The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 112, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 7, 1984 Page: 3 of 8
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Forum
The North Texas Daily
Page 3
Thursday, June 7, 1984
♦ i
V
•
Edra
Bogle
/glad faces challenges
4*
• Item I: A woman dismissed from her job "for
personal reasons" although she had received a merit
pay increase the week before. She is the fourth lesbian
to be fired in the last month from this Denton firm.
• Item 2: A student in a local junior high school
who wants to know how to meet other adolescents like
himself who are also just dis-
covering that they are gay.
• Item 3: A retired man who
has returned to a nearby small
town after many years in another
state taking care of family business,
and who wants to meet other gay
people with whom he can talk
freely and share a social life which
does not require a female partner.
THESE ARE SOME of the
more challenging-—and frustrating—calls that the
Gay/Lesbian Association of Denton has rccieved in the
last month.
When Section 21.06 of the Texas Penal Code was
declared an unconstitutional invasion of privacy in Federal
District Court, some gay men and lesbians locally and
across the state believed that most of their problems
would disappear along with this provision which made
expression of love between two members of the same
sex a Class C misdemeanor.
However, in the nearly two years since the decision,
many other problems such as those exemplified above
have continued to plague the gay community.
GLAD, the Gay/Lesbian Association of Denton, was
organized in August of 1979 to serve a triple function
for Denton's gay community: 1) to educate both hetero-
sexual and homosexual people about the information
psychologists and sex researchers, as well as historians
and sociologists, have discovered in the past few decades
about homosexuality; 2) to work through the political
system, both formally and informally, to secure for lesbi-
ans and gay men the rights that other American citi-
zens take for granted; 3) to alleviate the isolation that
many gay people live in by providing social functions
which they could attend locally and also to provide
referral services when they need a reliable and under-
standing lawyer, doctor, psychologist or other profes-
sional person or service.
glad has succeeded remarkably well in some
respects; in others it has a long way to go.
The legalization in over half the states of homosexu-
al acts between consenting adults in private, the advo-
cacy of gay rights by all three remaining Democratic
presidential candidates and the ever-more-frequent inclu-
ion of gay people as a group against which it is improp-
r to discriminate have been striking developments of
the last few years.
Yet, as in Denton, probably no more than one per-
cent of the gay population nationally has any contact
with the gay human rights movement, and only a tenth
or less of that group is actively involved.
Until one is a victim of an overt act of discrimina-
tion oneself—is fired, or physically attacked, turned
out of one's church, or denied citizenship—it seems
safer and easier to stay "in the closet." Then, when
one needs the services of the gay community, one finds
that these support systems are not as strong as they
need to be, and as they could be if there were more
participation by more settled and prosperous gay and
lesbian citizens.
FORTUNATELY in Denton the social needs of the
community are increasingly filled by new structures for
which GLAD has helped create a favorable atmosphere.
The Gay/Lesbian Student Support Group on the NT
campus, a local lesbian/gay bar, an informal group at
Texas Woman's Universtiy, and discussion of the for-
mation of a local Metropolitan Community Church all
testify to an increasing willingness on the part of many
gay people to dare associate with each other outside
the small social groups or anonymous sexual situations
that have traditionally been considered less likely to
reveal one publicly and therefore safer.
But a party or a bar doesn't help a person much
when he or she is fired, or attacked, or denied housing.
They don't help the fourteen-year-olds who must be
told that the only thing they can do is wait four years
till they are no longer minors and can associate safely
with others like themselves. They aren't much use when
one finds out a former lover has contracted a sexual
disease and needs an understanding doctor, nor when
one's parents find love letters and say to leave home
immediately.
Nor does a party or a bar help the hundreds of stu-
dents in classes at both NT and TWU whom the GLAD
Speakers' Bureau addresses each year. Staffed by peo-
ple who have read widely in the area and are expected
to serve and apprenticeship with more experienced
speakers, the Bureau presents a standard lecture cover-
ing basic definitions, myths and stereotypes and the
effects of prejudice and discrimination upon gay people's
lives.
SEVERAL PEOPLE have mentioned later that this
appearance was the first time they realized that if they
faced their own homosexuality, they didn't necessarily
need to force themselves to fit the stereotyped role mod-
els that they had previously believed were required for
gay men and lesbians.
GLAD needs the help of all understanding members
of the NT and Denton communities, both homo- and
heterosexuals, in order to be able to serve these diverse
needs. It needs members who are willing to work and
to speak out, as well as to have a good time in the
Friday night bowling league we have organized this
summer, or the occassional get-togethers GLAD sponsors.
Only with the support of all the understanding and
informed persons reading this article can GLAD begin
to offer the kinds of services that the gay and lesbian
10 percent of Denton's population needs.
Dr. Edra Bogle is an associate professor of the English
department and chairwoman of the GLAD Speakers'
Unreali.
After a hard race,
X LIKE TO RE.L.A*
wrn-\ a nice cool
Glass of
Om your
Mark ...
The North Texas Daily
67th Year North Texas Stale University Denton, Texas
Printed by the North Texas State University Printing Office
Southwestern Journalism Congress
PACEMAKER 6 TIMES
ALL-AMERICAN 77 TIMES
CARA CHANDLER, editor
LISA CARTER, advertising manager
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Chandler, Cara. The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 112, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 7, 1984, newspaper, June 7, 1984; Denton, TX. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth332663/m1/3/: accessed July 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.