Newspaper Page Text
September 1976, THE BARB 2
Editor’s Noto&dok
HYACINTH US
The BARB staff, has
been working overtime the
past few months. In
November we will make
some significant changes in
the BARB. Blue Notes a 32
pege personal ads section
will be added. Scouting
Around a complete listing of
gay bars and businesses will
become a regular feature.
And regretably our three
year old free distribution
system will be ended.
Distributing 15,000
copies of THE BARB in over
250 lounges and gay
business establishments has
simply become too ex
pensive. Most of our
distributors will remain, with
us and THE BARB will still
be available to you.
Free is nice but some one
pays for the free. In the past
our advertisers have paid the
distribution costs. In
November it will be up to the
readers. We want to give
you a quality newspaper with
up-to-date news and in
teresting features.
A newspaper, even with
dedicated volunteers
assisting, requires a number
of paid professional staff
people. Staff, quality and
professionalism means
money. We think THE
BARB will still be a bargain
with a price of $1.00. BLUE
NOTES alone is sold for that
price and it will be free inside
THE BARB plus a complete
Southeast bar-guide.
We thank you now for
your continued support in the
future.
"Z
Bi-sexual Nonsense
by Mason Eagan
When Freud first
brought homosexuality out of
the Victorian closet he tried
to transform it into a medical
problem from^ a solely
criminal one. He was wrong
from the start. It should
never have been considered
a problem at all, criminal,
medical or otherwise.
Fundamentally he taught
what only women w ould
believe to be biologically true
and right. That is, that the
entire purpose of human
sexuality is to make women
pregnant and to produce
babies. That is essentially
true of women, and of
women only. He called
‘ 4 Heterosexuality ”. He
considered it normal-and
nothing else. Everything
which did not directly
contribute to the propagation
of the species he considered
a deviation for “normality”.
He was sophomoric.
Freudian psychiatry
advanced the notion that
human sexuality is one and
the same for males and
females. It is not. They
practiced the belief that
everything which deviated
from the heterosexual
“norm” constituted a
curable disease. Not so. In
fact, just last year the
psychiatric fraternity of-
ficially declared
“homosexuality” no longer a
disease. In other words, they
finally admitted one of
Freud’s mistakes-’but that’s
getting ahead of the story.
In the meanwhile it had
been believed, taught in
reputable medical schools
and voted into laws that
anyone who engaged in
homosexual practices, just
once, whether it was
masturbation or “anything
worse” was bestial-literally
lower than human and
beyond hope. For a price
psychiatry offered at least
hope, hope that the condition
was an illness and that it
could be cured. That fictio
fed a lot of shrinks.*
Unfortunately for the
profession, it gradually
became overwhelmingly
apparent even to the doctors
that most homosexuals were
not being cured. Most didn’t
even want to be cured.
Therefore the learned ones
concocted the concept of a
‘ 'second sexuality”.
Somehow it seemed to head
doctors |hat some humans
had somehow by-passed
normal j development and
instead qf merely becoming
deviates from
heterosexuality, had actually
been “fixated” in another
sexuality altogether. They
tagged this
“homoseixuality”. It was
nice and neat. Them and us.
They could file the whole kit
and kabootle under
“misfits’!’ and forge ahead to
more important matters.
Undejr this definition a
homosexually fixated person
was forever precluded from
operating ‘‘normally”
(meaning heterosexually).
This should have cleared up
the subject as far as the
medical profession was
concerned. They had neatly
cleft the human population
into twb unequal portions—
the heteros and the homos—
and what was one could
never be the other. It all
seemed so conveniently cut
and dri^d.
Howtever, gradually it
seeped into the awareness of
straight and smug shrinks
that some of “them” were
sneaking over the line. Some
avowed homosexuals were
actually taking out time from
their perversions to poke
among the organs of the
opposite sex. Some
homosexuals were really
married to mates of the
opposite sex, had children
and were adequate parents.
Consternation!
Hojw could this be? The
profession had already
decreed, graciously if a little
condescendingly, that there
existed two types of sexuality
within each gender: normal
by N. A. Diaman
Hyacinthus began last
August with a quiet Sunday
afternoon potluck dinner in a
flat on Castro Street. Five of
us came together to share the
Greek food and wine we had
brought tmd to talk about our
common ethnic background
and our experiences as gay
people. Since that time the
San Francisco group ha!s
grown to over thirty gay
Greeks plus friends and
lovers who gather
periodically in different
homes to socialize with ah
abundance of Greek food and
music.
The idea of organizing a
group for gay women and
men of Greek ancestry came
after reading about the
formation of GAI (Gay
American Indians). Soon
after Hyacinthus began there
was the emergence of an
even larger organization in
San Francisco called GALA
(Gala ’ Latino Alliance).
Probably what we all share in
common is the desire to
explore our particular
heritage with other non-
anglo gays of the same ethnic
backgorund.
Inis year on the Saturday
before Gay Pride Week,
Hyacinthus sponsored a
Greek party and disco dance
at the San Francisco Gay
Community Center at 32
and (Ugh) homosexual. But
one could not also, and at the
same time, be the other.
They were supposed to be
“fixed”. So the profession
wrangled over this new
conundrum. They held
conferences, wrote papers-
even read some of them-
gave speeches and they sat
around a lot scratching their
heads and damning the
“queers” for- not staying
where they had been put.
Finally some brilliant
innovator came up with yet
another new term. When
you can’t explain it—think up
a new name for it, it is easier
than trying to understand it.
So they called individuals
who liked to swing both ways
“bi-sexuals”. It was sup
posed to mean people who
participate in both of the two
distinct types of sexuality:
straight and that other stuff.
Well, when frustrated
straight men (and this world
is crammed with them) heard
the new word on the market
they latched onto it greedily.
It seemed to mean to them
that they could, at least, have
the best of both worlds: get
blow jobs and still not feel
they were queer. It came as
a great relief. So it
flourished.
That about brings us up
to date as far as the medical
profession sees it. They have
devised not one, not two, but
THREE distinct types of
sexuality for each gender:
heterosexual, homosexual, I
and yes Virginia, even bi
sexual.
Only the whole mess is
crap.
There are not six
categories of sexuality, three
NGTF
National Gay Task Force
America’s Largest Gay Civil Rights Organization
Needs Your Support
Membership: $15.00 and up
Name
Address
City State
Zip
Page Street. We are pleased
with the success of our first
public event which attracted
a crowd of about two hun
dred people. Then on Gay
Pride Day eight members of
the group marched in the San
Francisco Gay Pride Parade
with T-Shirts and matching
flags bearing the Hyacinthus
logo in royal blue on beige
background and signs in
English and Greek.
Plans for the fall include
an anniversary dinner for
members, the production of a
video-tape documentary, a
weekly Greek dance class, a
second Greek party/disco
dance and a talk on early
Greek religion and sexuality
by gay historian Arthur
Evans. We are launching a
campaign to encourage more
gay women of greek ancestry
to become involved in the
San Francisco group. Also
we would like to contact both
women and men in other
parts of this country and
other countries who might be
interested in organizing or
joining a Hyacinthus group
in their community.
Hyacjinthus, 631 Castro
Street, San Francisco,
California 94114 U.S.A. (415)
861-6679
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offices located at 40 Peachtree Place, NW, Atlanta, Georgia 30309.
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tacting the editorial office.
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EDITOR
W.E.(Bill) Smith, Jr.
REPRESENTATIVES
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CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Louie Crew, Gibson Higgins, Jeffrey Lant,
Joel Starkey, Robert Blaine, Mark Silber
ENTERTAINMENT EDITORS: - Phyllis Killer, Steve Warren, Peter
Thomas, T.C. Wade, Skip Richards, B.K.
ADVICE & PRODUCTS: Jeannie Barney, Frank Dale, Mason Eagan,
Rod Fuller, Robert Kunst
GRAPHICS & PRODUCTION: Richard Pletcher, Holly Moses, Marty
Pierce, Randy Kuykendall, David, Dean, and all our friends.
DEADLINES FOR OCTOBER ISSUE.
WRITTEN COPY: SEPTEMBER 1st
AD RESERVATION: SEPTEMBER 6th
AD COPY DUE: SEPTEMBER 8th
CLASSIFIED ADS: SEPTEMBER 10th
PUBLICATION: SEPTEMBER 14th
for males and three for
females. There is only one.
One jfor human males and
one |for human females.
These two can even interact.
It is that simple. And when
they jdo happen to interact,
propagation of the species is
possible. Which contents
Natute. Otherwise it is up to
each | individual. For the
hum^n male sexual func
tioning consists of erections
(sometimes) and ejaculations
(almost always), And that’s
it. The circumstances under
which these biological
capabilities can function is
totally up to each man’s
conditioning and choice.
There is no biological reason
why } EVERY man cannot
enjoy it ALL.
FLEA MARKET
sponsored by the Atlanta Gay Center
The Cove (586 Worchester Drive - off Monroe)
Saturday, August 28th - All Day
Rain Date - Sunday, August 29
The Atlanta Gay Center Summer Festivity
Committee cordially invites you to a Benefit for
Itself
Available for immediate sale:
Objects d'art Junque, Clothing, Records,
Furniture, Books, Baked Goods, Lots of
Miscellany, Oodles of Etcetera
Face Painting Kissing Booth Curiosities Food -
Drink
Clean out your closet and bring it to the Cove
Free pick-up service - CaW 892-5855
Good Company Join Us Come out to the Cove 1
BRB
Membership includes NGTF Newsletter, “It’s Time”
NGTF National Gay Task Force
Room 506, 80 Fifth Avenue, N.Y., N.Y. 10011
A CLEAN
FACE
Cosm etics or a beard
\w ill not hide
jb / a c k h e a d s
jw h iteh eads enlarged
pores or blemishes
caused by po llutants
excess oil or a c -
cumulated dirt We
take two and one half
hours of skill and
caring to clean your
face thoroughly using
the latest in European
equipment and
te ch n ique . B y ap
pointment only.
Please allow 2 1/2 hours for ap
pointment.
Muscle Finning Skin Layering Skin Analysis
Skin Care Products Salon Facials Hair Removal
Deep Pore Gleaning
Regularly $35, Special through Sept. 1st $25.
JUDITH SANS
bucxhead
HOB. Andrews Dr.
237-5583
Internationale
HYATT REGENCY ATLANTA
577-1234, ext. 1446
SANDY SPRINGS
6170 Roswell Rd.y
252-0687 7