Newspaper Page Text
14-THE BARB
UFMCC PLANS
“AFFIRMATION
LOS ANGELES, Cal.,
UFMCC ~ “Affir
mation 76” --a year-long
program culminating in
Washington, D.C., August 10-
15, 1976, in the Seventh
General Conference of the
Universal Fellowship of
Metropolitan Community
Churches--was announced
by the Rev. Troy D.
Perry, founder of the 89-
congregation church group.
“Over a thousand of us will
be going to Washington to
affirm our rights as gay
people to ‘life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness,’ ” Perry
said. “ ‘Affirmation 76’ will
show that even as other
groups have organized to gain
their rights, gay people are
called now, as the Bible tells
us, ‘to proclaim liberation to
all the lands.’ By affirming
ourselves as liberated gay
people and as Christians with
a story to tell to the nations,
we affirm the American
Revolution in its Bicentennial
year,” he said.
The Sixth General Con
ference of the UFMCC,
recently completed, drew
over a thousand persons from
the United States, Canada,
Europe and Australia to
Dallas, Texas, for six days of
workshops, business
meetings, worship services
and addresses by
Massachusetts represen
tative Elaine Noble and
theologian Norman Pit-
tenger. “You can be sure
we’re inviting President Ford
and Henry Kissinger,” Perry
said, laughing. “When MCC
gets together, you never can
tell what’s going to happen.”
To assist in preparations
for the 1976 General Con-
76”
ference, UFMCC is opening a
Washington office, October 1,
at 110 Maryland Avenue,
N.E., location in the U.S.
capitol for the offices of
several other Christian
denominations. The Rev. Roy
Birchard, 32, former pastor of
Metropolitan Community
Church of New York and a
recent member of UFMCC’s
board of elders has been
appointed coordinator.
“We see this Washington
office as being able to tie
loose ends together and
provide us with information
for MCC members about laws
and proposed legislation and
the whole spread of issues
Identification continued
from page 2
feeling human being. My ego
is sufficiently enlarged by
being repeatedly pursued as a
sex object, to the point that
myneedsare only met if I am
NOT pursued in such a
manner. I am fed up with
hearing from people in
general (and repeated by
gays) that only certain ways
of living are acceptable.
Identify with you? What else
can we do together other than
go to bed? If I am to be just
one more notch on your
headboard, forget it. Lust is
sometimes unavoidable, but
as a way of life it stinks. I will
not be used for your self-
indulgent gratification. I can
only relate to you sexually if
you can relate to me as a
friend, a companion, a lover.
Strong words? why not.
There is a lot of positivity in
gay life these days, but it is
still isolated, and gay vocies
join the chorus in saying,
::conform-fit in.” Further, I
related to our lifestyle,”
Perry said. “We want our
representatives in Congress
to know that gay people really
are interested in how we are
represented, and you can just
bet some of us are going to go
visit them when we get there
next August.”
For further information
contact:
The Rev. Troy Perry
UFMCC
1046 South Hill Street
Los Angeles, California 90015
Phone: (213) 748-2111.
The Rev. Roy Birchard
163 East 92nd Street
New York, N.Y. 10028
Phone: (212) 369-8513.
UFMCC
c-o Mr. R. AdamDeBaugh
Suite 210
110 Maryland Avenue, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20002.
Phone: (202) 543-2260.
have increasing difficulty in
“identifying” with the latest
fad simply because of some
“gay” angle associated. It’s
a developed aversion to the
idea that “since your are gay,
you (should), (must) ” I
believe that gays have to
repudiate this notion before
many concrete advances will
be made. Also, the
repudiation must be on a
personal, individual basis,
not as a mass-movement,
pop-culture event.
You probably see only
negativity in these words, but
it is the opposite I intend, for I
feel that much is possible for
those homesexuals who are
brave enough to try, all that is
required is to cast off old
notions of how to live, and to
decide that new directions
are possible. Sense of com
munity? Fine, but don’t let
the community become a
prison. REALIZE THAT THE
COMMUNITY DOESN’T
GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOUR
LIFE, Ai\D ACT AC
CORDINGLY. Free sex? It
ain’t free - you pay for what
you get- only the choice of
currency is yours. Sure there
are lots of opportunities, but
there are also lots of traps.
Finally, some of us believe
that it is necessary to be
“gay-identified.” This is the
ultimate lock-step, for then a
person is only valid by doing
exactly what is dictated. Why
doesn’t someone speak up for
gay freedom.
I will not allow anyone to
DIGNITY
ATLANTA
“A Catholic Outreach to
the Gay Community”
..Grow by sharing with
your Brothers ans Sisters
in liturgy, discussion,
socials, and sporting ac
tivities St. Thomas Moore
Church 624 West Ponce De
Leon Ave., Decatur,
Georgia 30030. First and
Third Wednesdays - 8:00
p.m. FOR MORE IN
FORMATION WRITE
MARTY COCHRAN, POB
77013, ATLANTA, 30309 OR
CALL 873-2670.
WANT NEW SALES? REACH THE PEOPLE
YOU’VE NEVER REACHED BEFORE: AD-
VERTISE IN THE BARB.
Southern Cooking is the Winner ....
HOME PLATE
RESTURANT
LUNCH .nd DINNER
SERVED tl am TILL 12 pm
• OPEN11 AM
• SOUTHERN COOKED ENTREES
• FRESH VEGETABLES SOUTHERN STYLE
• BEER FOR YOUR PLEASURE
• ALL AT REASONABLE PRICES
• BREAKFAST sorted around the dock
INDEPENDENT
Evangelical
AO/ xjCuKTWH. ^
SUNDAY 630 pm
2272
NEUhlAN ST. f.B.
cast Point
P0 Box 4(1
HAMPTON/ 6A. 30219
( IN BACK) PHONE (a O 4)
*7 2-2013
946-3 75 7
Metropolitan
Community
Church-Adanta
prescribe how I must live.
Hie mere fact of my sexuality
does not automatically
homogenize me into that
famous ten per cent of .the
population. I will not join you
in a struggle unless there is a
similarity of purpose. Mine is
to establish a place for my
self (and my one lover) where
I can live and breathe , in
complete freedom. If your
goal is whoring in the park or
a trick every day, I deny your
existence, I reject your cause
as being harmful to mine. My
sense of freedom is entirely
too strong to even con
template the advocay of your
restriction, which only leaves
the choice of evangelizing.
Can that happen?
Am I anti-gay? Yes, as far
as attitudes and behavior that
I perceive in that community.
No m reality, for I cannot
reject myself, therefore I
cannot reject you. I am pro
life and pro-freedom, and
fervently hope that those
things might come true for all
of us. They do not exist now. __
800 NORTH HIGHLAND
AVENUE
ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30306
(404) 872-2246
Reverend Elder John Gill,
Pastor
Reverend Jim N. Snow,
Assistant Pastor
Reverend Arthur Cazeault,
Assistant Pastor
Worship Sundat at 10 A.M., 2
P.M., and 6 P.M.
Wednesday Worship 8 P.M.