Newspaper Page Text
3- THE BARB. Jane 1976
Florida Gay Liberation News
JOEL M. STARKEY
and
MARK N. SILBER
TAMPA: The University of
South Florida Gay Coalition
recently hosted speaking
engagements on behalf of noted
gay feminists Elaine Noble and
Rita Mae Brown In her speech
Ms. Brown stated ‘ making a
revolution can be as much fun as
it is pain - and if you can’t
laugh, it’s not worth it.” In
addressing the audience she
said, “I’m assuming you all have
a plan if you* don r t you don’t
have any business addressing
yourself to other people. You
can only react so far - and in
fact, this has been the great
curse of our movement, ot the
Black movement, the anti-war
movement, of the Gay Male
movement, of all the
movements, we have allowed
ourselves .to fall into the most
destructive political trap any
group can fall into - which is, we
are reactors instead of actors.”
FORT LAUDERDALE: “Young
normal and law abiding men are
needed on a police force. No
people who have, or could
destroy the lives of children.”
These words of Milton J. Kelly,
the arch-conservative editor of
the Ft. Lauderdale News, a large
urban type daily newspaper with
a circulation in the hundreds of
thousands. Kelly was referring
to the recent acceptance of gays
in the San Francisco police force.
In a strongly worded editorial
called “San Francisco chief,
Asks For Problems With ‘Gay’
Officers” Kelly denounced
equal emoloyment for gay.
The editorial appeared
on April 23, 1976. According to
Kelly, letting gay people become
police officers is ’sickening.’
Kelly further implied that gay
policemen would molest young
boys and make passes at other
police officers.
BOCA RATONiThe Southern
Gay Liberator has received
recent issues of two worker’s
publications which have taken
strong editorial positions in favor
of gay rights. Both editorials
were" in answer to a recent US
Supreme Court ruling that
homosexual acts - even when
performed by consenting adults
in private- are legal cause for
criminal prosecution and
imprisonment. The pditoirals
appeared in the Militant and the
Guardian. Both newspapers
have a circulation base of25,000
subscribers and are widely read
by the left in this country. The
Guardian correctly analyzed the
US Supreme Court ruling as
“obvious puritancial
neanderthalism!” The editorial
in the Guardian
concluded,‘‘Some leftists,
unfortuantly, tend to snicker in
typically juvenile fashion when
the question of homosexuality
comes up. Others have absorbed
many of bourgeois society’s most
backward views on this question.
But the question involved hete is
virtually self-evident, attacks on
the democratic rights of
homosexuals - in terms of
police repression, job
discrimination and abridgement
of elementary civil liberties -
are attacks on all people, no
matter what their sexual
orientation.
JACKSONVILLE: Rev. David
Garden of the Jacksonville
Metropolican Community
Church stated in a recent edition
of the MCC bulletin that the gay
church has just observed it’s
second anniversary. He noted
that the gay church is thriving
and has just adopted local by
laws, approved a $20,000 per
year budget, and is now actively
seeking to purchase a builidng
for the Jacksonville MCC. In
addition to serving the gay
Christian community in terms of
it’s needs Rev. David Garden
stated, “If we have our own
building the social hall could
house a gay community service
center, gay .organizations etc.”
Rev. Garden also noted in an
open letter between the gay and
non-gay community and has
been asked to appear on
television and radio to present a
gay view'.
LIGHT HOUSE-POINT:
C.OY.O.T.E. comes South!
C.O.Y.O.T.E. a well known
group which is engaged in a
struggle to secure basic civil
liberties for those engaged in
prostitution has established
ijself as an organization in many
other parts of the oountry. With
the publication of C.O.Y.O.T.E.
Howb a chapter has now been
established in South Florida.
$5.00 gets you their newsletter
for a year . . . C.O.Y.O.T.E.
Howls, POB 50-003, Lighthouse
Point, FL 33064.
TALLAHASSEE: Lewdness
doesn’t offend gays, Flordia
Supreme Court says. A Florida
Gay man who worked as a waiter
at a gay dub in Daytona Beach
was acquitted of lewd and
lascivious conduct by the State
Supreme Court. The Florida
Supreme Court ruled that no one
was offended by the waiters
behavior since it was a gay
oriented bar. The court went on
to say ’’ajury of 'reasonable
persons could not necessarily
condude that the appellant’s
conduct at the time and place
and under the circumstances
that it occurred, constituted a
violation of lewd and lascivious
behavior laws.”
MIAMI: On April 17th, crowds
of educators flocked to Florida
International University toattend
.a workshop dealing with gays In'
high schools and colleges. The
f inest speaker was noted lesbian-,
eminist Elaine Noble who is the
first openly declared homosexual
woman to be elected to public',
office - the Massachusettes
House of Representatives- This
was probably tne first "time a
conference on gay issues was
held at a Florida state univeristy.
Besides the workshop and
speaking engagement, tables
were set up by gay organizations
to distribute literature. The
tables were set up by the Miami
MCC, MC Synagogue, Dignity
and the Alliance for Individual
Rights. Later that evening the
NOW Lesbian Task Force in
Dade County hosted Elaine
Noble at the downtown YWCA.
Rep. Noble spoke before a crowd
of 50 gay people on the
importance of the ERA, sexism
in the gay male community,
combatting racism, and covered
other areas of concern.
The recent US Supreme
Cpurt ruling : Just more of that
same old ‘horseshit’ 200 years of
gay people oppression!!!
Broward Sets Voter
Registration Drive
i“For any minority group to
advance its needs, it must have a
united front in which to deal with
the laws and the people who can
change them,’ states a
Broward gay activist. Ethnic
groups, the Black people, unions
are only a few of the groups, the
Black people who realize that
as a united voting, front
they can make theirvoices heard
and discriminatory laws
changed.
Unfortunatly the gay vote has
not really solidified as a voting
unit. Perhaps it is anathy or the
feeling that “one vote” won’t
matter. However, “one vote’ ’
does matter. Even David
Suskind acknowledged on TV
the power of the gay community
and the potential power gays
have if they would only use it.
If Suskind’s words are true,
then the gay community can
begin by registering to vote and
start voting this Fall. Various
Broward community leaders and
organizations are stressing the
need for all gays to register and
vote.
In Broward County there are
three elections this Fall;
September 7-’76...First Primary
for County, State, and Federal
Offices; September 28-’76...
Second Primary-run-off for
County, state, and Federal
Offi ces; and November 2
76.. .Presidential-gen era
Election. During these elections
many county offices are up for
reelection. A united gay vote
can have far reaching results and
begin to clean the law oi
discriminatory statutes
Where can one register to
vote? Within Broward County
.the central voteer registration
Office is located in the County
Courthouse, Room 170, 201 S.E.
6th St., Ft. Lauderdale... 765-
5566.
registrations are taken Monday-j
Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Besides the main office,
there are also three branch
offices which are opened
mon day-Fri day; 1.
Pompano...900 N. Federal Hwy,
Room 114, 943-7220; hours 9:00
AM-5:00 PM.
Within Florida there is no
redidency requirement. If you
are at least 18 years old, a
Citizen of the United States,
have no felony convictions
pending, and wish to claim
Broward as your legal residency,
then you may register to vote.
The books dose 45 days prior to
an election.
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offices in Atlanta, Georgia. Mailing address: Post Office Box 7922,!
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TELEPHONE: (404)874-3232
Office Hours: 10 AM-6PM EST
EDITOR
W.E. [Bill] Smith, Jr.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Elizabeth Sterling
REPRESENTATIVES
FLORIDA
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005)667-7186
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i CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Louie Crew, Gibson W. Higgins, Jeffrey
I Lant, Joel Starkey, Rober Blaine „ 1L ... .....
ENTERTAINMENT EDITORS: Larry Foster, Kathy, B.K., Phyllis Killer,
Steve Warren. Peter Thomas „ . _ , ' _ _ .
ADVICE & PRODUCTS: Jeanne Barney, Frank Dale, Mason Eagan, Rod|
I Fuller
GRAPHICS & PRODUCTION: Richard W. Pletcher, Al Sterling, Drey and
DemianLord, Richard Evans Lee 1
DEADLINES FOR JULY ISSUE:
WRITTEN COPY: JUNE 2
AD RESERVATION: JUNE 7
AD COPY DUE: JUNE 9
CLASSIFIED ADS:JUNE 11
PUBLICATION: JUNE16
Contrary to the Christianity you may have known in
association with •mainline-establishment churches*
ours is a refreshing concept. We have turned back
to the era of the Apostles for our guidance, know -
ing a God who is not a nineteenth century prude or
tyrant, such as ’establishment religion* has tended
to create. The God known to us is compassionate -
loving and just. As adult Christians we worship an
adult God.
For thirty years our independent American Catholic
Church has been a "missionary to our own people"
presenting to them the fullness of the Church of the
Lord, which the discriminating ’establishment --
mainline churches* so shamefully has aborted. The
i Church of the Holy Eucharist is a new Mission we
plan for the Atlanta area. Our worship is founded
in the traditional catholic liturgical-sacramental
forms, with a ministry deriving from the Apostles.
If you are tired of suffocating in the religious closet
of 'mainline^establishment religion* we invite you
to attend our "get-acquainted" and organizational
meetings planned for early spring in Atlanta. Who
knows, you may hold in your hand the key which
will unlock many closet doors (perhaps even your
Please write for more information
FATHER MARK PHILIPS
Post Office Box 1273
Holy Cross Church
Anderson, S. C. 29622