August, 1990

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Page 11

Bits & Pieces

Local

To those who give a damn: Imagine being hit by a drunk driver, left a quadriplegic, and your parents taking over all decisions pertaining to your welfaredecisions such as your therapy, who visits you, where you will live, and who you will live with. Since 1983, a woman named Sharon Kowalski does not have to imagine-this has been her reality!

Sharon is one of our own, a gay woman whose homophobic parents forbade her lover Karen Thompson visitation and guardianship rights for seven years. Karen is still fighting an exhaustive battle, both emotionally and financially.

To help ease a little of this burden, the Black Swan is sponsoring "Give a Damn Sunday" on August 12, 1990. This will be the first organized benefit for the personal needs of Sharon Kowalski. In our efforts to help Sharon improve the quality of her existence, we are soliciting financial contributions from you, our business community. Your generosity will be greatly appreciated!

The Black Swan thanks you for "giving a damn"!

Please make checks payable to the Sharon Kowalski Benefit Fund and send to P.O. Box 556, Edgewater Branch, Lakewood, OH 44107. For more information, call 226-9801.

Hey, social workers! There will be a special dessert treat at our next meeting; also beverages and free parking. Students are encouraged to attend.

Join us on August 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the CWRU Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, in Beaumont Hall, 2035 Abington Road. For more information call Debra Dunkle at 216-229-2100

Benefit Picnic-HUGS East is sponsoring a picnic on August 12 with all donations collected at the event going to the Lake County AIDS Task Force. The Lake County AIDS Task Force is in need of a wheelchair and a portable commode for Lake County AIDS victims. The picnic will be held on the grounds of the East Shore Unitarian Universalist Church at 8181 South Center Street in Mentor. There is no charge for admission and everyone is welcome. Bring something for the grill, a dish to share and your own beverages. There will be a volleyball net set up and bocce ball, croquet, and bats & softballs available for recreation. You may also lazy about and do nothing.

Come enjoy yourself, meet some new people and support a good cause.

National

Jumpin' Jammin' Jamboree in Cincinnati. Country and western aficionados should prepare to glide, slide, gambol and romp as the Cincinnati Stompers host their second annual Jamboree and Midwest Gay Dance Com-

petition on August 10, 11 and 12. Individuals and teams are invited to compete for a $1,000 cash purse, with the addition of all entry fees, in the TwoStep, Line Dance and Freestyle Clogging categories.

This year's Jamboree will commence with a kickoff reception and dance on Friday evening. Following a Saturday afternoon cookout, all will gather at Thomasville Lodge on the Ohio River for the featured Midwest Gay Dance Competition and a performance by singer J.T. Fredericks of Nashville. Participants will be treated to a brunch on Sunday, with a show and dance rounding out the event.

Further information may be obtained by writing the Cincinnati Stompers at 7880 Brill Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45243, or contacting John at (513) 271-5161.

Help defeat Jesse Helms Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina is Public Enemy #1 for gay men, lesbians and AIDS activists. He opposes reproductive choice, civil rights, aid for persons in poverty, assistance for poor school pupils, minimum wage increases, and legislation protecting the environment. He is seeking a fourth consecutive sixyear term in the U.S. Senate.

Helms' Democratic Party opponent is architect Harvey Gantt, the first black person to attend Clemson University and the first black mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina's largest city. Gantt is prochoice, supports civil rights for all, including gay and lesbian people, strongly favors environmental protection, campaigns for "common working people of North Carolina," was one of Charlotte's most financially responsible mayors, and welcomes the label "unabashed liberal".

Sending Helms home will benefit progressive Americans everywhere. Support N.C. Senate Vote '90, the federal unaffiliated political action committee founded in North Carolina to work solely for the defeat of Helms. NCSV90's primary programs include statewide anti-Helms advertising; intense voter registration and education among people the Gantt campaign and Democratic Party can't reach; and funnelling masses of volunteers into get-out-

the-vote efforts.

Contributions can be made payable to NCSV90 Charlotte Committee, 2634 Park Rd. #E, Charlotte, NC 28209. Maximum donation per person: $5,000. For further information call 704-332-3834 (Charlotte Committee), 919-682-6374 (headquarters office in Durham.)

Dignity Region V convention"The G.A.Y. Nineties: Growth, Acceptance & You" is the theme for Dignity Region V's biannual convention hosted by Dignity/Lafayette in West Lafayette, Indiana this September 15-16. The event will convene with Peri Jude Radecic, legislative director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force as the keynote speaker. Pat Roche, president of Dignity U.S.A. is slated as special guest speaker.

Dignity is dedicated to the belief that gay men and lesbians can express their sexuality in a manner that is consonant with Christ's teaching and that all sexuality should be exercised in an ethically responsible and unselfish way. Membership is open to gay Catholics, their friends and family.

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Advance registration fees are $60 for members, $65 for non-members, which includes meals and activities. For more information on the convention write to Dignity-Lafayette, P.O. Box 4665, Lafayette, IN 47903.

Attention teachers and school employees: The National Education Association now has an internal caucus for gays and lesbians-the NEA-GLC. We are dedicated to protecting our contractual, legal, and civil rights. But we need your help. The more members we have, the more effective we are. Please join and help us spread the word. For more information and membership forms, please contact: Harry J. Hillegas, 218 Crain Ave., Kent, Ohio 44240.

Gay veterans group forms to fight bias. As a result of continuing discrimination on the part of the Department of Defense, and all branches of the United States military against lesbian, gay and bisexual military personnel, a group of determined veterans have formed the Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Veterans Association of America

(GLBVA), a national veterans' organization.

The organization will assist gay, lesbian and bisexual veterans and active duty personnel in matters which pertain to discrimination, harassment, and lessthan-honorable discharges. In addition, the GLBVA will organize a concerted effort to challenge the military's policy of discharging gays.

The GLBVA presents its agenda as a focus on three issues: 1) a challenge to D.O.D. policy 1332.14, which excludes gays, lesbians, and bisexuals from military service; 2) support and assistance to campus groups challenging ROTC programs on their campuses; and, finally, 3) establish a "Witch Hunt Strike Force," which will provide legal observers on military installations where witch hunts are on-going.

For more information, call 414-342 6543. Callers are guaranteed a personal response within 24 hours if they leave a recorded message. Anonymity/security is also assured if the caller is requesting legal information or is under investigation. Or write: Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Veterans of America, 1350 North 37th Place, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53208, Attn: Miriam Ben-Shalom, National Chairperson.

International gay penpal organization. Gay men and women who are interested in corresponding with people having similar interests in such diverse locales as Israel, India, Malaysia, Japan, England, France, Denmark, Sweden, etc. are encouraged to send a stamped self-addressed envelope to I.G.P. (International Gay Penpals), Ste. 320, Box 7304, North Hollywood, Calif. 91603.

Engaging in a correspondence with someone in a foreign country can be a great way to learn about another culture, prepare for a foreign trip or make a friend in a strange and colorful place.

AIDS law review seeks articles. The Law Review of the University of West Los Angeles is inviting submissions of lead articles for its volume 22 to be published in early 1991. This issue will be devoted to any or all issues relating to the

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legal aspects of AIDS and HIV infection. Publication is limited to those who possess a J.D. degree. Assistance is requested from our community in finding qualified authors.

This issue will welcome articles that advocate a certain position or course of action in dealing with this epidemic. The goal of the editors is to provide a forum for issues that have all but been ignored by the majority of other legal publications.

For further information, please contact Greg Holland, Editor-in-Chief, U.W.L.A. Law Review, 12201 Washington Place, Los Angeles, CA 90066 or at (213) 313-1011 ext. 229.

Alcoholism professionals meet. The National Association of Lesbian & Gay Alcoholism Professionals, a membership organization of all concerned about the impact of addictions on lesbians and gay men, will host "Networking in the 90's: Our Communities' Strength and Hope", on July 20 to 22, 1990, at the Washington Hilton & Towers, Washington, D.C.

A conference within the International Lesbian & Gay Health Conference and AIDS Forum, the NALGAP Conference will focus on substance abuse and its

impact on lesbians and gay men with state-of-the-art sessions on addiction, relapse prevention, shame, co-dependency, ACOA, and skill-building in working the lesbian/gay alcoholic and addict.

For registration information, call 202797-3708. For more information about NALGAP, call 212-713-5074.

Supernatural book wins two awards. What Did Miss Darrington See? An Anthology of Feminist Supernatural Fiction, edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson and introduced by Rosemary Jackson, has been honored with two awards this

season. This spring it received the Readercon Small Press 1990 Award for Best Anthology, followed by a Lambda Literary Award in the lesbian science fiction category, presented June 1 at the

American Booksellers Association convention.

The twenty-four entertaining and haunting stories collected in What Did Miss Darrington See? make available a literary tradition that has long been overlooked. Included are stories from the United States, from England, and, in translation, from Latin America. Seattle author Jessica Amanda Salmonson has written or edited more than twenty books of fantasy and supernatural fiction. Her five previous anthologies include Amazons, winner of the 1980 World Fantasy Award, and Amazons II.

Rosemary Jackson, a writer and psychotherapist, is the author of Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion.

What Did Miss Darrington See? is available in paperback at $10.95. and in cloth at $29.95. All Feminist Press books are distributed by The Talman Company, Inc. For additional information or to request review copies, contact Lisa Levine, The Feminist Press at The City University of New York, 311 East 94 Street, New York, NY 10128; 212-3605741. Order placement and inquiries to The Talman Company, Inc., 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011; 212-6203182, 800-537-8894, fax 212-627-4682.

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