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Responses to "....falls flat"

Dear Mr. Hunter,

I'm sorry that all the people around you are ugly. It must be very tiresome for you. I'm also sorry that you weren't successful in picking up a trick at the bars. I assume that it was this set of circumstances that led you to your evaluation of Cleveland hedonism.

Your article is helpful when it points out that Cleveland is not San Francisco, or Los Angeles or New York. You're right when you say that in terms of hedonism, these cities have it all over Cleve-

land. No doubt about it.

Since you look fabulous in jeans and a T-shirt, you might find the Castro clones more to your liking. Us fat, ugly and outof-it people will just have to try to carry on without you.

Thomas O'Brien

Dear HIGH GEAR: I have to respond to the letter written by that fabulous (?) body. Richard A. Hunter attacking Cleveland and the gay men who live here.

If everything is so bad here, why don't you return to that place "out of the country" (could it have been Fantasy island?) that you came from?

You are wrong. We haven't missed you at the bar. We've just ignored you.

My difficulty with your article is that you seem to see us only at our worst: hunting in the bars, evaluating each others' bodies, hoping desperately for a loved encounter over a drink in Dean's. I've seen you, oh fabulous In fact, you seem fascinated with body, in your original and "indionly a part of the gay (and les-vidual" look of Levis and T shirt. bian) scene in Cleveland. StatisAt least I think it was you. (About tics show, of course, that most 300 people had the same outfit lesbians and gay men don't live in on.) bars; we live in homes. But you seem so preoccupied with the bars that you overlook the rest of

us.

We do have another side-less glamorous, certainly, and not nearly as entertaining. Some of us want more than "pleasant bartenders, breathable air and cruisy johns."

The Gay Community Center (2641 W. 14th St.) provides a focus for a lot of dedicated lesbians and gay men who want to make life better for themselves and their sisters and brothers.

It's too bad that you didn't visit the Center. There are a lot of

good things happening there. And, who knows? Maybe after a visit to the Center, you might be persuaded to give self-sacrifice a try, since hedonism doesn't seem to be working too well for you.

I guess you've been able to avoid hassles from the straight world. Most of us haven't. It's easy to be gay in San Francisco; in Cleveland, it's hard. (The public in Parma is a little different from the public in San Francisco.)

You're right when you say that Cleveland is a closeted town. There's little public support or acceptance of lesbians and gay men. If politicians talk about gay people here, it's usually bad. You seem ignorant about and callous toward the pain and grief that a lot of lesbians and gay men go through in Cleveland. Those of us who live here know that being gay is risky; being part of the Community Center is even more risky. But we take the risks and somehow go on.

You seem cavalier about the problems of gay married men. Again, I guess you don't know too much about the problems that gay married men go through. Too bad. After a while I begin to wonder.

Who is the "man with warm hands but a cold heart"?

There are some of us in Cleve'land who go beyond a "lust for a hedonistic lifestyle." For all those hedonists out there, your assessment of Cleveland is probably accurate. For the rest of us, it's your article -and not Cleveland--that falls flat.

I think we were at The 620 the first time I saw you. Weren't you the one standing against the wall, staring straight ahead? Trying to look butch, I assume.

I thought you were looking at someone -until I got closer and noticed the full length mirror you carry around with you. (Since you've been lifting weights for over a year," it is not much of a strain on your back to always carry with you.)

Come off it. If you are lonely, leave the mirror and the attitude at home. A lot of people are beautiful in this city, inside as well as

out.

You complain at one point of bars being crowded and noisy and "crotch level mentality," and then you write several paragraphs later that all that is really wanted from bars are "pleasant bartenders, breathable air, and cruisy johns." Whose crotch level mentality?

Yes, a lot of people do go to Exedra on Tuesdays, and to Dimensions on Saturdays, right after Keys, of course. And why not? The music is great, the people very nice.

me throw up. Your type of mentality makes

You think that if you stand around long enough, all the time holding your stomach in and making sure the arms are in a constant state of tension, people should fall at your feet.

Give me someone who may be 10 pounds overweight, in designer jeans, who knows how who can't/won't cross a room to talk, anyday, over someone unless every muscle is stretched to the limit. You may not have a

middle, but you've made up for it little extra weight around your with the extra weight above your

shoulders.

Yes, a lot of people here do function in the straight world--at a job or whatever. People are people, black, white, yellow, straight, or gay or in between. Fortunately, for most of us, we can and do function both in gay and in straight environments, with great friends in both.

Your insecurities are showing. I don't think you are capable of functioning in either world.

I don't think that you can accept yourself for what you are, so how can you expect anyone else to do the same?

I feel perfectly comfortable in a board room, hammering out a contract with the president of a company, at a dinner party surrounded by straights, or at Dimensions in my jeans and T

shirt. Who I sleep with is my own business.

Whom or what will you blame when you are 60 years old, no longer have the face or body, and are still alone?

Your statement about gay individuality is the height of stupidity. What do you mean by individuality? All straights do not wear three piece Brooks Brothers suits, and all gays do not wear levis and T shirts, drink white wine, and live on the Gold Coast.

I wonder if your definition of "individual" is "alone by oneself, away from others."

It is not easy to carry on a conversation with someone whose every other word is "me," "my", or "I", and it's difficult to talk and hold the muscle pose at the same time. You said it all with the sent-

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AUGUST 1981 HIGH GEAR page 19

ence, "It used to be when someone wanted to meet me, they would come up and introduce themselves to me."

Have you ever tried talking to someone in the "huddled masses?"

Yes, I am one of the people who go to the bars with friends on weekends, stand around and talk, dance, laugh and have two ple have said to me "Want a drinks--my limit--and yes, peojoint?" I reply. "No, thanks." No

big deal.

and like countless lesbian Like countless other gay men

women, during the week I read books, write letters to friends, go

John Brittain's

to dinners, movies, the beach, a museum, the zoo, or take long walks in the park. We paint, work on our cars, talk on the phone, etc.

When we go to the bars, Robert, we have already had a full week of activities, which includes having met new people, to go to bed with or just be friends with. Contrary to your and at the bar for "one reason," opinion that we are all fair game one reason that we go to the bar

is to be with friends.

urday Night Peter Syndrome. Not everyone suffers from Sat-

L.D. Dusi

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