14 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE October 25, 1996
COMMUNITY GROUPS
DOMA brings out what America really thinks of gays
by Linda Malicki
Cleveland-The "Defense of Marriage Act." What a mess. When the controversy that is same-sex marriage began to explode around this country I didn't take a lot of notice. I felt that other issues, such as gay dads and lesbian moms losing custody of their kids, gay and lesbian people being harassed and sometimes fired in the workplace, and lesbigay teens being harassed and bashed at school were more important. And then I began to listen to what was being said about
us.
Nearly three-quarters of American surveyed are against same-sex marriage. The
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more enlightened use the argument that, although they certainly don't see anything wrong with gay and lesbian relationships, marriage can only be defined as a relationship between a man and a woman. This is what they say. But what I hear is gay and lesbian people are inferior to heterosexuals, and so are their relationships.
The less enlightened of Americans against same-sex marriage say things like: Marriage is for the protection of children, and homosexuals don't have children (Oh, really?); homosexuals just want the financial benefits and are not fundamentally able to have committed monogamous relationships (Gee, I didn't know that! Wait til I tell my partner of
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eight years); and, we can't legalize a deviant relationship that is "an absolute contradiction to the norms that have been in place in all civilized countries for centuries." (This one learned his history from the likes of Pat Robertson.) My personal favorite is: Homosexuals are defined by their obsessive, incessant deviant sexual behavior.
folks. And I hope it makes you as angry as it has made me. There is no place in our struggle towards total civil rights for apathy or cyni. cism, only dogged determination to educate the American public, over and over again if that's what it takes. I will not sit back com. placently and let people talk about me in this way. I'm going to be in more faces, write more editorials, do more speaking engage.
LESBIAN GAY
I happened to be at the office when I read that last one, and I mentioned that my obsessive, incessant deviant sexual behavior lasted for all of about five minutes last year. Some of the other comments to this remark were, "Wow! Five minutes! In my book that's a prolonged encounter!" and, "Gee, you beat me
Community Service Center
by five minutes." Obviously the gay people in my office are not holding up their end, so to speak, on the required obsessive, incessant deviant sexual behavior of all homosexuals and probably we should have our queer membership cards revoked. Or, we should be force-fed shark cartilage and toe of horny toad until we shape up. I think I'll just give up my card, if that's okay.
Well, it is obvious to me that DOMA is a clear barometer of where we stand in the eyes of America. This is a wake up call,
OF GREATER CLEVELAND
ments than you can count. What about you? What are you going to
do?
Thanks to NOCI. Northern Ohio Coali-
tion, Inc. presented the Center with a check for $2,450 to pay for a mass mailing to educators,
agencies, and professionals in a tri-county area on lesbian, gay and bisexual youth issues, and to allow the Center to purchase some much needed materials for the Resource Center. Thank you NOCI, for all the work you do in the community.
We have a new e-mail address: center@erienet.net. Vote.
Linda Malicki is director of the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Center.
What? Me an activist?
by Eddie Boyte Cleveland-Most of us involved with direct action organizations like ACT UP realize after we have gotten involved that the label activist applies to us. In this sense of the word, active is in contrast to passive. Whether or not we are HIV positive, the subject of AIDS can be overwhelming. We would like to shut the door on it, at least temporarily. As one friend says, "I'd like just one day without AIDS."
Unfortunately, it ain't gonna happen anytime soon!, But rather than become a victim
to it, we choose
Task Force, Narcotics Anonymous, and the Open House. In giving, she receives.
Ezell is a recovered IV drug user and discovered her HIV status after becoming clean and sober. She doesn't know whether she became infected through IV drugs or sex.
Before moving to Cleveland, she lived in Nashville, and went to HIV positive support meetings, but didn't feel like she fit in with
ACT UP
the mostly gay men. After coming to Cleveland, she met more women who were positive. At some point, she recalls, she "stopped waiting to die, and realized the Grim Reaper wasn't coming." She never returned to drugs, but instead has a built a support system, starting with her family, whom she says have always been supportive.
THE AIDS Coalition to UNLEASH POWER
to take control of things over which we do have power. And as we do this, we see that we are in the driver's seat. Author Steven Covey calls those areas in our lives over which we have no control our circle of concern. But inside that circle is our circle of influence. As he illustrates in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, the more energy we invest in our circle of influence, the smaller our circle of concern becomes.
ACT UP succeeds in influencing public policy. But that's only part of the story. Rather than be a victim to outside forces who refuse to treat AIDS as a crisis, an activist places oneself at the center of one's life and health.
Meet Joyce Smith Ezell. She is a 41 year old, African-American woman who has been positive for 12 years. Joyce is a woman living with HIV, who became active not just around her own health, but has reached out to many others through public speaking with the AIDS
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When she sponsors women in Narcotics Anonymous, or counsels women who have recently tested positive, she stresses to them the importance of being active in their own health and recovery. And, she says, she speaks up to positive people who don't practice safer sex.
Her speaking engagements are frequently two or three times a week. She does "some. thing positive to counter something nega tive." She has a mission. She hopes that after leaving the room, no one will there will become positive. For those of us who are negative, that may be the most important way we can empower ourselves.
Act up! Fight back! Fight AIDS! ACT UP Cleveland meets Sundays at 5 pm at Spaniel's Coffee Cafe, 2710 Lorain Ave., Cleveland Anyone interested is invited to attend.
226-5165