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HIGH
CEAR
1978 GEAR
Vol 4 A Publication of the GEAR Foundation Issue 7
Staff
HIGH GEAR Journal is a publication of the Gay Educational and Awareness Resources (G.E.AR.) Foundation of Cleveland, Ohio. It is distributed free of charge in any establishment and with any organization that will permit distribution. We are non-profit publication, and all proceeds not used to pay printing costs and service fees are set aside for the Gay HotlineSwitchboard (216)-321-6832, the G.EAR. Foundation which sponsors the Cleveland Gay Community Center and other Ohlo gay organizations.
The presence of the name or picture or other representation of an organization, place of business or person(s) in HIGH GEAR is not necessarily indicative of the sexual orientation of such organizations, businesses or persons.
We welcome all contributions of written materials, art work, or photography by members of the gay community. All materials submitted for publication. are subject to editorialization. We cannot guarantee the return of materials submitted for publication, whether used by HIGH GEAR or not, unless they are accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envolope.
All HIGH GEAR staff are volunteers. Anyong Interested in working on the staff of HIGH GEAR should Inquire by calling (216) 321-6632 or by writing to HIGH GEAR STAFF, P.O. Box 6177, Cleveland, Ohio 44101. Businesses or organizations wishing to advertise in HIGH GEAR may obtain advertising rate sheets and other Information by writing to the above address.
Ine deadline for HIGH GEAR publication dates is as follows:
Advertising by the 30th of every month, camera ready and composition ads. Written material by the 5th of every month. News Homs un pubication.
High Gear will not publish material'in which graphic or verbal representations of an ideal or idealized human body appear, except in the case of a performer or work of art which is the subject of the material. We also will not publish material of a racist, sexist, or pornographic nature. We reserve the right to, alter and/or edit material to conform to the above standards; in the case of display advertising, after notifying the advertiser.
Aizag allan le printed the second Thursday of every month and available at bars, baths, universities, businesses and elsewhere thereafter.
HIGH GEAR is copyrighted under federal law. Reproduction is granted to all other gay publications so long es credit is given to HIGH GEAR, A HIGH GEAR work is original unless otherwise noted.
Michael Prunty Leon Stevens Tony Scafaro
Ed Rawlings
....
Robble Robinson Terry McCormick Aaron Ross
Circulation
Distribution
....
....
Mark Kinsley Stove Jobe Dan Miecznikowski Mitchell Monigu Pat Henderson Bill Smith Dennis Highland
...
... 10,000
Akron, Athens, Barberton, Berea, Bowling Green, Brooklyn, Canton, Cincin nath, Cleveland, Cleveland Hts, Columbus, Dayton, Fairview Park, Lakewood, Lima, Lorain, Mansfield, Middleburgh Hts., Oberlin, Painesville, Parma, Parma His., Piqua, Rockbridge, Rocky River, Sandusky, Toledo, Warren, Youngstown and points beyond.
THANKS...
...to the owners, managers, and staff of Traxx, After Midnight, and The Free Clinic for the support they have offered to the Cleveland Gay Community Center recently. The benefits at Traxx and After Midnight have netted the Community Center fund over $500.00, while The Free Clinic accepted all the
calls from the gay switchboard and hotline after the recent fire in the Coventryard Mall Building, the former home of the center. Despite setbacks, with the support of these establishments and others, the Cleveland Gay Community Center can very well remain a vital force in the Cleveland community.
HGH GEAR/MARCH 1978
LESBIAN REINSTATED
---courtesy of Gay Community of Health in California, adding News 2/25/78
SACRAMENTO, CA.--The California State Personnel Board voted 4 to 1 to reinstate Dr. Josette EscamillaMondanaro as deputy director for the Division of Substance Abuse in the California Department of Health. She was dismissed last Oct. 25, the day before her one year probationary period was to end, on the orders of Gov. Edmund Jerry Brown. Brown took the action after it was revealed that Dr. Mondanaro had written a letter
on state stationery using language which the governor felt was obscene.
Dr. Mondanaro claimed that
she was fired because Brown was embarrassed in an election year by having a lesbian on his staff. She also claimed that she had refused to hire two friends
of Mario Obledo, the Secretary
that the hiring would have violated civil rights regulations.
The letter in question referred to sodomy and fellatio, and was a personal communication attacking a Tufts University psychiatry instructor. Dr. Mondanaro told a colleague that the instructor had "his head (or something) screwed on wrong" because he defended sexual behavior in children. Dr. Mondanaro had interpreted this as an apology for child pornography, and called it "male over-intellectualized bullshit."
The State Personnel Board, in its ruling on Feb. 8, stated that her use of state stationery for a personal letter was a "one-time error in judgment" which did not justify dismissal. The board also expressed disbelief that Dr. Mondanaro was fired because of her homosexuality.
The state has announced that it will not appeal the decision;
ERA BATTLE CONTINUES
Even if it means lying and breaking the law to stop passage of the equal rights amendment, some must feel those efforts are justified. Carl Maddox, a Fort Thomas, Kentucky member of Stop ERA distributed literature describing lesbian love to 30 legislators in the Kentucky House. The material, some featuring female genitals and nude women, outraged some members and they called for an investigation.
Ms. Maddox contends that the material which she assembled was identical to that printed at government expense and distributed at the International
Women's Year Conference in Houston last November.
Lelialyce Akers, head of the Pro-E.R.A. Alliance in Kentucky and a delegate to the Houston Conference said that E.R.A. opponents were "looking for controversial or nonrelevant issues" to discredit the amendment. "None of this material was printed at Government expense," she said and delegates to the Houston Conference "never saw these materials."
The federal government partially funded the IWY Conference, which overwhelmingly supported pas-
INDIANA SODOMY BILL
Courtesy of Gaylife, 213178
The bill which would reinstate sodomy as a crime in the state of Indiana has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee by the Speaker of the House, Kermit Burrows. The measure, House Bill 1063, was introduced by Rep. Donald Boys, Republican of Greenwood last year. Its assignment to the Judiciary Committee was considered both a surprise and a positive move. Ordinarily such a bill would have been assigned to the Courts and Criminal Code Committee which is considered friendly to passage of the proposal. Observers in Indiania are fearful that this sodomy bill will be passed by the committee anyway and will eventually be passed by the full House of Representatives. Two Baptist ministers in Indianapolis, Rev. Greg Dixon and Rev. Earl Lawson are working hard through their congregations and area religious radio and television stations to get support for the bill. It is expected that many legislators will find it difficult to vote against a bill that is being touted as restoring
morality, particularly in an election year.
The Gay Peoples Union of Indiana is fighting the Boys bill on every level. It is organizing a letter writing campaign to the members of the Judiciary Committee and is getting experts to testify against the measure.
BATT APPEALS
Milwaukean Pat Batt is appealing a federall court's dismissal of his suit to regain his job at the Marion Heights Nur. sing Home. Batt was fired last year as personnel director of the home because of his homosexuality. His suif seeks damages as well as reinstatement to his job.
Judge Robert W. Warren did not deal directly with the issue of whether a firm has the right to fire a homosexual in his decision. Instead he based his findings on the technical grounds that the nursing home as a private institution is not subject to some of the federal regulations which Batt had cited in his suit.
Dr. Mondanaro had originally stated that she would resign her position in July in accordance with earlier plans.
The Mondanaro affair has
become a topic in the race for governor in this state. Former Los Angeles Police Chief Edward Davis, long an opponent of gay rights, stated that Dr. Mondanaro should "be given some kind of plaque of recognition for her opposition to child abuse." is Davis one of many Republicans seeking the chance to challenge. Incumbent Gov. Brown.
San Diego Mayor Peter Wilson, another announced Republican candidate, said that the case "hurts Brown's credibility." Brown himself has expressed a willingness to put the entire matter behind him, with political observers giving him high marks for deciding not to appeal the personnel board ruling.
sage of the E.R.A. Amendment. Kentucky ratified the amendment in 1972. The ERA will become part of the Constitution if three more states ratify its provisions.
While efforts by several stop ERA contingents to repeal ratification are under way in some states which have already voted for ratification, Pro-ERA supporters are working to defeat anti-ERA state legislators in the November elections in several states (especially Florida and Illinois), where their defeat could materially enhance prospects for ratification of the amendment.
SICK---AGAIN! reprinted from Time
In a much debated vote by its membership four years ago, the American Psychiatric Association decided that homosexuality should not be defined as a disorder. For many psychiatrists, that poll has hardly disposed of the issue as a new survey by Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality shows. The journal sent questionnaires to 10,000 members of the A.PA., and compiled the first 2,500 responses. Of those answering, 69% said they believed "homosexuality is usually a pathological adaption, as opposed to a normal variation," 18% disagreed and 13% were uncertain. Similarly, sizable majorities said that homosexuals are generally less happy than heterosexuals (73%) and less capable of mature, loving relationships (60%). A total of 70% said homosexuals' problems have more to do with their own inner conflicts than with stigmatization by society at large. Many of the doctors doubted that homosexuals could be trusted with important jobs. To the query "Are homosexuals generally a greater risk than heterosexuals to hold positions of greater responsibility?" 43% of the therapists answered ves.