CLEVELAND

CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY SOCIAL SCIENCES AFW

JUL 2 8 1994

Where Sold 60¢

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

OFFEN FOURWAYSONED

of the Ohio Lesbian and Gay Community

Oregon and Idaho are the next ballot battlegrounds

by Scott Sonner Washington Anti-gay ballot measures that keep resurfacing in Oregon should serve as a warning to gay rights activists everywhere that they can't rest easy just because fewer initiatives are on ballots nationwide this year.

Right-wing activists have filed enough signatures to get initiatives on the November ballot in Oregon and Idaho, but efforts in six other states have fallen short. Petition filing deadlines for initiatives in all eight states passed this month.

For Oregon this November, it will be the third attempt in six years. "As Oregonians well know, the

for an answer," said Sue Hyde of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

"We're here to make sure no matter the outcome November 8, lesbians and gay men will not be driven back into the silence of the closet," she said.

Petition drives failed this year in Arizona, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada and Washington state, but numerous anti-gay initiatives will be on local ballots throughout the country. And more are expected in the future.

"I believe we are facing the tip of the iceberg here," said Suzanne Goldberg, an attorney for the Lambda Legal Defense and Educa-

In response, the Human Rights Campaign Fund launched a new campaign July 11 to fight the radical right in states where anti-gay ballot initiatives will appear locally.

Oregon Democratic Gov. Barbara Roberts and retired Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona are the co-leaders of the campaign, "Americans Against Discrimination," spokesman Douglas Hattaway said.

"Goldwater is a very important part of the message. This isn't a conservative versus liberal battle. We are trying to unite people of all backgrounds against discrimination," Hattaway said.

Goldwater, a well-known conContinued on page o

Volume 10, Issue 2 July 22, 1994

KING LOCAL JOBS WITH THE WORLD

Dancin' in the Streets '94 survived a change in location to become the largest turnout in the history of the event. The day-long party raised money to benefit the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland. See story and photos on page 5.

Activists gear up for Wertheim to leave Cleveland center Project Spotlight

by Charlton Harper

The Ohio lesbian and gay community may want to breathe a collective sigh of relief as the deadline for November ballot issues passes with no sign of a 1994 anti-gay initiative here. But rather than celebrating a premature victory, leaders across the state are readying for the storm they say is sure to follow.

"We're out of the panic-fullspeed mode," says Chris Cozad, a member of the steering committee of the Columbus-based Ohioans Against Discrimination (OAD) and co-coordinator for media and publicity. "This doesn't mean we won't see a ballot initiative in May 1995 or November '95. But right now I do think Project Spotlight is set to go forward, and that's where our focus will be."

Phil Richter, an administrator with the Ohio attorney general's office, confirms that as of press time, the nearing August 5 final deadline for initiatives has drawn no movement from the anti-gay camp. "Right now there is activity concerning worker's compensation and casino gambling," he says. "But nothing like that [anti-gay] sort of effort. And all along it's been that way. We would have had to see signs of process months ago and there just hasn't been anything of that sort."

Instead of waging war through the initiative process, the extreme

Stark County

board grants

Quest $80,000 during crowded, fractious meeting

right has shifted gears to Project Spotlight, a plan to target gayfriendly politicians throughout the state at the local level. In order to counter such a broad attack, an aggressive campaign is needed to both raise funds and educate the gay community as well as the larger public. OAD is a political action committee designed to raise the millions it is estimated will take to counter the tactics of the far right. Out Voice, a grassroots organization with regional representation across Ohio, is focused on education and strengthening existing community organizations.

While both groups are separate entities, Cozad acknowledges that "there were some initial turf issues going on back in February when we started OAD. But now our basic working arrangement is fine. We perceive ourselves as two prongs of attack."

Out Voice vice-chair Bill Henderson agrees. "We function as two different organizations,” he says. "OAD is a PAC who's purpose is to raise funds to fight state initiatives and the progress of the radical right in Ohio. Out Voice is an educational and lobbying organization. We couldn't possibly generate the money needed to run a statewide campaign."

Some of those "initial turf issues" stemmed from the work of

Continued on page

the

Despite rain, the Indigo

Girls put on a solid show for appreciative crowd

The

Aubrey Wertheim, youth services coordinator and former director of services at the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Com.nunity Service Center, has announced that he will be leaving the Center August 31.

Neither Wertheim nor the Center would discuss the reason for his departure for the record, other than to say there were differences of opinion between him and the Center leadership.

Wertheim was the driving force behind the transformation of the former Gay Education and Awareness Resources (GEAR) Foundation into the first fully-staffed lesbian and gay multi-service center in Ohio, and the second largest agency of its kind in the Midwest.

"Aubrey was the person who first introduced me to the notion of gaylesbian liberation as a possibility," said Center executive director Judy Rainbrook. "His vision, his willingness to risk in the face of possible societal rejection, his humor, and his persistence have been an

inspiration to me on my journey from closet to community. I know he has had a similar impact on hundreds of others."

The ten programs he helped establish since he was hired in 1987 have attracted more than a quarter of a million dollars in grant and government funding to the agency. Several programs, such as the Living Room, Men in Touch, and the PRYSM youth group have been replicated in other cities in Ohio and Michigan.

Wertheim also played a pioneering role in involving the center in Cleveland's mainstream community by forging relationships with other agencies, including the City of Cleveland's Public Safety Department, the Western Reserve Historical Society, the Women's Center of Greater Cleveland, the County Mental Health Board, and, most recently, the Youth Employment Services program of the Cleveland Public Schools.

"Much of the credit for these

programs," says Wertheim, "goes to the creativity and leadership of many volunteers and staff over the past seven years, as well as to the courage of funding sources, such as the Cleveland and Gund foundations and the health department of the city of Cleveland, who took the initiative in assisting us despite the potential for controversy."

Wertheim also worked for four years with the National LesbianGay Health Conference, coordinating its annual Community Centers Institute.

The focus of Wertheim's last month at the Center will be on working with newly hired PRYSM interns to establish two new youth groups, one in Akron and one on Cleveland's East Side.

People who would like to share positive experiences about Wertheim, his work at the Center, and the impact he had on their lives are encouraged to write him at P.O. Box 426, Oberlin, Ohio 44074-0426.

ILGA votes to drop NAMBLA

by Rex Wockner

New York Delegates to the 16th conference of the International Lesbian and Gay Associa tion voted June 30 to expel the North American Man Boy Love Association and two lesser known pedophile groups The vote was 214 to 30 TL GA

INSIDE

Health

Museum's

new AIDS show wins

over mainstream audiences

constitution required an 80-percent majority to remove the groups, so the pro-NAMBLA camp fell short 19 votes

The secretariats of ILGA be gan efforts to dump the pedophile organizations in late 1993 after the United States government threatened to work ce revoke IGA Sconsultative status at the

Open and realistic, Girlfriends is a welcome addition to lesbian magazines

United Nations because NAMBLA was an II GA member

The brouhaha erupted after the US anti-gay magazine The Lambda Report revealed that NAMBI A belonged to II GA IGA is comprised of some 300 gay rights organizations from

at nations

Editorial, Community Forum On the Air, Off the Press . Entertainment

Community Groups

Calendar.. 16 Resource.. 18

Personals

B-3