Gay label nixes
degree
SAM FRANCISCO — A private Christian col
lege in southern Illinois has refused a man
the bachelors degree he earned based on
unspecified charges of homosexuality.
Greg Johnson, now a resident of Chicago,
com pleted all the academic reguirements for
graduation in May. 1981. When a fellow stu
dent told the dean that Johnson was gay. the
college withheld his diploma. National Gay
Rights Advocates (NGRA). the San Fran
cisco-based public interest law firm, has sued
the college to com pel it to issue Johnson his
degree.
Leonard Graff. NGRA Legal Director, said:
T h e school has offered no legal rationale for
their action. In fact, they have none. We re
suing them for breach of contract and money
damages as well as demanding the issuance
of Greg’s diploma.”
Jean O ’Leary. NGRA Executive Director,
said: "The school's action is homophobic
and offends com m on sense notions of fair
ness. Greg has met all the reguirements for
graduation and, of course, he should be
granted his degree regardless of his sexual
orientation.” O'Leary noted that Johnson's
graduate study and career have been stalled
because of the college.
NGRA's local cooperating counsel is Jen-
ner & Block, a prestigious Chicago law firm.
Lesbian Slide Show
announces
categories
"Lesbian Sexuality'' and "Lesbians In Ac
tion' are the competitive categories in the
3rd National Lesbian Slide Show and C om
petition scheduled for March 1985. The
Show and competition, sponsored by Heri-
zon, a women's social club in Binghamton,
NY will encourage the exploration of lesbian
images and will offer lesbian photographers
cash prizes. The judging will be accomplished
by lesbian audiences in several US cities.
“ We re focusing on sexuality for this show
because the national lesbian com m unity
seems ready to explore this area of our lives,”
said spokeswoman N. Meg Glaser. "We are
also interested in seeing upbeat, action’
shots, of sports, protests, work, or play," she
added.
The guidelines for the show emphasize
original color slides, not black and white slides
or reproductions of other photographs or
artwork. There is an entry fee of $5 per slide
(3 slides per category limit). Cash prizes of
$ 100, $50, $25 will be awarded to winners in
each category. For complete guidelines send
a self-addressed, stamped envelope to
NLSSC, c /o Herizon, PO Box 1082, Bing
hamton, NY 13902. The deadline for entries
is March 1, 1985.
This is the 3rd year the NLSSC has been
Funtastic Shows
presents
DORIC W ILSON was born in Los
Angeles, February 24, 1939 and raised
on his grandfather's ranch on the
C olum bia River of W ashington State He
received his theatre training from Lor
raine Larson, apprenticed w ith the R ich
land Players, and after a brief stay at the
Drama D epartm ent of the University of
W ashington, he came to New York C ity
in 1959 A pioneer of the o ff-o ff-B ro a d -
way movement, his play A n d He Made a
Her opened at the Caffe C ino in 1961
C om m itted to the developm ent of alter
native theatre, he has w ritten, directed,
produced a n d /o r designed over a hun
dred p ro d u ctio n s An orig in a l memoer of
the B a rr-W ilder-A lbee Playw right's U nit and C ircle Repertory, in 1972 with
Peter del Valle and Bill Blackwell, he form ed TOSOS Theatre Company.
D escribed as "o n e of a handful of leading co n tem pora ry playw rights who deals
fra n kly w ith the gay experience.' W ilson is a satirist "w h o genu in e ly likes— and
laughs a t— hum an fo ib le s" w ith "w it and charm , d etourin g critica l barbs
th ro u g h the fu n n y bone en route to the gut. N othing is sacred— including
h im se lf."
JERRY WEST'S production of DORIC WILSON'S
a vivisection of gaymale love without intermission
January 3-February 15
Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m.
Friday, January 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Embers Avenue, N. W. Couch and Broadway
Tickets $4.00 • M ust be 21
sponsored by Herizon, a 9 year old social club
which has recently opened a women's space
at 213 State Street in Binghamton. Proceeds
for the Show go to Natalie Barney Fund which
has funded grassroots lesbian projects such
as the Lesbian Herstory Archives in New York
City. Winners in previous shows include Joan
E. Biren (JEB) of Washington, DC, Marian
Roth of Provincetown. MA, and Trudy Wood
of Cazenovia, NY. For information about
sponsoring the Show, contact Herizon Thurs
day through Saturday evenings at (607) 724-
2537 or write PO Box 1082, Binghamton, NY
13902.
For more information: N. Meg Glaser, (607)
724-9218 evenings.
NGA considers civil
rights agenda
In its November meeting, the Staff Advis
ory Council of the National Governors' As
sociation’s Committee on Human Resources
recom m ended to the NGA Executive C om
mittee that it adopt a general civil rights policy
that includes the issue of gay/lesbian civil
rights.
The National Gay Task Force, in a presen
tation to the Advisory Council on September
20th, called on the governors “to endorse
legislative and executive measures that would
extend egual protection of the law to gay and
lesbian Americans at the federal, state, and
local levels." In considering a response to
NGTF, the council realized that the NGA did
NGTF Executive Director Virginia M.
Apuzzo com m ented. "Through our presen
tation we have identified a deficiency in the
NGA agenda that affects the entire civil rights
com m unity. The struggle for lesbian and gay
rights is just one part of the overall civil rights
agenda, which is best addressed as a single
entity rather than piecemeal.”
Apuzzo said that NGTF would be contact
ing representatives o f other civil rights orga
nizations, including the Leadership Confer
ence on Civil Rights, to discuss strategy in
pursuing this matter through the National
Governors' Association.
Members of the current NGA Executive
Com m ittee are the Governors of Kansas
(John Carlin, Dem., Chair), Tennessee
(Lam ar Alexander, Rep., Vice-Chair),
Colorado (Richard Lam m , Dem.), Florida
(B ob Graham, Dem.), Illinois (James
Thom pson, Rep.), Pennsylvania (Richard
Thornburgh, Rep.), South Dakota (William
Janklow, Rep.), Vermont (Richard Snelling,
Rep.), and Virginia (Charles Robb, Dem.).
Membership will change slightly as a result of
the November elections.
In June, following lobbying by NGTF, the
G.S. Conference of Mayors became the first
national organization of elected officials to
take a position in favor of lesbian and gay
rights by endorsing a resolution recom
m ending “ that all levels of governm ent adopt
legal protections for the rights of gay and
lesbian Americans.”
Your own local eccentric 50’s
rock and role band is reforming:
we need to take new promo pic
tures, make a new demo-tape and
put together a new promotional
packet
featuring the 3 new sophomores.
We need any monetary aid you
can
give us to take the antics that go on
at “dyke high” and continue with
“ the education of am erica”
wherever
we can.
In return for your donations we
will make the following
thank-you gifts:
$5-14
8 x 10 autographed
glossy
$15 up
the glossy, and free
admittance to our
January 27, ’85
THANK YOU concert
$31 up
at Darcelle's
the glossy, the above
concert and a souvenir
tape of the band.
send to: P.0. Box 12333 • Portland
97212 or call 249-0422
JOIN US AT OUR
8TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY
PINE ST.THEATRE
9:30pm - 1:30 am
4
not have a general position on civil rights.
The council therefore referred the matter to
the Staff Advisory Council of the NGA Execu
tive Com m ittee for consideration, with the
specific stipulation that the general policy in
clude gay/lesbian civil rights.
Cover $6.00
Just Friends
Page 19
Just Out, January. 1985