Page 2 HIGH GEAR November 1980.

GEAR Trustees meet

NEWS

GEAR Foundation prepares for Nov. 1 move

At their October 21 regular meeting, the trustees of the GEAR Foundation made final preparations for the move of the Community Center from its present location, 1012% Sumner Ct., to its new and much considered location at 2641 West 14th Street in the near west side Tremont area of Cleveland. Building parties were scheduled for Saturday, October 25 and Saturday, November 1 to ready the building for the installation of the gay hotline phones and office and to subdivide the area of the new center which is presently one large room. At that time also, the furnishings of the present center will be transferred to West 14th

Street. An open invitation was extended to all-to participate these two Saturdays in this undertaking which will end in the broadening of the scope of the Foundation's activities and the installation of the Foundation as a property-owning entity in the growing near west side. By agreement with Ohio Bell, the gay hotline will ring between October 31 and November 3 at both the old and new locations; thereafter, the hotline will have definitively moved to Tremont.

In additional business, it was

reported at the meeting which was chaired by Trustee McGeorge that the interviews for the work-study position as secretary were progressing well; the application deadline was set for Wednesday, October 29, with the hiring to coincide with the move into the new center.

More new memberships were

recorded for the past month than had been received in any other

month of the Foundation's

history...

GCGC on TV

CINCINNATI (The Advocate)When Walter Williams of the Greater Cincinnati Gay Coalition (GCGC) and Mike Blevins of Just Friends disco went on local TV to present $2,000 raised during a Labor Day weekend carnival to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon, gay men and lesbians of Cincinnati could look back at a year of considerable accomplishment.

This year's Gay/Lesbian Pride Week drew the largest such crowd in Ohio, featuring a week of special events. The Yellow Page, the gay community's newspaper, has gone from two to 12 pages, and is now turning a profit. A new help line, rap groups and a special liaison to the City Health Department have come into being. A community center is planned. Still, much political work

Police contact

on murder

remains to be done. Mayor Kenneth Blackwell, who is black, refused to endorse Gay/Lesbian Pride Week and publicly denied that gays were a legitimate minority. This move breaks. precedents set by former mayors Bobbie Stern and Gerald Springer. County Prosecutor Simon Leis, who has made a career of sexual repression, is up for reelection. Arrests for alleged sexqual activities in suburban shopping center rest rooms continue unabated.

On the positive side, gay students at Miami University in nearby Oxford are suing school officials for denying their group official recognition and funding. As elsewhere, gay political organization is getting underway in Cincinnati. If money and votes can talk, reason local gay leaders, they'll come up with both,

Cleveland gays

Foundation President John hallway. Last seen about 9 p.m. Seeking information about the Wednesday, October 16, Liver Lehner, absent from the meeting. expressed hopes in a report that October 16 murder of Lakewood was suspected missing when he the increased visibility of the Gold Coast resident, Norman L. did not report to work the folFoundation and its activities Liver, Lakewood police detec-lowing day. Liver, formerly execthanks to both the owners of The tinue through the use of a posiThe Foundation expressed its might not end but should contives went to the October 17 rap Crown Cafe and to Ray Chesnick group at the Gay Community for the successful benefit perend the Foundation will contact, tive marketing strategy. To this Center, 10121⁄2 Sumner Ct., to ask for the help of the gay communformance held on October 3: regarding its move, allies in Tre-ity. The police spoke with GEAR which raised $160.80. Despite mont; social service organizaFoundation President John this benefit, it was noted that the tions; members of the city Lehner and other representatives Foundation remains in tight government and police represenof the community and requested financial circumstances and tatives; and "powerful individuals the aid of all in the search for a welcomes the new participation straight and gay" who are persolution. Liver was bloodily slain and memberships of all interest-ceived as possessing influence in his first floor Edgewater Towers apartment, and his mutilated body was left in the apartment

ed.

Additional thanks were officially transmitted to Channel 5 for its nightly coverage of gay community activities in fiveminute spots during the 11:00 news in the week of October 1318. The Foundation has drafted a

letter to be sent to Channel 5 in

thanks for its attention; this. added publicity provoked many favorable responses and elicited a six hundred per cent increase in hotline usage for the week.

of use to GEAR. In a related effort to inform its members of its activities, the Foundation announced. a newsletter which will be sent to members in order to keep them more aware of Board actions and decisions as well as fundraisers and events.

The next meeting of the Board of Trustees will be held in the new center at 2645 West 14th Street on November 18 at 7:30 p.m.

utive vice-president and operating officer of Lee A. Turzillo Contract Co., was a nationally known figure in foundation construction work and frequently acted as consultant and witness in court because of his expertise in his field. The police have asked that information relating to the murder be forwarded through the gay hotline, 621-3380. or directly to the Lakewood police, 521-1234.

The Northern Ohlo Coalition (NOCI) is offering a $1,000 reward for Information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer of Norman Liver. All infor mation should be given either to the Lakewood Police or Cleveland Police.

GEAR moves to Tremont

..

Ohio history will have been made November 1,. as for the first time ever, a gay community group moves into a building it owns and begins offering services to the community. The Gay Educational and Awareness Resources Foundation (GEAR) will open its new community center November 1, at 2641 West 14th Street in Cleveland. The culmination of nearly two years effort, the new community Icenter will offer a more professional Hotline office, Foundation offices, the first midwest gay resource library, production space for the High GEAR tabloid journal, 400 square feet of general meeting space; and office space for other,

2

gay organizations throughout the region.

The initial opening date set for May 1, 1980, had been delayed after meetings with some local residents revealed misunderstandings concerning the use of the new center and the gay community in general.

With concerted efforts between the leadership of the Foundation, the community, and the City of Cleveland. Community Relations Department, tensions have been eased substantially, and the board of Trustees determined in October that work on the new center should resume.

In all, it is estimated that

the new center will respond to the needs of over 50,000 gay men and women and their families in the next year. The need for a new center had been determined late in the summer of 1979, when Foundation statistics revealed a nearly 600% increase in use of its limited services over a one year period.

The current center at 1012 Sumner Ct. had been given to GEAR for a modest rental as temporary home after the Foundation lost everything in the Coventry Yard fire several years ago. Through the. generosity of Jack. Campbell, owner of Dimensions, and his manager. Sheldon Hanselman, the temporary,

quarters were permitted to become semi-permanent until GEAR decided it could afford to move, and needed to move to larger quarters.

From what research High GEAR has been able to do so far, the action on the part of the Cleveland Gay community regarding actual ownership of the properties relating to the community center, is one of the most unique in the country. The fact that the new building is self substaining is the most rare idea in operation in the nation, allowing all financial contributions and foundation funds to be applied to program activities. By 1987, the new *** center will net the gay

community $500.00 per month in income (in 1980 dollars), for basic programmatic expenses. The grand opening ceremonies will be held sometime in December when the center is fully. operational. The new center will open its doors to the community November 5, from 7-11 P.M. seven days a week. Full time staff will begin daily office hours 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. Monday through Friday, beginning December 1, 1980. MemIbers of the community are' urged to stop at the new center and see what their monies have allowed the largest gay social service organization in the state to do to improve the life of all 10: people napio das neer