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i Alvina Grease And Leslie L. Ross An Important Appeal ‘ To The Gay Community By Laeus Liber The battle for the reco gnition of our fundamental human dignity, for the att ainment of our civil rights, and for the accep tance of our gay love as a valid alternative life and love style is one which meets with continuing hostility, ‘fear arid igno rance. The battle is being con tinually waged on mriny fronts. There are many of us who are constantly working to “enlighten ” thg straight sexist educa tors and the bigotted members of the so-called ‘ 4 helping’ ’ professions such as psychiatry, social work and counsel ing. Many of us are of us are involved with the American Civil Liberties Union in its unending bat tle to preserve our civil liberties, especially in the area of sexual privacy police abuses and brutal ity. There are those who have joined the M. C. C. Christian Fellowship who by their affirmatin of the Christian principles of love and charity force the established homophobic Christian churches, to take stock and to re-eval uate their positions and their own failed express ion of love and acceptance of their fellow men. Indeed, there is so much to be done, so many possi bilities for positive ac tion, that the average gay person may feel over whelmed. Our need for mutual support is great! Barbara Gittings, a veteran crusader for gay rights, has sent an ap peal to our gay commun ity for support in the forthcoming American Library Association con vention to be held in New York City during the second week of July, 1974. Barbara is the coordinator of the American Library As sociation’s Task Force on Gay Liberation So cial Responsibilities Ro und Table. Through her fine work, the Task Force has put out a Bibilography of Gay Lit erature. This import tant bibliography is av ailable to libraries and to individuals. It lists current books and period ical which are pos itive in their approach to gay life and gay pro blems in order to bat- i tie the hoard of biased, homoerotophobic works which are disseminated throughout our society and which weigh heavilj on the shelves of our school and public librar ies. Barbara and her fellow workers are atten ding the A.L.A. conven tion to represent Us and to stimulate the other members of that prest igious national organiza tion to review their imp roper attitudes and to further implement the dissemination of the TRUTH about gay life and love! Please search your hearts and you will find that we all share a re sponsibility in this bat tle! Although many of us cannot be in New York, we can make our indi vidual presence and sup port felt by donations, however small, for this worthy cause in the battle for the liberation of' our own identities' Donations may be sent to: BARBARA GITTINGS, Coordinator, A.L.A.T.F G.C., P. O. BOX 2383 Philadelphia, Pa. 19103^ Our libtr- ation is only going tv. l3 attained through our own participation, at least fin ancially, in these crucial battles! * * ATLANTA BARB-Page 11 Community Activities By Bill Smith,; As the Barb goes to press for the July issue we are in the midst of our fourth annual Gay Pride Week Celebration To me it has been the best celebration of all. Each event has brought gay men and women to gether. Gay men and women have not always been able to work together easily. We have diverg ent priorities and goals. We are ultimately bound together by the discrim inatory laws of the stra ight society. More imp ortantly we are bound to gether by common prob lems. Gay Pride Week has highlighted many of these areas. The prob lems of job discrimina tion and child custody. Even the apparently gay male problem of entrap ment while cruising has many repercussions for the lesbian community. While talking with a young lesbian woman at the ALFA Omega’s Carn ival, I was struck by the commoness of many of our seemingly divergent problems. As she exp lained the need for Les bian women to struggle seperately due to the passive nature of many women, I was amazed at the number of times she mentioned problems of tactics that many gay men had mentioned to me. We do have divergent prob lems, but as long as we do not seek to join to gether on common issues, as well as specifically male problems, such as entrapment, and women oriented projects; such as ERA, we will have a longer and lonelier strug gle. One of the most oppressive tactics of the ruling class, the media, is to seperate each interest group, make them* feel powerless to change their own destiny and thus ac cept the status quo. During August, Rev. Snow, Vicki Gabriner and I will begin to discuss projects for joint action by the community. Thr ough these discussions we will be able to com municate our priorities, our feelings and our plan of action. July, I feel will be a crucial month in the communities’ re lationship to each other. Through Gay Pride Week we have come together. We can wait another year to talk again, wait for major crisis or move now to establish permanent lines of communications. While recognizing the need for many seperate political and social act ivities there is obviously a need for joint action. The Gay Pride Week news conference indica ted a number of problems in the community. July will also be a critical month in the solution of these problems. During July, the decision on police - community work shops will be decided. The strength or weakness of City Council Legislat ion concerning discrim ination based on sexual orientation will be made. Discussions with the Mayor’s office should; also .take place in July The impact of the dis cussions made in July will affect the lives of all gay men and women in Atlanta. As, Rev. Snow, * Vickie and I meet togeth er during the next few days, I think each one of us will be looking toward the inevitable, mobilizat* - ion of broad community support, men , women, blacks, whites, rich and poor gay people, that will ultimately be necessary to make even these em bryonic steps toward, civil equality Did You Know? The surplus items for sale from the Government include ship and marine equipment, floating doc ks, ships, small crafts, motor vehicles, trailors, cycles, jeeps, tires, tubes, engines, cooling systems, oil filters , bearings, woodworking machinery, agricultural equipment, metalworking machinery, rope, cable chains, fittings, and many others. You can be put on the list of bidders for Government Surplus by writing; Defense Surplus Bidders Control Office, The Federal Center, Bat- ttle Creek, Michigan, zip 491Q6. Some of these r r aterials are in excel lent shape, and some are not but the Government scrupulously marks each item accordingly. Info taken from Consumer Gazette. Cocktail Hour 3 To 8:00 P.M. Congratulations! Atlanta On Gay Pride Week MY HOUSE 774 W. Peachtree St. N. E. Atlanta, Georgia Proudly Presents Atlanta Follies "The Broadway Babies” The New "Golden Eye” Upstairs, Discotheque-Food—Dancing Open Till 4 A M. 881-6195