=LETTERS Editor supported

In response to the editorial of September-GPC issue I would like to offer the following.

I have worked on a project of the Ohio Department of Health since May 1985 with the Gay/Lesbian Community. My objectives were to provide awareness training to chemical dependency professionals about the gay/lesbian client, provide specific referral services, facilitate a support group for alcoholic gays, provide educational presentations to lesbian/gay groups, develop policies regarding AIDS for alcoholism treatment agencies, and network with established programs relevant to my work. I also worked as an HIV Testing Counselor at Mccafferty Health Center for two years.

Early into my project I

contacted The Health Issues Task Force (HIT) in hopes of working closely together. Being aware of the dangers involved with sex and substance abuse I was eager to develop a professional agreeement with HIT. I was welcomed with polite words and mutual agreement on the matter, yet I has a feeling of being put off just a bit. My impression was AIDS is the number one primary issue, and the little attention could be spent on other health related matters right now.

HIT list?

It has been brought to the attention of the NAMES Project Cleveland chapter that an out-of-town donor to the June display is now on the mailing list of Health Issues Task Force. This is a person that would have no other contact with HIT except through this donation. Since HIT was not given permission to use these names, even after repeated requests for them, this can only mean that HIT has stolen the list of donors from the NAMES Project; HIT has access to all checks made out to the NAMES Project. It was emphasized to HIT that the names on the checks were the property of the NAMES Project and were not for use in HIT's fundraising. Persons giving to a fund-raising event should not expect to be solicited for funds by another organization.

I can understand that feeling of urgency when working with AIDS, but my concern is this: until we begin to make a sincere effort to educate individuals who are at risk for AIDS about chemical dependency, we're only wasting precious time and valuable lives. I feel strongly that HIT needs to become much more holistic about its services and community affairs. Alcohol has the tendency to bring people out to affairs, but let's begin to pay more atention to the facts;

a) 33 percent of the lesbian/gay population has a substance abuse problem

2) Chemicals will break down

the immune system

3) Being mood altered will lower inhibitions, and can cause black outs.

According to the American Medical Society On Alcoholism and Other Drug there is Dependencies, there is a significant connection between AIDS and chemical dependency. I urge HIT to look into this matter and incorporate chemical dependecy prevention into their presentations.

Timothy P. Thomas

Educational Consultant Regional Council on Alcoholism

When Health Issues Taskforce did a mailing to its members about the NAMES Project events a week before the June display, HIT office personnel controlled the use of the mailing labels. The NAMES Project was not allowed to receive a list of those names. It's easy to see that more people at the display would mean more donations, and therefore more funds

Health Issues Taskforce repeatedly suggested that they should receive ALL the profits from the NAMES Project display in Cleveland since they were "THE only AIDS service organization in town", and even challenged me to "prove there were others. Well, not wanting to let a challenge go unnoticed, I found SIX other groups giving direct services to people with AIDS (and not just emotional support, but housing and home care, for example.) Later, I identified the Living Room at the Community Center as qualifying for

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the funds that continued to trickle in for weeks after our display dates.

So there ARE others besides HIT in the area offering services to the AIDS community. These others offer variety of services with less fanfare and less funding than "THE only AIDS service organization in town" and do it with more accountability and more importantly, with honesty.

Dale Melsness, Chairman NAMES Project Cleveland

A WORD OF THANKS: Our four "Every Penny Counts" cans raised $1,030 at the NOCI picnic; the entire amount has been sent to San Francisco to help fund the NAMES Project return to Washington, D.C. on Oct. 8-

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Cleveland, OH 44113 (216) 621-7200

HIT responds

The September Editorial calls for constructive criticism and accountability of organizations and leaders, both necessary concepts for growth. The Editorial then makes the statement that HIT'S DANCIN is "an event that continues to take and makes little effort to give back to the community." The statement goes even further in suggesting the event has a policy that is "plain greedy".

nor

There is nothing constructive truthful in these statements. Dancin (thus HIT) does take plenty from the community and is grateful for

Continued on Page 11.

YOUR PERSONAL SPACE

Douglas J. Moore, Ph.D.

COMING OUT, OR NOT?

We were six years old and Marcy and I were in her bedroom when she said, "Now don't laugh, I am going to take off my bathing suit". She gingerly peeled away the suit while I bit my cheek trying not to laugh. My staring was interrupted when Marcy's nosey teenaged sister tried to enter the locked bedroom. I quickly hid in the clothes closet, pretending not to be in the room. Suddenly, the closet door flung open revealing a very redcheeked little boy feeling about two inches tall. That was the first time I heard someone say, "Come out of that closet!".

That command continues to resound. This time I hear it from some gays and lesbians who think everyone should be out of the closet. How do you feel when someone tells you to do something you don't want to do? Most people's reaction is to immediately resist. I am concerned that such pressure to come out of the closet contributes to resistance and people staying in it.

In addition to pressuring gays to come out, a strong message frequently expressed is that closeted people are not doing what they "should" be doing to further the gay movement. Such criticism generates guilt or anger which serves to divide rather than integrate the gay community. Lesbians and gays have enough pressure and

guilt placed on them without their own "family" contributing to it.

We have all seen men and women ostracized by their families and friends for coming out. It can be a frightening experience fraught with anxiety, depression, and loneliness. The last thing gays need is additional pressure or criticism, and the first thing needed is unconditional support for whatever decision is made.

The gay community is the best source for that support and in many ways already encourages it's development. The challenge will be to redirect the pressure and criticism into existing and new supportive activities. As the Health Issues Task Force has focused on the plight of AIDS, we need to provide similar supportive activities to those struggling with coming out. These activities include: support groups, education, role modelling, and counseling. In addition, the gay community needs to accept and support those women and men who have decided not to come out. If we want heterosexuals to accept us, we must accept each other,

unconditionally.

I welcome comments about the column or questions you may have. Please address them to the Chronicle.

Dr. Moore is a clinical psychologist in private practice. He also teaches, consults, and does research at several institutions in Cleveland.