The Washington Blade, June 25, 1982

              June 25, 1982 • Vol. 13, No: 13 500 Outside of D.C./Baltimore Areas
THE GAY NEWSPAPER OF THE NATION'S CAPITAL
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by jim. Marks
The Gay Olympic Torch was lit
and lofted high by National Torch
Run coordinator Jon Roberson.
Robert Belanger, P Street Pestivai
parade organizer, gave the signal:
"Let's march!" Two bands played,
drag queens adjusted their gowns,
horses' hoofs clattered on the
pavement, motorcycles revved up,
the Barry Bandwagon pulled away
from - the curb. Under a bright
_Sunday sun in a clear blue June sky,
Gay and Lesbian Pride Day '82, the
high-point of a week's festivities, had
begun.
And a busy week it was indeed. Art,
parties, music, poetry, athletics,
theatre, politics, fundraising —
everything that makes- up the Gay
community — had a place. Even
Mother Nature pitched in: of all the
week's events, rain forced the
What does Gay Pride look like?
Two full pages of photos from
this year's celebration appear
on pages 16-17.
postponement of only one.
The weather on Pride Day itself,
June 20, couldn't have been more
perfect: sunny, dry, cool. The parade,
according to Belanger, was twice as
large as last year's. There were groups
of all sorts in the march. The "P
Street Witches," a club of P Street
Beach sun worshippers, had a
contingent, dressed in black t-shirts
and escorted by a black '56 T-Bird.
There were religious groups like
Affirmation and Dignity and Bet
Mishpacbah and Gay Mennonites,
political clubs like the Gay Activists
Alliance, the Lesbian and Gay Focus
of the People's Anti-War Movement,
the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club,
and the Northern Virginia Gay
Alliance. Older Gays were represen-ted
by the D.C. SAGE (Senior Action
in a Gay Environment) Coach.
' Members of the Blue Ridge
Lambda Alliance moseyed iti from
Lynchburg; many of the more than 50
Black and White Men Together
marchers were out-of-towners, in
-Washington for the second annual
BWMT conference. New York
Continued on page 15
Clarke, Kane gain
Stein endorsements
by Steve Martz
Members of the Gertrude Stein '
Democratic Club voted earlier this week
to endorse the bid of Ward 1 Council-member
Dave Clarke to unseat City
Council Chairman Arrington Dixon in
the September 14 Democratic primary.
The Club also voted at its June 21
meeting to endorse the reelection
campaigns of At large Councilmembers
Betty Ann Kane (D) and Hilda Mason
(Sthd).
In addition, Stein members voted to
back Democrat Marie Nahikian's effort
to replace Clarke in Ward 1, and
incumbent Democrats Polly Shackleton
in Ward 3 and Nadine Winter in Ward 6.
The three hour forum was the most
dramatic in Stein's history, several long-time
Club members agreed afterwards.
The political drama came when the Club
voted by a 2-1 margin, and against the
express wishes of its president, to endorse
challenger Clarke over incumbent Dixon.
The human drama was provided by Betty
Ann Kane, whose arrival at the meeting,
just hours after she reluctantly abandoned
her mayoral campaign, was greeted by
loud and sustained applause.
The Clarke-Dixon race was the most
hotly contested endorsement fight in the
Dave Clarke
Club's six-year history, said Richard
Maulsby, the founder and first president
of Stein. Both men forcefully argued their
cases before the group.
"This organization has stood fast
against the position of sacrificing
conscience for political expediency,"
declared challenger Clarke, arguing
Continued on page 29
City officials, agency
come to Clinic's rescue
by Lou Chibbaro jr.
The D.C. Department of Health and
Human Services (DHS) on June 17 gave
the Gay-oriented Whitman-Walker
Clinic a reprieve from its recent loss of
federal funding by awarding it a grant of
$15,000 for the remainder of fiscal year
1982,
The $15,000 grant follows a separate
grant of $10,000 the DHS already gave
the clinic earlier this year when it became
apparcnt federal funds were likely to be
eliminated_
Spokesman for Mayor Marion Barry
and City Council Chairman Arrington
Diion hailed the grant as one more
indication of the government's strong
support for the city's Gay community.
They said both Barry and Dixon played a
role in assuring that city health officials
made a vigorous attempt to locate the
money.
Clinic President Jim Graham said he is
not sure of the exact process through
which city officials found the money but
nevertheless said he is "extremely
grateful" for the efforts of Barry and
Dixon as well as D.C. Public Health
Commissioner Dr. Arthur Hoyt in
pushing for the funding.
However, Graham said the clinic's
problems have not ended because the cut-off
of federal funds will create a shortfall
of about $25,000 each year. Currently,
there are no commitments by either
federal or city officials for funding for
fiscal year 1983, which begins on October
1 of this year, or for future years.
Graham said the seriousness of the
funding situation cryst4i7ed on June 4
when officials of the U.S. Public Health
Service (PHS) informed him the clinic's
application for a $38,000 grant had been
rejected and that, under Reagan
administration budget cuts, there was
virtually no chance of receiving direct
federal funding anytime soon.
The clinic has received PHS grants of
$25,000 for each of the past three years for
the purpose of assisting its venereal
disease screening and treatment program
for Gay men. Graham said the grants
covered about 269L) of the clinic's 594,000
annual budget. The remaining portion of
the budget, Graham said, is raised
through donations by patients who use
the clinic and through contributions and
fund raisers sponsored by Gay commun-ity
organizations.
Continued on page 28