[Article: The Gavel Raps] Page: 1 of 4
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____________________June
should have been the usual at-
tire. It was a moving and
beautiful service.' But there is
something fundamentally unnatural
about being dressed up in wool on
- a warm holiday Saturday morning
and something fundamentally un-
natural about men dying so young
with AIDS.Ga V4
Raps
by Bill Nelson, DGA President
You - now , pertoeel P
honest, I've always thought that
the whole concept of "gay pride"
was a little - well - peculiar.
I know that you can be proud of
your home or your car or your
friends or your family - but
somehow the idea of being proud
of what you do between the sheets
(unless, of course, you are very
good at it)' just didn't quite
seemdto fit into my concept of
"pride". -- And that's coming from
someone who might as well have
their gayness tattooed across the
forehead -. anyone - who watches
local TV or reads the newspapers
knows that this writer constantly
parades his sexual orientation
like some kind of red badge of
courage or something. is that
a suitable object of "pride"? -
'But that's Just my own per.-
sonal homophobia welling up in-
side - I internalized those same
hate-queers messages when I was
growing up, too, you know.' I
look at my straight friends and
their wedding rings, and pictures
of their children on their desks,
and their "Child on Board" signs
in the back windows of their
cars. If' those aren't an-
nouncements of pride in their
sexual orientation, then I don't
know what is. They even have
their own holidays - -.their: own
heterosexual pride days - they
call them "Mother's Day" anc
"Father's Day" and all those
other holidays designed .for
"family" outings.'- - And - they
splash their heterosexual pride
all over billboards and other ad-
vertisements. They put it oi
their bumper stickers '("Ask se
about my grandbaby"). - And it's
warm and human - maybe a little
corny - but wonderful.
- t' i . .: li f . ,." .:fBeing gay is, after all,' a
great deal more than just-what we,
do between the sheets.. Gayness
has become (and is becoming more
so every day) a whole concept of
being - of living. We have al-
ways had our own social life -
but now we have developed our own
literature, music, theater, so-
cial - service agencies, "lan-
guage", support systems and all
the other facets of life that
define a culture. We look toeach other to share not only the
good times, but the bad times as
well That's evidence of real
maturity as a people.
I don't mean to sound par-
ticularly mysterious, but I have
it from inside sources that our
city - and especially the gay
community - ' is on the brink of
profound social change. That
change has a great deal to do
gwithAIDS - and that change is
going to be for the better. The
changes I'm talking about are not
_. the behavioral modifications that
came about. due to safe sex
requirements - those are insig-
qnificantcompared. to, what the-.
rest -of society is about to ex-
perience. - You see, 'AIDS is
making the world look at gay cul-
ture. -.And they are pleasantly
surprised at what they see."'Gay ights and
rights and our dignity as a peo-
ple are secured, we must remember
that we are not being given, any-
thing - we are only finally
having returned to. us what the
rest of our country takes for
granted and calls "inalienable
rights" (rights which President
- Jefferson thought should never be
taken away - that's what "in-
alienable" means, you know).- And
if life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness- were not meant to be
- available 'to gay people as a
right, then the whole foundation
of this country is meaningless.
I think we can be grateful to our
non-gay friends for help in
securing our rights, and grateful
- that justice has finally pre-
vailed, but our gay pride should
restrain us from ever being
grateful for rights which shouldgay. digity
will he .WOfi., with the lires
of those- friends-we Fill
*ha re lost to A IDS"'. They're' beginning to see us for ,.never have been taken from us in
- who we really are; they're seeing. the first place.' Some people may
the incredible work and respon- think that's a- rather arrogant
sibility 'that have been'devoted attitude, but people are
to this health crisis; and the literally giving their lives
myths are coming crashing down. these days - and that raises the
Gay rights and gay dignity will stakes a bit, doesn't it.
be won with the lives of those
friends we will have lost to "-;5** '
AIDS. " I don't like to use -
military metaphors,' -but" it There* was something' -that
shouldn't go without noting that struck me at Richard Rogers'
our country has always taken memorial service. It was 10a.m.
great' pride in those people who on a warm saturday morning - a
have . given their lives for Saturday morning of a big holiday
-liberty and justice - and some- weekend - a time when most of us
how I know these deaths are no. would have been home in bed. And
different. . - all of his friends and acquain-
That brings us back to gay tances were there dressed in.
-pride. I firmly believe that our their most formal suits at a time
gay pride demands that,- as our of day when jeans and T-shirtsPage 4
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1986 .m I
Have you ever heard the story
of how Razzle Dazzle Dallas got
started? It's a gay pride story.
About a million years or so ago,
a group of us in attendance at a
DGA meeting (I won't mention any
names because no one in the group
wants to admit to being that old)
beard a list of the events
scheduled for Gay Pride Week.
There was a candle light march, a
memorial service for Harvey Milk,
and some discussion groups or
films or something - that was
it. Gay Pride Week. Something
was missing - the joy, the ex-
uberance, the fun - even in the
darkness of our closets and our
oppression, we are a FESTIVE
bunch, after all! So the next
step was to find a couple of
party lists - at that time in
our history, the only gay
resources of that.type available.
Then followed weeks of flyers,
interruptions of many dinner
parties at the Bell Pepper on
McKinney (the only place to con-
tact gay women) - somewhat fear-
ful conversations with the people
at: the Hall of' State' at Fair
Park. the police department, and
beer companies about, the whole
idea of a big "gay" party, vi-
cious arguments about color and
fiber composition of, T-shirts,
and lots of doubts about just. how
many people would show up'- for" a-
gay party in a public' building in
Dallas, Texas. We hoped. for
about 500 people - over= 1000
showed up..' What a night! '-The
beer lines were long, the music
was all on tape and wasn't quite
loud enough,-but nobody seemed tk
care. Beer, party favors, -glit-
ter, and amazed homosexuals
singled at' the -feetO of "-'the
statues of the heroes of Texas
(in fact, one of my favorite
memories is the. remembrance of
looking up during the clean-up
and seeing the huge statue of.Jiu
-Bowie with an 'outstretched 'band'
holding a strand "of Mardi -Gras
beads - and smiling). That eve-
ning. began one of our wonderful
gay traditions in this town. -The
party - has changed locations and
forms over the years, but it has
always remained the once-a-year
- celebration"-where- all parts of
our community come together for a
great time..--. Razzle Dazzle has
always disbursed its profits to
the community, but I think it is
significant that, this year, the
group planning the party has
recognized to an even greater ex-
tent the social service oblige-
tions that our. c unity must
face these days. They have
decided to find ways to make the
party just as exciting and fun -
but to raise a lot of money for
our local gay charities at the
l same time. I think that's an im-
portant message for a gay pride
i week party to put out - and we
. should salute them for it.
I've also noticed that a lot
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Dallas Gay Alliance. [Article: The Gavel Raps], article, June 1986; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc916498/m1/1/: accessed June 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.