Nazi Anti-Gay Rally Stopped

Twenty-eight members of the American Nazi Party arrived at Lincoln Park to hold an antihomosexual rally. They were met by 3000 counter-demonstrators, organized after the Nazis' announcement that they intended to disrupt the Chicago Gay Pride Parade. The counter-demonstrators were mostly members of The June 27th Committee Against the Nazis, an ad-hoc group initiated by the Sparticist League, a Marxist organization, with the support of a number of major labor unions, including the automobile, steel and communications workers and teamsters union.

The Sparticist League had distributed 150,000 copies of A Call to Action leaflet in the Chicago area during the preceding week which called for a "mass labor-minority mobilization."

According to the leaflet, "The Nazis have targeted Gay Pride Day because they know that homosexuals are the weakest link in their chain of terror."

The leaflet quotes the famous 1945 statement by Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemoller who was sent to a concentration camp by Hitler's regime:

"First they came for the communists, but since I was not a communist I did not protest. Then they came for the Jews, but since I was not a Jew, I did not protest. Then they came for the Catholics, but since I was not a Catholic I did not protest. When they came for me, there was no one left to protest." The Nazis arrived in an open truck shortly before 2 pm carrying shields with swastikas painted on them and carrying American flags. They left about an hour later, after delivering anti-gay and anti-Semetic speeches that, even with the aid of sound equipment, was drown out by the counterdemonstrators.

One Nazi speech praised former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White as a "hero and patriot" for having slain openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk.

190 members of the Chicago

1982 OHIO GAY PRIDE PARADE

Photo by John A. Barrick Gays march on Columbus Story on page 5

Police Department were stationed at the Nazi rally.

A broad spectrum of Chicago's citizens turned out to effectively and positively demonstrate against the Nazis shouting "Chicago is a labor town, Chicago is a black town, Chicago is a gay town, Chicago is a Latino town, Chicago is a Jewish town No room for Nazis!"

12 of the counter-demonstrators were arrested for disorderly conduct. The police said that those arrested had been throwing eggs and rocks.

The Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade began arriving at the park for its rally at 3:30 pm. The rally was held without incident a few hundred yards from where the Nazis had been earlier.

Among 30,000 participants and 50 parade units was a group called "The March of the Pink Triangles" formed for the parade to recall the extermination of gays and Jews in Germany during the

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Counter-demonstrators turn out to protest the Nazi Anti-Gay Rally.

Nazi era.

Jim West, V.P. of Chicago UAW Local 6, speaker at the rally effectively summed up the reason why such a broad spectrum of people joined in the effective rally against the Nazis.

"It is important that we stop the

Nazis. Today they are going after gays because they represent the weakest link. But if they chop off the weakest link today, tomorrow the next oppressed group becomes the weakest link-blacks, minorities, the trade unions and so on up the chain."

HIGH GEAR

VOL. 10, NO. 3

OHIO'S GAY JOURNAL

AUGUST 1982

Gay Dems Form National Association

As Democrats began to gather in Philadelphia for their miniconvention last month, lesbian and gay Democrats convened in the City of Brotherly Love and established a national gay Democratic group.

The National Association of Lesbian and Gay Democratic Clubs became a reality on June 24, during Gay Pride Week celebrations across the country. The founding of the new national association was the culmination of a two-year-old effort by gay Democrats from 13 states and the District of Columbia.

Cleveland's Eleanor Roosevelt Democratic Club (ERDC) sent club President Rick Berg as its conference. Berg chaired paneis on maltreatment of gays by foreign governments and fundraising while at the conference. He also participated in the influential midwest caucus within the founding group. ERDC was the only Ohio organization represented at the Philadelphia conclave.

"The National Association will be an invaluable asset to ERDC locally," Berg said. "The knowledge and experience of the large, powerful clubs on the coasts will be available to us on a continuing basis. We can also utilize national gay leaders,available through the Association, to help us make vital

contacts with local Democratic Party leaders. Coordination of ERDC's efforts with those of other clubs in Ohio and the rest of the nation will considerably boost our clout in state and national elections."

The National Association will operate as a confederation of Gay Democratic clubs and other lesbian and gay political organizations who wish to affiliate with the Association. Currently, there are 90 such clubs and organizations in 40 states and the District of Columbia. The National Association will be a networking center and will provide a unified voice for these local organizations. Previously, no person or organizaspeak for lesbian and gay Democrats on a national level.

Tom Chorlton, president of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club of Washington, D.C., chaired the day-long founding conference at the Holiday Inn Center City in downtown Philadelphia. Speakers included U.S. Senator Alan Cranston of California, a cosponsor of the Gay Civil Rights Bill; Charles Manatt, chairman of the Democratic National Committee; Rep. Karen Clark, lesbian state legislator from Minnesota; and Bill Olwell, vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers' Union.

Washington, D.C. is the head-

quarters of the new National Association. It is headed by cochairs Gwen Craig of San Francisco and Peter Vogel of New York City. Twelve other temporary officers, from all regions of the country, were elected by the founding conference. These 14 officers will hire a full-time executive director to conduct the day-to-day functioning of the Association.

New Officers Elected

The GEAN Foundation hold itə

annual meeting on Father's Day, June 20th. At that time the general membership voted to reduce the board size from twelve to six members. Ellen Anton, Earl Korb, and Richard Lewis were elected to two-year terms at the same meeting. Gregg Leach, John Lehner and Diana Owens remained to fulfill the second year of their terms of office. They were elected at the 1981 meeting.

At the July board meeting of the GEAR Foundation, John Lehner resigned for personal reasons. The board is currently seeking qualified applicants to fill the remaining year of Mr. Lehner's term