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... ... . ...v...:.:.
nectedness wins over the power-
structure dictated relationships,
humanity is alive; to the extent
that power relationships are
chosen over those of mutual feeling, we are dead.
It would seem, then, that the
Vice Officer was the only person
"disordered" by our conduct, and
it is outrageous that Gay persons
in Birmingham are at the mercy
of this man who has willingly
stunted his own personal growth,
and yet has the power necessary
to imprison us, and who in fact
uses this power mercilessly, consciously ignoring the fact that he
does have an alternative which
would be beneficial to him -- that
of learning from us. On the day
of our trial, we witnessed the trial
of another woman this same Vice
Officer had arrested for prostitution, who had had a heart attack upon being taken to jail and
was hospitalized at the cost of her
of $2,100.00. We heard the judge
tell her, "We'll forget it if you
will". She and her grandchildren
have now returned to their home
in Texas.
The Gay persons in Birmingham
feel that Officers of the Law should
be available to us in the event of
agressive behavior on the part of
one person toward another if we
ourselves were unable to equalize
the situation, and the Gay community would willingly contribute
money to aid in the growth of a
fair, just city called Birmingham,
but we can only consider this
method of making money for the
city via the Vice Squad's continual harassive theft totally despicable. In this country, money
is blood, and the arrests of Gay
persons at $100.00 a head is nothing less than genocide.
This letter has been written
in the hope of promoting a communication system among Gay persons, and for the purpose of requesting advice and comments. Our
next trial date has not yet been
set, but it will be trial by jury.
Due to the political and socioeconomic oppression of homosexual women and men, we expect the
jury to be heterosexual. It seems
to me that it would take a mericle
to be found to be Lesbian AND
not guilty by a heterosexual jury,
but I intend to use this opportunity for the purpose of speaking
as many words as I can relating
to homosexual oppression and
philosophy. Please help us by
sending your thoughts to:
Freddie Creed
1627 - 16th Avenue So.
Birmingham, Alabama
35205
In Gay love,
Freddie Creed
Officals Bann
Michelangelo
Reproductions
PRUDISH SCHOOL OFFICIALS
BANN MICHELANGELO REPRODUCTIONS
17 year old school girl, Jean
Elizabeth Hutcheson, worked 70
hours at nights and on weekends
on two glazed statues patterned
on Michelangelo works. Despite
the fact that the B-plus student's
art teacher had approved her preliminary drawings three months
before, prudish school officials
banned the statues - from a high
school art festival, because they
were nude. Her upset father, James
were nude. Her upset father, James
Hutcheson said, ' 'I suppose if
they had the opportunity to show a
Michelangelo they would turn it
down. This is an example of a
conservative, prudish attitude of
what you can see and can not see."
The father and daughter displayed
the sculptures at a parking lot
across the street from the high
school."
PRESBYTERIANS VIEW
; Gay Presbyterians will want to
latch onto a copy of the July/
August issue of TRENDS Magazine, published by the United Presbyterian Church, USA. One of the
lead articles is entitled: "Homosexuality: Neither Sin Nor Sickness." It was written by Del Martin
and Phyllis Lyon, long-time gay
liberation leaders and authors of
Lesbian Woman, and Bill Johnson,
the first up Front Gay person to
be ordained in the United Church
of Christ.
mental health people . .
begin to wake up {at last)
The San Francisco Mental Health
Advisory Board has noted that of
505 valid charges of rape reported in 1972, none were classified as homosexual. It goes on to
say that 95% of child molestation
is heterosexual. Furthermore,
two-thirds of all arrests for "soliciting a lewd and lascivious act"
were obviously the result of enticement. The board made this
recommendation: "Pending appeal
of laws defining 'unnatur-Jness',
we recommend that the law enforcement agencies not attempt to
vigorously enforce these 'laws',
except where the sexual activity
is a true public nuisance."
(We can't help but wonder where
the "Mental Health" people have
been all this time. We could have
told them that years ago!)
your hostesses
Ricci & Rita
CiUB
POOL ■ DANCING ■ MIXED DRINKS
Open Tuesday through Sunday 5pm - 2am
(Closed Sondays)
2305 S. SHEPHERD
52* 9430
HOW GOOD IS GAY?
Gay is like the little girl that
had a little curl that hung in the
middle • of her forehead. In the
childrens nursery rh'ymn "when
it's good, its very, very, good,
when its bad its horrid". If its
working for understanding of freedom of self and ones fellow Gays,
that's when its good. We are moving into a new era of enlightenment, individually and collectively,
searching for a way out of the
oppression of centuries, eachofus
searching for our individual identity and this is good. Unfortunately, the "us" consists of a
small handful of dedicated persons, this is bad. When its reaching out to find answers to our
collective problems, its good. If
its hiding in a closet from the
responsibility of working for our
right to live as respectable and
respected human beings, its bad.
When its giving ones energies,
talents and thoughts to the fulfillment of human rights and
dignity, its good. When its thinking of nothing but the next body
we sleep with, its bad.
Gay is good when it's selfless,' bad when it's self-centered.
More and moreGay people are
joining the movement for political
social and personal freedom, but
they need help. The helpp of all
jijGay people. Too many are content to sit back and "let George
do it". They are the losers. They
sit on their collective bar stools
rolling from body to body,and too
frequently being rolled in the process. Asking why doesn't someone
do something. Why don't you?living
their lives in fear. Fear of the
neibors finding out they are Gay;
fear of losing their jobs; fear
of being busted by the police' and
wonder why something isn't done.
If nothing is done its because its
you who didn't do it!
Gay is our right, guaranteed under
the Constitution of this nation-the
right to the pursuit of pS happiness.
We will never have that right
untill we are willing to assune
the responsibility of working for it.
No one is going to give it to us
untill we get out and work to show
society that we will no longer be
pushed into a Gay ghetto, denied
the right to love in the manner
we chose.
How good is Gay? A lot better
than it used to be. A lot worse
than it can be. It is and will be
as goob wy or as basd as each
of us makes it.
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