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FOCUS
a journal for gay women O
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Nov. '74
BOSTON DAU GHTERS of Bl LIT IS
60¢
�FOCUS: A JOURNAL FOR GAY WOMEN
NOVEMBER 1974
FOCUS Staff
FOCUS is published monthly by
Boston Daughters of Bilitis
Room 323, 419 Boylston Street
Boston, Mass. 02116
Copyright
reviews : J .S.
poetry and fiction:
Gerry Azzata , J.S.
editing: J anine Bernier
type and layout:
Lois Hurst
paste-up: Debbi e
distribution: Gerry Azzata
advertising : Janine Bernier
production : Geri Bidwell
Staff: M.B.S., Melinda
1974 by Daughters of Bilitis ,
Boston, Mass.
Subscriptions are $6/year, samples
are 60ct. Give us your zip number.
If you move, let us know.
This publication is on file at the
International Women's History Archive,
2325 Oak St ., Berkeley, Calif . 94708 . It is
available on microfilm from Bell & Howell,
Wooster, Ohio to October 1971 and from
IWHA from October 71 on .
News contributor : Laura Robin
(not on Staff)
FOCUS welcomes contributions from everyone ,
including draw ings. lncllude a self-addressed, stamped
envelope for return. All letters must be signed, but
names can be withheld for publication .
IN THIS ISSUE:
Features:
Celebration and the
Subculture by J.S. . . . . . . . . . . 3
JEHOVAH Asks: "Do you want to
clean up your life?"-"Can you be
queer for a day?"
by Janine Bernier .... .. . . . . . 13
Reviews:
News:
s·
At large ..................
. 'f.
.. . . . 7
DOB news ............
Lesbian Mother Seeks
Custody . .. . .....
.. ......
. lo
Gay Librarian
Gets Book Award .....
. . . ... lo
Calendar.....
Poems:
A Woman 's Lament
by Linda Gregory ... ... . .....
3
Ill, and V by Kathy Hruby . . .. .. '.:l
Three Stars
by Paula Bennett .. . ... ... . . . JO
. .. . ... . ....
... 8
Staying on Alone :
Letters of Alice 8. Tok/as
by Gerry Azzata . . ......
. . '17 12.
EXCAVATIONS
by J.S ...
.....
. . . . . . .. . ....
Letters:
Conference '74 . . . . .. . . .. . . . . .
Barbara Gittings . .. ... . .. .. . . .
Cover drawin g by Debbie
/5.
�LETTERS TO FOCUS
Reference to October 1974 Letter to FOCUS
Dear Sisters:
CONFERENCE '74: AN AMAZON EXPEDITION circulated a pre-registrati on
form in the late summer/early fall which reads: " Because of the limit of 600 (at "Camp
Amazonia"), the costs for each child will be the same as a woman's. For this reason
CONFERENCE '74 appeals to women to arran ge to leave their children with friends or
family. We searched for an area with unlimited fadities so that women could feel free to
brin g their children, unfortunately none could be found. So, whenever possible , children
remaining at home would allow another woman to attend."
At the time that "Camp Amazonia" was selec ted for CONFERENCE '74, which
wom en from the Boston planning sessions had originally scheduled for October 11-14,
we recognized the need to share with our sisters the limitations involved with our choice
of a country site. Since we knew that women from several locations, including Florida,
Oklahoma , and California, wanted to attend , we circ ulated the above information in
the hopes of suggesting to our sisters a way to help as many women as possible attend
the Conference.
Now that the Conference has been postp one d until the Spring of '75, women are
checking into the possibility of countrysites whi ch would accommodate more women
and children at a cheaper fee. Minutes of plannin g session meetings are available upon
request. If you have a question, need information, or would like clarification on what
you 'hear,' please write to :
CONFERENC E '74
Box 2000
c/o GCN
22 Bromfield St.
Boston, Ma. 02108
In sisterhood,
Women of the Boston planning
sessions (sub . - jb)
Dear Friends at FOCUS and DOB,
I appreciated Janine Bernier's giving the antholo gy DIFFERENT a critical going
over (FOCUS, Oct. 74). But she missed a key point: on ly one of the 24 stories is
lesbian. That looks like sheer tokenism! With minimal homework, starting with a couple
of earlier gay short-story collections, editor Stephen Wright would have found lesbiantheme stories by John O'Hara, Calder Willingham, William Carlos Williams, John Eichrodt,
Isabel Bolton, and others. Also, excerpts from novels by Colette, Rosamond Lehman,
Compton MacKenzie, Gale Wilhelm, Theoph ile Gaut hier, Mary Renault, and others could
have been used as lesbian "shorts." If Wright didn't have the time or interest to look for
more lesbian material than a single story for a book of 24 stories, it would have been
far better had he left out the one lesbian item and made his anthology one of male
homosexual short stories.
Barbara Gittings
�2
A Woman's Lament
i am waiting
for evolution
to make me into a dog
that falls into season
only once or twice a year
i am tired
of all this weeping and bleeding
for something i no longer do.
i am waiting
for nuclear implosions
to tear down the enig mas
that clawing, my palms bleeding,
they pull me from
and rubbing yeast into the wounds say
MAKE BREAD RISE NOT REVOLUTION
i am tired
of this weeping and bleeding
for something i coul d no longer do.
- Linda Gregory
�3
Celebration and
the Subculture
by J.S.
As we move into the month of
November,
the
holiday
season
becomes
an
immediate
reality .
Thanksgiving,
Hanuka, Christmas,
New Years: how are we, as gay
i,eople, to deal with these feasts and
festivals? Overwhelmingly such holidays are associated with family
gatherings; subtly (or not so subtly,
as the case may be) they reinforce
the concept of nuclear family as the
culturally and emotionally significant
human
grouping.
Traditionally
dict ated patterns of "going home for
Christmas," family dinners, and the
lik e, ignore or exclude gay identity
and gay relationships . Not surprisingly, for many of us holida ys come to
be a time of subterfuge, alienation,
loneliness, and resentment .
There is a ba sic human need to feel
part of some larger social whole - to
feel connection with the human race.
When gay pe op le feel shut out from
important ceremo nie s and festivit ies,
their emotional well-being is clearly
threatened. If the gay life style is to
represent a meaningful, positive alternat ive to heterosexual cultural patterns, it mu st take into account this
human need for family and community. If we can learn to give each
ot her the sense of social support and
ties which the straight world generally provides through family structure,
th en we truly begin to be a viable
subcultu re. For this reason I look on
holidays as an important challenge.
Even though the straight world is still
ou t there, and we all must deal
some how with the families we were
born into, at the saine time we face
the absorbing task of creating for
ourselves an alternative support system.
The key word here is "create"-the
cha nce to create new ways of meeting basic human needs is, historically
spea king, rare. We find ourselves in
the ultimately enviable position of
havin g to take active responsibilit y
for our needs and also to invent good
metho ds of providing for them .
Plen ty of people -s traight people know feelings of loneliness and disapp ointment at holidays, primarily
beca use of grandiose expectations: "I
shou ld be happ y; I should be having
a wo nderful time; I should feel loved
and che rishe d and cared for." What
reality will ever measure up to the
expecta tions and fantasies about
holidays
commonly
carried over
from chi ldhood? This is where our gay
identi ty can be a boon . Because we
are all too awa re that tra ditional
custo ms and structures do not reall y
include us, we avoid th e trap of
expec ting that somehow , magically
and effortless ly, happiness ought to
come to us on certain days of the
year. Instead we can transl ate our
fee lings of exclusion into action and
self-hel p, rea lizing that .if we are to
have warm and happy holiday experiences, we ourselves must make
them happen.
�4
NEWS
Press Release: Watch for a book
entitled Gay Spirit: A Guide to
Becoming a Sensuous Homosexual .
Billed as "a super-spoof of all those
'Sensuous' books," this work by
David Lovis claims to be a serious
personal statement as well.
The HUNTER FINE ARTS
SOCIETY is the first fine arts club
for the homophile community, and
offers
original
art,
sculptures,
jewelry, and posters to its subscrip tion members. A full color catalogue
is sent each month to members: fo r
an introductory subscription (6 mo.)
and a free $5.00 gift, write: Conrad
Hunter & Associates, inc. P.O. Box
1274, Milwaukee, WI. 53201. Gay
artists are asked to get in touch with
this address if they are interested in
finding an outlet for their work.
The annual convention of the
National
Educational
Assoc iation
voted in Chicago in favor of a
resolution including sexual orienta tion as a characteristic
to be
protected
against discrimin ation .
This means the organization , which
has 1.4 million members, is com mitted to fighting discrimi nation
against gay teachers. (Advocate , Aug.
28, 74).
On July 16 the St. Paul,
Minnesota city council amended the
city's Human Rights Ordinance to
protect
homosexuals , after fiery
debate at open hearings. Covered are
employment , housing, school admis sion, and public accommodations, St.
Paul is 45% Catholic. (Advocate,
Aug. 28, 74)
Lie detector tests given to
prospective state police cadets in
Indiana ask about the possible
homosexuality of the candidate, in
order to eliminate homosexu als
(Advocate, Sept. 25, 74).
The Gay Activists' Alliance in
New York City is trying to raise
$3000 to put advertisements on
radio directed specifically to gay
teenagers . (Advocate , Sept. 25, 74)
The Nat ional Lawyers Guild in
cooperation with minority groups
has started the People's College of
Law in Los Angeles. The low tuition
law school will train students to
return to work in their communities.
Tuition is $350 per semester and
four years are required since the
school is not accredited . The address
is 2227 Seventh St. (Advocate, Sept.
25, 74)
An open discussion on "Gays
and Alcohol ism" occurs periodically
at Old West Church in Boston. For
information call 523-7664.
�5
An instructor in the New York
Higher Horizons program for youth,
Martha McPheeters, was dismissed
after she was found in bed with her
lover in a dormitory room. Legal
action
is contemplated.
Carol
Skroebsky was dismissed from the
N.Y . City Police Department when
peer reports said she was gay. She
says she is not and is suing the city
for her job. (Majority Report, Sept.
5, 74); Advocate, Sept. 25, 74).
A campaign by several national
organizations,
among them
the
National Gay Task F :>rce and the
National Organization for Women,
has begun to get the US Immigration
and Naturalization Service to stop
discriminating against homosexuals.
The Immigration
Code presently
excludes persons "afflicted with ...
sexual deviation" (Sections 1182 and
1251 of the Code, Section 8)
(Advocate, Aug. 28, 74).
The Lesbian Tide, which went
by the name of The Tide for several
issues (the idea being that people
wouldn't be afraid by buy it in the
stores), has reverted to its original
title. The magazine is published in
Los Angeles.
Northwestern
Bell Telephone
paid $900 in an out-of-court settlement to a man it had refused to hire
in 1973 because of his homosexuali ty. At that time a Bell spokesperson
told the Minneapolis Star that Bell
did not want to tarnish its image by
hiring homosexuals. The reversal in
policy was forced by an antidiscrimination clause covering gays
enacted in April in Minneapolis,
home
base
of the
company.
(Advocate, Aug. 28, 74)
Ithaca, New York, the home of
Cornell University, passed an affirm ative action program for hiring by the
city, and the program includes gays.
The measure was passed Sept. 4 by
the common council with no fuss.
(Advocate, Oct. 9, 1974).
On May 7 by special referendum
the people of Boulder, Colorado
rejected the inclusion of sexual
preference in the city's anti-discrimination law. On Sept. 10 the
mayor of Boulder, who had supported the sexual preference inclusion,
survived a recall vote by a tiny
margin. (Advocate, Oct. 9, 74)
On election day 1871 Susan B.
Antho ny and 14 other women voted
after they convinced
the local
elec tion officials in Rochester, N.Y.
that the new 15th amendment
(blacks voting) allowed women to
vote. She was subsequently arrested
and tried for the crime of voting.
(Ma
jority Report, Aug. 22, 74)
�6
LESBIAN MOTHER
SEEKS CUSTODY
Another custody test case has
arisen th is time in Kent , Ohi o.
Estranged husband Kenneth Town end is suing in Portage County for
the custody of three children Larry ,
Gina, and Brad, ages 10, 7, and 5.
The mother, Larraine Townend , is
living openly as a lesbian with
another woman and now has tem porary custody, awarded Sept. 17.
The husband's argument to the court
is that his wife's lesbian lifestyl e
creates an unwholesome, unnatural
and unsuitable environment for the
children. "They are basing the whole
case on my lesbianism," said Larraine
Townend . "The father has even said
he feels that other than my 'sickness'
I am an excellent mother."
According
to
Larraine,
her
lawyer, John Quigley, feels that this
case is a clearcut lesbian issue. He
intends to fight not only for custody
but also for her right of asmciat ion,
i.e. to live with her lover . He will tes t
the
new
American
Psychia tri c
Association decision on the classification of homosexuality as no longer
a mental illness.
Married for 10 years, Larraine
separated from her husband last fall
and moved in with Vicky Dicki nson,
whom she had known for three
years. "The everyday living tha t my
lover took for granted was all brand
new to me," Vicky said. "Larr aine
and the children and I talked about
these responsibilities and how we
should share things. Although I made
a lot of mistakes, I found so did
Larraine , which made me a lot more
comfortable ."
Both women are act ive in gay _
liberation in Kent and have been
interviewed in local papers. Larraine
has become student at Kent State
University in psychology, and Vicky
is taking time off from her studies in
social work to support the family.
Regarding the case , Lorraine
says, "we are committed to fighting
without compromise. .. maybe the
doors for others to fight will open ."
As for expenses in the case, "we have
no idea where the money will come
from."
Contributions for the legal work
in the case may be sent to Vicky and
Larraine's Legal Defense Fund, 570
Harvey Avenue, Apt. #2, Kent, Ohio
44240. Information in this article
comes from : Akron Beacon Journal
(Ohio), June 10, 1974; The Daily
Kent Stater, April 19, 1974; letters
from Larra ine and Vicky .
GAY LIBRARIAN
GETS BOOK AWARD
A retired librar ian, Jeannette
Foster was given the Third Annual
Gay Book Award for her study SEX
VARIANT WOMEN IN LITERA TURE by the Task Force on Gay
Liberation of the American Library
Association during the Association's
annual convention in New York City.
Dr. Foster's book, published at
her own expense in 1956 by Vantage
Press, is a survey of lesbiansim from
the earliest records on Sappho and
Ruth (Old Testament), thru 20th
century writings in English, German
and French. It has been out of print
since publication but will soon be
commercially republished
Dr. Foster, recovering from
surgery at her home in Missouri,
could not attend the award ceremony . Her written acceptance said:
"I can only repeat my delight and
overwhelmed
gratitude
at being
chosen for the award, and my happy
surprise that my long-respected ALA
is willing to admit the existence-and
even honor it-of Gaiety!"
�7
Announcement of LESBIAN HERSTORY ARCHIVES:
The newly-formed LESBIAN HERSTORY ARCHIVES is now in the
process of collecting books, magazines, journals, news clippings, bibliographies,
photos, historical information, tapes, films, diaries, poetry and prose,
biographies, autobiographies, notices of events, posters, and other memorabilia
and obscure references to our lives. If you have lesbian materials that you would
like to donate to us, please send them to:
LESBIAN HERSTORY ARCHIVES, P.O.Box 1258, N.Y., N.Y. 10001
If you have confidential material, please write to us.
DOB NEWS
NEWS...
The long promised INDEX to all
16 years of THE LADDER is now
available. Copies will be mailed to
all those who purchased the INDEX
by the middle of August, 1974. If
you want a copy of the INDEX,
you will need to order at once.
Cost is now $10.00 for ea. copy.
Complete sets of THE LADDER
may be purchased at $100.00
each OR requesting individual
photocopies of articles at a set
rate of 25ci!
per page with a
minimum of $2.00 per article
or story.
A very few copies of THE
LESBIAN IN LITERATURE, a
Bibliography, can still be purchased for $4.25 each. Write:
The LADDER, P. 0. Box 5025,
Wash. Station, Reno, Nev. 89503.
THE LATECOMER by Sarah
Aldridge is the story of two
women of unlike temperaments
and differing backgrounds who
come to recognize their love for
each other. Can be ordered
from THE LADDER (above
address) $3.00 plus 25i postage
handling.
D.O.B. welcomes
the following
officers,
who were elected
on
20: President
Lois
October
Johnson; Vice President - Judy S.;
Treasurer - Peggy Benson; Corresponding Secretary - Laura Robin.
Election of Recording Secretary
will take place at the November
business meeting: all members will
receive a special announcement.
DOB's Halloween Masquerade Dance
was a well-attended and successful
affair. Thanks to Dance Chairperson
Wendy Bauman and her committee,
$294 was raised for the DOB
treasury.
NOTE:
Readers in Massachusetts should find
enclosed information about the
Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.
We are mailing this material upon the
request of C.L.U.M. because we feel
that civil rights may be of particular
interest to many of our readers .
�8
D.O.B. CALENDAR NOVEMBER 1974
419 Boylston St., Rm 323, Boston, Mass. 02116---617
262-1592
All events are open to all women regardless of their membership in D. 0. B.
All raps are 50¢ for non-members, and 25¢ for members.
MONDAYS 7:30 pm Rap sessionand phone-in for lesbian mothers (including
mothers with grown children.) At DOB office.
TUESDAYS
7:30 pm Rap sessionon being gay: for all women. Share feelings
about being gay; everyone welcome. There are always many new
people every week. At the DOB office, near the Arlington
MBTA stop, between Arlington and Berkeley Streets.
WEDNESDAYS, 1st and 3rd GAYBREAK radio program, AMHERST,
WMUA-FM 91.9
THURSDA VS 8:00 pm Rap sessionfor older gay women. No ages are defined:
come if it sounds right for you.
THURSDAYS
9-10 pm GAY WAY RADIO PROGRAM WBUR 90.9 FM
FRIDAYS, Women's Basketball, 7:00 sharp at Cambridge YWCA for rides to
Harvard U.
SUNDAYS, 10:30-11 am CLOSET SPACE radio program, WCAS-AM 740.
SUNDAYS, 1 pm SOFTBALL. Bring hat, ball, glove ; informal games.
Magazine Beach Field , Cambridge, across Charles River from
Cadillac-Olds and along Memorial Drive west of the Boston U.
bridge. RAIN OR SHINE.
Wednesday, Nov. 6 FOCUS Meeting, DOB office at 7:30 pm.
New people welcom e.
Sunday, Nov. 10 POTLUCK SUPPER, 5:30 pm, St. John's Church,
33 Bowdoin St., Boston, near Government Center. Bring a
casserole, salad, or dessert to share - in a dish or pot it can be
heated in and/or served from. Informal discussion about future
DOB projects and plans. Dancing to records afterward. (50¢
per person to cover rent al of the hall).
Monday, Nov. 18 FOCUS Meeting, DO B office at 7:30 pm. New people
welcome. Deadline for December copy!
Wednesday, Nov. 20 BUSINESS MEETING, 8:00 pm at DOB office.
FRIDAY
NIGHT, Dec. 20 Christ mas Dance, 9-1 pm at Charles Street Meeting House. Donati ons. A dance for the benefit of the CSMH.
Records. Dance for men and women.
�9
III
you were the one I eloped to provided a bed for my
beginnings invited me to your V erm ont woods sun smell
on us nak ed running washing our hair in cold streams you
talked tarots vitamins acid trips I heard only shiny black
hair big breasts big stomach wait ed for you to be quiet
night to come so I could sho w you what I knew you wouldn 't
let me touch y ou sexually whate ver that means though you
let every man who picks you up hitching fuck you said Kathy
you're going to have a hard life no one loves women like
you noone will know what to do with it
V
I now a counselor in girl scout camp asked you moonlight canoing
girls on the far island shared thei r sleeping bags I could not
touch you enough spoon fashion we slept together always with
others we fed each other sucked each others' fingers licked
butter that dripped down our skin s didn't say much I wondered
if you were the first real lesbian I met I ached for you asked
so many times to sleep with you so shy ly you never heard
one perfect week
one yea r of beautiful letters
saw you again in steaming NYC chasing through sprinklers rain
fire hydrants water sucking cherrie s an d smelly cheese from each
others fingers if I brought it up we 'd talk about gayness now
grew up dykes alike I ached hearin g ab out your lovers asked
louder this time why must I always ask you took me then when
my courage failed you don't respond in the street but you took
me then in bed sure strong hard swift from front back above below
carrying my body riding a horse you had me absolutely wild but
yours unrelentlessly like ocean waves cras hing I could not believe
it your firm smooth skin hummed it lead me on we fell asleep
exhausted still holding tight rare ot her creature I want more
wonder what you want
- Kathy Hruby
(with apolog ies for misspelling in
th e Sept . iss~e)
�10
Three Stars
There was Virginia
a founding mother
one of th e greats
immortal magnitude
and Sylvia
much closer home
students consume
her work
like watermel on
and now the re's Ann
lovely Ann
from Black Oak road
in Weston
who went inside
the oversized fam ily garage
and gassed herself to death
- no doubt now about her fame,
suicide confers authority VirginiaSy lviaAnn
their places are secure
within the spangled firament
of heaven
but what about
those dim and distant women
who each day take
their oceanw alks
their noond ay naps
mvam
where do their furies go,
who shudd ers
at their wearines s
or knows
the hard fast brightness
that burns
without reflection
in their pain .
-Pa ula Bennett
�11
REVIEW :
Staying on Alone:
Letters of Alice B. Toklas
(Edw,\rd Burns, ed. Liveright , 1973) .
b y Gerr y Azzata
For me, Alice B. Toklas alwa ys has
been th e shadowy figur e in Gertrude
Stein's
background - a
constant
presence and (as most biographers of
Stein have limited it) "companion"
for nearly forty yea rs. Staying on
Alone, a collection of Toklas ' letters
written from Stein's death in 1946,
until her own in 1967, is a wonderful
de-romanticizing of the whole SteinToklas legend. Both women emerge
as real people who lived through
several decades with the most famous
creators of the time as close friends
(Picasso , Fitzgerald,
Hemingway).
Beyond this , Alice B. Toklas makes
herself known as a woman struggling
to endur e old age without falling into
self-pity , aft er losing her lover of so
many yea rs. There is no way to
separate the lives of Toklas and
Stein, even though both were strong
and creative women. The forty years
they spent together had created the
illusion that th ey always would be
together. Shortl y after Stein's death ,
Toklas wrote about the melodramatic fantasy she had had about
th eir deaths - a bomb or a shipwreck, a common ending. Nothing
had pr epare d h er for the years she
would spend alone.
Toklas says surprisingly little about
the personal d etails of th e life she
an d Gert rud e had shared. Instead of
clearing up the eternal questions surro und ing their relationship, Toklas
creates even mor e. She is intensely
protective about any intimate parts
of their lives, and deals only in
anecdotes. In a letter to an au th or
tryi ng to write about Stein 's work
and its sexual basis, Tokl as stated
firml y :
You will under stand I hop e my objection to your repeated references to the
subject of sexuality as an approach to
the understanding of Gertrude's work.
She would have emphatically denied it
-- she considered it the least characteristic of all expressions of character ( p .
69).
But, regardless of the nature of
their relationship , there were the
for ty years together. Those years and
their depth can be judged by the
Alice B. Toklas who emerged from
them. Gertrude Stein is everywhere
for Toklas, and she gives her the will
to go on. At 85, Toklas is being
besieged by Stein 's relatives, who
take Gertrude and Alice's private art
co llection out of her apartment while
she is out of town, for "safekeeping." Toklas returns to the home
they had shared for decades one day ,
an d finds the walls bare. Soon after war d , she is evicted when the
bu ilding's owner decides to turn the
property into condominiums. At this
point, Toklas frankly states, "If there
were not still things to do for
Gert rude ther e would be no reason
for me to live on." (p. 338) . So she
keeps working to have more of
Stein's writings published , and she
keeps writing to their old friends.
More and more often, anecdotes of
life with Gertrude enter her letters.
In these stories, there is a quiet
beauty that tells all about their relationsh ip:
We lived on the Calle Dos . de Mayo ...
and had a hound whom I taught to not
eat - as he wished - but
to smell
tube roses-and
who was supposed to
chase sheep. He escaped and went
be rserk. He ran away at night and once
we saw him dancing with a dozen more
of them in the moonlight.. . and he
didn ' t recognize us - indeed none of
t he m paid the least attention to us ....
(p. 2 14)
(continued next page)
�12
For Toklas,
everything
is an
anniversary. Every day of their life
together had been intensely important, full of meaning. It doesn 't
surprise me that Toklas eventually
becomes a devout Catholic, placing
all of her faith in a life beyond this
one, where she will meet Gertrude
again:
... The past is not gone-nor is Gertrude
-life everlasting-It
left me in a dither
when suddenly it came to me-where
was Gertrude. She is there waiting for us.
(p. 364)
Staying on Alone is a fascinating
portrait of another era and of thes e
two women. For me, it also was a
very hard book to read. It reached all
of my fears of growing old and how,
as a lesbian, that probably will be
very difficult. The prospect of growing old without children and perhaps
without a lover is a real fear of many
lesbians. It lies beneath our sometimes - desperation to find a longterm relationship, and at the same
time it explains the fear we have of
growing too close to one person,
entrusting too much of ourselves to
one lover. Many middle-aged heterosexual couples have only one or two
close friends, and are crushed when
they are left alone by death or
divor ce. In today's lesbian community, I see a new type oflife-style
emerging. Friendship
relationships
are becoming as important as lover
relationships to many people. Hopefully, less of these people will find
themselves absolutely alone as they
grow old. Some friends and I have a
running joke about setting up a
commune together when we all reach
70. I wonder if perhaps someday this
won't be a joke.
Fantasy
in Maine
pine wind,
and jade ocea n
crashing
into chandeliers
on seasoned rocks;
below
i would was h
as seaweed
suncrisped on your shore.
- Linda Gregory
�13
JEHOVAH Asks:
" Do you want to clean up your life?
"Can you be queer for a day?
11
by Janine Bernier
The August 15, 1974 issue of The
includes two articles
enti tled: "Homosexuality
- Is the
Bible's view Reasonable?" and "Is
Cha nge Possible for Homosexuals?" the first article in the series beginning
with the personal , thundering note,
"Are you a homosexual?"
The in-depth , philosophic , and informative expertise which ensues
denounces the perspecti ve of other
religious leaders whose arg um ents
claim that the bible is subject to
misinter pretations
and
out-dated
with the brilliantly capsulized statement, "It is true that the Bible is a
very old book." (p. 483 , Vol. 95 #16)
According to the enlightened tract
in ques tion , Jehovah teaches that the
bible's very age makes it valuable as a
moral gui de; and, in lieu of the bible,
homosexuali ty is wrong since "Is it
not obvious to virtually all persons
that male and female are counterparts, opposites sexually? Is it not
apparen t that their sex organs were
designed to 'fit' together?" (p . 484)
reducing sexual orientation to the
simplistic
assumption
that
only
round peckers fit in round holes.
The "wit ness es", properly in tune
with the times as th ey have been
with the past (since th ey visualize all
time periods as essentially static),
claim that homos exuality is "unnatural" - always was and always will
be - since homo sex u als of necessity
have to distort the traditional male/
female ro les to make 'it fit' .... . " ...
does it seem 'natural' to you for two
Watchtower
lesbians to come together sexually?
One of the pair must often use some
type of artificial substitute for a male
organ to satisfy the other? ... How
reasonable is that?" (p. 484 ).
Of course the "witnesses" are incapab le of perce1vmg of their
so-called biblical arguments as illogical; it is only the homosexual who is
unreasonable.
And, since homosexuality is unreasonable , you can
change. The benevolent Jehovah will
help you change. Pray to him (gender
identification theirs ; small "h" mine)
so that yo u to o can make a transition
similar to the example cited: " I
might have be en considered .only a
modera t e homosexual
since I engaged in immorality with less than
three diff erent men each day ." (p.
488)
The implicit logical extension of
the great go d Jehovah is - if you too
want to become truly 'gay' and not
just a moderate pervert , you will
hav e to do it at least three times a
day, wi th three diff ere nt peopl e.
Consider too the monomorphic tools
involved. And , for yo u lesbians who
obviously need a male substitute,
consider your electric bills , the cost
of batteries, and the fact that a dildo
(no ma tt er how miniscule it can be
made and still retain its functional
capabilities) might conceiveably b e
more difficult to conceal in the
pockets of your leath er jackets than
your tampax.
Oh be reasonable , be reasonabl e!
Th e great god Jehov ah loves you; and
in the face of such pain and ex pense,
how could yo u possibly want to be
qu ee r - if only for a day?
1 1
�14
WATCHING T.V.
WITH MOTHER
A Tragic-Comic dialogue in four parts
by A .M.A.
M: "What inspired you to watch thi s old movie with me?" (Not that I
mind, dear.)
D: "You know I'm an old movie fan. Besides, Ingrid Bergman is a great
actress.''. (If she weren't in it do you think I'd be watching it?)
M: " You 're watching it because you wish you could have a romantic love
love affair with a man." (/t had better be what you'd wish for.)
D : "You know that's a ridiculous ass
umption." (To hell with the
leading-man-type , Mother ... now if you had said Ingrid Bergman ... )
M: " Despite all you say, you really want to, don't you? But you know
what I think? You're afra id of men." (Now, what can you say to
that?)
D: 'Tm not afraid; I'm simply not inte rested." (Watch it, Mom , just
because I don't display any desire to have an MGM-approved
heterosexual love-life like you did, doesn't mean I'm terrified of the
opposite sex.)
M: "To be in love with a man and he with you is the only way a woman
can be really happy." (If you don't agree, I'm going to begin to think
that you're 'that kind', and you know it would kill me if you were.)
D: "If that's your ideal of happiness, fine. However, it's not mine. I shall
be perfectly content without a man's love until my dying day. O.K.?
(Shut up, Mom, let's watch the movie . Oh, damn , Ingrid Bergman
just made her entrance and I missed it. .. )
M : "It's not O.K. You shoul dn't hate men." (You just can't be 'that kind'
if you are you couldn't be my daughte r.)
D: "Lack of interest can hardl y be termed 'Hate', and I most certainly
didn't say anything about hating anybody. " (Oh, God, I know what
you're thinking. Please don't make me have to lie to you .)
M: "Not in so many words ... " (Please, tell me that you're not 'that kind.')
D: "Then let's watch the movie . Oh, look, there's the leading man ... "
(... with Ingrid hanging on his arm ... oh, well .)
M: He's not my type." (You sneak, changing the subject like that.)
D : "He's not my type, either. "
(I' m telling you the truth, Mom .)
M: "I'm glad we agree on something for once." (You've got good taste.
You're my daughter after all .)
�15
REVIEW:
EXCAVATIONS
by Sue Silvermarie
available from:
First Things First (a Fe-mail Order House)
23 Seventh St., S.E., Washington, D.C. ($1.00)
by J.S.
An impressive new collection of
poems has arrived in the DOB library.
Excava tions portrays its author, Sue
Silvermarie, as a lesbian, a mother, a
feminist. Her short, lyric verse has an
easy, personal tone which speaks very
naturally to the reader, one woman to
another. This is poetry which
possesses human warmth -a living, real
quality-and in addition demonstrates
considerab le technical subtlety. Language and imagery are strong, precise ,
and inventive. The humor of selfknowledge is also very much in evi-
dence (take a second look at "So Much
Fo r Show" in the October issue.) The
book is rich in its range of emotions:
we see a woman confronting and
acc epting her feelings as a friend, a
mother, a lonely self, a lover (wouldbe lover, rejected lover ... ), a sexual
bei ng. One poem that stands out as
particularly appealing and effective
is "Ero tic Is a Word" (reprinted here
as newly revised, by permission of
the author.) It presents eroticism as
a term and a state of being far more
complex and inclusive than we
ordinarily appreciate.
EROTIC IS A WORD
i loved you last night with m ore than my body
so i slip soft now into your pr ese nce
but i needed my body loved it for how it could show you
wholly
and be made whole itself one- piece-m e
erotic is the word but not like the pictures that stop
on the page
erotic is a word i want to save
from them erotic
as the pulse of my wristblood erotic
as rocking a child to sleep erotic
as my dreams of flying
erotic
as writing with no space betw een my heart and the paper
erotic as bare darkness erotic
as the mountain that tendered me to tears
erotic as touching as deep as my touc h can go
touching you
erotic
as feeling your touch is as full erotic
as being reached
-Sue Silvermarie
�16
DOB Membership includes a subscription
to F OCUS. You must be 18 years or older.
Sing le Membership $12
Joint Mernbersh ip $18
Send Your Name(s) and address to DOB .
gay
liberator
WANT
TO ADVERTISE
IN FOCUS
?
¼ page $5
½ page $10
Full page $20
Send to:
D.O .B . Room 323
419 Boylston Stre et
Boston , Mass. 021 16
Box631-A
Detroit 48232
12 issue,for $4
111US
S5 outside US, $8 supporting.
�JOIN
DIGNITY
...
GOODGAYBUTTONS&BOOKS
A
at
NATIONAL
ORGANIZATION
Everybody's
OF
Autobiography
The HCHS Bookstore
419 Boylston Boston, Ma. 02116
GAV
CATHOLICS
Send Self Addr. Stamped Envelop for mail order list.
Write :
O PEN , MONDAY
755 Boylston St.
-THURS.
6-9 P.M.
Boston, Mass.
Rm . 514
02116
WHITCH
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THE All Women's Rock Band
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t:
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s.
~ For Booking Information
Call ELAINE 289-8363
WHITCH
HSDIC L PROBLEMS?
A
Come to •••
GAY
HEALTH
NIGHT
at Fenway Comrrrunity
Health Center
16 Haviland St.
Boston, Hass.
Phone: 267-7573
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mery
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for Me
dical help (inc.VD )
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Co-sponsored by H.C.H.S.
266-5477
�The History Project
http://www.historyproject.org/
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Thank you for using the manuscript collections of The History Project.
Copyright restrictions may apply. If you have questions or wish to request removal of a
document in this collection from our digital repository, please contact The History
Project.
This PDF file contains images of an issue of the publication Maiden Voyage, produced
by the Boston chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis from
The Daughters of Bilitis (Boston chapter) records
Collection #0011
Recommended Citation:
[Item description including title, author, and date if known], Daughters of Bilitis
(Boston chapter) records, The History Project: Documenting LGBTQ Boston.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Focus/Maiden Voyage, a publication of the Boston chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, 1969-1983
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1969-1983
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Daughers of Bilitis (Boston, Mass.)
Description
An account of the resource
The Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) was a lesbian organization founded in 1955 in San Francisco by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon for the purpose of self-knowledge and self-acceptance, public education, involvement in research, and lobbying to change the laws criminalizing homosexuality. Starting primarily as a private social group for lesbians focused on the integration of the lesbian into mainstream society, the aims of the group shifted during the 1960s due to the changing political, social and economic conditions of the decade. The DOB took up political activism to lobby for the rights of lesbians, promoting individualism with a decreased emphasis on societal conformity. During the 1960s many regional chapters were chartered around the country and globally, continuing the organization even after the closing of the San Francisco national office in 1978.<br /><br />The Boston chapter was founded in 1969 during a period when many homophile organizations were forming in Boston. Early leaders of the Boston DOB included Lois Johnson, Shari Barden, and Laura Robin/McMurry, who were prominent promoters of the group and its activities.<br /><br />The Boston chapter published a newsletter, originally entitled <em>Maiden Voyage</em>, until 1971 when it was renamed <em>Focus</em>. The publication runs from December 1969 to October 1983.
Document
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Focus: A Journal for Gay Women, 1974 November
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1974-11
Description
An account of the resource
An issue of the newsletter of the Boston chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis.
Creator
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Daughters of Bilitis (Boston chapter)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Lesbian newsletters; Newsletters (LGBTQ); Boston (Mass.); Cambridge (Mass.); Daughters of Bilitis
Publisher
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The History Project: Documenting LGBTQ Boston
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Copyright restrictions may apply. Visit https://historyproject.omeka.net/rights-and-reproductions for more information and to review The History Project's takedown policy.
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Text
Format
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application/pdf
Language
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English
Identifier
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THP-0011-focus-197411