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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1981)
THE BATTALION Page 11 WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 1981 eatures , ^ays flock to Houston looking for United Press International 15.000 names, and that hv onnlinnintr tn nrcaniw * l u i i j. *. . . i. ... ‘mecca’ International HOUSTON — More and more homosexuals, ■king for promising jobs, nice homes and a li because it tential “gay mecca” where they can live their emate lifestyles in peace, are moving to Hous- : see it, hesai)> where gay spokesmen say their numbers intendcnt 0 ; eady exceed 250,000. tbe storm se* The economy in Houston is thriving, and ndreds move daily to the southeast Texas loea- startedtoopr n near the Gulf Coast. the manholt ® u,: spokesmen say what is attracting the gays temengra: heir chance to have a relatively liberated life in ommunity which they say is more tolerant to Mpitalinlov : m osexuals than its conservative, tough-police Is and bmik would indicate. “Since Houston is growing so fast, it is attract- ; gays from the Midwest, the North and the uth; it is conceivable it could become a center ._ /v _ n g a V politics and gay living within 10 years,” || yd Scott Anderson, news editor of The Advo- J.u e, a California-based gay news magazine. Leaders of Houston’s gay community, which is npedintolhtipaniking itself politically and socially, say they ; proud of the strides made in the past few te the entire ars - beunitalsoa: The stereotype is being broken,” said Gary lent to the !? n Ooteghem, former president of the Houston imb 14 floor: V Political Caucus. He has a case pending in ht the fire as,r U S. Supreme Court against his former em- , ,, 'yer, Harris County, claiming he was fired for ' nting to express his views publicly on homose- ’ ‘We ve not been bad citizens, we’ve been )d citizens. Sure there’s anger at being pushed t and invest* 'und, but we have come so far in five years,” he He hopes it <d. "And we still have a long way to go.” /an Ooteghem thinks the political climate in 'Uston is “perfect” for gays now because gov- j, III convfra men t officials are beginning to listen to he said nosexuals. starting with election precincts. Hill said ention tor Re-nosexuals are organizing themselves into a and a conuEiup with political impact. Although the gay rtor. nmunity divides itself at times over endorse- t 1 * r erti ntS canc l'd ates ’ remains unified on the it w i.i ies — equal rights for all people despite color, jM offer prefed or sexual preference. ii rt snouse»^ ee j{ arr i n gt on president of the Gay Political ucus, says the CPC mailing list has almost 15,000 names, and that by continuing to organize the gays in Houston will be able to swing any political election by block votes. “The CPC endorsement card (for elections) is like the Bible for members,” Harrington said. However, political pollster Richard Ryan, a vice president with the political management agency V. Lance Tarrance and Associates, said the days of delivering the old-fashioned, lock- step block vote are over in America. “It is organization that wins battles, and be cause usually a small percentage of the electorate swings an election, they would have to be very organized,” he said. Ryan said gays may vote alike because the candidate appeals to them personally as liberal, independent or progressive — but he doubts the impact of gay leadership. “I don’t think they would vote the way their leadership tells them to but the way they want to,” he said. Billie Carr, a member of the Democratic Na tional Committee and active member of the Har ris County Democrats, said the gay vote is "very important,” especially in local races. “They have formed a good political organiza tion and candidates respect the endorsement,” she said. “But sometimes those who don’t get the endorsement try to use it against their opponent. “Now, if the blacks, Chicanos and gays orga nized together, they certainly could swing any race,” she said. National Gay Task Force spokesman Charles Brydon in New York listed Houston among the top six progressive cities for gays, which included Seattle, Boston, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and Dallas. Gay leader Ray Hill, manager of Pacifica radio station KPFT, said when he goes to other cities with large gay populations, he compares them to Houston and is “amazed at how much farther ahead we are than other places. We’ve taken quantum leaps and we did it on our own. We had no role model to follow — just got out the civic books and did it by the book. ” The majority of gay social activities revolve around the Montrose community, a renovating neighborhood near downtown. Unlike San Fran cisco which has many gay social sections or Los Angeles which has at least two, the Houston gays claim Montrose as theirs, although one-fifth ol the area population is gay. “Lots of (gay) people say they went to Sar Francisco, got burned out on the party and came to Houston to live and work,” Hill said. Annually the community celebrates its “ga> pride” with a week-long festival. This year, it was expanded to 11 days of workshops, lectures, shows, activities and then the grand finale: £ mile-long Gay Pride parade through Montrose, followed by a rally and speeches. Last year, one of Gay Pride Week’s highlights was a softball game between the gays and Hous ton police officers. Another game was scheduled for this year’s June festival, but was canceled in May. to discuss problems between the police and gays. Police officials will not admit the homosexual community ever was a victim of special police harassment, but gays unhappily recall the days not so long ago of raids on their meeting places which they say were unnecessary and arrests they felt were unwarranted. The gay movement in Houston started its escape from the closet in 1978 with Town Meet ing, a convention of 6,000 American gays at the Astrodome, where priorities facing the commun ity were discussed. There was doubt about how successful the meeting would be, because Houston was miles away from any widely known, established gay community. “Since Houston is growing so fast, it is attracting gays from the Midwest, the North and the South; it is conceivable it could become a center for gay politics and gay living within 10 years, ” said Scott Anderson, news editor of The Advocate, a California-based gay news magazine. “I got tired of the hassle, officer Jim Hudson said. “The Moral Majority kept bothering me about it and I didn’t feel like putting up with the hassle.” Hudson said he received phone calls at work from people who said that because the police played softball with the gay team, they were endorsing their lifestyle. Hudson said last year several police became annoyed when several gay men started kissing each other in the stands dur ing the game. This year, the police team voted against play ing, but the firefighters have arranged to play. Besides the softball game, police officials are trying to open lines of communication with mem bers of the community. An assistant chief was assigned three years ago to meet with gay leaders The gays considered it a vast success. It attracted thousands from all over, including many gays who have remained in Houston. Harrington said he moved from Michigan to Houston the week ofTown Meeting, and now has made it his home. “The maturity and stability of the community in Houston is becoming more and more evi dent,” he said. “People who are listening to us see we re interested in mass transit and potholes as well as gay rights. “We are professional people, and just like everyone else, we need jobs and we want money. There’s no difference there between gays and straights,” said Jim Veteto, sales manager of This Week In Texas (TWT), a regional gay magazine. Veteto, who said he has watched his publica tion grow in five years from 16 pages to 104, said it is the advertisers who are finally coming out of the closet. “They are seeing that we have the money and we don’t spend it on kid’s braces or station wagons,” he said. “Our money is just as good as anyone elses.” But Veteto said the irony is many gays boycott businesses that are not gay. “We have gay-owned stores, gay real estate people, gay title companies, gay car dealers. We call it the gay connection,” he said. The network is so strong and complex, most people find no reason to deviate from it. “I eat, sleep, live and work gay. I sometimes go weeks without seeing a heterosexual. I enjoy being gay and I know Tm not alone. We have a force in Houston that ties us together.” But there are the forces in the community which want the gays to either stay in the closet or leave. Geneva Kirk Brooks, who says she’s been cal led Houston’s answer to Anita Bryant, admits the gays have strong political clout, but said they are law breakers. Texas law prohibits sex between two persons of the same sex. That law is being challenged in federal court in Dallas. “Just because they violate the law and do per verted things doesn’t give them special rights,” Mrs. Brooks said. "I would like any lawbreaker to leave town, there would be much less crime in the city then.” She blames the gay community for part of Houston’s pornography, prostitution, murder and robbery. Moreover, police officials say they are not against the gays as citizens, but would not want to see them on the police force. “They should not be allowed on the police department because they could be assigned to the jail or juvenile,” said Houston Police Officers Association president Dave Collier. “They shouldn’t be in those sensitive positions. The possibility of temptation is great. It would be asking for trouble. ” p/sftudents invent coffee cup rith temperature controls red wil/i J*W There ares r. alxHitSSU 1 gUIU n(W E 1 United Press International n 45s, the Scorched lips, tongues and gul- ; due to gulping red hot coffee '" Hr " Tre on the minds of engineering ue, w n “'dents at the University of Cali- a vaneh .jjgl B er k e l e y • So they invented a new coffee my spokes®^ ‘The cup cools the coffee down ckly to drinking temperature n holds it there for 20 minutes Tpi*1j|more, said Shawn Buckley, 1 fessor at the helm of the “in- iting” class. TT)I Mechanical en gi nee r* n g stu- ^ |Jv ts < ^ u ^ ) it The Hot One.” 1 1 .Iz “No m ore coffee-burned lips I mouths,” Buckley said. “That both CBS 1 ; their goal.” es were un!r rhe teacher, an inventor him- ennan sho' 1 ' anc j the son and grandson of md Supejt’entors, got his start at the Uni- JetoliftN^sity of Pittsburgh, ng. He said it takes tons of tenacity 5, productnake jt in inventing — a point g tele'is |1 stresses to students in the “in- Tvler M® ation and entrepreneurship” of MTM P s. d "Hill Stn ’he new coffee cup was de- Cincinnati Sped by Steve Franaszek, Karl her, Scott Roth and Ken Wil is as part of their senior pro- . They studied coffee cooling ,5am cups — initially too hot — in ceramic cups which don’t hot long enough, heir design incorporates a uni- heat-absorbing layer sand- ied between an insulating cov- ind a coffee-holding liner, luckley said the layer quickly Is the coffee down to drinking iperature, and keeps it there i long time. The inventing stu- ts estimate one version of the will cost pennies in produc- l, making it suitable for com- iers and take-out restaurants Sell it in Battalion Classified 845-2611 the i Projects developed by other groups in the course include: — a self-actuating fire exting uisher to automatically put out stove-top fires — a constant-heat barbeque with a raising grill to keep steaks from scorching — a kit which converts a con ventional oven into a convection oven to cook meals 30 percent faster — a portable electrode cleaner for welders and a computer con trol kit for an astronomical tele scope. Buckley said the course is part of a trend to teaching the business aspects of innovation to inventors, rather than inventing to business students. He said similar courses are offered at the University of Utah by Prof. Steve Jacobsen and at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech nology by Prof. Woodie Flowers. Buckley taught at MIT for seven years before moving west. He numbers among his inven tions a solar panel (rights bought by an oil company) and an aerody namic device that keeps cornering race cars on the road, permitting faster speeds. “It sucks the car down onto the road,” he said, “and is used in ab out all the Indianapolis and Euro pean formula one cars.” Buckley said he sold Lotus, the car maker, on backing develop ment of the system to permit rac ers’ faster speeds. That brainstorm was the inventor-engineer’s pro ject for his doctorate degree. His latest invention is a robot that inspects things on an assem bly line. How does the robot get rid of a bad product? “That’s no big deal,” Buckley said. “An air jet would blow it off probably.” Buckley said he and a student invented an aluminum bicycle frame. It is being manufactured. “It is the most expensive bike, $4,000,” he said. “But it is very light and very strong.” He said it looks as though the student inventors of the novel cof fee cup have a clearshot at a pa tent. At the start of the “inventing” class, Buckley said each of the 25 students submits a project. Then the class decides on a few to work on by splitting into teams. Among the projects rejected this year: — an automatic device to water plants when a person’s on vacation — a pocket combination tool to scrape skis and use as a screw driver — a plastic cleat to help walk up hill on downhill skis. Keep it in packpack, lay it down and step on it to transform the ski. To restore ski for downhilling, just remove cleate. The world may need these things as much as it needs the proverbial better mousetrap, Buckley allowed. But ground rules in the course say only a few of the projects can be worked on. The Best Pizza In Town! Honest WE DELIVER 846-3412 Mr. Gatti's Pizzamat AFTER 5 P.M. — MIN. $5.00 ORDER 4'on ■*! cn SCORING... For the cut thot foils into ploce naturallY. Full salon service for men and uuomen bg certified Sebring designers — 846-2924 Open 9 o.m. to 6 p.m. Mon.-Sot. Next to the Ramada Inn, C.S. ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ vief i. The flein Battalion directs umber One ^ O^Aggieland ISE CD m it Battalion Main)^ classifieds * * * jc * * * jc * * * * jc 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c FACES WEDNESDAY NIGHT Features $1.00 Frozen Margaritas All Night V2 price mixed drinks and free beer from 7-10 p.m. The On/y Rock ’n’ Roll Club in Town Located in the Skaggs Shopping Center 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c 4c HERE'S YOUR CHANCE AGGIE BLOOD DRIVE JULY 1 & 2 noon to 8 p.m. RUDDER FOUNTAIN COMMONS (by the circular driveway) Sponsored by Student Government ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★