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Women's music festival
successful in Massachusetts
(AP) _ Several thousand lesbians from around
the country gathered in the Berkshires the week
end of July 23rd, 24th and 25th to celebrate their
orientation and discuss ways to educate the public
about lesbianism.
Organizers of the fourth annual Northampton
Lesbian Festival said they expected about 5,000
lesbians and their supporters to attend the three-
day event, which began on Friday.
“We are all for education and showing people
what we’re about,” said Aliza Ansell, one of the
founders of the festival, which had been held at
various sites in Amherst for the past three years
before coming to Cummington.
Festival organizers had expected some pro
testers from the surrounding communities to show
up at the event, but nothing had been reported
either Friday or Saturday.
Participants attended workshops on legal is
sues and building communities through lesbian
media, heard lesbian musical performers and co
medians, and bought crafts made by lesbians art
ists.
Media attention focused on lesbians was a
topic for discussion. A recent Newsweek cover
story examined the growing public perception of
“lesbian chic,” while ABCs “20-20” did a segment
on Northampton’s lesbian community.
Media accountsarejustasnapshotofabroader
picture, some said.
“The whole lesbian scene is portrayed as
beingyoung, urban, trendy, and white,”said Martha
Nelson of Northampton, who owns a store that
caters to gays and lesbians. “The reality is that it is
as diverse as the population of the country.”
Yet increased media exposure was seen as
favorable by others.
“I think the visibility is good because it helps
people gain confidence and shows them that they
are not the only ones aroundsaid Georgia Ragsdale,
a lesbian comedian from Provincetown.
“We have some of the last untold stories that
have not appeared in the mainstream media,”
Ragsdale said.
Festival organizers said proceeds from this
year’s event were to go towards purchasing a
permanent home for the festival to be called
“Womynsland.”
“Every year we’ve produced the festival at a
different site, so it’s really important for us to have
our own land,” said Diane Morgan, a co-founder of
the festival.
Morgan said the group was looking at pos
sible locations in the Berkshire Mountains.
Brenda Burdick, a manager for the
Cummington inn that hosted the festival, said the
inn had received several phone calls and letters
from residents unhappy about having the event
there.
But Burdick added that the maj ority of people
had been supportive of their decision.
Most Cummington residents said they did
not mind the festival being held there.
“If that is what they want to do, it’s fine,” said
Pat Beckwith, who owns a video store in
Cummington. “I don’t think people really care
about the festival being held here.”
“I think it will open some minds in the area,"
said Chris Sullivan, an employee at the Old Cream
ery Grocery Store.
“This has turned out to be one of the biggest
weekends of the year for us,” Sullivan said.Y
New York City Mayor welcomes Gay Games IV
(AP) — Mayor David Dinkins expects the
Gay Games to draw 15,000 athletes from all over
the world to compete next year.
At a City Hall news conference Wednesday,
July 28, Dinkinssaid the athletesand nearly 500,000
spectators should generate $100 million in eco
nomic activity in the city.
Athletes from 40 countries are expected to
compete in Gay Games IV to be held in various
arenas around New York City next June, Dinkins
said.
“But,” Dinkins said, “perhaps more impor
tant than the economic contribution the games will
make is the message they bring a message of
tolerance, respect, understanding and openness
among all people.”
The games will be open to all regardless of
sexual orientation, HIV status, physical disability,
nationality or religious belief, Dinkins said.
“The only requirements for participation in
the games are that a love for sports and a respect for
the differences and choices of others abound in
each event,” Dinkins said.
Jay Hill, executive director of the games, said
that for the first time they will include “same sex
pairs figure skating.”
The games will be held from June 18-25 and
feature 700 tennis competitors at the National
Tennis Center and more than 1,200 competitors in
swimming, diving and water polo events at the new
Asphalt Green aquatic center in Manhattan. Other
events will be cycling in Central Park, softball at
Randalls Island, flag football in Prospect Park in
Brooklyn, golf at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx,
figure skating in the Abe Stark Arena in Coney
Island, martial arts at Roseland and bowling in
Jersey City, N J.
The games started in San Francisco in 1982,
were held there again in 1986 and in Vancouver in
1990.
Atlanta is competing with other cities for the
next Gay Games.T
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