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COMMUNITY
CONNECTIONS
Asheville, North Carolina
October, 1989
Celebrating Our Tenth Anniversary
by Bill Allen, President
In thinking about CLOSER'S tenth anniversary celebration I have both a
sense of pride and awe.
I believe that we all share pride in CLOSER and all that it
represents. I feel that we have truly accomplished all of the things our
name rspresentsi Community Liaison Organization for Support, Education,
and Reform.
I feel a sense of awe. The dictionary defines awe as 1> an emotion of
mingled reverence, dread and wonder inspired by something majestic or
sublime; and 2) respect tinged with fear for authority. Ue have all had
emotions mingled with reverence through life enperiences: the experience of
being gay or lesbian; the experience of coming out. Ue have all
experienced dread and wonder inspired by something majestic or sublime:
the sheer numbers marching on Washington; the dread and sublime emotions at
a candlelight vigil or a memorial for those that have died with AIDS. We
all have respect tinged with fear when members of our gay community step
out and speak out publicly in the face of authority because their beliefs
demand that they do so. Involvement with CLOSER, and the lifestyles it
represents, has involved, and will continue to involve, many of the
descriptors in this definition.
We owe a debt of gratitude to many hard working, dedicated, brave and
loving members, past and present. CLOSER is a tangible organization, real,
alive, breathing. We are here to feel and to touch. To feel whatever
emotion our brothers and sisters are feeling and to touch the lives of all
those we come in contact with.
I personally am dedicated to do all that 1 can to insure these
qualities of CLOSER, and with each of us helping each other, our future,
CLOSER'S future, is secure.