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THE BARB - 2 Catholic Church Opens Doors To Gays St. Thomas More proved itself truly a “church for all seasons” when, on Nov. 13, it permitted Dignity/ Atlanta to use the church facilities for a Mass. In the first year of its existence, the gay Catholic organization met in mem bers’ residence. Mass was celebrated; but the setting emphasized the partici pants’ feeling of separation from the Church,, which is contrary to Dignity’s goals. About 20 attended the first Mass at St. Thomas More. The Rev. Peter E. Fink, S.J., and the Rev. Joseph C. Cavallo con- celebrated the Mass. Although this was believed to be the first Roman Catholic Mass for gays held in an Atlanta area church, there was an Old Catholic gay Mass in 1946. Dignity/Atlanta will con tinue to meet and worship at St. Thomas More, usual ly on alternate Wednesdays. For further information about the organization and its activities, contact Rev. Joe Cavallo, 7171 Glenridge Dr., N.E., Atlanta 30328-- phone 394-9226; or Rev. Liam Tuffy at St. Thomas More, 624 W. Ponce de- Leon Ave., Decatur 30030-- phone 328-4588. Finally, a word of fare well to Father Peter Fink, who departs this month for Boston. His enlightened view of Catholicism, demonstrated in a living, working Christian faith, has earned him the love and respect of all whose lives he’s touched -- straights, and gays alike. The Barb wishes him continued success, as he brings a new awareness to Boston and shakes that old city to its spiritual found ations. Community Activities By Bill Smith Many cities and states across the United States are moving to broaden the scope of existing federal, state and local civil rights legislation, c In addition to the original 1964 Civil Rights Act coverage areas of race, color, religion, national origin, sex and age, new coverage areas such as marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, family responsibilities, physical handicaps, matriculation and political affiliation have been covered through local and state legislation. It is perhaps, a not so well known fact that the in clusion of sex in the 1964 Civil Rights Act was an ex plicit. attempt by. Virginia Congressman J. Howard Smith to dilute and perhaps defeat the bill. !MrV. Smith no doubt regrets his ill planned amendment for it perhaps more than any single act opened the door' for the; broad coverage for minority groups that is presently being considered. These hew coverage areas, howeverv - are . Often added to state ’I Snd. local civil rights agencies without any increase in funding and staff for these new coverage areas. • Galen Martin, Executive Director of the Kentucky Commission On Human Rights Workers in October of this year asked the question “Is there a national conspiracy to un dermine, weaken and dis sipate state and local civil rights enforcement by load ing the agencies with many new areas of coverage which divert them from their original purpose of ending discrimination against racial and religious minorities?” Personally I think Mr. Martin is way off base in his thinking of a * ‘national conspiracy’ ’ but I think he is correct in his assessment that agencies are being over loaded by additional cover age areas. The price of fighting dis crimination is high but in finitesimally small when compared to the cost of discrimination both in dollars and cents and in human dignity. Limiting or deleting coverage areas is not the answer to racial and religious discrimina tion. No one minority or oppressed group of human beings will ever be truly free until all vestiges of racism, sexism, bigotry and bias are confronted and destroyed. When governmental agencies and elected political bodies move to broaden coverage, as they should and must, they must be willing to back-up their campaign promises °* equality for all people with the difficult but necessary adjustments in budget priorities to properly fund the additional coverage areas. Any thing less will make this call to equality ring like a thud in the ears of those who have trusted them with their votes, their support and their govern ment. LETJUm STARDUST NO. 60 FIFTH STREET, N.tf. JUST OFF SPRING ON FIFTH INTERCOM TELEPHONES ON EACH TABLE AND AT THE BAR DIAMOND LIL AND THE MANAGEMENT OF PEACHES STARDUST REGRETS THAT WE WERE NOT ABLE TO HAVE ALL OF YOU AS OUR GUESTS AT OUR LAST SHOW •■SHE’LL BE BACK” f The BARB is published Monthly in Atlanta, Georgia. | We do not accept the responsibility for unsolicited manu- " scripts, photos, etc. Letters are welcome, but we do not | guarantee publication of all material'. Opinions expressed by our columnists do not necessari- f ly reflect the opinion of the Newspaper. ...Ray F. Green ...Jeanni Graham • - Bill Smith Stephen Douglass | STAFF | Editor............. /. * Co-Editor.............. I Business Manager a Advertising Mgr 9,(404) 261-4510 | Staff writers: 7 Bill Smith f Steve Warren k Peter Thomas | Production Staff a Carol Jordan f Bill Smith | Ray Green Ft. Lauderdale-Miami, Representative Peter Thomas 3801 N. Ocean Blvd. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. 33308 Phone: (305)566-4376 THE BARB P. O. BOX 82543 ATLANTA, GA 30354 • ‘THE. VOICE OF THE GAY COMMUNITY’ ’ ★★★ NATIONAL NOTES ★★★ Washington, D.C. - A proposed amendment to the 1964 Civil Rights Bill which would protect gays by add ing to the original bill the term, “Sexual orientation” had slowly been gathering support. Introduced-in the House Of Representatives by Reps. EdKoch(Dem. N.Y.) and Bella Abzug (Dem. N.Y.), the bill will be co-sponsor ed by Rep. Robert Nix (Dem. Pa.), Rep. Michael J. Harrington (Dem. Mass.) and Reps. John Burton and Phillip Burton, both democrats from California. Walter E. Faunteroy, the District of Columbia’s non voting de legate to Congrss has promised to add his name to the list of co-sponsors. Boston, Mass. - Michael S. Dukakis, considered sym pathetic to Gay Civil Rights has been elected Governor of Mass. Dukakis is a Democrat. Detroit, Mich. - Gay journalist Brian McHaught has been fired from his job as a reporter and sub-editor of the Michigan Catholic, a publication of the Detroit Ca tholic archdiocese. McNaught, whose column was sus pended after he received publicity as a president of Dignity, the Catholic organization, was dismissed after undertaking a sixteen day fast to protest the treatment of gays by the Catholic church. Edinburgh, Scotland - The world’s first International Gay Rights Congress will be held iD Edinburg, December 18-22. Organized by the Edinburgh University Students Association, the Congress has received support from the National Gay Task Force who is sponsoring a package tour to Britain in hopes of encouraging American parti cipation. NGTF’s mailing address is Room 903, 80 Fifth Ave., N.Y., N.Y. 10001. Los Angeles, Calif. - Actor George Maharis has been arrested on charges of commiting a sex act with a hair dresser in the men’s room of a gasoline station. Maharis, 46, best remembered as a co-star of the “Route 66” television series, was also arrested for lewd conduct in 1967 by a vice squad officer who said the actor made a pass at him in the men’s room of a Hollywood restau rant. to spare? Love to share? GAY SEXUAL FUN $3. PEN PAL CLUB $3. HARTING. 80X 15302. HONOLULU. HI 96815 San Francisco, Calif. - The Internal Revenue Service has informed the Pride Foundation, a local gay edu cational and legal action group that it does not qualify for Federal Tax exemption. Pride has been told that it’s activities are “detrimental” rather than beneficial to the public” and that its “efforts toward the elimina tion of unjustified and improper discrimination or treat ment toward gays are insignificant when compared to the possible detriment to society”. Name Address City State Zip