Number 71 / March 1981 / $1.25 / UK 60p
TOURISTS IN HOMOLAND: A LOOK AT THECBC'S "SHARING THE SECRET.
93
A MAGAZINE
Getting together to support ourselves
Toronto's Gay Community Appeal shows the way, and throws a bash at Casa Loma to celebrate their success.
Let's get rude!
Yes! — but not to each other. Ostrom gives us some new tips on gay etiquette for the 80s in Beyond the Vanderbelt.
Jane Rule's web
The lesbian author spins out connections between art and identity in Contract with the World. Michael Lynch reviews.
And...
• The Sun slaps Calgary's mayor
• Jury deadlocked in PIE trial
• Fear of Cruising — the art,
not the movie.
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"The most controversial and powerful play since Albee stuhned us with 'Virginia Woolf."
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■ ' If.
The liberation of homosexuals can only be the work of
homosexuals themselves. " - Kurt Hiller. 1921 -
The Collective
John Allec. Christine Bearchell. Rick Bebout.
Leo Casey. Gerald Hannon. Ed Jackson.
Stephen MacDonald. Tim McCaskeil. Ken Popert.
Roger Spalding. Paul Trdlope. Robert Trow
Alexander Wilson
Design/Art Direction Kirk Kelly/Rick Bebout
The News Gerald Hannon
Chris Bearchell. Am Gabel. Ed Jackson.
Peter Mohns. Fay Orr. Craig Patterson, Ken Popert.
Roger Spalding. Paul Trollope. Robert Trow.
(Toronto News Stall)
Maurice Beauheu (Quebec). Ron Dayman (Montreal).
David Garmaise (Ottawa). Ric Langtord (Victoria).
Jim Mendenhall (Brandon). Robin Metcalfe (Halifax).
Stuart Russell (Montreal). Paul Wollaslon (London)
International
Tim McCaskeil. Leo Casey
Our Image
John Allec. Stephen MacDonald. Alexander Wilson
Andy Fabo. Martha Fleming. John Fletcher.
Jeft James. Sieve Johnson. Jon Kaplan.
James Tennyson
Features
Chris Bearchell. Rick Bebout
Christine Donald. Fay Orr. Gary Ostrom. David Roche
Columns
Paul Leonard. Ken Popert. Jeft Richardson.
Tom Suddon. Ian Young
Letters/ Community Page Ken Popert/ Paul Trollope
Layout and Production
Rick Bebout
Rick Amis. Mike Aoki. Carol Auld. Paul Bartlet.
Burke Campbell. Robin Cass. John Fletcher.
Linda Green. Pam Godfrey. Norman Hatton.
Jake Peters. Bob Wolff. Peter Zorzi
and members ot the collective
Printing Delta Web Graphics. Scarborough
Advertising Chris Bearchell. Gerald Hannon. Ken Popert Mike Aoki. John Oesputeau. Gerry Oxford.
Craig Patterson
Promotion Ken Popert
Subscriptions and Distribution
Roger Spalding. Robert Trow
Denis Fontaine. Joe McNemey. Matthias Ostermann.
Michael Riordon. Dan Schneider. Bob Wallace.
Grant Weaver
Olfice
Chris Bearchell. Rick Bebout. Gerald Hannon.
Ed Jackson. Ken Popert
Paul Aboud. Lawrence Ciemson. David Newcome.
Michael Petty. Ken West
The Body Politic is published ten limes a year Oy fink Triangle Press a nonprofit corporation as a contribution to the Building ol the gay movement and the growth ol gay consciou Responsibility tor the content ol The Body Politic rests with the Body Politic Collective an autonomous body operating within Pink ■■ Press The collective is a group ol people who regularly give then time and labour to the production ol this maga/me the opinions ot the collective are represented only in editorials and
. 'narked editorial essays Oltices ol The Body Poiii located at ?4 Duncan Street I tilth lloor) in Toronto
the publication ol an advertisement in The Body Politic toes not mean that the collective endorses the advert
'ne Body Poliiic Box 7?89 Sin A loronii ma MbW 1X9
Phone 14161 977 t
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toronlt ,r)a M4Y ?H9
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1606
The Body Politic is a member ol the Coalition lor
Gay Rights m Ontario and the Canadian
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Quote of the Month
' ' You can 't put a price tag on justice. Police Community Relations Officer Eric Wright, defending the high cost in money and manpower of the February 5 police raids on four Toronto steam baths.
With a little help from our friends
This issue of The Body Politic is late. Final press date had to be bumped back nearly a week when it became clear that police raids on the baths in Toronto were spawning the biggest gay story of the last few years. Newswriters who'd thought most of their work for this issue was finished found themselves flying all over town in taxis to keep track of events. More than three pages of previously planned news were pulled to make space for stories on the raids and on reaction from gay people and their supporters in the straight community. The cover we had planned was scrapped and a new one thrown together in an evening. Not only were TBP staff in- volved in reporting events, but they also spent the night of the raids at the Toronto police's 52 Division reassuring those arrested (before being relieved by George Smith and Elan Rosenquist from the Right to Privacy Committee). They answered phone calls from wor- ried found-ins all through the nexl week. They attended meetings to help formulate the community's response.
So, this issue . laic (and probably lull ol typOS) bul il would have been a lol
later il other people hadn't started showing up at the door, offering to pro- Mile everything from courier service to phone-answering to proofreading and editorial skills during a week ol the crazies) days since TBP% own trial in
Peter Schafftei and Andrew Mtulin were in the office within hours ot the i. nils, fielding phone calls, making col
mil ferrying people back and forth
to 52 Division. (Andrew also made two long treks to the printer in Scarbor- ough, delivering pages of TBP as they were finished.) Cab driver Adrian Hamel picked up reporter Gerald Hannon and got him to every one of the city's baths — and picked up the tab himself. A man named Tony, who had been busted as a found-in at the Roman Sauna, provided the same service for reporter Ed Jackson.
Jake Peters and Rick Amis took photos and processed prints up to a few hours before pages were taken to press. Norman Hatton provided pictures of damage inside the baths. Bob Gallagher and Burke Campbell came in at 8:(X) in the morning to proofread. When he wasn't busy producing "No More Shit!" bullous, Chris Davis lent a hand at 52 Division and scouted around lor even more phoiographs. Peter Zorzi and Charlie Dobie. two people who had been around ai the birth of The Body Politic in I S>7 1 , were back doing telephone work and helping plan public action. I he olfice was lull ami frantic, Willi all these people anil more.
Il always lakes a lol ol people lo pro duce an issue ol I lie Body Politic as oui masthead aiiesis ami it often takes extraordinary effort, rhereare
alwavs people we mean lo give Credit lor llieir help, but wedon'l always gel
around to it. I ins nine, though, we
wanted to make sure lo sa\ ihanks. I hanks uol nisi lor helping this issue
eei lo press, inn tor ^n^x- again making us proud lo be pan oi a strong, commit- ted community
Elsewhere in this issue
Trading on Secrets: Chris Bearchell looks at the CBC documentary. ' 'Sharing the Secret. " p21
An evening with Gay Appeal: Fay Orr on the night the homos invaded Casa Loma. p25
Let's get rude! Gary Ostrom provides the latest on gay etiquette in Beyond the Vanderbelt p26 Party time: David Roche goes out on the circuit with rising director /play- wright Sky Gilbert. p27 Friendly ferocity: Christine Donald on the international lesbian conference in Amsterdam. p18 Jane Rule's web: Michael Lynch reviews Contract with the World p29 Fear of Cruising: Jeft Richardson on pick-up paranoia. The Back Page. p43.
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Regular departments |
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Letters |
4 |
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Taking Issue |
7 |
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Editorial |
8 |
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World News |
19 |
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Between the Lines |
17 |
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The Ivory Tunnel |
35 |
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Classifieds |
36 |
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Community Page |
40 |
Cover photos by Gerald Hannon
MARCH 1981
THE BODY POLITIC/3
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Gossip mongering
There are two reviews in the November issue that seem to me from offbase to totally wrongheaded. Merely the former is Norman Hay's — and it seems many others' — opinion of Bette Midler. Hay writes, "I don't know if it's a good film" — Divine Madness, that is — "or not and, frankly, I don't care. The sheer force of Bette Midler grabs you and hurtles you," blah, blah, blah. As a film critic of some experience, I do know that it's a pretty good film effici- ently and attractively shot, but I don't care, either, because the sheer force of BM nearly hurtled me out on the street again. Ninety- four minutes of pretty much the same tune, the same antics, and the same elephantine trappings for them are about 60 minutes too much. Midler's got a mediocre voice, Sophie Tucker's her best writer, and if it wasn't for the Harlettes she'd flounder even worse in her dull repertoire. Oh, I'll give her the bum-on-the-park-bench panto- mime, which I suspect she copped from Red Skelton's Freddie the Freeloader, and the Tucker stories. But if she's this gay generation's Garland, we have reason to mourn for the good /bad old days. Bette Midler is thin gruel. Her ad- mirers, however, love her so uncritically and inattentively that they even mess up her motto when they quote it. It's not "Fuck 'em all." It's "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke." I agree.
Totally wrongheaded is James Ten- nyson's review of Chamber Music . So intent is he upon unearthing the homo- sexual dirt about Edward MacDowell that he slights and trivializes an aston- ishing novel, one of the best in recent years that deals at all with homosexual- ity. He regards Doris Grumbach's dis- claimer that she is not writing biography (I take the word "autobiography" in the review to be a typo — it is at any rate not the word Grumbach uses) as an "evasion" rather than an honest direc- tion to attend to the novel itself. Grum- bach no doubt anticipated exactly the kind of beside-the-point exercise in ill- tempered speculation Tennyson affords and tried to nip it. But gossip-mongers are obviously not easily put off. Given Hamlet, they'll spend all their time try- ing to decide how close a friend, and of what kind, Horatio was to the historical prince — or even Rosencrantz to Guildenstern.
I mean, is it really all that important to know whether MacDowell was homo- sexual? Would it be "a service to gay history to publish the fact" if he was? What kind of service? I'd like answers to these questions.
Considerably more important are the very real skill Grumbach displays and the implications of the relationships she creates. Having adopted the mode of a memoir by her principal character, she impressively conjures the intellectual and emotional climate in which Carrie McLaren matured through the style of prose she writes. There are turns of phrase that subtly, authoritatively par- ticularize and illuminate Carrie McLaren as a woman of her time. The Grumbach novel's only peer I can readily recall is Patience and Sarah, a justly famous lesbian novel that likewise succeeds through finding appropriate prose styles
for its two protagonists' narrations of the story.
The implications of the relationships in Chamber Music constitute its most provocative interest, though. Tennyson fails to mention the complication in the affair between the two women in the novel, which is a melancholy young composer who falls in love with Anna the nurse. This man, like McLaren, is an emotional cripple, finally unable to deal humanely with his feelings. Like McLaren before him, rather than face emotional reality, he retreats into self- dramatization, ultimately destroying himself and seriously damaging the women's lives. The novel disturbingly counterpoints men who are unable to follow their passions creatively and self- fulfillingly with women who are.
Putting it broadly, the novel proceeds from the assumption that men are emo- tionally dishonest and destructive while women are open and creative. Men may be more materially creative thereby — they write the music — but they burn themselves up while a Carrie McLaren lives past 90. The same assuption, of course, underlies many recent gay books — The Wanderground comes to my mind, and parts of Larry Mitchell's The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions. I'm not sure it's a valid assumption, but when it eventuates in so many distinguished gay books, I think it's one we overlook unwisely. Ray Olson St Paul, Minnesota
Decorous straights
We were surprised by "Name Withheld" 's letter, (TBP, February) in which he writes "Is the straight Shaw Festival more important to you than gay plays?" We hadn't noticed any special attention being paid to the Shaw Festi- val by The Body Politic, although it might be very nice.
Also, we were perturbed by the essen- tially pejorative use of the word "straight" as applied to the Festival. We can assure "Name Withheld" that the straights in the company behave with decorum and make a fine contribu- tion to the work of the Festival. Christopher Newton, Artistic Director Paul Reynolds, Ass't Artistic Director Shaw Festival Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.
No betrayal
As a New Democrat, I share the disap- pointment of TBP with the decision of the NDP's parliamentary caucus not to move the sexual orientation amendment to the Ontario Human Rights Code; however, I am also disturbed by your editorial regarding this issue which con- cluded: "no sitting member of the Legislature is worthy of either our active support, or votes, in the coming election."
The NDP Caucus's decision was not unanimous, but once made it is binding. As TBP reported, there were at least five NDP Members who spoke out strongly in the Legislature for an end to discrimination and hatred towards gay people. I am confident that there are other NDP MPPs who also favour the
4/THE BODY POLITIC
MARCH 1981
"Vigorously denounce anti-cuddlers!
Defend the right of all cuddlers to con sensually
engage in their preferred activities without regard
to the limitations of bourgeois morality!"
sexual orientation amendment, but they, too, are bound by the caucus deci- sion. Surely these committed individual MPPs deserve to be re-elected to the On- tario Legislature in the coming election with the support of gay campaign workers and voters.
It is very distressing that the NDP's parliamentary caucus decided not to move the amendment, yet that does not represent a betrayal by the New Demo- cratic Party. The NDP's gay rights policy was approved by the provincial convention of delegates from all NDP riding associations, labour affiliates and youth in 1976. That policy has not been changed.
Naturally, it is upsetting to NDPers when the leadership fails to act on es- tablished policy, and this is a serious issue which we must address on this and other matters. Upon reading your edi- torial, however, I am left wondering how any gay rights will ever be recog- nized and by whom if more gay people do not become involved in electoral politics.
We should understand that outlawing discrimination against gay people repre- sents only an initial — though very sig- nificant — victory in the struggle against homophobia in all its forms of ignorance, fear and malevolence. While I do not feel that this is "the most im- portant issue" in Ontario society today, nevertheless it must be seen as a funda- mental priority at a time when someone such as John Damien can be fired as a racing steward simply because he is gay.
Of the three parliamentary parties, neither the Conservatives nor the Liber- als have demonstrated any capacity to defend gay people. The NDP, though, already has a reasonable gay rights policy, and by electing more New Democrats and holding them to that policy there is a real opportunity for af- firming gay rights, along with the rights of everyone, to have decent work, good health, a secure home, a full education and to be free of discrimination.
Part of the wider effort to create a socialist society — a consciously human community — is our commitment to re- spect and foster loving, caring, and mutually supportive human interrela- tions irrespective of gender. This firm principle infuses my activity politically and personally. For this reason, I see the NDP Caucus's decision as only a momentary stumble and not a fatal flaw. Rather than avoiding the NDP or electoral politics generally, we need to work together to ensure that it does not happen again.
Grant Wedge Toronto
Vigorous cuddling
The Body Politic's campaign of persecution of sexual minorities con- tinues unabated. First it was a bitter denunciation of bambiscxuals in an arti- cle on sex toys by Gerald Hannon. Now, hidden in an otherwise innocuous lifestyle piece on Christmas at the baths ("Fast and loose for the holidays," TBP, December /January), Paul Pcarcc dares to launch a new attack on cud- dlers. His arrogance cannot go unanswered.
As the Bambisexual Liberation Front so eloquently explained in its reply to Hannon's slanders against its members, slurpy-wurpy cuddly-wuddly sex is def- initely where it's at. Cuddling is an im- portant part of all bambisexuals' sexual activity. It helps oppose the tyranny of genital primacy and assists in breaking down the backward notions of private property implicit in Pearce's defence of "his fair share" of the bed.
Vigorously denounce anti-cuddlers! Defend the right of all cuddlers to con- sensually engage in their preferred ac- tivities without regard to the confining limitations imposed by bourgeois moral- ity and property systems!
We demand that The Body Politic im- mediately reverse its covert and deceit- ful practice of attacking sexual minori- ties, a course of action it has been able to get away with only by dint of syco- phantically wrapping itself in the cloak of the cult of personal journalism.
(By the way, apart from the unfor- givable slurs against cuddlers, we thought Paul Pearce's article was very good.)
Cuddlers' Caucus The Bambisexual Liberation Front Toronto
Money talks
At a recent gay rights conference in Halifax, I participated in a discussion of human rights legislation and how best to protect our rights as gay men and womyn. One of the strongest expres- sions of opinion was that the political action route, although of some value, was unlikely to net gays very many results. Even though I strongly favour such action, I found myself agreeing with this viewpoint. But I also felt that this reality can be changed.
In Canadian society, minority groups have managed to secure effective politi- cal influence through the concentration of economic wealth. The "Wops" of 15-20 years ago are now the respectable members of the Italian-Canadian com- munity. The Inuit, who were once vir- tually unknown and whose economic potential — due to land claims — is enormous, are now almost a household name. These people are being heard and soon will be listened to. The Jewish community, which traditionally has had to defend its minority status, has a political influence, both here and in the US, based on its economic muscle. This influence is far out of proportion to its numerical strength. The English-Cana- dian minority of Quebec is a glaring ex- ample of the influence of economic muscle, even in the face of determined political action.
If gays pool their individual resources and direct them into economic ventures, then we too can become an influential minority. One such mechanism is an in- vestment corporation: individuals (any number with any amount of cash, no matter how small) combine their wealth for investment in real estate, stocks, business ventures or other endeavours.
The first thing this accomplishes is concentration of wealth. Next, it in- creases wealth through wise Invert ments. Also, it provides a financial resource to gays wanting to establish
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MARCH 1981
THE BODY POLITIC/5
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Norman Hay does.
Norman Hay writes for The Body Politic because he feels ' 'there 's a need for gay journalism in which we can celebrate our own. ' ' Like all TBP's contributors, Norman writes for free. But getting his writing to our readers costs plenty — more than $2,500 in production charges per issue. A $50 donation could cover the cost of the page you 're reading now.
"Why use the sensational term 'orgy'? An orgy, by definition, involves: 'feasting and revelry, especially as marked by excessive indulgence or licence. "
financially sound, gay-oriented busines- ses. This does not mean that gay indiv- iduals or groups should receive backing solely on the basis of their sexual orien- tation. A bad investment is bad, wheth- er gay or otherwise. But a gay-oriented investment body can be available to those who cannot receive backing because of their sexual orientation. This way, our sexual preference can result in an economic preference. And the pur- pose of this financial resource does not preclude our participation in non-gay- oriented economic ventures. In fact, one of the main goals is to become in- tegrally linked to the non-gay communi- ty and therefore to create a situation in which our economic and social well- being becomes of critical importance to them.
If we are-not to leave ourselves at the mercy of our sometimes liberal-minded fellow citizens, who may next year elect a Ronald Reagan or defeat a John Sewell, then we must provide for our own security. When our participation as a cohesive group or series of groups becomes important in our local, provin- cial and national economies, then our requests will more likely be heard and listened to.
I am sure that this concept is not a new one. It means being integrally in- volved in a system that we sometimes find distasteful but it is important that we are prepared to face the reality that we are at the mercy of others who are not alway sympathetic. It is quite possi- ble that we may be faced with an in- creasingly reactionary society in the next decade and could suffer the loss of the gains that we have made. We do have the power to do something about that, but do we have the will?
Glen Pelshea
Fredericton
For comment or questions, write c/o
FLAG, PO Box 1556, Station A,
Fredericton NB.
Rudeness rejected
I am writing to take issue with the Taking Issue article by Dan Healey (TBP, November). I happen to be one of his "self-oppressive" Gang of Four. I shall neither attempt to condemn nor defend the opinions of my three co- conspirators. I do not know them and doubt that they know each other.
I react somewhat strongly to the groundless charge of a "sickening display of self-oppression," especially from someone I presume to be a total stranger. I refute the charge of of "going for the jugular." And I feel unjustly attacked. Could it be because I am not "always wrapped in a sarong"? (I usually prefer caftans or djallabahs.) Could it be because I am not an "attrac- tive 25-year old"?
Personally, I do not care if Dan Healey is a "clone" or not. Nor do I care that he can trace his exalted lineage back to a "distinguished line of clones." I am unable to do this and bear the "shame" of probably being the only Afro-Eurasian "clone" on Howard Street.
My crime, however, appears to be far more serious. I simply reject rudeness.
Is this so terrible? Apparently, yes. As a very shy person, I find it terribly dif- ficult to be socially "outgoing." How- ever, I do try and react unfavourably to the rudeness and /or denial of existence to which I am often subjected.
Maybe Healey should harness some of his "divisive anger and use it against the people we all oppose," rather than wasting everyone's time spewing his own personal venom.
John Yorke Toronto
Dissolute revels
Someone needs their awareness height- ened. In the December/ January issue of TBP, a news article appeared concern- ing the House of Lords vote on the Scottish reform bill. It was reported that anti-gay groups had seized upon the emphasis given by the gay press in particular to the legalization of orgies as reason for opposing the bill.
So what happens? In the very next issue there's the headline: "Gay sex, orgies to be legal at 18...." The pro- posed amendments may legalize sex be- tween several consenting adults, but why use the sensational term "orgy"? An orgy, by definition, involves: "feasting and revelry, especially as marked be excessive indugence or licence" (OED).
While it may be true that, once legal, some gays will indulge in "wild or dissolute revels," surely to emphasize that drastic extreme can only provide the Right with anti-gay ammunition.
Name Withheld Toronto
Hypocrites
I wasn't going to answer your request for people to send in their opinions about the Tom-of-Finland-type ad you ran a while ago. But I saw the piece again today while leafing through the issue once more and decided I'd get something off my chest.
I totally resent the idea of anyone censoring what others want me to see. In other words, you shouldn't censor any ad unless it contains something that is illegal.
Of all publications, TBP should especially be against censorship.
Or in the court case against "Men Loving Boys," do you think you should have that freedom — but at the same time, feel you have the right to deny it to your readers?
What hypocrites if that's the case.
M. Krantz Victoria
Our omission
In our last issue, we neglected to name the author of the article, "TBA: No-strings band." The piece was written by TBP collective member Stephen MacDonald, to whom his fellow collective member Rick Bebout apologizes for leaving his byline in limbo instead of on the layout.
Address your letters to The Body Politic, Box 7289, Station A, Toronto M5W 1X9.
6/THE BODY POLITIC
MARCH 1981
Takinglssue
Scapegoating the NDP
The 1980 Toronto municipal election campaign was an exciting milestone in the history of our movement and an in- dication of the advances we have made in the last ten years. The thrill of having our first openly gay candidate unfor- tunately was diminished by George Hislop's defeat. We all thought that George was going to win. When he did not, we felt betrayed somehow. Even worse were our feelings of isolation and powerlessness. Naturally, we ask our- selves what went wrong, and perhaps equally naturally, we look for scapegoats for our frustration. In light of this desire, we would like to talk about the treatment of the election in the December/ January issue of TBP.
Both the editorial and the feature ar- ticle on the election make comments about the role of the Metro NDP in the outcome of the election, suggesting that the NDP was in some measure responsi- ble for the defeat not only of George, but also of Mayor Sewell.
The whole question of party involve- ment at the municipal level needs more explanation. The introduction of open and organized party politics into the municipal scene by the NDP, co- ordinated with its provincial and federal counterparts, helps to remove the old- guard myth that aldermen serve the public good without reference to inter- est groups or power blocks. This idea may have had some validity when pot- holes and garbage collection were the only contentious issues at City Hall. To- day, it is essential to have a comprehen- sive party programme to ensure ade- quate social services and to co-ordinate strategies between political jurisdictions.
The Metro NDP has and continues to create its own platform and policies concerning municipal issues. Often the aims of New Democrats are mirrored in the goals of other progressive individ- uals or organizations. However, the NDP has a responsibility to its members who create the policy, to support only candidates who are able to embrace that policy in its entirety. We have no doubt that George Hislop would have made a good alderman this term, that he will be a good alderman in 1982. Nevertheless, he would not have been an NDP alder- man and, no matter how similar his position on any issue, he would not be accountable to the membership of the NDP. By saying publicly that he would run in Ward Six whether or not he received the nomination of the Ward Six Community Organization, George indi- cated clearly that he would welcome the support of such organizations, but that he did not see this support as a pre- requisite for his candidacy. This is perfectly reasonable. George feels that he can do the job best without party af- filiation. Given this position though, surely it is unreasonable to complain that the NDP failed to cooperate Despite Ed Jackson's references to "a complete NDP slate across the city," the decision to run only one aldermanic candidate in a two-seat race was so ob- vious and important a recognition of an additional progressive candidate in the field that it is surprising that TBP overlooked this ingredient in Ward Six politics.
Mayor Sewell, the other progressive candidate the NDP allegedly failed, publicly spoke out against party politics at the Metro level, even while many members of the Metro NDP were work- ing on his campaign. Although Sewell was not a member of the party, many individuals who were members chose to assist him because of the importance of the mayor's position and their own regard for Sewell himself.
Another disturbing point in the paper's analysis was the suggestion that "something" seemed to be boosting Dan Heap's strength and that it "appears to have been homophobic votes on both the Left and the Right." To judge the attitudes of the voting public according to ballots, even based on a 72% sample, is a risky proposition. To judge a cam- paign and the constituencies to which it appeals is less difficult. The Ward Six NDP presented a balanced campaign of civic and educational issues of concern to downtown working people with no attempt whatsoever to garner support from the bigoted or the unprogressive. The W6NDP sponsored a workshop to sensitize other Metro NDP campaigns to gay issues in the city and to explain the Metro NDP gay rights platform. Both campaigns made use of neighbourhood letters, messages aimed at voters in par- ticular apartment buildings or threat- ened residential areas. Unlike the Hislop campaign, the W6NDP avoided separate literature highlighting gay rights for cir- culation primarily within the gay com- munity, such as that distributed by the Association of Gay Electors. Our liter- ature, which dealt with sexual orienta- tion more than the general W6CO mater- ial, was designed for canvassers to dis- cuss with voters on as many doorsteps as possible. The campaign brought together hundreds of people in a well- organized three-candidate team, spear- headed by a canvassing effort which, particularly on the east side of the ward and in Chinatown, succeeded in main- taining and increasing the support Heap has enjoyed since 1972.
The NDP is taken to task for the absence of an analysis of other cam- paigns in the ward. TBP says that we did not deem it important to "make any distinctions between the other serious candidates," and that we chose instead, in our final piece, to stress Metro issues. The Metro NDP, like the W6CO, was working for the election of its own can- didates. To suggest that a political party like the NDP has a responsibility to ex- plain or promote the platform of other organizations is naive.
Clearly, the Metro NDP is going to continue to play a major role in the political life of this city. The next muni- cipal election will show an even larger number of NDP candidates and maybe even some up-front Liberals or Conser- vatives. We hope that the progressive forces in Toronto, both partisan and nonpartisan, will be able to reconcile their differences and work against the Right, not against each other
loin Suddon and Paul Leonard are numbers oj the NDP who campaignad lor thai party's candidates m the Nov ember municipal election in Toronto,
*>0nm
Paul Aboud does.
When he 's not busy keeping an alleged common bawdy house, Paul helps out in TBPs office. He can keep the postage meter whirring away for hours. That's the sound of our postage bill going up — up to more than $13,000 last year to cover subscriptions, bulk mailings and editorial correspondence. A $20 donation can keep Paul working for four hours.
I'd like to get into the picture.
Here's my contribution to help keep TBP going: B$10 U$25 D$50 B$_
My name is:. Myaddress:
City_
Code
Mail this form with your donation to The Body Politic, Box 7289. Station A, Toronto ON M5W 1X9. We 'II all be grateful, and we 'II even send you a note to say so. (And it you 'd really like to get into the picture, feel free to send along a snapshot!)
And so do you.
MARCH 1981
Fay, Norman and Paul contribute their time to keep The Body Politic going, but they couldn t do it without the money it takes to turn their work into 10.000 copies of TBP ten times a year. Subscriptions, sales and advertising provide most of that money, but we need help from you to make up the difference. Get into the picture. Send your contribution today.
THE BODY POLITIC/7
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No apologies
FREEDOM RALLY
The time: 7:30 PM
The date: FRIDAY, MARCH 6
The place: ST LAWRENCE MARKET NORTH (corner Jarvis & Front, Toronto)
The message: STOP DISCRIMINATION
AGAINST LESBIANS AND GAY MEN
• NO MORE POLICE PERSECUTION
• AMEND THE HUMAN RIGHTS CODE Speakers and entertainment to be announced.
Sponsored by: THE COALITION FOR GAY
RIGHTS IN ONTARIO Donation: $2 AT THE DOOR
GSD
Gays fight back. And we will make no apologies to anyone for that.
Thursday, February 5, more than 150 Toronto police raided every major gay bath in this city. They arrested 286 gay men — nearly all on the charge of simply being "found-in" in a "common bawdy house." The men were humiliated and insulted; they were subjected to fascist taunts such as "Too bad these showers weren't hook- ed up to gas." Some were beaten. In addition, police took sledgehammers and crowbars to break down doors, smash glass and mirrors, and destroy equipment. They did damage estimated at $35,000.
Midnight the next day, 3,000 of us — gay men, lesbians and sympathizers — gathered in protest. We took to the streets, and we marched on the 52 Division of the Toronto police and on the legislature at Queen's Park.
Yes, we damaged police cars blockading Yonge Street to stop our march. Yes, "queerbashers" who started fights with demonstrators had to be rescued by the police. Yes, we screamed "fascists" at the very police who had invaded the baths the night before like a bunch of stormtroopers. Yes, Toronto saw its most militant protest of the last decade. And no, we don't intend to apologize.
We have our own message. It is time for the bigots in Toronto — in uniform and otherwise — to understand that gay men and lesbians will fight back every way we know how. They can no longer expect to harass and intimidate us with impunity. They can no longer attack us and escape unscathed. We will fight back, but we won't be alone. Many outside of our community who support human rights — other minorities, feminists and progressives — have chosen to stand by our side.
Together we demand the immediate dropping of all charges against the men ar- rested February 5, as well as restitution for all damage incurred during the raid.
We call for the immediate sacking of Police Chief Jack Ackroyd, who authorized the attack, as well as the firing of the head of the Intelligence Bureau, who directed and organized the raids.
We further demand the resignation of police commission chairman Phil Givens and all the members of the commission. The way must be made clear for new leadership which will be responsive to all of this city's citizens.
We demand the immediate resignation of Ontario's Attorney General, Roy McMurtry, who has refused to begin an independent public inquiry into the raids.
The man has shown no interest in justice; he must resign.
The cry that went up spontaneously from thousands of gay people February 6 must echo in his office — but more importantly, it must define our own resolution:
No more raids, no more shit.
Gays, fight backID
No votes
No matter who wins the March 19 Ontario election, the government will get in. And it will be a government unsympathetic to the rights of lesbians and gay men.
The Conservatives, who have dominated the legislature for 37 years, recently in- troduced sweeping amendments to the provincial Human Rights Code — changes which did not include protection for the human rights of gay people.
Now Ontario's Attorney General has ignored both public outrage and strong evidence of police crimes to rule out the possibility of an independent probe of the steambath raids.
The Liberals and the New Democrats have wooed gay votes in the past with promises of human rights protection. But they left no doubt about their real com- mitments when they refused to move a sexual orientation amendment to the Code.
If you are an Ontario voter, demonstrate your dissatisfaction as strongly as possi- ble. Here are some ways:
•Redirect money you might otherwise have given to a political party to groups like Toronto's Right to Privacy Committee, to aid in the defence of keepers and found-ins charged in the raids, or to the Coalition for Gay Rights in Ontario, the organization that has helped make gay rights an issue in this campaign.
•Refuse to work for any party or candidate — unless that candidate will publicly dissociate him or herself from party policy and caucus discipline. And if you withdraw your labour, make sure your candidate knows why.
•Attend all-candidates' meetings and raise embarrassing questions about the human rights betrayal and the Toronto raids.
•Pay particular attention to the riding of Ottawa Centre. The seat is held by NDP leader Michael Cassidy, who sold out to political expediency when time came to make good his promised support. He now claims that "educational work" is necessary to make gay rights "acceptable." He won by a slim margin in 1977. Defeat might show him how unacceptable his behaviour is.
•Spoil your ballot in the polling booth. A deliberately spoiled ballot would show that no candidate is worthy of support and would register anger evident at least to the scrutineers for each party. Be ingenious: think of a slogan or find a sticker to put on the ballot to explain why it was spoiled.
In the Toronto riding of St George, a protest vote may be lodged by voting for George Hislop. Nobody can pretend Hislop will win, and we hope that money, time and energy needed to respond to the police attacks is not diverted to his campaign. However, his candidacy will help to keep our concerns before the public in the com- ing weeks, and it can serve as a useful focus for community protest.
We have hesitated in the past to recommend exclusive reliance on the electoral process as a vehicle to achieve our liberation as lesbians and gay men. The events of recent months have amply justified our skepticism. D
8/THE BODY POLITIC
MARCH 1981
TheNews
On the night of February 5, the police raided 4 gay baths, rounded up 286 men
and slapped them with bawdy-house charges. Twenty-four hours later,
3 000 angry people had a few things to say about that. A report by Gerald Hannon.
TAKING IT
TOTH
It was the night Toronto came closer to a full-scale riot than it has in the last ten years. It was the night when three thousand people came within minutes of breaking down the doors of the Ontario legislature. It was the night the main street of Canada's largest city belonged to us, and nobody — not even the police — seemed to be able to do anything about it.
It was midnight, February 6 — just 24 hours after the largest mass arrest since the 1970 invocation of the War Measures Act.
It was midnight, February 6 — just 24 hours after what George Hislop has call- ed the gay equivalent of "Crystal Night in Nazi Germany — when the Jews found out where they were really at." At approximately 1 1 pm on Thurs- day, February 5, 150 police officers coordinated by police intelligence descended on four Toronto steambaths, arresting 266 men as found-ins in a common bawdy house, and 20 men as keepers. In law, a common bawdy house can be anyplace "resorted to for the purposes of prostitution or the prac- tice of acts of indecency" — and cops have been using the vaguely worded statute to arrest gay men in bars, baths and private homes. But this was a premeditated attack of such violence
and scope that as we go to press one week later the community is still seething with anger.
The anger paid off early. By noon on Friday, a hastily arranged meeting at The Body Politic's office brought to- gether representatives from the Coali- tion for Gay Rights in Ontario, the Right to Privacy Committee, the Metro- politan Community Church — and some people who just turned up because they wanted to do something. By 4 pm the organization was in place — there was a sound truck, marshals were recruited from graduates of the gay self- defence course and 4,000 leaflets were ready for distribution.
"Enough is Enough," they said. "Protest. Yongeand Wellesley. Mid- night tonight."
Yonge and Wellesley is an intersection at the heart of what has come to be known as Toronto's gay ghetto. It is also one of the busiest intersections downtown. By midnight there were probably 300 people there, blowing whistles, brandishing homemade signs, chanting "No more raids!" and "Stop the cops!" Half an hour later that number had swollen to 1,500, and with the first illegal step into the intersection the street was ours. The police, under- manned and apparently unprepared,
could do little but re-route traffic.
Civil disobedience was in the air, peo- ple were drunk on the prospect of it, on the prospect of power over turf we've liked to say belongs to us, but realize is really ours only grudgingly, and on loan.
Civil disobedience was in the air, and speaker Brent Hawkes of the MCC said this was the time for it, this was the night when, legal or not, we'd take over the streets. TBP's Chris Bearchell hit the crowd with the slogan that would be taken up over and over again: "No more shit! No more shit!" Writer Burke Campbell was in the crowd that night. His notes:
"The bars empty into the streets. Thousands of well-dressed faggots have had enough. 'Stop the cops! Stop the cops!' The chants continue, build, and go on and on and on. A lot of us have whistles and the piercing screams travel like sound bullets through the cold night air. Faces. I recognize so many. A crowd of friends. 'We should do this all the time,' says one beautiful woman. I laugh. We're in control of the city. The police can't do anything..."
CGRO coordinator Jim Monk says it: we're going to march. South. Into the
Continued on page 12
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BODY POLITIC/9
Although the Friday night march down Yonge Street was the most dramatic example of community solidarity with the 286 men charged in the raids, subsequent events seem to indicate a developing and impressive coalition of both gays and straights shocked by the abuse of police power.
However, the many individuals and organizations demanding an inquiry in- to the raids are so far being disregarded by officials.
Attorney General Roy McMurtry's response to a Canadian Civil Liberties Association request for an independent inquiry was made public during a heated and acrimonious police commis- sion meeting February 12. The answer, coming at the end of a seven-page letter full of outright lies, was no. Since one speaker after another had called for such an independent inquiry, there were shocked cries of "Shame! Shame!" and "Resign!" after the announcement was made.
Writing that he was not "satisfied that there has been an accurate report- ing of these events by the media," McMurtry went on to say that "at one of the four premises in question one police officer took a hammer into the place with him but it was not used. At another establishment one crowbar was taken and was used to open three lockers. This is the total evidence available with respect to crowbars and hammers."
Since the raids, there have been several media visits to the baths, all of whom have recorded extensive damage, estimated by the owners at about $35,000.
McMurtry also claimed there was only one report of police using abusive language, and "no evidence of anyone being injured" — though as the CCLA's Alan Borovoy said, "It is easy to understand why no one would complain when the only body they have to com- plain to is the police themselves."
The afternoon police commission meeting attracted more than 100 people — although almost all of them were forced to stand outside in freezing weather for all but the last half hour or
"One hammer, one crowbar... No police harassment." Amidst calls for an inquiry, McMurtry and the Police Commission stonewall
so. Only the press, official delegations and a few early-birds were allowed in- side — and the police reneged on a pro- mise to allow everyone else access to the first-floor cafeteria.
Inside, speaker after speaker demand- ed an independent inquiry. There was a delegation led by Alderman Gordon Cressy, representing a majority of city council, there was journalist June Callwood, retiring MLA Margaret Campbell, St George Liberal hopeful Bruce McLeod, St George NDP can- didate Dan Leckie, the CCLA's Alan Borovoy, Allan Strader and Mary Eberts, Jack Layton from the Working Group on Minority-Police Relations, a representative from several downtown United Churches, and several gay speakers.
Outside, protesters faced a wall of police security that included a mounted detachment on the ready in a nearby side street. Demonstrators chanted "Sack Jack, Dump Phil" — referring to Police Chief Jack Ackroyd and Police Commission Chairman Phil Givens. One man, finally succumbing to an impulse everyone was feelinjL,__ grabbed a brick — but cops had him under arrest before he could throw it.
The noise from the protest carried up into the second floor meeting room
where Givens, Ackroyd and several police commissioners heard MCC's Brent Hawkes say, "Get out of our clubs, get out of our baths, get out of our homes and back to fighting crime. Stop killing my city."
They heard Jack Layton call for the firing of Ackroyd and the head of the Intelligence Bureau, and the resignation of the entire police commission.
They heard George Hislop talk about the suicide of a 20-year-old found-in of last year's Hot Tub Club raids. "May his death be on your consciences," he told them.
During many of the presentations, Commissioner Winfield McKay smirked, or conspicuously yawned. Other commissioners talked among themselves, or stared impassively as Brent Hawkes referred them to a Toron- to Star story that day revealing that the police operating budget for 1981 is re- questing a total of $7.5 million for the intelligence and morality bureaus together, while asking for a scant $1 million for homicide investigation.
There are at least eight unsolved murders of gay men in Toronto.
The meeting finally dissolved in hoots and jeers as Givens told the crowd, "We deny any allegations of police harass- ment," and said there was no need for an inquiry and there would be no in- quiry.
Despite the commission's dogged in- transigence, there was no doubt gay people found heartening the wide range of support they were hearing. It had begun in earnest two days earlier when more than 1 ,000 people packed the auditorium of Jarvis Collegiate. Though most of them were gay, they were hear- ing echoes of their own outrage from straight supporters like Fran Endicott, a black Toronto school board trustee who spoke eloquently of the need for links with all minorities. They heard Menno Vorster, President of the Toronto Teachers' Federation, remind them that the Toronto Board had sexual orienta- tion protection on the books, "and now's the time to do something about it. It's none of anyone's business what happens outside the classroom."
It was a foot-stomping, turbulent,
militant crowd that bounced a Sun reporter out of the meeting, called for another, larger demonstration, and ar- ranged for subcommittees to co- ordinate everything from fund-raising to counselling of found-ins.
Support had also surfaced that morn- ing when about 25 city aldermen, writers, and civil libertarians were brought together by Alderman Gordon Cressy to demand "some speedy ex- planations," and to extend "their deepest concern" to the men affected.
"Please be assured," the statement read, "that there are many in Toronto, among whom we are but a few, who will stand behind you."
Among the endorsers of the state- ment of concern were writers Margaret Atwood and June Callwood, retiring St George MLA Margaret Campbell, Robert Fulford of Saturday Night, lawyer Morris Manning, former NDP leader Stephen Lewis, Clifford Elliot of Bloor Street United Church, and ten city aldermen.
Notable no-shows so far on the sup- port list: Toronto mayor Art Eggleton, the members of Metro Council except for Scarborough Mayor Gus Harris and Alderman Gordon Cressy, and the leaders of the three major provincial parties.
The Globe and Mail editorialized on the issue, calling the police action "ug- ly," and saying it was "more like the bully-boy tactics of a Latin American republic ... than of anything that has a place in Canada."
Support even had its surreal side. Ken Campbell of the vehemently anti-gay Renaissance International denounced the raid — though he clarified his stand in a letter to the Globe February 12 which ended "God bless 'the boys in blue' and God have mercy on ... that 'bath-house crowd.'"
CHUM news director Dick Smyth traded in his long-time pro-cop stance for a stinging indictment of police "ham-handed brutality and Iunk- headed vandalism." Smyth called them "pigs" on the air, and charged them with crezting "a polarization that will be a problem in Toronto for years to come."D
Challenge: Outside, protestors jeer cops; in- side, CCLA 's Alan Borovoy demands inquiry.
10/THE BODY POLITIC
MARCH 1981
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If ■■ bom 11 o'clock these two | ■■ guys came to the door unci m ■ asked for a room and a ■H locker. They paid, and 1 m ■ gave //7em //?e/> change, and since we were full I gave locker 25 to the guy wanting the room and put him on the waiting list, and I went on to the next customer.
"A few minutes later both guys came right into the kitchen and asked for their money back. I suspected a robbery and called for Tony, the supervisor, and then they grabbed me and told me to stay where I was. When Tony came in they grabbed him too and he shouted out to call the police. I looked out the window and saw all these men pouring in through the door and some of them were in uniform, and I said 7 don 7 think that 'II be necessary. ' ' '
Cashier at the Richmond Street Health Emporium, recalling the events of February 5.
' 7 was in a room with someone and I heard a noise. I got up to open the door but it burst open and a guy in plain clothes pushed in and shoved me up against the wall, my face pushed hard into the wall. My nose was lacerated and bloodied. The cop kept punching me in the lower back and pulling my hair and saying ' You 're disgusting, fag- got. Look at this dirty place. '
' 7 was choked, and something was jabbed into my neck. Before they took us out of the room, they used a pen to gouge the room number into the backs of our hands.
"I was naked. They herded me into the shower room with about 8 other men and we had to stand against the wall with both hands up against the wall. 1 couldn 7 see anything but I could hear a guy choking, and then a cop said, 'If you 're having trouble breathing we can give you trouble with your spleen or kidneys. '
"I could hear them moving around, kicking things, overturning things. Someone said 'Too bad the place doesn 7 catch fire, we 'd have to catch them escaping custody. ' Somebody else said, 'Too bad the showers aren 7 hook- ed up to gas. '
' 7 was finally called to face a guy sit- ting in the locker room. I was still nude. He looked at the blood on my face and said 'Get that man washed up. ' After I showered, he said 'Add obstruct police and assault police to that guy. ' They did that. But he never identified himself as a cop. I was never told I was under arrest. "
Testimony of one found-in at the Bar- racks, describing the February 5 raid.
It was, of course, also happening at The Club and The Roman. Four of Toronto's five gay baths were pillaged in about three hours — the climax, ac- cording to police, of six months of in- vestigations which led them to conclude that "acts of prostitution and indecent acts" had taken place.
It was a pillage. The damage to the premises is now estimated at $35,000. Photographs taken within hours of the raids vividly corroborate the testimony of men who say plainclothes cops iden- tified only by red dots somewhere on their clothing used hammers, crowbars and shears to smash through doors, shatter mirrors, rip apart matrcsscs and wrench the doors off lockers. Cops kicked holes in corridor walls.
It was a pillage authorized from the top. Police Chief Jack Ackroyd says he- approved both the investigation and the raids — and in one swift stroke des- troyed whatever credibility he had as the "liberal friend to minorities" chosen to replace former chief Adamson. As well.
Attorney General Roy McMurtry: ' 'One police of- ficer took a hammer into the place with him but it was not used. At another establish- ment, one crowbar was taken and was used to open three lockers. This is the total evidence ...."
the rumour is now afoot that approval for the raids came finally from Attorney General Roy McMurtry himself.
Whatever the level of authorization, the cops seemed to feel they were operating with a virtual carte blanche. Verbal harassment was common — men were called faggots, vaseline jokes were made, a couple of officers joked about being sure they'd find a teacher and when they did they'd spread the word around. Robert Trow, a news staffer at this paper and a paramedic with Hassle Free Clinic, was arrested and charged at the Richmond Street Baths even though he was on duty as a Hassle Free em- ployee giving free VD checks to anyone who wanted them. He has since been in- formed that the city's health department will require the alleged keepers to undergo compulsory VD checks, and that Hassle Free should prepare itself for a few days of increased business. As well, the found-ins will be served with notices recommending VD tests, but they are not compulsory. "The caller was a little nonplussed," he reports, "when I told her I'd be among the peo- ple getting a notice to have a test."
Another disturbing allegation comes from employees at both The Club and
The Richmond. They say that though the police claimed to have search war- rants with them — in neither case were they shown when requested. As well, at the Richmond, the cops began answer- ing phone calls after the raid, telling callers things like, "Michael's tied up right now. Want to come down and see his rope burns?", or "Larry's around the corner with a rat in his mouth."
There are also allegations that some of the police investigation that preceded the raid consisted of illegal police tampering with mail. Peter Maloney, an executive member of the Coalition for Gay Rights in Ontario and a vocal police critic, says he was tipped off by a post-office employee that mail address- ed to him and three gay baths was being intercepted and routed to the employee's supervisor. Since the tip-off, Maloney says, mail addressed to him has arrived pre-opened, and some of his mail has ended up at The Club Bath's business office.
Maloney complained to federal Solic- itor General Robert Kaplan, who has since said that neither the RCMP nor any federal government agency is ex- amining Maloney's mail — but admit- ted that his office did not look into the
activities of any other police force. It would presumably be the Toronto police who are intercepting Maloney's mail.
It is possible the police were after mail that would provide links between baths here and in the United States — the original police press release makes reference to "club records showing an association to persons in the USA."
Police have been eager to discover a link to organized crime in the States — though so far they've had to admit only that they've found evidence linking "these clubs to international clubs that are in the States." Presumably a link to "organized crime" would provide a reason scary enough to justify the massive scope of the raids.
It is no secret, however, that The Club Toronto is part of The Club Bath Chain. The American enterprise has headquarters in Miami, and baths in most major American cities, as well as Toronto, London and Vancouver. As one local activist put it, "It's like 'discovering' that Colonel Sanders restaurants have 'connections' in the US. The whole thing looks like a des- perate ploy to justify something that can't be justified."
Deja vu: The Truxx raid, Montreal 1977
The raids of February 5 and the ensuing massive and turbulent protest by Toron- to gays do not mark the first time that a quasi-terroristic attack by police on gay establishments has sent thousands of angry gays into city streets in an illegal demonstration.
In the early hours of Saturday, Oc- tober 22, 1977, more than 50 police, clad in riot gear and armed with ma- chine guns, burst into Truxx and Le Mystique, two gay men's bars in Mon- treal. On that occasion 146 men were ar- rested and charged with being found-ins in a common bawdy house. The victims were held in crowded police cells for hours without bail and were forced to submit to VD tests. News of the raids ripped through the gay community the following day and, in the space of about six hours, the Association pour les droits dc la commurnuitc gaic tin (.)uchec (Quebec m community rightt association) blanketed the ban and
baths with leaflets and organized a pro- test for that evening.
By midnight, 2,000 gays had flooded into the intersection of Stanley and Ste- Catherine streets. They fought with police who were attacking the crowd to re-open the street. The mass demonstra- tion was not cleared away for about three hours. Four men were arrested.
As in Toronto, the raids and the angry response of the gay community precipitated a public furor. Civil rights organizations and the media denounced the heavy-handed police tactics and ac- cused the Montreal police of discrim- inatory behaviour towards the city's gay population.
A defence committee was quickly set up and a public meeting to discuss the strategy ol defence drew XX) people \n but one of the 1 46 accused pleaded not guilty.
Incredibly, the accused round ini have yel to have then du m court, I he
owner of Truxx, who was charged with being the keeper of a common bawd> house, was found guilty last April 2. However, the judge who presided over the trial conducted himself in such a prejudicial fashion, and produced a judgment so lacking in any explanation of why a gay bar should be considered to be a common bawdy house within the meaning of the la* . that the coin iction has been appealed to the Quebec Court of Appeals.
It is by no means certain that the ac- cused found-ins in the Truw case will be convicted. In a similar case, arising out of a police raid on Sauna David earlier this year in Montreal, a number of pai ions have been acquitted of charges of gross indecenc]
But community interest in the Truw case lell off steeph after the first head) weeks I Ins seems to he attributable to the succession of raids which followed, numbing people to the shock o\ such in- vasions, and to the protracted period between the raid and the trial of the l uiw owner: two and ■ halt years.
MARCH 1981
THE BODY POLITIC/11
1
I
GYM & SAUNA
TORONTO MONDAY, LOCKER $2
TUESDAY, ROOM $4 LOCKER $2
3:30 — 1 1 :30
12'/2 Elm St.flonewoyl West of Yonge 2 blocks south of Gerrard (416) 977* 5997
Phalanx of blue on the steps at Queen 's Park (with two missing their badges): Deputy Chief Marks investi- gated complaints that cops removed all their ID; he says none did. The investigation lasted one day.
continued from page 9
heart of the city, and towards police 52 Division — the concrete and glass for- tress that only hours before held hun- dreds of frightened and angry men.
South. It was a change in plans. Rally organizers had intended to head for police headquarters at 590 Jarvis, but the mood of the crowd was inexorably South, where Toronto could see us.
The scene is surreal. Yonge Street, usually a river of bumper-to-bumper traffic, is an empty canyon echoing to the shouts, screams and whistles of an advancing crowd the full width of the street. The occasional car the police haven't stopped somehow makes it onto the street, stops, can't turn around, gets swallowed up. A man jumps up onto the roof of one of them and does a disco turn before leaping back into the crowd.
The first signs of trouble come just north of Dundas Street.
Cop cars are parked in the middle of the street, angled to form a kind of bar- ricade. It doesn't work. A few sharp blows and a windshield cracks. Two men stand and piss on one of the cars. Suddenly there is a scuffle beside Cinema 2000 — it's unclear what hap- pened but it seems a straight man has attacked one of the marchers. A cop tries to intervene and all hell breaks loose — the crowd apparently thinks the cop is the attacker and surges at him, fists flying. Three other cops try to force themselves through the crowd but simply end up being trapped with the first one, pinned against a store wall, hopelessly outnumbered but fighting back, and it looks like the first blood of the evening will flow here — until enough marshals force their way in and break it up.
The atmosphere gets uglier — by this time the march has attracted a peri- pheral crowd of 20 to 30 straight men. As the crowd surges towards 52 Division chanting "Fuck you, 52! Fuck you, 52!"; they counter with "Fuck the queers! Fuck the queers!" In a final desperate and quixotic gesture they link arms and try to block University Avenue. By that time it's 30 against 3,000 and it's no contest — a short scuffle, and they scatter.
We reach 52. The stabbing lights of the TV cameras pick out an astonishing sight — cops, 195 of them, standing shoulder to shoulder completely sur- rounding the front of the building. Our line surges up and slaps against theirs but theirs doesn't break — even when the crowd gives them the Nazi salute, even when the crowd spits in their faces.
There is one target left and someone has only to suggest it. The name comes booming out over the sound system: Queen's Park.
The Ontario legislature is a scant 10 minutes away, and the focus of a par- ticular hatred in the last six weeks since all three political parties backed away
from an opportunity to legislate human rights for gay people.
The crowd seethes up University Avenue, and the front line of marshals is having more and more difficulty try- ing to contain it. They link arms, stret- ching themselves across the front, but as the thousands of marchers take their first step onto the vast expanse of lawn that sweeps up to the legislature, the front line crumbles and nothing can hold people back. They run, hundreds of black figures against the snow, heading straight for the massive oak doors of our legislative assembly.
They get there before the cops do and for a few thrilling minutes dozens of bodies throw themselves repeatedly against the doors, and even people half- way back in the crowd report seeing the doors vibrating in the probing light of the television cameras, and hearing the hollow booming of bodies thudding against the barriers.
But that sound is the signal for the cops to come down with a viciousness they'd kept in check till then. A wedge of some 20 officers forces its way through the crowd, and punching, kick- ing and shoving they beat the crowd back. One man's face is bloodied. Another man is shouting that his sister has been hit over and over again by a cop. But somehow the clash has left both sides stunned, and organizers take the opportunity to encourage people to leave — in groups, for their own safety.
Although numbers are dwindling rapidly, there are still enough people together at Yonge Street to tie up traf- fic. But the ugliest scenes of the night are reserved for Yonge and Bloor — by that time, cops and straight thugs far outnumber what few marchers are left. The straights are shouting insults, and I watch as half a dozen cops completely surround a man, drag him to the ground and begin kicking and punch- ing. A TBP photographer who tries to photograph the scene is hauled to the ground by his hair, his flash attachment smashed, his glasses broken. He is later charged with breach of the peace. It turns out the man being beaten was one of the found-ins.
It was about 2:30 am, Saturday, February 7. Eleven people had been ar- rested during the preceding two and a half hours — 2 for assaulting a police officer, 1 for damage to public proper- ty, 1 on a drug charge and 7 with breach of the peace. One policeman was slight- ly injured. At least one cop car had its windshield cracked and its headlights kicked in. A streetcar had four of its windows smashed. But most of the damage was on the other side.
Complaints about police brutality will probably go nowhere, however, largely because most cops rendered themselves unidentifiable by removing their badges and flash numbers. Although photo- graphs of the events show officers with continued on page 16
12/THE BODY POLITIC
MARCH 1981
Advice group on race to consider gay rep
TORONTO — Mayor Art Eggleton has set up a committee to deal with commu- nity and race relations in the city, and a special consultant hired to advise the committee said that it will consider ap- pointing a representative of the gay and lesbian communities later in the year.
Toronto City Council approved the formation of the committee January 29, fulfilling one of Eggleton's campaign promises from last November's munici- pal election. The committee is com- posed of 13 members, many of them drawn from Toronto's black, native people and East Indian communities. Eggleton has also selected a 15-member resource group which includes Police Chief Jack Ackroyd, Metro Police Association President Paul Walter and a member of the Metro Toronto Police Commission.
The focus of the committee at its first stage will be race relations and the prob- lems of the visible minorities. Special advisor Dr Dan Hill, former chairman of the Ontario Human Rights Commis- sion and now a $700-a-day professional race consultant, said that the committee will start by finding out how many members of visible minorities are em- ployed by the city of Toronto itself. "Charity begins at home," he said.
Later in the year, the committee will add more members to deal with prob- lems of "ethno-cultural and other community groups." Asked if a repre- sentative of the gay and lesbian commu- nities would be appointed at that time, Hill said, "That's certainly one of the groups being considered."
The terms of reference of the new committee allows it not only to "active-
ly further the letter and spirit" of cur- rent federal and provincial human rights legislation but also, at the suggestion of Ward 7 alderman Gordon Cressy, to work to "strengthen" such legislation.
Ed Jackson □
Protect gays, white paper urges
VANCOUVER — The BC Human Rights Commission has proposed sweeping reforms to the provincial Human Rights Code, including a spe- cific provision banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The "white paper" proposals also in- clude protection against discrimination based on physical handicap, a provision prohibiting mandatory retirement at age 65, and explicit protection against sex- ual harassment on the job. At present, the code offers limited protection to gays and the disabled under a general prohibition of "discrimination without reasonable cause."
Vince Manis, Vice-President of the Society for Political Action for Gay People (SPAG), was pleased with the motion, and said SPAG will lobby the Ministry of Labour to have the propo- sals brought before the legislature. Even if changes are made in the code, how- ever, local activists do not expect sexual orientation to be included, given the Social Credit government's firm opposi- tion to gay rights.
Robert Trow □
TBP back in court
The Body Politic will appear before the Ontario Court of Appeal March 4. At issue is whether the paper should be sent back to court for a second trial on the same charge. □
Teacher is turfed from collegiate for putting gay pupil out of class
WINNIPEG — A University of Winni- peg collegiate instructor who asked a gay student to leave his class because he "didn't want a homosexual in the room" was released from his teaching contract in early February.
On January 14, David Dueck, a colle- giate Mathematics and Film Studies in- structor, asked student Greg Synenko to leave the film studies class in order to
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UNIVERSITY
Greg Synenko: asked to leave for being gay
"protect" a guest lecturer.
"I feel that if Greg Synenko, who is gay, sat beside the lecturer, the class might think that the lecturer was also a homosexual," Dueck said. "I didn't think it would be fair to the lecturer."
Collegiate dean John Vanderstoel de- scribed Dueck's actions as "a shock, contrary to the entire philosophy of the school." Vanderstoel told TBP he con- sidered the incident "a grave error on the part of the instructor," and added, "We are taking a strong position on it."
Dueck asked to be released from his contract following a meeting between Vanderstoel and other faculty members.
The incident was widely publicized in Canadian campus newspapers after a report in the University of Winnipeg newspaper was picked up by Canadian University Press (CUP).
Dueck, a staunch Mennonite, refused to speak to TBP, but told CUP he is not against homosexuals. He said he feels "sorry for them because I know they are not going to be as happy and satisfied as I am." He added, however, "I do think they encourage other people to take the gay habit."
Ironically, the guest lecturer, film- maker David Demchuck, is openly gay himself, and had been invited by Synenko to speak to the class.
Synenko is head of the University of Winnipeg Gay Students' Association, and is openly gay in his school. The col- legiate, a private high school of grades 1 1 and 12 students, is part of the University of Winnipeg.
Synenko reported that reaction from staff and other students has been positive. The collegiate student council offered him its full support.
After the incident, Synenko quipped, "I'd like to ask Dueck how happy he is now!"
Robert Trow
Mother's plea to school board reopens debate on ban on bias
TORONTO — An angry mother has ac- cused the city's board of education of "giving the homosexuals everything they wanted," and will withdraw her two children from school unless board anti-discrimination policy is reversed.
Lynne Lake made an emotional plea to the school programs committee January 26. She demanded that trustees rescind a motion passed last September 18 which prohibits "bias on the basis of sex or sexual orientation," and which specifically permits "discussion of homosexuality" in schools. The motion also called for a "report on whether there is e\ idencc of discrimination and prejudice against homosexuals in the s\stem" as a prelude to further delib- erations over establishing ongoing liaison with Toronto's gay men and les- bians. Only lour ol twenty-three trustees voted against the motion at the time.
One of its chief opponents was Ward I trustee Alex ( humak. There has been a municipal election since September, but (humak is hack championing the bigotry of some voters. In response to 1 ake's lineal, he moved that the non- discrimination policy be abandoned.
During a vigorous nmets minute
debate, hoard member Dong I ittlc
(Ward 1 1 threatened to sue Mrs l .ike tor
slandering the New Democratic Party, lua lanuais letter to board chairperson Irene Atkinson, she had accused the NDP ol "exploitin iy) issue."
I he letter suggested that i* . i \ activist lohn Argue, Metro Ibroato NDP chaii person, used political pressure to twins
the vote. Argue had been working for nearly two years to persuade the board of the need for formal liaison with les- bian and gay groups.
Ward 3 trustee Tony Silipo replied to Lake's charge by pointing out that at least nine of the nineteen trustees who supported the September 18 motion had
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Former board chairperson Fiona Nelson told the January 26 meeting that the board "does not condone homosex- uality in any way." This view was echoed by trustee Little. He insisted that "homosexuality is not an equal and valid lifestyle." But both he and Nelson agreed that the policy should stand.
Chumak finally agreed to withdraw his motion and raise the matter again at a special meeting of the full board February 23 at 6:30 pm. Meanwhile, the board's solicitor will be asked to inter- pret "sexual orientation," a term Chumak says he doesn't understand.
Several progressive trustees are plan- ning to invite a well-known civil liber- tarian, a theologian and a psychiatrist to address the February 23 meeting of the full board. They hope to counteract the anticipated resurgence of homophobic reaction.
Four recently elected trustees revealed considerable opposition to gay rights during the January 26 meeting. They were Nola Crewe (Ward 8), David Moll and Tom Jakobek (both from Ward s») and David Stevenson (Separate School representative from Area 2).
Roger Spalding
Battle ol the mailslots: anti-gay and pro-gay leaflets in Toronto
,0110
Lynne Lake: gays ' 'got what they wanted' no ndp affiliation.
( humak warned his colleagues that failure to compl) with I ake's demands "would reopen this whole unfortunate topic again." I le alluded to length) hoard meetings in September when
( hristian fundamentalists harangued trustees toi considering a ga) liaison committee. His remark sparked mur- murs ol "Amen" from several members ol the audience, familial faces from the eai liei controvei
M*N*-M 1;.. give up. Metro gaVs
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Gays closed out: Charter of Rights
OTTAWA — After being subjected to months of intensive lobbying, the federal government has given in to demands that disabled persons be in- cluded in the proposed Charter of Rights, part of the government's con- stitutional package. But it has steadfast- ly refused to include similar protection for gay people.
The Special Joint House of Com- mons-Senate Committee on the Con- stitution agreed January 28 to include "physical and mental disability" in the section of the Charter which lists the prohibited grounds of discrimination. But the next night the committee defeated, by a vote of 21 to 2, an amendment by NDP justice critic Svend
Robinson to add sexual orientation to that same section.
Voting for the amendment were the two NDP members of the committee, Robinson (MP for Burnaby) and Lome Nystrom (MP for Yorkton-Melville). All the Liberals, Conservatives and senators on the committee voted against it. There was little debate.
In his arguments, Robinson pointed out that the Canadian Human Rights Commission supported the inclusion of sexual orientation, as did other wit- nesses before the committee and many non-gay associations. He singled out the Canadian Teachers' Federation, whose support he termed "significant."
Robinson urged the committee to follow Quebec's example "and recognize that in a civilized society, in today's society, discrimination or unreasonable distinction on the grounds
of sexual orientation should not be tolerated."
In his only contribution to the debate, Justice Minister Jean Chretien, appear- ing as a witness, declined to define the terms "marital status" and "sexual orientation."
"It is because of the problem of the definition of these words," he said, "that we do not think they should be in the constitution... I am not going to venture to tell you what is sexual orien- tation. I am not interested...."
Chretien added that "socially, and in terms of law, it is a very difficult area."
Later Robinson asked Chretien if he would be prepared to consider the inclu- sion of sexual orientation in federal legislation like the Canadian Human Rights Act. Chretien responded, "The door is not closed."
David GarmaiseD
Sun puts heat on Calgary mayor after his appearance at gay ball
CALGARY — Ralph Klein has becomt the First mayor outside Ontario to ap- pear at a gay event and welcome "law- abiding gay people" into the wider com- munity — but his brief appearance at a drag ball January 10 is being used by the Calgary Sun both to discredit him and to vilify the city's gay community.
Klein had attended a dinner spon- sored by the Imperial Court of the Chinook Arch at the invitation of Bruce- May, then president of Gay Informa- tion and Resources Calgary (GIRC). The Court event is an annual affair at which an Emperor and Empress are elected to "rule over" the city's gay population. This year, the ceremonies attracted about 500 people.
Klein, a former television journalist elected last fall as a "people's mayor," made a brief speech, praising the good work GIRC had been doing in the com- munity, and announcing that "law- abiding gay people" were welcome in the city of Calgary. May says Klein got a three-minute standing ovation, and then left immediately for other official duties.
It was a 15-minute appearance at most, and meant to be a private affair. The media had not been invited. Klein had barely exited, however, before someone calling himself Derek Green
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was phoning the Calgary Sun — an un- pleasantly authentic clone of its Toronto parent — with the news that Klein's ap- pearance was a "breakthrough," and that the gay community would give Klein "its complete support."
The Sun's banner headline January 12 read "Klein backs gay rights," and two days later an editorial by associate editor Michael Shapcott entitled "Pink herring" condemned "politicians who slavishly pander to minorities who are trying to legitimize their sordid prac- tices."
As well, Shapcott used his regular column January 16 to roast Klein for "providing encouragement to a group of people that most of us find, at best,, to be morally offensive."
The Sun onslaught seems to have frightened Klein into backpedaling somewhat — he was quoted shortly after as saying gays "should neither ask for, nor expect, any special rights or privileges," and that he didn't "con- done homosexual prostitutes, or draw- ing young people into homosexual ac- tivities." No one in the gay community, of course, had suggested anything of the sort.
However, Rod Love, Klein's execu- tive assistant, told TBP that the mayor had been misquoted by the Sun when it
Klein: 'Mayor of all the people ' '■ reacts to attack by the Calgary Sun.
claimed he said gays should not hold demonstrations, or apply to the city for permits to hold parades. Love said Klein was merely saying gays were politically hot, and that a smarter way of reaching their goals was to keep a low profile. He said that no reference had been made to refusing to issue a parade permit.
That issue arose because both former mayor Ross Alger and the city police re- fused to issue a parade permit to GIRC during last year's national gay con- ference.
Asked if Klein regretted his ap- pearance at the ball, Love said "only in the sense of the reaction from the Sun. It took up a lot of his time. And really, all he said at the dinner was gays are part of society, and as long as he's mayor they have rights.
"Goddamn it, there are a lot of them in Calgary," Love added, "and he (Klein) firmly believes he's mayor of all the people."
Sun associate editor Shapcott told TBP his paper had not endorsed Klein in last fall's mayoralty race, but had given the nod to incumbent Ross Alger, sometimes described as a friend of the same development interests the Sun is thought to endorse. Klein had cam- paigned partly on promises to preserve Calgary neighbourhoods threatened by mindless development.
Love also said the incident stirred so little real public concern that the mayor's office had not received one let- ter either pro or con.
One remaining mystery in the whole affair is the identity of "Derek Green," the man describing himself as a local gay activist who tipped off the Sun to Klein's presence at the ball. It turns out the man is unknown to the Calgary gay community, but TBP research indicates he is probably Paul Green from Win- nipeg, a man Gays For Equality's Chris Vogel describes as a "compulsive liar and publicity hound."
"I'm almost certain it was he," Vogel said. "He's called himself Derek or Devon before."
Although the whole inflated affair has pretty much died down, the magazine Alberta Report claims Klein will not commit himself to appearing at any more gay functions. One inadver- tant appearance may well be in the works, however.
Klein is expected to officiate at ceremonies declaring Calgary's old YMC A building a historical site. The director of the old Y? Gay activist Bruce May, the man who invited Klein to the Court ball. And the old Y's most notor- ious tenant? Gay Information and Resources Calgary.
(ierald Hannon
'Get lost' says owner and shuts lesbian bar
TORONTO — The Fly-By-Night Lounge, the only lesbian bar in this city that was open six days a week, was closed down February 9.
When she tried to open for business that day, says Fly manager Pat Murphy, she was told to "get lost" by Philip Stein, the owner of the Stage 212 Hotel, in which the women's lounge was lo-ca- ted. "He has put us onto the street," says Murphy. "He eliminated five peo- ple's jobs on five minutes' notice."
Stein purchased the Stage 212 at the end of December, agreeing to let the Fly-by-Night continue to operate out of his hotel. But, according to Murphy, Stein insisted on interfering with the management of the bar. Relations deter- iorated further when Murphy learned the manager of the strip discotheque in the hotel had told a waitress at the Fly- By-Night that he "would give her the rape she needs."
Murphy doesn't think the recent bath raids triggered the closing, but she says it was "a product of the same mental- ity." Just after the raids, according to Murphy, Stein stated: "They were run- ning bawdy houses and they got clipped. Big deal."
TBP attempted to contact Stein for his side of the story. However, when he learned that he was talking to a TBP reporter, Stein immediately passed the phone to an assistant who told us: "I don't care what you print, but you'd better be careful."
Stein, who is heterosexual, also owns the Quest, a gay men's bar on Yonge Street. Murphy and other women in the community are organizing a boycott of The Quest which they hope will be sup- ported by gay men as well as lesbians. □
Gay foster parents a last resort: CAS
OTTAWA — This city's Children's Aid Society (CAS) says it will consider placing children with homosexual foster parents — but only as a last resort. Preference will still be given to hetero- sexual parents.
Anyone can apply to become a foster parent, according to CAS director Joe Messner, but he said that the board of directors had decided recently that preference should be given to placing children in a "normalized setting," ie, with couples who have a heterosexual married lifestyle.
The board decided to adopt a policy after receiving an application from a gay person several months ago. Messner refused to comment on the outcome of that case, saying the CAS does not reveal publicly its decisions on applicants.
Gays of Ottawa president Roger Galipeau labelled the policy as "dis- criminatory," and he called upon the CAS to reconsider its position.
David GarmaiseD
OFS votes to back campus gay groups
KINGSTON — The Ontario Federation of Students (OFS) passed a resolution at its January conference here urging students' councils to give moral and financial support to campus gay groups, and urging student leaders to approach MPPs of all three provincial parties to move a gay rights amendment to the Ontario Human Rights Code.i
14/ThE BODY POLITIC
MARCH 1981
The election in St George riding: hopping on the gay bandwagon
With a glaring disparity beween its wealthy north end and pockets of inner- city poverty, St George riding, NDPers like to think, is a microcosm of the pro- vince of Ontario. That should mean it has been a Tory seat continually since 1944. In fact, for the rast eight years, it has been held by a former Tory. Mar- garet Campbell, the MLA for St George at dissolution, was the sole remaining Liberal representing a Metro Toronto riding after the last election in 1975. St George includes a larger portion of Toronto's gay ghetto than any other provincial constituency. With her deci- sion not to seek re-election, revealed February 5, it promises to be a hotly contested riding. And gay politicians have been clamouring to get in on the race. Both the Liberals and the NDP in St George were confronted by openly gay prospective candidates at their nomination meetings.
The Tories have a head start, having chosen their candidate last fall. Susan Fish, a former city alderman, was once assistant to Toronto's "red Tory" mayor, David Crombie. lo 1974, Toron- to adopted a gay rights protection pro- vision for municipal employees; that was Fish's first contact with the issue.
The albatross that she must drag around with her on her quest for the gay vote is PC party leader Bill Davis, whose record on gay rights should be enough to dissuade her from even try- ing. Fish insists she supports the inclu- sion of "sexual orientation" in the Human Rights Code, but admits that means nothing in view of the little in- fluence she will have on the Conser- vative Party or a Conservative govern- ment. I asked her if she would consider submitting a private member's bill for gay rights, as Margaret Campbell had. "That'.s a very real option," she said, "but I want to understand the full im- plications of it before I commit myself to it."
The NDP nomination meeting Feb- ruary 9 was the only real contest in the candidate selection process. It pitted John Argue, who is a member of the St George NDP executive, NDP Metro Chairman and a gay activist, against Dan Leckie, former Toronto School Board Chairman and one-time assistant to former mayor John Sewell. Leckie delivered a fiery speech condemning the recent raid on the baths and criticizing his own party and its leader for flip- flopping on their commitment to gay rights. Argue, the picture of reason, delivered a moderate-sounding presen- tation that integrated gay concerns with the rest of the party platform. A model of the NDPer who happens to be gay, he refrained from direct criticism of the party brass who were supporting his opponent.
The surprise of the evening was pro- duced by MCC pastor Brent Hawkes who, saying that sexual orientation was no more a reason to vote for someone than against him, seconded I cckie's nomination. "I ihink Dan's chances to win the riding arc much better than John's," Hawkes explained. I eckie won 130 to 106.
The next night, February 10, St ( ieOTge Liberals had to choose between Rev Bruce McLcod, former moderator of th«-United Church, and Ontario Human Rights Commissioner, and Petei Maloney, vice-president ol the
►ntO and District I ib«ral Assoi
tion and Co-ordinator of the ( Coalition foi ( la) Rights in Ontario.
McLeod's speech contained a major blunder in reference to gay rights: the claim that the Liberals were the only party on record in support of a gay- rights amendment to human rights legislation (the NDP is on record, for what that's worth; the Liberals are not). McLeod condemned the Conservatives for "dragging their feet by not in- cluding sexual orientation" in the Human Rights Code and called for an investigation into the raids.
"Last Thursday's raids radicalized me," Maloney announced in his speech. "It was the absolutely deafening silence of Stuart Smith and most of his caucus members that has me here tonight." He said his party's record on gay rights "makes me ashamed to be a Liberal." His eloquent plea to help rectify that by making him their candidate fell on deaf ears. After the votes were in, Maloney resigned, saying the Liberals made him choose between his loyalty to them and his homosexuality, and that he was left with no choice but to support an in- dependent gay candidate in the person of George Hislop.
Maloney's entry into the nomination fray was not met with universal ap- proval. Jim Monk, Chairperson of the Coalition for Gay Rights in Ontario, had this to say: "Peter's seeking the Liberal nomination and urging George to run conflict with the spirit of CGRO's election strategy. He never discussed his intentions with the Coali- tion's executive. Whatever his motives, and regardless of the wisdom of this election intervention, I don't think he can remain CGRO's co-ordinator given the contempt he's shown for the con- sensus on which we operate."
Hislop's announcement of his candi- dacy the next day took off with rage over the recent raids. Saying that Attorney General Roy McMurtry had "unleashed the dogs of war" against Metro's gay community, Hislop said, "We've seen what scruffy, mangy, rabid curs some members of the Metro- politan Toronto Police are. And we're going to fight back." He said he deci- ded to run because the NDP and
St George Candidates: (Clockwise) NDP's Dan Leckie, Conservative Susan Fish, and Liberal Bruce McLeod.
Liberals had both failed to field gay candidates.
But he too ran into criticism from gay activists. Tom Warner, a co- Chairperson of Hislop's campaign com- mittee for last November's Toronto civic election, told me: "We worked hard to make clear that George was not just a single-issue candidate — now he's throwing all that away — and with it the chance to be taken seriously as a can- didate ever again. Besides, election cam- paigns are draining. In times like these, we need all the financial and human resources we can muster just to defend the community."
Hislop says he's been seen as a single- issue candidate anyway, and that "if human rights are the issue, that's not a bad thing to be known to stand for. A lot can change in two years (before there'll be another municipal election) in the political chemistry of this city." And right now, with the anger in the community, "we've got enough energy
to make Niagara Falls run backwards." Peter Maloney pointed out that contri- butions to the campaign would be deductible against Ontario taxes, and that, "if we can pull out 15 per cent of the vote, the government will have to contribute between six and eight thou- sand dollars toward our expenses. It's about time gay people got back some of our own." The Hislop campaign will be operating out of the second floor of 9 St Joseph Street (telephone: 968-6553). Chris Bearchell
The issue that won't go away
Much as the Party Leaders would like it to.
Despite repeated denials by the leaders of Ontario's three parliamentary par- ties, there is little doubt that gay rights will be an issue in the election campaign now underway. Just four months ago, the Toronto Star published a list of 12 issues expected to figure in the coming election and the stands of the parties on each one. Gay rights was fourth on the list.
Political commentators have been quick to point out the strange coinci- dence that a massive raid on four Toronto steambaths occurred in the same week that Premier William I )a\ is announced an election for March 19.
In a column published in the Ottawa Citizen Februarj 10, Allen Fother- ingham wrote: "I he police say the raids came after six months ol 'investigation.' Alter six months of planning, it was a mere coincidence that the military-like Operation involving I Ml police came at the start ol an election campaign?"
\n editorial in the Citizen was even more direct "Sudden police action ■ ! n si homosexuals could galvaniie
support for the incumbent Conserva- tives who are trying to wrest Toronto ridings away from New Democrats. Was this the purpose behind the police action? This may sound like pure hypothesis. If the police have a more legitimate reason, they should spell it out."
In December, just before dissolution of the legislature, the greatest debate was over the long-awaited amendment of the Ontario Human Rights Code. Bill 209 included all but one of a review committee's 97 recommendations for change: the one missing was the sugges- tion to add "sexual orientation" to the
Code.
Premier Davis made it cleat a yeai ago thai the ruling minority government of Progressive ( onsei vatives would not
act on that recommendation. But what
really shocked supporters of ga) nehis was the recent abandonment of then
commitment in this direction In the
whole legislative caucus ol the NDP and
hv the mdiv idual sitting members of the I iberal Party who had been supportive
At a human rights seminar sponsored by the Metro Toronto Labour Council in January, a disapproving audience heard NDP leader Michael Cassidy con- firm earlier reports that gay rights were "not a priority at this time."
On January 25, the Coalition for Gay Rights in Ontario adopted its policy for the anticipated election campaign. The Coalition
• condemns all three parties;
• urges gay members of those parties not to work for party candidates; and
• asks those members to redirect financial contributions which would have gone to party candidates to the Coalition.
A four-page tabloid for mass circula- tion is being prepared and a rally is planned for Friday, March (->. at the St I awrence Market North in fbront Ontario leaders who want more infoi mation or who want to help should call
CGRO staffei Christine Donald at (416 :4.
Ridings to watch m this election will be St George in Toronto (sec main
story ) and Ottawa Centre, where NDP
leader Michael (assidv is seeking reelec- tion I he riding is the geographical focus ol the capital's ga) community,
and ( assidv won the seat bv a thin m in the last election
MARCH 1981
THE BODY POLITIC 15
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Continued from page 12
neither badges nor flash numbers, Deputy Chief Jack Marks says his in- vestigations have satisfied him that all officers were wearing either one or the other. The investigation seems to have taken less than a day.
As TBP goes to press February 12, the community is still Crackling with the sense of outrage the raids provoked, and the exhilaration of the Friday night protest. What most people are detecting is a pervasive and deepening sense of de- fiance and pride — and the evidence keeps coming in through small, human anecdotes.
An older friend of mine told me about an older friend of his who was out on the streets for his first demon- stration, who half startled himself by saying that if anyone had pitched a Molotov cocktail into the legislature Friday night he would have cheered him on.
Chris Bearchell talks about taking a cab home with some of the women in the demonstration, and fielding ques- tions from an older Chinese cabdriver who at first seemed hostile to the idea of the demo and a cabfull of dykes. They were misreading him though — when they got home, he told them shyly that the ride was on him.
My favourite, though, comes from one of our own photographers who wasn't even in town Friday night. He works as a waiter for Via Rail, and was somewhere between Windsor and Toronto on Saturday when somebody pushed a Toronto Star at him. The headline read "Rally erupts as 3,000 go on rampage."
Peter went to the stock cupboard, found a towel with a pink stripe down the middle, tore that centre strip out of it and made it into an arm band.
"My supervisor asked me about it so I told him what it meant to me, and that I was going to wear it for the rest of the day. And 1 did. "D
Late-breaking
•Those wishing to give money to the Right to Privacy Committee to help in the legal defence of those charged in the raids should make cheques payable to Harriet Sachs in trust for RTPC and send to: Cornish, King and Sachs, Bar- risters and Solicitors, 111 Richmond St W, Suite 320, Toronto, ON M5H 3N6. A ny donations already made to Hall- man and Higgins will be forwarded to the new trustee.
•All three Toronto dailies have promised not to publish the names of found-ins. An earlier Sun editorial had threatened to do so, but publisher Douglas Creighton issued a statement through the police on February 13 giv- ing an assurance that names would not appear in print.
•Right-wing trustees on the Toronto Board of Education failed to censure the board's race relations advisor on February 12. Trustees tried to call Tony Souza on the carpet because he spoke out at a city hall press conference of prominent citizens concerned about the police raids. He said that, unless police harassment of minorities stopped, people would "burn" and "do damage. ' ' A secret board meeting to discuss the issue is reported to have lasted into the early hours of the morn- ing.
•An accused found- in called TBP February 11 to say he'd fust been busted at his home on a drug charge. He said the police told him, "These demonstra- tions just antagonize us. If you people
keep it up, we 'II make it tougn for you. "'
• Victims of police brutality and witnesses to incidents with police either during the raids or the following night's demonstration are urgently requested to contact the Right to Privacy Commit- tee. Call TBP at 977-6320 and we will pass on the information.
•Any of the accused found-ins who have lost fobs or otherwise suffered as a result of the raid should contact TBP and RTPC. Documentation of the aftermath of the police action is especially important.
•Not all accused found-ins have con- tacted the Right to Privacy Committee. It is urgent that you do so. Call either TBP at 977-6320, or John Burt of the RTPC Documentation Committee at 368-7347.
•Anyone contacting either TBP or the Right to Privacy Committee on any of the above matters can be assured that all information given will be held in the strictest confidence. □
EEM
BC teachers fight bias
VANCOUVER — The British Colum- bia Teachers' Federation has resolved "to strive to eliminate from the school system discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation."
Ken Acheson, spokesperson for the BCTF, told TBP that the resolution was passed "with almost no comment what- ever." He pointed out that it would apply not only to job security but also to curriculum. "The Federation has a policy of eliminating discrimination of all kinds from the province's elementary and secondary schools," Acheson emphasized.
Gay Awareness Week
TORONTO — Several University of Toronto gay groups are organizing Gay Awareness Week for February 23-28 in an attempt to educate people to the reality of gay life on campus.
After some controversy, a student council committee awarded the project $150 towards costs, $125 less than had been asked for.
What about the cunt lappers?
OTTAWA — Don Cherry, retiring president of the Central Canada Exhibi- tion Association, referred to gay people as "dicky lickers" during a public meeting of the association's board of directors.
The term came up when he was dis- cussing his unsuccessful attempt to bring Anita Bryant to Ottawa in 1979. Cherry said it would have been especial- ly appropriate then because "that was the year the dicky lickers were having their convention," a reference to the gay conference held that year in Ottawa.
The association's new president told the press that Cherry was "quite wrong in his remarks."
Fire closes baths
OTTAWA — A fire in the building housing the Club Ottawa has temporar- ily closed this city's only gay steam bath. The flames, which broke out in the early morning hours of January 23rd, did not reach the baths directly, but it suffered extensive water and smoke damage. Management says it should re-open soon.
Compiled by Arn GabelD
16/THE BODY POLITIC
MARCH 1981
BetweenTheLines
byKenPopert
Anger comes out
"I don't know what got into me. I wanted to burn the legislature down."
In what was perhaps a reflective mood, the owner of a small gay business stood on the northeast corner of Wellesley and Yonge, on precisely the spot from which, two hours earlier, the gay people of Toronto had willy-nilly entered into a historic and blessed departure from common sense.
Something had gotten into him. Something got into a hell of a lot of us that Friday night.
Something got into the people who gathered on that corner to protest the arrest of almost 300 gay men in a Gestapo-like raid on four bathhouses the night before, something that made them spill illegally, but unhesitatingly, into the traffic at three minutes past midnight.
Something got into the straights and the lesbian-feminists and the disco dykes who joined with gay men to shut
off Toronto's main arterial roadway, screaming "Stop the cops!" and "No more shit!"
Something got into those gay people when, confounding the plans of the or- ganizers and, maybe, the expectations of the cops, they suddenly began to move south on Yonge, towards the hated 52 Division of the Metropolitan police, choking the street sidewalk-to- sidewalk as their ranks swelled, freezing the cars where they stood and forcing police to rush on ahead, turning back oncoming traffic as they went.
Something got into the gay men who, lacking the tools of destruction, used their hands and feet to break the win- dows of police cruisers and dent the sides of paddy wagons hastily moved in- to the intersection of Yonge and Dundas by the cops, perhaps in a failing attempt to turn back the marchers by a display of the symbols of authority.
Something got into the faggots who seized cops from behind as they attempted to make arrests, setting free their prisoners.
Something got into the bar-goers who, as the demonstration turned vnosi along Dundas towards 52 Division, Opened their pants and pissed on an empty cop car and, spotting a uni- formed cop in an unmarked car, sur- rounded and rocked it so violently that he threw down his pen and his notebook and clung to (he dashboard in fear.
Something got into the 3,000 who crossed University Avenue to 52 Dm sion, now defended by a single line of
cops standing shoulder to shoulder, the three thousand who screamed into a line of very frightened faces, shouting not "Resign, resign!" as reported by the dainty dailies, but rather "Sieg heil!" and "Fuck you, Fifty-two! Fuck you, Fifty-two!"
Something got into those people as they pushed up University Avenue, rushed past the statue of Sir John A Macdonald, past the foot of the steps of the legislature and up to the doors where a very thin line of very scared cops was allowed to hold.
I know that something got into people, because it got into me. I've been in plenty of gay demonstrations in this city. I don't much like chanting, because I find it hard to muster the loss of self-consciousness required. And I often feel uninvolved, untouched by the issues, even though I know they're im- portant. On occasion, when demonstra- tions fail, they can be depressing. But I go as a matter of duty.
But Friday night was different. I screamed and chanted until my throat was raw. I wanted to destroy, to injure, perhaps to kill.
What got into me last Friday night was my own anger, anger which I've become accustomed to thrusting away from myself because it's too big to deal with, too frightening to acknowledge.
What got into me was my own anger over, just for starters, the raids on the baths, the arrest of my lover and some of my friends, the sadism in search of helpless victims which seems to be characteristic of cops.
And what got into me last Friday night goes further back than all this.
What got into me was my own anger over living in a society which finds my existence inconvenient.
What got into me was my own anger over harassment on streets that are never safe for me.
What got into me was my own anger over the unrelenting stream of taunts and insults from the media, coolly cal- culated to undermine my self-respect with every passing day.
What got into me was my own anger over the right-wing and outright fascist propaganda against gay people being circulated in this city.
What got into me was my own anger over mainstream political parties which have betrayed their commitment to human rights because the likes of the Ku Klux Klan have looked at them askance.
What got into me was my own anger over city aldermen for whom I cam- paigned not three months ago and who are now silent while gay people are robbed of what little freedom and safely we have.
Friday night was a warning. I finally got angry. And I'm still angry now. Anger is what got into me and into a lot of other people that Friday night, an anger which stands lor hate returned full-measure.
As long as society continues to demand us as its victims and its human Sacrifices, that anger is going to be there, waiting to gel into us, igaia and again. It's not going to go away foi a long, long time.
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MARCH 1981
THE BODY POLITIC/17
NewsAnalysis
The International Lesbian Infor- mation Secretariat (ILIS) met in A msterdam from December 2 7 to 31, 1980. Christine Donald, who works for the Coalition for Gay Rights in Ontario, tells all. I arrived in Amsterdam with a mixture of trepidation and anticipation. Much as I was looking forward to the confer- ence, I had an impression of Amster- dam as a man's city — all those ads in Gay News for Naughty Weekends. At the airport many men looked as if they might be on Man-Around-type holidays and at least two of them, who spoke to us, were just that. On our first evening we ventured out for a breather and strolled ignorantly straight into the red light district and then onto main streets where there were enough gangs of staring, tough-looking youths for me to want to head directly back to the Youth Hostel.
Youth Hostel? Yes indeed. The women of the ILIS, the lesbian part of the International Gay Association, had booked the entire hostel for the five days of the conference. It was a great pleasure not to have to find one's way through a strange city to look for the person one's been billeted on, arrange for the key under the milk bottle, etc. The hostel was warm, the beds comfort- able and the view from the window was of cobbled streets and a canal with real Dutch ducks on it. There were hot showers, to which some strode lithe and gloriously naked and others shuffled covertly in voluminous nightgowns (no prizes for guessing which group I fall in). The food was amiably but unobtru- sively provided by a group of gay men for vegetarians and carnivores alike — more of us wanted to be vegetarians than had said in advance, which led to us all being asked to eat meat if we could bring ourselves to do so. There was also a child-care centre run by the men; in fact there was only one baby, who put in benevolent appearances now and then.
Women started to trickle in on the first evening, more or less tired depend- ing on whether they had used money or ingenuity for the journey. Some went to the first workshop /social event, which was called "Mime: getting to know each other without words." Those of us frightened silly by the mere idea went to bed early with a Good Book (as we guiltily admitted later) or floated around trying to get our bearings, via the "soupmeal" and the cost-price bar, to the welcome bed.
At the plenary next morning, we geared ourselves for action and found that we were more than 70 women from 16 or so different countries — not as straightforward a statement as it looks. For instance, the woman from Sweden was in fact a black American (from Alabama, via the US military); the woman from California hailed original- ly from South Africa via Paris and Rome; the woman coming from Edin- burgh really came from Massachusetts and the Canadian delegate (me) was a downright fraud (but we English, of course, feel we can encompass the Canadian experience with no problem,
Christine Donald reports on the international lesbian conference
Friendly ferocity in Amsterdam
so there's a piece of luck).
We sorted out our interpreters — not a language spoken but there were trans- lators available — a redoubtable band of women who battled valiantly and long and only occasionally ended up in the wrong language. The official language of the conference was English
— native English speakers tried to assuage our guilt by taking the workshop minutes, trying or discarding our school French (whichever seemed the less insulting) and denying our am- bitions to reclaim the Empire — or, if provoked, asserting them. I was jolted from my smugness as a German speaker by the non-arrival of the German delegates.
The organizers had prepared a hard schedule of nine workshops a day (run- ning three at a time) and into these we diligently plunged. The emphasis was on information sharing about the legal situ- ation in each country (most rated B +
— could do better with effort), the ways the rest of our society was coping with us and how we were getting on our- selves. It soon became clear that in every country there is some social prob- lem attached to being known to be a les- bian. This varies from sniffiness in Den- mark at the sight of women holding hands to the Italian man who was let off after shooting a lesbian in self-defence. (Self-defence? What was she doing? Well, she was being a lesbian and there- fore a threat to men and so he had to defend himself, OK? Well, it was clear enough to the judge.) Nowhere is there
a paradise for lesbians — in Spain the age of consent is 23 and lesbians have a tough time; in Denmark, where the age of consent is 15, you still have to be "careful." In New Zealand consenting adult males can be jailed for seven years if caught in the act, and lesbians are deemed not to exist. From this varying information, we tried to decide how we can organize to be helpful to each other. Central to the conference, therefore,
were the workshops on the structure of the International Lesbian Information Secretariat and its relationship to the IGA. Because of the strong feminist bias at the conference, we much favoured a non-hierarchical structure — we would much rather see a federation of strong member groups than a situation where someone at the top instructs us what to do. This would mean an emphasis on exchanging information and then co- ordinating action decided upon by the groups.
We still felt that it is essential for women to have their own space, and so were opposed to ILIS becoming com- pletely assimilated into the IGA. A structure for conferences was suggested whereby women could have time to dis- cuss on their own those matters which relate specifically to women, and then join the men to work together where ap- propriate. This way, both separatists and lesbians who choose to work in mixed groups will be able to participate and ILIS would remain a part of the IGA.
More controversy arose over names. Some women felt that the word lesbian should be included in the overall name of the association, but "gay" and "les- bian" have different meanings and associations in different countries. Eventually we decided that the name of the International Gay Association should be retained. We shouldn't en- courage people to believe that "gay" means only gay men.
This mood of accomodation was common to almost all the conference events. In discussions between women of entirely opposed views, each made great efforts to see that others not be ex- cluded. Similarly, we were offered a suggested structure for the workshops, but could choose to take it or not. And for every two scheduled workshops there was a scheduled "alternative workshop" for anyone who wanted to bring up another topic for discussion.
Consensus was usually reached amic- ably with even the smokers not being huffy.
This made it the more curious that the workshop on lesbianism and femin- ism became so heated. Perhaps it was a mistake even to try defining "lesbian" in an English whose import varied with the language it was a translation from or to. We talked about whether it is really possible to "become a lesbian through feminist logic"; whether it is fair for women who are actively bisex- ual to call themselves lesbians out of political solidarity when they are still visibly giving so much of their energy to men; whether the separatists are not lay- ing down the law to other women and saying "you may not sleep with men if you call yourself a lesbian"; about what us poor old dykes are to call ourselves if the word "lesbian" is to mean "some- one who sleeps with both sexes but whose greater (political) allegiance is to her own sex." And much more.
This is, perhaps, the other side of the coin. We need to fight together for broader issues, things like "equality" and so on, while still trying to discuss what we want, who we are. The more freedom we have to meet and discuss, to live our lives a little more as we would like, the harder it seems to be to find that out. The more freedom we have to look, the more we see. So even as our differences are revealed, we need to work together more and more.
I haven't ever been to such a friendly conference, or one where people from such varying backgrounds were so pre- pared to listen to each other's experi- ence. The ferocious expressions of the women in the plenary as they tried to come to grips with language and experi- ences that were not their own were in fact as positive a sign as their happier faces when they were simply relaxing in the presence of so many lesbians — however defined — from so many places. D
Danish, Italian, Swedish — ' 'not a language spoken but there were translators — who only occasionally ended up in the wrong language.
18/THE BODY POLITIC
TheWorld
Hung jury forces retrial in PIE case
LONDON — After a week-long trial beginning January 19, one of the four defendants in the Pedo phile Information Exchange (PIE) trial has been found not guilty on two counts of conspiracy to corrupt public morals. The charges were laid because the organization published a magazine, Magpie, which ran a contact page for pedophiles from 1976 to 1978.
Halfway through the trial, the original conspiracy count was split into two charges, one of "incitement to have sex with children," and another less serious charge of "encouraging the ex- change of obscene material through the post."
Although two other defendants were acquitted of the incitement charge, the jury failed to reach a verdict on encour- aging the exchange of obscene material. The jury also failed to reach agreement on either charge in the case of PIE ex-chairman Tom O'Carroll.
The three men are expected to have to go through another trial with a new jury, possibly within two weeks.
O'Carroll was cautiously optimistic. "It's an advance on square one. Some- thing important has been indicated by the four not-guilty verdicts and the in- ability of the jury to find any guilty ver- dicts. There will be fewer issues and one defendant fewer next time, so we may be able to get acquittals all around."
Media reaction to the case was not as sensational as had been feared, al- though one London paper, the Daily Star, ran the headline "Evil Lust in Child Sex Mag." Members of the Cam- paign Against Public Morals organized a picket of about 25 people outside the court on the first day of the trial to de- mand free speech for pedophiles, an end to the conspiracy laws and the dropping of all charges in the case.D
Worker retains job in security agency
WASHINGTON, DC — In what could become a precedent-setting case, the National Security Agency (NSA) has permitted a gay employee to keep his job and his top-secret security clear- ance. The NSA is an arm of the Depart- ment of Defense which monitors world- wide telecommunications and attempts to break coded intelligence messages.
The employee, who has chosen to re- main anonymous, has worked for the NSA for six years. When his superiors discovered last July that he was gay, he was asked to resign. However, the em- ployee took his case to Franklin Kameny, a prominent gay member of the Washington DC Commission on Human Rights. Kameny fired a number of letters off to the NSA, and eventually an internal agency investigation was undertaken. As a result of this in- vestigation, the NSA decided late in October to let the employee stay if he told his family of his homosexuality and agreed not to engage in illegal sexual activity.
Donald C Schwartz, general counsel for the NSA, said that the case should not be considered cither as a precedent or as a change in agency policy. How- ever, Schwartz conceded that the final
Among the demonstrators outside London 's Old Bailey during the PIE conspiracy trial were members of Gay Noise, a militant biweekly which sprang from the heart of Brixton last August.
decision to retain the employee was im- portant enough to be referred directly to the NSA director, Navy Vice-Admiral Bobby Ray Inman.
According to sources cited by the Washington Post, the decision has created a minor dispute within the NSA and other US intelligence agencies. One faction supports the NSA decision, while the other holds the view that lesbians and gay men would be susceptible to blackmail by "hostile intelligence services. "□
Hong Kong inquiry reveals police crimes
HONG KONG — One year after the death of Police Inspector John MacLennan, an official inquiry is con- tinuing to unravel a tangled story of blackmail, prostitution, police brutality and entrapment. It is now estimated that the inquiry will last at least until the end of March.
MacLennan was found dead in his flat in January 1980, just before he was to be arrested on charges of homosexual behaviour. Although there were five bullet wounds on his body, police ruled the case a suicide. The ensuing scandal resulted in a full government inves- tigation.
A key witness, Senior Police Inspec- tor Michael Fulton, has claimed that the Special Investigation Unit (SlU) of the Royal Hong Kong Police attempted to force him to "set up" MacLennan on homosexual charges. Another witness testified that, before his death, Mac- Lennan had claimed to have seen a police list of suspected homosexuals that was "political dynamite" which could "blow the lid off the colony." According to Chief Inspector Matthew Anderson, MacLennan had said it would be more than his life was worth to reveal the names.
Other witnesses have reported cases of police blackmail. A young masseur and (wo male prostitutes said they were slapped, kicked and had their hair pulled during police questioning.
The inquiry continues to generate interest in the colony's English language press, but the Chinese media have gen- erally ignored the topic. Still, revela- tions of blackmail and gang-controlled prostitution have given ammunition to those demanding reform of laws which make all homosexual acts illegal in Hong Kong.D
Israeli disco fights ignorance of the clap
TEL AVIV — The Israeli gay organiza- tion The Society for the Protection of Personal Rights (SPPR) organized its second Disco-Syphilis over Hanukkah, and the event is being hailed as a "text- book example of community preventa- tive medicine."
Volunteer gay doctors took free blood samples at the party, which featured disco music and special Hanukkah deli- cacies. "Many people, although actively gay for some time, had never before had
a blood test," said Asher Ma'ayan, a spokesperson for the SPPR. "They just weren't informed as to the dangers of syphilis and they didn't know how sim- ple it is to take precautions."
Although the incidence of syphilis in Israel is relatively low, there is constant danger of the disease being imported from abroad.
The SPPR provides a range of services to Israeli gays, and is supplying infor- mation on homosexuality to universi- ties, kibbutzim and the media. The group is presently raising funds to establish the country's first gay com- munity centre. □
Morals rap dropped against Brazil mag
RIO DE JANEIRO — A judge has dismissed charges of "outrages against public morality and good mores" brought almost two years ago against Lampiao, Brazil's leading gay journal.
The Lampiao case was the focus of a campaign of international solidarity by gay groups around the world. Forty-six organizations from twenty-two coun- tries, as well as twenty-three periodicals from twelve countries, sent letters to the minister of justice demanding that charges against the paper be dropped. "This solidarity from foreign organiza- tions provided the support that prevent- ed the minister from ordering the sei- zure of the paper," said Joao Antonio De Souza Mascarenhas, a Lampiao spokesperson.
The case also generated support from forces struggling for democracy in Brazil. The paper was publicly defended by state representative Fernando Morais, who is also vice president of the Sao Paulo professional journalists union.
"As a citizen, as a journalist and as a member of the assembly I am joining Lampiao and their staff in the fight that is not theirs alone, but belongs to the entire population — the fight for com- plete freedom of expression," said
Morris.
Australian state leads field in progressive sex-law reform
MELBOURNE — A five-year struggle by the Victorian Homosexual Law Re- form Coalition (VHLRC) was crowned with success December 18 when the Leg- islative Assembly passed a new Sexual Offences Bill abolishing the offence of "buggery" and setting the age of con- sent at 16. The bill also allows those under 16 to have sex if their partner is less than two years older. It makes pro- vision for married persons to bring rape charges against their spouses, and pro- vides protection for young people against sexual exploitation by those in positions of authority. The law draws no distinction between males and females, or homosexuals and hetero- sexuals.
The only "fly in the ointment" was a last-minute amendment which set penal ties for "soliciting in a public place for immoral purposes . "
"It amounts to a total inconsistency with the rest of the legislation," said Jamie Gardiner, VHLRC spokesperson. "I'm optimistic that the courts and eventually Parliament will throw it out before the end of the year."
Gardiner said he was "delighted" by the bill despite the amendment. "I think this is the most progressive attempt at homosexual law reform in the English- speaking world. The Victorian laws are in many ways better than South Aus- tralia's, and light years ahead of England, Canada and many states in America."
The Coalition is now calling for Clemency for all those serving time in prison lor offences which arc BO longer crimes under the new law . and [Mans to turn Us attention to law reform in the ateas of health, immigration and super- annuation
MARCH 1981
THE BODY POLITIC/19
New York Supreme Court junks "deviant sexual intercourse" law
NEW YORK — In a landmark five-to- two decision, the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court struck down last December a state law which prohibited consensual oral and anal sex between unmarried adults, both hetero- sexual and gay. The majority decision held that the "sodomy law" violated the right to privacy and equal protection sections of the United States Consti- tution.
The court's ruling was handed down in a case involving an appeal by Ronald Onofre, 38, of Onondaga County, New York. In April 1978, Onofre had been found guilty of a Class B misde- meanor, "deviant sexual intercourse," for having sex in his own home with a consenting male partner. Onofre, who describes himself as bisexual, said the case had cost him his job and his per- sonal relationships. "I have been drained financially, physically and men- tally," he explained. "I had to go on unemployment and then, reluctantly,
Scots urge debate on Third World gays
EDINBURGH — The Scottish Homosexual Rights Group is taking the initiative to press the upcoming Inter- national Gay Association (1GA) con- ference for fuller discussion of the situa- tion of gays in the Third World. This year's 1GA conference is being held in Turin over Easter.
The SHRG has also decided to "twin" itself with the gay movement in Jamaica to help cover the expenses of a Jamai- can delegate to the Turin meeting. Fol- lowing the Scottish lead, Britain's Cam- paign for Homosexual Equality will probably twin with Hong Kong, and the Dutch ('()(' with a Latin American group.
In a discussion paper now available from the IGA, the SHRG expresses con- cern that, unless action is taken, there is a danger that the IGA will remain a Western organization, specifically con- cerned with European matters. The doc- ument calls for the free provision of lit- erature to Third World gay organiza- tions and subsidies for IGA delegates from Africa, the far east, the West Indies and South America. □
Labour leader calls for absolute equality
LONDON — Tony Benn, a major figure in the left wing of the British Labour Party and possibly the next par- ty leader, has called on the party and the trade union movement to take a lead in the political battle for gay rights.
Benn called on the party to issue a comprehensive policy statement, bind- ing on any future Labour government, which would propose laws to protect gay men and lesbians from discrimina- tion.
"There should be absolute equality in law between heterosexual and homo- sexual men and women," said Benn. "The present inequality relating, amongst other things, to the definition of privacy, the differing ages of con- sent, the exclusion from the armed ser- vices and the merchant navy, cannot be
welfare."
In its ruling, the court declared that the state had not shown "how govern- ment interference with the practice of personal choice in matters of intimate sexual behavior out of the view of the public and with no commercial compo nent... will do anything other than restrict individual conduct and impose a concept of private morality chosen by the state."
Bonnie Strunk, attorney for Onofre. expects that this decision will improve the chances of lesbians and gays win- ning legal anti-discrimination battles. It can no longer be charged, she noted, that the plaintiffs in discrimination cases were involved in illegal activity.
With this successful appeal, New York becomes the 24th jurisdiction in the US to decriminalize private sexual conduct between consenting adults. The majority of states, 26 in all, continue to prohibit some form of consensual sex- >ial practice between adults. □
justified and must be completely swept away."
Benn was speaking at a House of Commons press conference to launch a new booklet called Gay Workers, Trade Unions and the Law. The Labour leader contributed a two and a half page foreword to the booklet, published by the National Council for Civil Liberties. □
Minneapolis schools ban homo discussion
MINNEAPOLIS — Superintendent of Schools Richard Green oanned an edu- cational panel of lesbians and gay men December 9 from this city's elementary public schools, and is now considering a similar ban for the secondary schools.
The prohibited panel would have dis- cussed such aspects of lesbian and gay lifestyles as myths and stereotypes, history, family relations, and minority rights.
Green is also considering an across- the-board prohibition of any discussion of homosexuality in the school system. If such an action were taken, homosex- uality would be the only forbidden sub- ject in the city's schools.
"It's the quesiton of where we draw the line on the discussion of personal lifestyles," Green told the Minneapolis school board. "And I think by this panel we've gone beyond that line." Two members of the board, including Chairperson Marilyn'Borea, have en- dorsed Green's stand, but the five other members support, in some form, both the panel and the classroom discussion of homosexuality.
The director of support services for the city school system, Betty Jo Zander, has also gone on record as opposed to Green. "This is a resource which is sore- ly needed," she told Boston's Gay Community News.
Polly Kellog, director of the Les- bian/Gay Curriculum Project for the Education Exploration Centre, the group which sponsored the panel, agrees with Zander. Kellog is optimistic that a ban on speakers in the secondary schools can be avoided. "Minneapolis has a high consciousness and a suppor- tive overall attitude," she said.D
Cookies offend Moral Majority ^
ANNAPOLIS, MD — There's just no stopping the fundamentalist right. First it was book-burnings, then it was smashing rock-&-roll records, and now it's... gingerbread-cookie trashing.
James Wright, Executive Director of Maryland Moral Majority, walked into a local bakery, took one look at a set of explicit gingerbread cookies, and left outraged. "They sell obscene cookies and there's no way you can get around it," a righteous Wright reported to the press. He demanded immediate legal action.
Frederick Paone, a Maryland assis- tant state's attorney assigned to the case, found the cookies "personally dis- gusting," but not illegal. It was all a fine point of law, Paone explained. "All I saw was a visual representation of a gingerbread man, not a visual rep- resentation of a person."
Kathy Halter, owner of the bakery, was somewhat pleased with the Moral Majority's attention. "We expect to triple our sales after this free publicity," she said.D
US armed forces win total exclusion
WASHINGTON, DC — The US Department of Defense issued January 16 a new set of regulations which ex- cludes all avowed homosexuals, without exception, from the military services. These new regulations were adopted from a joint proposal prepared by the general counsel offices of the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.
Under the previous policy some bran- ches of the military, such as the Air Force, retained a "discretionary clause" which allowed for the retention of les- bians and gay men under "exceptional circumstances." However, in the recent court appeal in the Matlovich case, the
Air Force was unable to specify what those "exceptional circumstances" would be, and, as a result, US District Court Judge Gerhard Gesell ordered Matlovich's reinstatement. The new regulations are designed to insure that this difficulty would not arise again.
The Department of Defense policy now calls for the discharge of indiv- iduals who "have engaged in, attempted to engage in, or solicited another to engage in a homosexual act or acts...."
In a related matter, Sergeant Harold Bryant, a 13-year veteran of the US Air Force, was discharged from the service January 14 because he is gay. The Air Force discharged Bryant only two hours after the US Appeals Courts for Wash- ington DC denied Bryant's petition to retain his military status until the com- pletion of the lengthy appeals process. □
Surinam gay group breaks new ground
AMSTERDAM — Gays from the former South American Dutch colony of Surinam have begun to organize in Holland after the publication of a report entitled Homosexuals from Surinam, A Forgotten Group in Dutch Society.
The group is working to raise awareness about homosexuality among immigrants from their country. They are preparing publications in Hindi and Dutch for an outreach programme to Surinam itself. There are also plans for a Surinam gay and lesbian festival in Amsterdam later this year.D
International News Credits Gay News (London), Campaign (Sydney), Pink Triangle (New Zealand), International Gay Association Bulletin (Dublin), The Blade (Washington DC), Gay Community News (Boston), Gay Life (Chicago).
20/THE BODY POLITIC
MARCH 1981
BocfyPbliiic
New Gays; Old Wounds! Not Afraid Anymore! They finally settled on Sharing the Secret: Selected Gay Stories. "The film you are about to see contains powerful subject matter, including rare and rarely glimpsed aspects of homosexual life. It is not about the obvious homosexual stereo- types, such as drag queens or boys in heavy leather. Nor is it, to any great ex- tent, about vocal gay militants. This film takes us into a still largely closeted world, to meet a few of the other gays, people who have come forward, at whatever risk, to share some of their secrets and their feelings with us. No single film could hope to encompass the entire gay world or the complex of people and attitudes within it. Instead, six individual subjects have been chosen. Their stories are their own and what they say is not necessarily rep- resentative of other gay people. The film contains scenes which some viewers may find disturbing. Parents with children present are urged to exercise discretion. "
Sharing the Secret was made by the renowned mother and son team of Rose and John Kastner. As a young journal- ist for the Toronto Telegram, John Kastner used to cover all the social movements of the late 60s. He says he got the idea for Sharing the Secret when, looking back over those days, he came to the conclusion that the only one of those movements that wasn't dead was gay liberation. It was more alive than ever. He wanted to know why, and what it's impact had been on gay people.
The Kastner team has two Emmys awards to its credit, for Four Women, a documentary about breast cancer, and Fighting Back, about childhood leu- kemia. It was on the basis of this repu- tation that mother and son were able to secure the cooperation of the six gay
The Kastners have won two Emmy Awards for their intimate probing into the lives of their documentary subjects. How do they do it? When they came into the gay community, we found out.
TRADtWON
SECRETS
John and Rose in Homoland m An article by Chris Bearchell
men and three of their parents who par- ticipated in this latest venture. John and Rose spoke to some 500 people before choosing the six men who would be fea- tured. They discovered that the gay community was so complicated as to in- clude two genders, and that the two genders were too complicated to be encompassed in a single documentary. John Kastner says they've already filmed about one third of a follow-up on lesbians.
Sharing the Secret: Selected Gay Stories was telecast across Canada by the CBC on Sunday, January 11 in prime time, from 9:00 to 10:30. Before, during and after that 90 minutes, the film was the focus of attention and con- troversy in the media, in all those Cana-
dian homes, in many work places and, above all, in the Toronto gay commun- ity where the film was made.
Television viewers were introduced to the cultured son of a wealthy business- man who tried to subdue his homosexu- ality with physical abuse; two lovers — one of whom's parents went through in- credible anguish in the struggle to ac- cept their son; a man who is obsessed with his appearance, wardrobe and the fear of growing old; and a brilliant musician, the son of a former Anglican priest, who cruises bars, baths and parks in search of sex for the thrill of it.
"Accept that no gay life is every gay life, and Sharing the Secret: Selected Gay Stories can be considered a useful ana a creditable documentary, the best
MARCH 1981
probe yet of a world many fear," began a review by Ottawa Citizen television critic Richard Labonte, who is also a contributor to TBP. Labonte told me that his editor was responsible for the direct praise in that statement, although he approved the change. "I would not have been so uncritical if I'd been doing it for TBP and not a straight audience. It wasn't as negative as CBS's Gay Pow- er, Gay Politics. Sure there were twits in it, but they could have chosen worse."
A lesbian aquaintance said to me, "It seemed okay to me. That's what life's like for gay men, isn't it?"
"I thought we left the pardon-me- for-living mentality behind years ago," said one friend, "Although the bar, bath and park stuff was handled well enough to look appealing, mostly it was boring." Said another, "If this had been the tenth good film on homosex- uality to come out of Canada, then maybe it would have been okay to do an 'Everything you've always wanted to know about cruising (but were afraid to ask).' But that's hardly the case."
But the most enlightening comments of all came from the men who shared their secrets with the Kastners. I was able to talk to five of them. ■
"Andre Fortin," said the voice of narrator Margaret Pacsu, who also delivered the introduction quoted above, "patrician and ambitious, who regarded his homosexuality as an obsta- cle to his success to bo stamped oul at any cost."
Andre Fortin is actually Pierre Robitaille, Ihc Kastners suggested the name change because it would contrib- ute U) the drama and because there weft other Peter's Involved in the film Pierre called me as lOOl) as he heard 1 was in- terested in writing about Sharing the
s, , ret.
On Camera, Pierre had slow!) and cabal) related what he'd experienced
THE BODY POLITIC/21
growing up gay — before he'd come to terms with his homosexuality. He des- cribed his fear of hurting his parents with the revelation, the agony of keep- ing up a straight facade, and an impulse to mutilate himself while masturbating.
"My mother started getting sympathy calls the next morning," he told me. Unlike some of the other participants, Pierre was not disguised physically. To make matters a little more confusing for his mother's friends, he has a brother whose name is Andre.
Pierre Robitaille says Sharing the Secret "took what I said about myself, about the way I was ten years ago, and made it look like I'm still that way to- day. The segment in which I reflected on my adolescence was sincere in con- tent. But the film did not in any way reflect the process I've gone through, and how what I went through was a re- sult of my status as a homosexual, not something intrinsic to me as a gay per- son. I'm a much happier, wittier, laid back person since I've come out. I've evolved, matured. The joy, the uplift- ing, the struggle of working out my gayness with my family and friends — that was all on tape too, but it was shelved away."
LI
Rocco Fermi — who even as he cruises the bars for men dreams of another life with a wife and children," said the Kastners' script, comes from a large, Italian Catholic family. A small-town boy with small-town values, Rocco (not his real name) describes how he is caught up in the bar scene — on a perpetual quest for "Mr Wonderful." He is shown, at 27, dreading the day he reaches 30, and perusing a huge ward- robe which he estimates, along with cosmetics and jewellery, consumes almost 50% of his income.
"I did the film," Rocco told me, "because I thought the gay issue was important. I thought it was worth it if I could help somebody." When I asked if he thought the film or its producers treated him fairly, he paused and finally said he got across what he wanted to. "When I first saw the film I was very critical of myself in it, but when I saw it again later I felt good about it. I'm gay; I accept it. Some people have said they feel sorry for me. That wasn't what I intended."
I asked why what he had to say seemed limited to a very narrow range of concerns. "They were trying to get different perspectives from different people — we couldn't all say the same thing. I was taped for two and a half hours and I said a lot more than what you saw, but I put it in John's hands. I trusted John."
Tracy Angles (the Kastners dubbed him Lee Murdoch), remembers "so dis- tinctly sitting on the couch while some- one was putting a wig on me, and ask- ing them whether they were going to do stuff on the baths and the parks. And they said no. I remember it really well."
Tracy's parents, "the Murdochs," were described as "the straight-laced parents who discovered that the homo- sexual lifestyle they find so repugnant has been taken up by the son they cherish." Tracy and his parents, who live in a small town in Ontario (not in
Vancouver) have argued vigorously about the film. "I guess it's important that people think it was good; mind you I can't imagine why they would think that," he sighed.
Steven Tattle, Tracy's lover, says the Kastners didn't ask him about anything besides his relationship with Tracy. "They seemed to think my involvement with the community was too political. A lot of older straight people I've talked to really liked the film. I think that's because their stereotypes were upheld. There were no challenges to what they've always thought about us."
June Tattle, Steven's mother, was also among those who were not happy with the way they were treated by the Kastners. June is the founder of the Toronto Parents of Gays group; in the film she was the mother who didn't get to say much. They taped a lot of her (saying very positive things, she says) but told her they were having technical difficulties and most of the footage wasn't usable.
She spent a year helping the Kastners pull together some aspects of the show. "Over the last year I was on the phone to Rose Kastner two or three times a week," she told me. "If you only knew how many people I talked to for them. People who trusted me. And trusted them — because of their reputation. They said they wanted to do something positive. I must have heard that word a million times."
June feels the assurances came to nothing. "The film was so depressing. Things were thrown in for shock value. The scenes in the bar, for instance. We all know bars exist. Straight bars exist.
So what? What do they have to do with a positive image?"
June was also very upset that, despite her efforts to do so, she was not able to see a preview of the film. Tracy and Steven didn't get to see Sharing the Secret in advance, either. Steven says he "felt really bitter every time I read in the press that all of the people in it had been given the opportunity to see it."
The Kastners have said contradictory things about the kind of power the par- ticipants had over how they were por- trayed. They have claimed that everyone in their films has veto power over what is said and shown about them. It was the first question I asked when, in the beginning of their project, Rose Kastner approached The Body Politic for assistance. She boasted that it was stan- dard practice for them.
John Kastner later told the Toronto Star that The Body Politic threw up a major roadblock in their way by telling people to make sure they had that veto power before cooperating with the film- makers."You just can't work with those kind of restrictions," Kastner told the Star. The paper went on to say, paren- thetically, that "In the end the Kastners did screen the program for the six prin- cipals. None of them, or their families, objected to the treatment they received."
That information presumably came directly from John Kastner. Later, Kastner told me that most of the gay people in the film had seen it. When I told him that I'd been talking to some of them, he clarified: "At least two- thirds of them. We tried to set some- thing up for the remaining ones — those
kids who were so upset they didn't see it, Steven and Lee (Tracy Angles). We thought they shpuld see it with the parents, as a bunch. That couldn't be arranged, but we tried. Just ask the parents." Tracy told me they ap- proached his parents, who have a very inflexible schedule, once — the night before they wanted them to come to a screening.
In a later conversation, Kastner final- ly told me that he and Rose "did this film differently from the others. We didn't give the subjects veto power. We had them sign contracts for small hon- ourariums which were, in effect, releas- es. We only agreed to show it to people in advance as a courtesy."
Peter Shaffter is described by the Romper-Room voice of CBC narrator Pacsu as "a proud gay who embarked on an odyssey of erotic pleasure through the secret world of gay male sex." Shaffter, whose name was changed only slightly to Shaver at the Kastners' suggestion, did get to see the film, twice in fact. He made a number of suggestions — some of which made it into the final version. "But the one specific request I made was ignored. I never, in the film, call myself a 'sexual revolutionary.' While I may hope my actions are revolutionary, I don't like labels of any kind. I found the repetition of 'sexual revolutionary' and 'sexual extremist' embarassing and silly, so I asked them to take those references out. They didn't."
Peter Schaffter is the director of Toronto's Gay Community Choir. He and I mused over coffee about the Kastners's insistence that they were not focusing on vocal militants, and the apparent contradiction in the fact that, even though they didn't listen to him, he seemed to have more control than the other participants. "John Kastner doesn't know what a gay militant is," Peter laughed. "And he probably thought that, since I was doing what I wanted with my part in the film, he wasn't in danger of losing me by show- ing it to me."
Peter took the Kastner film crew on a tour of the three-story Richmond Street Health Emporium — one of the Toron- to steam baths that was raided a couple of weeks after the show went on the air. It turned out to be the most controver- sial part of Sharing the Secret for straights and gays alike — including some of the film's other participants. "I have a strong personal belief that gay people are almost never portrayed accurately because we talk about trying to liberate ourselves without addressing why. We say that we're oppressed because we're different, but we don't address what it is that makes us dif- ferent — our sexuality.
"I knew that the Kastners would be using extreme examples to delineate the things they wanted to show. I ran that risk in cooperating with them. I con- vinced them I could play one of the roles in their documentary with the in- tention of using the role to transform, or at least inform, the film. I wasn't go- ing to be a tortured, suffering homo- sexual for them. I did something which I saw as factual rather than personal. I thought I could use them to give a dis- passionate, factual account aimed at de-
22/THE BODY POLITIC
MARCH 1981
mystifying some of the more misunder- stood aspects of gay male sexuality."
"I treated some things with more levi- ty than I should have. Hustling, for in- stance. What I said was an honest de- scription of what it was like for me. It wasn't particularly painful, but it was more complicated than I wanted to get into with the Kastners. So I treated it lightly, without thinking about what it is like for other people, without real- izing I was trivializing it."
Lesbian comic Robin Tyler called TBP from Los Angeles after she'd heard that the show had been broad- cast. She hadn't seen it, but she was angry.
"I let those guys film my act, but I said I wouldn't sign a release until I could see how it was going to be used. On June 6, 1 received a 'performer con- tract' from the CBC, dated March 1980, for $400. They were trying to buy me off. I contacted them and said 'There's nothing in here about my right to see the thing.' They said, 'There never is.' I said, 'Well then, you can't use anything from my act.' They said, 'You can't stop us; this is Canada.'"
The only other shot of lesbians in Sharing the Secret showed the Salukis, a women's softball team. The sequence was filmed at the time when the pro- gramme was still supposed to include women. A couple of members of the team were to be featured; the others were told they would only be in the background. One of the women who was supposed to be a subject of the film didn't appear in the shots at all. Many others did. As the coach explained to me, "There are women on the team who are in the closet, and there are straight women as well. For those of us who happened to be watching the film that night, our appearance in it came as a complete shock."
Sharing the Secret also contains scenes of a Metropolitan Community Church service which had been taken for another CBC programme a couple of years before. MCC's pastor, Brent Hawkes, contacted Man Alive only to be told that the Church's permission had not been sought because the people at Man Alive were unaware, until receipt of MCC's letter, that their seg- ment had been used.
Brent Hawkes has a particular reason for being upset at the use of MCC in the film. "I talked to Rose Kastner early on in the production of the film. I put her in touch with people who I thought would be helpful. Then I began hearing rumours that there were bad feelings among some of the people who had talked to her. It became so pervasive that I called John Kastner. I told him I would feel a lot better about trying to put people at ease about the film if I could see it myself. He was reluctant at first, but he called me back and said he could make arrangements if I promised not to tell anyone what I saw. So I pledged confidentiality.
"I took three full pages of notes of things that I saw that upset me. I was so angry I almost walked out a couple of times. When Kastner came back in at the end I told him how angry I was and he was amazed at my reaction. He said that everyone who had seen it — gay or straight — had really liked it and that my reaction was way off base. I gave
him my notes saying, 'Take this tempta- tion out of my hands,' and left.
"Confidentiality is very important to me. I wrestled with it for a long time. Finally I called Nancy Wilson, my elder in Los Angeles. She agreed that confi- dentiality was important, but said that if I thought a trust with the gay commun- ity had been broken, I should do some- thing about it. I called Kastner and told him why I didn't feel obliged to keep the pledge.
"In trying to talk me out of it he kept contradicting himself. Then he said, 'Brent, we have things on film about you that could prove very embarrassing. If you continue to protest, I can't guarantee that those things won't get into the film.' I told him I wouldn't be pressured that way. He said, 'We also have things on gay business that could prove really scandalous.'
"Finally I said, 'If you're correct and my reactions really are off base, I want to know that. I'll select a small commit- tee, made up of men and women, politi- cal people and non-political people, to see the film and I won't prejudice them in advance. If enough of them say it's all right, I'll shut up about it.' He agreed. He told me that the documen- tary wouldn't be broadcast until late- spring and that he'd get back to me by early January to set up another preview. The next thing I heard was that the film was going on the air on January II."
I can understand how the subjects Ol Sharing the Secret went along with Rost- and John Kastner. Early in her work on the film. Rose Kastner called mc, gave me a brief description of what she and John wanted to do and asked if wc
could meet. We went for lunch.
I handed her a long letter in which I'd outlined some of my initial concerns based on that first brief telephone con- versation. She had, for example, prom- ised to avoid "all the stereotypes, the obvious ones."
To which the letter said, "There is no doubt that your average straight man is uptight about the mincing queens he thinks all gay men are. The way to deal with that is not to overlook anyone who might give some credence to the image (and thus contribute to their oppression — to the perception of them as invalid, an embarassment, as less than human) in favour of those who are more a reflection of yourselves, your world, your values. The real challenge is to show the person who is obviously and often proudly gay as a survivor in a hostile world."
I was full of that kind of advice for Rose and John. I told them how it felt to be reduced to the status of a case history or to be subjected to the roving eye of the voyeur, how insulting it was for lesbians to be relegated to invisibility. And I know 1 am not the only one to share ideas, in- formation, and names and numbers from my phone book with these people only to be disappointed.
Sharing the Secret was shown to the press in advance — all the press, that is, except the gay press. I -asked John Kastner it the exclusion of I lie Hodv Polith was an Oversight. "It was a con
scions decision. We though) you were already prejudiced against the film be
cause you told people not to cooperate
with us. We didn't want you stirring things up in advance."
John Kastner has been patiently send- ing The Body Politic clippings of favourable reviews with cute little cover- ing notes. They say things like: •"Richard Labonte, a Body Politic con- tributor, has praised the film in the Ot- tawa Citizen as the best film ever made about gays (see enclosed clipping)." •"Linda Difalco of the Ottawa Citizen called me about a follow-up piece she is writing, and said that Ottawa-area les- bians are demanding to know when we're going to do a similar type of show on lesbians. This positive reaction is the sort of thing we have been hearing from many gays, especially from those out- side of Toronto, whose reactions, I fear, may be influenced by some highly pol- itical activities from within the gay com- munity."
•"Any film which Claire Hoy sneers at as a 90-minute commercial for homo- sexuals can't be all bad!" •"There has been a deliberate campaign on the part of some people in the gay community, for reasons of their own, to discredit the film, including what was supposed to be a highly secret, well- orchestrated phone campaign to the CBC. I am also aware why these in- dividuals are doing this — that it is extremely important to their personal interests to do so."
People did phone in their protests to the CBC. The idea was suggested at a public meeting where a group of com- munity activists watched the broadcast of Sharing the Secret. It was one of the few ways people had to make their feel- ings known, it was hardly a secret cam- paign, and it was probably no better or- chestrated than such things usually are.
In a letter to Tracy Angles and Steve Tattle, Kastner claimed, "We have just learned that there is a petition support- ing the film, with 2,000 signatures, from within the gay community on its way to us. Furthermore, at a gay community event this summer we are to be present- ed with a trophy for service to the gay community."
Said Tracy, "I haven't heard anything about a petition and I can't imagine anyone in the gay community giving them a trophy for anything." Neither can I. As far as I can determine, no such petition has materialized.
The Kastners traded people off against each other in the film (Tracy and Steven vs "the Murdochs") and pitted people against each other during its pro- duction as well — Peter against June and Steven because he didn't like the way they laundered the gay experience of its sexuality; June and Steven against Peter because they didn't like the waj he left gay sexuality open lo sensa- tionalism. They also succeeded in using the people in the film against the rest o( us bj exempting themselves From res- ponsibilit) tor the content o\ Sharirii; the Secret. Hie six men in it. the\ warned us, were "telling their own stories." \n\ one who got upset at what that content seemed to he sa\mg about i\is people, all meaningless disclaimers aside, was lett leseniing those six ya\ individuals (the creeps, the freaks, the mentall) Ol) rather than the Kastners
Much of this exploitation of di\ ision is designed to defied criticism John Kastner calls his critics, in a letter to
MARCH 1981
THE BODY POLITIC/23
Peter Shaffter, "the sour grapes set," meaning that they are jealous because they weren't selected to be immortalized in Sharing the Secret. Criticism from gay activists is made to seem especially untrustworthy. The vocal militants, as Kastner calls them, are disqualified from talking about gay people because, to hear him tell it, "they are the most untypical gays. An open, out-front gay person, who lives in a ghetto surround- ed by gay people, gets relatively few bruisings by the straight world. We wanted to look at the other 80 or 9097o who are still in the closet and are therefore suffering gays. The majority of gays lead secretive, troubled, fearful lives — that's the gay mainstream, the gay silent majority. If we had produced a portrait of gay people as well- adjusted, problem-free people it would have been a phoney-baloney portrait. But not only would it have been false, it would have been useless. You're not going to win any friends among straight people by saying you're proud and happy to be who you are."
The fact that 500 people came for- ward as potential participants in a documentary for national television goes some way to answering John Kastner's question about the impact of gay liberation on the lives of gay people. I don't think Kastner was forced to re- ject most of those people because they were afraid to come out of the closet. I suspect many of them were simply familiar enough with the ways of big media to recognize a disaster heading their way. The Kastners seem to have gone through 500 people by eliminating anyone who was a) an activist, b) a queen, or c) some other "obvious type," — and by alienating a good number of d) all of the above.
Rose Kastner brags that she "has an unusual ability to relate to people. I know that as a researcher for a subject I can get anyone."
Rose's sensitivity to gay people has been well-documented by the straight press in what promise to become some of the most quotable quotes of the decade. "Whatever the subject is, I want the viewer to think, 'There but for the grace of God go I,' whether it's a film on cancer or on gay people." Rose began her research by screening Boys in the Band, and said about gay people afterwards, "It's the first time I could ever relate to them." Her research has apparently proven to her that lesbians unlike their male counterparts, tend to like older partners. Indeed, during the preparation of the documentary, she told the Edmonton Journal, "girls young enough to be my daughters came on to me. I'd roll my eyes to the ceiling and say, 'God, what am I doing for the CBC!" Best of all has to be: "I've prob- ably got everything that's been written about homosexuals in the last ten years. It really sounds presumptuous, I know, but I really think I know more about gays now than any gay."
John, who's truly his mother's son, says that as a media person he's always counted gay people among his friends. Odd, then, that he should also say of himself when he began to research Shar- ing the Secret, "I was afraid I was going to be molested or jumped on or something. I was also amazed at how few gay men are mincing, lisping, limp-
wristed people." And: "We're not in- terested in subjects like cannibalism or pedophilia." And: "We wanted to get people who would be honest about the pain, people who could tell the average person about the inevitable agonies you must go through with this kind of thing."
The Kastners's refusal to talk to "militants" or "stereotypes" — and the gay community's well-developed sur- vival mechanism of distrust for the un- trustable — were not the only factors screening out people from among their 500 prospects. There was also the fact that they were really auditioning. Rocco Fermi said there were different perspec- tives that each subject was expected to cover. Peter Shaffter's description of roles is probably most accurate. Roles like: Wealthy but maimed (Andre Fortin); lonely and youth-obsessed (Rocco Fermi); the odd couple nurtur- ing their cats instead of kids while their parents long for grandchildren (Steven and Lee); the sex-obsessed, tortured ar- tist (Peter Shaver).
The distortions inherent in this ap- proach are more than just little white lies or convenient twists of fact for the sake of emphasis. They are a part of something that calls itself a documentary. The very word sounds like it's engraved in stone. People hear it and think lofty things like Truth and Reality. They don't stop to consider the changed names, the dis- guised faces, the liberty with fact and the myriad preconceptions of a straight filmmaker on a visit to the gay world. Given such an approach, it should be
no surprise to anyone that the Kastners have come up with a view of homosex- uality substantially unchanged from the period which they say piqued their curiosity about gay people in the first place. Except for the slightly brighter lighting and the slightly greater candour about things sexual, this film could have easily have been made ten years ago.
All the distortions are, in turn, com- bined with dubious dramatization to achieve the final effect. Andre Fortin escapes from his world of adolescent self-hatred into his beautiful universe of 3,000 classical records; sitting in shad- ow, headphones on, music building in a shivering crescendo. Alice Murdoch weeps her way through a prolonged and embarrassing reconstruction of her reac- tion to her son's coming out, complete with bizarre and unflattering camera angles. Tragic music wafts in periodic- ally, just in time to remind us to be sad. Peter Shaver takes us on a walking tour of David Balfour Park, where the most innocent of shadows take on all the qualities of a nightmare. The hidden depths of a gay steambath are probed by a camera that sees no faces, only dim, empty hallways, a camera that peers suspiciously into darkened rooms and then zips away at a crazy angle as if embarrassed at having caught some dir- ty business. Accompanied not by the baths' usual disco-muzak but by the eerie sound of footsteps, these shots subvert Peter's attempts to demystify gay sex, snatching his experience from him and redefining it as something creepy, cold, frightening. For those occasions when Peter, or alter-ego Roc- co, take us into the bars, the camera is
ever ready to slip into slow motion and the sound track into weird electronic noise just so no one will miss the point that it's time to be grossed out.
The Kastners' camera does not just passively record and reflect; it selects, frames and shapes. They are formula filmmakers specializing in "sensitive" issues, complete with close-up invasions of private pain. When they don't find exactly what they want or expect they're not above using a little creativity to achieve the desired effect.
There's a fine line between a histor- ical record of anguish and a sensational exploitation of it. The Kastners' docu- mentaries derive their appeal from treading that line. And crossing it fairly often. They cross it every time they cen- sor a little bit of reality that is inconsis- tent with their long-sought saga of misery. When they wrench individuals out of their context and isolate them on the tube — when they extract the gay person from the gay community, for instance. When they take someone's story, like Pierre's, to the point of com- ing out — but not beyond to the joy of self-knowledge at last, to the strength of struggling and surviving, to the affirma- tion of community: of our friends and lovers, ourselves and each other.
There is something inherently dan- gerous in these apparently safe and lib- eral dramas or docudramas masquer- ading as documentary fact. Certainly they present people with the oppor- tunity to experience something painful or problematic or controversial. But always from a distance. From over there in the corner of the room, in that safe little box, nicely and neatly packaged for them so they don't have to do any of their own thinking.
The day after I'd finished the second draft of this article, John Kastner called me to ask if I'd filed the story yet. I hadn't quite. He said he had one or two thoughts he wanted to add.
"I'll have to say this carefully because I am, in a certain sense, representing the CBC," he began. He went on to re- assure me that he and his mother had the best interests of gay people at heart, but then said that "when you spend as much time in the gay community as we did, all kinds of things come your way. The temptation was really there. We could have done some really shitty things."
He was proud of having resisted that temptation. This from a man who had told a reporter from the Globe and Mail's Broadcast Week magazine, "The gay community is such an armored one. You come in saying you're going to do a film on homosexuality and understand- ably people are afraid you're going to do another Cruising."
John Kastner did, however, say one thing that was reassuring. He and Rose hadn't anticipated the negative reaction they got from so many gay people — not, he hastened to explain, that it was a majority reaction, but that it had been so intense.
"You know that film on lesbians that we're working on? Well, there's no question. If we get the same kind of enormous hassling, we'll drop it right away."
I suspect he thought he was threat- ening me.D
24/THE BODY POLITIC
MARCH 1981
There was something different about the celebration going on at Toronto's gaudy Casa Loma that night. It sounded like the other events usually seen at the castle — the wedding receptions, the high school graduation formals — but it took only a mildly keen eye to see that the two women silhouetted against the floodlit window were kissing, or that the two men standing by the grand piano were holding hands.
Portraits of Sir Henry Pellatt, the hydro-power baron who had built Casa Loma in 191 1, hung in at least three spots throughout the ballroom. One couldn't help wondering what old Henry would say about a night like this. He'd probably label the goings on 'Shenanigans" and curse the day he walked out of his beloved castle, leaving it to the city in lieu of back taxes because he couldn't afford the upkeep anymore. Poor Henry. Trapped in all those paintings as hundreds of gay men and lesbians danced beneath his nose.
More than 500 of them, at $10 a head, swept through the castle's massive doors on the night of January 23. They came to dance to the rock 'n' roll of Mama Quilla II, to nibble hors d'oeuvres served to them on trays held by gray-haired women in black dresses and white aprons. They came to drink the booze poured for them by red- jacketed bartenders in bow ties. But most of all they came to applaud as the Gay Community Appeal handed over $1 1 ,500 to the representatives of 15 gay groups and services. If portraits could grimace, Henry's probably would have, as one by one the representatives of groups like Gay Fathers and the Lesbian Organization of Toronto wended their way to the microphones at the front of the audience to take their cheques and make their thank you speeches.
Gay Appeal. It sounds like something you get from using toothpaste. In fact, it's the name of an organization that in
•
Toronto's Casa Loma has seen many a grand
affair, but there was a definite difference to this one.
Fay Orr reports on the Gay Community Appeal's awards night.
An evening with Gay Appeal
its first year managed to raise $19,000 for the gay community in Toronto. The Appeal was the brainchild of Harvey Hamburg, who had previously been instrumental in setting up the Toronto Area Gays (TAG) counselling group and the 923-GAYS information phone line. In January 1980, he got together with an optimistic group of other gay men and women and began sending letters and brochures out to people asking them if perhaps there was something in the community they felt needed doing. Because if there was, the brochures continued, the Appeal wanted to hear about and help to support it.
The Appeal's Rosemary Barnes and David Marriage handed over the cheques; the music of Mama Quilla II kept the crowd rocking.
It took a while for people to take the Appeal seriously. Lynn Fernie, from the feminist journal Fireweed, had to be prompted to send in an application ask- ing for $1,575 to help cover the costs of a special lesbian issue. She was amazed to discover in December that the Appeal would be able to grant her the entire amount. "I'd been thinking of phoning the Appeal up and asking them if they could spare $100 or so," she laughs, sit- ting in her Queen St apartment with copies of Fireweed spread out on her coffee table. "Then Valerie Edwards from the Appeal told me the news. I went bananas."
The Appeal was serious, and inter- ested in a wide range of gay services. Health clinics, like Hassle Free; coun- selling services, like Gay Youth's recorded phone message; legal services, like the Osgoode Law School's Gay Caucus; and cultural projects like Fire- weed's lesbian issue, now scheduled for publication in 1982.
The people of the Gay Community Appeal raised the money not simply by asking for it, as so many groups had done before, but also by putting to- gether a sophisticated promotion pack- age to convince people of the need. They spent $1,700 on audio-visual equipment to mount a slide-and-music presentation describing ten of the projects they hoped to fund.
The presentation, called Our Com- munity was put together by a group under the direction of TV writer and filmmaker Carolyn Walters. Her partner Lynnie Johnston did most of the photographic work, which was carefully coupled with a soundtrack prepared by Michael Roberts. Our Community was shown in gay people's homes around the city as the focal point for what the Appeal called SOS — Support Our
Selves — evenings. After a couple of hours of general hobnobbing among the hosts and their guests, someone from the Appeal would answer questions and introduce the sound-and-light show. Following the presentation people wrote out cheques, directing as much as 50% of their contribution towards a specific project if they wished. The Appeal raised most of its money through such social gatherings.
"The presentation did a lot to foster a sense of community," says Rosemary Barnes, president of the Appeal's board of directors. Barnes, who helped present the money at Casa Loma, thinks the Appeal's ability to generate a sense of community among gay people may be even more important than its ability to raise money for projects. There are others who agree. As Robert Trow from Hassle Free Clinic put it, "The Gay Community Appeal has probably done more than anything before in the com- munity to cross political and sexual barriers."
The Appeal begins its next fund- raising drive in September. It has $3,100, including $1,500 made at Casa Loma, to kick off the campaign. Last year the Appeal needed $4,300 to get going. Now that the Appeal has proven its credibility, organizers expect that even more groups will apply for funding.
"Oh, we'll expand," says Hamburg, who has a new money-raising idea in the works. The plan, called the Estates Pro- posal, would encourage gay people to leave money to the Appeal in their wills.
Hamburg smiles when asked about the gay bash at Casa Loma. "It was a grand event," he says. "We could have sent people their cheques through the mail, you know, but we wanted to do it in style. "□
THE BODY POLITIC/25
BEYOND THE VANDERBELT
y/i&m'd
*T%
Never fart in the presence of anyone wearing leather unless requested to do so first.
Learn to accept drinks from older men graciously (unless it is a diet cola, in which case it is permitted to kill them).
tllllVU"'''
'■lliimli'';
"miii utnf>-
""nil nillli' llllllll ii'lin|
Never ridicule the help.
As with some styles of shirt collar, the sing-along is dead, and your feeble attempt will not revive either.
It is, unfortunately, still considered quite declasse to make a fuss over the presence of the vice squad. If you suspect someone is a plain- clothes detective, try seeing if his image is reflected in the bar mirror.
26/THE BODY POLITIC
MARCH 1981
Upfront
Seems you can 't go anywhere in Toronto without running into this fresh young upstart, heady with success. David Roche gives us the inside dirt.
On the party
circuit with Sky Gilbert
Summer, 1980. I'm houseminding a friend's loft in downtown Toronto, and throw a small party the last weekend I have the run of the place. One of my guests brings Sky Gilbert, who's billed as "a young playwright eager to crash parties." Never heard of him. Wait a minute — summer of '75 at the Play- wright's Co-op. I was on the order desk, and every week or so this Sky would be down with some new writing to show the resident dramaturge. But I can't conjure up his face. It was just an exotic name flying around the office five years ago.
In he comes, tall, shy, with dark curly hair and a purple T-shirt assiduously rolled up at the sleeves, a glow of sweat shining on his brow and a tiny gold star in one ear lobe. A visual asset to my party. I offer a beer from the tub of my washer /spin-dryer and go on introdu- cing one knot of people to another. I next see Sky when he's on his way out. I'm lounging on a tabletop, acting the voluptuary in the August heat for the benefit of the stragglers. He thanks me for the party and slips out, looking mildly uncomfortable. • The voice is loud and uncompromi- sing. "Let's face it, everything Can- adian is inferior to everything Amer- ican." It's October now, and the cast and director of Lana Turner Has Col- lapsed! are unwinding at a late-night eatery on Yonge Street. Sky-for- Schuyler, born in Norwich, Connecticut and a Canadian resident since 1964, is starting to roll.
"In American restaurants they bring you water right away. They also bring crushed ice in the Coca-Cola. Ameri- cans know how to do things. You meet someone with a sense of humour here, he's an American." A poet named Sheila tells Sky he's a pig, but she's indulgent. It's Sky's night: his play is a hit.
It's Saturday night and there's been a huge turnout for the show. Everyone's a little heady with success. The theory is offered that gays are so desperate for a show about themselves that they'll flock to anything, even a play the Globe and Mail calls a failure.
A failure it is not. Lana Turner Has Collapsed! had taken me by surprise, to say the least. Fresh, tunny, astute on the subject of gay relations, it's that rare thing in the theatre nowadays — a satisfying, even uplifting experience. And here is its director, giving the lie to my image of him till now, all shyness gone, already plotting more publicity schemes and planning at the same lime a cast party for the closing they hope to
forestall for another week or two.
He's buttonholed a photographer who shall capture the definitive Sky Gilbert at home, en deshabille: "Here's how I see the shot: me in the loft bed, dressed as Nero, while a hundred bare- bottomed boys below shine flashlights on me." The photographer gulps. Sky is clenching his fists like an impatient child, eyes screwed up tight in anticipa- tion of the party. "I hope there's an orgy. 'Cause! I want it to happen]"
Letting off steam. •
Bui that's all over for the moment. It's calls Novembei . and / ana has
played a respectable twent) five perfor- mance! and been held over a week, to everyone's glee especially the several Lena groupies who keep turning up in
the audience. "The cast is quite dishv,"
I heard one say. True enough. Now Buddies In Bad Times, Sky's company, is in the brief lull before the fourth festival of new experimental works which they produce in association with Nightwood Theatre, the feminist group. I've got Sky to sit down over a pasta supper and answer a few questions on what his theatre is all about.
"Well," I ask, "was Lana a hit or wasn't it?"
"Not exactly. It was well received by the audiences that came to sec it, but on such a low budget it was hard tC enough people there to make ii a hit." One thing thai helped: an ad in I he Body Politic while the stuns was si ill running. One thing thai didn't: I tie
Tbronto stnr\ refusing to u-siess the play on the grounds that the Stai is "a
family newspaper."
Sky started doing theatre in Toronto ten years ago in high school. At York University he started an improvisational comedy team. Later his show City Nights, about couples in Toronto at night, was done at the Church Street Community Centre. One of the couples was gay. Even though, Sky says, he was straight at the time, everyone thought this was the best thing in the play.
"It sort of came as a surprise to me. I wrote about this couple — it was only in my imagination but it seems it was pretty accurate."
"You'd never had an affair at this point, Sky?"
"Never had any gay relationships at all. My next show? That was Buddies in Bad Times — which is what my com- pany is called now — based on Jacques Prevert's poetry. Then Angels in Underwear, which used the poetry of the Beats. It contained some poems on gay themes, some Allen Ginsberg, some Frank O'Hara."
In Paris Spleen Sky tried to write realistic scenes using Baudelaire's poetry and found that realism was not his forte. "After that, I decided I wasn't going to touch anything with a living room in it. All scenes were going to be in the middle of nowhere. With people doing crazy scenes. 'Cause that's the kind of thing I can handle. Doing crazy things on stage." (The arms of her fans stretch toward the Star, sitting regally aloof on her turquoise cloud: "Lana! Lana! Oh! Oh!")
Lana Turner Has Collapsed! used the poems of Frank O'Hara, and O'Hara himself as a character. What was Frank O'Hara's and what was Sky Gilbert's in the script? It's hard to tell. Sky | explains.
"His poetry is very conversational. It's just talk. Some of it is very heightened, very surreal, but other poems are just like someone saving, 'Hi!'
"Basically, for me, it was an experi- ment in how many different ways the poems could be done. My goal was to meld the two, Frank O'Hara's and mine. I hoped to capture (he sensibility, let some of the brilliance rub off his sort of melancholy sense o\ humour."
Sky readily adopted suggestions from his cast sshile preparing the script. "It ssas a collective creation, l he script ssa>< definitely a blueprint. Smce I had one
actor ssho ssas introspective and quiet m Ins approach, we turned some of the poems he did into simple chats with ihe
audience. 1 had another actor ssho ssas
quite a dancer, and his approach ssas to cut out the ssords altogether and just dance the poems."
"\\ hal ssas it like to cast a stuns that
MARCH 1981
THE BODY POLITIC/27
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28fTHE BODY POLITIC
has parts for gay men?" I ask.
"It was made very clear to everyone before we started out that the show had a gay slant: it was about Frank O'Hara's writing, he was gay, and therefore it would be about relation- ships between gay men. Not saying, 'Are you gay, do you want to be in this play,' but: 'The play has this slant and we hope that you'll be interested. But you don't have to be gay to relate to it.*"
And some members of the cast were not gay, as it turned out. "The title role of Lana Turner: how did you come to cast her?"
"Deborah Jarvis was by far the Tightest woman for the role," says Sky. "I auditioned several women, but none of them had that marvellous sexual irony that Deb used with the Lana char- acter. She parodied sex. She was attrac- tive enough to make fun of it and still be sexy. She also had to play various women friends in Frank O'Hara's life, a whole other side of the poems. Not a parody of a woman, but hopefully just a woman — someone who's friends with a gay man. An intelligent woman, a creative woman."
"Did you write her monologue about relating to gay men? I saw women nudge each other in the audience while this scene played."
"I had a couple of women come up to me and say, 'I lived with a gay man and you are right on! How did you know?' That was very gratifying."
I recall that Lana says something quite charming about how important the relationship a woman has with a gay male friend is. "She says, 'It means something. Don't ask me what!' She's about to say something very positive here."
"To me one of the things that speech was about..." He hesitates. "Well. How can you describe that ineffable and strange and wonderful thing that, as I have recently discovered, exists between a man and a woman when they are not being sexual together? I was straight for a long time and it's been this wonderful discovery of how close you can be with a woman and not have sex with her. Human relationships are marvellous and varied things, there are so many ways they can go. It's quite wonderful to see what can happen."
"You got a terrific freshness because the people contributing to the show have a stake in the subject. It seemed to be coming out of their own lives."
"The gay actors were eager to play in something that was close to them. In fact, the actors I auditioned expressed that eagerness. They said, 'I'd like to be in a play that is about gay men and their relationships. That's what I'm involved in and that's what's closest to me, and for a change that would be very in- teresting.' One of the comments I re- ceived about the show was someone tell- ing me, 'I really felt that this show was one of the few places other than a gay bar where I felt I could put my arm around my lover.' That made me think, how wonderful that I have had some- thing to do with creating an atmosphere where people feel they can be themselves."
So often an actor will be cast in a gay role and then dissociate himself from the part. It doesn't do, after all, for an actor who wants to get hired to be iden- tified too closely with gay parts. But I think audiences feel this. We feel something inauthentic. Lana was just the opposite of that. The contact be- tween the men wasn't fake or over- blown or forced.
"We didn't make a big deal about the physicalness between the men," Sky
says, "we just did it. It didn't seem un- natural or uncomfortable to us."
"What's it like trying to get money for enterprises with explicit gay content?"
"I haven't had that much experience. Theatre Passe Muraille was very inter- ested in the play because it was a gay production. They're interested in sup- porting theatre that appeals to certain communities in Toronto. And money has come from the Ontario Arts Coun- cil. Their main concern — they asked me right out — was whether there is a community that is waiting for gay theatre. Is there a gay theatre audience out there? I think there defintely is, and Lana proved it. It sold out two weekends in a row, and we held over. I feel it's going to happen more strongly. It's not that gays aren't there, but that gays aren't used to going to gay things culturally."
"What does it mean to be a gay artist, to you?"
"I think the most important thing about that, and the thing I've had the most difficulty expressing even to gay people is that, to me, it's being an artist who is gay. My purpose as an artist is not to make points about gay life or make political points. My purpose is to create art that comes^out of my life, to express and communicate something of what's happening to me. What's hap- pening to me has a lot to do with my relationships with gay men. Isherwood said, one of the reasons we were all gay in Berlin was because we didn't want to fit into what society had set out for us, and we rebelled. I don't fit in, and I don't want to fit in, and being gay means I don't have to. I can find my own way and chart my own course."
November 30, 1980. The Rhubarb! festival of new works has just closed, and another cast party is in full swing. More hectic dancing to Rough Trade and Drastic Measures. Store-bought hors d'oeuvres are shoved in the oven for reheating. At his varathaned kitchen bar laminated with sheet music, Sky Gilbert is pontificating once more, joshing his feminist colleagues from Nightwood Theatre and getting as good as he gives.
"Men look for perfection in men," he announces. "Women like flawed men."
Sheila agrees. Sky turns on her with counterfeit disdain. "A typical female reaction!" Laughter, hugging. Now they're playing man-in-the-street inter- views and a thumb standing for a micro- phone is pushed towards this face and that. To complete the effect, Cynthia swings the overhead lamp over a sub- ject's head while the roving reporter poses questions on art, sexual politics, sexual gossip.
Suddenly from the edge of the room another "reporter" speaks up and the lamp swings over to Sky. The thumb is thrust under his chin. The man's ques- tion is friendly, but this time it's kidding-on-the-level:
"Alright Sky, when are you going to give up this faggot stuff and get down to some real theatre?"
Sky doesn't skip a beat. His answer is swift and there's no trace of apology in his voice. "The faggot's there; it's got to come out. Maybe it'll change, but for now..." He concludes with a shrug. Just then the stove timer goes off and a squeal goes up around the room.
The hot egg rolls and bo-bo balls are ready to eat. □
David Roche has been busy this winter performing in Dirt is My Profession, which he wrote for the Rhubarb! festival of new works.
MARCH 1981
History-bound and social beings that we are, we are always con- structing our identities. (May I open you to Jane Rule's new novel with such a ploy?) During the 18th and 19th centuries, various Europeans and North Americans con- structed a range of identities that they came to label "homosexual." During our century, the "lesbian" and the "gay" identities have been formed. New homosexuals, new lesbians and new gays come into being every day. That odd notion of one-in-ten-no- matter-where-no-matter-when is a con- struct that met the needs of a 1950s male homosexual identity, but it is a fic- tion with no more universal validity than that of the homo male as limp- wristed, or that of the dyke as man- shouldered.
Likewise for our arts. Those special constructs that we, in our time and place, label "art" have varying relations to the historical and social identities we create. Take Jane Rule. Her first two novels centred on women-loving-women in tight personal relationships. Her subsequent two novels turned to com- munes of characters which included les- bians alongside a black faggot here, a moron there, grandmother types, babies and heterosexual lovers. Rule's early constructs of lesbian identity, that is, were based on personal emotion; her subsequent ones were based on micro- cosmic societies mixing lesbian pairs in among other kinds. She has yet to engage a community of lesbians in which lesbian identity is constructed as ' part of a separatist setting.
Her fifth novel, Contract with the World, continues to construct lesbian identity with reference to a mixed group, though these identities are more diverse than in earlier novels: Roxanne is a thorough-going lesbian-feminist; Alma is a married mother having a sig- nificant lesbian affair; Carlotta is an independent woman who sleeps, once, with Roxanne. But the main difference between Contract and Rule's previous two novels is that it studies the artistic identities of women. All three of these main women characters are artists. The interplay of their sexual identities with their artistic identities is Contract's subject.
If, then, you seek another Rubyfruit Jungle or Nights in the Underground, with constructs of lesbian identity pre- dominantly involving women's emo- tional relationships to other women, ignore Contract. Karla Jay has already suggested, in Gay Community News, that Rule might "lose" her lesbian audi- ence with this book. Jay might have said the same about Rule's last two; for Jay, the "lesbian audience" seeks only books in which lesbians predominate. But if you're interested in how women's sexual identity might interact with their artistic identity — in ways that evoke but surpass Woolf's Lily Briscoe or
Contract with the World by Jane Rule Academic Press. 1980 $16.95
Michael Lynch on the spinster-spider's art in Contract with the World
In art. in bed: Jane Rule's web
Cather's Thea Kxonborg — then, reader, read it. Today.
The terms of the Contract: six charac- ters, three women and three men, all artists, somehow conceive of themselves as a group even though they assemble only twice. Near the beginning of the novel they come together for Alma's thirtieth birthday party — in a year when they all turn thirty — and at the end they come together for Carlotta's show exhibiting the portraits she has painted of them all, five years later. All six are passing through the first half of the "terrible decade."
They do so together because Joseph (an "artist in bed," his wife says) visits them a lot in the first chapter and, from the second through to the last, Carlotta paints them all, but mostly because Rule spins a narrative web that binds them together in our minds. As spinster- spider, Rule is thus close to Carlotta. who tells Alma that "the myth for women is Arachne and Athena."
Arachne, the consummate spinner and weaver, informs this book from Alma, the spider-woman /mother, through Carlotta, whose namesake may be E B White's famous spider Charlotte. (See Mary Daly's Gyn/Ecology for more about spinsters as spiders.)
Rule spins out so many connections that almost nothing appears without an echo elsewhere. She constructs her characters by having them mirror each other repeatedly. "Why do you paint?" Alma asks Carlotta at her easel. "To say, 'See, we exist,'" Carlotta replies, adding, "It seems a lot of work when any mirror has the same message." But a mirror, Alma retorts as Rule herself might "doesn't say it matters."
"We all have our contracts with the world," Cailotta says later, and the novel carefully examines the dialectics of sexuality and art within those con- tracts. Straight Mike Irasco's art. Alma writes, "is like Mike's sort of se\, an attack against foreign material " When
he abandons his manifestos and hard- ware for making money, one of his sculptures, intended to redeem art from usefulness, becomes a useful climbing toy for the children to play on.
With an energy and innocence devoid of theoretical justifications, Roxanne constructs a sound map of Vancouver, which she wonderfully calls "Mother Tongue," while living with the novel's loving mother, Alma. But then she goes off to L A, where she contracts both a new lover and a discursive jargon.
Alma's art is largely mothering, which she can do lusciously despite her shell of respectability and man-clinging. But