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HIGH GEAR

opinion

Gay groups barely survive

By Steve Jobe

Are we leaving ourselves undefended only to be pushed back into the closet? NGTF. GEAR. OGRC and many more organizations are feeling the bite of gay apathy. Ten years ago, none of these organizations existed. Today they are, but what about tomorrow?

HIGH

The fight against this apathy is currently going on. GEAR is making every effort to keep Cleveland's Gay Community Center open. A 50/50 contest is being held not only to fund the center, but to expand the Gay Hotline with an Ohio toll-free number, OGRC's 1979 fair booth,

GEAR

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A Publication of the Gear Foundation

HIGH GEAR journal is a publication of the Gay Educational and Awareness Rescurces (G.E.A.R.) Foundation of Cleveland, Ohio. It is distributed free of charge in any establishment and with any organization that will permit distribution. We are a non-profit, federally tax-exempt publication.

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 per-

sons.

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 envelope.

All HIGH GEAR staff are volunteers. Anyone interested in working on the staff of HIGH GEAR should inquire by calling (216) 621-3380 or by writing to HIGH GEAR, P.O. Box 6177, Cleveland, Ohio 44101.

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The deadline for HIGH GEAR publication is the 15th of the month for advertising and written material. News items accepted until the date of publicetion.

HIGH GEAR will not publish material in which graphic or verbal representstions 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.

HIGH GEAR is copyrighted under federal law. Reproduction is granted to all other gay publications so long as credit is given to HIGH GEAR.. AII HIGH GEAR work is original unless otherwise noted.

Dan Miecznikowski,

Steve Jobe, Akron

Rob Davis, Columbus Advertising:

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Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor

Jim Lewis, Michael Prunty Distribution and Subscriptions; Mark Kinsley, Tom David, Jeff Ramsey

Layout: Billy Hawk, Robbie Robinson, Carl Howard, R. Woodward, 'Rick Cureton.

Circulation: 11,000 throughout the United States

and GEAR's publication. High Gear. Although the final tally is not in, already gay apathy seems to be apparent.

Gear's Gay Community Center of Cleveland is providing many necessary and vital functions for the gay movement that were not available ten years ago. David Conly, former New Yorker, recently moved to Cleveland and he explains how the center has helped him. "When I first came to Cleveland a few short months ago because of a job change. I knew nobody gay here and I didn't quite know where to go to be with people of a similar lifestyle. I called Ohio Bell for information and they told me of two gay listings, the gay hotline and community center. When I called the hotline, they told me of bars, churches and even a rap group where you could meet people with a similar lifestyle. They' told me to pick up a copy of High Gear, which I did, and since then

I have met many new friends." Ten years ago, David Conly would have been out of luck unless he could contact another gay person.

GEAR's Gay Community Center of Cleveland has also served as a meeting place for many other functions besides housing the hotline and rap sessions. High Gear uses the center four nights a month for preliminary newspaper layouts. Also, the GEAR' board of trustees hold meetings there the 3rd Tuesday of each month which are attended by people from the gay community and leaders of other gay organizations. All this happens because there are many gays who are not apathetical and offer their time and money to help the cause. Even Dimension's Disco helps by leasing the center's space to GEAR at very nominal monthly rates.

Editorial

Gay nothings

Being gay in Cleveland is not too dangerous because overt persecution, like most other things, is something that most Clevelanders are too lazy to engage in. Grateful to that which has left them spared, most Cleveland gays tend to regard laziness as being a friendly local deity and find solace in helping to worship him.

Not the least of the attractions of Laziness as a deity is that he is very undemanding to his devotees. All he requires in the way of ardor is smugness, and the only sin that he finds unforgivable is trying to have integrity.

In the February 22 issue of The Advocate there appears an article on gays in Cleveland, on how they live and how they think. Several gays from the Cleveland area were interviewed and are quoted. This article shows that in giving opinions about gay life in Cleveland, allusions to the worship of Laziness are about as easy to avoid as moisture in a swamp --even though the actual word "laziness" does not happen to get used in the article. (Among the ancient Hebrews, one recalls, one did not directly utter the name of God.)

Noting that many people will tell you that the relationship in Cleveland between the police and the gay community is "rather comfortable," David Feltham, one of the founders of the Gay Activisits Alliance of Cleveland (now defunct), suggests that the only thing that can be described as being "hot, very hot" is apathy

Says Jeff Rhodes, a student working towards a Ph.D in organizational development, "No one's putting any effort into getting involved in politics--or anything else for that matter.

"Life is a game," Rhodes adds, "and to get ahead you have to play, be involved, participate. We just haven't been doing that in Cleveland."

Being involved, participating: there is no evidence to be found in The Advocate's article that the absence of these in Cleveland among gays is due to any lack of resources--material, financial, or intellectual. Most Cleveland gays have not found after consideration that they cannot or dare not participate in any gay activities; most Cleveland gays have not bothered to do any considering at all.

As The Advocate's article indicates, gays in Cleveland have great potential. But just to have great potential and to not bother to find any uses for it, is to have in actuality nothing.

Mail Bag

Dear Editor:

L. J. Hershkoff's article on page 12 of the February issue of High Gear regarding solicitation laws is in error.

1.) Ohio's same-sex solicitation law --better known as importuning and found as Ohio Revised Code section 2907.07 (B) is not

Columbus City Codes section 2307.04 (B) whch outlawed all offensive solicitation same and other-sex.

Repeal of the state law is a high priority for Ohio Gay Rights Coalition in 1979. Repeal of this section will be included in a bill

"still on the books" legally speak-which will be introduced for us.

ing. The Cincinnati case referred to was not a city ordinance --it was the state law thrown out by the First District Court of Appeals on March 29, 1978 State vs. Phipps.

2.) The Columbus case, Columbus vs. Scott, in 1975 threw out

tions could receive proper gay funding, the movement would not only be financed, but would

have a better foundation and would put the first spike in the death of gay apathy. Running gay organizations on shoe strings because of gays being apathetical should be a thing of the past.

This gay apathy I speak of is not only in individuals, but in many businesses too. High Gear, for example, carries about $2,900.00 in advertising receivable on its books because the advertisers tend to be noncaring. Apathy like this causes High Gear just to get by.

From time to time, area bars hold benefits to help GEAR fund its programs such as High Gear and the center. This certainly helps, however, if all the gay bars in Cleveland would agree to one uniform weekend and turn over a $2 cover charge, the money generated would operate GEAR'S Community Center and High Gear for a year. For that matter, if all the gay bars in Ohio would hold a statewide weekend that door cover charges would be turned over so that all organiza-ago.

If you are gay, think back ten years providing you were aware of your gayness then. There was no OGR, no GEAR, no High Gear. If gay apathy continues, History could repeat itself until we are where we were ten years

probably in the Spring.

..

--George Painter

GEAR Glad-very-to see a newspaper published in much-maligned Cleveland! We are everywhere! But (goodbye est) the December issue to relegate the Milk assassination to the sixth page is inexcusable even if in December it would be old news next to the Pink Triangle victims of WW II the assassination is the biggest story in more than 30 years! Anyway good luck and much love in your venture. Keep those words coming --on any page!

Paul Nash, Los Angeles (con't on page 8)

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