Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

“THE GROOVY NEWSPAPER SERVING ATLANTA AND THE SOUTHEAST” VOL 1 NO. 2 OVER 5,000 IN CIRCULATION 25 CENTS DURING HOLY WEEK While many of us ea gerly await the coming of the Easter Bunny, mem bers and friends of At lanta’s Metropolitan Com munity Church are looking forward with greater anti cipation to the arrival, for a five-day Holy week Spi ritual Renewal, of the founder of their fellowship, Rev. Troy Perry. Troy Perry heard the call of God when he was 13; but it wasn’t until 15 years later, when he heard the cry of his fellow man, that his real ministry be gan. He was born July 27, 1940, in Tallahassee, Fla., to a couple that was to produce four more sons. iToy’s father was a suc cessful farmer, business man and bootlegger, this last profession leading to his violent death in 1952. Mrs. Perry chose her second husband unwisely. The man drank heavily, mismanaged the family business, and beat the chil dren, especially Troy. Troy rebelled by running off to live with relatives in South Georgia. His act gave his mother the strength to pack up the rest of the boys and start a new, independent life. It was in Georgia that Troy started preaching, in spired by his Aunt Bea. He lived with her for a time in El Paso, Texas, and then returned home because of his mother’s strong desire to keep the family togeth er. Young Troy preached to Pentecostal, Church of God and Baptist Congre gations. It was a Baptist Church that licensed him to preach when he was 15. To pursue his calling in the South, he followed the “un written law” and took a wife when he was 18; they went to Chicago so he could en ter Bible College. But Troy had been aware of homosexual feelings within himself, even before he was old enough to un derstand them. Despite Continued on page 2 Atlantis Motorcycle Club Hosts "Dogwood 74" By T. C. President AMC For most in the gay com munity the mention of a mo torcycle club conjures up images of Hell’s Angels, Marlon Brando in “The Wild One’’ and assorted newspaper stories of vio lence and murder. Thus it is understandable that members 6f the Atlantis Motorcycle Club are greet ed with great trepidation. Founded in April of 1972, the Atlantis MC, Inc., is one of more than ninety gay motorcycle clubs lo cated throughout the Unit ed States, Canada, Europe and Australia. At the pre sent time the Atlantis MC has fourteen regular members, two pledges, four associate members and one honorary member. While ownership of a mo torcycle is not a prere quisite for membership the ability to ride is, and con sequently^ all pledges go through a training and test ing period in order to qua lify them to take the Geor gia Motorcycle road and written test. The Atlan tis MC is recognized by the National Motorcycle Association as a legiti mate motorcycle club and individual members not only belong to this asso ciation of road bike enthu siasts but also to the Ame rican Motor cycle Asso ciation as well. One of the best organi zed segments of the gay community, the various gay motorcycle clubs regular ly compete against each other at weekend events called runs. The AMC plays host annually to one of these runs over the Easter Week end. This year’s run known as “Dogwood 74’’ will be held April 11-14 both in Atlanta and outside the city. Events begin Thurs day evening with, the re gistration of participants. Over one hundred out- of-town guests are expect ed and following Thursday evening’s social gathering the run moves Friday to it’s outdoor -location where not only will there be mo torcycle events such as skill riding, .enduros and poker runs but also a raft race, an obstacle course and a variety of fun and humor filled individual events, including a Mr. Dogwood contest and a wheel chair race, for the “over thirty’’ crowd. Continued on page 3