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Gay rights planks sought

Under the auspices of the Gay, Rights Nationa! Lobby a National Convention Project has been launhed to try to have gay rights planks included in the 1980 platforms of both the Democratic and Republican parties.

A budget of $120,000 has been projected for the project and two coordinators have been hired, Mary Spottswood Pou and Tom Bastow.

The chief benefit of efforts to secure such major party planks, Bastow said, would lie less in getting the planks themselves than "in getting gay people organized politically to affect national politics."

Ideas for the planks, Bastow said, can be found in the demands of the March on Washington-an executive order banning discrimination in federal employment practices, support for the passage of the gay civil rights bill, HR 2074, and a call for the reform of practices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The program will focus on getting local gay organizations to give more attention to national affairs rather than on creating a new national organization.

The National Convention Project will contact and keep in touch with existing gay organizations, Bastow said, "get them adequate information, to make sure they're aware of each step in the convention process and that they're participating." The pro-

ject will try to achieve some sort of consensus among varius male and female gay organizations as to what the wording of the platform plans should be.

The $120,000 projected for the project's operating budget is expected to come from foundation gra a direct mail campaign using mailing lists from such campaigns as No on 6 and the campaigns in Dade County and St. Paul, and local fund raising efforts.

Bastow said that there are basic things for local and state organizations of gays, male and female. to do to help make the project a success: 1) They should "let presidential candidates know that there are gay people around, all over the country," by being present at town meetings, by mailing questionnaires to candidates, by inviting candidates to speak at local forums. 2) They should "lobby the platform writing processes of both national parties" to let candidates know that gay rights is a base on which they are going to vote. 3) They should run members of their organizations as delegates to the Republican and Democratic national conventions.

Valeska, Co-executive Directors of the National Gay Task Force, Steve Endean, Executive Director of the Gay Rights National Lobby, and Carolyn Handy who holds board positions with both the National Gay Task Force and the Gay Rights National Lobby.

Run-off elections

for San Francisco

No candidate for mayor, District Attorney, sheriff, or District 5 Supervisor received a majority of the votes in the November 6 municipal elections in San Francisco. Who will occupy these positions will have to be decided by a run-off election on December 11 between the two candidates for each position who got the highest number of votes.

Diane Feinstein, appointed mayor after the slaying last year of Mayor George Moscone. received 81,115 votes, or 42 percent. She did not do so well as had been predicted by local political observers. Quentin Kopp, a conservative Democrat and District 10 Supervisor, received 77,784 votes, or 40.4 percent.

Gay candidate David Scott, a former president of the Board of Permit Appeals, received 18,506 votes, or approximately 9.6 percent of the votes cast.

Pre-election polls showed Feinstein running as much as 11

Kent gays harrassed

Rock-throwing and a general tone of harassment directed toward gays have become too familiar occurrences. say members of the Kent Gay Liberation Front.

KGLF members met at Kent

State University on Monday. October 29, to discuss ways to protect members and their office from violence and vandalism The meeting was called specifically because two windows were smashed at the organization's offices in the Student Center. In another incident, a student member was hit in the head by a rock after a Halloween dance on campus.

Harassment has ranged from threatening telephone calls to the KGLF office to a coffeethrowing incident involving visiting Ball State University athletes.

One student reported that a rock had been thrown through a KGLF member's dormitory window

The group has reported acts of violence to police, but so far have received little response. In one case, two Ball State students were apprehended and taken to the Student Center office. However, police said that they could

(Conta. o

percent in front of Kopp. On the front page of the November 7 issue of the San Francisco Examiner the banner headline read, "Feinstein stunned." Most of the city's gay newspapers and gay political clubs endorsed either Scott or Kopp.

In the race for the office of District Attorney Arlo Smith received 70,000 votes, incumbent Joseph Freitas 46,000 votes, and Carol Ruth Silver, Supervisor of District 6, 41,000 votes.

Freitas, whose showing is widely regarded as being a poor second, was the prosecutor for the Dan White murder trial. Freitas is now prosecuting those charged with rioting on May 21 in response to the verdict reached in the Dan White case. The defense of those accused of rioting has tried, unsuccessfully, to have Freitas removed from the case on the grounds that the rioting was largely directed against Freitas and his staff and that Freitas could hardly be expected to handle the case fairly.

In the race for sheriff incumbent Eugene Brown received 48,000 votes, or 25 percent, and challenger Mike Hennessey received 78,000 votes, or 44 percent of the total. Brown was appointed sheriff when Richard Hongisto left the office to become Chief of Police in Cleveland. Hennessey is is a former Hongisto aide.

In heavily gay District 5 voters had 12 candidates to choose between. In the run-off election will be Harry Britt, the incumbent, who was appointed to replace slain supervisor Harvey Milk, and Terence Hallinan. Britt received 27 percent of the vote and Hallinan 22 percent of the vote.

as delegates to the Republican MCC/Columbus gets new pastor

The project is, at present, incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia where the Gay Rights National Lobby is located. The director of the National Convention Project are Charles F. Brydon and Lucia

25,000 march in memory of Milk, Moscone assassinations

by Jim Lansdowne SAN FRANCISCO---Over 25,000 people, mostly gay, lighted candles and converged on Castro Street to begin the 1 1/4 mile march to City Hall in commemoration of slain gay supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. It was the first anniversary of their untimely deaths, November 27, 1979.

The crowd was led by the Gay Freedom Day Marching Band which played the funeral march. Candles were burning in windows all along the route, as San Franciscans expressed their support of the march. It took 2 1/2 hours for the last marcher to reach City Hall.

On the steps of the very build-

ing in which the two men were assassinated, some of the people who were closest to them spoke to the crowd. Cleve Jones, who had served as an aide to Milk said, "We are deadly serious, we are growing in power every day and we will not be stopped." The crowd raised their candies and roared.

"The candles you hold tonight represent the vision these two men had, they light the way for others to fight for freedom," commented Jennifer Moscone, the former Mayor's daughter.

Gay Supervisor Harry Britt, who was appointed to fill Milk's seat, said, "The family of George

(Conta. on page 4)

By Bob Roehm MCC/Columbus has called a new pastor, Rev. Rob Shivers, from Texas. She most recently served as the assistant pastor of MCC/Kansas City, and served previously with MCC's in Dallas and Austin.

Born in Birmingham, Ala., Rev. Rob grew up in many cities,

especially in the South. She is

a

feminist and has been a Gay acti-

vist since the movement began.

In the American Southwest, she founded several Lesbian organizations, and was often involved in the planning of Gay Pride events. She has appeared on radio and TV, speaking on the issue of homosexuality. She has been the Gay representative to numerous groups and confer-

ences.

Previously licensed as an Assemblies of God minister, she is now ordained in the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. During the years before she joined MCC, she felt that her calling was to minister to the Gay community. While she was in Dallas, in another church, she heard about MCC, just forming in Los Angeles. She traveled to L.A., to see what was happening, and

returned to form MCC/Dallas.

When asked about the goals she has for the Gay community in Columbus, she stated, "I want to see the community working together in a loving, cohesive way. MCC should be serving in an integrated way in that community."

"MCC is here to serve all people who are in need, not just Gay people. We need healing and strength, and we need to teach people to love themselves."

MCC meets Sundays at 2:00 at the northeast corner of Twelfth and Indianola. MCC phone number is (614) 294-3026.

Akron gets Akron gets gay community center

On Sunday, December 2, the doors will open on the first Gay Community Center in Akron, Ohio. Cascade Community Church will hold services at the Center at 2:00 P.M., followed by an "Open House".

The Center, located at 356 South Main Street will offer a variety of services to the Akron /Canton gay community such as "rap" groups, the formation of a "Parents' of Gays" organization, regularly scheduled social functions, and counseling in all areas of concern to gay people. Rev. C. Shawn Farrell, pastor of Cascade Community Church, said that Center also plans to set up a library where books and printed material dealing with gay issues would be available.

The facility, although leased by the church, will not be a reli-

gious organization, but will direct its energies to meeting the every day needs of gay men and women. The Center will operate under the church's Ohio nonprofit charter initially and all donations received by the church will be used to operate the Center. Regular office hours will be maintained and the Center will also provide the gay community with a place to socialize apart from the bar scene.

Eventually, the Center will have its own Board of Trustees and organizational structure. It is also believed that time will prove the validity of the Center and applications for grant funding can be made. Initial lease on the property is for six months with an automatic option for renewal with the owners.