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Part of At long last recognition and room to grow for UB Gay Lib/Gays actively against society's bad attitudes

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Gays actively against
society's bad attitudes

At long last
recognition
-and room
to grow for
UB Gay Lib

by Rosemary Warner
Spectrum Staff Writer

-David V. Swan

THEY'RE HERE: The UB: Gay Liberation Front, formerly known as a "special interest
group," has now been granted minority status by the Student Association. The front
now has a new headquarters in Squire Hall as well. Above, Front preslstent Quenton
Robinson and Front Treasurer and SA Senator Mark Foxenburg plan ways to better the
position of gays in society.

responsible for allocating space in the building, had no
quorum at its Oct. 10 meeting and could not vote on
the proposal. Last · week, Council members
Sporting the long-desired minority status by the unanimously voted to grant the space.
This year, the Front's budget was increased from
Student Association (SA), UB's Gay Liberation Front
is working this year with an increased budget, and $300 to $850. The money, Robinson noted, is used to
run a coffee house every Friday night at 107 Townsend
recently acquired office space in .Squire Hall.
Deemed a "special interest group," the Front fought Hall and to fund a publication entitled, Gay Images,
last year to attain minority classification by SA. At first containing articles written by members of the Front,
rejected, partly due to objections by some members of the National Gay Task Force, and the Gay Active
the Black Student Union (BSU), the proposal was Alliance. Gay Images is put out twice a year.
Robinson noted that the Front constantly finds it
passed last February. The reason for the change,
necessary
to battle against gay discrimination. Most
according to Front President Quenton Robinson, sterns
from the negative connotation of "special interest recent areas of discrimination they pointed to are an
group." He maintained the term "special" implied area restaurant and the Buffalo Evening News.
The restaurant, Towne Hots, located at Allen and
something not normal.
Elmwood, has allegedly been censoring its public
So to change its public image, the GLF applied for
bulletin board by removing gay-related materials,
minority status. SA President Joel Mayersohn
according to the Buffalo Area Lesbian / Gay Rights
explained that in order for an organization to be
March Coalition. Signs pertaining to the October 14
awarded that classification, SA must consider the
National Gay March on Washington were removed, the
group to be "oppressed," and devoted to changing the
group claimed, while non-gay leaflets and
"unjust" labels society may. have placed on it.
announcements have been allowed to remain.
As hard as it was for the Front to be recognized
The Buffalo Evening News, Robinson complained,
under the minority status, Robinson said his group is
also censored Gax Liberation Front material. An
finding it equally difficult to retain it. Members from
advertisement originally read: "Gay youth meeting,"
BSU have often voiced (heir opposition against gays - but the words "gay youth" were deemed improper.
having minority status, he said. The BSU refused
Instead, the advertisement read: "Mattachine peer
comment on the matter.
group meeting," a term referring to gay youths which
The Front-formerly headquarted in Townsend
Robinson claimed-only a few people understood.
Robinson, along with 50,000 gays, attended the Gay
Hall-requested office space in Squire Hall to increase
its accessibility to members. Squire House Council,
Rights March in Washington on October 14.

by Michael DeGraw
Spectrum Staff Writer

The UB branch of the Gay
Liberation Front (GLF) is actively
trying to overcome many of the
problem's confronting gays across
the country.
"The greatest problem adjusting
to a homosexual lifestyle is negative
heterosexual attitudes", said GLF
treasurer and SA Senator Mark
Foxenburg.
''These
attitudes,outwardly "expressed,
cause hassles never imagined by the
'straight' population.
GLF President Quenton
Robinson recounted his days in the
Air Force, where he said word of
his sexual preference spread within
a year. "I was intimidated by the.
commanding officer, who
constantly referred to me as
'sweety'," he said. "After that I
was given the 'pit job' of
recruiter." Robinson said that
taking a dishonorable discharge, as
a method of avoiding the
antagonism, would have cut veteran
benefits and provided future
employment difficulties. "I made
the only possible move; I took their
prejudice and used it against
them." He said his only defense
was to threaten to tell higher
authorities that the officers had put
him-a
homosexual-in
recruitment. As a result, Robinson
said he was immediately transferred
to another outfit.
Robinson recalled his high school
days when his peers were engaged in
dating and discovering their sexual
identities. "Being gay in high
school is not an easy thing.
Everybody is into becoming the
perfect model of society. To come
out of the closet in these times
would have been 1 unspeakably
painstakin-g," he said.

Many gays maintain that they are
inclined to seclude themselves from
social events and many times forced
to act out a double role so as not to
be "discovered." One woman who
did not wish to be identified,
said,''It is rough enough finding
oneself, but when there are two
personalties involved, things get all
the more complicated.
Terrifying terms
"Remember when all your
girlfriends were talking about the
problems they were havin~ with
their boyfriends? It is kind · of
awkward to ask what one should
about a difficult situation with a
lover."
She added, "When I was with my
lover in public, so many times I
would want to give her a hug or kiss
on the cheek but felt socially stifled,
so I forced myself to hold my
affections in."
One of the biggest fears gays face
relates to the negative image society
tacks onto the term "homosexual."
"I was so afraid of being a flasher,
a child molester or a man with a
lispy voice," recalled Foxenburg.
He said his own admittance of his
sexual attitudes-cognizant of the
stereotypes-was delayed. The
adjectives attached to "gay" he
called "terrifying," explaining that
the picture built up in his mind only
added fear to frustration.
"After my first homosexual
experience I never became that
which I had feared and realized all
the more, how powerfully
manipulating society's pressures
can be," he said. Another difficult
social pressure cited by many gays is
looking
for
a place to
live-comfortably. It is important
to live in an atmosphere where
housernates or roommates feel at
ease with each other's way of life.