Page 16

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

January 22, 1993

Ohio Clinic for Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery

A private, outpatient surgical center located in Westlake, Ohio.

Financing Available

Call for an appointment or for our information brochure.

216 333-1020

Michael H. Wojtanowski, M.D., F.A.C.S. Board Certified

Member, American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, Inc.

BORDERS BOOK SHOP

& Espresso Bar

More Books For More People .

GAY IDEAS

Outing and Other Controversies

By Richard D. Mohr

Beacon Press $25.00 $22.50 at Borders

THE SEA OF LIGHT By Jenifer Levin

Dutton $21.00 $18.90 at Borders

MUSES FROM CHAOS AND ASH

Alds, Artists, and Art

By Andrea R. Vaucher

Grove Press $22.50 $20.25 at Borders in February

LA PLACE CENTER

CORNER OF CEDAR AND RICHMOND RDS. BEACHWOOD, OHIO 44122 216/292-2660

Look out--here come the Lesbian Avengers

December, 1992--Wellington Webb, the mayor of Denver, was about to fork his eggs over easy under the indolent gaze of a Wall Street Journal senior editor, when eight Lesbian Avengers broke into the plush Regency Hotel Dining Room chanting at the top of their lungs "We're here, we're queer. And we're not going skiing!" and "Boycott Colorado!" The mayor had come to New York to promote tourism and investment in Colorado--the Hate State. It was about 9 am, Monday December 7--a day the Regency power-breakfasters will never forget--the day when they learned that you can't hide from the Lesbian Aveng-

ers.

While hotel security frantically cackled about like headless chickens, the unstoppable Avengers stomped around the room for three triumphant tours, noisily waving placards and giving leaflets to all, including the mayor. Next morning, the story was all over the front page of the Colorado press. The message: there's a price to be paid, in dollars and cents, when a state deprives its lesbian and gay citizens of all civil rights protection, as Colorado I did on November 2 when it added the hateful Amendment 2 to its constitution.

After the Regency fracas, it was all uphill for the mayor's damage control visit to New York. Proving once again that a small group of fearless Avengers can wreak considerable political havoc in a few hours. We dogged him all day Monday and Tuesday, from ABC to Time, from the New York Times to Newsweek, from the Plaza Hotel to City Hall. To cap it all, about 80 people loudly demonstrated with us Monday night in front of the CBS Broadcast Center while the mayor was doing a radio interview inside.

By the end of his trip, a plaintive Mayor Webb was telling the press that he had come to New York City to talk about tourism and investment and all everyone wanted to talk about was Amendment 2 and "Boycott Colorado." Thanks in part to Lesbian Avenger pressure in the streets, his trip to woo New York's media, business and political establishments away from a boycott backfired, with Mayor Dinkins publicly endorsing a tourism boycott and lots of bad press here and back at the ranch. Mission accomplished.

Throughout our two-day action, we carefully kept the focus on the "Boycott Colorado" issue, avoiding any personal attack against Mayor Webb. The mayor, an African-American, had strongly opposed Amendment 2 before it was adopted; we urge him "to continue his outspoken support."

Thus the year ends in a fiery whirlwind of Lesbian Avenger activity. In the three months since we first took to the streets with a vengeance, we've lit New York City's political fuse on three issues vital to lesbian survival: the campaign to erase lesbians and gay men from NYC's multicultural curriculum; the Colorado boycott; and violence against us, as exemplified by the murders of Hattie Mae Cohens and Brian Mock, a Black lesbian and a disabled white gay man, burned to death in Oregon on Sept. 26, as that state prepared to vote on the homophobic Measure 9, which was later narrowly defeated. All three issues were languishing in relative obscurity until we lit the fuse.

Since September, we have given lavender balloons inscribed "Ask about Lesbian Lives" to Queens first-graders to the tune of "When the Dykes Come Marching In" played by The Avenger Marching Band and we made a mess of the Fifth Avenue holiday shopper-mania when we took to the streets with lit torches to protest the Oregon murders. We staged a five-day around-the-clock encampment in the West Village before a shrine dedicated to those murdered in Oregon and elsewhere and we organized a well-attended speak-out on violence against lesbians. We have demonstrated twice before the Board of Education, attended local school board meetings, created an Avenger video group, and thrown three fabulous parties--the fourth and most fabulous being the New Year's Eve party. So, it's not immodest to say that we're Hot, Happening and Busy. And yes, Mary: We Want You. We want you if you want revenge. If you're sick and tired of being invisible. If you refuse to be trampled on any more. If you thirst for retaliation. If you're ready and raging to take to the streets!

Call the Avenger Hotline 212-967-7711 ext. 3204 and leave a message. Think about it. Being nice isn't going to get you anywhere. Nice, obedient girls always end up lying under the master's table, like doggies, eating his crumbs. Were you born to hide and seethe? Not. Besides, with the religious right out to get us, there's really no place for you to hide. You've got nothing to lose but your frustrations. Be disorderly! Be Unruly! Get Even! Join the Lesbian Avengers and Join the Riot. We Recruit.

See you later,

The Lesbian Avengers

Reprinted from Communique, the Lesbian Avengers newsletter.

EXCUSE

POR PASTRY SHOP

CAKES

PASTRIES

CANDIES

13006 Larchmere Blvd. 229-7007

For RSVP Cruises

And All Of Your Travel Needs!!

wimm

SUNDANCE TRAVEL, INC.

DOWNTOWN

696-1994

1501 N. MARGINAL RD CLEVELAND, OHIO 44114 (Burke Lakefront Airport)

PARMA HEIGHTS 842-1994

HOURS:

9:00 AM-5:30 PM MON-FRI