Page 6 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Talent Show

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at the Talent Show. In fact, he was out of uniform, out of another uniform, out of another uniform-you had to be there. Vince could also win the "I Can't Believe Anyone Would Take A Fetish This Far Award"

The I Don't Believe My Eyes Award went to Aubrey Wertheim who appeared in nothing but a few pom-poms and a great hat to do a commercial for the Center. Aubrey is a funny guy and his "small members' pun had the place rocking. I just wish he would have stayed funny and skipped the serious stuff.

The What Goes Around Comes Around Award goes to the Drag King Revue who were hysterical as usual. I just wonder what the men thought sitting through some drag that turns the tables on them.

The More Rehearsals Award goes to Yofreakka and her back-up Bunnies. The stage at the Talent Show was too small for Yofreakka and her crew to do a the "Like a

Military

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Williams was outed by the Advocate, and got to keep his job.

Stonewall-Cleveland, whose purpose is to acquire and maintain civil rights and equal protection for Greater Cleveland's gays and lesbians, has played a role in helping to reverse the military's ban on the service of lesbians and gays. Our activities have been conducted both locally, and in Washington D.C., and have included a public demonstration on Public Square; a notification to our membership requesting that they write to their senators and representatives demanding an end to the ban; the preparation of a public position statement condemning the military's

December, 1991

Prayer" number right. It made me angry to see them so confined and not be able to present the number the way I know it could be. If they had attended any of the rehearsals they probably could have worked around the tight space. Too bad, Yofreakka is my favorite drag act and I was looking forward to sharing her with friends who hadn't had the pleasure.

The I Have a Great Relationship Award goes to Micki who's lover brought her a rose as Micki came out on stage. It was very lovely, really, we should all be so lucky, really.

The I Don't Understand Award goes to Project Blipsquid. I'm sure if I knew anything about Performance Art I would have like this piece or even understood it, but I don't, and I didn't.

The Who'da Thought Award goes to Buck Harris who recited a poem and did a country tune dedicated to a young man he knew who was HIV positive. It was really good to hear Buck sing in a queer sort of way. I

discriminatory policy; personal visits to federal legislators; and the implementation of a series of public hearings to address discrimination against members of the community.

The demonstration was conducted on Public Square at the height of the Persian Gulf war; and attracted more than 60 area queers who sent a message to Greater Clevelanders that the policy was intolerable and absurd. The timing of the demonstration was designed to attract media attention as the war was "prime time" entertainment then and any news that was war-related got press. The demonstration did receive non-gay television and newspaper coverage (although meager), thus our message got out.

Recognizing that the military would not change the policy independent of being ordered to do so by the legislature, our members wrote letters to senators and representatives urging them to pass

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don't know Buck, maybe another career is calling you?

The whole night was a wonderful time. Hats off to Brynna Fish for putting on a great show and party. It is too bad the whole concept of having women and men working together was ruin by having only male winners. It really put a damper on what could have been a perfect success. I really don't blame women for being upset. Many women worked hard on this show but once again were delegated to the back when the money was handed out. I would like to think as lesbians and gays we are more sensitive to issues like that but obviously I'm wrong.

Since we all can't be perfect, I suspect the Center will remedy this problem next year, at least I hope they do.

So, if you didn't go, too bad. You really missed out. Hopefully we'll all be back next year to do it again and I can't wait to see what Aubrey will wear next year.

legislation prohibiting the military from banning lesbians and gays from service. The letters received a minimal response, so we got in their faces.

In early November, Stonewall-Cleveland teamed up with Stonewall-Cincinnati and the Human Rights Campaign Fund, and made scheduled appointments with the Washington D.C., offices of Rep. Rose Mary Oakar, Rep. Pete Graddison (Cincinnati) and Sens. John Glenn and Howard Metzenbaum to present our concerns about the military's ban and to ask that their bosses introduce legislation to overturn the ban.

Before our Capitol Hill visits, HRCF provided us with a packet of information. The packet included a copy of a proposed bill that would overturn the ban, as well as literature describing the discrimination experienced by queers in the military. The response received by us was lukewarm to medium, but nobody said "no way!" and we left with some hope and optimism.

Around the same time as our visit to Washington, Stonewall-Cleveland held two public hearings. The purpose of the hearings was to address the issue of crimin on against gays and lesbians, and to collect information on specific acts of

Testimony

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people's stories of similar problems, many were emboldened to come forward and add their testimony.

All the testimony was taped and will be transcribed so that it can be shown to City Council members when legislation is proposed.

Stonewall-Cleveland has been working on various aspects of this problem for more than a year, and these hearings represented the first step in a data collection project that could take another year. Members of Stonewall are using the library data bases to search for local media stories of discrimination and will review back issues of the Chronicle for stories. The group is working with the Maryann Finegan Project to assemble statistical data and may hold additional hearings in 1992.

As the moderators for both evenings emphasized, there is no formal collection of data on discrimination against our

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discrimination against members of the community. Many people came and testified, but none spoke about being discharged from the military because of their affectional orientation. Hopefully, some people will come out in the future on this issue.

Stonewall-Cleveland intends to continue to work with area federal legislators so that a bill can be introduced to overturn the ban. The military's official ban on the service of gays and lesbians is wrong, illogical and inhuman, and it endangers the security of this country by eliminating hundreds of thousands of competent, talented and loyal people from serving and protecting their country.

If you feel equally disgusted about the military's policy on the service of queers, and would like to participate in overturning its' ban, you are invited to attend a meeting on this issue December 9, at 7:30 p.m. at The Center. We have invited Rep. Oakar to the meeting (we are still awaiting confirmation) so that we can present our views to her. It is our intention that she lead the army that will defeat the military's policy.▼

Radice is president of StonewallCleveland.

community within the Cleveland city government because we are not included in any of the statutes that currently exist. Therefore, it is extremely important to report incidents to the Maryann Finegan Project (522-1999), even if a person does not need any of their other services.

If you have a story that you would like included in the Stonewall narrative data base, but were not able to attend the hearings, you can write Stonewall about it or give your testimony to a Stonewall officer at any Stonewall meeting. You do not have to give your name, but it is extremely important to give some indication of where you live and where a particular incident happened.

You can write to Stonewall-Cleveland at P.O. Box 5936, Cleveland, Ohio 44101-0936. Stonewall's general meetings are held the second Monday of every month at the Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center.▼

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