. The TIME magazine cover followed in September. Matlovich quickly became one of the most famous gay people in America and, according to journalist Randy Shilts, "the country's first certifiable gay hero." His status did not prevent the Air Force from discharging him, however, after only four days of and testimony argument at administrative hearings.

Matlovich's lawyers appealed the case a process which took six years. In the meantime, Matlovich toured the country as a spokesperson for the gay rights cause, leading battles against Anita Bryant in Florida in 1977 and John Briggs in California in 1978. He also became heavily involved in politics, often espousing his own rather contoversial conservative philosophy. In 1979 he move from Washington, D.C., where he had been living since his dismissal from the Air Force, to San Francisco, where he joined the Republican party and ran for city supervisor. He lost the campaign, but this did little to dampen his enthusiasm for public life.

In late 1980, following a court victory ordering his reinstatement into the Air Force, Matlovich agreed to settle out of court with the military for $160,000. He did this because his case was no longer a constitutional one; it

revolved around technicalities instead and therefore had little bearing on the right of other gay people to serve in the Armed Forces.

With the settlement money Matlovich opened a pizza parlor in Guerneville, California, which he operated from 1981 to 1984. Although he enjoyed the life of a small-town businessman, he was forced to sell the restaurant due to the AIDS crisis and the resultant, if temporary, period of public hysteria. He then returned to San Francisco, where he dedicated his energies to closing the city's bathhouses. For this he was severely criticized.

A few months later, Matlovich was asked by a group of fellow gay conservatives in Washington, D.C. to help form an organization called Concerned Americans for Individual Rights, which would lobby Congress on behalf of gay rights concerns Unfortunately, the organization was racked by political in-fighting, so Matlovich left for Europe, where he spent the next year traveling and supervising American teenagers through a U.S. Army summer hire program. He returned to Washington to become involved in that city's efforts to close the baths. When that effort. too ended in failure, he moved again back to San Francisco.

Matlovich's concern with AIDS reached an entirely new level when he was diagnosed with the disease in September, 1986. Rather than turn inward, however, he became more active than ever before. He raised a memorial to gay Vietnam veterens in Washington, D.C.; protested the Reagan administration's lack of response to the AIDS crisis by gettting arrested for non-violent civil disobedience at the White House; established the Never Forget Project, an organization to honor gay historical figures; took part in the National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights; led the boycott against Northwest Airlines for their policy concerning people with AIDS; spoke at the demonstration against the Pope during the Pope's visit to San Francisco; considered running for state assemblyman; and demonstrated in support of the AIDS/ARC Vigil in San Francisco. Worn out at last, he moved to West Hollywood in May 1988 to be with a friend for his final months.

Matlovich's final message was one of hope and faith, as it had been for years. As he told his biographer for the forthcomming story of his life, to be published by Alyson Publications in early 1989, "If there has to be a disease, and if I have to have it, then this is the disease I want, because the good that has come out of it is just incredible. The reality of the situation is that before we meet, the main thing gay people have in common is our sexuality. Yet the AIDS crisis allows us to share far more by bringing us closer together. For this much love, care and compassion to come out of this community because of AIDS proves that we truely are a people of incredible love. We're going to be a better community because of this."

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Susan M. Weaver Attorney At Law

Divorce Bankruptcy Wills⚫General Practice The Rockefeller Bldg.⚫ Suite 608

Cleveland, OH 44113 (216) 621-7200

PSYCHOLOGIST

ANDREW PETER BEEBE, PH.D.

DEBRA L. DUNKLE, ACSW, LISW

CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER

34. Suter 23 & 24

ELAND HEIGHTS, OHIO 44106

(216) 229-2100