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Our New Holiday Rings Hollow
The idea for National Coming Out Day was first discussed at last February's "War
Conference" as a way of commemorating the first anniversary of the National March on
Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, and to plant the spirit and energy from the March into
local communities. With "visibility" as their catch-phrase, Jean O'Leary of National Gay Rights
Advocates (NGRA) and Rob Eichberg of Experience Weekend fame, launched their dream of
a new lesbian/gay holiday with the support of every major gay and/or lesbian group in the
country.
Why then was so little done to ensure the success of the day in local communities?
Both O'Leary and Eichberg, in separate interviews, stated that the most serious impediment
to a grander and more celebrated day was a lack of time. They only had seven months to plan
and launch a "very expensive national campaign". With the time factor in mind, they opted for a
very slick direct mail approach which urged local groups and individuals to plan their own
events for the day. In the mailing, O'Leary and Eichberg also solicited donations to offset
administrative costs as well as selling NCOD pins, buttons, t-shirts, bumper stickers, key
chains, and mugs. Somehow, that feels much too similar to the sale of junk offered to tourists. It
conjures up images of Elvis Presley coffee cups and ” I Did It On The Beach in Daytona"
bumper stickers.
National Coming Out Day was given a very hollow ring by the lack of implementation at the
local level and the slick sales push. We feel that the organizers offered us little more than the
opportunity to buy their goods.
Another problem with NCOD was that there was no event accompanying it There was
nothing to rally around, no concrete something to hold on to. The way that NCOD was set up
made you feel as if you were told to do something, that you were expected to do something and
you're out there on your own doing it. As veterans of the gay/lesbian civil rights struggle,
O'Leary and Eichberg should have known that it just doesn't happen that way in our
community.
As far as we know, the only "event" scheduled for National Coming Out Day in Atlanta is
an advertisement scheduled to appear in the Atlanta Journal on October 11 th. We whole
heartedly support that, and keep in mind that it was a local activist, Cathy Woolard to be exact,
who came up with the idea. But that is not enough for a national day of action. We question
why the organizers did not see the importance of follow through and assistance at the local
level. O'Leary and Eichberg's decision to go ahead with their plans knowing that they could not
be effective given their time restrictions, seems a bit irresponsible. Unfortunately, their decision
made the first National Coming Out Day, an attempt at establishing a new lesbian/gay holiday,
a disappointment We hope that next year more time and effort will be taken to ensure that
October 11 will be celebrated in local communities throughout the country, and truly become a
national holiday we will remember and be proud of.
SOUTHERN
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Managing Editor
Christina Cash
Assistant Managing Editor
Chris Duncan
Photo Editor
Pamela J. Cole
Production/Design
Sharon Blalock
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John Blizzard, A1 Cotton, Mark duPont, John Frame, Jr.,Terry Francis, F.G.,
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Wendy Morse, Tia Nikolopoulas, Keith RobinsonJZlena Rutter, David Strawn,
Candace Wiggins, Leigh VanderEls
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"They Threw Graphic Pictures
of Bloody Fetuses at Her."
On Tuesday, Oct 4th, I volunteered as an
escort at Midtown Hospital. I had intended to
volunteer during the summer when
"Operation Rescue" first brought their circus
to town during the Democratic National
Convention, but I let other commitments keep
me away. As their efforts heated over the past
few months, I could no longer find adequate
excuses to keep me away.
While I drove to Midtown Hospital I
reassured myself that "everything would be
okay," both for the women who would try to
keep their appointments today and for myself.
I had been in the center of protests and civil
disobedience before - albeit on the other side
of the police line. I would keep a cool head, I
could focus on our purpose - to get the women
safely inside - and I was positve that I
wouldn't let verbal harassment from the
"Rescue" people get to me. After all that's
what they wanted, and I wasn't about to give
them any bit of satisfaction.
Wrong. I could not have prepared myself in
any way for what I saw and heard that day.
Picture this, hear this. A young black woman,
maybe she's 17 or 18, clutches her purse to her
stomach as she walks toward the 40Of crowd
at the Atlanta SurgiCenter on Spring Street
She is alone, perhaps she's taken MARTA or
been dropped off by a friend. The vast
majority of the people crowded around the
center are Operation Rescue people. There are
very few of "us", way too few to be seen as
any kind of welcoming committee for her.
We’re busy, forming a line hand-in-hand to
keep the O.R. people from crawling under
police lines, and trying to stretch our numbers
so we can be at three clinics at once.
As the young woman approaches us she is
spotted by an hysterical OJL woman. The
O.R. woman is crying, blubbering, and for a
moment her apparent sincerity gets to me. But
as she opens her too red mouth to speak, my
sympathy crumbles and turns to rage. "Don't
kill your baby! You have a perfectly formed
baby inside of you, it can suck its thumb and it
can hear. It knows you're going to kill it!
Listen to me, look at these pictures. Don't let
them talk you into killing your baby!"
The young woman's eyes are wild, darting
from the O.R. woman to us and back again.
We rush to her, forming a circle and lead her
away from the screaming woman. But we
can't get her inside the clinic, the entrances are
blocked by O.R. people. We take her as far
away from the screaming as we can - about
20 feet, until we can get her inside, some 30
minutes later. As the young woman stands
encircled by us, I can smell her fear. She
shakes, she shakes so hard I'm afraid she will
faint And while she shakes and cries, the
Oil. woman continues her harassment from
behind the yellow police line.
I wasn't prepared for this. I wanted to
silence the red-mouthed woman - whatever it
took to do that, and for a few minutes, I was
willling to do it I wondered if the other
escorts felt the same. I wondered how long
the verbal harassment could continue before
physical violence started.
That was on Tuesday. On Wednesday and
Thursday the O.R. people did get physical.
They tripped a woman, they pulled her hair,
they threw graphic pictures of bloody fetuses
at her.
I didn't go back after Tuesday. I was afraid
my anger would get the best of me, and the
women who are going into the clinics don't
need that They need someone calm and cool
who can focus only on them. They don't need
more disruption, more violence.
The Oil. people are gone now but they
will be back in stronger numbers, with more
experience - and with more anger. Make no
mistake - they will be back.
The anti-abortion strategy is multifaceted.
It goes like this: rewrite federal and state
constitutions to include the fetus as a human
being entitled to a full range of rights and
privileges; terrorize abortion clinics, health
care workers and clients; whittle away at
abortion access through federal and state
legislatures; and appoint or elect anti-abortion
candidates to influential public offices. The
"New Right" has a long agenda, folks. It not
only has the end of reproductive freedom as
its goal, but the promotion of policies which
would deny the reproductive and parenting
rights of all those who are not members of
traditional middle-class nuclear families. I
don’t know about you but I don’t want
Randall Terry, Jerry Falwell or Dan Quayle
deciding whether or not I can be a parent If I
want to be I will - and like the young woman
from Tuesday, if I don't want to be -1 won't
The choice is mine and only mine.
-Christina Cash