GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 24, 1995

As seen on TV

To the Editors:

COMMUNITY FORUM

My husband and I were both fired from our jobs in 1994 because we dared to respond with the truth when our employers inquired about our sexual orientation and our relationship with each other. Tom was the pastor of a large Protestant church; I was the director of music at a large Catholic parish. We lost our jobs, and the pain and grief are indescribable. However, the freedom we now possess to be ourselves and to speak out are the triumph borne of tragedy.

Now, it would be easy to urge others to do the same to "come out, come out wherever you are!" However, being unemployed has given us ample time to watch the boob tube like never before, and we believe we may have discovered at least one reason why more of us remain shackled in our dark closets.

Watch one episode of the Jerry Springer Show and you will know what we are talking about. We would be terrified to say that we are gay if we thought that the completely ridiculous guests on his show truly represented the spirit of the gay community! It is no small wonder that church elders and Catholic bishops are terrified to employ us if they think that these promiscuous, dysfunctional prima donnas are the ones preaching from their pulpits and teaching their children.

We are not excusing the church or the military or other hypocrites for their actions. And we certainly don't excuse Jerry and the others for presenting this one-sided view of our wonderful community. But can you see the damage that is being done in the name of individuality? Let's face it-as much as we may disagree, people do judge a book by its cover. They always have, they always will.

So let's work together to tell the whole story. We are your teachers and pastors, your doctors and lawyers, your plumbers and electricians. We need to be ourselves so that people can get past the cover and start reading the book! Be courageous. Be you. Not some figment of a bigot's imagination!

Steven Begert-Clark Rev. Tom Begert-Clark Warren

A night in heaven

To the Editors:

As you know, the dancers and cast members of the touring company of Hello, Dolly performed a dance show at the Columbus Eagle Friday night, February 3. Entitled "One Night in Heaven," the show featured dance sequences ranging in composition from pasde-deux to full-company numbers, all set to hot dance mixes played by Patrick Finn, the Eagle's DJ-VJ.

The show was introduced graciously and with great warmth by none other than the legendary Carol Channing (yes, I'm sure it wasn't a drag queen), who bestowed her "Diamond Award" to the show's coordinator, Gary Sontagg. The show benefitted both the Columbus AIDS Task Force and Broadway Cares-Equity Fights AIDS.

Okay, those are the basic facts. The rest? In a word, wow! The dancers were incredibly

REP

ARMEY

Wow! HES REALLY TEAR IN' THE STUFFING OUT OF

BARNEY FAG! BARNEY FAG!

RIP!

SHREAD!

TEAR!

BUT I WUV

You!

ARRGH!

NAW, HE JUST THINKS BARNEY FRANK IS IN THE COSTUME

PUBLIC BROADCASTING!

lent use of the space available to them, and the story-lines of the individual numbers ranged from touching to incredibly erotic to downright awe-inspiring! I was moved and unbelievably impressed. Of course, as a gay man, how could I not be impressed by the vision of nine incredibly well-built men in nothing but white shirts, white boxer briefs and white socks, caressing white pillows in various poses of sleep? Yummm!

But seriously, I wish to thank Miss

Hoover own

OPEN PRAIRIE SYNDICATE

the strictest confidence. Contact Carol at 216-923-3499 or Debbie at 216-478-0614 for information about upcoming regional meetings.

Thanks for the great newspaper that you provide for the community. Sometimes it's the only link we have!

Channing, the dancers, the staff and managePress releases

ment of the Eagle, and all the other people, named and nameless, for providing us with possibly one of the best bar shows this town has seen in a very long time. The show definitely should serve as an inspiration for others locally and elsewhere, both in content and intent. I may only be one person, and of course, my opinions are my own, however I was moved and gratified by such an outstanding effort.

G is for gay

To the Editors:

Todd A. Taylor Columbus

The U.S. Postal Service has yet to honor the lesbian and gay community with a postage stamp, other than the AIDS Awareness stamp. We have a short window of opportunity to create the first gay U.S. postage stamp.

The current non-denominated "G" firstclass stamp offers our community a great opportunity to create the first unofficial gay stamp. Simply add an ay after the G, in a matching ink color of course. Stock up now, they are good until the next time the price of postage goes up.

Old Glory

It is one of my goals in the next year or so to persuade the Postal

GA Service to issue the first

USA For US. addresses only

of many stamps honoring famous lesbians and gay men in our history. Perhaps Harvey Milk could be the first.

James M. Reid San Francisco

precise and expressive, the choreography For lesbian teachers

was intricate and outstanding, making excel-

The Gay 90's with Buck Harris on WHK 1420AM has moved to Sunday night from 10:00 to 11:00

To the Editors:

I'm writing this letter to inform other lesbian teachers about a safe place to socialize, meet colleagues, and gain support for lesbians in the education field.

The Lesbian Teachers Network is a national organization whose purpose is to create a link between lesbian teachers across the country. Communication is through a newsletter containing articles and commentary by teachers, for teachers. Political and social actions regarding the rights of gay and lesbian educators from all over the country are presented as well.

Our regional group meets to socialize, share, support and learn what we, as teachers, can do to help dispel homophobia in our school systems. We currently have members teaching at the elementary, junior high, and high school level, but welcome lesbian educators and specialists from the college level as well. All member information is held in

Debbie H. Canton

The following is in response to Scott Nusbaum's letter about Chronicle coverage of his business:

Dear Scott:

I read your letter to the editor in the February 10 issue of the Chronicle and I wanted to respond to your press release concerns and also do a little networking. I am also a gay business owner with an "out" business. My gallery represents over 80 Ohio studio. craftspeople (some gay, some not), and I carry a variety of specifically gay-themed items.

I can empathize with your concerns about the printing of press releases by a publication, but I can also empathize with the publication. My media list contains over 100 publications to whom I regularly supply releases. My experience has shown that about 15 percent of these papers will actually print my releases on a regular basis. This 15 percent is the established, profitable "city" papers and fine art periodicals. Small, free-distribution papers such as the Chronicle are run on an extremely tight budget and must rely on whatever advertising revenue thay can get. I have made the conscious decision to support the Chronicle by advertising in it. My ads have consistently generated new customers and increased sales, and I believe that my Chronicle ads are my most effective of all media. If they happen to print my release too, wonderful! But I would never "expect" it or any other publication to provide me with free advertising. I have found that the papers in which I advertise will often run my releases or even produce a feature article about my business.

I certainly don't want to pass judgement on your business, but I do want you to know that your Columbus location has absolutely nothing to do with your press releases not being published.

Now to my second point of this letter. Since we both seem to represent the same types of artists, I'd love to swap some names with you. We represent several gay and lesbian artists from northeast Ohio, but we're having trouble finding artists from central Ohio. Please let me know if you'd like to swap a few names, ideas, etc. When I'm in Columbus next, I'll definitely stop by and say hello.

Best regards and best wishes for success, Christopher Hixson, owner Among Friends Peninsula

Barney who?

To the Editors:

It was no different than any other day at the popular watering hole somewhere in the beltway, not too far from the Capitol wherein

GAY PEOPLES CHRONICLE

Volume 10, Issue 17

Publisher:

Business Manager:

Managing Editor:

Associate Editor: Columbus Coordinator:

Martha J. Pontoni

Patti Harris

Doreen Cudnik

Brian De Witt

Darryl Holbrook

Reporters & Writers: Keith Arnold, Cesar Chaves, John Carey, Barry Daniels, Brynna Fish, Joe Graham, John Graves, Charlton Harper, Taylor Hart, Jeff Hirst, Jerry Kaiser, Stu Koblentz, Troy May, Diane Moor, Keith A. Oliver, Carol Patzkowsky, Timothy Robson, Paul Schwitzgebel, Jerry Semas, Steven St. James, Rich Warren Photographer:

Art Director: Production/Admin.:

Advertising Manager: Columbus Sales:

National Advertising:

Barbara Bodemer Christine Hahn Gina Adkins David A. Ebbert Brad Burget, Darryl Holbrook Rivendell Marketing 908-232-2021 David A. Ebbert 216-631-8646

The Gay People's Chronicle is dedicated to providing a space in the Ohio lesbian-gay community for all of its members to communicate and be involved with each other. This means that every Chronicle, to the best of its ability, will be equally dedicated to both men's and women's issues, as well as issues that affect the entire community. This balance will provide lesbians and gay men with a forum to air grievances and express joys.

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our most honored senators and representatives deliberate the business of our nation. Washington insiders were cozying up to each other for some political gossip and one might have heard over one's martini a VIP say to another, "Did you hear the one about. beginning a joke to lighten the heady day the two surely have had. You know, the kind of joke that starts with something like "Did you hear about the Polak," or "there were these two Jews," or maybe, "so there were these two fags..." Everyone's told a few jokes like that sometime in their life, right?

And so on January 28 in this hypothetical beltway bar there were a lot of conversations opening with, "Did you hear the one about House Majority Leader Dick Armey calling Barney Frank 'Barney Fag'?" What a hoot! The only difference was, this was no joke.

In an interview with the press, poor Dick Armey forgot where he was for one unfortunate moment and did just that. And poor Dick Armey had to apologize later on the House floor, referring to the incident as "nothing more than an unintentional mispronunciation of another person's name." An honest mistake, right? A very telling honesty indeed! A mispronunciation that is apparently uttered frequently by colleagues of the openly gay Rep. Barney Frank, a man whose honesty about himself has been more forthright and perhaps more deserving of respect.

One can only imagine the national uproar had a U.S. representative, in a slip of the tongue of course, said, "Boo Stokes-I mean, Lou Stokes!" or "Hebe-ard Metzenbaum-I

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