GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE JANUARY 14, 1994

EDITORIAL

Looking forward

As 1994 begins, it is another year with no cure for AIDS. It is another year in which our community must fight legislation such as Amendment 3 that was passed in Cincinnati. It is another year in which we will read and hear about the self-professed holy, religious right wing that continues to bomb abortion clinics and murder doctors in the name of God. It is another year in which some gays and lesbians will suffer physical acts of violence and more teenage homosexuals will commit suicide because they fear unacceptance from their families and peers.

But, we are a united and resilient community, and we cannot allow ourselves to be lost in darkness. We should be proud of the things we have accomplished in the past, but we must look forward to the future,

Supporting our delegates

To the Editors:

to the things we have yet to accomplish.

This year, our community can look forward to the possibility that more companies will provide insurance benefits to same-sex partners of their employees. It is a year that will hopefully prove to non-believers, that all people can have health-care coverage without the country being financially ruined, and without any diminution in the availability or quality of care.

We have another year to walk with pride alongside our brothers and sisters as cities across the country host their own Gay Pride March, and this year, we can hope that more political leaders, like Cleveland Mayor Michael White, will support civil rights for our community. In June, members of the gay community will march in New York City, in remembrance and celebration of the

historic event that marked the beginning of our own civil rights movement: the Stonewall uprising. This year is the 25th anniversary of Stonewall, and although we're still fighting for the same basic human rights the straight community often takes for granted, we share a sense of community the straight world doesn't have. It is not a bond created by the fact that the members of our community share the same adverse circumstances, rather, it is a bond created by the joy we share because we live our lives honestly, regardless of those circumstances.

"In this strange season when we are suspended between realization and expectation, may we be found honest about the darkness, more perceptive of the light." (Dr. Jack Boozer)

Happy New Year.

COMMUNITY FORUM

Many thanks to everyone who donated time, energy, or money to make our first statewide meeting of Stonewall 25 Ohio possible.

We selected three delegates to represent us at national meetings in preparation for the June 26, 1994 International March on the United Nations to Affirm the Human Rights of Lesbian and Gay People. Our delegates are Victoria Carter (Cleveland), Richard Duarte (Bexley), and Shannon Martin (Columbus).

Their first task is to attend the next meeting of the U.S. Steering Committee to be held in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15-17, in observation and participation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday celebration. Our first task is to make it possible for them to participate in this important decisionmaking event. Travel, housing, and registration for our three delegates total approximately $1,050. We are depending upon all of you to give Ohioans a voice in the planning process for this historic occasion.

Please take this opportunity to implement your New Year's resolution to become more actively involved in our community. Just as many hands make light work, many purses make fundraising easier. In pride and protest,

Stonewall 25 Ohio Fundraising Committee

P.S. Please make checks payable to:

Stonewall 25 Ohio

C/oThe Center

P.O. Box 6177

Cleveland, OH 44101

Can't we all learn to get along

To the Editors:

In the immortal words of my kindergarten teacher and Rodney King, "Can't we all just learn to get along?" Every time I read the letters which appear in the Chronicle, just about all I see is a lot of hate, blame, name calling and separation in the community. It sure would be nice if people would learn to accept each other for what they are-and what they are includes where they have come from and how they have learned to frame their world. The gay community, like any community, is full of people with differing opinions, perceptions and backgrounds. Our backgrounds are what determine our opinions and perceptions. Keeping this in mind, why do we need to attack each other, when it is just as easy to educate

each other about our agendas?

The name calling all began when Joe Carroccio accused members of the community of being gutless pansies. The letters which followed were then attacks on Joe, followed by attacks of attacks on Joe (are you with me so far?). As we can all see, anger and resentment can get generated fairly quickly. So let's knock it off. Let's stop judging each other's motives. By calling the community a bunch of gutless pansies, Joe is assuming he knows all our backgrounds and why we act as we do. My initial reaction was resentment, until I realized that I was making the same assumptions about Joe's background and behaviors. I do not know why he needs to insult people in order to make a statement, so, I do not need to judge or resent him for doing so. All that I need to do is to know myself and with that knowledge know that what he says is not true for me.

I also need to add that I was shocked at a letter recently appearing in the Chronicle (in the attack series) that made the statement "the town is full of gutless pansies and that is a fact." NO! That is a judgment. Please do not confuse facts and judgments. Facts can be proven and backed up by statistics. I do not believe that the above statement could be backed up with statistics since the entire concept of the gutless pansy is only a way (one way) that you have chosen to define how people behave.

In closing, I found Fred Smith's letter ["When will it die down?," Dec. 24] to be a relief. Thank God, someone is seeing a need for peace and togetherness in the community and is choosing to write a letter about it. Linda Malicki's letter ["Conflict isn't always bad," Dec. 24] was equally delightful in that she was able to shed some new light on an old perception, which is something that can never hurt any of us to do.

Jim Flynn

Cannibalizing our leadership

To the Editors:

Cleveland, wake up!

All of you in the gay-lesbian community, all colors, all ages. all genders, all incomes, HIV or not, wake up and see the destruction all around you. There is real evil and hatred here and in our country; real people dying, being maimed, being discriminated against, denied basic rights because they are "different" from the "majority."

There are real enemies, bent on our annihilation; right-wing fundamentalist sects, "Aryan" fascist groups, "Family Values" folk all so frightened by the "not-like-them" that the only alternative they see is to make

us disappear. These groups are equal-opportunity haters, and they by no means confine their evil to gays and lesbians; they spread their evil around to include people of color and women, among many others.

Our sister Ohio cities have been able to mobilize against hate groups in a coordinated fashion. Cincinnati, Columbus, even Akron and Lake County have responded to their communities' needs cooperatively.

What is the Cleveland response? Repeatedly, it is to allow the cannibalization of every group or individual who assumes leadership in this community! Some other group or individual, with their own fears, anger, inadequacies or mental health problems, comes into the picture and brings its own agenda to bear. Their tactics always involve inducing and making manifest the fears, anger, guilt and feelings of inadequacy of the person or organization doing the work. Once chaos is established, through harassment and intimidation, they usually go off and leave behind more guilt, rage and powerlessness. Others are left behind to pick up the pieces. It has happened to the old GEAR, Focus Counseling (originally started by the Center), to High Gear newspaper and to the Women's Building Project. Now the Center is the target.

Perhaps it is "politically incorrect" to say that some evil is more evil than others, that some prejudice is more harmful. We should be able to fight all hatred with equal

energy, root out all prejudice at once. It is

not possible; we don't have the time or

resources, and people are dying! When there is so much bigotry looming large, we need to support all efforts at openly fighting those who wish us great ill. It is arrogant and extremely dangerous to confuse lynching with "subconscious racism"; they are not the same. When a woman like Judy Rainbrook, who, based on her December 10 letter, has worked actively against the forces of racism, feels she needs to hang her head in shame and apologize for needing to do her "work," there is something incredibly and terribly wrong.

I am white, therefore enjoying a modicum of privilege. I am female, which detracts from that "privileged" aura. I enjoy my work and the profit I obtain, and also enjoy other people's success in what they choose to do. My deepest dream is to see every human being live a healthy, fruitful life free of any preconceived notions based on external physical qualities or private behavior. I cannot do this alone, and need multitudes of others in the effort. Why does this community allow small groups of selfchosen ideologues to disrupt this work time and again?

Bigotry is bigotry, abuse is abuse, no matter who does the shouting and what kind of suffering they may have experi-

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Volume 9, Issue 14

Publisher: Martha J. Pontoni Business Manager: Patti Harris Managing Editor: Kevin Beaney Production Manager: Brian De Witt 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,

Artist:

Richard Simonton,

Jerry Kaiser Christine Hahn Sales Manager: Patti Harris Account Executive: David A. Ebbert

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enced. There is no excuse for the wholesale guilt-tripping, and attention-grabbing for its own sake, that repeatedly occurs here. I commend the Chronicle staff for calling the truth to light, even in the face of what I suspect will be loud protests and namecalling. Keep it up.

Nina W.

Center history differs from accusations

To the Editors:

I am concerned that Cleveland's lesbiangay-bisexual community is not getting an objective, balanced appraisal of the Community Service Center and its alleged insensitivity toward people of color. The following information and personal observations are submitted with the firm belief that we cannot move forward on this issue until we: a) know better what has already transpired; b) are willing to look at the situation from alternate points of view; and c) can agree to disagree on nonessentials without losing sight of the desired goal-to make the Center a more inclusive and welcoming place for gay, lesbian, and bisexual racialethnic minorities.

During a special open board meeting on racism held at the Center on Sept. 24, 1991, the participants decided by consensus that an ad hoc committee was needed to deal with racism-inclusivity issues pertaining to the Center. Peggi Cella attended this meeting, supported the ad hoc committee idea, recommended that a person of color chair the committee, and was named chairperson

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