|
Jim Andris, Facebook |
ANITA IN JOPLIN (two articles)[Taken from the News section of Gay St. Louis, November 1977] Anita Bryant may want to send all gays scurrying back to their closets and locking the doors from inside, but whenever she appears in a town, gay people arrive from all over the area to protest against her repressive thinking and to demonstrate openly for human rights for all people. On September 24, Ms. Bryant went to Joplin with Chuck Colson, the reborn Watergater, to speak at a revival meeting. The previous night, a fierce storm blew down the tent that was to be used for the meeting. That afternoon, Joplin saw its first gay demonstration, as 225 gay women and men and their straight supporters from all over Missouri, as well as from Kansas and Arkansas, marched through the downtown section of the city calling for human rights for all people, and expressing their pride in being gay. Almost 100 of the marchers came from St. Louis, 65 by chartered buses and the rest by car. St.Louis gay women can be proud of the role they played in the organization of the whole march and in coordination of the St. Louis contingent. Parade permits were obtained and police protection was much in evidence. Despite many rumors of violence, which unfortunately scared away many potential marchers, the demonstration was peaceful. Although there was some heckling, mostly from young people, there were also many expressions of support from the people of Joplin. There was danger of violence at the revival meeting itself, and the St. Louis people voted not to attend that: we had already made our point with the march and a walkout was expected by Ms. Bryant. The march
itself was beautiful: along line of gay people walking two-by-two;
an elderly woman from MCC-Kansas City who rode part
of the way and
walked the rest; a group of Pittsburg, Kansas, Straights for
Gay Liberation; people of all ages, religions, and walks of life
rejoicing in their
gayness
and working together for human rights. -Marvin K [Taken from the News section of Gay St. Louis, October 1977] On Saturday, September 24, Anita Bryant came to Joplin for a revival meeting, together with Charles Colson, the Nixon henchman who was born again without the sins of Watergate. Also present in Joplin were 225 people, mostly gay women and men, but supported by a number of straight people, who had come to protest Ms. Bryant and demonstrate in favor of human rights for all people. Almost 100 of these people were from St. Louis, and a good many are members of MLSC. St. Louis gay women had done much of the work setting up both the march and the St. Louis contingent. There were also people there from all over Missouri, and from Kansas and Arkansas. The organization of the march was excellent. Parade permits had been obtained and a march route coordinated by the police, and were very much in evidence for our protection as we paraded through downtown Joplin. Although there was some heckling as we marched, there were also many expressions of support. Many people carried signs on the human rights theme, and as we marched, we chanted, "Freedom Now!" "Straight, Gay, Black, White, Same Struggle, Same Fight!" "Unemployment, Hight Inflation, We're Not To Blame For the State of the Nation!" "Two-Four-Six-Eight, Gay Is Just as Good as Straight!" Only a few people from the march went to the revival meeting itself. There were several reasons for this. The possibility of violence was strong; both the police and our lawyer mentioned this, and CB radios told of rednecks gathering up their bottles and clubs to "beat up the queers." Also, a walkout was expected and would not have been a shock to Anita as it was when that tactic was first used in Virginia. We believed that we had made our point in a peaceful fashion with the afternoon march. We all felt good about what we had done for the struggle for our rights and the human rights of all people. |