N EWS L -- 9 '1’
LEXINGTON GAY SERVICE ORGANIZATION ii
POST OFFICE BOX 11471 rhp~ 1 "TOGEEHER--
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY 40511 g I GAY & PROUD"
SEPTEMBER 1983‘.__.__.__..__________________________________
, . . _

? tISI den t Ifil m efigagg Keith Elston, President
For the past several months, I have been pushing toward more media attention for the gay
community. I have received many congratulations but I have also received many complaints.
Many feel that by pushing G80 and the gay community as a whole out into the open, I am at
the very least making them feel uncomfortable attending GSO gatherings and, at the most,
endangering their reputations, their jobs, and even their lives. Though I respect their
right to have these feelings, I have to respond by saying that they are largely unfounded
feelings.

During the recent Gay Pride observance I was told that a number of people refused to at—
tend because they were afraid of being seen and/or harrassed. Gay Pride Week was, de—
spite these people, a major success. There was only one incident(of a person driving by
with his girlfriend waving a rather limp wrist at us that could even vaguely be considered
harrassment. That was the first incident which has ever eccured in the more than nine
years that GSO has been in existance.

To be quite honest, I am beginning to feel that many of the people who stay away from these
things are just looking for some excuse to pin their own problems on, whether it be an un—
easiness with their sexuality, a personal grudge against someone in the organization or
simply the need to find fault with everything.

V I am sick to death of hearing people bitch about GSO doing this or not doing that. The
people who gripe the loudest and the longest are also the ones you never see doing anye
thing productive for the organization or the community. They have what they consider to
be'the answer"to all of what they perceive to be wrong with the gay community but they
want to see someone else implement it. They don't want to get involved. They don't want
to be seen or heard. They don't want to take a stand for anything they believe in——even
their own civil and human rights. It reminds me of Mayor Teddy Burnside in the old tele—
vision series "Carter Country”. Whenever a crisis arose, Teddy was good at figuring out
what should be done and then ordering everyone else to "handle it, handle it!" then hid-
ing in his office while everyone tried to figure out how his plans could work.

We all have that office, or in our case, our closet to hide in from time to time and we
all hope someone else will ”handle it", but as long as we continue to hide from others,
we hide from ourselves as wello We deprive the nongay community a chance to get to know
us as human beings, to value our accomplishments, to respect our right to exist. Worse
yet, we deny ourselves the right to pride, self—esteem and dignity.
We will continue to work for more media exposure because we feel that that is one of the
best ways of dispelling myths, misconceptions and stereotypes about gays and lesbians.
We will begin to implement community service programs (i.e. the Community Kitchen, etc.)
to show people we are interested enough in this city to help it thrive. And soon we will
start educating community leaders on the importance of establishing an ordinance that truly
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