Newspaper Page Text
THE NEWS May 28,1985 Ptige 3
Focus—Gay Student Groups
(continued from page 1)
Important with much of the respon-
' sibitity for that change. Frazier made the
point that the purpose of the media is to
serve the people and proudly referred to
his station's recent meeting with
members of community to increase
awareness and sensitivity. He added that
the media is very vulnerable and that it
should be because "for all of us to protect
our freedom we, in the press must, must
be subject to criticism, watched,
challenged and confronted." Frazier's
rhetorical response to a question about
his station's lapse of sensitivity in hiring
Ms. Bryant showed substantial room for
increased awareness. His comments
along with WAGA's handling of the
Bryant affair reflect both sides of our
position with the media. We've made
substantial and laudable gains when a
TV station takes the risk that WAGA took
when they fired Bryant. But what about
hiring her in the first place and their un
willingness to discuss how the decisions
to hire and fire were made? If the gay
community is as okay with local televi
sion stations as these men would have us
believe, why isn't there more coverage of
our positive aspects? AIDS and Dick
Williams' affinity for being publically of
fended by the "homosexual rights move
ment" certainly get plenty of exposure.
Where are the stories about the Gay
Men's Chorus, "Silent Pioneers," and
Kate Clinton? Have you seen a feature on
AID Atlanta buddies, the 6,000 plus
phone calls that the Gay Center Helpline
handles each year, or the work that the
Guild is doing to get major corporations
in Atlanta to adopt anti-discriminatory
employment policies? Why isn't it okay
for the gay people who are on the air to
treat their relationships in the same way
Gay and Lesbian
Jews Meet
The Ninth International Conference of
Gay and Lesbian Jews will be held in
Washington, DC, June 6 9,1985. The con
ference is being hosted by Congregation
Bet Mishpachah and is held in coopera
tion with the Vforld Congress of Gay and
Lesbian Jewish organizations. Some of
the highlights of the conference include
workshops on the need to be, or not to
be, seperate, new voices in the Rab
binate, creative parenting, coming out,
aging gays and lesbians, and physically
challenged gays and lesbians; and
speakers including Barney Frank, US
House of Representatives, and Evelyn .
Torten Beck, editor of "Nice Jewish Girls
A Lesbian Anthology." For more infor
mation contact Bet Mishpachah, Box
1410, Washington, DC 20013; or call (202)
8331638.
Illusions to Host
Mr. GAMA Pageant
The board of GAMA is pleased to an
nounce that its third annual Mr. GAMA
pageant will be held Wednesday, June 5,
1985 at 10pm. This year's pageant will
once again be under the direction of Tina
Devore and promises to include a
number of excellent entertainers. The
board of GAMA will give a special dona
tion to AID Atlanta. Mr. GAMA 1984,
Gerald Williams, will also give to AID
Atlanta a separate donation. The board
explains this gesture is being made with
the hope that third world gays and les
bians may become -aware of the
seriousness of this disease within its own
community.
that Pam and Forrest do? Alyson Publica
tions' "Talk Back—The Gay Person's
Guide to Media Action" ($3.95 at Charts
and Christopher's Kind) offers good
ideas about how we can respond to and
influence the media and its tremendous
audience without making it a life work.
'Talk Back" points out that the average ■
reporter gets no more than two to three
responses to a story. Takihg just ten
minutes to write and mail a thoughtful
post card puts you in a position of major
influence with that reporter. WAGA
won't say how many calls they received
about Anita Bryant, but rumor is that
Hazier being publically challenged at the
Guild meeting and a couple of phone
calls to Marc Doyle from gay people he
knew was enough to get the job done.
Dick Wiliams made the decision to write
his second editorial in three days about
Bryant in reponse to just 32 phone calls
which he says is an exceptionally large
number. If you are displeased about
language or attitude in the media call the
reporter responsible for the piece and ra
tionally explain your issues; you'll pro
bably get results if you point out errors in
a helpful ways. If you don't like the
response, send a letter to the station
manager or paper department editor;
avoid being acusatory or hostile, they
don't respond to being called names any
better than you do. When .you get a
response you don't like, let THE NEWS
know so we can follow up on your com
plaint. The potential for had press—even
in a small community paper—is
something most reporters would like to
avoid. It's equally important to make calls
and send letters of thanks; when a
reporter or columnist feels good about a
positive piece he has impetus for more
positive coverage. The media in Atlanta
knows we are here and appears to be
responsive to relatively small numbers of
comments on their actions. Let's use that
responsiveness to our benefit.
One source for college students looking
for information about homosexuality
and support in coming out is from the
gay student groups at Emory and
Georgia State Universities. Both schools
have groups that are open to all in
terested parties and are anxious to have
new members, and not both groups, sur
prisingly reflect the same strengths, pro
blems and frustrations of the gay com
munity at large. Emory's group, called
Student Action for Human Rights
(SAHR) is currently the stronger of the
two. Its average attendance this year for
its biweekly Sunday night meetings was
around 20, a doubting of attendance over
the previous year. Even more unusual is
the group's success in attracting
lesbians—the group is one of the few in
Atlanta with a balanced sexual member
ship. Over this current school year they
have also attracted students from
Georgia State, Georgia Tech and DeVry
Institute. Outgoing president Mike
Feinstein isn't sure just exactly what pro
mpted the groups success. He attributes
it to luck and networking—friends bring
ing friends to meeting. Feinstein said that
the administration at Emory is suppor
tive of the group, both financially and
emotionally—the group had $500 for a
speaker this year, but Virginia Apuzzo
had to cancel at the last minute. Incom
ing president Rodney Wright, a
Vfoodruff scholar, said that the group's
goals for the upcoming year include an
effort to get Emory to adopt a non
discrimination policy for employees and
to attract historian John Boswell to cam
pus for a religious symposium to be held
in the fall. Meetings will resume when
the fall semester begins and will be held
on alternating Sunday nights. During the
summer, the group can only be reached
by mail at Box 23515, Emory University,
Atlanta Ga 30322. Georgia State's Gay
Student Alliance (GSA) has just
weathered a crisis and seems to have
emerged in a position ro strengthen
four, and faculty advisor Bob McBath
feared for the group’s survival. Atten
dance, however, has rebounded this
quarter to an average of seven to ten (all
male) and new leadership is optimistic
about the upcoming year. President-elect
Charles Haver is planning a series of
summer events to maintain this quarter's
momentum, and there is talk of a possi
ble gay film festival on campus this sum
mer and a speaker for the fall. Haver says
that the administration at Georgia Slate
is liberal and very supportive of the
group, and both he and McBath feel that
the worst is over for GSA. GSA can be
reached during the summer at Box 506,
Georgia State, Atlanta, GA 30303 or at
874-2277. Such up and down cycles are
not unusual for groups like, these, since
they depend heavily upon the commit
ment of dedicated student volunteers
and a healthy atmosphere on campus.
Georgia Tech's student group of a few
years back did not survive such a cycle. A
group existed on campus for a while, but
a combination of apathy and fierce op
position from a homophobic student
government group succeeded in forcing
it under. Various students at Tech (who
requested anonymity) said that the at
mosphere on campus is very
homophobic, citing the conservative
trend throughout the country and
especially on profession-oriented cam
puses and the macho/homophobic at
titude of Tech's predominantly male stu
dent body. Dormitory and fraternity life
both work against any sort of peaceful
coexistence between the typical engineer
mentality and the gay sensibility. The
biggest problems of ail groups such as
this is attendance. SAHRs average-atten
dance of 20 doesn't begin to approximate
the ten percent of Emory students who,
averages say, are gay. We should not
underestimate the courage it takes for a
student to walk into the room where a
gay student group is meeting—his or her
attendance at the meeting is tantamount
itself. Attendance at the beginning of the to coming out, something we all know
school year dropped to an average of the difficulty of. A1 Cotton
Unitarian Universalist
Lesbian & Gay Community
ATLANTA
FAMILY PRACTICE
• Social Activities
• Discussions
• Support
2nd & 4th Wednesday At 8:00 RM.
Michael D. Rankin, M.D.
Mark L. Tanner, M.D.
COMPREHENSIVE MEDICAL CARE
U.U. Congregation of Atlanta
1911 Cliff Valley Way N.E.
(at I-85 access road between N. Druid Hills & Clairmont)
1935 Howell Mill Road
Atlanta, Georgia 30318
For Information Call 634-5134
(404)355-2000
Stosii Ostrow, M.D.
( ;I'lNKHAI, M141 >KTN14
sn.
American
• D1PLOMATE—AMERICAN BOARD FAMILY PRACTICE
FELLOW-AMERICAN ACADEMY FAMILY PHYSICIANS
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i 375 PEACHTREE STREET, NE. SUITE 187 • ATLANTA. GEORGIA 30309 • (404) 872-5260