Newspapers / Community Connections (Asheville, N.C.) / May 1, 1991, edition 1 / Page 1
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FIRST ANNIVERSARY ISSUE COMM UNITY CONNECTIONS Asheville Gay and Lesbian Information Line: 253-2971 A project of the Asheville Gay and Lesbian Community Council To report anti-gay/HIV+ discrimination/violence: SALGA Documentation Project: 253-1656 Funded by a Resist grant U. S. Department of Justice toll-free: 1-800-347-HATE Asheville, NC Serving the Southern Appalachian Gay/Lesbian Community Vol. III, No. 5 May, 1991 NAPWA To Assist Area PWA's by Cynthia Janes Representatives of NAPWA, the National Association of People with AIDS, visited the Asheville area April 17 through 21 to meet with area PWA’s and to interview individuals and groups involved with PWA support. They had been invited by the Mountain AIDS Coalition (MAC). Paul Sathrum, Program Director, and Robert Thewes, Director of Marketing and Communication, came here from Robert Thewes and Paul Sathrum The Growth of a Paper News and Commentary by Cynthia Janes, Editor This month Community Connections begins its second full year of being printed on newsprint in tabloid form. Though still a very young paper, Community Connections has several "anniversaries." October, 1989, is the date the name Community Connections was first used as the title for a new publication that was an outgrowth of two organizational newsletters put out by myself. In addition NAPWA’s national office in Washington. MAC arranged numerous meetings for the NAPWA representatives during their stay. The April 21 meeting was attended by representatives of several gay/lesbian groups, as well as health care providers, members of church-related AIDS task forces, and other interested parties. At that meeting, Sathrum and Thewes explained NAPWA’s role. Thewes said that according to WNCAP there are 318 HIV-I- individuals currently in counties served by WNCAP, 70 of whom are WNCAP clients. During their visit, Thewes said, he and Sathrum worked with members of MAC, the newly-formed PWA association in this region, and other HIV-related groups to help open up lines of communication between care-givers and those needing care. According to Thewes it is common for there to be communication problems between these two populations. NAPWA will also provide technical See NAPWA, page 5 to the news of those two organizations, CLOSER and SALGA, there was other news of relevance and of interest to other gay men and lesbians in the area. A community-wide newsletter (as it was called at the time) was seen as an instrument for bringing our community into growing awareness of itself and of the larger gay community. In that first issue I described a structure that is still followed: the news of each area organization, local, state, and Gays and Lesbians Support Mother Earth Eighteen members of the Asheville area gay and lesbian community braved a chilly, gray "dogwood winter" day to march behind the Southern Appalachian Lesbian and Gay Alliance (SALGA) banner in Asheville’s 1991 Earth Day Parade. The parade of 80 or so walked briskly through a nearly deserted downtown Asheville to City-County Plaza, national news, and a "community calendar" to show what is going on community-wide. At that time I envisioned eventually making the publication available at area nightclubs and public locations, and possibly selling advertising. I said that "the degree of expansion will depend upon the kind of support the newsletter gets from you, the community." The community’s response has been overwhelming, and Community Connections’ growth rapid. We reach a new milestone with almost every issue. In April, 1990, the newsletter carried its first advertising. In May, 1990, it was where information, concession booths and speakers waited. The few bystanders along the route appeared either neutral or supportive of the SALGA contingent. SALGA members also marched behind their banner in the 1990 Earth Day Parade, the first time that a gay-identified group had marched in Asheville or Buncombe County. ▼ printed in tabloid form for the first time. The May issue was 12 pages, and 1000 copies were printed. We think of this as a major anniversary, because at this point See GROWTH, page 4 Lesbian and Gay Discrimination Survey Results IB See page 4. Sting at Bent Creek □ See page 10.
Community Connections (Asheville, N.C.)
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May 1, 1991, edition 1
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