COMMUNITY GROUPS

Torch Award marks banner year for Stonewall Union

LEEANN MCGUIRE

Gloria McCauley, Kim Dill and Phil Martin outside of the new community center.

by Chuck Arida

The people at Stonewall Union are excited. And for good reason. If they could have clicked their proverbial ruby slippers together three times and wished for a banner year, their wish would have yielded 12 months similar to those that have just passed.

Stonewall has a new community center facility, a classic 1950s office building perched proudly on High Street in Columbus. The Stonewall board of directors rewrote their constitution and wrestled the fundraising Goliath to the ground: for the first time in history, they are in the black. And the Human Rights Campaign will award Stonewall Union, along with local personalities Fred and Howard, with the 1996 Torch Award on June 15 for their strong presence and accomplishments in our community.

Banner years are made up day by day, and it is truly another day at Stonewall when I meet Phil Martin, executive director and the only full-time employee, for this interview.

"Never a dull moment," he grins enthusiastically.

I listen as he juggles phone conversations and I am grateful when he asks Jo, a retired nurse and volunteer at the Stonewall Community Center, to hold incoming calls for a few minutes so we can talk. I am pleased to find Martin is from Detroit, and we warm up to each other talking about our native city, sipping Diet Cokes. I comment on his agility in handling what appeared to be three crises at once on the phones and he simply nods.

"One line was internal; we are trying to reconcile our budget," Martin said. "Another line was a nursing home trying to find better care for a PWA. And I just got off the phone with the parents of a gay man who died a short while ago from AIDS. They are grieving, and needy for knowledge about their son's life."

The staff at Stonewall fields 50 to 60 calls a day on average from all walks of life seeking answers, advice, help and resources.

Yet telephone referral is only one of several pragmatic functions. Stonewall also keeps an anti-violence coordinator, Gloria McCauley, on staff to maintain statistics and provide help for victims of hate crimes by way of referrals, counselors, and attorney services.

Stonewall programs the Columbus Gay Pride March and, surprisingly, a booth at the annual Ohio State Fair. "Hard to work," Martin comments, "but really necessary. There are

many people struggling with questions about their identity in the areas outlying urban centers. How else do you help a troubled young person in Harden County?"

There is also a new People of Color Outreach program. Coordinator Donna Link works part-time to build bridges between diverse communities in Central Ohio.

Stonewall staffs the Community Center with just one more part timer, Office Manager Kim Dill, and an army of more than 40 volunteers. The center provides free meeting space to over 35 local organizations from Asians and Friends and the Columbus Health Department, to P-FLAG and the Columbus Gay Men's Chorus. A fax and a copier are also available.

Stonewall oversees the publication and distribution of the Lavender Listings, with over 400 lesbian-gay-bi owned or friendly businesses, and the Stonewall Journal, which Martin referred to as "Central Ohio's only gay and lesbian newspaper."

Martin acknowledges that many of these services are the best kept secret in the community. "There are a lot of people who really don't know what we do."

He points out the importance of receiving the Torch Award. "There is a perceived rivalry between HRC and local organizations across the country. People must realize that there is a need for both a strong national organization to lobby Congress and get laws passed, and local organizations on the front line of gay issues," Martin explains.

"Men and women in Columbus continue to lose jobs, apartments and respect simply because they are gay. They continue to be abused physically, verbally, and mentally. That's when you need help on a local level. Money and recognition are needed on both levels. Our ability to serve the community is enhanced when we receive an award, like the Torch Award, from a national organization like the HRC."

With all the positive events of the past 12 months, and with recognition on a national level, Stonewall seems securely postured for another banner year. "We are very much focused on the future," Martin beams. His eyes sparkle when he eagerly describes an available school building nearby with plenty of rooms for simultaneous events and a huge parking lot. "That's what I want for our next facility." Fornow, Stonewall can rest assured that there's no place like home.

JUNE 7, 1996

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11

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