Lavender Starship/Page 6/May 10, 1972
LETTERS
(EDITORS: This letter was received by Cleveland GAA from a Gay brother in San Francisco. It is being printed here because we feel the contents are greatly worth sharing.)
Dear Brothers and, hopefully, Sis-
ters:
I felt great aeeing that Cleveland Gays have gotten their shit together at last. I regret that at the time lived in Cleveland I couldn't. For me Cleveland was a large closet, a very comfortable one at times, but none the less a closet.
I spent 7 years in Cleveland before coming out to San Francisco a year and a half ago. Let me say now that S.F. may be a Gay mecca but it sure isn't a Gay nirvana, as myth would have us believe. A lot of the oppressive shit we feel is in our heads, not just around us. Political, social, and economic oppression is very real but to assume that these are the only battles to be fought ia to be guilty of externalizing everything, as too many radicals, Gay and otherwise, tend to do. In some ways the external battles are easier, the oppressors are obvious, we think we know who are the good guys and the bad guys. Some of us can only speak in the public arena, some of us think liberation means marching under a Gay banner. Yes, these kinds of public pride are important, they reinforce our solidarity, they create pride, they confront the public with the unconfrontable, but in and of themselves these activities still do not liberate us on a personal individual level.
We also have to internalize, we have to become aware of how we oppress ourselves, how we mouth the public words of liberation and still play the private games, how we oppress each other, how chauvinistic we are to our brothers and sisters. We're deluding ourselves if we think we aren't as sexist as straight white male America. We are; there's no way we can't be as children of this society.
If you have bad feelings about older Gays, if you put down someone's Gay trip if it's not your own, if you
READ:
wait until the bars close to find the prettiest face, then you're guilty of Gays oppressing Gays.
For me coming out has been and still is more pain than pleasure. Telling the world, or at least your world, that you're Gay is only a small small You can stop step. I found that out.
at that point and perhaps justify yourself but if you starting scraping all that shit off the bottom of the pot and let it surface you'll soon realize the myriad faces and levels that must be dealt with. I'm fascinated and frustrated simultaneously upon discovering more and more of who I am. Despite the pain, the trip is worth it. The process is certainly not exclusively for Gays but perhaps, because we as a group of people have been oppressed for so long, we have buried the crap a little deeper inside of us than those who are called straight (whatever that means anymore).
To close, let the anger out, kiss your brothers and sisters in public (it feels incredible) and remember if the journey seems tough and the road long, and the goal distant, consider that the journey is the goal. Love and Peace, Phil Rossetti
COLUMBUS
GAY PRIDE
WEEK
The following is a schedule of events planned for Gay Pride Week in Columbus May 15-18.
MONDAY, MAY 15
9 a.m. City Hall demonstration: trial of gay brother arrested outside the radewinde Bar. Picket line.
Turn on to Cleveland's
GAY MEDIA NETWORK...
GREAT SWAMP ERIE da da BOOM, alternative journalism, bi-weekly, one thin quarter part of a dollar
LISTEN:
WMMS-F.M. 100.7 MHz, gay news each Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, 12:05 p.m.
nesple
the Jodu hun C4 Civil
Right Act to protest us.
9 p..
Lavender Spectacular.
A
gay extravaganza, with talent and poe poetry and flames. Wesley Foundation 82 E. 16th Ave., main auditorium.
Tuesday, May 16
Ohio
1-5 p.m. Gay rummage sale. Union, 1739 N. High St., Ohio Suites D and E.
La.
7-10 p.m. Forum on Religion and Law Building, Rm. 201 WEDNESDAY, MAY 17
7:30 p.m. Speaker: Martha Shelley, Radicalesbian feminist of New York City. Law Building, Rm. 201. Donations accepted.
THURSDAY, MAY 18
5-7 P.. Soul Food Dinner. Call GAA for further details, 422-9212.
7-10 p.m. culture fair. Room.
Gay arts, crafts, and Ohio Union, Franklin
AND ALL OHIO
CONFERENCE
loring is a schelle for
the Al-This Car Conference May 19-21
FRIDAY, MAY 13
1 p.m.-1 a.m.
Registration.
Union, Ohio Suites C and D.
5-7:00 p.m. Community dinner. Wesley Foundation, 82 E 16th Ave.
7-8:30 p.m. General Session. Building, R. 201
8:30-10:30 p.m.
Hagerty Hall.
SATURDAY, MAY 20
Workshops.
10 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Workshops
Chio Union
8:30 p.m.? nounced.
SUNDAY, MAY 21
Place to be en-
Ohio
Law
10-12 a.m. General session. Ohic Union, Ohio D and E.
12 noon. Meet on the Oval, Chio State University.
12:30 p.m.
1:00 p.m grounds.
3-8:00 p.m.
Oval.
March to State House.
Relly on State House
Free Concert on the