January 10, 1992 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Page 9

Douglas Braun: Gay Man of the Year

by Kimberly Taylor

Just do it.

At the Pride '90 wrap-up meeting, some of the workers were discussing the great amount of publicity that had been done. One person remarked that it would have been nice if Pride had been listed in the Summerfare calendar.

This comment turned Doug Braun into Nike Man. It became his goal for Pride '91 to get a listing. "I thought, maybe it will get shot down, but it's worth a try,'" he said.

When he first called the office that handles Summerfare, he was told that the woman in charge of it, Roseanne Korfant, did not work there during the winter. He kept right on trying until he did reach her.

Summerfare is a

listing of all of the community festivals in

the area for the summer. It is run in the Plain

Dealer and then sent out in brochure form as part of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association's promotion package.

Korfant told Braun that all new groups have to be

approved, so he started

filling out the application forms.

"I was up front

about who I was

representing. The words

gay and lesbian seemed to shock them a little, but they were cordial.”

After a few bumps, Pride '91 was in. "It felt like progress," said Braun. "Like when we got those [mayoral] proclamations and the lavender stripe. It

was an acceptance and a validation of our community."

He wanted to make sure Korfant got the credit she was due. "We figured she probably did a lot to help us."

Next year, Braun is definitely going to try to get Pride listed in Summerfare again. There's also a

statewide listing of Ohio fairs . . . who knows?

Like many can-do people, Braun has also done a lot of volunteer work in other areas, for instance with the hearing-impaired community.

He has done interpreting at Pride, the Center Talent Show and for North Coast Men's Chorus concerts.

"People have reacted very positively to having an interpreter at these events. So, I think it is a real good thing for our community. Deaf gays and lesbians have a lot to offer the community that isn't being tapped,” he said.

Braun would like to see the Health Issues Taskforce and the Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center leading the way to making things accessible to deaf gays and lesbians. To that end he

to

is helping to arrange a meeting

"some Sunday in January" between those two and the Buckeye Rainbow Society of the Deaf. "I think deaf people need to be given a chance to say what they need. Then it's up to our organizations to answer those needs."

Braun also wrote a letter to the Telephone Pioneers of America to get a telecommunication device for the Center so that deaf people could benefit from the hotline. It has been approved and is now going through the process.

For a man as involved in his community as this, a prize just can't be big enough, but Braun said he was pleased to be named Gay Man of the Year.

"I've got goose bumps," he said. "It really felt good, and I can finally tell my mother that I got something for volunteering."

He's hoping his parents can come to the award ceremony. He's a son they can be proud of, and a brother that our gay family is lucky to have. ▼

Queer Nation -a fresh wind of change

by Kimberly Taylor

A fresh wind of change blew through Cleveland last year and carried with it not only a strong promise of “in your face" action, but a gentle hint of tolerance, consensus and yearning for diversity.

Queer Nation Cleveland began as a workshop at the Case Western Reserve University Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual conference last spring. Thirty people attended that workshop, and from that a core group of ten was formed.

Their first public action was to march in the downtown Square to Square festival. "We had to fight to get into that," said Dor Koch, a member of the group. "So, we called Martha [Pontoni] and she called the Growth Association."

It turned out that the Growth Association only wanted to make certain that they were not being derogatory to Cleveland.

The fiercely independent group wants to remain as open and fluid as possible in order to attract a diversity of members. Dor and Dean, who spoke about their activities in Queer Nation, stressed that the group wants to remain as nameless and faceless as possible for the sake of coalition.

Receiving the award somewhat threw them, though they did say they feel proud and honored by it. “We were shocked, and we're not even sure who to send for the free dinner. Maybe we should send a homeless person," Dean said.

They have no dues and don't want a tax-exempt status. When they need funds

for their campaigns, they turn to their members and to fund-raisers. People also donate their time and talents. "We decided we wanted each individual to carry responsibility. We also have no officers; we are responsible for our own actions," said Koch.

It would be expected that a group like this would have a very young membership, but the age range is from 17 to 50. Dean and Koch agreed that they need and are anxious for input from older members who can give them a perspective on the past. “We take advantage of all of the rights our brothers and sisters have won for us over the generations. I mean, we hold hands walking down the street. It's not like I don't think anything of it, but now I can do it," Dean said.

The influence lesbians have on the group is evidenced by their consensus decision-making model and their adopting the "more if you can, less if you can't" philosophy” at their sober dance. When Koch says "Women's issues play a very important role," it's not just lip service. One of the sayings used during their sticker campaigns is "Rape is a Men's Issue."

Their use of stickers is very efficient. They are not only used in their sticker campaigns, but are sold to raise funds. When you see a sticker that says "a queer was here," "dyke power, or "bisexuals have twice the fun," throughout downtown and the Flats, you know Queer Nation has been busy again on one of its most successful actions.

"Our main audience is the straight community, to let them know queers are all around them. It's to raise awareness," said Dean.

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Among the other activities Queer Nation has participated in are Dancin' in the Streets and Pride '91.

When they make a decision to take any action, it's with the full consensus of the group.

"If we don't have consensus, we don't do it. We make sure people can put their energies into what they can believe in. So it takes a lot of time to do little things. On the big issues, people act quickly," said Dor.

Their biggest issue to date was what actions to take against WMJI's rabid on-air homophobia. Stickers, sidewalk art, ads, and a phone zap were used to successfully protest what passed for humor on John Lanigan's Morning Show.

The next event they are discussing participation in is the pro-choice action to protest Operation Rescue's activities here. They will probably do it with their usual style.

According to Dor: "Everyone was giving us a lot of hell about what Queer Nation New York and Queer Nation San Francisco do. We said 'We're Cleveland, and we're going to do what we want to do.'"

Queer Nation holds meetings on Monday nights at the Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center at 7:30p.m.▼

SISTAHPARTY Sistahparty

opens doors

for

members and others

by Kimberly Taylor

Sistahparty, a lesbian of color organization, was chosen Lesbian Group of the Year not only because they create a safe space for lesbians of color but for their contributions to the white lesbiangay community as well.

The nearly two-year-old group made a commitment in early 1991 to build and develop leadership within and outside of their own group, and were highly successful in this.

Using a Women's Community Fund grant of $1,200, as well as group funds, Sistahparty held two major events to achieve their goal.

The first was a leadership skills retreat for its own members. During this retreat women from within the 140-plus-member group elected to share their individual knowledge on such subjects as finance, health, and leadership to those who were interested.

This not only increased the skills of members in those areas, but built skills, confidence and resources to put on their next event-the "Bridging the Gaps: Celebrating Our Diversity" conference.

The conference was open to women

of all races, sexual orientations, and political persuasions. It was set up to allow the participants to discuss in both personal and political terms issues directly affecting women, such as health care, children, violence, and various biases.

Beyond these two events, Sistahparty made it safer and more welcome for women of color to attend events in the white lesbian-gay community. Among those groups benefiting from the presence and participation of Sistahparty members were: the Women's Variety Show, the Center Talent Show, the Women's Building Project Halloween Party, Pride '91, banner and all, the Lambda Leadership Roundtable the Women's Building Project Diversity Picnic, and the Life on the West Side lesbian discussion group.

Among the groups Sistahparty members are active in are: Oven Productions, West Side Women's Center board and users, Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center board, the Women's Coffeehouse Collective, and the former Racism Forum.

Throughout much of the year, Sistahparty also provided its membership with such valuable resources as an information line and newsletter, as well as, activities open to non-members such as the bowling party, safe sex party, and picnic.

According to one member, "It takes a lot of work to put all of these things together, but getting an award like this— this recognition, makes all this work worthwhile."

In 1992, Sistahparty plans to continually make an impact on its own members and the community at large through discussion groups, social events, active participation in other groups and other major projects. ▼