Newspaper Page Text
JULY 15 - JULY 21 / 1993
NEWS
Six activists arrested while
circulating pro-partnership
letters pages
Atlanta City Council doesn't override
Maynard’s veto PAGES
Man who shot two lesbians In Macon
gets life sentence PAGES
Lesbian and Gay Business Expo on tap
at Lakewood Fairgrounds PAGES
SOUTHEAST
Rainbow Family's Alabama gathering
gay/lesblan positive PAGE 4
NATION
Massachusetts governor goes to bat
tor lesbian/gay youth PAGE 5
The struggle against hate continues in
Oregon page?
SPORTS
A wrap-up ot the Armory Classic pageh
PREVIEW
What's new at this year's Rhythm
Fest? The location, tor one thing pageig
OUT AND ABOUT
FILM
Gender-bending "Orlando" coming to
the screen and to Atlanta pageei
BOOKS
FBI agent fired tor being gay pens
memoir ol his struggle PAGE 25
PRIDE '93 COMES UP SHORT
people among a crowd estimated at more than 100,000
gave, and only S3,000 was raised—most of the deficit
was created by merchandise sales that fell well beneath
expectations.
The Pride committee spent nearly 583,000 on mer
chandise, including 15,000 T-shirts. About 9,000 of
those T-shirts remain. Most of the outstanding debt is
owned to a T-shirt company called Screen Peace, which
took out a loan to finance production costs.
Some Pride committee members fear they may be
held legally liable if the deficit cannot be erased. Howard
and Gallups say they know there will be people in the
community who will say the Pride committee created
its own mess and won’t be willing to help. But they say
they hope most of the lesbians and gay si who came to
Pride will remember how successful the celebration
was and how much fun they had.
“If everybody that came to Pride would just send in
a dollar, we would have this paid off in no time,”
Howard said. “A lot of people don’t realize how much
cost we incur by putting this on.”
Volunteers from the Pride committee plan to go to
local bars and solicit donations in the coming^ weeks.
Also, as part of “Circle of Friends,” they will offer
merchandise for sale. People donating $10 will receive
a T-shirt. Those donating $25 will receive a “Pride
Pack,” complete with a T-shirt, button and bandanna.
Donations should be sent to ALGPC, P.O. Box
54024, Atlanta GA 30308-0024. To save the cost of
shipping, people who donate will receive a coupon,
which will tell them where and when to pick up their
merchandise.
Celebration leaves organizers
scrambling to erase huge debt
Atlanta—After totaling up how much money they
spent and how much they raised, the Atlanta Lesbian
and Gay Pride Committee finds iusclf swimming in
unsold T-shirts—not to mention S48,800 in red ink.
Now, Pride organizers are asking the community
for help, launching an ambitious fundraising campaign,
tentatively called “Circle of Friends,” to erase the defi
cit.
“We usually pay for Pride the weekend of Pride,”
said Ken Gallups, a member of ALGPC’s board of
directors and its fundraising committee. “This year, it
didn’t happen.”
“This has got to be a community type of thing, and
we have to get the whole community involved,” says
Richy Howard, chairman of the fundraising committee.
The budget for this year’s Pride celebration was an
ambitious 5178,000—almost 60 percent higher than
what was spent for Pride ’92. Part of the additional cost
was caused by construction of two stages at Piedmont
Park (the city tore down the existing stage and a new
one was added this year), but the committee also de
cided to add some new features to the celebration,
notably a fireworks display during the finale.
But while expenses for the Pride celebration were
well under budget—5143,300—only 594,500 was raised
from donations, corporate sponsorships, merchandise
sales and from concessions during Pride weekend.
While Gallups describes donations at the park on
Saturday and Sunday as “pitiful”—only about 2,000
VOLUME 6/NUMBER 21 PLEASE RECYCLE 750 WHERE SOLD
RICHARD SHUMATE