DECEMBER 24, 1993 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 9

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This event marked the first time in the drive's history that donations were split between Cuyahoga and Lorain counties, with the latter's share estimated to be valued at between $2,500 and $3,000. Earlier this year, our board was scratching its head over how to accommodate needy Lorain County residents throughout the holiday season, and this food drive came to our rescue.

Now that our food bank is in complete stock, I would like to invite any needy Lorain County residents to call us at our center at 800-447-7163 to arrange a pick-up time for a box of donations, or stop at the center on Wednesday evenings between 6 pm and 9 pm and ask for food bank coordinators Michael Raible or Patricia King. Our center is located at 150 Cooper-Foster Park Road (Route 254) in Amherst.

Christopher C. Glaser Director of Development, Media Relations Coordinator

'Friends' restaurant is not gay friendly

To the Editors:

First of all, I'd like to thank you for your help at getting 20 Something started. As of December 12, we have 50 active members. In our group, we discuss almost every topic possible, but inevitably end up focusing on prejudice.

Ironically, we were the victims of prejudice at a local restaurant, "My Friends" at the corner of Detroit and W. 117th. Twelve of our members went there on Friday, November 26th. Despite small orders, we left a $20 tip and had a fine time.

The next week, December 3rd, was totally different. Fifteen of us went down and were told we would be a fire hazard at the table we had the previous week. (The server) stated we had to split into two tables. We requested back to back tables and were told "No!" Despite the restaurant being almost empty, they had to put us on opposite sides of the restaurant. In the two hours we were there, our waitress came over once and then said "Are you ready for the bill?" We asked for more coffee and she very grumpily said "Fine" and sent another waitress over to fill our cups. (The eight people at my table all had coffee.) I had to ask what happened to our waitress and was told, "Don't worry about ‘them,' not everyone thinks like 'they' do." Where did "them" come from? The other half of our group was served with attitude, but at least they were served!

We as a group took it in stride and decided to just let it go. However, this past Friday one of our members demanded that we boycott them. Turns out she was delivering copies of the Chronicle there and they told her to "Get out! We don't want any of that 'garbage' here anymore!" (Note: other newspapers were there).

It appears that "My Friends" is no friend of the gay community! Do they think because they moved over the Lakewood border to Cleveland that our money has no value? I'd like to let the entire community know that the Pizza Hut across the street found great value in the hundred-plus dollars we spent there in two hours last Friday night!

We want an apology sent to the Chronicle for the way they treated us and the gay community! We ask that other groups join us in our boycott until that time. We also ask that individuals who normally eat there show them this letter and let them know they won't get their gay dollars until an apology is made!

We may be the newest gay and lesbian group in Cleveland, but we're the fastest growing and when it comes to standing together, no one can top us!

We have a mailbox at the Center. Please show us your support, and your pride! Joe Dubrovich 20 Something group leader

COMMUNITY FORUM

I'm not ready to go yet work... think how lonely! I told him to try Log Cabin Club is

To the Editors:

Just a note to set a few things straight about how I feel, about what was communicated in the Dec. 10 article "Turning to

and tell at least one friend, that by keeping

a secret he adds to his stress. At least he can call me now.

building bridges

To the Editors:

Zak Haley

Hats off to Mary Anne Sharkey, politics

Alternative Therapies." First of all, I must Conflict isn't always bad editor for the Plain Dealer for her candor

say that the Special Immunology Unit at University Hospitals has been great to me. They treat me with respect and they have gone way beyond the call of duty to help me with my illness. I do not want anyone to think that the reason I chose to look into alternative therapies is because I was angry or disappointed in the staff there or my doctor. It is just that Western medicine is limited, as is Chinese medicine. One of the points I obviously didn't make emphatically enough to Chuck Harper was that one needs to blend many approaches, to keep looking.

When I told my doctor about my acupuncture experience, he was very, very supportive. I think he even jotted down my acupuncturist's name. "If it works," he said. He didn't say, "well you just have to get Depends." He said, "If the problem is not something you can live with, other people with this problem have considered this option." My doctor never tells me what to do, he knows me too well. I told him and I tell all the doctors in the hospital, that they are my resources. I want them to tell me my options and then, I'll decide. My doctor has, I am proud to say, become my friend. If there is bad news to tell me, I want him to do it. He has a way of holding you just with his speech, he has a way of knowing who you are and how to best say things so I can hear them. I have been with him for seven years. There have been lots of my tears at SIU when the CMV [cytomegalovirus] moved into my eyes and he had to tell me, “You may go blind." You don't think he dies with us? Well, I have news, no one is afraid to hold your hand at SIU, hug you, or say, "I know how hard this is, do you want me to call your husband for you?"

I sought out alternative approaches to my disease because I am not ready to go yet, y'all! I get massages from my friend Brian,

go to a chiropractor, my friends Todd and Billy T. keep me in stitches, Steve gives me books and argues with me, my friends in recovery hug me and love me and god knows pray, pray, pray for me. I have friends who call and say I am with you in this... and last but not least, I have a husband who puts up with the rashes, the coughing at night, the hospital visits, the tubes, and the bags of medicine; who truly believes in "for better or for worse." His love is truly one of my best medicines, this is alternative therapy too!

My doctor told me that having AIDS is a full time job. I never thought I would be doing it in the media! Maybe what I say can help someone. The other day I bumped into someone I knew at SIU. He was embarrassed that I saw him there, since there is only one reason to be there. He said please don't tell anyone. He hadn't told anyone, not his friends, not his family, no one at

To the Editors:

I really hate having to admit this, but I honestly thought that at age 37 I pretty much knew it all...! Knew how and why I react to things and could depend on those reactions. But darn if I haven't gone and learned something new. (I've just returned from a 4 year stay in Nashville so if I talk different, that's why.)

I came to work at the Center in early October filled with great joy, and some trepidation. Joy, because I love what the Center is and does and I'm very connected to it, and because of the opportunity to work with Judy and Aubrey. Trepidation because of the racism and sexism controversies concerning the Center. Conflict and confrontation are buzzwords for me. I'd go a long way outa my way to avoid them. I learned at a young age that if conflict arose I was going to pay for it. That if I were involved with a confrontation I would lose. It was that simple. So obviously, from my viewpoint, the confrontations and conflicts arising from the racism-sexism controversies here at the Center were bad things to be avoided if possible, and if not possible, then they were to be lamented, and probably all was lost.

Then Judy, my boss, said something totally strange (this is the part where I went

and vulnerability in attending the Log Cabin Club of NE Ohio meeting of November 11. I feel that the dialogue that developed may have paved new roads and built many new bridges of understanding between various ideologies.

Thank you for listing the event because many first-timers said they "saw it in the Chronicle." Our program and subject matter attracted a bona fide Republican elected public official who recognizes that “a Republican vote is a Republican vote, no matter its sexual orientation."

The Log Cabin Club is about building bridges; it's about eradicating Republicanphobia present in the gay community. We are working to loosen the grip that the minority voice of the religious fundamentalists have exerted upon the leadership of the party and the country in general. It is known that many politicians fear the fundamentalists, largely because the "silent majority" has remained just that, including myself, thinking that the fundamentalists were merely a bunch of fanatics who would get tired and go away. All Log Cabin Club meetings are open to the public, and everyone is welcome to hear our message.

Jack Power Log Cabin Club

and learned something new). She said she Updating the facts

thought that the confrontations, conflicts and controversies were a positive thing, a sign of involvement, a forecast for change. She said it was exciting. Can you imagine that? I hold great respect for Judy, but I have to tell you that I thought she was either handing me a line of bull, or that she'd lost it. Well, she wasn't, and she hadn't. And, after 2 months of thinking about it (I never said I was a quick study) I know she's right. Wow! What a concept! Conflict and confrontation that results in something positive. And, you know what? It has! I work at the Center all day, 5 days a week. There is an enormous amount of talking and thinking about racism and sexism issues going on. Yes, there is pain attached, but it doesn't feel final. It doesn't feel like I, or the people I care about are going to have to pay for this, or that the Center is going to lose big time because there are confrontations and conflicts. It really feels hopeful. Hey, this could change my whole life.

So, I wanted to share this with you, about learning something new. 'Cuz maybe you're scared too. Maybe you've been taught the same old lessons that I was: "avoid conflict-confrontation is bad." Maybe if a whole bunch of us could learn this new idea, this time of change in our community wouldn't feel so painful and hopeless. Hey, maybe this could change your whole life. Linda Malicki

YES!! I'LL HELP THE CENTER.

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To the Editors:

I would like to correct some outdated information that John DuAne Graves printed in his "On the Air Off the Press" column in the October 29 issue. As a member of the Gay and Lesbian Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association (this is the correct name; we librarians tend to be rather longwinded), I was pleased to find our organization written up in Mr. Graves' column.

However, I was dismayed that this information was very much out of date. If anyone is interested in more information on the task force's publications or newsletter, please

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Community Forum

The Chronicle encourages everyone to write and express your opinion about the community or the paper. Please be brief. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. We will print your name unless you specifically ask us not to.

Address letters to the Chronicle, P.O. Box 5426, Cleveland, Ohio, 44101, or fax to 216-621-5282 (24 hours). Include your address and phone number so we may contact you to verify the letter.

LESBIAN GAY

OF GREATER CLEVELAND

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