Page 6 HIGH GEAR

opinion

OUR NEXT STUDY WILL BE ON THE SEXUAL DISFUNCTION OF THE

AMERICAN BIGOT!

TO THE COMMUNITY:

Three of us watching the panel discussion on PBS following "Word Is Out" were all struck with a particular interchange toward the end of the show. One of the panelists was addressing the fact that many straight people do not want to see drag queens teaching in our public schools, and another panelist enjoined, "We don't either."

The panelists did an excellent job, and a service to the gay com-

munity that deserves our heartfelt thanks. At the same time, we feel that this remark should not pass unchallenged. To begin with, drag queens are a part of our community too. We all cannot identify with various segments of our gay community, but let us make very certain that we do not disenfranchise them in disagreeing with a different lifestyle.

Second, the contributions of drag queens to the furtherment of gay liberation are not in incon-

CEAR

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EDITOR

Dan Miecznikowski

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erable, especially when you consider that it was a handful of "queens" who stood up to the cops at Stonewall, showed us that we had worth and could fight back, and thereby launched the Gay Liberation Movement. A good argument can be made that without that handful of drag queens in New York in 1969, neither "Word Is Out," the panel discussion, or this paper would exist. So we owe them a lot.

Third, it is the drag queens and the diesel dykes who are most often on the front lines, who cannot and will not "pass", who have no closet to hide in. They face everyday the homophobia, the sexism, the stereotyping. In many ways the drag queen and diesel dykes do more by their very existence to change and

challenge heterosexist society simply because they are visible, proud, and refuse to play the game.

Finally, it is important for us to remember that the message of gay lib is not simply our right to be as middle-class as the next person, but to bring about some fundamental changes in society's treatment of its minority members. We cannot do this while standing on the backs of

---courtesy of Arizona Gay News

cur own minorities. We cannot stigmatize our own effeminate males and masculine females in order to advance our cause. What kind of cause would this be? Our message to straight society must be: "It Does Not Matter What My Lifestyle Is -It is My Value As An Individual Human Being That Counts."

Cautious optimism

By LJ. HERSHKOFF

In the wake of Marvin vs. Marvin "unmarried unions" have become a hot media topic. As usual, few of the coinmentaries acknowledge the millions of gays and lesbians who share their lives--or substantial portions of their lives together in Marvin --type unions

It is estimated that there are some six million heterosexual adults living together "without the benefit of marriage." I am not aware of any statistic on the number of homosexuals involved in simiolar relationships. However, realizing that gay and lesbian couples don't have the option of marrying, it may reasonably be assumed that there are an equal or greater number of homosexual couples lovingly joined in unmarried unions. Thus the evolution of legal protection (and entanglement) for cohabitating partners is an area in which the courts and legislatures must be made to recognize and respect the interest, needs and concerns of several million homosexual couples.

There is no reason to differentiate between unmarried homosexual and heterosexual unions. In both the involved adults have chosen, in a variety of patterns and with varying degrees of commitment, to cohabit in loving alliances. Indeed, if there is to be any differentiation then, logi-

cally, homosexual unions should enjoy greater legal solicitude and protection because we don't have the option of entering into "lawful wedlock."

Marriage, as a legal concept. exists for numerous purposes. It Stegally possible for a marriage to be recognized for some purposes and not for others. For example, the state of Ohio may refuse to recognize a marriage for spousal inheritance rights because the marriage was bigamous when contracted. while the Social Security Administration may accept it and award benefits to the surviving spouse.

There is no reason why unmarried unions cannot similarly be accepted for some purposes and not for others. For ecample, the time may be approaching when long-term homosexual unions may be recognized as a sifficient basis upon which to permit the filing of joint tax returns, to grant Social Security benefits, to accept a lover's claim of a "spousal" privilege against testifying, or to permit ex-lovers to petiton the courts to equitably disentangle their economic and legal affairs.

From our present historical vantage point one must be an optimist to suggest that the courts may one day grant some

Riki Anne Witchin -Dan Miecznikowski Wendy L. Yockey

of the protections and benefits historically reserved for married heterosexuals to gay and lesbian lovers involved in Marvin-type unions. However, a mere decade ago only the most wishful dreamers would have predicted that in 1979 literally millions of lesbians and gay men would openly and proudly assert their inalienable right to be themeselves, that the courts would create "palimony" for "ex-cohabitators," and that gay, lesbian arid feminist issues would be seriously debated in legislatures from Main to California. From this persepective one realizes that our legal system-with all its imperfections, prejudices, costs and delays can, weith a lot of hard work and inevitable defeats along the way, be made to recognize that all the rights and benefits of marriage should not be denied to millions of cohabitating couples merely because the bonds of fidelity happen to link two women or two men.

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