Newspaper Page Text
THE BARB - 2
Editor’s
The Stonewall Riots of 1969
will be commemorated during
the month of June by gay
people all across America.
New York. Los Angeles and
San Francisco will have the
most visible celebrations with
large parades. Many cities and
colleges campuses will be the
scene of smaller com*
memorations.
There will be no large
parades in the deep South
commemorating this im-
poratnt event. Miami’s GAA
has folded its door, Atlanta’s
GLF died two years ago;
Tampa and Jacksonville never
had one and Charlotte’s Gay
Activists are just organizing.
The Triangle Gay Alliance in
North Carolina and gay groups
in Nashville and- Knoxville
have never opted for such
public ventures.
No parade. no Gay
Liberation? Not so! The
national media both gay and
straight may give you the
impression that gay people are
doing nothing but sitting on
the veranda with their mint
Juleps but nothing could be
further from the truth.
GAA Miami may not be
operating anymore but the
Gay Business Owners
Association is strong and
active with growing com
munity support. The BOA
Miami pjresident Jack Cam
pbell recently announced his
candidacy for the Miami City
Council and their Hot Line is
open 24 hours. Woody Slappey
of the Jacksonville <^CC has
w
m
been active in the gay civil
rights area; testifying recently
before the . Jacksonville
Community Relations Com
mission and organizing the
Wes Fortner Fund to^ptsist
Mr. Fortner’s legal effort to
remain in the Navy as an
openly gay person. •
. Charlotte and the Triangle
Gay Alliance; Durham,
Raleigh and Chapel Hill have
had continuing gjiy community
support sincel970.
Campus gay organizations
abound in the south from
Florida’s myriad number of
community colleges to Chapel
Hill’s large complex. . The
University of Georgia recently
elected a past Committee on
Gay Education Chairperson
President of the student body.
Atlanta also has a strong
gay community. The Atlanta
Lesbian Feminist Alliance has
a rich history of community
Where
Gibson W. Hi Aging
The continuing basis for
writing this column is to
provoke your thinking.
Whatever your beliefs, 1 hope
to challenge them. I see
myself as a prophet trying to
awaken you to thoughts of* a
new age: one of your qwn
making. The future is ours, to
use poorly or well, as we see
fit.
What this town needs is
some good old police op
pression. The gay community
doesn’t actually exist aSd
enough oppression could be
the catalyst for creating it. A
community is a political
entity, and sexuality'in itself
is not political. There is no
freedom* ' but that of in
visibility. Older gays are
“secure” in whatever closet
they have created for
themselves, and younger
gays are too busy chasing
each other with what freedom
they have, but what is there
'besides sucking and fucking?
W^at is it that a person gets
or gives in a quick trick?
Physical pleasure in some
cases. A sensitive, interested
person who takes the time
and trouble can send you into
ecstasy. But the other kind is
still there-biff, bam, thank
ya. man. What did he do??
9 Give me back my what???
£ We use one another and
A discard the result as con
taminated. We are sick we
have been told, so we purge
ourselves of guilt feelings by
avoiding any kind of feelings
at all. A hot new one, that’s all
I need. He makes me feel
good (that is, he makes me
feel momentarily better
about myself) so why not get
together? 1 can chase all of
my blues away . True, if I was
honest, 1 would admit to
myself that it will be over in a
few days, but it fulfills
something until then. Fulfills
what? A roller coaster cycle
careening out of control with
highs and lows. Some in
society say that divorce is a
normal outcome when in
dividuals grow so much that
they sometimes jure no longer
suited for another. Perhaps,
but for an entire relationship
to last only days or minutes is
insanity , particularly when
that is the only kind ever
entered. In that length of time
you barely know a person’s
name. You meet them
physically, but even there full
knowledge takes time and
familiarity in other respects.
One aspect of the so-called
sexual revolution is the in
creasing acceptance of
casual sex. Don’t ask for
sociological proof, but it just
may be that it fulfills definite
humanaj|eeds - as long as it is
kept’ tyrthin bounds. Within
The Barb is published monthly by Wesjir Enterprises.
Application to mail at second-class postage rates is pend
ing at Atlanta,. Georgia; Subscriptions are $4.00 for one
year (12 issues). Letters and manuscripts are welcomed.
Please enclose stamped, self-addressed envelope for return
of manuscripts, photos, etc. Opinions expressed by our
columnists do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The
Barb management.
Editor . . . .
Associate Editor
Barb Staff:
Gibson Higgins
Kathy *
Phyllis Killer;
Glen Long
S2§§ f
Advertising Representatives:
^Atlanta:
Billy Jones
POB 7922 |
Atlanta, GA. 30309-
(404) 872-6068 !
. . . . . . . . . . Bill Smith
Richard Evans Lee
Telephone (4042 874-3232
Bob Salo
Peter Thomas
Steve Warren
Michael Young
Ft. Lauderdale:
Peter Thomas
3801 N. Ocean Blvd.
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. 33308
(305) 566-4376
‘THE VOICE OF THE GAY COMMUNITY”
LETTERS
activity and is continuing to
grow. The recently formed
Atlanta Gay Coalition holds
hope for unified and cohesive
action among the gay
organizations and individual
( g^.v activists in Atlanta.
\. yThferemay not. be parades in
any major southern city but
the struggle for gay civil
equality is alive and well and
growing stronger..
My notebook tells me that
Charles St. John will not be in
Atlanta for: Gay Pride Week.
Charlie moved to Colorado last
month ending a four year stay
in Atlanta. I
Who is Charles St. John?
Mr. St. John was one of the
Chairpersons of the now
defunct Georgia Gay
Liberation Front, a prime
organizer of the GGLF dances
that payed for the legal fees
involved in forcing the State of
Georgia to allow gay
organizations on university
campuses, a personal friend,
and the first gay person in the
South appointed to hold a
political office.
Charles St. John by virtue of
being first holds a little place
in history. He worked like hell
while he was in Atlanta. In
return for his efforts he was
fired form his job, thrown out
of his apartment and harrased
by the police. Charles survived
it all with the love of only his
political idealism.
Gay Pride Week in Atlanta
will not be quite complete
without him. Hopefully
Charlie will come back to visit
us maybe during the next
year’s Gay Pride Week and
perhaps then we can
remember to {say thank you
Charlie St. John.
the life span of any individual
there are times when no
partner is present. In youth,
between marriages (in the
broad sense),! perhaps even
during prolonged separation.
People sometimes find
themselves drawn into a
casual encounter during such
times. In earlier days, self-
condemnation and remorse
would ensue, but now more
likely there would be ac
ceptance. Most people also
tend to move back into a
lasting relationship. The trap
for gays is that many of us do
not enter such relationships,
we do not grow through
commitment. The search
becomes the way of life, the
discovery the end in itself. We
cut ourselves off froth much
that is worthwhile and
satisfying, and we miss a lot
after pouring all of our
energy into the searching.
The burden society has
placed on gay people makes
us, individually and collec
tively, what 1 we are. It is
absurd to expect to be able to
“zap” people into normalcy
within a few years. Social
changes are measured in
generations. If progress is
being made toward liberation
of gays and gayness, then we
may be just players in roles,
to/fhe extent that it takes
time. • Alroadty the second
“gen0i^t^^ : ..^js\_em e r^ing.
There aref' fyast^i$||i r ere'tice3
between ypurige? apdolder
gays. Many ypungOr pirieS are
effeminate; but many arc
Dear Editor:
■ - • -J. ■ ; \
During the recent
Southeastern District ^Con
ference of the Universal
Fellowship of Metropolitan
Community Churches, T had
the pleasure of staying at the
BelaMar Motel, on: the
recommendation of The;Barb.
I would like to thank you very
much for the recommendation
because 1 found the BelaMar
to have a most enjoyable and
relaxing. •.*:
My hosts, Peter and Ed, the
owners were most gracious
and kind in putting up tyith a
number of people ’from
throughout the southeast. For
some; of us this would Ije the
only Vacation we would; have
this year and they made our
stay most pleasant. Agpin, 1
highly recommend f the
BelAMar to any of j your
also beyond that stereotype,
for they have never felt jsuch
pressure to conform ini any
sense. The latter group
describes itself as “straight
acting”, etc. (you do read the
persdnal ads). The words
“butch” and “fem” have a
chance of fading away under
the light of freely lived lives.
To the extent that personal
change can make a dif
ference, then we are not
players, but human beings
with power. The more each of
us does with his or her own
identity and being, the more
difference it will make in the
rate of change and ac
ceptance. Straight males will
never accept gays as equal
until they visibly demon
strate! themselves to be fully
capable, functioning people
who do not automatically
swallow society’s dictates.
Gay! people in the "South
have a reputation for being
conservative and voting
Republican. Like the black
middle class, they- un
derstandably want to secure
their hard worked for j>ains.
Discussion of. political
ideology is pointless; for
arguing only hardens points
of view, and the political
spectriim is irrelevant tx> gay
needs,] except that we require
readers and if your other
advertisers match up to the
quality of the BelaMar they
must be hihgly endorsed also.
Yout in Christ,.
Rev. Jim N. Snow
I ’•
Dear Bill,
This is just a short but
sincere note from MCC
Columbia to thank the BARB
for the privilge of having
copies of your paper sent to us
to be distributed to our
congregation. From the
congregation and Board of
Directors: Thank you for
your support of our Mission.
Yours in Christian Love,
WILLIAM S. RISE
Chairman
Interum Board of Directors
Columbia Mission MCC
basic freedoms to ensure our
constitutional rights. There
are probably numerous ways
to work for such rights, and
using priviledged political
channels is certainly one of
them. Visibility is the secret,
however, and how can a
person be safely visible while
working for the right to be
Safely visible? It’s Catch-22,
and is the reason that gays
can never be successfully
“left alone to lead their own
lives”. Things will just
continue as they have for
centuries, with alterating
cycles of oppression and
more oppression;
Full personhood is a power
derived from society as well
as from self. As long as
society (including the law)
does not grant that power , the
gay person Cannot live a
complete life. It’s that sim
ple, but don’t expect society
to voluntarily confer the
privilege' * f° r societies tend
to be conservative also,
status quo, unchanging unless
new forces appear. If gays
elect the status quo (a little
freedom is better than none)
that is all the freedom there
will ever be, and sometimes
there wm be pone. We tend to
Continued on Page 10.