JUNE 6, 1997

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

COMMUNITY GROUPS

Meet elected officials at Log Cabin get-togethers

by R. Woodward

Cleveland-Those who like to get close looks at public officials and what they are doing can get some of the closest looks available at get-togethers of the Log Cabin Republicans of Cleveland.

Six of the members of this gay group are members of the executive committee for the Republican Party in Cuyahoga County, and they are not timid about asking public officials and candidates they know to come talk with the group. Meetings are usually not too large for real conversation between all of the people present.

Examples of people who have showed up at Log Cabin gatherings are Jim Trakas, chairman of the Cuyahoga Republican Party; Lee Weingart, county commissioner; Pam Smith, member of Lakewood City Council who was a candidate for mayor of Lakewood at the time; Juvenile Court judge Robert Ferreri; and Mary Ann Sharkey, then political editor of the Plain Dealer.

Even former Rep. Martin Hoke showed up at a Log Cabin meeting and answered questions for a half-hour. This was several months before his infamous non-appearance at Stonewall Cleveland's candidate night last October. Being able to compare his attendance at the smaller, more modestly publicized meeting to his failure to appear at the larger, more widely publi-

cized meeting was a unique opportunity to judge Hoke's loyalty to his gay supporters-who carefully invited him to both meetings and to judge the extent of his respect for his gay constituents.

As the Hoke episode illustrates, meetings of the Log Cabin Republicans of Cleveland supplement and enhance the activities of other gay groups rather than competing with them. This group is an example of gay people finding their own individual approaches to gay activism rather than wasting time arguing with other approaches.

We invite you to join us on Saturday June 14 at the Tuna Club, 522 Superior Ave., in downtown Cleveland. We will be dining while talking with Sally Conway Kilbane, treasurer of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party, who will probably be telling us of her plans of running for statewide office. Pre-supper chatting and drinking will start at 6:00 pm, with supper served about 45 minutes later.

The Tuna Club is now gay-owned, and this will be the first time that the new owners have opened it for dining on Saturday evenings. This gathering should be both relaxing and informative. Those who worry about traffic and parking downtown will be glad to hear that the Indians will be in St. Louis that evening.

For more information call John Farina at 216-521-2684.

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John Laur

NO SLOGAN. JUST SERVICE

Kaker Heights Office 0515 Shaker Blvd. Heights, Ohio 44122 (216) 991-8400 Mall: (216) 999-2056

White will not meet with members of ACT UP

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Cleveland Greetings from the front. We have been absent from the pages of this publication for several weeks now, but we have not been silent. For those of you who have been following our quest for a meeting with Cleveland Mayor Michael White, don't hold your breath. It has become quite obvious to us that the mayor of Cleveland, and his entire administration, can not be counted on to make any decisive move to ease the conditions of persons living with HIV and AIDS in the city

of Cleveland.

Our pleas for a

civil meeting

with the mayor, who declared

Why have we not been able to do the same? Because our mayor knows that he will not be held accountable. City council is obviously not willing to hold him accountable. They are too mired down in the latest development projects to ask the mayor where people with AIDS are supposed to live and die in this city.

ACT UP

The New York City AIDS Walk failed to raise the level of funds this year as they had in the 1996 Walk. AIDS service organizations from across the country

THE AIDS COALITION TO UNLEASH POWER are facing increas-

CLEVELAND

HIV and AIDS a public health emergency several years ago, have fallen on deaf ears. He has no time to meet with persons actually living with this disease. Does he suffer from the belief that many in this country, and our own community, seem to have that the AIDS crisis is over? Or is the mayor simply too busy campaigning for your vote to care about those who may not be here next fall to vote?

In the past four weeks we have lost at least two gay men from our community to complications of AIDS. At least one of the two had an undetectable viral load. So much for AIDS being over for gay white men with good insurance and access to the best treatments available. Until no one has AIDS, we all have AIDS!

The Cleveland AIDS Housing Council has plans for several new facilities to house families with AIDS. Did you know this? Why have they not broken ground for these facilities? Just one hour south of Cleveland, the Summit AIDS Housing Council was able to put together a model housing project for people living with HIV

and AIDS years ago.

ing case loads as people live longer with AIDS, and funding is decreas-

ing at the same time. Many fear that this trend will continue. Many fear that apathy has seized our community. Are they right?

Do you have the right to be tired of the AIDS crisis? Of course you do! After we spent sixteen grueling years fighting to make the people of this country understand that this is not a disease of gay white men, we have no right to turn our backs on the rising numbers of people living with this disease in other communities.

Pick up the phone! The number to Mayor White's office is 216-664-2220. Tell him he has to earn your vote. Tell the mayor that he has to do more than patronize people living with HIV and AIDS. Tell the mayor that the federal and state dollars that we keep hearing so much about are not enough to meet the needs during this public health crisis. How radical is that? If two or three hundred people who read this article take five minutes to make this call, we promise you he will listen.

If you can not do this much, then be prepared to keep reading the obituaries of your friends in this paper. ACT UP!

Realty One

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