It's a 'taste thing'

To the Editors:

So, the straights and one gay man at Karamu don't want a visiting performance artist to pull a condom out of the "butt" of another man on their stage ["Too Queer for Karamu?" March 11].

Their stance is taken to be homophobic? You've got to be kidding. Can one surmise that if the good folks at Karamu got upset at the prospect of a man extracting a condom from a woman's vagina (Right here on our stage!) they'd be heterophobic?

The artist suggests that his use of this "most happening genre" is a plug (no pun intended) for safe sex. To him I say, buddy, if it gets left behind (see pun reference previous) things have gotten out of hand. (Oh dear, I just can't stop myself.)

Said artist also says he never meant to hurt anybody, he just wants people to realize that each body orifice speaks with its own voice.

Oooo, how I longed to collapse into giggles and guffaws at that bit of wisdom. But I was too busy holding my head instead of my sides, because my overriding emotion was chagrin that folk might generalize from this tasteless fool to other gay people. Like me for instance.

There might be a skinny line between tastefulness and censorship. That's an arena deserving of much thought and discussion. But, what damage we inflict upon our gay and lesbian community by misconstruing the issue as homophobia.

Making it a "queer thing" instead of a taste thing is what I would expect of ignorant bigots. How cooperative of us in our own oppression to make that leap for them.

A.M. Kosa

APRIL 8, 1994 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11

COMMUNITY FORUM

The writers, painters, and musicians I admire spend their lives trying to be honest about their own experience. Authentic, honest paintings, poems, and plays speak for themselves. They don't need help from the artist's orifices, and they don't require lengthy explanations about what the artist

meant.

Meredith Holmes

Don't become heterophobic

To the Editors:

Recently my daughter Diana told me a very sad story about a five year old boy diagnosed with leukemia. He has a 50/50 chance. He is undergoing chemotherapy. I thought AIDS was our worst enemy until recently. I myself was diagnosed with cancer of the cervix just two months ago. I am undergoing treatment and my strong belief in a Higher Power-I call him Sam (we're on a first name basis)-has held me strong.

But I just don't want us to become heterophobic like the straight people who are just the opposite. I surely hope gay men and women never stoop to their level. I know I won't.

It's like us using the death penalty for murderers. How are we any different from them then? If they kill and we kill, don't we become just as they are?

I have one fervent Easter wish: that all people straight and gay who have AIDS will live to see the cure. I hope the gay community never becomes heterophobic. We cannot stoop to their level. As they said in the '60s, "We shall overcome!"

A hopeful lesbian,

No orifices, thank you No sympathy

To the Editors:

It's amazing how far one asshole can go. ["Too Queer for Karamu?” March 11]. Did Jesse Helms send us Keith Hennessy? He might as well have. Keith Hennessy doesn't speak for me.

In fact, I am very suspicious of any artist who claims to speak for a group of people.

Community Forum

The Chronicle encourages everyone to write and express your opinion about the community or the paper. Please, however, keep letters constructive, and avoid namecalling and personal attacks. Please be brief. We reserve the right to edit letters. 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.

Diana Tabor

The following letter was sent to the Plain Dealer:

To the Editors:

I recently attended the funeral of a childhood friend. She died suddenly from a massive brain aneurysm. She was 29 years old, a devoted wife, and mother of a one year old son. Her stunned family needed at this time in their life the comfort that they found in the Roman Catholic Church. This is where the story begins.

The priest that came to the funeral home, although he did not know my friend personally, had ample time to consult with the family. Regardless, he mispronounced her name on more than one occasion, even after being corrected by her bereaved husband. He continually referred to her as "the deceased," which I felt under the circumstances was unfeeling if not downright boorish.

The following day during the funeral Mass, the situation became even more absurd. During his sermon, the priest made

unbearable references to hell and torment in I am just like you

an effort to explain to the congregants why it is important to "pray for the dead." He actually said, "I would be a liar if I got up here and told you that I know for sure that she is in heaven," and that "maybe our prayers can ease her suffering." At that point, my heart really went out to her family. As if they had not endured enough pain in the last few days, the place that they relied upon to provide comfort and solace in their time of need had instead played upon their worst fears. The icing on the cake came when the priest jokingly said, "Maybe she is celebrating St. Patrick's Day a day early." You see, my friend, who had her husband's Irish surname, was buried on the 16th of March.

My pain is exacerbated by my love for the Church of Rome. This is the Church into which I was baptized, where I made my First Holy Communion, was confirmed, and as a child and young adult dreamt about being ordained. I love the sights and smells of this Church, but I found it impossible, as a woman and a lesbian, to continue to support an institution where my life was not honored. There are times when I wish I could come "home", but "home" does not beckon me back with open, welcoming arms. This recent incident serves to confirm my resolve to work for the ordination of women in all denominations that do not currently do so, since I think a woman priest would have handled this tragic circumstance in a much gentler, sympathetic way. It also served to remind me that the Roman Catholic Church has a long way to go before I, and scores of people like me, will return to the ranks.

Doreen T. Cudnik

To the Editors:

My name is Grant Edwards. I am a gay, 45 year old male affected with Cerebral Palsy. I have had an ad in the personals for almost a year and have had little response. I want you to know that I am just like y I have normal feelings just like you. And I have desires and needs just like you.

e you.

Just because I can't talk normally and have to use an alphabet board to communicate, doesn't mean I don't have a mind. I have been to some gay events. The last time was to hear the live broadcast of The Gay 90's with Buck Harris at Over the Rainbow on Valentines Day. Some of you might remember seeing me there.

I need people to pick me and my wheelchair up and take me to the gay bars, dances, concerts and parties. I need people to come visit me at the Oakridge Home to talk, write letters for me, and to read to me.

I hope your gay heart will respond to my gay needs. Look for my ad in the Personals [starting next issue].

Addendum:

Grant Edwards Oakridge Home 26520 Center Ridge Rd. Westlake, OH 44145

I have had the pleasure of getting to know Grant over the last year and a half. He is bright and witty. He thoroughly enjoys getting out. I try to see him at least once a month. If a few more of our community would connect with Grant, it would make a world of difference to him. It doesn't take a lot of time, just a little compassion.

Buck Harris

"AN OUTRAGEOUS, WILD & CRAZY COMEDY. KATHLEEN TURNER IS HILARIOUS."

Susan Grant RN AMERICAN MOVIE CLASSICS

"Serial Mom' is a killer comedy."

Bruce Williamson, PLAYBOY MAGAZINE

"I couldn't stop laughing!"

Guy Flatley, COSMOPOLITAN MAGAZINE

KATHLEEN TURNER

"It's wonderful. It's wild. It's weird.

It's Waters. Nothing is sacred and everything is funny!"

Paul Wunder.

WBAI RADIO, NEW YORK

"Dating is for teens, there's no one out there my age!"

NO EXCUSES.

Meet someone in the largest selection of Lesbian/Gay/Bi personals in the state! Section B of the Gay People's Chronicle. Respond to your favorite personal today... and have a date tomorrow!

SAM WATERSTON

RICKI LAKE

SERIAL MOM By John Waters.

A New Comedy

SAVOY PICTURES Presents A POLAR ENTERTAINMENT Production A Film By JOHN WATERS KATHLEEN TURNER "SERIAL MOM SAM WATERSTON RICKI LAKE And SUZANNE SOMERS BONES HOWE BASIL POLEDOURIS JANICE HAMPTON And ERICA HUGGINS ROBERT STEVENS. AS.C. JOHN FIEDLER And MARK TARLOV

HESH CTED

CEDAR LEE 2163 Lee Rd 321-8232

JOSEPH CARACCIOLO JR.

JOHN WATERS

STARTS FRIDAY,

APRIL 15TH

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