BOOKS
Exploring the spiritual side of being gay
Sex and Spirit:
Exploring Gay Men's Spirituality Edited by Robert Barzan
Reviewed by David Horneck
I couldn't wait to open the pages of Sex and Spirit: Exploring Gay Men's Spirituality and start reading. I have always felt that being gay has given me a wonderful, unique viewpoint on spirituality and on the pages of this book are many examples of other people that feel the same way.
Sex and Spirit is a collection of essays which originally appeared in the White Crane Newsletter, published quarterly in San Francisco as a forum for the exploration of gay men's spirituality. These essays explore all manifestations of spiritual searching; massage, meditation, myth, psychotherapy, religion, past lives, astrology, dream study, yoga ritual, gardening, sex, dance and much more. Anything from the "normal" to the "abnormal" is written about by well-studied people.
One of my favorite essays is titled, "Beyond the Sexual Revolution: the Prophetic /Role of Gays." Author Toby Johnson de-
scribes how non-Western cultures, specifically Native American, honor sexual deviance as divine. Some cultures do not label gays and lesbians as such we just are who we are.
Sex and Spirit
Exploring Gay Men's Spirituality
Other essays in the book describe how sex videos have taken the love out of sex, healing the heart-genital split, country western dancing and spirituality, a positive side to AIDS, gay heroes and the spiritual journey of leather sex. The essays are short, varied and interesting. Even if you don't agree with the author you should enjoy
Edited by Robert Barzan
AUGUST 18, 1995 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
The North Coast Men's Chorus
Timothy Robson, Music Director
FEATURE PRESENTATION
Starting August 27th
The Road to GALA
The North Coast Men's Chorus begins its 8th season as Cleveland's premier gay chorus on August 27th. Open auditions will be August 27th and September 11th. Join us as the chorus begins its journey to the GALA Festival in Tampa, Florida, in July, 1996, where the North Coast Men's Chorus, proudly representing NE Ohio, will be one of the featured choruses.
The "Road to GALA" begins its Cleveland premier.....
Where:
Judson Manor 1890 E. 107th St.
(Near University Circle)
When:
August 27, 1995
♡
reading the gamut of ideas, opinions, facts and theories. You never know, one of these essays might open a door for you that could lead to a whole new outlook on life.
.~ A
A 14-step program for coming out and gaining self-respect
Outing Yourself:
How to Come Out as Lesbian or Gay to Your Family, Friends, and Co-Workers
by Michelangelo Signorile foreword by Betty Berzon, Ph.D. Random House, $20 hardcover
Reviewed by Timothy Robson
How time changes everything! It was only two years ago in 1993 when Michelangelo Signorile, enfant terrible of "outing," published his manifesto Queer in America, in which he espoused the theory that people, particularly those in the public spotlight, should be out by whatever means necessary. He took it upon himself to out several high-profile closeted gays and lesbians, including a then prominent Bush administration Pentagon official and a New York gossip columnist.
Signorile has now published a self-help book in which he has toned down the rhetoric considerably, in favor of his latest theoretical construct that homophobia is a disease-like drug addiction or alcoholism-which afflicts all people and prevents them from being fully accepting of gays and lesbians.
The disease is societally induced from thousands of years of hate directed toward gays and lesbians. All gays and lesbians are themselves afflicted with self-homophobia to one degree or another, and, like alcoholism, homophobia is not something from which one ever truly recovers, but must be combatted day after day throughout one's life. It is a lifelong journey to self-acceptance that Signorile preaches in Outing Yourself.
Instant Dotoll
The book is presented as a series of fourteen steps, in which the person moves from identifying himself or herself as gay or lesbian, to recognizing self-loathing and creating self-respect, to coming out to close friends, co-workers, and finally one's family. The steps move from outing oneself to what Signorile contends are traditionally more supportive people (one's best friend) to less supportive (family members). Included in each part are exercises in which the reader is asked to visualize various scenarios in the process, write down feelings, and practice possible dialogues in advance. The whole idea is to be aware of one's feelings and to be prepared for possible outcomes. The key is the understanding that homophobia, like any other disease, afflicts different people in different ways, and their recovery may be different as well.
Whether or not we agree with Signorile about homophobia as a disease, the stepwise method of coming out and the visualization exercises are practical and useful. The book is filled with anecdotes from others who have been through the process. The book will be most useful to those just coming out at whatever age, although most of the anecdotes are from young people.
Mature individuals coming out later in life, after a heterosexual marriage, perhaps, will not find the examples so apt. Still, the "new" Michelangelo Signorile is more appealing than the Queer Nation-ACT UP politico we witnessed a couple of years ago. We suspect as well that Outing Yourself will have more long-term benefit to more people than did Queer in America.
Tu DGH! Call Your Favorite Personal Today, and Have a Date For Tomorrow!
PERSONALS START ON PAGE 29
7:00-9:30 PM
Coffee/Dessert Social following
Non-singers are also welcomed. You can join the A Capellas, the chorus auxiliary.
If interested, please attend chorus rehearsal 8/27 or 9/11
Call 473-8919 for additional information or call back
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