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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE November, 1989

Let the games begin!

The Celebration '90: Gay Games III and Cultural Festival countdown is underway. Opening day ceremonies begin on August 4, 1990, and the games continue until August 11. Vancouver, British Columbia will be the host city for the Cay Games.

In 1986, the Metropolitan Vancouver Athletic and Arts Association (MVAAA) accepted the Gay Games flag and summoned the world to join the 1990 extravaganza. The inaugural of the Gay Games was 1982, when 1,300 athletes participated in Challenge '82, followed by Triumph '86, which had 3,500 entrants. Both of these Gay Games were hosted by San Francisco.

Steady growth and support of the Games continues as 9,000 athletes and artists are expected to participate in Vancouver. The MVAAA also anticipates 16,000 spectators from Washington, Oregon, California, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia during the eight-day celebration.

The Games represent a celebration of the endless personal triumphs of the lesbian and gay lifestyle accomplishments that have prompted growth, strength, and creativity as a people.

Celebration '90 also stands for the principle of inclusion. Everyone is welcome regardless of age, color, or sexual orientation. Men and women will participate in equal numbers and together when possible. Age group divisions will ensure a more balanced, gratifying competition. The physically challenged are especially encouraged to participate.

There will be 27 sporting events, both individual and team, ranging from tennis

and swimming to ice hockey and touch football. There are no qualifying trials; all preliminary competitions are a part of the Games. The Cultural Festival will feature learning workshops and stage presentations. Plans submitted include photography, visual arts, film festivals, band concerts, choruses, a writers and readers festival, and a book fair.

Accommodations will include hotels, guest houses, dorms, and billeting. Events will be held in city parks, recreation centers, public and private gymnasiums, theaters, universities, and colleges. Opening and closing ceremonies will be held at British Columbia's Place Stadium.

Registration for Celebration '90 is a three-phase process. Phase I, Personal Data Registration, is currently in progress. Phase II, the Specific Sport Registration, includes a housing application and liability waiver. Phase III will be an on site check-in, where photo IDs will be issued.

Fees are $40 per athlete per sport until January 31, 1990; $60 thereafter. May 31, 1990 is the final deadline for Phase II registration. All fees are due at that time. For team sports, only complete rosters will be accepted. Unlimited roster changes can be made until July 1, 1990, for a fee of $10 per change (one form can change several names). Roster changes must be accompanied by all registration forms and fees. In sports where facilities are limited, entries will be accepted in the order they are received.

For more information, contact Celebration '90, 1170 Bute Street, Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6E1Z6. Phone 604-684-3303 or Fax 604-683-2276.

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and fund their own newspapers, centers and service Horganizations? Do you not care that your money (which you earn at only 59 percent of men) and your energy (which you give at 110 percent) is going to support men? Is that the lesbian state of mind? You don't have to be a separatist to realize that many, many lesbians in this community are simply following the same old societal standards that have made women second-class citizens throughout the ages.

Do you think for one moment that if such a debilitating disease as AIDS had struck the lesbian community that "our brothers" would have left their bars and baths, do away with their centers and organizations and put all their energy and money in the lesbian community? Do you think they care today whether or not lesbian institutions may perish? Sure a handful do, but the overwhelming majority didn't care before AIDS, don't care now, and wouldn't care about us tomorrow if AIDS disappeared overnight.

The only reason the word lesbian appears in the names of the Gay (and Lesbian) this and the Gay (and Lesbian) that is because the men finally realized that that was all it took to get the women of the community to work for their issues. After all, it is only men that count in this society. Gay or straight doesn't matter. Women are second-class citizens, here only to be subservient to men. You don't believe that? Then why are women earning only 59 cents to every man's dollar? Why are they harassed in the work place? Why are so many jobs not open to them? Why are men taking away control of women's bodies? Why are women raped but male judges rarely put male rapists into jail for any length of time? Because to most men, women are secondary in the world, even today looked upon by law as property, without privilege, and without status in many countries.

NAMES

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day morning.

On Saturday visitors to the memorial included many of the participants of the Homeless March, held that morning to attract attention to the plight of the many American homeless.

Quilt panels were decorated with teddy bears and clothing, photographs and poems, gay pride flags and pink triangles to express the love and worth and defiance that exists in people with AIDS, their friends, families and lovers. Throughout the city, at monuments and on sidewalks and in restaurants, thousands of individuals' shirts and buttons called out to "Keep the Love Alive," the powerful slogan of this year's Quilt display. With nightfall on Saturday, that message was translated into some 50,000 candles held by marchers who circled the White House and headed to the Lincoln Memorial. There they heard speakers as such as Jim Graham, who worked to help sponsor the candlelight vigil and who

Yes, having a relative or a personal friend die of AIDS is a tragedy, but no more that having a lover, or friend or relative die of cancer or in a car accident or from alcoholism or even from war. Losing someone close to us is personal and painful. But we don't consider dismantling our lesbian institutions to fight cancer. We don't consider doing away with our lesbian organizations to promote the use of seat belts and a lower speed limit. We don't consider eliminating our lesbian facilities to support a new Prohibition amendment. Then why are we letting or lesbian institutions crumble and fade away in order to support AIDS efforts?

I'm not saying you shouldn't support the organizations who are helping AIDS and HIV patients in a humanitarian effort to fill in where the medical community fears to tread. Lesbians are very emphathetic as a group, and have the caring souls needed in a community such as our. But I am saying that to expend all of your time, energy and money to this one non-lesbian issue to the detriment of your established lesbian community makes no sense. It denigrates the sacrifices and hard work of the lesbians who founded the groups and organizations you take for granted. Trust me when I say you'll miss us when we're gone! Yes, organizations come and go in our community. But when all of them are in trouble at the same time, you know the community isn't taking care of its own.

Is AIDS a lesbian issue? It may well be a humanitarian issue but some of us don't believe it's a lesbian issue or that the lesbian community should go down in defeat to it. The only way your organizations can be there for you, is if your're there for your organizations. Reconsider your priorities when you start to volunteer or you reach for your checkbook. Remember the unique lesbian groups that are here for you now. Will they be here tomorrow? ▼

Reprinted with permission.

demanded that "access to the best health care is their [HIV-positive individuals] right". Also heared were Miguel Gomez, who decried the disproportionate numbers of Hispanic PWAS and Andre Scott, who called for more AIDS education for people of color.

Cleve Jones, originator of the Quilt, praised the "thousand points of light times ten, times ten again" that the marchers had brought to the streets of the capitol, while lamenting that President Bush had not responded to the march or to the Quilt and yet still had no defined plan to battle AIDS. Jones invited the President to speak with AIDS activists and health care providers on December 1, World AIDS Day.

Sunday was the final day of the Quilt display, marking the last time that all of its panels will be gathered together for the public to view. From now on, smaller sections will tour the country, reminding us all to remember the names stitched, painted, and penciled on the cloth and to remember the messages of hope, and loss, and courage, and love so many people have added to the Quilt.

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