'S
Parents FLAG plan
Denver convention
Several hundred delegates from the
United States, Canada and Europe will gather
in Denver, Colorado September 28-October
1,1984 as the Federation of Parents and
Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Inc. (Parents
FLAG) convenes its third annual interna­
tional convention.
The organization of family members and
friends of homosexuals began in 1973 as a
result of the annual gay pride parade in New
York City. Founded by an elementary school
teacher from Westchester, New York who was
"tired of hiding my gay son,” Parents FLAG
has worked with thousands of parents and
friends of gays and lesbians. The organiza­
tion now boasts several thousand members
in over 125 cities.
Federico Pena, Mayor of Denver and an
outspoken supporter of human rights for all
people, will be the convention’s opening
speaker. Dr. Mary Calderone, former medical
director of Planned Parenthood of America
and former executive director and president
of the Sex Information and Education Council
of the United States, will join Mayor Pena with
her keynote address at the first general ses­
sion on Saturday morning, September 29.
Because the convention falls on the Jewish
holiday of Rosh Hashanah, a special service
will be held for Jewish families on Friday
afternoon, September 28. One Jewish mother
of a lesbian daughter who will be a featured
entertainer and workshop presenter at the
Truman Capote dies
convention is Henia Goodman, who survived
the Nazi concentration camps of World War
II. Mrs. Goodman, a concert pianist, will
perform with her daughter Dovida in concert
on Friday night using the grand piano of the
Fairmont Hotel, where the convention will be
held.
Topics for the three days of workshops will
range from how to help parents who have just
learned of their child’s homosexuality to
"Small Town Survival for Closeted Parents.”
Other workshops centered around the con­
vention theme of The Three R’s of Under­
standing Gay/Lesbian Issues: Realities,
Rights and Responsibilities" will include an
update on the AIDS epidemic, reaching out
to and how to deal with the conservative
church community, and the legal problems
unique to gay men and lesbians.
Co-chairs Weaver and Bossart also an-
■ nounced that two best-selling authors who
are parents of gay children will appear at an
autograph reception during the convention.
Mary Borhek, who wrote My Son Eric and
Coming Out To Parents, will join Betty Fair­
child, founder of the Denver chapter of Pa­
rents FLAG and author of Now That You
Know, a guide for parents who have dis­
covered their child’s same-sex orientation, at
the 5:00 p.m. Friday reception.
The Parents FLAG convention co-chairs
may be contacted at (303) 333-0286, a 24-
hour answering service, or by writing c/o
Parents FLAG/Denver, P.O. Box 18901,
Denver, CO 80218.
UVE! ON STAGE!
AN EVENING OF LIVE MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT
I
“A SIFCWFF
OF STAIRS»
THE EMBERS/AVENUE
DOORS 8:00 PM
TICKETS $5.00
by Jim Hunger
Truman Capote, one of the greatest of
contemporary American writers, died August
25th in Los Angeles at the age of 59. Al­
though not particularly prolific, Capote
earned the accolade of great through the
depth, quality, and insightfulness of his work.
He was also respected in the gay community
for publicly and unregretfully affirming his
own homosexuality.
Capote’s most famous novel, In Cold
Blood, published in 1965, is the best example
of a literary genre which he developed and
termed "the non-fiction novel." Recounting
the brutal murder of a Kansas farm family by
two escaped convicts and their subsequent
capture and execution, this literary work sec­
ured the author’s position as a successful
writer. At the time of his death, the novelist
was working on a voluminous work which he
promised would be his “masterwork,” entitled
Answered Prayers.
Growing up in the Deep South, Capote was
raised primarily by female cousins and aunts
when his mother found herself temperamen­
tally unsuited to motherhood. Recalling this
difficult early period, he later reminisced, “I
was so different from everyone, so much
more intelligent and sensitive and perceptive.
I always felt that nobody was going to under­
stand me, going to understand what I felt
about things. I guess that’s why I started
writing.”
Many of Capote’s stories are at least par­
tially autobiographical, including his first
published novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms,
which appeared when he was a mere 23.
Interestingly enough, Capote’s closest child­
hood friend was Nelle Harper Lee, who wrote
the classic To Kill a Mockingbird, and the two
authors paid each other the compliment of
using each other as models for characters in
their first novels.
Capote later moved to New York to be with
his recently remarried mother and new
stepfather, whose last name he adopted. Hat­
ing school, he attended a number of private
academies, where he performed dismally,
before he managed at the age of 17 to secure
a minor position at The New Yorker. First
published while still in h:s teens, the acknowl­
edged prodigy achieved his first major suc­
cess with the publication of his short story,
"Miriam,” in Mademoiselle in 1945. The fol­
lowing year this story earned him the first of
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23rd
four O. Henry Awards he was to receive in his
lifetime.
Capote’s later life was overshadowed by
his alcoholism and periodic drug depen­
dency, which caused his health to deteriorate
alarmingly. This condition no doubt played a
large part in his disastrous decision in 1975
to allow Esquire magazine to publish
segments of his unfinished Answered
Prayers, one of which contained true but un­
complimentary stories and even names of
some of his famous friends, many of whom
never forgave him. A lover of his celebrity
status and the grand social life, Capote was
hurt deeply by this incident After undergoing
treatment for drug dependence and alcohol­
ism as well as several surgeries, Capote ap­
peared to be following a more positive direc­
tion in the last years of his life. Unfortunately,
he was unable to complete his last “master­
work” before his death.
Studds faces stiff
challenge
by Jay Brown
Masachusetts’ 10th Congressional District,
which encompasses Cape Cod and Prov­
incetown, may be a proving ground in the
battle between the forces of progressivism
and the New Right Rep. Gerry Studds, the
incumbent in the district is being challenged
by a rigid, law-and-order county sheriff who
has accused Studds of child molestation.
Studds has been a very popular congress­
man and has well served his constituency,
which also includes the fishing port of New
Bedford. However, last August Gerry Studds
was censured by the House of Representa­
tives for having had sex with a 17-year-old
male page while on a trip to Europe in 1973.
After the House action, Studds made an im­
passioned speech on the floor of the House
in which he admitted that he is gay. At the
same time, Studds said that he was not
ashamed of his actions, but allowed that the
affair had been “improper.”
In the present campaign, Studds’
opponent Peter Flynn, has relied on the
censure as the focus of his uphill challenge.
“We re not talking about gay rights,” Flynn
said recently. “Studds has done a grand job
of making this appear as though it’s a
homosexual issue. We re talking about an act
of child molestation.”
----------------- <
SHOWTIME 9:00 PM
TAX DEDUCTIBLE
THE ANNUAL SPECIAL BENEFIT FOR THE
CONTINUING SERVICES OF THE
gay hotline
Counseling Center for
Sexual Minorities
12
Open to All, Every Day
FOOD FRONT
COOPERATIVE GROCERY
Whole foods. Real Qroceries,
natural Treats, fresh Produce
Open 7 days, 9 a m. to 8 p.m
2675 NW Thurman 222-5658
TRI MET BUS 53
THE Place for Seafood
and Steaks
Original owners since 1977
LUNCH • DINNER • SUNDAY BRUNCH
LOUNGE
7425 SW BARBUR BLVD
(at Terwilliger)
245-2188
Just Out, August 31-September 14