MAY 6, 1994 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Anti-violence project suspended by Center

Cleveland's Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center has suspended operation of the Maryann Finegan Project (MFP), Northeast Ohio's anti-gay violence advocacy and crisis intervention group, due to lack of funds. The Center's board made the decision April 26 after discussions with the executive director and MFP volunteers.

"The Project requires much more coordination than we can provide at this time," stated Executive Director Judith Rainbrook, "and failure to provide such could easily lead to re-victimization of those whom MFP was designed to serve."

The MFP had been generously managed by dedicated volunteers. However the scope

of the Project requires more than what volunteers can provide. Due to budget limitations, the Center has been unable to provide for a paid staff person to fulfill the necessary management role. The board is committed to raising additional funds to staff the Project as quickly as possible and return it to operation.

The Center's Hotline will assume the responsibility of tracking anti-gay violence statistics and refer victims to alternate community resources. The MFP was created to keep alive the memory of Maryann Finegan, a victim of a violent 1982 anti-lesbian murder in Cleveland, as well as raise awareness about homophobic hate crimes.

Eunuch festival allows

brief moment of freedom

Koovagam, India-For a brief moment, 10,000 eunuchs were transformed from outcasts to exuberant newlyweds.

Under a full moon, dressed in their finest saris and jewelry, the eunuchs entered a temple to marry Aravan, their mythological demigod.

On April 27, they pulled a wooden cart bearing a 6-meter (20-foot) effigy of their new husband down dirt roads, singing, dancing and smashing open coconuts. At the end of the ceremony, when Aravan was decapitated, they beat their chests in mourning.

About 50,000 people, including 10,000 eunuchs, attended the annual festival, according to police estimates.

The word "eunuch" refers in India not only to castrated men, but also to transves-

tites and transsexuals.

For the last 10 years, thousands of eunuchs have flocked to Koovagam in the southern state of Tamil Nadu for the ceremony. Many come from distant cities such as Bombay and New Delhi, where they fled years ago from villages that rejected them.

In this male-dominated nation where homosexuality is taboo, many gay men join urban eunuch clans. There are an estimated 200,000 eunuchs in India. Hundreds of years ago, eunuchs guarded the harems and sacred relics of India's Muslim rulers, or served as court entertainers.

Eunuchs, or "hijras," often are jeered at and sometimes attacked, but many Indians consider their blessings auspicious for newlyweds and newborn children.

Another convention dumps Cincinnati

Cincinnati-Voter rejection last year an ordinance to protect gays and lesbians against discrimination has cost the city a convention that was expected to bring in about 10,000 people.

The executive board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association voted in late April to move its November 1995 annual meeting from Cincinnati to an as-yet undetermined city, spokesman Mark Aspen Galliher said April 26.

The organization of speech and hearing professionals, based in Rockville, Md., has 77,000 members.

It is the fourth group to cancel plans for a meeting or convention in the city because

of the November vote against the gay rights

measure.

The Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau had projected that the convention would pump $9.5 million in spending and lodging into Cincinnati's economy.

A federal judge has blocked implementation of the amendment pending the June 20 trial of a lawsuit by gay-rights activists.

The American Library Association and American Historical Association canceled plans to hold 1995 conventions in Cincinnati, and the Art Libraries Society of North America said it will take its 1997 meeting elsewhere. Those three losses could cost the city $8.4 million.

Conservative Jewish leaders look at gays

New York-In what is called the first modern attempt to draft a sexual ethic by any branch of Judaism, Jewish leaders are re-evaluating whether sex outside marriage and gay sex are still compatible with Jewish teachings, provided other religious moral standards are followed.

Among the recommendations contained in the pastoral letter from a commission of Conservative rabbis are stipulations that Jews have a particular responsibility to avoid AIDS by disclosing their sexual history to their partner, by undergoing HIV testing and by abstaining if either partner is infected.

The report from the Rabbinical Assembly's Commission on Human Sexuality was to be presented May 3 to the group's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. The law committee, which sets

official policy for the assembly, is expected to begin deliberations on the recommendations in the fall.

The assembly represents 1,500 Conservative rabbis who serve 1.5 million congregational members. The Union of American Hebrew Congregations, representing Reform Judaism, has approximately 1.3 million members, among them a number of lesbian-gay congregations.

But in recognition of changing sexual practices, the report offers guidelines for sex outside of marriage.

The commission did not take a definitive stand on gays and lesbians, but is asking the law committee to examine the tension between the traditional teaching that considers same-sex relations an abomination and Conservative Judaism's commitment to civil rights for lesbians and gays.

"The one new American play

that must

be seen!"

(The New York Times)

Lips Together Teeth Apart

Now thru May 22!

Terrence McNally

Two couples try to celebrate the Fourth of July on Fire Island in this "fortysomething" comedy about love and complications. From the Tony award-winning author of Frankie and Johnny.

Continental

is the official airline

of The Cleveland Play House.

For tickets call 795-7000

directed by

Scott Kanoff

The Cleveland Play House

Located near University Circle, off Carnegie or Euclid Aves. at E. 85th St.

Pictured: (clockwise from top left) Vasili Bogazianos, Patty Dworkin, Richard Bekins and Kay Walbys, Photo by Richard Termine.