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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 THE BARB is published monthly by WESJIEf Enterprises, editorial offices located at 40 Peachtree Place, NW, Atlanta, Georgia 30309. Mailing address: Post Office Box 7922, Atlanta, GA 30357. Sub scriptions (USA) are $5.oo for 12 issues via 3rd class postage; $8.00 via 1st class postage. Volunteer contributions of material are welcome. Return postage should accompany all manuscripts, photos and graphics to insure return. Publication of the name, photograph or likeness of any name, person, group or trademark is not to be con strued as an indication of sexual orientation. The publisher does not assume any liability resulting from the usage of any such material volunteered and/or submitted as paid advertising. Articles express the individual viewpoint of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of THE BARB'S management or advertisers. Distribution for independent bookstores, newsstands, etc. can be arranged by con tacting the editorial office. TELEPHONE: (404) 892-6341 - Office Hours 10AM - 6pm EST EDITOR W.E.(Bill) Smith, Jr. REPRESENTATIVES ATLANTA Billy Jones Post Office Box 7922 Atlanta, GA 30309 (404)872-6068 NORTH CAROLINA Glen Plot! 1003 West Lenoir Raleigh NC 27603 (919) 833-0570 | FLORIDA j Christian Lange & Associates 7000 SW 62 Avenue Miami FL 33143 (305)667-7186 DALLAS Roy Hail Post office Box 5915 Dal las TX 75515 (214) 233-4362 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