Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1971)
A happy bubbling assembly of guy* and girls met me during the (lay People'* Alliance meeting March 9 It wa*a first for me As one speaker said that night, these gay people come into public \ tew from "the sewer*, the toilet* and from paranoia ” It was dead week at the University of Oregon and a smaller than usual crowd of about 60 showed up Some person* were worried a bout possible FBI agents m the crowd Someone asked sarcastically, "You don't think the FBI hasn’t already been here7" (>ne big husky fellow from around a corner in a booming voice aid Your government is probably watching you whether you are here or riot The Revolution has been coopted "In fact you may find out you are working for the government " Someone turned toward me and asked. "Did I see you at the last < IA meeting"'" <>a> People s Alliance meetings are open to everyone All one ha* to do is show up on a Tuesday night at 8 p m at 1236 Kincaid St It 's located next to the University Book Cooperative \kayne Klgsten 21 a sociology mayor introduced me to the dif (lenities prejudice and struggle gay people face at the University And as with any social prejudice, much of it is internalized within the i H tuns I i .in I hull- my liomosexuality very well wnidn it 's an im (Hrtt.mi part <il my identity Wavne nay* Wh.it first attracted Wayne In the (Jay Peoples Alliance was the .»|M*n pride in homosexuality something hi- tiad never srrn before It s ,i better trip Wayne gave me thumbnail character sketches of the other gay worlds he had seen There is the bourgenls element which is inoie isolated Irum the authorities where you find more snobtahness and where there are more material comforts 'They offer a little less visual offense to the straight community." Hu trailer who is not gay is "straight" in the gay world Juxtaposed to the bourgeois type* are the dirty old men. the cheap male wholes and the sirk sick queens who are often completely helpless individuals What ImiOi these unliberatcd gay worlds have in common is im |H*t suitably In terms of sex they are tsitfi fold flesh markets Wayne has sii-ii many facets of gay life Ills enthusiasm for the (.as I'eoplr s Alliance and gay liberation is based on a close look at gay bourgeois hypocrisy and the "gutter After tfie March ‘.i meeting. I went to a couple of liars with some .mien of the (Jav Peoples Alliance one o( Hu' guys I was with Gary Murrell, 24, a tall handsome (healre mujoi sal on a stool next to me lie commented. "Once you get awas Irotii impersonal situations like the Johns and get to know others us individuals you tan lorm lasting reiatiansnips Ana uoa known everybody wants sometrody l know people who think they arr the only gay people in the wm hi They never get out o( thf toilet* and parks straight people usually do not recognue the gargantuan difficulty gas people have as tndiv iduals in confronting itieir homosexuality It IS iriMiic Iks ausr it is the straight world tlr.il places such an onus on homosexual ini|Hilses Colloquially ipeaktug. the most repressed case is a "closet case i Inset rases are often quite terriliett liy their own homoaexuailty John Stauilon (fictitious namel, 21, a clean-cut political arience in.ijoi gave me a case in point When you're not in tlie tea room that * the toilet the tally way lo strike up a relaluaiship is with long glances I eschanged long glance* with a guy in the Fishbowl on several iMH'asllMIS I molly I walked past and gave him the tug wave but he (unit'd his head away latter I ran into him again ami said hi and he said hi and I in lreduced mvselt Hi- said John would you like to go someplace ami talk'*' So we started over to the New World Col lee Shup Ss we walked along I asked him where tie was from trite things like (hat hut his answers gut terser and terser He froze It s what you ..ill .1 lKiniosa-vu.il I sum lie lust started running Maiut two weeks later I ran into him tn the Student Union His eyes wa re ted am! I asked him Irow he was leelmg Not particularly emttarrassed he said, 'Yea, I'm leelmg he< ter YOU li*'k sleepy I ve lieen thinking things over Non re just coming out aren't you'" In gay argot you cvxne out when you lust introduce yoursell as a homosexual in gay circle* We ex. hanged addreauw* amt phmte numt*ers tail I haven't heard from him since For all l know tw may he tare of (hoar unhappy people who remain closet cases torever Vs one gav lit< slogan goes. Better hlatant than lalenl By Robert Majure tM ikr l nntld ’•W !»««*» CM-.'* t »M» *M •» , »••*•» *,»«■«* >,S<V, v «•«*< **»» «•» OH «.«><» M>l 1 *-<# *Ut my I •*«« MMKHM MM• MM , MM »t» > M> MM I If Ml Mm 1‘MI (Ml m Mm Ml CM MMM* MVM.MI |M»‘»|» M« • 0>M»M>< »<«6S k.MM» - <r»MM • *» IK *m t MM M K I. |W >-*•• HUM «• (KM<M l»*M tfidaa'a EEBEAlt CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CAMPUS LECTURE SvfVU > Apr 11 4lf» 7pm l?J SCIENCE EVERYONE WELCOME Better blatant than latent — Gay Lib slogan Coming out of the closet John is much happier with himself now that he has come out and K>ined gay lib “When I was in high school 1 messed around with girls and had a lot of fun But it wasn 't the real thing.” He told me jokingly he now plans to go to law school, “» I can perpetuate my insanity on the legal system I.aws in America generally constrict the lives of homosexuals For the present it is not unlawful to be a homosexual in Oregon It’s just unlawful to act like one This will change if Senate Bill 40 Section 13 passes legalizing acts of love between consenting homosexuals over the age of 16. The Gay People's Alliance is lobbying for its passage Wayne tells me, “Homosexuals have few places they can meet in Eugene There are three bars in town, but you nave to De over zi. The Gay People’s Alliance is trying to create a central place for people to come out publicly as homosexuals and not be scared away by political activity that is too overt " The Gay People's Alliance has been sponsoring spaghetti dinners to raise money for a coffee house of its own The coffee house would not I*. exclusively gay. but would be run by the Gay People’s Alliance It would t>e an alternative to the bars and the tea rooms As things now stand, they have to pay for their weekly use of the basement at 1236 Kincaid St John informs me less than 30 per cent of the male and female homosexuals in Eugene have anything to do with the Gay People s Alliance Many homosexuals are afraid, and often for good reasons, of public exposure They are afraid of losing jobs or friends Says Skip Abbott, 20, a history major, who just came out this year. Everybody in the movement’s come out more A lot of us are telling our friends At the dorm everybody knows and there's no problem At meals we sit around talking about it; it’s a lot of fun Wo re all on a sell-esteem trip Skip is one of those naturally sociable people you can’t help but like With his long blond hair he looks like a surfer except he “camps around " He has the sort of behavioral mannerisms that make him easily identifiable in homosexual circles He comes from a military family and the University has been his lirst "liberalizing" influence His father is a colonel Since Skip has come out, he has had "no guilt feelings" at all One wivk when his parents were gone, he went to the beach Skip has been happy with himself ever since However, he knows people who, after coming out. continue to face “superparanoia " It was with these people in mind that the Gay People’s Alliance was established last October as a more social than political organization It therefore faces a certain inertia. Says Gary, "Apathy is everywhere. You have to expect it in any group unless it is formed w ith a specific goal in mind." Gary is one of the majority who believes the best course for the Gay People’s Alliance is public education, not militant action "You can't change people's minds by battering them on the head ” One of the most successful activities of the Gay People’s Alliance has Ikvii “to expose ourselves in public" as one activist put it Three or four gay guys and a girl go out as a team to visit classes at the University of Oregon and Ijine Community College Continued on Page 5 TODAY It* 31 BANANA SPLIT SALE Buy one at the regular price get the secono for Dairy Queen 13 * i Hilpri yueen
