Page 2 HIGH GEAR-FEBRUARY 1981

HIGH GEAR editor resigns

NEWS

"Out" burns, still prints

PITTSBURGH The offices of Out Publishing Co., the publisher of Pittsburgh's gay newspaper, Out, and of Gay Life and Gay News, were destroyed in an early morning fire, Sunday, December 14.

Also destroyed or damaged were nine other businesses including two mail order firms owned by Jim Austin, Out Publishing Co's. owner.

Lost in the fire were all back issues, production and office

GEAR Foundation trustees meet

By Paul Zimmerman

CLEVELAND The GEAR Foundation Board of Trustees held its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, January 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Gay Community Center, 2641 West 14th St.

At the meeting, the board accepted the resignation of HIGH GEAR's Editor, Carl Hammond, from his positions as editor, board trustee, and Vice-

President of Publications of the

Foundation.

Citing a return to college and a new job position, Mr. Hammond indicated that his resignation as editor would be effective with the completion of the March issue.

GEAR Board President John Lehner expressed the gratitude of the board and the community to Mr. Hammond, who has served on the paper's staff for several years and as editor since March 1980. His resignation brings to four the number of editors the paper has had in its six and onehalf year history.

In hopes of providing an easy transition to a new editor, the board established a search committee, headed by board trustee Patti Baskin, and aided by the present paper staff, to seek out qualified and interested community members.

In other business, the board released financial figures for the Foundation, and Vice-President of Finance Earl Korb termed the need of the Foundation for additional money "critical."

With bills and taxes payable of nearly $1400 by the end of January, cash on hand for the same period is expected to amount to no more than $750.

Much of this indebtedness is

due to utilities expenses derived from the move into the new center and will not be continuing at its present high level after the next several months; for that reason, optimism was expressed by Mr. Korb that the Foundation, with the community's help, could pull itself into a more secure position in the near future.

That optimism was bolstered by the announcement of a communique' from the National Gay Task Force in New York, indicating that Cleveland's gay community has the proud honor of being the only gay group in the country to own its own building.

In an effort to raise money, benefits stretching into May were announced, including a craft fair and auction in March and a white elephant sale in May.

Closer at hand are the Fazio's Benefit Days, February 16-19, during which Fazio's will donate to the Foundation 5% of all receipts from purchases made by GEAR members and friends identified by coupons being distributed through the community center. This offer excludes purchases of alcohol and cigarettes.

Those interested in doing their own shopping at Fazio's and in that way also aiding GEAR, should contact the Hotline at 621-3380.

The fund-raising committee also announced discounts available to GEAR Foundation members at The Arcade Art Gallery in the Arcade and at Downtown Books and News. Those with GEAR membership cards wil receive a 10% discount on all purchases over $5 at The Arcade Art Gallery; a 10% reduction has also been granted by

Downtown Books and News at West 6th and St. Clair on book and magazine purchases.

Negotiations for similar advantages are proceeding with Blossom Music Center, Cleveland Ballet, Weiss Furs, the Playhouse Square Foundation, and several other concerns.

The announcement was made that the community center is now the site of a functioning TTY

machine connected to the Hotline at 621-3381. Made available by the Buckeye Rainbow Society of the Deaf, the machine, it is hoped, will increase the outreach of the Foundation to deaf

Sonny Gerger, Dianne Fishman, Jim Stollings, and John Lehner with the GEAR Foundation's TTY.

Photo by Bill Suhay

members of the gay community.

All those interested are welcome to attend or telephone their concerns to the Gay Hotline, 621-3380 (TTY 621-3381).

In final business, the board elected Eric Andrews to the seat of Henry Henderson, vacant since last August.

The board also accepted the resignation of Alexandria Rudin, who will continue to function as GEAR counsel and ex-officio member of the board. Her seat and that of Carl Hammond will be filled at the next regular meeting of the board, 7:30 p.m., February 17, 1981 at the Gay Community Center.

equipment, as well as eight years of news files, photographs, and negatives, not only of Out, but also of Gay Life and Gay News. (Clevelanders will remember the Ohio Gay News, which had been published by Out, and which, until recently, was distributed in Cleveland area bars.)

The fire broke out within feet of the paper's second floor offices. Several days previous to this, a telephone caller had threatened "you faggots are going to fry at your meeting."

Out's publisher, Jim Austin. noted that this caller, unlike many cranks, "took the time to find out as much about our operation as he could before making his threat."

Despite the fact that the paper's news and advertising deadline would have been the following day, through the help of staff members and friends, Out was published on time. Publisher Austin promises to maintain the paper's regular publication schedule from its new location in suburban Shadyside, near Pittsburgh.

Readers of Out are asked to help in reconstituting the archive materials lost in the fire. It is hoped that one complete set each of Out, Gay Life and Gay News can be collected and deposited with the University of Pittsburgh's Hillman Library, the Mariposa Foundation, and Out Publishing Co.

Kent group plans for the 80's

As K.G.L.F. moves into its tenth year, the organization brings with it a new name and new outlook for the eighties.

The organization has officially changed its name from the Kent Gay Liberation Front to the Kent Gay/Lesbian Foundation. The reasons for the change are many and varied, the prime reason being a change to become more informational and resourceful to the gay community.

Alan McCord, male cochairperson of K.G.L.F., says, "The group believes the radicalism of the mid-seventies are days gone by, and we should build ourselves to be an informational and educational outreach to both the gay and straight communities. The former name brought a

Matlovich accepts $160,000 payoff

SAN FRANCISCO (IGNA) Former airman Leonard P. Matlovich, ousted from the ser'vice five years ago when he announced his homosexuality, and ever since a symbol of the gay struggle with the military, has dropped his claim to be reinstated in the Air Force in exchange for a $160,000 seitlement.

"This was the hardest decision

of my life," the 37-year-old Vietnam veteran said. "But I'm going to take the money and run. I'm going to use most of it to help gay causes."

Matlovich said he agreed to the settlement on the advice of his lawyer, who said that by the time the Air Force appeal reached the U.S. Supreme Court, in about three years, the "Reagan dominated" justices would rule

against him.

use the precedent established in his case to win financial payoffs for themselves. He said that the settlement was an admission that the Air Force had discriminated against him when he was dis-

Air Force Secretary Hans Mark said in Washington that the Air Force agreed to a deal whereby Matlovich dropped his claim and agreed not to re-enlist because "we continue to regard homo-charged with a blameless record. sexuality as fundamentally inconsistent with military service and wanted to avoid returning Matlovich to active duty."

Last month, federal Judge Gerhard Gesell ordered the Air Force to give Matlovich back his Matlovich urged other gays to stripes plus $61,434 in back pay.

sense of militantism to the group from outside organizations, basically those within Kent State.

"K.G.L.F. wished to correct that feeling in other organizations and promote the educational position it's taking with expansion to its library, expansion to its Speaker's Bureau, and the installation of a Crisis Line."

Since K.G.L.F. is becoming more educational in nature, it would appreciate any information any group or person could send regarding bibliographies of books, reviews of books, laws being passed throughout the country, new pamphlets, etc. Please send all materials to: Kent Gay/Lesbian Foundation, Room 239, Box 17 KSC, KSU, Kent, Ohio 44242.

Matlovich was supposed to go on active duty November 11, Veterans Day, but the Air Force told his lawyer, Patricia Douglas of Washington, D.C., that it was going to appeal the reinstatement to the Supreme Court.

Matlovich said that he may run again for public office.