Page 6 HIGH GEAR DECEMBER 1980
J
CEAR
OPINION
A Publication of the GEAR Foundation
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 4
1980 GEAR
HIGH GEAR 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 distribution. It is a non-profit, federally tax-exempt publication.
The presence of the name or picture or other representation of an organization, place of business or person(s) in HIGH GEAR is not necessarily indicative of the sexual orientation of such organizations or persons.
All contributions of written materials, art work or photography by members of the gay community are welcome. All materials submitted for publication are subject to editorilization. The return of materials submitted for publication, whether used by HIGH GEAR or not, cannot be guaranteed unless accompanled by a self-addressed stamped envelope.
ALL HIGH GEAR staff members are volunteers. Anyone interested in working on the staff of HIGH GEAR should inquire by calling (216) 621-3380 or by writing to HIGH GEAR, P.O. Box 6177, Cleveland, Ohio 44101.
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The deadline for HIGH. GEAR publication is the 15th of the month for advertising and written material. News items accepted until the date of publication.
HIGH GEAR will not publish material deemed to be of a racist, sexist or pornographic nature. HIGH GEAR reserves the right to alter and/or edit material to conform to the above standards in the case of display advertising. after notifying the advertiser.
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EDITOR
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Printed by THE CALL AND POST
Carl Hammond
Bill Suhay Bob Roehm Bob Kovach David Kahle Paul Charles Paul Zimmerman David Kellogg Rick Snyder R. Woodward Win Welzer
Gordon Hathaway Dianne Fishman Barbara Lee Jeff Wobbecke
Gail Buriee Marcia Perry Lori Cecelich
Dan Kahn Tracey Ryan
Holiday Greetings
Mailbag
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE OHIO GAY COMMUNITY
I would like to express my heart felt THANKS to O.G.R.C.. K.G.L.F., The GEAR Foundation, High Gear. Gold Magazine. Integrity. Cascade Community Church, Boobie's Why Not Club. The Club Akron, The Club West Ninth and all the individuals who have given me both support and help in all my endeavors as a gay activist.
Throughout the past six years. this support and help has accomplished much growth and unity througout Ohio's Gay Community.
Again, Thank You.
To The Editor:
Sincerely Steve Jobe
Editorial
Anti-gay activists: home wreckers.
With the recent conservative sweep in national elections, the Biblical admonition to beware of wolves in sheep's clothing has become more relevant than ever.
To get into positions where they can glut their appetites for power unrestrained, all too many politicians have been manipulating irrational fears that the general public has about gay men and women. Claiming to be saviors of American families, these politicians are actually among their worst enemies.
Except for an occasional orphan, all gays are members of families. All gays are somebody's children. Many gays are somebody's parents.
Rather than making families stronger, anti-gay activists make them weaker and more vulnerable by turning their members against each other.
Parents of gays are made to stab their own children in the back, either wittingly or unwittingly, and children of gays are encouraged to betray their own parents.
Anti-gay activity makes gay men and women who are parents, of which there are several million in the United States, less secure in decent jobs needed to support their families.
Many gay mothers and fathers face legalized child stealing, otherwise known as losing custody, because a judge and an ex-spouse or some relative are so obsessed with the parent's sexual orientation that they do not bother to consider other factors that determines a child's well being.
Besides tearing families apart, anti-gay activists can also be a corrupting influence on a family's more impressionable members.
Anti-gay activists frequently like to hide their intolerance behind a mask of charity and amiability, and to do so they propagate the myth (which is frequently a gross lie) that nobody bothers gay men and women as long as they stay in the closet.
Young people learn from this myth that people are punished, not for being gay, but for being honest about it. Young people are being taught that there is nothing wrong with using lies and hypocrisy to get ahead.
The religious instruction that young people get from anti-gay activists consists chiefly of learning different techniques for violating the Commandment which says, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." As long as it feels good to make accusations against gays, young people are taught, why bother to make sure that any of them are true?
For civics lessons, young people are taught by anti-gay activists to violate two basic principles of American justice--the principle that people are innocent until proven guilty and the principle, that the accused has a right to answer the accusers.
Practically everything said by anti-gay activists reveals the underlyThe following letter was writing assumption that gays are always guilty and that any evidence to the contrary is beside the point. When accused by anti-gay activists, gay men and women are not asked what they have to say for themselves. They are usually ignored totally or told to shut up.
ten to me one week after I broke a seven month engagement to a very special woman in my life. Of these seven months, only two were the number of months she knew anything about my gay life. Her acceptance of my Gay life
has showed me her love for me. R.L.:
"How are you today? I hope you are feeling good! I love the cover of this cardit's wild! I am surprised that I am actualy sending you these. (she is referring to 2 Gay greeting cards she sent me with the letter.) But I know you. you won't think twice about it, so I won't either.
I have to tell you something. I admire your courage and your strength so much! After you had. made your 'disclosure' to me. and I have begun to scrape the surface of the subject, I realize more and more how courageous you really are. You probably already know what I am going to tell you, but I want you to know that I am beginning to understand, and I am learning many different things.
I pondered for awhile how you
must have been feeling and what you were thinking for all those years when you were 'in the closet." Maybe you lived in fear of other persons finding out, or -fear of accepting it yourself. And once you accept it yourself, then what? How-do-you-handle-it? Continued on Page 3)
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If encouraged to follow the examples of anti-gay activists, many young people are likely to turn into bad citizens who pollute religion and wallow in it like smug, self-centered hogs.
Anti-gay activists are the enemies of all parents and guardians who are trying to teach children how to be honest. Anti-gay activists are America's leading home wreckers.
R. Woodward
Are most gays parents?
As this month's issue of HIGH GEAR is being prepared there is a great deal of discussion among staff members as to whether the phrase of "If not most" should be removed from the sentence In this month's editorial, "Many, If not most, gays are somebody's parents."
A number of staff members, Including the editor, say that the phrase is likely to strike most readers as being an obvious exaggeration and that leaving it In would lessen the credibility of the entire editorial.
The editorial writer argues that even if the phrase does startle many people, It is supported by historical, sociological, and anthropological evidence:
Throughout history, tolerance and openness in dealing with homosexual behavior, and even
enthusiastic acceptance of it. have not meant any reported decline in any society's birth rate. Plato and Aristotle, both raised in Athens where homosexuality seems to have been almost universally accepted, expressed worries about overpopulation.
Nobody has done any exhaustive survey, but many of the individuals now widely noted for being gay in different historical periods were parents. Some examples: Socrates, Oscar Wilde, Edward II, and Richard the Lion Hearted.
Reproduction requires only very small portion of what most people have in the way of sexual energy.
The idea that people cannot be parents because-much-if-not
(Continued on Page:8)