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THE BARB-3
Editor’s Notebook
Tha Barb
The Barb is published monthly by
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necessarily reflect the opinion of the
Barb management.
Editor Bill Smith
Associate-Editor .. Richard Evans Lee
Telephone (404)874-3232
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Barb Staff:
Gibson Higgins BobSalo
Kathy Peter Thomas
Phyllis Killer Steven Wbnren
Sarah Coven tree Annie 'Peter Hough
July 4th seems like a long
time ago, we move from the
heat of August tb the
changing colors of Sep-,
tember. The 4th has been fori
me a special celebration. A
time of vacation with family,
and a myriad number of other
good activities that, as a
child, seemed to center
around the fourth.
Being a suburban child with
an avid interest in history and
politics the 4th grew through
high school and college days
to mark a point in time to
remember all the good things
in life and in America.
The good feelings of family
that grew together with a
closeness that did not smother.
A closeness that allowed for
diversity, growth,
arguments, seperation,
togetherness and love. And'
understanding that through
our growth together and time
of seperation, that nothing
could prevent us from being
together in mind and spirit.
A sense of pride in a suc
cessful revolutionary
government is what provided
the basis for the growth of a
diversified and free country.
A country without Dress
censorship, a country of laws,
of Justice and hope for every
single citizen. A hope that
included the e ventual end of all
legal sanctions against being
gay. More, than a hope, a
feeling that' if the situation
was properly handled by the
responsible majority of gay
people in all walks of life and
professions the solution would
occur in society and in the
law.
It was a naive growth in
that symbolism that made a
warm euphoric sense cross
my mind. The fourth of July
that fully turned into a
sourness of reality 1 occured (a
long time ago) in 1971. A
month after Atlanta’s fcrst
gay‘pride march. Over 100
people had marched in that
parade. Over 100,000 gay
people lived and work in the
Atlanta area.
We were growing as wit
nessed by the parade’s
existence but only a fraction
of our community supported
the first open demonstration
of the gay community’s
presence.
The political and police
pressure to harrass the
openess of Georgia Gay
Liberation Front, the spon
sors of the parade, were the
first hard realities on the long
and difficult road to political
and social equality.
After five years of
organized and semi-
organized struggle, gains
have been made but
precious few they are. We
are still faced with the
solicitation for sodomy law
that entails a one year prison
term and a sodomy law that
calls for one to twenty years
imprisonment. The prison
system is apt to retain
“sexual” offenders the
maximum time allowable.
The same prison system
that releases theives and
murderers in less time than a
consensual sodomist.
Continued on Page 14
Southern Cooking is the Winner ....
Emotional Virginity
Gibson W. Higgins
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Do you remember when
you had your very first one?
For most of us it was OK,
although not feeling nearly as
good as what you could do
and had done repeatedly,
alone. Even the fantasies
were much better than the
real thing. No great changes,
except for the realization that
you had actually done IT. No
ringing bells, no exploding
fireworks, not rocketships
into space. If you were like
many of us, you were
responding as much to social
pressure to have sex as you
were to your own nature.
A cultural writes scripts for
members. Not literal in
structions, but roles
nonetheless are set cir
cumstantially for the time
and place in which each
person finds him or herself.
Because most people desire
to have a lot of their time
organized for them, they are
susceptible to having others
dictate how they live. Par
ticipation in sex then, for
many people, is a mixture of
biological drives and social
expectations. Heterosexual
roles have tended to direct;
people into monogamous
marriages, and the trend
continues in spite of ten
dencies toward sexual ex
perimentation on the part of
some people. Certainly the
reinforcement of social ac
ceptance at all levels ac
comodates the desire for
pairing. The “appropriate”
script for each person is set
by social mores and going
counter to it requires
determination by an in
dividual. “Going to college”
is an acceptable script
growing long hair and
working odd jobs is a much
less acceptable one. Getting
married is a more acceptable
script than shacking up or
living together.
The heterosexual person
has one distinct advantage-
regardless of which scripts
are chosen, the person is
accepted „by society. By
constrast, the homosexual is
always faced with the fact
that revelation of sexuality is
likely to bring censure,
regardless of the inherent
goodness and worth of the
person. Seperatism, in
visibility, revolt, and in
tegration are a few of the
methods of dealing with this
problem, all of which have
been scripted for us by oiir
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culture.
Separatism is the least
detailed script, since there
aren’t many Lesbos Islands
where homosexuals can
isolate themselves.
Invisibility has worked for
generations and continues to
for all of those who are
content to deny themselves toi
their environment. Revolt,
and integration have been
attempted almost equally
rarely, which leaves the bulk
of us in invisibility. Our
scripts cause us to be one
thing to ourselves, another to
jour surroundings. Although
most gays would deny it, the
script also call for us to keep
to ourselves. “Who me? I
have lots of friends and some
good sex, and I go out almost
every night.” Sure but have
your ever given yourself
away? Not your body to that
good-looking hunk (or
woman) you recently met,
but your mind, your soul,
your spirit, your being- your
love? Losing your cherry is
easy, gay or not, but the
script for gays calls for it to)
go no further. Invisibility,
remember? Society tolerates
us only so long as we stay out
of sight, and in withholding
ourselves from most, we
isolate ourselves emotionally
from everyone.
Our inevitable humanity
requires each of us to make
sacrifices and commitment to
reach our potential. The true
crimes against homosexuals
aren’t harrassment, en
trapment, or even jail sen
tences. They are the forces
that virtually require us to
deny our humanity. To
remain invisible we withhold
commitments to people. We
avoid true intimacy, we
refuse ourselves the op-;
portunity to give and receive
love. NOT sex- love. In
refusing to exchange human
emotions - love, fear, com
passion, sympathy, rein
forcement - we doom our-
Continued on Page 14