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THE VOICE OF THE GAY COMMUNITY - SERVING THE SOUTHEAST AND THE NATION” VOL. 1 NO. 7 PUBLISHED IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA 25 CENTS GAYS EXTRACT EXECUTIVE ORDER FROM MAYOR Groundwork Being Laid To Stop Harassment! The much talked about meeting between Atlanta Gay leaders and Atlanta Mayor, Maynard Jackson 1 finally occured July 18th. The on again, off again meeting began with apol- egetic comments from both sides concerning the problems encountered in arranging the meeting. Mayor Jackson noted the many problems of simply beginning a new job, the great increase in the number of calls to the Mayor’s office, and the difficulties with admini stering the Police De partment. Revs. Snow and Gill, and Commissioner Bill Smith acknowledged their awareness of these problems while indicating that the problems within the Gay Community had become so acute that an understanding of the ad ministration’s awareness of the problem be known, and solutions both long and short range be dis cussed. Mayor Jackson made, it very clear that his ad ministration is com mitted to equality for all citizens and that this de finitely includes gay citi zens. Rev. Snow brought to Mayor Jackson’s attent ion several specific in cidents of police haras sment and abuse. The Mayor was visibly frus trated at his inability to take immediate action in this area due to court Injunctions preventing him from “interferring” with the action of Police Chief John Inman. Jack- son did indicate that when the new Director of Pu blic Safety was chosen, that he would be a person dedicated to people, con cerned for personal lib erty, wbie effectively re ducing crime in Atlanta. Continued on page 4 WHY OUR NEW NAME? 'We have changed our name!!! Why? The reason! is obvious. In just six short monthsxour growth has been phenomenal. We have been able to es tablish distribution throughout the Southeast, and , our agencies are doing a fine job. Although we are very proud of our city, Atlanta, where the newspaper was born, we felt as opr many readers, advertisers and distributors did, our readership would be limited if we continued to use the name Atlanta, which really confines it to a small area.. It was decided that we hold a cash contest awarding $50 to the person who submitted either the best, or the most appropriate name for the newspaper. Of all the names submitted, “The Barb” A was choses because our coverage is now regional, our circulation is growing with each issue, and the Barb is well established in the Gay community. The winner of Name The Barb was to be an-< nounced in this issue, but unfortunately the person who submitted the name declined an interview, explaining that if we divulge his name in this publication, it could very easily jeapordize his position in the “straight society.” We certainly 'would not want this to happen. We would like to ,express our thanks and ap preciation to s those who took their time and effort to enter the contest. This certainly dem- ionstrated great support and interest on your part for the Barb. Our sincere hope and desire is that we may be able to live up to our fine reputation as a newspaper serving as a ‘LVoice For The Gay Community.” THE EDITOR THE BARB'S STUD OF THE MONTH Warren Beatty