| Transcript |
2
' .
GAY AUSTIN is the monthly publication of
Gay Community Services of Austin. The paper
does not, or usually does not, make
money. All work done on it is volunteer.
Efforts are made to include a communitywide
perspective in the paper. If sometimes
the effort fails, next month always
looms ahead, and the paper can be
improved--especially with reader donations
with regard to short stories, articles,
satire, and poetry.
Contributions may be mailed or sent to the
Gay Community Services in the University
"Y, " Room 7, 2330 Guadalupe. Or they may
be mailed to:
THE EDITOR
1516 Aggie Lane
Austin, Tx. 78757
GAY AUSTIN is our newspaper. We hope that
all of us within the gay community or on
its fringes contribute with printable material
of general, theoretical, or entertainment
interest.
Contributors to th l ~ month's issue were:
llan Puckett
"Ana," the Argentinian lesbian
WF
JB
Carl t the poet
A world-famous astrologer
Other personages, dead and alive
Being gang-raped in a
prison cell ... caught in
the middle of Watts as it
burns ... pummelled by a
hurricane ... stomped by a
New York City street gang
.the Ramones were playing
at the Armadillo.
Bastille Day, 1977, and
the place was only threequarters
full. The crowd
was made up partially of
dedicated punk-rockers, but
mostly of old-line rock
fans. We stood on our feet
throughout the Ramones set-they
sat.
The Ramones (in case
you haven't heard) play
LOUD, HARD, AND FAST. Ever
since their debut album,
Ramones, came out last
year, they've been upsetting/
exciting rockers
all over the world. And
they did it all over again,
this time in Austin.
Could the place which
gave birth to "progre:;sive"
country and adored Bruce
Springsteen accept the New
York punk go:;pel?
Apparently not. The Ramones
played two short sets,
anrl an encore, and we left
the hall feeling beaten and
mugged. We loved it; most the
rest of the crowd didn't.
The sound mix buried the
vocals during the first set,
so that only the punk-fans
had any idea as to the content
of the songs. Hell,
they even repeated four
songs (the new single,
"Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,"
"California Sun," "Blitzkrieg
Bop" and "Pinhead"),
and most of the stoned-out
hippies didn't notice.
The music, with its high
amplification and minimal
variation, does not seduce--
I
it rapes. None of the songs
run more than three minutes;
most last about two; but several
are performed in a row,
without any break. The sonic
rape goes on without pause.
The lyrics are about sex,
dope, ultra-violence, sex,
and death. The group's pose
accents the menace of the
songs--Joey, the singer,
with his fish-like deadpan
stare, wrapped around his
microphone like a leatherjacketed
praying mantis; Dee
Dee, the bassist, looking
like an escapee from juvenile
detention, counting down songs
like a drill sargeant; Johnny
the guitarist, apparently in
the initial stage of psychotic
rage, stalking to the edge of
the stage; Tommy the drummer,
bashing away at a primitive
kit, oblivious to the fucking
audience.
Look at the song titles:
GIMME GIMME SHOCK TREATMEr."l'
NOW I WANNA SNIFF SOME GLUE
YOU'RE GONNA KILL THAT GIRL
BEAT ON THE BHAT
CHAIN SAW
53rd & 3rd
The last is about a psycho
hustler who uses n razor blade
on his client--not exactly what
you hear on KNOW or those other
crummy rock stations.
We stumbled out the Armadillo
feeling assaulted. Talking to
people after the concert, every-
3
--
one agreed as to the oneword
description--"assault."
Yeah, ASSAULT. That's the
key, the essence of lateseventies
punk-rock: violence,
aggression, and sex.
Punk is only one facet of
the New Wave in rock music,
which is currently sweeping
Great Britian and New York,
but it's the violent part,
the sensational part, the
part you read about in Time
and Newsweek.
It's obvious that the
"Establishment"--including
the r<?Ck critics of Rolling
Sto~e and the Austin-AmericanStatesman--
don 't understand
the new music. It has its
own esthetic and its own
objectives--it is music as
catharsis. It takes the anger
and alienation of life today,
distills it into music, and
allays it, even if only temporarily.
The Ramones (and New Wave
groups generally) are attracting
a large gay audience.
Some bands got their start in
gay S~~ bars. The music articulates
the rage and frustration
of out-groups generally,
whether they' re gays
or unemployed toughts, and
screws it.
The Ramones are of ten
compared with the Beatles,
a group which catalyzed a
new way of approaching popular
music. Only time will
tell whether they are a
passing phase or a permanent
feature defacing/making
our new landscape, But surely
their fans in Australia will
re~ember them: after having
told they were to be banned,
the Ramones stripped naked
on the stage and assaulted
their audience with their
beating selves. The audience,
needless to say, loved them •
·...·
4
GENE SAXON: THE MAN BEHINJ) AUSTIN BAT.IS
Austin's Club Baths is
doing quite well, says Gene
Saxon, baths manager and
part owner.
What prompted Gene to
open a Club Baths in Austin?
"I did it for selfish
reasons, actually," he answers.
One notes the trace
of humor in his eyes. "I
fell in love with Don, my
lover, and then fell in love
with this city when I came
to visit him. Austin is so
beautiful and exciting!
There's so much to do here."
The tall, courteous
baths manager came originally
from New York. He
operated a Club Baths in
Phoenix and Houston before
opening the Austin location.
Gene told me that bar patrons
in Phoenix told him
a Club Baths would never go
over in that city--because
the state is overwhelmingly
Mormon .•• not enough customers
would patronize the
baths to keep the place in
business. Besides, so the
reasoning went, Arizona
never had a gay baths and
certainly the state would
never allow the Club Baths
to last •••
Little did they know.
The baths did fine in Phoenix
and then a Club Baths
was opened in Tuscon, as
well.
ON TO AUSTIN ...
Austin's Club Baths
opened in January, 1977,
after Gene had moved here
in October, 1976. In July
the baths doubled their
floorspace and added an
outdoor patio for nude
sunbathing.
People with membership
cards come from such places
as Boston, Chicago, New
York, Washington .•• you
name it. So the people you
meet are not all "sister3"
from hometown. New faces
add a certain charm and
allure at Austin's baths.
MISCONGEPTIONS
Gene points out that
a gay bath is not what some
people fear it to be: namely,
a place where persons
molest you the moment you
step inside the door. Sexual
molestation is purely a
personal-interpersonal perogati
ve, and no one has yet
to rip off clothes and
wallets.
Gene characterizes the
baths as a social setting
where people can carry on
conversation even if they
are shy. Where people have
actually encoJntered their
future lovers in a mutually
satisfying embrace.
No matter what your body
build, whether tall, short,
skinny, muscular, whatever •.
• • , there will be at least
one person, even a roo~full
of persons who are into your
person.
C().IMUNITY SERVICE
Gene sees the baths as a
service to the community. It
sponsors a free VD health
check from 8 to 10 pm. each
third Friday of the momth.
You need not pay an entrance
fee to enjoy this necessary
service, Fun and health
should, Gene feels, be mutual
concerns of gay people in
Austin.
A New Game
One Saturday morning it was
raining hard.
" \\7e cannot play in the garden,"
said Boy Red.
" \Ve must play in the house
today," said Boy \Yhite.
" I k now a new game, "
said Boy Red.
68
1~~7
5
THE GAY REVOLUTION
IS UNDERWAY!
TO MOST PEOPLE, IT'S
A BIG JOKE ... BUT IS
IT, REALLY?
"111E GREEK l.EllCR LAMBDA, THE GAY MILi- •
TANIS SAY. SYM80t.IZES UNITY IN 111E FACE
• OF OPl'RfSSION.
FOR THIS CAUSE GOD GAVE THEM UP
UNTO VILE AFFECTIONS, FOR EVEN
THEIR WOMEN DID EXCHANGE THE
NATURAL USE FOR THAT WHICH IS
AGAINST NATURE;
Romc..-ns I 26, Scofield
OUT OF SATANS SHADOWY WORLD OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN A DISPLAY OF DEFIANCE AGAINST
SOCIETY, THEY COME FORTH - THOSE WHO SUFFER THE AGONY OF REJECTION. THE DESPAIR
Of UNSATISFIED LONGING - DESIRING - ENDLESS LUSTING AND REMORSE CRYING THAT GAY
IS GOOD - THEIR TRAGIC LIVES PROVE THAT THERE ISN T ANYTHING GAY ABOUT BEING GAY
YOU MUST
UNDERSTAND
THAT l'M SICKAND
Yt¥/
SHOULD HAVE
COMPASSION
ON ME!
I • e
IT'S LIKE A DEMONIC POWER THAT CON.
TROLS THEM - ONLY CHRIST CAN
OVERCOME IT, IF THEY'LL RECTIVE HIM
AS PERSONAL SAVIOR
THEIR POWER STRUCTURE
IS WIDESPREAD-THEY
OCCUPY ALL KINDS OF
JOBS.
THEIR IDENTITY FOR THE
MOST PART IS CAREFULLY
HIDDEN.
'SOME HAVE BEEN REPORTED
TO BE VERY ACTIVE IN
WOMEN'S LIB ORGANIZATIONS
AND EVEN HINTED TO BE IN
HIGH GOVERNMENT POSITIONS.
·uF£. o.c_ 31 , 1971
THE BIBLE IS CLEAR IN REVEALING GODS FEELING TOWARDS HOMOSEXUALITY .
LET'S LOOK AT THE CITY Of SODOM •
!FROM WHENCE COMES THE WORD, 'SODOMY '}
GOO TOLD ABRAHAM THAT HE WAS GOING TO DESTROY SODOM BECAUSE OF ITS
GREAT WICKEDNESS. ABRAHAMS NEPHEW, LOT, LIVED IN SODOM AND HE BEGGED
FOR LOT'S SAFETY BEFORE GOO'S JUDGMENT FELL.
I
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Allandale Baptist Church was kind enough
to distribute this leaf let last year on
the Drag. Since we don't know anything
about ourselves, we have to ask others.
Now we know that our "power structure"
has infiltrated the social structure.
Probably real soon, another lea!letbooklet
will come out exposing the
intimate links between homosexuals
and Communists. America beware~
All true patriots unite!
The homo-commies are
doing us all in!
•
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'THERE IS AN ESTIMATED NUMBER OF
U.S HOMOSEXUALS THAT RANGES
FROM 2 TO 20 MILLION
HAS SUCH A CONDITION EVER
EXISTED BEFORE?- LETS SEE-
•ufl, Dec 31 . 1971
" .. DO NOT BE DECEIVED
(MISLED); NEITHER THE
IMPURE AND IMMORAL. NOR
IDOLATERS, NOR ADULTERERS,
NOR THOSE WHO PARTICIPATE
IN HOMOSEXUALITY,
. . . WILL INHERIT OR
HAVE ANY SHARE IN THE
KINGDOM OF GOD."
Cur 69& IOAmp V•r
6
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GENER.AL cm~rn:m-: Astrology, you remember, is scientific. It charts your future. If your
experiences should diverge from what the guide says, then either you
are mistaken or you did not interpret the event--or the guide--correctly.
Remembering this, you will find the guide an infallible guide to
your future. Any questions may be addressed to the stars.
VIRGO (August 24-September 23): This is your month,
so live it up. Prospects are bright; so is the sunlight.
If you have a hearing problem, consult your
doctor. Watch out for quacks and charlatans. Business
associates may deal you lots of harm. Money
will come and go, especially around the middle of
the month. Sexual thoughts occupy your mind much
o! the time--meanwhile, watch out for cars. Have
a good 'DOnth !
LIBRA (September 2·1-0-::tol:>er 23): Moon rises, then
falls, then rises a~ain into Neptune. Good chance
for exclusive engagements in show biz and renting
npartmentR. But not so good in love, sex, and fo-
CY.1--little n·1ts and chicken bones. An upset sto'llach
about the middle of the month should prove to be
unsettling. So eschew too 11uch alcohol--it makes
you vulnerable. A possible affair with the opposite
sex is in the offering. Tragedy, in the form
an unknown animal, strikes at the month's end.
SCatPIO (O:tober 24-Nove~ber 22): Sex is your thing
this month. Probable r"course to intercourse the
O'lly r;?al solution. Your tastes in music will change.
Likewise in food--part~~ularly ice cream. Love comes
and then it goes.
SAGI'ITARIUS (November 23-December 22): Bar··going will
provide only some of your needs. Meditation is good.
So is a muscle relaxant. For Septe~ber shall be a
very, very husy time for you. Letters, engagements.
No disturbing actualities in sight: just the obvious.
Yo•tr energy will slacken before 11: 32am, September
12, and after 6:51p'll, September 23. It will pick up
a~ain after 2:28am, September 29. Watch out for entanglements.
Be wary of strangers and unmarked packages---
they may be addressed to the wrong person.
Tree limbs are an affront to your dignity.
.....
CAPRICOON;
you the
So will
(Dece'llber 23-January 19): Mist will surround
whole month. Others will notice your fogginess.
you when certain intimates make telling comments.
AQUARIUS (Jan~ary 20-February 19)·• You wi ll not i ce chan-ges
in your body. Lumps forming in odd places--don't
worry, it may or may not be cancer. Subliminal voices
speak to you. You answer. Venus leaps into Moon's
lap: u strun~er may, before your very eyes, turn in-to
a lover. Speak softly to her or him until September
21. Then lay it all out.
The Inner Man
PISCES (February 20-March 20): The moon rises in the
second quatrain, and then it declines. Ladders are partic
ularly risky features of your d~ily life. Business goes.
on as usual. Windfall profits. Unexplained losses.
Diminuitions. Occasional ecstasy. Impotence rises
with shifting cosmic winds. Same-sex happiness en-sues.
Something will happen at 10:46pm, September
11, which you can't quite explain. The answer will
come later in the form of a piece of paper with pencilled
writing on it stuck in the limb of the
sublimest tree.
ARIES (March 21-April 20): This month you're like the
air--flighty, shifting. But ever-present. Remember
that the next time you doubt your existence. Time
flows for you like a commode. A "little bird" shall
warn you of intervening events. Bedtime means babytime.
Love enters the window like a burning match.
TAURUS (April 21-May 20): A superstar will occupy
much of your thoughts. If you're a man, Peter
Frampton. If you're a woman, more than one superstar
will occupy your thoughts. Remembering names
is wise. An unfortunate slip-up might cost you an
affair. Landmarks to visit: Niagara Falls, Bunker
Hill. A birthday candle might ignite a !ire. A black
cat might cross your path. A picture of two rhinoes
copulating might begin a landslide ending in a tossed
election.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21): The features of your face
will slowly dissolve behind the staircase. Emerging,
a new person occupied with interpretation. Explicating
Denise Levertov's poetry will be exasperating. O~ the
other hand, explicating the new features of your face
will be no problem. Cite exigencies when defending
fairyland to a small child. Wonders never ceasing.
Famous personalities: Tennesse Ernie Ford, Elvis
Presley.
CANOIR (June 22-July 23): The important word this
month is "Box." Tight corners create special situations.
An apparition from the past appears; you
flee, but don't worry: it will happen again, but
in the image of a seductor. Freckles vanish with
makeup. A new sound shall echo. Hamburgers take on
significance. And in all this the wind shall carry
you aloft, clouding your vision. A cup of water shines
in sunlight; it prefigures the dawn. Think of practical
things, like pots and pans. But not kni\es.
LEO: (July 24-August 23): If you're into sex, this is
the month for you. A personage holds the key. A confidante
enters through the back door. Marijuana becomes
Necessity. Inner visions explode in clouds of
smoke. Business hits the upbeat; watch out for radiation.
Sickness strikes the stalk, but leaves and seeds
become instruments of good will. Have fun all you can.
Tragedy strikes in the form of nothingness. You reply
with a flick of the whip. A camera records your every
move in bed. You replay it with joy. Throbbing stars
enter into holy union with a virgin. Crab ~ebula
pulsates tor you. A verse, located by chance, you
find in the most unlikely of places. You take it
by heart and !ind you have a heart. 7
When I was a little boy
my mommy and daddy admonished
me not to drink beer.
It was horrible stuff. And
people who drank it became
alcoholics and did all sorts
of evil things. "See?" they
said. "Watch Channel 12 every
night on the 10:00 News."
And the news showed those
things that happened to people
who drank beer in San
Antonio. Quarrels. Shootings.
Automobile accidents. Blood,
lots of blood.
All that time I was a
good little goy boy. I'm
still a goy, but I became
more than a boy. I became
an adolescent.
Even as a teenager my
heart was a boy. But at the
same time I saw bow much
fun evil teenagers had--drinking
beer, riding their
beatup cars to that SevenEleven
on Culebra Road that
sold illegal beverages to
them. But since I was such
a good boy, none of my friends
went to that ic"E!station.
So I was stuck.
I began smoking my father's
Little Cigars and graduated
to cigarettes. Meanwhile I
popped my mother's diet pills
and began staring in space at
school and saying, "wow. . .
woow, Wow Man. . . " until the
right people noticed me freaking
out and I bought weed
from them and they invited me
to a wild party. Needless to
say, these were not the people
who submitted poems to
Each Has Spoken high school
creative magazine. My
chance at last to get drunk.
The party wasn't so much,
but everybody drank Budweiser
and so did I and I ended up
throwing up and had a terrible
hangover the next day. My mo-
8
ther asked me why I looked
so pale (as if she didn't
suspect!). So did my father,
but not in such worried tones.
I told them I stayed up practicing
the piano at a friend's
house.
Though that night I had
tasted freedom, nevertheless
I hated Budweiser because
it tasted like beer and beer
made me puke.
So I switched to Schlitz.
I stopped throwing up, but it
still tasted like beer. I
was stuck between that and
Strawberry Hill. Until •..
m STllLIOI
BOOISTOBE
706 E.6th Street
AUSTIN. TEXAS
Only the .. st
Books,Mowles, Peepshows
/
Until that DeMolay Conclave
in Waco. All our mommies
and daddies safely
tucked in bed at home. And
all us red-blooded goy boys
dying to suffer hangovers,
stone drunk (we dared not
smoke anything but cigarettes)
on Schlitz, Bud, and Thunderbird
Wine. But then opportunity
came through the tempting
offer of a good-looking
guy who, like most of us DeMolays,
later turned out gay.
He had in his possession a
locker-full of Coors.
"Don't tell anybody'," he
said, I promised I wouldn*t.
"You like Coors?" he said.
I had finished my third Rum
and Coke.
"What's that?"
"It's beer, dummy! But you
can't get it in Texas."
"But why?"
"Don't ask silly questions.
Taste this!"
I thought, "Wow man! If its
illegal it has to be pretty
good stuff." He flipped the top
and gave me the beer.
I tasted. I meditated.
"It reminds me of apple
juice!" I cried. He went back
to his Playboy exposing men's
latest bikini bottoms.
At last! I was unstuck!
A beer that tasted like something
else! So when Coors
made its way into Texas, I
bought. And I bought (though
I still preferred dope).
Because it tasted like ...
well ... it just didn't
taste like beer. I was hooked
for life, until I
found out.
II
In the End was the Word,
and the Word was.
III
Very simply: Don't Buy
Coors. You won't find the
Words inscribed on stone
tablets in some mountain
somewhere. You'll find it
in This Week in Texas--the
"other"--or rather, soon to
be "other" area gay mag.
A Vallas gay organization,
DAIR, has pledged
itself to a boycott against
Coors--more particularly,
Adolph Coors, the ultraconservative
beer magnate.
Allegations have floated
around for sometime. These
are:
1) Adolph Coors discriminates
against minority
grouOps, includings
gays.
2) The company infringes
on constitutional rights to
form a union, to think differently,
to be free from
search and seizure;
3) Adolph Coors gave
$50,000 to Anita Bryant's
SAVE OUR CHIIDREN campaign.
Next month's issue of
Gay Austin will explore the
Coors philosophy regarding
civil rights. As well as certain
financial dealings Adolph
has been involved in.
Nevertheless it is easy to
pronounce a boycott than to ac-hieve
results. Go to just
about any bar in Texas or
any other state west of the
Mississippi. Shop at Safeway,
Piggly Wiggly, any ice station
and ask for Coors. You'll get
it. That beer has to be the
hottest-selling mug on the
market. Will gays unilaterally
support the boycott? Will they
march into some gay bar and say,
"Anything but Coors"? We'll
see. The pessimists, who often
are right, say a boycott won't
work.
We also shall publish an
interview-With Bunch who owns
The New Apartment and Austin
Country. He'll offer tbe business
point of view, and will
tell us why, among other things
than taste, Coors successfully
laps up the market. He'll offer
sound reasons why the boycott
will or will not be a success.
So .•. read the next issue.
Just in case you're a pessimist,
we'll reveal this: there
was a boycott that worked. Against
all odds, it succeeded
and forced another multimillion
dollar alcohol industry
to change its practices.
How and Why will be answered
in the next issue of Gay
Austin. --
9
r,
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10
INT:
ANA:
INT:
AN.\:
INT:
AN'A:
INT:
ANA:
INT:
ANA:
INT:
FROM ARGENTINA A LESBIAN
¥
L
Ana is not her real name. Sh·~ overstayed her visa to the United States. As such,
she could be deported. In two weeks she moves to Madison, Wisconsin, where she
hopes to start a new life. Or if not to remain in the United States permanently,
at least to see and experience this new reality before returning.
Ana, ho·v did you come to the United States in the
first place?
I came with my friend whose brother goes to school
in Houston.
Where do you come from?
Argentina.
Why are you remaining here?
I recognized the fact that I am a lesbian for several
years. I attend a university in Buenos Aires,
and I simply have not returned. My professors are
worried that I am not coming back. I wrote a letter
to one of them, and I told him that I wanted to
experience the reality I see, to analyse its dimensions.
That's only partially true. The truth why
I want to stay is simply that I cannot live the
life as a lesbian in Argentina, and here I am
free to live the life.
Couldn't you get citizenship here? Wouldn't that
solve the problem?
Hardly. I don't want to be a citizen of the
United States. I simply want to live. We are like
the barbarians outside the Roman Empire. To go
through the process of acquiring citizenship or
even being granted a permanent residency guarantees
nothing. The process would last years, and
you never know if, in the end, you will be granted
a status or not. Most foreigners are unable to.
Besides, I have already broken the law. If I were
discovered I would be deported immediately and
with no chances of returning. I need to find a
job, a better job than the ones I have worked
so far. So if I stay ••
What jobs have you had?
I have sold flowers on street corners, forever
worrying that the police might ask questions.
For two weeks I worked as a maid for a woman who
felt free to Jrder me around. If my mother founi
that out, she would die. Because at home we have
a maid!
What are your plans for the future?
·.
\
ANA:
INT:
ANA:
INT:
AN/\:
INT:
ANA:
My plans? Madison, Wisconsin and after that,
Whether I stay in the United States
or not is a decision in the future. I would
rather not think on it.
Could you describe your family?
I have two brothers and one sister. My oldest
brother is 25 and, though very attractive, is
still unmarried. I suspect he will be unmarried
for as long as he remains in Argentina. United
States homosexuals could start a revolution in
my country if they were allowed to stay more
than a few days.
My mother is properly a Spanish lady, extremely
nervous and unhappy. She writes me constantly,
asking me why I have not come back. She
knows I intend to stay here, but not for how
long or why. Until I began acquiring occasional
boyfriends I believe she worried that I might
not be normal.
She hears horrible things about the United
States. Drugs, promiscuity, homosexuality. But
mainly she fears that I will be swallowed up
by this strange, faraway culture and never come
back to home. I write to her, but I have little
to say. Because I cannot say why I am here and
what I am doing. Sometimes I wonder what our
maid must think on all this. A strange disappearance
committed by an even stranger daughter.
Since you came to the United States and began
going to gay bars, have you changed any?
Oh yes! Before friends told me how passive I
alwaya seemed to be, how I kept quiet and never
had an opinion of my own. I was very quiet, then.
I feel more like I am my person. I feel stronger.
Do you think it's a result of being open?
I can be open here! I can jo what I want to do.
I don't have to worry whether people know. Every-H
thing has changed. I only wish I could be this I much open at home. o~e of the first things I did
when I came here was to hold hands with another
woman. I felt so free: To live this life is more
important than almost anything.
·.... ... ..
11
I~:
B
1
ANA:
INT:
ANA:
Is there a Women's Liberation movement in Argentina?
Is there any kind of interaction between
it and lesbians involved in the movement?
You must understand. The only women I ever met
whose feelings were mine was an older woman
when I was 17. She had a reputation for seducing
boys and girls. Depend on it, she was not a nice
woman. After that one experience I needed to
love her but I never saw her again.
Lesbianism is not an issue in Argentina because
it does not exist. It is a monstrosity
that only degenerates practice. A person caught
acquires a reputation that separates her from
the others, except from her closest friend. Here
in the United States television and the newspapers
speak of it. In my country, hardly a word.
Here you can find a bar. But there is no place,
and if there were, the police would shut it down
immediately. The progressive people speak of it
as a sickness.
As for the women's movement: to be liberated
means something else in Argentina. Personal qualities
and talent are qualities which separate
sOllle women from others. Most women still fulfill
their duties, their traditional tasks inside the
home, regardless of their profession outside.
Men still determine the roles. Directing the
house affairs is still a woman's art.
You mean, liberated women?
To be liberated means to go to the University,
to become a lawyer, a professional. There are
exceptions, very few exceptions, but to be
liberated is shown by your clothes, the car
you personally drive.
So there i s no women's movement in Ar gentina?
Not pr operly speaking . Argentina i s the most
progressive in South America . But t he i ssue has
not been d e fi ned in t he way I s ee i t defined
here . Its goal s are l i mited by a strong tradition.
Women do not s ee thecselves as a mi nority
or oppressed gr oup . They see themselves as i nd
i vi duals withi n a class.
Do you agree with t hat or not?
A.'IA:
INT:
Whether I agree or not i s unimportant. There
in Argentina you see another reality than
what you see here. More important, much more
important, than whether you are woman or .nan ,
is what your name is and your class. The lower
class, the working class , is by internal
standards, relatively po?r. The economi c s ituation
has improved t he past two years . At one
time our c ountry was cons idered to be the next
emerging superpower. But no more. The bottom
class will never be anything more than what it
is today witho..it a revolution. 'lluch of the middle
class can advance only so fn r, even with
an education. My fa1.1ily b e l o n ~s to the profc.;sional
strata within the uppe r ~ idd le c lass.
We are not rich nor P·?werful, hut we nrc more
comfortablP. than most . Beyond that, tile cntrepeneurs,
the "aristo::racy, "
A thousand things separate c lasses in Argentina.
Th'? way yo..ir prono•rnce words in licate!'
immediately to another p·::r so.1 your class standinJ
. There are other J ifferences , numerous .
But being a member of a particular c lass means
you will b~ treated as such .
You cann0t escape from your class. You will
be there for li!e, though in so~e ~ases, if you
are talented, you can separate yourself more or
less from the class o! your birth . But even then
you will be remem~red for having come from another
class. And it will be those above yo:.i who
determine your status. .
But y0u ~ust remember that history makes different
things of different nations. The United
States has a different reality because it had
different circu~stances. As economic conditions
improve women's status within classes will be
better.
So t he women' s movement i s u~ i ~po r ta~ t ?
ANA: No , I do not say that. But in Sou th Amer l ea,
much mor e than Ar gentina , extreme dispari ties
of wealth united with the fundamC'ntnl #act of
un1erdevelop~cnt outwei ghts women's ri[;hts.
Poverty means so'tething entirely diffcrPnt
i n South America. It means that you do not
eat, thlt you und your children live i n a oneroom
shack, that your children probably
suffer permanent brain damage as a result or
i ns i stent malnutri t i on. It means absolutely
no health car e , s i nce public hnnlth cl inics
i n many count r i es are consider ed socialistic.
And it means , i nevi tably , violence, repr ession,
and mil i tary dominati on of all pol itical
life.
12
I am not saying that men's attitudes
are unimportant. Even in Argentina with all
it women lawyers, men often castigate
women's complaints as "hysteria." The double
standard exists, but since birth control,
much, much less. Women were given
the vote in 1947, but that does not mean
that political life is automatically improved.
After all, c~ny, many women support
that type of conservatism to the right of
Ronald Reagon. The problem is more than
sex, it embraces whole classes.
INT: But what you're saying ultimately is that
women's rights is not really an issue in
South America or Argentina.
ANA: It is an issue, an important issue, but at
the present moment it is not the fundamental
issue.
INT: But certainly sexism plays a part in all this.
It is men who say to women everytime they demand
equality, that women's rights is not the
fundamental issue. By saying that women mustwait
until everything else is improved, women
will never have equal rights. Sexism must be
fought alongside other issues.
ANA: I do not deny that the double standard must
go. Or that attitudes must change. But remember
that reality in the United States is not
the same as that in South America.
I ask you: if tomorrow women suddenly had
equality with men, which women? The women
living in vast slums worrying whether their
small income will cover another weeks meals?
The women who disappear and appear again in
interrogation camps? Or women like me who
have cultural resources and food, who support
our maid and her niece far better than
most maids are provided for? Women's rights
may address the different methods of " interrogation"
meted out to the different sexes,
but it falls short of addressing to the more
fundamental issues facing our society.
INT: Has your lesbianism changed your view of society?
ANA: What do you mean?
INT: Has the fact that you are a lesbian in a
rejecting society altered your view of society?
ANA: I knew I was different from other people. The
name attached to it was ugly. But I knew after
that experience with the older woman, tbat ·the
life of pursuing men was not mine. I began to
learn what I would have to do to hide the fact
of my difference from others. If I did not tell
the truth I was safe, and I began to acquire a
reputation of not being entirely honest. Because
I learned that people judge you by appearances,
and you may fool them for a while, but eventuall
they find out the truth. I was hardly a saint
and I did make some mistakes. But those other
people, who were they? They did not matter to
me, except in so far as what they thought of me.
I kept my life a secret from nearly every
person I met. I acquired boyfriends, but I absolutely
hated having to do this.
In all this I had one friend who I confided
to, and she never told anyone else. She knew
everything about me, and she never told anyone
else except her family.
It was a personal preoccupation. I was not
like everyone~ . else, and perhaps that influenced
my view of society. But under that tension,
that worry, I did not involve myself with people.
The last year I stopped having boyfriends. Everyone
thought, especially the professors, that I
was a serious student, always studying in the
library. My grades improved. Oh I was such a
student! But when she and I took trips to Brazil
and Chile and Peru, that was my joy! The scenery
was wonderful! Oh the lakes! The mountains!
Oh everything was absolutely wonderful!
She had a boyfriend. When we were together
nothing mattered. I thought that I would
love her for the rest of our life, because
that was the important thing.
13
14
Succulents and cacti are
the most interesting and easy
to care for plants a person
can have in the home, If you
absolutely love a lush, matisse
like look, the small but clumpy
Maverick cactus is the thing.
So named because of its wild
and grainy behavior,
BIZARRE VEINS
A hanging beauty is Stapelia.
It has bizarre flowers on it in
the shape of a semi-limp starfish
with red hairs and veins
on a beige background, Apart
from havill6 such an exotic
flower, Stapelia roots easily
and grows quickly. Both plants
just love to feel themselves
in light, sandy soil with
good drain'lge.
GAS CANS
On the kind of container you
should use ••• really anything
that strikes your fancy will do.
One of the most interesting containers
I have is a rusted gasoline
can ripped open on its side,
all scratched and rusted "butch
style," This is especially effective
when juxtaposed on a clean,
functional table a la mies Van
Der Roe.
CHIPPED yuzzy
Also for an unidentified
fuzzy succulent, I have a
slightly chippe':I frosted glass
art deco lamp shade,
Remember, happy plan';ing and
do remember to remove your Joan
Crawford cha~m bracelet.
mc.c. 1 Nvo-.f
There's a whole new spirit :!:}
at A'Jstin M.::C, and a lot of
changes have taken place, Rev.
Rob Shivers, our former worship
coordinator, left on
August 11th to become assistant
pastor of the Kansas
City Church. She will be sadly
missed by all,
Rob's shoes, however, are
being ably filled by Carl
Jones, who has been appointed
laison officer and temporary
worship coordinator of the
Austin Church, Carl hails
from North Hollywood, California,
but now has settled
in Austin, where he will also
be running an accounting and
bookkeeping business,
CLASSES AND SUPPERS
Carl is introducing a new
freshness and informality
into our services--some clerical
collars have been banned
and congregational participation,
in all areas of services,
is being stressed,
Congregational members are
also sponsoring bible studies
classes on Tuesdays and pot
luck suppers every other Wednesday
night,
Also, Austin MCC is now
searching for a big house,
which we hope to turn into
a co~munity center for the
wh ; le com~unity. Any leads
will be appreciated.
ALL INVITED
I Jm Very Much Alive
While walking through the park on
the middle of May,
It suddenly Juned on me
that it was raining.
Suddenly reaching for the slowly I
kept in my back pocket,
The rain and all its infinite fury
abruptly stopped.
I reached out to pluck a raindrop
only to find that I had left lllY
plucker at home;
So I gathered three or four puddlesfull
and stuffed them into rrry curly.
ind my curly got very wet, and I
cried because I wanted rrry curly
stay dry for all of four second
Time decided to be very wallish
about it all and didn't even
give a moon, but I knew its
Real intentions: it wanted to
pounce and drain the
quagmire from me.
I said shame and time went into
hiding
alone
front
and I am very much
with the raindrops in
of my only and one very
damp curly. uwvl -1 1~tlM._
INT: Did she know you loved her?
ANA: Oh yes! She knew everything.
INT:
ANA:
INT:
ANA:
INT:
ANA:
INT:
ANA:
INT:
ANA:
How did she react?
She always accepted my love for her. She
never denied me that. She never approved
of homosexuality or myself being a lesbian.
But we were very close. We were together
so often. I had no other person but she to
love. I needed her. And we spent very close
hours with each other. At times, though, she
maintained a distance from me. And certainly,
my love for her was pure. But when I saw
her dancing with another man or spending time
with her boyfriend •.• I thought men could
never sympathize with her as I could. Certainly
only I could give her everything
she needed. I wish she had agreed. But I
do think she was jealous when she saw me at
the gay bar in Houston dancing with another
woman. After all that, all that frustration,
I felt a triumph over that. But why ••••
She thinkss I should return to complete my
degree.
Should you?
I should, but ••• life is so free here and
I can meet the people I want! If I return,
I will complete my degree and go somewhere
else, the United State• or France. Marriage
to some gay men ls impossible. The FBI
investigates marriages now.
Do you think immigration laws should be
changed?
Oh yes: Definitely. But can you imagine the
gay people of the world coming here?
What were your impressions of this country
before you arrived?
My impressions were formed of what people
said who had visited this country, books I
read and glimpses of the life on television.
This country seemed incredibly wealthy, but
also, it was a vulgar world.
But what about homosexuality?
INT:
ANA:
INT:
ANA:
I~ this country? In our country's foremost
newspaper, a conservative one, was an article
about homosexuality in the United States. Also
a picture of men dancing together in a gay bar.
Naturally the article decried the scene: degradation,
this immorality sweeping, this worst
form of immorality destoying the country.
Oh it condemned and with such detail!
I read the article in secret and hid the
page where not even the maid could find it.
Later on I "discovered" it again and showed
it to my family at dinner. I asked them in
neutral tones what they thought of this. Of
course they thought it was horrible--except
my brother who, though he thought it unfortunate,
nevertheless could be understood intellectually.
I did not say anything.
I imagined what this country must be like.
I wanted to go, to experience this reality.
Now I think that this country is not very
much different from minr, but it certainly
is more open. People try to understand a
minority, oor they eventually do. You do not
find this in Argentina. There are classes,
but there are no minorities· with their separate
societies. There is more or less one
society within your class, and you are either
inside it or outside it.
Are there any homosexuals who are open?
If you are rich you can live your own life.
One lawyer I know of lives with another man.
But people invent rumors about him. They say
he picks up little boys and girls. He does
not, but I have heard even stranger rumors
about him that could not be true, even in
the imagination.
And then a few people at the University
are known to be homosexuals. Eventually they
do not care what others say, but they suffer
I know of one person who, outside the door
of the Faculty of Sciences, was beaten up by
another man. The man walked up to him, called
him a queer, and began bitting his face. He
accepted the treatment because it is the expected
thing.
Do you see any change in Argentina? Will gay
people ever be accepted?
Will gay people be accepted? Friends, real
friends, the variety you do not find in tkhe
United States, will acce]Jt the person who is
homosexual. But that does not mean that they
accept homosexuality.
What I mean by a friend is this: the
gay man who was beaten up outside the Faculty
of Sciences had been standing next to his
male friend. This friend does not accept
homosexuality. The attacker shouted Queer,
and began beating him up. He did not defend
himself. But his friend pulled the attacker
away and told him to leave. And the woman
I loved, who was not a lesbian, she was my
friend and never told anyone but her family
about me and stood with me on other matters.
At the same time she felt free to criticize
me, to debate me when she disagreed. I have
not found a friend like that in the United
States, not a real friend. All I find are
people who agree and agree and are not interested
enough to disagree. It is difficult
to make friends in the United States. This
aloneness is what I constantly feel.
END
15
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