CAMPUS
University Daily Kansan, August 22, 1984
Page 13
continued from p. 1
Gay
"The figures don't tell the whole story about the fear and the anger the victims experience," Berrill said, "but they are an official recognition of the problem."
The National Gay Task Force has established a crisis line that records anti-gay violence reports. During the first eight months of 1983, the crisis line received 1,682 reports of harassment, intimidation and violence.
This number is probably only 5 percent of the actual count, though. Berger has a good point.
Homosexuals are accustomed to being welcomed with less than open arms. Sometimes the harassment is termination in employment and housing
In housing and public accommodations, there is generally nothing to prohibit discrimination because someone is gay, according to "The Rights of Gay People," an American Civil Liberties Union handbook.
The main issues involving gay rights, said Michael Kaye, professor of law at Washburn University in Topeka, are sexual freedom, employment discrimination and the right to work as teachers.
John (not his real name) said he was fired from job at a Lawrence
"
that homosexuals should not be considered a minority, but should take their complaints to the Student Rights Committee because all the issues in the GLSOK constitution individual rights, not group rights.
The Student Senate Finance Committee voted April 10 to deny funds for GLOSK for 185, but finally allocated $505 for office rent and telephone service to GLOSK on April 18.
The decision was a device to strip GLSOK of its funds from student government, Lichtward said.
there are various kinds of problems they deal with," said Stan Sterling, KU associate professor of social welfare. "Most often it's a problem in a stable relationship and it's marital counseling. Sometimes the problem is that the family has discovered the person is gay, and he's in a panic.
Adjustment problems
Most homosexuals have problems adjusting to their lifestyles in this society.
Personally I feel that the practice of homosexuality goes against what God intends. It goes against what is taught in the Scripture.
"Less common are the people who've recently discovered they are gay, and they're in shock, or feel
-Jimmy Cobb, pastor
r restaurant when his employer found
out he was gay
"And when my roommate and I moved into our apartment," he said, "we had to sign a lease saying that we wouldn't break the law. We knew they meant no pot, but if you think about it, any sexual activity between two men is illegal, and that really makes me angry."
Homosexuality hits a nerve with many people, she said, that threatens the well-being of men.
GLSOK has suffered discrimination politically because of some people's anti-gay feelings, Licht-ward said.
"That discrimination we can't fight unless attitudes are changed so that kids can accept themselves the way they are," she said.
"PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT if you're born black you can't help it, and you can't help being handicapped, but if a woman doesn't like men they think 'Don't like men? Why's wrong?' "Lichtwdt said.
"Five years from now, I hope that GLSOK is accepted as well by the students as it is by the administration as a valid organization."
The Young Americans for Freedom was one group that Lichtwardt said had pushed for denying student funds to GLSOK.
Part of the political discrimination against GLOSO, Liechwirt said, and others.
"THERE IS NO official policy on gays handed down from the national group," said Byron Daniel, a member of the KU Young Americans for Freedom chapter. But personally I think they're personal. We're not getting any money at the University. We're going to fight that this year."
In February, the Student Senate Minority Affairs Committee decided
"
never had sexual arousement for any but their own sex, have a very hard time trying to change or resist their feelings."
"I think that in some cases, homosexuality is symptomatic of an illness, or it may be a psycho-sexual development, the cause for which is unknown," Harden said.
"HOMOSEXUALITY ISN'T a big secret anymore," he said. "All kinds of options are available for gays and lesbians. There's been a lot more acceptance in society than in gay groups. There's more acceptance in society and less personal conflict."
threatened, scared and confused," he said. "Even less common would be a case where the male in a heterosexual married couple has been bisexual, and the wife has discovered this, or the male has revealed it."
Help for these patients takes a variety of forms, Sterling said.
Whether homosexuality is a mental illness is still being debated within the American Medical Association, Harnden said.
"People come to me because they want to change, not to become comfortable with the way they are," said Mack Harden, director of the Lawrence Christian counseling service.
"If a person is engaged in homosexual activity, he usually has three options," said Harden, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology. "He can change the direction but some people can't change the direction of their sexual orientation.
"THE SECOND OPTION is to go ahead and engage in homosexual activity, either openly or privately, but he will guilt or acceptance of that," he said.
"THEY GO BACK on forth on that," he said, although the AMA's most recent vote favored homosexuality as not being a mental illness.
or those who are naturally oriented toward homosexuality, either for a genetic reason or a result of social pressure, when I would not consider it an illness.
But sometimes accepting a homosexual lifestyle isn't what the person with homosexual feelings wants.
"The third option is for them to admit they are homosexual but try to resist the temptation and abstain, even though the desire is there."
Most of the people Harnden has seen have either tried to change their homosexual feelings, or resist the temptation, he said.
"But if a normally heterosexual man, one who is aroused by the opposite sex, engages in homosexual activity and then continues the activity against his natural preference, that could be indicative of a mental illness," Harnden said.
"In some cases this has worked, and in some it hasn't," Harnden said. "A deeply ingrained force or power is influencing them. Those who are exclusively homosexual, who have
Gay organizations
Gay organizations, including those formed by students, are established to lobby for gay causes or to provide social events for their members.
GLSOK, one of the first three gay student organizations in the nation, is a group for homosexuals, the already "opaque out." Lichward said.
The group has 40 active members who use the GLSOK office on the third floor of the Kansas Union almost daily, and about 400 semi-active members who attend func- tions and help with projects, she said.
The number has grown since last year, and Lichtwardt, who estimated that to percent of the campus population was gay, expected it to continue growing each year.
"WE TRY TO show new members that we're like everybody else." Lichtwardt said. "Most of them grew up hearing that queers rape children and all lesbians are butchdowkies. We show them that we're average people like everyone else. We just happen to love the same sex instead of the opposite sex."
Although GLSOK was one of three such organizations when it started, it has since been joined by more than 300 other gay student organizations, said Dirk Burrs, of the National Gay Task Force in New York. "They are as few as 10 members, and some are as large as GLSOK.
The organizations are spread across the United States, Burns said, with the highest concentration in Massachusetts, New York and California.
"There's hardly a state now that doesn't have a gay student organization," he said.
THE NUMBER OF gay organizations that aren't solely for students is even greater, Burns said, with more than 100 in New York City alone. These are varying groups catering to specific interests, such as the Gay Marriage Band, the Gay Teacher's Association, the Gay Officer's League for police, a gay youth group and Gay Vegetarians.
"You name it, and there's probably a gay caucus or organization for it — maybe not in New York but somewhere," Burns said.
Although one of the most common allegations against homosexuality is that it violates the Christian faith, gays and lesbians have carved a place for themselves as Christians.
Going to church
The Metropolitan Community Church, with a branch in Kansas City, was founded by Troy Perry for the majors in Los Angeles 15 $980.804
The church began as a group for gays but now drew bisexuals and heterosexuals as well.
NOW BRANCHES OF the MCC can be found in London, New
our theology is God's love for all humanity." Afterberry said, "Heterosexuals find that appealing and refreshing, that there's no condemnation of anyone, no matter who they are."
THE CHURCH HAS a good relationship with many other Protestant churches, F- said, and receives students from St. Paul's School of theology in Kansas City.
Homosexuality isn't a big secret anymore. All kinds of options are available for gays and lesbians. There's been a lot more talk, more books and more self-help groups. There's more acceptance in society and less personal conflict.
- Stan Sterling,
associate professor of social welfare
Zealand, Africa, and throughout the United States, with branches in Wichita and Topeka as well as in Kansas City.
"
Active members of the Kansas City branch total about 200, said student clergyman Loren Atterberry.
The services at the MCC are comparable to those of most major Protestant churches, Atterberry said.
Caucuses of Protestant churches that deal with homosexuality include the Catholic group Dignity, the Mormon group Affirmation, the Episcopal group Integrity, the Lutherans Concerned, the Evangelical Outreach group, and Presbyterians for Gay and Lesbian Rights.
"We have a Call to Worship, a Prayer of Invocation, the Scripture reading, a sermon, offertory and Eucharistic meal on Sunday noon," he said.
"But we do have our work cut out for us," Atterberry said. "The fundamentalists still have a problem dealing with us."
"The Upper Room Jesus Movement has picked us twice after church services," Afterberry said. "They wouldn't come inside the church — they thought that would be
an abomination.
"We just shrug and go on."
KU: A safe harbor?
Jane described Lawrence as a vacuum in Kansas, a small area of acceptance toward homosexuals in the mainly conservative Midwest.
"For the Midwest, KU is very tolerant," Lichtwardt said. "For California, it's very conservative. I guess you'd say it's somewhere in the middle, but KU is unique because of the history, because of the administration, the people and the fact that GLOSK has been around so long."
Lichtwardt said gay student organizations were also viable at Wichita State University, Kansas State University and Emporia State University. The group is Emporia's Phoenix, which received recognition last fall.
None of those three universities, or Fort Hays State University, Washburn University or Pittsburgh State University, has gay student groups listed in its student directory.
"If a gay person is young and a student, he probably would feel safer on the college campus than in the world of work," Dalley said. "But that doesn't make it completely safe." There are other ways to liberal attitude on campus, making it easier for gays to find some safe harbor."
The sexual lives of gays and lesbians are often not the major factors dominating their lives.
"To me, the fact that I am a lesbian is irrelevant to many parts of my life," said an Overland Park student.
Along beaches at Malibu, Galveston, Biloxi, Pompano, Kitty Hawk, Atlantic City, and Cape Cod, sunbathers spread their mats over hot sands to enjoy an afternoon of leisure. You can see countless sunlovers relaxing on tatami mats from Pier 1...and no wonder. Black cotton trim attractively outlines handwoven Chinese straw. And each mat costs so little, you'll have money left over for essentials like suntan lotion, shades, and a radio. For frolicking on a chic beach-or just partying at lakeside-you'll want several sunlover's mats.
want several sunhouses mats.
72" long X 29" wide...ea. $1.99
Pier 1 Importer, 300 stores. Check the white pages. In Canada Import Bazaar. For shop-by-mail catalog send $1 to Decl. C-1, 2520 W. Ft., Worth, TX 76102
THE JAYHAWK SINGERS
B107 Kansas Union
announce:
FALL, 1984 AUDITIONS and INTERVIEWS
for the following positions:
AUDITIONS
12 singers and dancers
Pianist
Drummer
Bass Guitarist
Tenor Saxophonist
All others should bring a sheet listing your experience and/or your desire to serve in your position.
Singers and instrumentalists will need to bring a memorized piece; an accompanist will be provided. Sightreading and dancing potential will be tested.
DATES: Tues. August 28th
Wed. August 29th
Thur. August 30th
NOTE: You do not need
to be a music major
to apply!
Support Personnel
Musical Director
Musical Arranger
Sound Manager
Light Manager
Video Manager
Stage Manager
Master of Ceremonies
Designer/Artist
Ticket/Advertising Manager
Photographer
Choreographer
INTERVIEWS Executive Board Executive Director Executive Secretary Business Manager Publicity Manager
Need information???? Call 864-2495, and find out how to be a part of a tradition! Funded by the Student Activity Fee
TIME: 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
PLACE: Big 8 Room, Kansas Union
K.U. Students & Faculty: Don't be left in the cold-
Mastercraft offers Completely Furnished Studios, 1,2, &3 br. apartments; designed with you in mind. Consider our many locations.
Hanover Place
Located Between 14th and 15th on the West Side of Massachusetts Street 841-1212
Coldwater Flats 413 W. 14th Street
HIGHLANDS 13th & Ohio
Oread Town Houses
* 61 Indiana - 91 Indiana - 927 Indiana
* 125 Torrance - 826 Antioch - 132 Vermont
Tanglewood
10th & Arkansas
749-2415
Tiburon 9th & Emery Rd
Summit House
We can fill your housing needs Affordable luxury geared to your Lifestyle Mastercraft Management 842-4455
1