Gay Awareness Week Attract
Many Participants
The third annual Gay Awareness
Week was held at UNC-CH Oct. 29 -
Nov. 4, with afternoon and evening
workshops, films, and nightly so-
cials. Workshops early in the week^
covered such topics as Coining
"Health Issues for Women and Men,
and "Religion and Gays." Topic s
later in the week included feminism
and the gay movement, bisexuality,
and Third World gays.
A workshop on gays and counseling
listed counselors and counseling
agencies in the Durham and Chapel
Hill area that are either gay or
sympathetic to gays. Also, a^
poetry workshop focused on writ
ings by Frank O’Hara and of the
participants.
Sixty people attended a workshop
with USAF Captain Robert Coronado.
The mostly pale audience listened
as Coronado described his recent
viction on a count of consensual sod
omy and dismissal from the Air Force.
Stressing that his was an issue of
civil rights, Coronado said, ."What
happened to me can happen to you . «
as long as the present laws are on th
books. You must raise your conscious
ness. We must be guardians of a fair
judicial system,"
The largest social event of the
week was a Saturday night dance held
at the Newman Catholic Student Center
with approximately 100 women and men
in attendance.
During past Gay Awareness Weeks,
the listing of the week’s events
painted on the campus "cube" was de
faced. This year the only controveri
raised by GAW was in response to Fri*
day being informally declared gay
pride day. "If you’re gay wear blue
jeans," proclaimed an ad in the
Tar Heel. The week following a dif-
ferent ad ran in the paper; Friday
was declared Heterosexual Pride Day:
"Wear your blue jeans and show that
you’re proud to be heterosexual.
Third World Conference
Raises Vital Issues
The Third World Lesbian/Gay Confer
ence, a "coming together of Asians,
American Indians, Latins and Blacks,
was held at the Harambee House and
Howard University in Washington, DC
from Oct. 12 to 15. It was sponsored
by the National Coalition of Black
Gays, Inc. The date was planned to
coincide with the National March so
that there would be a visible pre-^
sence of non-white marchers in a city
that is heavily non-white.
The program began Thursday evening
with a cultural presentation. It in
cluded Audre Lorde, a poet who was
also a keynote speaker; Blackberri,
a musician who is one of the singers
on the newly-released men’s record
"Walls to Roses"; and a varied pro
gram including poetry, dance, classi
cal music, some drag, and gospel.
The workshops started Friday
morning. The schedule included:
The Latin American Gay Liberation
Movement, Gay American Indian Infor
mation, Third World History, a panel
discussion ".flxamining Racism/Sexism/
Ageism Among, By and Against Third
World Lesbians and Gays".
Other workshops included:
Cultural Perspectives of Cross-
Dressers; Sexual and Social Revo
lution: Focusing on Cuba; a panej. .
on "Religious Issues"; Dynamics of
the Prison System; Organizing the
Lesbian/Gay Commiinity; and People
of Mixed Blood.
Four caucus sessions were organ
ized: first by race/ethnic iden
tity (Black, Latin, Asian, American
Indian, Jewish, non-Third World);
then by gender (male, female, trans'
persons); by region; and finally by
ethnic/gender.
The conference was open to non-
Third-World and non-gay people,
although the final day, Monday, was
open only to Third-World lesbians
and gays, at which time various
proposals v/ere to be voted on. On
Saturday evening, participation in
the National March was discussed.
It was decided to march from
Harambee House through heavily
black neighborhoods to join up
with the march and to let white pec
march in that contingent.
Audre Lorde was the featured spt
er. She said that as a child she
moved to Washington, DC with her fa
ily and that they could not even bi
a cup of coffee in a restaurant.
Other speakers also noted the hi
(THIRD WORLD, cont. P«
I if:
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