GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

DECEMBER 24, 1993

EDITORIAL

The Center's members are its leaders

"I think the Center is doing a great job and the staff and board deserve our support."

"I'm really upset with the way things have been changing at the Center; they're not addressing my needs.

"I never use the Center, why should I care?"

If you identify with any of the above statements, you owe it to yourself to be at the January 12 membership and election. meeting of Cleveland's Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center. The Center, a focal point of much that goes on in Cleveland's lesbian, gay and bisexual community, is a natural hub for information exchange and group activity.

Lately, the Center's also been the lightening rod for criticism about its agenda and for not being a safe, welcoming space to many in the community. During the lengthy, emotionally upsetting re-evaluation process that has gone on for the past several months, some Center members have walked away in frustration, feeling that their agenda is being abandoned. Other members have gone through a rebirthing in their thought process and found that the Center can meet the needs of many more people than it has in the past by changing its priorities. A far greater percentage of the community has stayed on the sidelines, not getting involved and often wondering why we need a "Center" at all.

The need for the Center should be obvious. There is no other organization or business in the lesbian, gay and bisexual community that comes close to meeting everyone's needs or distributing information. Other groups are very effective but they are also very specialized: ACT UP with AIDS information; Liberation UCC with spiritual

nurturing; Gifts of Athena with women's resources; BWMT, Lake Erie Adventurous Dykes, NEON, and Cleveland Couples Together with social gatherings for their specific constituencies; NOCI with fundraising-there are many more examples but all of them are for narrowly defined interests.

How can we call ourselves a community if we can't believe in the idea of a community center? The Center, warts and all, is the best vehicle for us to use.

Use for what? Well, for starters as an information center. All groups should have their literature there and should have contact information registered with the Hotline. Second, as a low-rent meeting place for fledgling groups. Many organizations started there and either still meet at the Center or have grown and found new quarters. Third, as a social drop-in center. Wouldn't it be nice sometimes to meet other queers in a social setting with no pretensions instead of dealing with a smoke-filled bar?

Cleveland's Center either has been, still is or will meet all of these needs, as long as it survives. It deserves much more from the community it is trying to serve. Every gay, lesbian and bisexual person in the Greater Cleveland area should be a member. Even if you never set foot in the building, you're still helping others by keeping it open. A membership form is reproduced on the facing page; join up today and attend the elections on January 12.

Why is the Gay People's Chronicle, an independent newspaper with no connection to the Center, sounding like its public relations mouthpiece? Because the Center is visible, credible, and a valuable cornerstone of our community. It's a

SPEAK OUT

resource for people from out of town; it's the first place area people call when they are thinking about coming out the Hotline and the PRYSM youth group are arguably its most important projects.

Maybe you like what the Center is doing, or maybe you want to change or influence its course and agenda; then get involved by becoming a member and voting for board candidates. The board is charged with the Center's direction, and a significant number of candidates are scheduled to be elected.

The rules are very simple. According to the bylaws, a member is a person who "subscribes to the purpose of the organization" and pays their annual dues. You can join as late as the evening of the meeting. Members are allowed to vote and elect trustees to the board. The board's Nominating Committee is planning to present a slate of recommended candidates to fill board positions. Members can vote "yea” or “nay” on the slate; a majority of members present must vote "yea" for the nominees to be elected to the board. Also during the meeting, before elections begin, individual members can be nominated as write-in candidates from the floor.

So members have a great deal of influence on the Center. They can vote yes or no to suggested board members, they can decide to run for the board themselves, they can approve or reject changes to the bylaws. But they can only do this if they have paid their dues and are physically at the meeting.

This is the opportunity for everyone with an interest in the Center to stand up and be counted. Pay your dues, become a leader, and be at the Center, 1418 W. 29th St., on Wednesday, January 12, at 7 pm.

Because women are not a priority. .

by Nickie Antonio

Because women are not a priority And women's health needs have never been a priority And we ovulate which complicates research and makes us undesirable subjects for research in 1993 not much is known about women and AIDS And women and girls are raped and sexually abused by men who may be infected with HIV And when we name our assailants we are man haters And when we beg our attacker to wear a condom that means we are willing to be violated And because women have always experienced mistreatment by the formalized

healthcare system if we are HIV positive we fear humiliation and rejection from nurses, doctors and social workers And if anyone finds out we are infected, they will think we are whores and unfit mothers that we will infect them And we must have done something to deserve this curse And if we are lesbian we don't exist And if we did exist we are told we would not be at risk even though lesbians are infected And if we speak out we are complaining And if we keep silent we stay invisible and we die And if we are good girls and we don't talk about AIDS our sisters and our children won't know how to protect themselves And if we tell

them about safer sex we are encouraging them to have sex and we are bad parents But because we are women we are strong and we will educate our children and we will support our sisters who are HIV positive and because we will not be silent, we will speak out, and we will demand to be heard and we will fight as women have always fought we will fight for our dignity we will fight for our safety and we will fight for our lives and we will survive.

The author is executive director of the West Side Women's Center in Cleveland; this was read during a World AIDS Day rally.

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Volume 9, Isse 13

Publisher: Martha J. Pontoni Business Manager: Patti Harris Managing Editor: Kevin Beaney Production Manager: Brian DeWitt Reporters & Writers: Martha J. Pontoni,

Dora Forbes, Marne Harris, Kevin Beaney, Timothy Robson, Barry Daniels, Mike Radice, John Graves, Charlton Harper, Joseph Morris

Akron-Canton: Paul Schwitzgebel,

Richard Simonton, Jerry Kaiser Artist: Christine Hahn Sales Manager: Patti Harris Account Executive: David A. Ebbert

The Gay People's Chronicle is dedicated to providing a space in the Ohio lesbian-gay community for all of its members to communicate and be involved with each other. This means that every Chronicle, to the best of its ability, will be equally dedicated to both men's and women's issues, as well as issues that affect the entire community. This balance will provide lesbians and gay men with a forum to air grievances and express joys.

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Holiday break

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SOAR's own racism

To the Editors:

I just wanted to thank you for having the courage to tell the truth in your "What hath SOAR wrought?" editorial of December 10.

While I don't necessarily have a problem with offending people to get a point across and I don't think an institution should be sacrosanct simply because it is an institution, I do have a serious problem with hypocrisy and abuse.

I also do wish that SOAR had begun its public attempts at education on racism in the lesbian feminist community-prefera-

COMMUNITY FORUM

bly with its own members and those of the Women's Building Project and those currently at What She Wants. While I believe that many of the members of these groups are not consciously racist, I have personally been witness and subject to racist abuses of power by members in conjunction with group activities.

Because of the behavior of two SOAR members, I have absented myself from all of their activities, with the exception of one meeting I attended to acquaint myself with the group, and because they asked to be affiliated with the Multicultural Womyn's Film Festival, which I declined.

I am appalled by the threatening and abusive treatment afforded Martha Pontoni

in what should have been safe space. This Food bank stocked

behavior only justifies my decision to forego participation in what could have been an important and worthwhile force for change in the community.

Finally, if these people truly believe it is a necessary part of the process to be faced with their own racism, then they should feel good about my listing in detail the racist behavior of various lesbian-feminists, beginning with Peggi Cella and her insensitive private behavior about the Indians team's horrible caricature. Maybe they will even feel so good that they will have a public forum addressing their behavior.

Kimberly Taylor

To the Editors:

On behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Human Interest Organization (the corporate umbrella for the Gay and Lesbian Information Center of Lorain County), I would like to thank everyone who organized or donated canned goods, baby and toddler products and clothing to the third annual "Let's Make a Deal Food Drive" Nov. 20 at the Tomahawk Bar on Detroit Ave. in Cleveland.

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