Newspaper Page Text
Page 2 THE NEWS Jan. 17. 1985
from
The Editor
You might have noticed seme
peculiar layouts in the last
issue Of THE NEWS. I am refer
ring to the front page and page .
5. Both of these pages featured
photographs frad exhibits by
Roger Rutherford and Stephen
Arnold.
Last Thurday, January 3, I
drove down to Macon to have our !
paper printed. I go to Macon
because no printer in Atlanta
could be found to print "such a
publication." The fact that we |
produce THE NEWS on an afford- ‘
able media, newsprint, narrowed
our alternatives.
When I was explaining to our
printer where the three photos
for the issue were to go he
exclaimed, "Oh, wait a minute.
We can't print these, they are
too suggestive. We could lose
our license and that's almost
happened once before."
I felt the best alternative :
after a discussion with the
printer, was to come back to
Atlanta and try to find seme
less "suggestive" photos.
Incidential ly, the three
photos were of two men embrac
ing with oily heads and an arm
visible, a nude male facing
backwards with a fish net drap
ed over him and a man with a
loin cloth standing on a sphere
holding same chains.
DEAR EDITOR
The more puritanical among
us are no doubt pleased to know
that the Southern Bell Yellow
Pages went to press this year
with nothing immoral such as a
serious gay bookstore advertis
ed within its pristine pages.
Righteousness rules again in
Atlanta, after several years'
hiatus in which Christopher's
Kind was inadvertently allowed
to advertise.
Now, there is nothing im
moral or sexual advertised in
the Yellow Pages. Or is there?
Open the M-Z volume of your
Atlanta Southern Bell Yellow
Pages to page 1251. There you
will find no less than seven-
and-a-half pages of ads for
legitimate massage services
rather than . heterosexual
whorehouses, but if you will
take the time to read some of
the names of these establish
ments, you might be able to
make a good guess which is
which.
Southern Bell actually
fought a court battle to keep
Christopher's Kind from ad
vertising. They maintained that
publishing an ad for the store
which included the word "gay"
would be offensive. They offer
ed some euphemisms such as "al-
, temative-,lifestyle,s" (which
After contacting the artists
I collected ten more photo
graphs; the ones that appeared
and seven photographs of a male
dancer in a dance outfit.
I then contacted the Bibb
county solicitor and described
the photos to them. They said
they could see no problem with
them unless they showed actual
copulation, or exposed geni
tals. Also, that they could
remember no case being brought
against a printer and that
usually the publisher and dis
tributor, not the printer would
normally be held responsible.
Most people's first reaction
would be not to do business
with that printer. But in this
case we have no choice.
To the staff of THE NEWS, it
is more important to bring you
information to enlighten you on
how the world deals with us and
how we deal with it.
So, in caning issues if pho
tographs seen in short supply,
it is not from a lack of desire
cn our part but rather a denial
of our First Amendment Rights
to freedom of speech and the
press.
There is something you can
do in this instance. Support us
in bur efforts to bring you the
news and help us to locate an
alternative printer who will
print THE NEWS on newsprint at
>le pricx
an affoj
sounds to me like a came-on for
a head shop)•
So, in other words. Southern
Bell has no problem advertising
businesses the offensive (pos
sibly illegal?) nature of which
no reader can fail to notice.
Hetero sex businesses are inof
fensive, by their def initial.
Yet a gay-owned business
cannot be included because it
wishes to be hoiest about the
nature of its merchandise and
clientele. Even though there is
no question that free speech is
at stake.
And after all that blather
ing about purity and inoffens
iveness, Southern Bell proceeds
to publish ads which are fla
grantly offensive and- to offend
every lesbian and gay person in
Atlanta by refusing to publish
an ad because it refers to our
carmunity!
It is evident that Southern
Bell defines immoral and of
fensive very simply—as any
thing gay or lesbian. Appar
ently anything outside that de
finition is acceptable. They
are counting on you, the
250,000+ members of the lesbian
and gay community, not to mind.
Gene Koland
DEAR EDITOR
Let me be among the first to
congratulate you on being At
lanta's first and only serious
gay publication. I have read
many previous editorials in
other publications concerning
the need for this type of pub
lication, so it seems your
"news" paper will be well re
ceived. The gay community must
be well informed of local and
national events directly con
cerning Our lives, in order to
prosper.
I also urge local bar owners
and patrois to support THE NEWS
in the form of contributions,
tax deductible. of course. It
seems the bar owners extract
enough ironey from the carmunity
to be able to fund organiza
tions that serve the interests
of their patrons.
Once again, I applaud your
efforts and sincerely hope you
receive the support you deserve
J. Aron
Atlanta
NEWS THEME
Beginning with this issue
each edition of THE NEWS will
have a feature focus. Some will
be fun and some will be serious
but we feel that all are issues
that are important to us.
The focus for this issue is
sodomy and more specifically
how the laws on sodomy affect
us.
Why should you be concerned
about sodomy laws? Because by
legal definition if you are a
lesbian or gay man and you en
gage in sexual activity with
another lesbian or gay man you
are a sodemist...and.• .sodomy
is a feloiy offense punishable
by imprisonment for from one to
twenty years in the state, of
Georgia.
Still have questions about
why you should be concerned?
Look at the article on the
Hardwick case. You could be
arrested and put in jail for
simply having sex with your
lover. Want another reason to
be concerned? For a day or two
try thinking of and introducing
yourself as a "sodomist" and a
"felon" and see how that feels.
The forces of oppression that
shape our lives are frequently
very subtle. Certainly one of
the last things we need in
these times is to have laws
that tell us, because of who we
are and who we love, that we
are criminals like muggers and
rapists.
Being gay means so many
wonderful things; we'll do a
feature on that soon. Let's be
sure that we can continue to
acknowledge and celebrate those
wonderful things by staying a-
ware of laws that could take
th^ii 'frfcm us.
"Tha New8“ is published
by Che Ac lane Gey Center,
Inc. for che people end
organizations Chet sake up
the lesbien/gey comnunity.
This newspaper reports
the events and activities
of our coonunity and en
courages 'discussion of
community concerns such as
personal liberty and posi
tive lesbian/gay life-
unsolicited contribu
tions are welcomed and en
couraged. Letters, manu
scripts , drawings and
photographs should be sub-
ait ted to "The News*, 848
Peachtree St, NE, 3rd
floor, Atlanta, GA 30308.
Unsolicited works will not
Opinions expressed by
any other artistic expres
sion, are those of the
writers and artists and do.
not necessarily represent
the opinion of *The News*
or the Atlanta Gay Center
and neither claia respon
sibility for thea.
Publication of names,
photographs or likeness of
any person, persons, or
ganizations or businesses
in advertising or articles
construed as, any
indication of the sexual
orientation of such per-
"The News* can .not
assume responsibility for
claims made by adver
tisers. *The News* reser
ves the right to reject
any advertisements or un
solicited material for any
■The News* is a bi
weekly publication. Sub
scription are $20 per year
or as part of membership
to the Atlanta Gay Center.
The nailing - list of
■The News* is confidential
and will under no circum
stances will it be sold or
made available to Any per-
*The News* is Copy
right, 1984, Atlanta Gay
Center, 'Inc. Permission is
hereby granted to all
other avowedly gay or les
bian publications which
affirm freedom for sexual
minorities to publish ex
cerpts from this newspaper
provided proper credit is
given to *The News,
Atlanta Gay Center*.
Others must obtain per
mission in writing.
THE STAFF: .
Gary Kaupman, Gene Koland
J.P. Sligh, Trudy, David
O'Shields, Gene Koland, A1
Cotton, N. Elliot, Jack
Carrel, etc.
The Atlanta Gay Center will
hold its annual meeting on Jan
uary 27 at 2pm at the Atlnata
Gay Center.
New Board members will be
elected and an amendment to
the bylaws which' would; change,
the size of the Board of Dir
ectors to eleven will be voted
on.
THE ATLANTA GAY CENTER
848 Peachtree Street. 3rd Floor
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
404 876* *5372
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