The News & Entertainment Paper for N.C.’s Gay Community
IN THIS
ISSUE:
Ugly duckling becomes. . .
wellf if not a swan, at least
a movie star (which is
probably a better deal these
days).
P
"SSs
15
Who is this fool and what
has he got to do with this
paper? p. 4
Lifestyles, a new question
and answer series begins
p. 10
Best Bets p. 14
Gay A wareness p. 8
Gays and the Law
Another new series
debuts p. 13
Charlotte Viewpoint p. 3
Free Personals p. 19
v.
J
Memorial held
for Harvey Milk
SANFRANCISCO, CA—Two separate ceremonies
commemorative of the assinations one year ago of
San Francisco’s Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor
Harvey Milk were held at San Francisco’s City Hall on Nov.
27,according to the Gay Community News.
A noon memorial service sponsored by the city attracted
3,000 people. Among those present was State
AssemblypersonBrown, the emcee, who introduced
Moscone’s widow and four children and Robert Milk, brother
of the murdered supervisor. Brown referred to Milk as “a
brother of all opressed people” and stated that “the struggle
for one oppressed minority is the struggle for all oppressed
peoples.”
“Harvey Milk opened many doors for all his brothers and
sisters,” Brown said, “and in the spirit of Harvey I ask all the
pelple to open all the doors to his sisters and brothers.”
Supervisor Harry Britt, who was appointed to fill Milk’s
seat after his assassination, mournfully spoke to the crowd
saying, “Harvey and George spent a lot of time with a lot of
people who didn’t have many expectations out of this life and
gave them reason for hope.”
Current Sanfrancisco Mayor, Dianne Feinstein, claiming
that this year had been “one of the most difficult” she had
known, defined the memorial service as being held in a “spirit
of thanksgiving.”
That thanksgiving being for the fact that “George and
Harvey were among us, that they shared with us their dreams
and aspirations for the San Francisco of the 1980s.”
Mayor Feinstein continued, “Theirs was a vision of a city
dazzling in its physical beauty, but more importantly, growing
with a spirit of brotherhood, of reconciliation, of unity.”
Peaceful March Held At Night
Close to 40,000 people marched down San Francisco’s
Market Street to City Hall carrying lighted candles as a
memorial for Milk.
Various singers and speakers shared their sentiments with
the crowd during the peaceful march.
Cleve Jones, the master of ceremonies, spoke movingly and
forcefully of the anti-gay hatred that was the basis of Dan
White’s murder of Harvey Milk and how ending such hatred
was what Harvey Milk stood for.
Wayne Friday, a political columnist for the Bay Area
Reporter, was the most controversial speaker, refering to Dan
White’s “closet,” suggesting somewhat ambiguously that Dan
White was either a closet homosexual who could not face his
inner reality or that Dan White was in a “closet” of self-disgust
that made him kill two other men to relieve his inner tensions
in the same way that husbands who batter their wives or
children do.
Lillian Sing, a Chinese woman not generally known to the
gay community, called for gays and ethnic minorities to form
a coalition and stop the bigotry that both groups suffer from.
She said that since ethnic minorities comprise about 45% of
the population of San Francisco and since gays comprise
about 20-25%, together they could “be the majority.”
The San Francixco Gay Men’s Chorus sang several songs,
and the evening closed with a surprise visit by recording star
Sylvester. MC Cleve Jones commented that although Harvey
Milk “lived and died an atheist,” he didn’t thin he would mind
a little “gospel according to Sylvester,” who then sang “Jesus
Loves Me.”
Afterwards, the crowd disbursed quietly.
~ Dan White, Homophobic
Releasing a story on Dan White near to the time of the
ceremonies, Inquiry magazine contributor Warren Hinckle,
former editor of Ramparts revealed how curcial Dan White’s
homophobia was in his assassination of the Mayor and
Supervisor.
Cont. on p. 16
Gay Rights
in Congress
Gay lobbyists succeeded in persuading three more members
of the House of Representatives to join as co-sponsors of Gay
rights legislation introduced by Representatives Ted Weiss
(D-NY) and Henry Waxman (D-California), bringing to 50
the number of lawmakers who have co-sponsored the measure
so far.
The three are California Democratic Representatives Leon
Panetta and James Corman and Oregon Democrat Robert
Duncan.
Just before the national march on Washington, California
Democrat Edward Roybal also added his name.
Congressmen Pete McCloskey (R-California) and William
Green (R- New York), at thr urging of the Gay Rights
National Lobby, have sent a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter to other
Republican members of the House of Representatives urging
support and co-sponsorship of H.R. 2074, the federal Gay
Civil Rights Bill. They quoted several statements from the
1976 Republican Platform in their letter:
“The Government must protect your constitutional rights,”
“Government must assure equal opportunity,” “The United
States must always stand for. . .the rights of the individual ”
“Liberty depends in great measure on the privacy tht each
American retains.”
The letter also quotes conservative columnist William
Safire: “Certainly there is danger in toleration being taken for
approval, but the greater danger is the invasion of everybody’s
right to privacy. . .We can look at the gays as people with
mental problems, or counter their new proselytization with
some missionary work of our own, or gratify our consciences
by railing at them as sinners. But when we fail to give them the
equal protection of the law, then it is the law that is queer ”
Steve Endean, Lobby Executive Director, said, “While
Safire’s statements are certainly not standard gay movement
rhetoric, they seem to effectively communicate to GOP
Corn, on p. 13
Gays And The Press
While the gay press, overall, seems to be growing and
prospering, the attitudes towards gays in the mainstream
straight press is considerably less exciting. The Nation, the
long-standing magazine of social commentary recently
published an article on the upsurge of anti-gay feeling in the
United States, and pointed out the attitudes of many
otherwise “liberal” publications. A recent article in The
Advocate, on the other hand, points out the growth of gay
publications across the nation.
Straight Press Rankles
In his article, “Open Season on Gays” in The Nation, Doug
Ireland documents the virulent hostility and malign neglect
the gay movement has received and continues to receive from
the straight print media, often from surprising sources
Liberal syndicated columnist Nicholas von Hoffman has
consistently used his column to oppose civil rights legislation
that would protect homosexuals from discrimination.
Harper’s editor Louis Lampham has become one of the
“leading apostles of an anti-homosexual intelligensia.”
New York Post columnist Murray Kempton has urged
homosexuals to stay in the closet, comparing this to “the
delicacy displayed by our Hispanic brothers and sisters when
they conceal beer cans in brown paper bags.”
The New Republic, “a bastion of editorial homophobia.”
recently ran a cover story which contained a vicious attack on
homosexuals. According to Ireland, the story even went so tar
as to insist that those who say they are gay are not really
homosexual at alljutt sittjpiy *in retreat from the battle of the
sexes.”
Cont. on p. 11