Pride Guide 1999

Coming out on top with Candace Gingrich

For this accidental activist, the journey has just begun

By Sean Rapacki

Cleveland-It's hard to show your pride in the closet, and that's what brings the Human Rights Campaign's National Coming Out Project manager Candace Gingrich

Candace Gingrich

to Cleveland Pride this year to help the LGBT community and their friends celebrate. The Chronicle spoke with Gingrich regarding her upcoming visit, her life, and, of course, her infamous brother Newt:

Sean Rapacki: How do you think your brother [former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich] feels about the fact that you are probably one of the brightest legacies of his tenure?

Candace Gingrich (laughing): I'm not

quite sure he would see it that way, but that's an interesting question. My ex was joking that it was funny that I still had a job. I hope he would be somewhat proud that in addition to the minions of conservative activists he helped spawn, he also helped other types of Americans become engaged and politically active.

How has your family's appreciation for who you are and what you are trying to do evolved?

Like a lot of non-gay people, once they become better informed about gay issues they feel less threatened. When we talk about who our opponents are, people can be very quick to say the Christian Coalition, Concerned Women for America, Focus on the Family, and name off a whole list of groups, but the reality is that our biggest adversary is ignorance.

There are a lot of non-gay people out there who only have gotten the misinformation, the lies, the stereotypes, and the mischaracterizations that exist about us.

As part of the National Coming Out Project, it's become my gig to remind people that living your life openly and honestly, coming out to friends, that being out in whatever way you're able to is how we combat that. Our lives, just by virtue of who we are, educate people.

You've had a unique opportunity to travel across the U.S. during a period of change. What changes have you seen have most impressed you?

A really, really great thing has been the power of our non-gay allies when they come out. We've been fortunate to have groups like Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the people who, by virtue of blood or friendship, have a gay person in their lives who they care about. That's a huge thing personally and socially to have people who support you, but it's also a huge thing politically.

We've seen a lot of young people become active here in Ohio by forming gaystraight alliances.

I think about my own growing up, and I was about as self-centered as you can get. Just to know that there are not only young

Gingrich to speak at Pride interfaith service

by Barbara Margolis

Cleveland Candace Gingrich will be the guest of Congregation Chevrei Tikva, a synagogue serving Cleveland's bisexual,

gay, lesbian,

transgender community and

friends, on Friday, June 18, for a special Sabbath reception and dinner.

The event takes place at Fairmount Temple, 23737 Fairmount Blvd. in Beachwood, Ohio, with the reception at 5:30 pm and the

CHEVREI

dinner at 6:30 pm. A donation of $50 for the dinner only and $75 for reception and dinner is requested, and will benefit both Chevrei Tikva and Cleveland Pride.

At 8:00 pm the same evening, Chevrei Tikva will host the annual Pride interfaith service in the Fairmount Temple Chapel. This service brings together congrega-

Only your sp

tions and clergy from denominations in the Northeastern Ohio region which welcome gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. The service ushers in the Jewish

TIKVA

Sabbath, and is an opportunity for church and temple congregations to celebrate Pride as one community of faith. Gingrich will deliver a sermon on "Unity and Diversity." The service will be followed by an Oneg Shabbat or coffee hour. Both are free and open to the community.

Chevrei Tikva is a member of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the World Congress of Gay and Lesbian Jewish Organizations.

For further information about the dinner benefit or the interfaith service, call 216932-5551.

Barbara Margolis is the president of Chevrei Tikva.

DAVID A. BUDNY, D.C. 16900 DETROIT AVE LAKEWOOD, OHIO 44107 (216) 228-6622

Keeds to be straight!

people who are openly out in high school, but that there are young people who aren't gay who are willing to stand up for them, willing to use their voice and their time to make a difference, is a really good feeling to have. What are some of the plans for the National Coming Out Project for 1999?

This year what I've been trying to formulate in my head is a way to use National Coming Out Day and its message as a tool to combat some of the anti-gay ads, this whole anti-gay campaign that they've waged.

They did their newspaper ads last year; they've started their television commercials in the D.C. market. We know it's b.s., but there are a lot of Americans who will be confused by this, who will be fooled into thinking we can change, so we don't need civil rights protection.

The message of Coming Out Day is that we define ourselves, and coming out is a way of sharing the truth about ourselves and our lives that those ads deny.

Do you think you'll ever stop being an activist now that you're on the front line?

I can't imagine not being involved somehow. I know that since I've been working with the project all I've seen in front of me are new ideas and new possibilities and new projects. There are so many different ways to engage people, so many different ways to further the struggle along, that I can't ever imagine running out of energy or running out of commitment or running out of things to do.

Sean Rapacki is a Chronicle contributing writer living in Cleveland.

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