OCTOBER 1, 1993

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

17

COMMUNITY FORUM

Continued from facing page

these community centers and pay for the parade and rally. Donations to the community centers are tax-deductible. While donations to our political group, the Mississippi Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Gulf Coast, are not tax-deductible, they are necessary. This type of gay activism is a first for Mississippi and is a direct result of the momentum generated by the March on Washington. We are setting the agenda here, not the religious right. That is exactly what we as a community, in small towns all over the country, must do in our battle to end

The Rec Room]. I think of the gay picnic and the theme "We Are Family." I think what a joke, maybe for that day but 364 other days we are separated. With this crap popping up, "women only" is only going to keep men and women in our community apart. It really pisses me off to see stuff like that, and more of it keeps coming up! Thanks for your time. I felt I have a right to express myself also.

A gay man who loves the lesbians he knows Monte C. Hilliard

bigotry and injustice. If we can win here, we Don't call me selfish

can win everywhere. Please help us to make that happen. Call us at 601-875-3335 to offer your support. Thank you.

Gary Barlow

2650 Beach Blvd, Suite 2231 Biloxi, MS 39531

Keep dialogue going

To the Editors:

The People of Colors' fishbowl meeting was of great value for all of us. I admire the courage of the participants to speak their minds. It should spark lively discussions for some time to come.

Working on getting past feeling attacked, I have continued to reflect on what I heard. I heard feelings of hurt and anger expressed. Did I hear a commingling of community issues and personal agendas? Did I hear a call for additional separatism within the gay community? Did I hear a deafening silence in the area of solidarity, the understanding that we must hang together or hang separately?

Let's keep the dialogue going. We do not need to do the bigots' work for them. Divide and conquer is not in our best interest.

As we stated our resolve at the meeting's close, I shared my intention to open my eyes wider; I am one who has not seen the issues that were voiced. I have considered myself to be color-blind. Perhaps that is part of the "problem." I hope that this is only the beginning of a movement toward solidarity.

Jack Power

'Women only' keeps us apart

To the Editors:

I read the Chronicle all the time, for years, and this is my first time to write.

I have been out since '79. When I came out I got into drugs and alcohol and had a lot of mishaps with lesbians. The last was at the "We Are Family Picnic" back in '86 where myself and a lesbian couple got in a fistfight. I had a lot of hate and anger towards lesbians since day one, when I came out. Now, six years clean and sober, I have met and come to love a handful of lesbians that are very special to me. It has taken a lot of struggle and a lot of prayers to try to overcome the wall of separatism between [gay] men and lesbians. Our community I feel is so discriminating towards each other. I know gay males who don't like lesbians and lesbians who don't like gay men. It is a big problem. Why?

For me, I felt lesbians didn't like me because I was male. At the age of 18 my first run-in was at the lesbian bar on West 6th around the corner from Numbers years ago. I'm sorry I can't think of the name [Isis]. Anyway, I used the restroom and some lesbians told me "don't piss on the seat, fag." I was beside myself at what I heard.

Well, just coming out, that set my mood for years to come. I thought I was safe when I came out, I thought I was accepted. Like I said it has taken six years-'87 to today— to work on it, and now when I see articles in your paper, like the ones I have included, I get angry! "Gentlemen with escort" [ad for Camille's Place], "for women only" [calendar listing for Lake Erie Adventurous Dykes], "Newest bar for women" [ad for

To the Editors:

I am one of the "self-involved country dancers" Mr. Joe Artle, chairperson of the Dancin' in the Streets committee, spoke of in his letter to the editor ("An AIDS Fundraiser, Not A Rodeo"). I have been involved with the Cleveland City Country Dancers (CCCD) for approximately three years. I am also an instructor with the Rainbow Wranglers and am currently acting as chairperson of this group.

I have been a Buddy with the Health Issues Taskforce, trained to be on the HIT Speakers Bureau, and for a time was a Safer Sex Instructor with John Beres. In 1992 and 1993 I was chairperson of the Spring Roundup (a Country Western event) which raised $1,300 for the Health Issues Taskforce, $793 for the Rick Fuller Fund (which is administered by HIT), and $890 for the Maryann Finegan Project. And, like most of the people who will read this, I have seen too many die because of AIDS and wonder how many more will follow.

I am writing this letter not as a representative of the CCCD or Rainbow Wranglers, but simply to express my personal feelings about some of Mr. Artle's comments, which I feel portray the members of these two groups in a very negative light.

The primary problem in this situation appears simply to have been poor communication between the Dancin' committee and the two CW groups, as well as widely differing expectations and perhaps a lack of consideration on both sides. It was my impression that our participation was specifically requested by the Dancin' committee, and that they were even looking forward to our being a part of this Rodeo-themed event.

After reading Mr. Artle's letter I can't help but feel that this was not the case. Had I been aware of this I would have had second thoughts about performing and going to the trouble to provide them with CW music. Not because I would not want to support Dancin' in the Streets or HIT, but merely because I do not care to put myself, the Rainbow Wranglers, or CCCD in a situation in which our efforts are not appreciated. I am no more interested in forcing someone else to listen to CW music and watch our performers than they are in being forced to

do so.

As for us "packing up our boots" and going home "after having a mind-blowing four minutes maliciously stolen" from us, many of our dancers (myself included) were angry at being treated in such an unprofessional manner. To Mr. Artle the "mindblowing" four minutes that were "maliciously stolen" may seem insignificant, but keep in mind that it was half our performance. Besides, it was not so much that the time was cut but the manner in which it was done.

Our dancers waited for 45 minutes past their scheduled time, by the stage, in the rain, as Melissa Ross was urging everyone else not to leave. Why couldn't someone from the Dancin' committee have walked the twenty feet necessary to explain why the time needed to be cut short?

I was under the impression, at the time, that the entertainment committee was simply unable to keep control of their own event. Had the situation been explained, I'm sure we would have been agreeable. It certainly would have been better than what we got, which was Melissa Ross rudely

announcing over the microphone that the performance was over and asking our dancers to leave the stage area.

As trivial as it may sound to Mr. Artle and probably many other people, to me it was a very unprofessional way to treat a group of people who went out of their way to do something that they thought would be appreciated. (In saying this, please keep in mind that I am not attempting to make an attack on Ms. Ross or her profession, only to comment on behavior which I feel was totally uncalled for.)

As for me, I left simply because I did not want to stay any longer. The Dancin' committee decided that they did not want to play any more CW music, as was their right as organizers. However, I was there to take part in and support the "Rodeo" theme of the event and to have some fun. If this seems selfish to Mr. Artle, then so be it. I think I

and the Rainbow Wranglers for their events in the future and that we will all be able to work together to do something that we can both take pride in.

And so, Mr. Artle, when you call us selfinvolved, please keep in mind that we have something very important that we want to share with this community. It may not be something that you like, but some others of us do. For us, it is a place where we can feel better about ourselves, a place where we can take pride in our individuality, share common bonds, and still have fun. We live in a community in which drug and alcohol abuse are rampant and where self-esteem is often in astonishingly short supply. We need all the healthy and safe choices we can get, and this is one of them.

Gerry Wheeler

was probably just as selfish as the other Not 'gutless pansies'

6,000 people in attendance.

I have been to almost all of the Dancin' events since I moved here (even the one that got rained out) and I have yet to meet anyone who is there purely because they want to help people with AIDS, as seems to be Mr. Artle's impression. People come to events such as this because there is music, dancing, sunshine, beer, and lots of other people. Take any one of these factors out of the equation and there won't be 6,000 people next year. So please don't call me selfish because I don't want to listen to disco music for eight or ten hours. Besides, many of our club members did stay until the end, and said they had a great time.

Mr. Artle also states that he had to adjust the entertainment "to satisfy the people who were there for the right reasons." He seems to be implying that either disco is the "right reason" or that those of us who are more interested in CW cannot or do not have compassion for people with AIDS and AIDS-related causes. I assure you that my interest in "people with cowboy boots" does not cancel out my compassion. I take great offense at the type of attitude expressed by Mr. Artle.

In writing this letter, I do not mean to denigrate the efforts that Mr. Artle and the rest of the Dancin' committee put forth. I applaud and congratulate all of them for putting together one of the most successful fund raisers in the Cleveland Lesbian-GayBisexual community and I apologize if anything we did detracted from that success. I know from experience that this does not happen by accident, but through countless hours of seemingly unappreciated hard work. Their work is appreciated as can easily be seen by the many people who come to these events, donate so much of their time and money, and have a great time.

I also do not mean to seem unappreciative of the effort that they went to to make room for us in their schedule. I hope that they will continue to consider the CCCD

VISTON

hair studio

To the Editors:

I wish to express my appreciation to the person [Joe Carroccio] from ACT UP Cleveland, for exercising his constitutional right of free speech when wording his column in the last issue of your newspaper. However, I do take major offense at his grouping all of us together as "gutless pansies."

The writer seems, through his anger, to have forgotten that (1), there are people out there who do not have the financial backing to risk losing their insurance, homes, and the ability to pay for the food that keeps them alive (not to mention the medications that insurance does not pay for), so those people cannot just stop working to go shout at people you think are to blame.

And there is (2), the people who don't agree that your way is the way to get what we want, for the people we want it for, namely category 1. These people will applaud you for your efforts, but still think that working from the inside, diplomatically, will achieve more at possibly a faster rate.

If the intent of your letter was to make us angry enough to stand up and scream bloody murder, well, I applaud you, for you have succeeded in doing just that.

It's a pity that your efforts have got them screaming at you, instead of where it should rightfully go.

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