May 13, 2005
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11
Pheromones
Continued from page 1
molecules known to trigger responses such as defense and sex in many animals.
The Swedish researchers divided 36 subjects into three groups: heterosexual men, heterosexual women and homosexual men. They studied the brain response to sniffing the chemicals, using PET scans. All the subjects were healthy, unmedicated, right-handed and HIV-negative.
When they sniffed scents like cedar or lavender, all of the subjects' brains reacted only in the olfactory region that handles smells.
But when confronted by a chemical from testosterone, the male hormone, portions of the brains active in sexual activity were activated in straight women and in gay men, but not in straight men, the researchers found.
The response in gay men and straight women was concentrated in the hypothalamus with a maximum in the preoptic area that is active in hormonal and sensory responses necessary for sexual behavior, the researchers said.
When the female hormone estrogen was used, there was only a response in the olfactory portion of the brains of straight women. Gay men had their primary response also in the olfactory area, with a very small reaction in the hypothalamus, while heterosexual men
Milestones
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trendy clubs and restaurants, the Grid dance club brought a healthy infusion of patrons to the area before moving to its new, larger location on St. Clair Avenue and East 13th Street.
20 years
Snickers Tavern. One of Cleveland's longest-lasting predominantly queer dining spots, Snickers has been feeding the city's LGBT community for two decades, tucked away on a small side street on the West Side.
P-FLAG Cleveland. Meeting at 7:30 pm on the second Tuesday of the month, the Cleveland chapter of the national Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays was an offshoot of the Akron chapter, started in 1983. Two years later, the group started holding meetings in Cleveland as well, and has continued to provide valuable guidance to people learning to support their loved ones as they come out, and LGBT people in the process of coming out.
Gay People's Chronicle. Founded by Case Western Reserve University anthropology professor Charles Callender in 1985, it is Ohio's oldest and largest weekly newspaper for the LGBT community.
25 years
PACT-Cleveland. Founded in 1980 as the Cleveland chapter of Black and White Men
responded strongly in the reproductive region of the brain.
The group is also doing a study involving lesbians, but those results are not yet complete.
In a separate study looking at response to body odors, researchers in Philadelphia found sharp differences between gay and straight men and women.
"Our findings support the contention that gender preference has a biological component that is reflected in both the production of different body odors and in the perception of and response to body odors,” said neuroscientist Charles Wysocki, who led the study.
It's hard to see how a simple "choice" to be gay or lesbian would influence the production of body odor, he said.
His team at the Monell Chemical Senses Center studied the response of 82 straight and gay men and women to the odors of underarm sweat collected from 24 varied donors.
They found that gay men differed from heterosexual men and women and from lesbians, both in terms of which body odors gay men preferred and how their own body odors were regarded by the other groups.
Gay men preferred odors from gay men, while odors from gay men were the least preferred by heterosexual men and women and by lesbian women in the study. Their findings, released May 9, are to be published in the journal Psychological Science in September.
Together, the organization changed its name to People of All Colors Together in 2003 to reflect a greater openness. Working to end racism, sexism and homophobia while fostering understanding and knowledge, the group now has male and female members, lesbian, gay, straight, bisexual and transgendered, black, white, Latino and Asian.
30 years
The Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center of Greater Cleveland. Formed three decades ago as the Gay Education and Awareness Resources (GEAR) Foundation, the center changed its name in 1988, but not its function: to provide resources to the greater Cleveland LGBT community, as well as serving as a meeting place for dozens of other organizations.
35 years
The Leather Stallion. The oldest continuously operating gay bar in Ohio and the Midwest, the Leather Stallion opened on January 10, 1970, less than seven months after the Stonewall Riots, commonly seen as the beginning of the modern gay civil rights move-
ment.
The reception is $20 and is from 7 pm to 10 pm at in the Wynham's Palace Ballroom East, located at 1260 Euclid Avenue at Playhouse Square. For more information or to reserve tickets, which are $35, e-mail info@pactcleveland.com, call 216-831-3884, or log onto www.pactcleveland.com.
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