Page 6 HIGH GEAR August 1980
HIGH
GEAR
OPINION
A Publication of the Gear Foundation
VOLUME 6, ISSUE 11
1980 GEAR
HIGH GEAR journal is a publication of the Gay Educational and Awareness Resources (GEAR) Foundation of Cleveland Ohio It is distributed free of charge in any establishment and with any organization that will permit dis tribution. We are a non-profit federally as-esempt publication
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Mailbag
To the Editor:
Two nights ago, I was once again refused service in a "gay" bar. I have been out for five years and am coming out every day of my life. Thus I concluded that it had to do with my sex, not sexuality.
I am not only gay but I am also
a woman, a lesbian woman.
Because of this, I have virtually nowhere in Cleveland to party. The only "women's" bar in town
has drag shows, always includes a sizable number of men, and enforces so-called "illegal" racial quotas. All the rest of the bars. except for a precious few, have lesbian quotas if they allow women in at all.
I am not gay, I am angry. I am angry at "Dean's" for not serving
me..
I am angry at Traxx for letting any hetero-woman in but not letting me in as I am much a stereotype "dyke" as the stereotype "faggot."
I am angry at the owners of New Dimensions (ie. Jack Campbell, noted "gay" lib capitalist) for letting a women's bar go down the tubes for lack of funds, but then sees fit to spend countless thousands on a "men's" bar which is empty on a Saturday night. Goodness knows there are enough places exclusively male, bars, baths. bookstores, movie houses as
well as the totally male spaces in
the hetero-world.
I am angry that the "gays" in Cleveland can not only have the capital to own scores of businesses, support them in reasonably good fashion, and still have money left over to buy a whole building for a gay center but cannot see the need to help women their own lesbian
Editorial
Gay voter clout: use it or lose it
Gay voters have a great deal of power--power that needs to be used this year in a more conscientious and responsible manner than it has been in the past.
Gay voters across the United States have what is known as the swing vote. Many elections and most presidential ones are won by a few percentage points. The votes of any.large minority can swing an election one way or another.
Gays are estimated to make up about ten percent of the United States population. With widespread voter apathy and only about half of the eligible population bothering to vote, gays could easily have a larger percentage of the vote.
Official recognition of the power of gay voters is to be found in the 1980 Democratic Platform. For the first time in U.S. history the platform of a major political party is including a gay rights plank.
It says. "We must affirm the dignity of all people and the right of all people to have equal access and participation in the institutions and services of our society, including actions to protect all groups from discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, or sexual orientation.
"Ts includes specifically the right of foreign citizens to enter this country. Appropriate legislative and administrative actions to achieve these goals should be undertaken."
It is not unheard of for a plank to be included in the platform of a major party for other reasons besides a sense of decency and fair play. President Carter seems to have decided that more was to be gained politically by going after the votes of gay men and women than in going after the votes of those who feel affronted at gays being allowed outside of hell.
The gay vote that Carter has decided to go after was already being sought by independent presidential candidate John Anderson. Anderson, a member of the House of Representatives from Illinois. announced on April 21 that he had become the 55th co-sponsor of HR 2074, the federal gay rights bill in the House of Representatives.
Anderson appears to be doing all he can to let gays know what his position is. Asked by an interviewer for the Advocate if he would be appearing before gay groups during his presidential campaign, he relied, "Absolutely. I'd like to hear what they have to say, and let them hear me. You know they were very helpful to me in my congressional campaign a couple of years ago...I still remember with great fondness the support from all over the country."
With the power of gay voters being acknowledged this year by various candidates, gay men and women can do themselves the greatest harm by not voting carefully.
a
Seeing gays not cowering and not hiding is goading many different reactionary types into making more concerted grab to regain power and influence that they have been losing. To such people gays are a handy scapegoat. Showing off by bullying gays is a way of diverting attention from their own ineptitude.
Such bullying types need to be kept from getting the upper hand. Gays need to keep in mind that a bully is by definition someone who picks on those who appear to be unwilling or unable to defend themselves.
How gays vote this year will determine whether the bullies are scared off or whether they increase their harassment of gays.
Gay men and women, even the most closeted, have no excuse for not defending themselves by voting carefully. Voting in the United States is by secret ballot. Whom a person votes for and why' are not known unless the person cares to tell people. There is no exercise of power so important that can done with as much privacy. For gays, not voting is suicide by laziness.
R. Woodward
establishments, it seems that The Reagan question
raising that money would be simple and easy. "Gays" don't want lesbians in their "man's" world anyway.
I am angry that the "gay" liberationists can send busloads of people to Washington, DC. to protest gay oppression but then donot take an outspoken stand against and thus condone the sexist, racist, and clássist rules which engulf the "gay" nightlife of Cleveland.
Js there a point to this letter? For me the point was in the writing of it. After two years of living in Cleveland, my pent up rage. (Continued on Page,11)
In an article entitled "The Reagan Question" which appeared in the August 1980 issue of Playboy, author Robert Speer quotes once again the comments that Ronald Reagan made to him about gays for the interview story that appeared in the March 6 issue of the Los Angeles Times.
Said Reagan, "A fellow asked me if they should have the same civil rights and I said I think they do and should but that my criticism of the 1 gay rights movement is that it isn't asking for civil rights, it is asking for a recognition and acceptance of an alternate life style which I do not believe society can condone, nor can i .....
"You could find that in the Bible it says that in the eyes of the Lord, this is an abomination
"Look, what other group of people demands the same thing? Let's say here is the total libertarian or libertine, I should say who wants the right to just free and open sey"