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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

February 1, 1992

Editorial

What closed this paper-and what didn't

As most of you know this has been a very hard year for the Chronicle. From our break-in in August to the loss of a major portion of our advertisers, we have been dealt blow after blow, and with community support we've been surviving. But it is with great regret that I must announce that the Chronicle will be ending publication with this issue.

For almost five years we have been out every month on time, and we have strived to communicate to this community a sense of direction and purpose. We have instructed those outside our community about lesbian and gay pride, and we have advocated the blessedness of being ourselves with no lies or closet door in front of

us.

This business was founded on a hope and a dream. When I sat with Charlie Callandar for what was to been our last conversation, he spoke of having to close the Chronicle. I differed with him, telling him somehow we would do it. He died a few hours later, and few months later Bob Downing and I took up his dream. Now that dream is fading again, because dreams are great, but they can't run a business.

Let me first tell you what aren't the reasons the Chronicle is folding. We are not folding because this is a terrible community that doesn't appreciate us. We are not folding because we have no support. We are not folding because lesbians and gays in Cleveland are non-political and don't care. None of that is true. One of the main purposes of the Chronicle has always

been to go beneath the myths and ferret our the truths of our community. I will not let this paper die on the myth that Cleveland has no or little supportive community. Because just the opposite is true. We have proven that over and over again.

We are fading for purely business reasons. Lack of advertisers, lack of capital to sustain us over hard times, and a recession.

We are also folding for reasons that are social. We lost most of the phone-sex advertising because of a homophobic law Jesse Helms got passed, limiting those lines. Sex is bad in the eyes of Americar. society. Gay sex is worse. Homophobia destroyed any chance we ever had. Homophobia makes it hazardous to advertise with us, because if you do, you surely must be gay--and gay is bad.

I recently spoke with a man at a party who told me he couldn't advertise his photography business, because he did school pictures, and he couldn't be in a paper that had phone-sex advertising. Having heard enough of this excuse, I challenged him. "I don't think that really is the issue," I said. He thought about it and said, "Well, I guess I really don't have a budget for advertising." I challenged again, because I knew why he couldn't or wouldn't advertise. "It is because you don't want people to suspect you are gay," I said. "Funny, how the straight people who advertise don't have that problem." I turned to another conversation and he walked away.

That story tells all of us why the Chron-

Guest Opinion

icle couldn't make it financially. Heaven knows that many of you have given money, time and encouragement. But it wasn't enough, because we needed advertisers. We needed bar advertisers, we needed straight advertisers, we needed every lesbian and gay business owner to advertise. That didn't happen. Social pressure, internalized homophobia, outward homophobia are the reasons--not lack of any backbone or self-esteem of our community.

However, let's not blame the victim here. Let's not even blame. Let's just look at reality and the lives we live. Once you do, I hope you will get angry, I hope you will get busy, I hope you will come out as a lesbian or gay man or as someone who isn't homophobic.

Homophobia destroys.

What can I say to our readers, who have been sending what money they can with little notes saying, "Please don't close. You are the only contact I have with the community;" or, "I couldn't have come out with out you;" or, "I'll help the best I can." I would honestly say to you that the same homophobia that keeps you in the closet has also helped destroy one thing that makes the closet a little less awful.

Although the Chronicle is folding for business reasons it was more than business to most people, and it was more than a business to me.

Martha Pontoni Publisher

gay people's

HRONICLE

Founded by Charles Callender 1928-1986

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Publisher:

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Martha J. Pontoni, Robert Downing, Brian De Witt, Kimberly Taylor, Betsy Marshall

The Gay People's Chronicle is dedicated to providing a space in Cleveland's lesbian-gay community for all women and men to commmumicate and be involved with each other. This means that every Chronicle, to the best of our ability, will be equally dedicated to both man's and women's issues as well as issues that affect all of us. Striving for this balance will not only provide the community with a forum to air grievances and express joys, but will also help all of us achieve this balance in our Nves.

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Look closely at 'liberal' candidates in Democratic primaries

by Steve Endean

As we move into 1992 and focus our attention on the presidential candidates, I hope we look beyond image alone to examine the candidates' track records on fairness for lesbian and gay rights. The reason I say that is that I just saw a straw poll of gay voters in a northeastern state who, operating on his image as the liberals' liberal, opted for Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin. They probably assumed he's therefore be good on gay rights, which doesn't happen to be the case.

But there are several Democratic candidates who do have strong positions on lesbian and gay rights. In fact, former Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas was the first sponsor of the National Lesbian-Gay Civil Rights bill at a time when we couldn't even get liberals such as Kennedy and Cranston to seriously consider sponsoring the bill. Tsongas not only sponsored the bill, but actually worked hard for its advancement. He feels he's proven his commitment, and has a right to turn to gay and lesbian voters now.

However, some may not believe his candidacy is going anywhere and would therefore be reluctant to support him. (Imagine where we would be if he's followed the same principle on our legislation.) For those that want to opt for "more viable choices," there's Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. While Kerrey showed a lack of taste in telling a lesbian joke recently, most didn't see it as anti-gay per se. Perhaps more importantly, he spoke out years

ago in support of non-discrimination for lesbians and gay men as Lincoln, Nebraska human rights commissioner, and in fact, he had his support for gay rights used against him in the subsequent governor's race.

Clinton, while a Southerner who has moderate and conservative support, has taken strong positions on gay rights and has spoken out on a number of occasions, including in opposition to discrimination in the military.

Which brings us back to the tell-it-likeit-is liberal, Senator Tom Harkin. Harkin has consistently refused to co-sponsor the National Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights Bill at least five times during his years in Congress. Each time, he's acted as if it was the first time the issue was ever brought up to him. In fact, attempts to get him to break his silence have brought only angry outbursts by him. During his 17-year tenure, more that 160 members of Congress have found the guts to stand up and oppose antigay discrimination by becoming co-sponsors. Where was Tom Harkin?

Despite his refusal to speak out ending job and housing discrimination against lesbians and gay men, Harkin and his backers try to create a picture that Harkin's been a real leader on AIDS funding. Insiders repeatedly tell a different story of a Harkin who's been dragged in kicking and screaming on AIDS--and then taken credit because he knows most activists have no idea and gay lobbyists don't dare stand up to him. There've even been reports that if he continues to be hassled on gay rights,

he'll get us on AIDS funding.

While national liberal groups that officially support lesbian and gay rights have nonetheless endorsed Harkin, I think we can only conclude that while Tom Harkin may be a man of principle, non-discrimination against gays just isn't one of them. His failure to speak out and his more recent smoke screens and outbursts at gay activists who have the audacity to demand he end his silence make me wonder whether Harkin is a coward or just a bigot.

Tom Harkin sure isn't alone. Many other very liberal House and Senate members continue to remain silent. And they won't speak out and we won't get job and housing protection moving unless all of us stop taking crumbs off of their plates and demand that they do so. Contrary to perception, it was only in the presidential campaign that we could get Harkin to give an equivocal statement opposing discrimination.

And that happened while his people threatened that if we persisted, he's build political points by standing up to the "special interests"--namely gay rights! Does that sound like a friend of gay rights? With Harkin claiming be the liberal unafraid to speak out on all the cutting issues, does his silence suggest he's just afraid of the political consequences or is it more basic? Is he just a homophobe?

Eleven years after the Democratic Party includes a lesbian and gay rights plank and almost nine after cautious former Vice President Mondale spoke clearly, if we let

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liberals like Harkin remain silent, we deserve what we'll surely get.

While I've been a life-long liberal and usually think lesbian and gay concerns are more likely to be supported by Democrats than Republicans and liberals more than conservatives, we must look at the candidate's records in both groups and use the upcoming primaries and caucuses to improve their understanding of our issues and their positions. We must hold Harkin and all the other candidates accountable. If we don't make lesbian and gay civil rights a high enough priority on our agenda and insist that they speak out meaningfully, they'll continue to duck and dodge and we'll get what we deserve.

I've spent most of my life as an "inside player" committed to incremental progress, serving as the community's first lobbyist at Congress--we can all see the power of protest. I hope that many of those who've protested so effectively on AIDS and against discrimination such as Wilson's in California will again mobilize around the presidential primaries. To not protest Harkin's silence would send & horrible message to the rest of the political establishment in general and the Democratic Party in specific--a message that we won't insist on our rights and that, despite our rhetoric, we don't really make advancing lesbian and gay civil rights legislation a priority. And we must use this opportunity to get Senator Kerrey and Governor Clinton to also strengthen and clarify their positions. ▼