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The Issue Is
Pride And Freedom
Hapy Fourth of July! Did you. see the
parade? Having two openly gay groups
participating made me proud and reminds
me of jhe (sometimes truncated) freedom
that we do enjoy in this country. We have
the freedom- that we do enjoy because
brave and proud people have stood up and
said that they will not accept less for
themselves and for all of us. The staff of
The News would like to ask each of you
to stand proudly and say that you will not
accept less than you deserve in each and
every aspect of y.our life. We all have
both the freedom and the responsibility to
do at least that.
Armory Softball Classic
The Armory Softball Classic 2 gets
'■underway July 4 at the Southsi3e Fields. ,
Twenty-one teams from Texas, Connec
ticut, Wisonsin, Florida, California,
Alabama, D.C. and Virginia will be here
for this softball extravaganza. The games
start at 4:00 p.m. and continue till 9:00
p.m. that night. Friday the games con-/
tinue from 8:00 a.m. till 9:30. p.m.,
Championship games will start on Satur
day at 10:00 a.m. The Los Angeles Gay
Freedom Marching Band will perform at
the fields on Saturday about noon.
On July 6, all the teams will be treated
to a wrap-up banquet at the Colony
Square Hotel. Everyone is invited to pur-
chse tickets and attend the dinner. Tickets
may be bought at the Armory. Greg
Troia, Tournament Director, said he is
very excited about the tournament this
year. “There will be twenty-one teams
partying all over the city,” he said. Since
they'li probably be playing into the even
ing, this will be the first time they’ll get
to play “under the' lights,'* said Greg. On
July ?, there will be a Farewell Party at
the Armory at about 3:00 p.m. which
everyone is invited to.
To get to the fields, take 1-75 South to
Cleveland Avenue (Exit 86), turn left on
to Cleveland and go about a mile and a ■
half to Jonesboro Road and you’re there.
Plans are already underway for the Ar
mory Softball Classic 3. The Women’s
Division will appear for the first time. All
interested team managers should write to:
Armory Classic 3, 336 5th Street, N.E.,
Suite 3, Atlanta, GA 30308. See You’all
next year!
Gus Galvez
HRCF
The Atlanta City Committee of the
Human Rights Campaign Fund held it’s
first fund raising effort on June 22. The
event was a reception for San Francisco
City Supervisor Harry Britt, which was
held at the Golden Key National Honor
Society Headquarters on Ponce de Leon
Ave.
Taking in over $6000.00 for the even
ing Dr. Stosh Ostrow, Chairman of the
Atlanta committee, deemed the evening a
success. Continuing Dr. Ostrow said, “It
was great having Harry Britt and Vivian
Shapiro there, they helped the HRCF
make a dynamic introduction to
Atlanta.” Rep. Jim Martin was also in at
tendance and was greeted with en
thusiastic applause for his introduction of
| bill in the Georgia House to repeal the
sodomy law. Candidates for the House
Danny Fieg and Mary Bankster were
there showing their .interest and drumm
ing up support for the up coming fall elec
tion.
Close to 120 peopje' listened as Harry
Britt and-Vivian Snapiro (Ms. Shapiro, is
a. co-chair of the national office of the
HRCF) gave moving, inspiringfapeaches
in which they called^fcr gays to become
involved in the political process with
dollars as well as the vote.
Options ‘85 Topics Announced
by Gene Koland
Homophobia, Stress Reduction, Self
Awareness, and Taking Charge of Your
Life are some of the topics that will be ad
dressed during OPTIONS ‘85, the Atlan
ta Gay Center’s 3rd Annual Conference
for Better Living on Saturday, July 20.
OPTIONS ‘85 will be held from 9:30
a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at the Unitarian-
Universalist Congregation at 1911 Cliff
Valley Way, N.E.
The theme for this year’s OPTIONS is
“Personal Empowerment/Finding It , . .
Using It.” Participants will take part in
several workshops and general sessions,'
with two main workshops to be con
ducted by Dr. Sherri- McHenry, Ph.D.,
and Atlanta psychotherapist in private
practice, and Andrea K. Smith, who
made a brief and well-received presenta
tion at OPTIONS ‘84.
The registration fee for OPTIONS ‘85,
which includes all conference sessions
(cont. page 5)
Stonewall, Gay Pride and
Socio-literary Change
. Gay History,111
The birth of Gay Liberation, following the Stonewall Rebellion of June 1969, enabled
not only gay persona but gay literature, to emerge from secrecy. Concurrent with the
personal comings-out of the 1970’s, gay fiction moved from its previoua often in
genuous craftedness (as during those decades in which the serious artist must either
thoroughly submerge or disguise gay concerns) toward celebration, protest and
advocacy.
By the mid-70's, gay literary criticism, as a “sociology of gay literature", had urn
covered a history of denial of gay literature and the gftettoization of the gay writer.
The alternating pattern of suppression and exploitative, begrudged acceptance had
produced a pre-Stonewall literature of tragedy, conflict, guilt and judgment. As these
critics sought to balance advocacy and interpretation (critical elucidation) with in-
tegretous literary expression (art) in their work, fiction writers such as Patricia Nell
Warren. John Reid (pseud.), Cordon Merrick and others unabashedly and subjective
ly celebrated the comings-out and sexual freedom of post-Stonewall gay existence.
The honeymoon for gay people and their litgrature was short-lived, however Within
less than a decade, the Everard E&ths fire in New York (1977), Anita Bryant’s anit-gay
Victory in Miami (1977) and gay city supervisor Rarvey Milk's assassination in San Fran
cisco (1978) all contributed to the disillusionment of gay- socio-political and literary
naivite. As gays moved tfeward a more realistic synthesis of woderatiottand political
process and became more integrated into general ATnerican’plufalism (rather than re:
maining on the outside as radical restructurers of human sexuality and relationships),,
gay*fiction became more objective, concerning itself again with craft and experimen
tation and offering modes of self-criticism;
Whereas gay writers during the mid-70's had portrayed the realization and/or ac-
eeptance-of one's homosexuality and the processes) of coming out as THE central
issue around which plot and characters were developed, they now began to assume to
varying degrees the givenness of homosexuality as one existential standpoint for
human life. Edmund White ("Nocturnes for the King of Naples". 1978) and Renaud
Camus ("Tricks", 1981) simply assumed the objective appropriateness of homsexual
discourse. Larry Kramer ("Faggots", 1978) and Andrew Holleran (pseud.) ("Dancer from
the Dance", 1978) sought objectivity in self-criticism. Joseph Hansen ("A Smile in His
Lifetime", 1981), Lenore Fleischer ("Making Love". 1982) and Gordon Glasco ("Second
Nature", 1981) bridged worlds and eras in "cross-ver" studies of homosexuality emerg
ing in marriages.
As these gay literary changes evolved, gay characterizations gradually shifted from
.that of sexual individuals toward that of persons seeking relationships. Committed
couples, instead, emerged from these transitions as models for develping and sustain
ing mature, responsible gay existence. Such coupling fiction fills a void, compensating
for the absence of models in earlier fiction and of external support structures for rela
tionships even today, with the wisdom that corhmittedtime already Invested is the
best guarantor of a relationship's power to endure. ■
(cont. page S)
GAY / LESBIAN
PRIDE WEEK