PAGE 3, HIGH GEAR

Baskin national Dignity officer

By Gordon Hathaway

Pattie (Pat) Baskin, President of Dignity/Cleveland during 1980 and its current Women's Committee Director, has been elected to a two year term as secretary of Dignity. Inc. Pat is also Vice President of Services for the G.E.A.R. Foundation. Pat plans on resigning both positions to permit her more time to perform her new duties. Frequent trips to Washington, D.C., the organization's international headquarters will become a regular part of Pat's life for the next two years. She will also be called upon to attend speaking engagements and meetings across this country and Canada.

Elected with Pat are incumbents Frank Scheuren and Marvin Marks, the organization's president and treasurer, respectively. The new slate was elected at Dignity's Fifth Biennial International Convention held September 4-7 in Philadephia, Pennsylvania.

In attendance at the convention were over 650 chapter members from the United States and Canada, plus members of the clergy and guest speakers. Two members from affiliated organizations in England and Australia also attended. Currently, Dignity Inc. has 3,900 members.

Prior to convening the general session. Dignity's Executive House of Delegates met on September 3 and 4. The "Executive House" is comprised of a minimum of two delegates from each of Dignity's eighty-eight (88) chapters. Chapters with larger memberships, receive greater numbers of voting delegates. In its two day session, delegates proposed and voted upon motions which covered topics from fiscal to spiritual, social action to women's issues.

Members attending the convention used nearly 700 of the 800 rooms at the Franklin Plaza Hotel, one of Philadelphia's newest. opened in the fall of 1980. It was "near paradise" being in a hotel with so many brothers and sisters where we could "be ourselves". Gays and lesbians were evident everywhere -in restaurants, lobbies, elevators, and meeting rooms. To everyone's delight, the predominent colors of the hotel were purple and lavender. At Sunday evening's dinner-dance, 650 lavender napkins were waved in tribute to the hotel's catering staff.

dent from the moment of registration through the workshops and the banquet. Philadelphia gay bars and other gay businesses were made aware of the convention and gladly welcomed conventioneers into their establishments.

The general assembly on Friday evening opened with a banner procession of those chapters in attendance, followed by a mass and cocktail reception. To everyone's surprise and pleasure, one of Philadelphia's Mummers Bands arrived at the hotel. Delighted conventiongoers proceeded to dance in the aisles. If you haven't seen a “bunny hop" in years, seeing it done by a few hundred gays is a sight to behold. The highlight of the evening was a contest to determine who could "strut" best. Is further elaboration necessary?

Weekend activities included attendance at four workshops of the individual's choice. Workshop leaders spoke on subjects from "Surviving the Moral Majority" to sexuality, social action, public relations, and breaking up with one's lover. Workshops were conducted by prominent clergy, psychologists, authors, and media members. Among noted speakers was Brian McNaught whose new book "A Disturbed Peace" has recently been monononononononononononononononononononon

The Philadelphia chapter has been working on the convention since two months prior to the previous convention held in San Diego in 1979. Their hard work was evi-

published by Dignity. Inc. Tapes were made of many of the keynote speakers and will be made available through Dignity/Cleveland or the G.E.A.R. Foundation.

The convention had many moving moments, one of which occurred at Sunday evening's mass when celebrants joined hands to sing "The Lord's Prayer." Many were brought to tears by the beauty of the

moment.

Candles and lavender napkins adorned dinner tables for Sunday evening's dinner-dance. Just think. ten years ago, gay men and lesbian women would not have been holding such an event in a major hotel. We would have had dinner and that would have been it for the evening. It was a great sight to see hundreds of brothers and sisters dancing poikas. jitterbugs, slow dances, and Latin numbers to the sounds of a live band.

For those who attended the convention, including the ten from Cleveland, we agreed it had been a worthwhile and moving experience. We learned much from the workshops, became more spirituallyenriched at masses, and enjoyed a sense of togetherness that cannot be put into words. The theme for the convention, "We Are All One In The Spirit," was aptly chosen.

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