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ALABAMA AD—UBS
By Scott Young
Greeting from the “HEART
OF DIXIE.** DARLINGS!
QUESTION. When you want to
throw a smart Sunday soiree and
don’t have room to invite the
hundreds and hundreds of
guests you want to invite, what
do you do? ANSWER. You rent
the nearest Fraternal Order of
Mice Lodge! At least that’s
what Jerry Bradley, owner of the
GIZMO did several Sundays ago.
For the invitation-only affair with
free food and booze, the
ingenious one rented the Bir
mingham F.O.P. Lodge for the
Sunday afternoon gala complete
with unformed policemen at the
door checking off the names of
the arriving guests! Perhaps the
only embarassing moment was
when one guest’s face turned red
when he was informed by one of
the oops that he didn’t have to
ask permission to go to the
men’s room. Seems one of the
dear fellow’s friends (?) told him
he had to get a "Piss pass" to go
to the men’s room! If someone
had told me 10 years ago that a
bunch of gays would be dancing,
drinking and dining together at
the F.O.P. Lodge, I’d probably
have said “bull shit."’ The
times-they are a changing!
And the F.O.P. Lodge will
be in use again on Sunday,
March 21st, for the “Miss Gay
Birmingham" pageant. Con
testants within a 100 mile radius
( sorry, only Alabama residents
can compete) will vie for the title
with judges from Atlanta, New
Orleans and Birmingham. The
exciting event will be MC’eed by
"Miss Gay America," Lady
Baronessa from Daytona Beach,
Florida with able assistance from
our own "Miss Gizmo of 1976,"
Misty Lamour. Any last minute
entry can contact Jerry Bradley
at the Gizmo 909 South 22nd.
Street. Birmingham. Area code
205, 254-8816. Entry fee is
$10.00 First prize is $300.00 cash
and the winner will go to the
" Miss Gay Alabama" contest to
be held in Huntsville at the
MATADOR LOUNGE on
Saturday, March 27th. First
runner up for the "Miss Gay
Birmingham" will receive
$150.00 cash. Admission for the
Sunday evening affair will be
$5.00 per person. Lady
Baronessa will also appear at the
Gizmo on Saturday night, March
20th.. the night before the
pagaent.
The COMING AT-
TRACTIONS is doing something
different with their "Happy
Hours" While most dubs
reduce the price of drinks in the
afternoon and then go up at
night, the C.A. is reducing the
price of drinks from 9 p.m. on
from Monday to Thursday
Alcoholics Together
Alcoholics Together as it is
known today, originally started
in the Los Angeles area in
October 1969. A member of
AlooV\oV\cs Anonymous became
interested in the activities of
Metropolitan Community
Church. His efforts to help
alcoholic members of the church
led to the original meeting of
alcoholic homosexuals and was
eventually named Alcoholics
Together.
The first meetings of
Alcoholics Together were held
on Tuesday evenings in an old
house that serves as the church
parsonage. The rapid growth of
Alcoholic! Together forced the
group to move to larger quarters
at the meeting hall of the Mary
Lind Foundation.
In June of 1970 some
members felt they got so much
out of the Tuesday night
meetings, they started a Friday
night meeting. The leased office
space in a building on Hollywood
and Sycamore in Hollywood.
When the Metropolitan
Community Church building at
22nd and Union was destroyed
by fire, the original group moved
to Crenshaw Blvd, and from
there to the Womens Club on La
Brea in Hollywood, where they
now meet on Thursday nights.
There have been many
changes in the past few years,
new meetings and new
dubhouses have sprung up.
There are now approximately 30
meetings a week in the greater
Los Angeles area, and more
recently. Alcoholics Together
groups are springing up all over
the United States and other parts
of the world.
The A.T. center is now
located at 3596 Beverly Blv-
d-.and has meetings every night
for the week, plus daytime
meetings on Saturday and
Sunday and candlelightmeetings
on Friday and Saturday night.
More recently the Gay
Community Service Center
helped establish a recovery
house for alcoholic homosexuals,
known as the Van Ness House.
They have meetings there three
nights a week, plus Al-Anon
meetings on Mondays.
Metropolitan Community
Church where it all started, is
vitally interested and involved in
Alcoholics Together. There is a
Tuesday night meeting at the
Mother Church at 1050 South
Hill Street, and the Valley MCC
lias two meetings a week.
An Alcoholic Together
group was started in Atlanta,
Georgia at the Metropolitan
Community Church in december
of 1975 by a former member of
Alcoholics Anonymous, who also
became interested in the ac
tivities of MCC. The group
diartered on December 3rd and
held its first meeting on
December 9.
Since then the groups has
added another day to the
meeting schedule which is:
Mondays and Fridays, closed
meetings for alcoholics only,
and Saturday morning, an open
meeting for Al-Anon members.
The sole purpose of the group is
to stay sober and to help other
alcoholics to attain sobriety.
The problem of alcohol and
alcoholism has become a
frightening and serious problem
bi our community. It is a problem
that is not tfoo easily resolved,
and sometimes not easily
recognized until it is too late.
The Atlanta Alcoholics
Together group has an ad in one
of the "free" local newspapers
that runs continuously in an
effort to rcadi the gay problem
brinker or drug adict. The name
of the group at Atlanta MCC is
the Phoenix Group, P. O. Box
10334, Atlanta, Georgia 30319.
The Phoenix Group is also
sending out literature to the local
alcohol and drug abuse centers
and local hospitals in an effort to
let these institutions and
agencies know the group is here
for those who may benefit from
the group.
An area of trust must be
established in the community.
Many people out of fear will not
seek help. In most cases there is
an "image" problem.
Tliere has been such a stigma
put on alcoholism, that some
people will not seek help,
because they do not want to
admit to the problem.
There must be an
educational outreach to the non
alcoholic. People must be made
aware of the problem as it does
exist, it can no longer be swept
under the rug. It should be
taught that it is as socially ac
ceptable not to drink, as it is to
drink.
nights. Business is picking uj
there and I’ve seen some hunky
numbers there the times I've
been in lately.
Winners in the "Queen of
Hearts" contest held at the
CHANCES R. are: Second
runner up, April St. James. First
runner up. Misty Black and
crowned "Queen of Hearts" was
Miss Charlotte Cantrelle.
Charlotte is featured in a review
at the CHANCES R on Friday
and Saturday nights and we're
pleased to announce that Gay
Holiday. "Miss Gay Bir
mingham of 1973" is back with
the show.
If you're heading down
towards Mobile, here are the
places you'll find your liking.
The Princess House, 254
Government. LeFontaine. 504
Dauphin. The FiresideLoungc54
S. Conception (OH Mary!) and
the Golden Rod Social Club,
sometimes called Bossies. Wish
1 could have made it down for
Mardi Gras! What? Youdid not
know Alabama had one too?
Well. Mobile does, and while it
may not be as big as the one in
New Orleans, it’s still festive just
the same.
We’ll try to be up in Hunt
sville on the 27th. for the "Miss
Gay Alabama" pageant. No. I
won't be a contestant but
hopefully they'll ask me to be a
judge. Until next month,
remember - "Happiness is
finding out your boss is a drag!"
Friends and lovers probably
do more harm to the alcoholic,
than the alcoholi.c does to
themselves. Very few people
really understand alcoholism,
and most people really don't
want to be bothered. They find it
hard to relate to the alcoholic,
and find it an . obnoxious
problem. Pouring booze out. can
be time consuming and costly,
and solve nothing. If an alcholic
wants a drink, they will find one.
Statistics are boring, but
useful. The fact that there arc
more than ten million alcoholics
in the United States, that one-
half of all traffic fatalities are
alcohol related; that one-half of
all homicides are alcohol related;
that one-third of alksuicidcs arc
alcohol related; alcoholism has
been the nations number one
health problem, and number
three killer. It is estimated that
one out of every three of the 1.5
million patients now in state
mental hospitals arc under
treatment for alcoholism; It has
been estimated that 75% of
homosexuals have a "drinking
problem." the percentage of
alcoholics has not been
established. •
Not everyone who is an
alcoholic is aware of it. families,
lovers, and friend do not like to
acknowledge it because of the
stigma attached. Many people
do not realize that many of their
problems stem from their
inability to ingest alcohol into
their system. Therefore are
unaware that alcohol is their
basic problem.
Alcoholism is a disease, it is
an illness, it is a physical allergy
coupled with an obsession of the
mind. It should be in the same
dass of illness as heart trouble,
diabetes, hypoglycemia, or
mental illness. There is no know
cure for alcoholism! If alcoholics
arc to recover, they must abstain
from ingesting alcohol into their
system in any form. If alcoholics
do not cease their alcoholic
drinking, they will die or become
hopelessly insane.
Althoueh there is not a cure
Continued on Page 9
CORRECTION
Last issue the caption on the
photograph of Misty Lamour
ready "Miss Gay Alabama."
The caption should have said
"Miss Gizmo". The error was
this office’s and we wish to
apologize to all concerned. The
Management of The Barb.
_ April 1976, THE BARB-2
HiEqizivio UxjNqE
CHANCES R IPUNQE
present
SUNDAY, MARCH 21st
6
■ 7?tt
FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE LODGE
2275 Green Springs Highway Birmingham, Alabama
EMCEEING & ENTERTAINING
Lady Baronessa
Former Miss Gay America
TISSIE MALONE
Miss Alabama
CHARLOTTE CANTRELL
Miss Birmingham 1975
$300 Winner
$100 1st Runner-up
$50 2nd Runner-up
$25 Miss Congeniality
The winner will proceed to the Miss Alabama Conest
March 27th in Huntsville.