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ATLANTA BARB - Page 10 MCC Holds Southeastern District Conference In Tampa The Southeastern Dis trict of Metropolitan Churches held the first of their semi-annual con ferences in Tampa, May 24th through 26th with al most one hundred percent representation from eith er churches or study groups in the district. The three day event was an effort to bring every one together and con sisted of a combination of business, religion and social activities. Friday the first day was taken up almost entirely with registration of the mem bers and delegates. Business was discuss ed Saturday morning and work shop was the topic of discussion in the after noon. These included Out reach, Inreach, bar min istry, prison ministry, publications and politics, etc. During the discus sion on Outreach, the Rev. Jim Snow, Assistant Pas tor, Metropolitan Com munity Church of Atlanta, told the people how the news media had been un fair and offensive in re porting news about gay people, and a member urged everyone to become aware of legislation that affected gay rights. The motion to form a new district of Florida only, because of the grow- the, by a Tampa delegate, was narrowly defeated. The reason he said was because the distance be tween Nashville and Mi ami was two great for some of the small mis sions, or study groups to travel. It was decided that the small groups nee ded the support of a large district. The tampa church vot ed not to increase the pre sent 5% to the National Fellowship until provi sions were made in the budget. Refreshments were ser ved Saturday, and the Social Committee provi ded entertainment with a drag show that evening. Following the Worship service Sunday morning in which every minister from the district brief ly participated, a dinner was served by the Social Committee of the Tampa Church. Special music was presented by the combined choirs. It was decided the next conference will be held in Atlanta. Matchless Martinique Renowned as the birth place of Napoleon’s Empress Josephine, the island of Martinique is known as. queen of the Antilles. The best hotel on the island is the majestic Martinique Hilton, which includes a gambling casino, fine restau rant, cocktail lounge, shop ping arcade and 154 air-con ditioned rooms with balco nies facing on the sea. Hos pitality reigns supreme. J '*• JYou Bet Your Sweet Ass We^ Open On Sunday (Till 3 AM) J * i f t * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 1 * Powder Puff Lounge ■ 28 East Main St. Chattanooga, Tenn. - Shows jT Thurs., Friday And Saturday ^ i ' D.J. Wednesday And Sunday ^ Phone (615) 265-9190 J Community Activities By Bill Smith The phones at MCC and GIS have rung off the hook during the past few weeks with calls concern- entrapment. Each caller has related his sad story of entrapment. Most ap pear to have been enticed by police actions while a few have been caught in public indiscretions. Most of the cases reported have occured on the “Tree Trails” in Piedmont Park but a few have come from Winn Park and the Piedmont Park Greenhouse area. Making friends with strangers in these areas can be enjoyable but it is also frought with dan gers. Those who engage in public sex are taking a great risk. There are penalties for both homo sexuals and hetrosexuals where public sex is con cerned. The legal penal ties for public homo sexual acts are very se vere. Meeting people in the parks and then going home with, them is less dangerous but not com- pletly safe. Care and judgement should be exercised. Going home alone can be preferable to physical harm or loss of property. Of course your gentleman friend may turn out to be a police officer and you could lose your job and a little cash to a local attorney. Any of the above can be a memorable ex perience. In order to pro tect yourself and others these situations should be reported completely to either MCC or GIS. Both MCC and GIS have been working closely with police department of ficials to create a safe environment for all people in Atlanta parks. In several meetings with Atlanta Police Chief John Inman, the chief has al ways indicated an even handed policy toward gay people. In our June 4th meeting he indicated that he had not instituted a change in policy toward gay people and that he would quickly investigate the situation. He also in dicated that recent changes in police depart ment personnel and responsibility may have contributed to the pro blems of the situation. In man indicated his dis- aproval of police entrap ment policies and urged gay community people to work with the police ad ministration to rectify problem areas within the gay community and the police department. If you have been arres ted recently for gay re lated reasons or know of someone who has been ar rested let us know. We need to know the stories of what happened from both sides. Your name is not essential but date, place and circumstances of arrests are needed. Help us build a better community. The Gay Days We Remember A Picnic At Stone Mountain Park By Liddia Lipshits Mother Gus, three young boys and myself got together one Summer Sun day in 1971 at Stone Moun tain Park for one of the wildest days I rember. We left the palatial es tate around 10:00a.m. and headed for Piedmont Park to meet our guests who were eagerly awaiting our arrival. The boys boarded the old Cadillac and we directed the old girl to Stone Mountain Park. Mother passed the beer around in the car to all of the boys and myself. We began to sing as we reached 285 near the Stone Mountain Freeway. My gay-nerves were not ready for Mother Gus as she decided to jump over the front seat to join the two boys in the backseat. Her legs went up and over , and the young lads grabbed her buns on the way over. We reached the park at 11:00 a.m. and decided to climb the giant piece of granite known as Stone Mountain. We read the various cards and names carved into the foot trail that lead to the top of the tnountain. Mother Gus de cided to become the first fag to lean her buns over the side as she almost slipped off. She recovered saying “I’m not well for that’ ’. We reached the half-way point and rested. The boys sat at the table dr in- ing coke as Mother and I cruised the people a round us. One hunky blond stud reached the resting spot as I yelled out to him, “Would you like to F--- a fairy?” He turn ed red and green and not one word was said as he continued to the top. I visited the T-room finding no one there of interest. We gathered the boys and continued our climb. Gus and I skipped hand and hand singing “We’re off to see the Wizard”. Four Tech boys were be hind us but we didn’t take notice until one said, “Let’s roll some fag gots!” Mother stopped in her tracks along with the rest of us. Slowly we turned and proceeded to see who these gay-haters were. Mother yelled, “Whose buns are you going to roll?” A brown haired stud stepped for ward. He said, “No one’s talking to you faggot!” That’s all Mother needed to hear. She picked up this big stud by the crotch and threw him into a clump of bushes. The others came at us. The boys with us grabbed at the Tech boys and I was busy talking with one of the studs with red hair. After the fighting and yejling ceased, we all climbed the mountain to gether. The brown haired stud commented that he never met any fags like us before. I was thinking that he probably won’t ever meet anyone like uS again. We finally reached the top around 12:30. It started to rain so we all went inside the tower so we wouldn’t get wet. We got to know the Tech boys better in the tower- The boys weren’t interested in what we wanted so we invited them to our pool at a later date. We stayed in the tower and smoked a joint. After an hour we decended to the bottom of the tower only to find the door locked. So here we were, four Tech boys, Mother Gus, three park boys and good ole Liddia stuck on the top of Stone Mountain in the tower. Darkness soon fell upon Stone Mountain. No one was anywhere around the tower, so we just sat and waited - well we did more than sit but we won’t go into that. It was about ten P.M.when a Security Cop let us out. He told us that due to the high winds and stormy condi tions everyone evacuated the mountain top. We got a free ride on the cable car to the bottom of the mountain. We returned to our car and got our picnic basket out of the trunk, a little late for lunch, but we ate anyway. The Tech boys left after late night picnic and Mother Gus, the studs and myself returned to Atlanta, temperatures rised, eyes on our guys and satisfied.