HIGH GEAR/APRIL 1978

DENNENY'S "ANATOMY" REBUKED

Staff and readers of the High Gear:

I have read and reread Michael Denneny's engaging and bittersweet article, "Anatomy of a Love Affair," in the February issue of Christopher Street and would like to direct some comments about it to the gay community in Cleveland. Few articles have ever dealt me so strong a blow.

I have called the article engaging, and it is that. The interplay of two intelligent and sensitive persons' thoughts could not fail to be, especially when those thoughts are directed toward the love between them that lasted some three years.

I have also named it sweet for certainly the beautiful moments of gay love, any love, and the joy and union that that love can bring are sweet. Neil and Philip, the two men who are interviewed and whose affair is examined by Denneny, give great immediacy to the love they once shared and succeed in bringing the reader into

communion with them.

Yet the effect of the article is above all one of horrible, consuming bitterness and pain. Denneny says that at the time the article was written, he was suffering from the effects of three "disastrous" affairs which had ended within the same

number of years. He interviews Neil and Philip, whose own promiscuous affair lasted three years

The reader is presented with two people, who though bright and loving, fail to love each other enough to overcome the difficulties the growth of any relationship engenders. Rather, each finds it easier to escape the relationship and emotional commitment; each allows himself to become reabsorbed into an endless string of one-night stands and loveless tricking. The relationship fails though both reiterate their love.

Denneny does not present Neil and Philip as a "representative gay couple." He disclaims that they are necessarily representative and leaves it to the reader to decide what can be taken from their experience; yet certainly the reader finds it difficult to believe this disclaimer. The reader sees this affair, and its sadness, as representative. He knows the stereotypes from which gays suffer; he remembers that the straight community calls gay affairs short-fasting, difficult, promiscuous, bound to failure. He finds this stereotype doubly reinforced, in detail by the history of Neil and Philip, and in short by the author's own admission. I do not condemn promiscuity. I think it can be a joyous celebration of one

person's physical closeness to another, and an upholding of the beauty that is generalized in mankind. However, it is not the ultimate goal of our humanity. We search to know ourselves through the examination of others. Promiscuity leads not to this profound knowledge, but to superficiality and hiding from ourselves.

As I have said, we all suffer from stereotypes which are, of course, sometimes true. That an affair such as Neil's and Philip's corresponds exactly to the stereotype makes the image in general no less false. It does, unfortunately, make the stereo. type appear less false. Denneny, in his own sorrow, has chosen a truth which reinforces the stereotype. This is to be regretted.

The article is, finally, a remarkable act of selfflagelation, for the reader as well as for the author and those interviewed. One is led to agree with Neil when he says that what is written is "slanderous at worst and in absurdly bad taste at best." Denneny, with Neil and Philip, says he is incapable of enduring emotional commitment to another and asks us, rhetorically, if we are. We are backed into a corner and our answer is example Denneny has exhibited. foregone because of the If it is impossible for him and for

Homophile Alliance of Sedgwick County

P.O. Box 2573

Wichita, Kansas

67201

316-681-1547

Dear Friend:

The decision has been made. Wichita will be facing a referendum in order to keep our Gay Human Rights Ordinance.

The Wichita City Commission on February 23, in a 3-2 vote, with Porter, Peters and Shanahan in the affirmative, made the decision to allow the voters the opportunity to cast their ballot for or against human rights. The election has now been set for May 9, 1978.

A massive educational campaign has been launched by HASC and its Board of Directors. A brochure has been prepared that will be mailed to as many of the 120,000-plus registered voters in the city as possible. However, costs will hinder this, unless we are able to receive some funding from an outside source.

At this time, funds are dwindling rapidly with new campaign ideas taking shape daily. It will run approximately $16,500 merely to mail the brochure to all registered voters, including printing costs. To conduct any campaign at all, you can readily see we will need thousands more.

There is a dedicated hard-working group of people working here in Wichita, who have made it possible to say we have a 50-50 chance of winning. A victory in the BIBLE BELT will give the gay community of this country a victory.

We urgently ask your aid in helping us secure funds. We cannot do it alone, nor can we refuse to fight. We are sending out a plea across the country. We are asking you to do what you can to advise your people of our URGENT NERD and how they may reach us.

Make contributions payable to:

Wichita is Determined

P.0.Box 2573

Vichita, Kansas 67201

or

Homophile Alliance of

Sedgwick County 316-681-1547 316-264-2204

Sincerely,

Robot Luis

Robert Levis Co-Director

Blaker

Tomu Homie Blaker Secretary

HAK

Page 17

Neil and for Philip, it also is for glasses and settle down to an us. easy life in an indulgent world; but I hope that at least in our own press, we can look at what is good in gay life and cease stumbling in the darkness.

I think what causes me most to despair is the fact that this article presupposes we must defend and attack our own position. I do not suggest that we all don our rose-colored

MY DAY

-ANONYMOUS

I woke up this morning and looked out the window The trees were all shaky and bare

I gazed at the sky and the clouds were all bleak I could see no confidence there.

I finished my shower then put on my robe And wished that my day would soon pass I went to the basin and started to shave And noticed a face in the glass

I looked at this face and I shivered apart

I was lonely and frightened inside

It looked like a man but a child full of doubt Was staring at me big and wide

I made it to work and got there on time But just as I got in the door

I paused for a moment and thought of myself As I never had thought of before:

Now, what can I do for that child in the glass--How can I make him a man? Break that glass with hatred and shame And really not give a damn? The day went along but I did my best And people had confidence in me They told me to try to just be myself What God had intended me be

I finished my work and went right home Only this time my head was above

I went back to that mirror and stared again And saw a man with love

So this is the tale of a child and a man The difference was in my heart

That face in the mirror staring back from that glass Had loved me right from the start.

STAGECOACH PARTY

Dear High Gear:

On Thursday, March 16th, the Stagecoach opened its doors to their patrons and friends and provided one of the finest unifying parties for the gay community to be seen in this area for a long time. The occasion was the St. Patrick's Eve Party of Metropolitan Community Church at the Stagecoach. The staff and management of the Stagecoach put out special hors, d'oeuvres trays and cheese trays which made the already festive event more so.

This kind of support and helpfulness can only totally benefit all of the members of the gay community. When we see the

SCADE

By Chuck Bengston

bars and the church working so closely together, it is then that we realize that these positive forces within our community are truly moving forward together toward far better conditions for us all. It is this kind of force that will someday really show the straight community that only by total liberation of all members of the community and cooperation with all parties can we all realize a far better existence. Our hats are off to the staff and management of the Stagecoach and the members of Metropolitan Community Church of Akron for this fine unifying action.

COMMUNITY

-Akron Anonymous

CHURCH

A Family Of Faith And Love Services: 12 Noon Sundays

131 So. Main St., Akron, Ohio For Information: (216) 434-6702