GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE OCTOBER 27, 1995

COMMUNITY FORUM

Three great shows

To the Editors:

"A Day to Remember" netted more than $4,000 for Kamana House and the Hilly Smith Foundation.

This year's benefit was a huge success thanks to many gay businesses and friends in the community. The three-day event began with a kick-off show at Ohio City Oasis on Friday, Sept. 22 which featured many local entertainers. Legends was the host bar for the second event which took place Saturday, Sept. 23. The show at Legends was also a great success and featured many local entertainers. The final night, Sept. 24, was hosted by U4ia, and featured a fabulous sit-down dinner catered by Munteanes Catering and a fantastic show hosted by Ginger, Don and Big Mama. Several out-of-town guests performed for a very appreciative audience. There was also a silent auction, a live auction and a 50/50 raffle which helped generate funds for the benefit.

Ginger and the board of directors of "A Day to Remember" would like to extend thanks to Oasis, Legends and U4ia for being the hosts for this three-day event. We would also like to give honorable mention to Jim, manager of the Grid, and Joe from 600 St. Clair for their special contributions to this event.

There is one special contributor that Ginger wants to recognize for her large contributions to "A Day to Remember": Helen Hall, a dayshift bartender at Legends for many years. Helen has always supported many community benefits. Thank you Helen, for your generosity!

Ginger would also like to thank all entertainers who gave of their time and talent to entertain at the benefit shows. A special thanks to Diandre; Mr. Gay U.S.A.; Chelsea Pearl, Miss Great Plains at Large; Ashley West, Miss Ohio National; Jessica Michaels, Miss Great Lakes Continental; Patrick Steele, Mr. Gay Cleveland; Erika Martinez, Miss Gay Cleveland; and of course "Big Mama."

For weeks, raffle tickets were sold at different locations in Cleveland. The winners of the raffle were: Ken Brooks, a color TV; Karen Dennie, a stereo with CD player; and Jim Dawson, a cordless telephone. The stereo was donated by U4ia, the telephone was donated by Valentine News and the TV was donated by Don and Ginger. The advertising for the event was also donated by Valentine News.

Ginger would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who helped make this year's benefit a success.

Last but not least, Ginger would like to thank God, her family, her lover Don, Henry Catrett (designer of the T-shirts) Charles Stone, Big Mama, the Bailey Family (Brittany Foxx Family) and the gay community of Cleveland. God bless you and I love you!

Ginger Manchester

a.k.a. Jim Damas Founder of "A Day to Remember" Cleveland

Our money woes aren't that bad

To the Editors:

Thanks for your October 13 article highlighting the financial difficulties at the Center. Unfortunately there are a number of errors in facts in the article.

1. The AIDS Computerized Information Hotline grant from the AIDS Funding Collaborative (made up of the Cleveland and Gund Foundations, Cuyahoga County, and United Way) was awarded in August 1995, not January as stated in the second paragraph. It was returned in September of 1995 when it became clear we could not fill the Hotline Program Manager position recently vacated by Jeannine Petti.

2. The ratio of administrative to service staff is not generally a concern for foundations. However, most foundations do not want to provide funds for basic operating support for an organization. Since the Center is not starting up new programs or positions and did receive foundation funds both to support the first two years of the Center executive director's position and the first year of its youth service coordinator, we are not in a good position to return to the major foundations in Cleveland for further operat-

THE OPEN PRAIRIE by Joe Noover!

THE RELIGIOUS

RIGHT ARE STILL

AT IT.

GETTING ON

SCHOOL BOARDS, BANNING BOOKS AND AS A CASE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, FIRING A TEACHER FOR A "CLEAR LACK

DRAT! OUR CURRENT PLANS TO INFILTRATE THE SCHOOLS ARE A TOTAL FAILURE!

OF JUDGEMENT IN AT HRCE" HEADQUARTERS

ASSIGNING

GAY

THEMED BOOKS

TO HER CLASS.

JUST WHO DO THEY THINK WE ARE?

Hoover

oover 41-95

OPEN PRAIRIE SYNDICATE

DRAWN IN FUNDAMENTALIST PAMPHLET VISION

ו:

ing support. (We are seeking technical assistance from the Cleveland Foundation to support a leadership training process for all Cleveland gay-lesbian organizations. Any organization that is interested in participating should contact the Center.)

3. On the second page, your article states that our donor base has eroded, membership has slipped and the Garden Party has lost money for the third year in a row. These statements are all incorrect. Members/donors numbered about 500 two years ago and now exceeds 700. The figures quoted in the article (membership income slipping from $4,437 to $1,610) have to do with the fact that in 1994, we began to account only for the $15 membership fee under membership, with all other monies given above $15 counted as tax-deductible donations. In fact, membership and donor income have remained stable. And the Garden Party has never lost money. It made $12,000 over expenses its first year and has raised $17,000 to $20,000 over expenses for the Center every year since then.

4. Since your assertion that there is a falloff in donor support is incorrect, it is also incorrect that this "fall-off" is due to the Center's anti-racism process. In fact, the Center's anti-racism training had strong support from the board, volunteers, and membership, as witnessed by the 65 to 3 vote of the membership to delay board elections until the process could be finished.

5. I cannot imagine where the quote came from about a woman doing a site visit for one of the foundations that fund the Living Room likening it to "an adult day care center." The only foundation money the Center has received for the Living Room since I became executive director has been a grant from the Gund Foundation in early 1994. When the program officer visited the Center, she was very positive about the Living Room's program. After the visit, we were approved for a $25,000 grant.

I appreciate that the Chronicle took the time to interview me and report on the Center's financial condition. We are experiencing a financial setback and it is important for community members to know it.

We serve nearly 2,000 people a month who call, drop-in or meet in groups here. We are the only resource in Northeast Ohio for gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth. We are the basic source of information about what is happening in our community and where to go for both help and recreational activities.

This will not be the first time in our 20-year history that we have experienced some financial bumps. We are still learning how to be out, how to be leaders, how to work together better, how to be there for each other. The Center has persisted over the last 20 years because of volunteers who are committed to making it happen and community members that recognize the importance of its services. We will weather this difficult period as we have others, with humor and hard work.

I encourage any community member that is concerned to get involved. Membership development will be a key focus over the coming months. If you think you can help, call the Center at 216-522-1999 and volunteer.

Judith Rainbrook, Executive Director Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center of Cleveland

THOSE GOD FEARING CHRISTIAN RADICALS ARE JUST TOO SMART! THEY KEEP GETTING ELECTED TO THE SCHOOL BOARDS

HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FUND

I'M ON TOP OF THE SITUATION! I'VE HIRED A MARKETER WITH PROVEN ABILITY TO APPEAL TO KIDS. IN FACT, HE WAS ONE OF THE RIGHT, UNTIL HE.... CAME OUT!

JOE?

THANK YOU ELIZABETH.

FIRST WE DROP THE "F" FROM H. R. C. F. NEXT WE DESIGN A CARTOON CHARACTER WITH A FACE SHAPED AS A PHALLUS TO APPEAL TO CHILDREN!

IF HE'S GOOD INDUGN FOR OLD

JASTE HELMS..

Support for siblings

To the Editors:

My brother was diagnosed as having AIDS in the spring of 1990 and passed away in the spring of 1991. For several years I functioned well. However in the spring of 1994, I began to experience a great deal of depression and anxiety which I feel was as a result of the loss of my brother. We were best friends and he was a protector and safety net for me.

In the fall of 1994, a friend informed me that an author from New York City was appearing at the Borders bookstore in Beachwood. Her name is Barbara Lazier Ascher. She had written a book titled Landscapes Without Gravity. It is a memoir of grief for her brother's death from AIDS. I attended. Unfortunately, I was the only person who went. Not another soul was there for her appearance. It was however, fortunate for me, for I was able to speak to her alone for an hour.

She had started a grief support group in New York City called the Sisters Group. She encouraged me to search for such a group in Cleveland. No such group existed. I began attending the Open House for a grief support group. There I met Donna, a woman my age who had also lost her brother/best friend. We immediately became friends, and after a short time I asked her if she would by interested in helping me start a siblings grief group here. She was interested. We met one other sibling and she too joined us.

After much planning, we had our first meeting last May. We meet every second and fourth Tuesday of each month at the Cleveland State University Mather Mansion. We are sponsored by an AIDS group at Cleveland State and our facilitator, Dr. Dick Yates, heads up the counseling department at CSU.

We also had a booth set up at the AIDS Walk on September 24 to pass out our flier and associate with other siblings.

Lisa F. Zitiello Cleveland

Ad was slanderous

The following was sent to the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

To the Editors:

I am upset by an ad from "Concerned Women for America" that appeared in your paper on October 12. It is manipulative and misinforming.

Among other things the ad asserts that the National Education Association is forcing children to "celebrate the history of a group of people who historically prey on the innocence of minors," insinuating child molesting.

I don't know where they get their information, but last time I checked the vast majority of the "preying" was being done to girls by their father, step-father, or mom's boyfriend, often with mom being abused as well.

The NEA is not forcing anyone to do anything. The NEA (see the ad) "recognizes the importance of raising the awareness and increasing the sensitivity of staff, students, parents, and the community to sexual orientation in our society." The fact is that no school has implemented a "Gay History"

http://www.winternet.com/~oprairie/

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Volume 11, Issue 9

Publisher:

Business Manager: Managing Editor: Associate Editor:

Martha J. Pontoni Patti Harris Doreen Cudnik Brian De Witt

Reporters & Writers: Barry Daniels, John Graves, Jeff Hirst, Dawn Leach, M.T. Martone, Michael Miller, Daniel R. Mullen, Timothy Robson, Paul Schwitzgebel, Thom Sommers,

John Young Photographers:

Art Director: Production/Admin.:

Advertising Manager: National Advertising:

Barbara Bodemer, Beth Leonard Christine Hahn Gina Adkins David A. Ebbert Rivendell Marketing 212-242-6863

David A. Ebbert 800-426-5947

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program. This is because they are afraid of the backlash from those who hate gays and want us to disappear. Concerned Women for America is sensationalizing this issue because they want people to donate money to them.

Gays are a popular fund-raising subject of the Radical Right.

Kids need to hear about gays and lesbians. When I was in school I hid the fact that I was gay. Hiding did not help. The other kids knew anyways.

During gym class the seniors in the gym balcony would throw things at me and another classmate while yelling anti-gay epithets. Things like small pieces of wood and nails, not big enough to physically hurt, but big enough to make an emotional impact. Even the school yearbook makes an anti-gay reference to me.

Even with being called "fag" and the other incidents, my high school years were a paradise when compared with others'. Gay and lesbian teenagers commit suicide two to three times more often that straight teenagers. This can be found in a 1989 government publication: The Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide, put out by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

I guess the part that upsets me the most about the ad is that you would not have run the ad if it slandered any other group (ethnic, religious, etc.) by saying members "prey on the innocence of minors."

The last few years your writers have done a good job at addressing issues of gay marriage (see PD Valentine's Day article from February 15, 1994; I was one of the organizers), Pride Day celebrations, the special fo-

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