White House gets anti-gay petition

An anti-gay petition containing over 74.000 signatures was delivered to the White House on March 21 by Moral Majority, Inc.. a right-wing "Christian" lobbying group.

The petition asks that the president and Congress take strong stands against abortion, and homosexuality and that they support prayer in public school and an increase in the national defense budget.

At a press conference held at the Mayflower Hotel before the petition was delivered President Carter was charged with being "soft" on homosexuality by Bob Jones III of Bob Jones University in South Carolina, fundamentalist "Christian" university.

Jones compared those who are homosexual to murderers, adding that it would be impossible for a homosexual to be a Christian, although a murderer could be because after confessing Jesus as Lord "he doesn't murder any more."

Bob Billings, executive director of Moral Majority said that his group's petition was in response to the petition drive conducted last fall by the National Gay Task Force.

The NGTF petition, presented to the White House on December 19, 1979, was accompanied by 54,000 signatures and called for President Carter to live up to his 1976 campaign pledge to end discrimination against gays in

Spring events at MCC

The Akron Metropolitan Christian Church is beginning their Spring activities and encourages the community to participate and attend. You are welcome at any or all of these events. On Sunday. May 18 there will be a potluck dinner following the 2:00 o'clock worship service.

tradition, the church worsnip service will move to Sunday evenings at 7:30pm during June. July, and August, at 3300 Morewood Rd. (across from Summit Mall). On Sat, June 14. the 3rd annual day at Cedar Point is planned. A $2. discount per ticket is available: call the church office

On June 1. following a six year at (216) 688-4492 for details.

Onofre decision appealed

On March 3, 1980 the District of Ononanga County, New York filed an appeal to the New York Court of Appeals in People v. Onofre.

That decision, which was handed down by the Appellate

Division, Fourth Department, on January 24, 1980, directly affecting 20 counties of western New York, held that the New York sodomy law was unconstitutional as a violation of a citizen's right to privacy.

the federal government.

It called for him to issue an execuutive order banning discrimination against gays in the federal government and asked him to publicly support and endorse the gay rights bill currently in Congress.

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CORRECTION: Sorry for our error

last month

government and asked him to Nantucket celebrates ten

The Moral Majority, Inc. which is an outgrowth of the ministry of Jerry Falwell of Lynchburg, Virginia, currently has 37 chapters nationwide.

Said Jones, who is one of the petition's organizers, "God's judgment is going to fall on America as on other societies that allowed homosexuality to become a protected way of life."

On June 29. Gay Pride Sunday. AMCC will have a potluck picnic at Turkeyfoot Lake, followed at 7:30 pm. by a special worship service of celebration and memorial for those who died in the struggle and continue the struggle for our rights. For further information or directions, call the church office: 688-4492.

The New York sodomy law, Section 130.38 of the Penal Law, prohibits oral and anal sex between consenting adults not married to each other.

APA changes terminology

Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, Chairperson of the American Psychiatric Association's Task Force on Nomenclature and Statistics and Chief of Psychiatric Research in the Psychiatric Institute of the New York State Office of Mental Health, has advised the National Gay Task Force that there is only a "slight change in emphasis" in the material relevant to homosexuality scheduled to appear in the soon-to-be-published third revision of the psychiatric profession's official Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. To be known as DSM-III it will replace the DMS-II published in 1974.

The DSM-II dropped homosexuality as a mental disorder from the seventh (1974) and subsequent printings of DSM-II substituting a new category, Sexual Orientation Disturbance. This diagnosis was for homosexuals who were "disturbed by, in conflict with, or wish to change their sexual orientation." In DSM-III, the category of Ego-dystonic Homosexuality modifies and replaces Sexual Orientation Disturbance.

"The change in terminology was made to make clear that the category was limited to individuals with a homosexual arousal pattern," writes the APA Task Force in the forthcoming DSMIII. "Changes in the definition of the category emphasize the impairment in heterosexual functioning. Ego-dystonic Hound-

sexuality is not included as a

Paraphilia in DSM-III, in contrast to the inclusion of both Homosexuality and Sexual Orientation Disturbance in DSM-II, as Sexual Deviations, because in DSM-III the Paraphilias are limited to conditions that are associated with (1) preference of the use of a nonhuman object for sexual arousal, (2) repetitive sexual activity with humans involving real or simulated suffering or humiliation, or (3) repetitive sexual activity with nonconsenting or inappropriate partners."

According to unproofed gallies of the new DMS-III, the Egodystonic Homosexuality cate gory "... is reserved for those homosexuals for whom chang ing sexual orientations is a persistent concern, and should be avoided in cases where the desire to change sexual orientations may be a brief, temporary manifestation of an individual's difficulty in adjusting to a new awareness of his or her homosexual impulses."

GODMOTHER'S D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

CAROL JEAN CASTLEBERRY

Happy Hours 4-8 P.M. Daily

1014 E. 03rd STREET

CLEVELAND

Nantucket owner Teddy Swingos (left) and John Jordon; bartener The Nantucket Lounge celebrated its tenth anniversary on Feb. 17 with a party hosted by owner Ted "Teddy" Swingos.

place for both east and west siders.

The lively crowd of long-time patrons and friends were treated to a luscious champagne buffet. During the cocktail hour, drink prices were reduced to the prices of 1970, the year The Nantucket opened as a popular meeting

Redecorating is currently underway with new carpeting. lighting, and mirrors adding to the already warm and friendly ambience.

The Nantucket is located at 11624 Clifton Rd., Cleveland and is open daily from 1 p.m. to 2:30

a.m.

Need help packing, Anita?

London, UK During a conversation with an English freelance journalist which was later reported in Gay News, Anita Bryant's husband, Bob Green, confirmed that the actress-singer was not only coming there with her family for recording sessions, but also that some consideration was being given to moving to the United Kingdom. He added that the family had often considered settling in Oxford. Gays, he suggested, were becoming too aggressive in the States. "They're asserting their power there. They don't act like that in Britain."

troversialists." A 30-minute interview had been scheduled with her on March 13 for transmission a few days later, but the producer of the series was contacted by Bryant's secretary in February and told that she would not be in London on that date.

Ms. Bryant even has a favorite pub in Oxford, The Swan. To no one's surprise, it is not listed in any of the British gay guides.

During his conversation with the freelance journalist, who never; raised the question of

homosexuality, Green inter-

rupted his volunteered remarks on gays, stating in a wondering tone, "Why am I telling you all Courtesy GPU News

the UK, Bryant will take part in a this?" Why indeed? During the family's next trip to low-budget BBC religious television program entitled, "The Con-

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