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Who th1 hell needs a Gay newspaper?
— An Honest Appraisal from the Editor of Community News —
It doesn't matter how many people need a Gay newspaper —
unless there is a sufficient number of people who want a Gay
newspaper. That means at least a few people who are willing to
give a little of their time, energy, talent and/or money to make
such a newspaper a reality.
After the first issue of Community iVeiw was distributed, there
was nothing but praise. Everyone, it seemed, thought "our own
paper" was an excellent idea.
Unfortunately, words were just about all we got. There was
no money to help support such an ambitious project, and precious little in the way of donated time and effort.
Our own newspaper il a good idea. Very few of our Sisters
and Brothers have any awareness of what is going on in the Gay
Community or in our civil rights movement. Community News
can continue not only to tell us what's happening as it relates to
us, hut it can also he a sounding board for the broad range of
opinions and attitudes among Gay People themselves, and it can
help prepare non-gays for the eventual acceptance of Gay People
into open .society.
So Community News is a good idea. Is it a good enough idea
for you to .support it'.'
If C'Y is to continue beyond this i.ssue, we must quickly see
some firm signs of support.
Immediately we need a part-time staff. There is no pay . . .
hut shared among many people, the work won't lie very hard or
time consuming.
We need a photographer who can take and develop pictures,
a cartoonist (just one cartoon a month isn't too much to ask, is
it?), an illustrator to illustrate C.Y's feature articles, a feature writer to research and write articles on a variety of pertinent subjects
— plus as many miscellaneous staff members as we can recruit:
people to distribute the paper, people to mail it out, people to
help with editing, writing and layout, people to contact businesses
about advertising, etc., etc., etc.
If you can help in any way, please drop me a note to P.O. Box
7367, Fort Worth 76111, or call me at (817) 838-2095. This
means you people in Dallas, too!
Futhermore, we must have more paid subscriptions and we
must have regular advertisers. CN is not intended to produce a
profit, but if it is to continue it must pay for itself. We appreciate the sponsorship of AURA in publishing C.V as a service to the
Community . . . but printing and postal costs are almost prohibitive, and AURA will not be able financially to subsidize CN beyond this issue.
We must pay our own way . . . and that means we must have
faithful, concerned advertisers who want to see CA' succeed for
the benefit of the entire Gay Community. If you have any influence with any business (Gay or not), take a copy of this paper
and urge them to contact us about advertising.
We need our own paper. If you want it badly enough, we can
have it. What do you say?
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NOT FOB LESBIANS ONIT
7
By Sue Harris
Mother never told me that my prince
might be a princess.
ConsequenUy, it was hard to rationalize
wanting to kiss my high school journalism
teacher in the darkroom.
It was even tougher to suppress dreaming of getting married to one of our
cheerleaders.
The turning point in the realization of
my lesbianism came when I asked a girl I
had been playing kissy-mouth with if we
wen gay.
She said that we had a strange and beautiful friendship. I guess she just couldn't
break it to me, but I knew.
It began to dawn on me. I like men, but
I love women in a warm-soft-deep emotional way.
You might know I found my princess -
without the help of my mother.
At least my mother did teach me how
to be tender, love and care for someone.
And she also taught me how to fight with
that someone so that when something is
wrong I don't just cradle it in my gut.
Perhaps most important of all, Mother
taught mc how to forgive and make a go
for the second round. I guess that's why
1 didn't move out after two months.
All of these things work just as well
with my princess as that prince that Mom
kept telling me about.
[ and By Kay Wilson |
And my mother always told me that
someday I might have mother-in-law
problems.
I have them alright, but not exactly the
kind she was thinking of. I guess the main
problem is that Sue's mother doesn't
know she is my mother-in-law.
She isn't quite sure what kind of an
arrangement her daughter and I have, but
whatever it is, and as long as it has no labels, it's OK.
But that doesn't mean things can't get
hairy. There was the time Sue slipped
and said something about my side of the
bed when there is another bed in the
house.
Then there are the little things that Mrs.
Harris says whenever Sue and I do something that parallels something in her relationship with her husband. "That's just
like your father and I," she says. Makes
me wonder if she isn't a bit more aware
than we think she is.
(Whoeveryou are, you are welcome to
look for this column in each issue of
COME AND JOIN US!
An Active and Growing Organization Dedicated to You
• Publishers of Community News
• Political Education Program
• Social Activities
• Rap Sessions second and fourth Fridays
• Library and Reference Materials
■ Speakers Bureau
• Referrals - Legal, medical, religious, psychological
SlOVyr. - Active S 5/yr. - Associate (non-voting)
Membership includes subscription to Community News and all
other publications of AURA, including the Director's Letter.
AWARENESS, UNITY and RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
P.O. Box 7318, Fort Worth, Texas 76111
(A member organizauon of the FW/D Metroplex Gay CouncU
and the Texas Gay Taak F,orce, Northern Region)
Community News, because it's Not For
Lesbians Only.
If it gets a bit feminine and feminist
around the edges at times - it's because
two lesbians are writing it.
The column will reflect a few memories,
a few more thoughts and a lot of feelings.
What we have to say is for everybody -
Gay women, straight women and men
and our Gay brothers.)
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V REGISTER AND J
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