Green Thursday, radio program, April 3, 1974, source recording

SPEAKER 1: Medical needs, for instance.

If you go into a hospital, the first thing they ask you is,

who is your next of kin?

And if your next of kin happens to be a second cousin,

that comes before a friend, very often,

in the estimation of the hospital.

Now the nuclear family in modern society, whether we'd like it

or not, with all its faults still

does cater for certain needs.

It rallies around an unfortunate individual in an emergency,

not always, but nearly always.

And it's only tolerable for people in advanced years

to live alone, if they're homosexuals,

if they are so introverted, rather than extroverted.

If they are fairly intellectual, and they're

healthy enough to be able to move about at random.

But if none of those things are true, what becomes of them?

The fact is nobody ever hears of them.

Now should not, it seems to me, a small homosexual group,

consisting, say, of a dozen or twenty persons

of a cross-section of the ages, should it not

be not just an agency for sex and socialization,

but a support group for all the individuals in that group?

No group is valuable in the end unless its members

have duties and responsibilities towards one another,

as well as privileges that they may derive

from belonging to that group.

And this is where very many CHE groups-- and I

speak as an old executive member of the CHE

in its founding days three or four years ago,

the work it phased.

The greatest criticism that is often

leveled at the whole of the homosexual way of life

is that it constitutes an escape from responsibility.

Haven't we heard this again and again,

that it undermines the family as the main support

system of the individual in a rapidly changing urbanized

society?

I believe that if our way of life

is to have its place in the world,

we must, for a minority of people,

be able to replace the support system of that family

with something which I don't think the pairing-bonds will

work, because they're unstable by their very nature,

but by a small homosexual group, which

may indeed include both sexes.

And it shouldn't be just a group for social and sexual purposes

but for the support of all the individuals in that group,

in their total life situation.

And many CHE groups, I'm ashamed to say,

are failing miserably because they are not

sufficiently involved in one another in the deeper sense.

(Applause)

SPEAKER 2: The next speaker will be Frank Bishop, of Center.

FRANK BISHOP: I'd like to pay tribute

to George Hislock and Adam Williams.

And I think they really have covered

many of the points which I would have liked to have brought out.

There is one main thing too which

was mentioned, and has been mentioned this afternoon,

that there should be no ageism.

And I do agree with these sentiments.

But I would like to go further and ask

how could this be achieved.

I can only speak personally as an older homosexual.

And I don't mind admitting, I'm forty-nine years of age.

And I've been gay all my life.

But during my younger years and for the last twenty odd years,

I was in the Armed Forces.

And this presented a real problem.

And as I look back now, fortunately, I

have to pay tribute to an older homosexual who looked after me

and cared for me, mostly during my Army service, especially

when I was home in England and actually not abroad.

But in those days, I must say that we

were very, very repressed.

And I envy you, the younger homosexuals today.

And although I appreciate there's a little more freedom

and liberty, I applaud that you have a little more license

than what I and many of my older colleagues,

if I may put that word, experienced many years ago.

As we get older, most of us are inclined to be

a little shy and reserved.

But we do love young company.

We do like to express our feelings,

to chat to them, to know them, and to get them to know us.

But do you know, it's very, very strange

when an older homosexual makes an advance,

and the best one in the world, nine times out of ten,

is rebuffed.

And I think it really brings us into ourselves that,

should we be with the youngsters?

Maybe here at this Congress, the last few days,

of the young homosexuals, how many of you

have really approached an older homosexual to have a chat?

I, fortunately, am an extrovert.

And so therefore, I love people.

I can mix with people.

My work, which I try and do at Center

and outside in my personal life, I

don't mind being an extrovert.

But there are many who are introverts.

There's many who require your love, your comfort.

And the expression that was given yesterday afternoon,

above all, is "warmth."

And that is a wonderful word.

And as we get older, we want warmth.

There are many occasions when I feel that an older

homosexual can help a younger.

For instance, we have, if I may be so bold to say,

a little experience in this worldly life.

And we can guide probably, through our own experience,

experiences you know can't resolved.

But we can put a reign on things,

if the younger one wants to go off the rails,

we can give him a little caution.

We can give him our past experience.

We can help him.

My old, may I also say, the young can help us,

inasmuch though in many, many instances,

and is only with my liaising happiness

with young homosexuals that I have been brought up

to date in so many aspects.

And I thank them so very, very much Those kind, personally.

And I love their friendship.

And that is great thing.

Then as you get older, listen, sex does come into it.

But it's not the alpha and omega.

It's not the beginning and the end.

But it is, may I say, the companionship.

We all want to be loved.

We know what love means.

Do try and share a little more love to each others.

Let us join together in harmony and happiness.

Let us go forward in this gay fraternity,

as we always keep on saying to love one another.

And that is a great thing.

This is one of the greatest things which

I feel that we can achieve.

And if we can only think on this,

be a little more compassionate, a little more understanding,

help each other, I'm sure that via deliberations and thoughts,

that we can collectively go for it and look back and think,

goodness, we are now achieving something.

And if I may, not being, although I'm a bishop ,

I'm not in theology.

I'm not ecclesiastical, but if I may just repeat a little prayer

that I know.

Lord, you've made it all, male and female.

We are very complex beings.

So will you please help me to understand a little better

about sex and love, that what is right and what is wrong.

And how I can help to build or destroy

another person by the quality of my love

and the growth of my relationship.

Lord, teach me how to love.

God bless you all.

AUDIENCE: (Applause)

SPEAKER TWO: The last speaker on the panel

before we have discussion from the floor is Sid Walsh.

SID WALSH: (Unintelligible)

I'd like to make a point that everybody at the meal that we

just had should have received a copy of this pamphlet

for the August Trust.

I don't think anybody has as yet mentioned the August Trust.

It's a London-based body which is designed to help old people.

And one of the trustees, I believe,

is Grifford Williams here.

Please read this pamphlet.

It is important.

We are all going to one day end up old.

Whether we look after ourselves and end up

doing it in style or not is up to ourselves.

But these people are trying to help old people.

If you can possibly fork out a pound a year or more than that,

they would appreciate it.

It's a very good little pamphlet.

Please read it.

If you haven't got any, I think Griff has got some more here.

It is very, very important.

Thank you.

AUDIENCE: (Applause)

BRUCE JEWELL: The problems of aging and of the different age

groups in the United States, with this point clearly being

resolved in an age-grade system.

That is, people are segregated according to their ages.

I won't comment on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

It's one way that societies handle the problems

of different generations.

If we are going to deal with this problem,

we are going to probably have to recognize

the fact that we're going to be living

in an age-graded society.

Interaction between children, teenagers, young adults,

middle-aged people and older people

is increasingly diminishing in the United States.

And I'm sure that trend will come to Europe too.

And I believe that in the future,

we will have to plan on dealing within an age-graded system,

which is quite different from the generational type

of extended household which has been traditional in the United

States and Europe.

Thank you.

AUDIENCE: (Applause)

SPEAKER FOUR: I have in my hand a journal

in which I try to scribble things down every day.

And I didn't realize it until this discussion

that a few days ago, I had scratched

out a poem which I think fits.

I'd like to read it for you.

First, let me say, about two and a half years ago,

I felt that my life had come to an end.

It was sort of dead.

I had been married and was now separated.

I had raised a family, and my children had gone away.

And some of that feeling comes out in this poem.

But before I read it, I also want

to say that I began two and a half years ago--

by the way, I'm fifty-six years old--

I began about two years ago to get

in touch with my homosexuality and to live again.

And it's been great.

But--

AUDIENCE: (Applause)

"To know despair, to be engulfed by the dark,

to feel that everything you've done is wrong

and everything you've been is false, to be

lost in the present, not knowing whether there

is any right way for you to go or turn.

Hold it!

Hold it!

Snap.

Preserve that picture of yourself.

It's precious.

Some spend a lifetime to achieve that state,

for they know that only then does life begin.

Learn to live in that awkward space,

that land of vulnerability and nothingness.

Make no plans.

Seek no way out.

Wait there, if need be, a long, long time,

until the voices of instinct, intuition, the unconscious,

and the soul have a chance to gather their forces and speak.

And when they do, listen."

AUDIENCE: (Applause)

SPEAKER FIVE: As a chairman from the delegates.

I can't claim to be quite as old, very nearly old

as the last speaker.

I must say there's something I deplore

in this conference that's already been remarked upon.

Youth is not here.

The older people have sat through

and listened to the rest.

And this is the attitude of the youth.

It's something I deplore.

I arrived from the meal on Thursday night.

I sat with a student who was attending my own CHE group,

a student who lives but a hundred yards from me.

The first question he asked was, do older men always

go for youth?

Well, I don't want to jump into bed with every youth I see.

I don't necessarily want to jump into bed with every old man I

see, anyone my old age.

What we do want is we want that word.

The word that came up this morning

has been mentioned again this afternoon, "warmth."

It's something I deplore.

If I see a person who I know is gay in the street,

and he knows I'm gay.

If that person is a young one, I would

like him to acknowledge me and not to ignore.

We want warmth.

We want the respect.

We have a bond between us.

And that bond should be a great bond.

This is no reason why I don't want to fall about his neck

and kiss him.

I want to be acknowledged.

I do not want to feel that he ignores me.

He is suspicious of me.

What I want is his respect and my respect for him,

a common bond which is between us.

And that I deplore, that youth is not

present in this hall this afternoon.

Thank you.

AUDIENCE: (Applause)

SPEAKER SIX: Well, speaking as somebody

with a fairly indeterminate age.

AUDIENCE: (Laughter)

This Conference went on record in its first session

to oppose the concept and the practice of sexism.

And I think this debate has brought out

some fundamental points about this,

because what is more sexist than the attitude of the youth cult?

Which is a self-oppressive thing that

exists very strongly within the gay movement

and always has done.

Look at the cock magazines outside.

How many of those pictures are over twenty-five?

None.

We all here are on a train ride to death.

Now take the point of the speaker before,

who said that he was speaking from his heart.

And we look upon the--

our own physical decay, perhaps, as something not pleasant.

But this is tied in with sexism, because the conception

of sexism is to regard somebody as an object, not

as a true, whole person.

And this is where the cutoff comes.

We have the same thing.

It's not only gay men.

It's all people as a whole, isn't it?

How often has the phrase been used, oh, he or she is just

like an old woman?

What could be worse in straight terms

than a young woman but an old woman?

So that age has a certain horror, I suppose,

for a lot of people.

But unless we get this clear in our mind,

linking this conception of sexism as body objects,

this is not what we're after.

Until we can do that, we can't turn this train

to death, which we're all on, from being an oppressive

thing into a love train.

AUDIENCE: (Applause)

SPEAKER SEVEN: OK, now before the Steering Committee

makes its announcement, I'd like to usurp my power.

And I know I can't make a motion.

But I wonder if someone out there would.

I wonder if, given the speech of the last speaker

but one, whether we would like that speech

repeated at the very beginning of the next session

so that everyone might hear it, those who aren't here?

AUDIENCE: (Applause)

Can we consider that to be done?

One more thing before the Steering Committee.

George wants to say one more thing.

GEORGE: I'm sorry, but I forgot to make an acknowledgement.

I was very--

I found this report put out by CHE,

the London West End group, most informative.

And it helped prod my own memory.

Jeez, my head is a filing cabinet

that is in such disarray, it's unbelievable.

But anyway, I would like to thank them for this paper.

And I commend it to you, one and all.

There are a few things that I disagree with, in all honesty,

the emphasis on pair-bonding, for example.

But apart from that, it is an excellent paper.

And I suggest you purchase it or get one for yourself.

SPEAKER TWO: The Steering Committee announcement.

SPEAKER EIGHT: First of all, the motion on the 1975 Congress

will be distributed here in approximately ten minutes'

time.

You have about fifteen minutes until tea,

until we review the Congress after tea.

So I suggest that that be at 4:20.

Hold on.

At the present time, in the middle reading room,

the videotape is running on women as sex objects.

(Recording cuts out)

SPEAKER 5: We were, this afternoon, speaking

in a very curtailed, very shortened debate

on the problems of the older homosexual.

And I got up towards the end and said

that there was, by and large, a complete absence of youth

in the hall, and that this was something which I deplore,

the splitting of the community--

the gay community, the gay brothers and sisters

who have been here.

We, the older members, have sat and listened

through the majority of the debates.

We've listened to the youth debates.

I said that there's something else which rather worried me.

I got here, belatedly, in time for Thursday evening's meal.

I walked in.

I was greeted and sat with a young student--

the young student who had attended one of my local CHE

meetings and, in fact, lives but a hundred yards from me.

And virtually the first question he asked me was,

"Do all older men seek out and go with younger men?"

Well, I don't want to jump into bed with every young man I see.

For that matter, I don't want to jump into bed with every person

my own old age that I see.

What we as older homosexuals want

is "warmth," a word which has been mentioned,

but infrequently this conference.

We heard it at one stage in the older homosexuals' debate.

We heard it once before.

But what we want is warmth.

We want to believe that people recognize us.

I want if I see a homosexual, particularly

a younger one, a gay person in the street,

I want that person to acknowledge me,

to show some warmth, some feeling.

There's a bond between us, a bond which the law cannot break

between us.

The law doesn't come into this.

I just want that person to acknowledge me,

not to walk by on the other side.

I want him to acknowledge me, to show some warmth, some feeling,

to recognize, and for me to be allowed to recognize him.

I don't want him to think that because I smile at him,

I'm trying to seduce him into bed.

I'm not.

I simply want to establish a bond of warmth,

a bond of friendship.

And until we establish, between all gay people,

this acknowledgement, this bond of friendship,

whether you come out or not, then we

are not going to make progress.

We are going to be divided.

There is no reason why in town, city, or country, that we

should not acknowledge on a perfectly natural plane

the bond which is established between us and which we know

exists between us.

And for that reason, I and the other older people

who were here at the earlier debate,

we deplore the almost complete absence of the younger

delegates at this conference.

Thank you.

AUDIENCE: (Applause)

JACKIE: Kim said we can't have a conference-- and my god,

it's been shown here-- without aims and an end product.

And we have been drafting our aims and end product.

And we want them to be--

and these are the draft proposals

for the aims of the International Lesbian Women's

Conference, International Women's Year, 1975.

To propose action in all countries,

to achieve equal rights legislation for all women,

regardless of sexual orientation,

based on the sixth demand of the British Women's Liberation

Movement, quote, "An end to the discrimination against lesbians

and the right of all women to a self-defined sexuality.

Aim 2: To articulate a lesbian feminist philosophy.

3: To present demands through the Women's Charter

of the United Nations.

4: Input essentials about the International Lesbian Movement

with the International Feminist Conference

at Mexico City in June 1975 and demand an ongoing liaison

between the two groups."

KENNETH: Shh.

JACKIE: Now the Nottingham Women's Conference,

which was last weekend, is 140 pounds in the red,

because women cannot run a conference

because of the economic situation.

Anna Duig made a succinct and marvelous remark in our meeting

yesterday.

"We're goddamn sick of seeing the same white, middle class

women lesbian at all these conferences.

We want women at this lesbian conference

who are not coming to conferences because of lack

of money, because of lack of creation facilities,

because of simple economic discrimination."

Therefore, I'd like to put this motion

to Conference, which is on behalf of all

the women delegates here.

KENNETH: Do read it to us, Jackie.

JACKIE: "The Conference asks all delegates,

on returning to their countries, to start fundraising events,

the proceeds of which go towards the International Lesbian

Conference to be held in international Women's Year

1975.

We will have to underwrite these women's fares.

We will have to underwrite their children's fares.

Therefore, that all monies should

be held by the International Lesbian Women's Conference

representative in each country, that

representative to be chosen by each country.

The names, addresses and phone numbers

be sent by 1 April, 1975, to SATHO BCM Petrol London WC1V

6XX, Great Britain.

SATHO has got a post box.

SATHO has got financial ways of dealing with the postage.

And this is only a pro term address

so that we then can inform all the representatives

where the conference will be and what it will be about.

And we would like the backing of this conference

for that conference.

KENNETH: Thank you, Jackie.

AUDIENCE: (Applause)

Will anyone-- would you please sit

down so that we can see what's going

on at the back of the hall?

Do you mind?

Thank you very much.

Is anyone wishing to speak to that motion?

JACKIE: Could we have a second?

SPEAKER NINE: Second.

SPEAKER TEN: Second.

SPEAKER ELEVEN: Second.

KENNETH: Alright, the motion has been proposed and seconded.

Have we any comments, any speeches?

SPEAKER TWELVE: Do you have a negative?

KENNETH: Huh?

SPEAKER TWELVE: Do you have a negative?

KENNETH: Therefore--

SPEAKER THIRTEEN: Kenneth, can I read the motion out?

KENNETH: Yes.

SPEAKER THIRTEEN: "The Conference

asks all delegates, on returning to their countries,

to start fundraising events, the proceeds

of which go towards the International Lesbian Women's

Conference to be held in International Women's Year

1975.

That all monies should be held by the International Lesbian

Women's Conference representative in each country,

that representative to be chosen by each country.

The names, addresses, and phone numbers to be sent by 1 April,

1975 to SATHO, et cetera.

KENNETH: Alright the motion has been proposed and seconded.

No one has shown any--

ah, you want to speak?

Sorry.

SPEAKER FOURTEEN: Brothers and sisters,

I'm slightly anxious about the way in which this motion was

proposed, because I know from past experience

that "all delegates" is Latin for "every other delegate

except me."

JACKIE: (Laughs)

SPEAKER FOURTEEN: I'm just wondering

whether there is any way in this hall in which we can specify,

somehow, or make clear just whose responsibility it

is so that we can't say, well, all delegates.

There were lots of people there that

won't miss me not doing anything for this, if we

accept this particular motion.

And so if anybody has any suggestions

for making it a little bit clearer,

those responsibilities, I think it

will be helpful to hear them.

SPEAKER FIFTEEN: One speaker here.

SPEAKER SIXTEEN: Might I suggest that everyone voting

for this resolution pledges his individual and personal support

and financial support for it so that each one of us

voting for it is pledging himself

to go out and do some work.

AUDIENCE: (Applause)

KENNETH: Anyone like to speak?

Sorry.

Are there any other comments?

SPEAKER SEVENTEEN: I would like to say

that, as a representative of SMG in Glasgow,

I think that women should chair a committee which

will deal in each organization where there is no funds

and also prepare meals and help them (unintelligible).

And I think they are responsible.

And they can chair, and we will help them all we can.

SPEAKER EIGHTEEN: One technical point.

On the holding of the money, if I understood the motion--

INTERCOM: Mr. Ian (unintelligible).

Ian (unintelligible).

SPEAKER EIGHTEEN: If I've understood the motion

correctly, all representatives here

will be entitled to all the money.

Can we get that one just clarified, please?

KENNETH: No.

Not all.

JACKIE: You see, it says--

we don't even specify the sex of the representative.

"That representative to be chosen by each country."

And that representative holds the monies of that country.

SPEAKER EIGHTEEN: The follow-up is, how do we

choose that representative?

JACKIE: Well, that's up to the countries.

We're not imposing anything.

KENNETH: Right, we have a motion for Conference.

If there are any more comments, please.

Forgive me again.

I can't see what is going on at the back of the hall,

because I have the floodlight turned on my eyes.

No more comments?

Can I put this motion, which has just been read out,

to Conference?

Those in favor, please.

Those against, please.

Do we have anyone abstaining?

SPEAKER TWENTY: I didn't hear the motion.

KENNETH: Right.

People have had the opportunity of expressing their opinions

in one of the constitutional three ways.

The motion is carried.

AUDIENCE: (Applause)

SPEAKER TWENTY-ONE: Can we now continue, Mr. Chairman,

with the International Gay Rights Congress 1975

interim structure?

KENNETH: Thank you.

Jackie, would you like to join them, please?

JACKIE: I have to get this (unintelligible).

KENNETH: Well, would somebody else from your group please

join the--

JACKIE: Sister, shall I join you?

KENNETH: Yes, please.

SPEAKER TWENTY-TWO: Yeah.

KENNETH: Thank you very much.

AUDIENCE: (Applause)

I next will call on Derrick Brandt

to make some opening remarks, please.

DERRICK: When we first discussed at Malvern,

in England, the campaign for homosexual equality,

at a conference in 1974, we had a marvelous speech

from Kim Freeler, from the (unintelligible), the woman

who's behind the International Lesbian Conference,

make an excellent speech drawing out

some of the differences between nations

to the way they go about campaigning and working

for gay liberation.

At that speech, I put it to Malvern

the need for international cooperation,

the need for a conference such as this,

and conferences such as this.

Since that time, professionally, I

have always looked forward to a time when

there would be international cooperation

for gay organizations throughout the world--

INTERCOM: Mr. Ian (unintelligible).

DERRICK: --in order that we can work together

in our common aims.

And as one of the people who was on the working

project on the International Action,

I'm glad I have the opportunity to put to you some

of the points which we discussed there

in order that the full Congress can discuss fully

the consequences and the practicalities

of international cooperation.

We discussed in that group the method of cooperation.

We discussed in the group the practicalities

of setting up the international organization,

its legal aspects, its financial aspects,

and its political aspects.

We decided quite clearly that it is

impossible for a conference of this nature.

The First International Gay Rights Congress

established here and now, quite impossible.

And international organization which

would have any validity or any standing at all.

But what I think this Congress has shown

is a bit of a desire, a need for international cooperation.

It's a feeling I felt from the beginning of the Congress,

from the mood of the Congress, from the friendship I

felt in this Congress.

And I think we should be discussing today,

and the workshop feels this, the ongoing research

into the various areas, the various premises

in which an international organization would be set up

and what its aims may be.

Now we discussed this in some detail.

We would like Congress to discuss in some detail.

We would like another International Congress

next year, in order that the work which

we hope will be instituted from this Congress

through the coming year will be endorsed

by the next International Gay Rights Congress,

and that some formal structure, or whatever kind, or whatever

description, may be set up to benefit

the international community of gay men and women.

Those are simple introductory remarks.

I'm not going into details at all.

I would like to pass on to Bob for his comments

on the paper you have passed around the hall, which

I realize was prepared hastily and you've not much time

to read, but to go into a little detail

on the kind of things we discussed,

the things that we think are concretely possible that we've

taken away from this Congress, something concrete, something

tangible, something ongoing so that Edinburgh

can be the beginning of international cooperation,

that all of us can work in the coming year, and the coming

years, in cooperation, the way we have done so

at this Congress, indeed improving in the way

we've done so at this Congress.

So I pass on to Bob now to discuss

the specific implications and the specific proposals.

Thank you.

KENNETH: Bob Osborne, please.

BOB OSBORNE: I will not be speaking for the proposal.

I'll simply be trying to summarize it

for those of you who haven't yet waded through its rather

lengthy content.

This is a interim structure, a way

to get things done in 1975, before we have a chance

to meet again.

Starts out, the First International

Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh 1974,

recognizing that a meeting of gay liberation

workers from all parts of the world

is essential for the growth and struggle

against the international tradition

of homosexual oppression and sexism resolves

to maintain and strengthen the communication and unity thus

achieved in the following ways.

And there are six ways discussed on how,

perhaps, to achieve this.

I will make note of the fact that there

are papers by Derrick Aug and Bob Roth in the Conference

notes, to which you might refer for alternative structural

proposals.

The first proposal is that there will

be another Congress sometime in 1975,

probably about a year from now.

The people at the workshop discussed several alternatives

and decided that Puerto Rico would

be a excellent choice for the site of another Congress.

Because of immigration difficulties,

we have selected two alternative sites which may be used in case

the United States government doesn't want us.

Those are in Norway, Oslo, and in Ireland.

And I will bring your attention to the last sentence

in that paragraph.

"In supporting this resolution, we individually

pledge our personal time and money

to establishing this Congress."

Numbers two through six deal with specific task force groups

dedicated each to the specific goal

with the aim of doing something between now

and the next Congress, with the final reports

to be delivered at the next Congress.

Some of these are rather substantive.

All of them are rather difficult and perhaps overwhelming,

if you look at the content.

The first one is that there will be a Congressional Task

Force of the International Gay Rights Congress

whose goal is to ensure that all necessary arrangements are made

for the successful international meeting, discussed

in the first provision.

We recognize that the time, the energy, the money that

has gone into this Congress, while it has been voluntarily

donated by a very small group of people, has been excellent.

We would, in fact, seek to duplicate

the physical provision, the facilities,

and the basic structure of this Congress.

But it takes a lot of time and effort.

By the way, I want to stress that these

are multinational committees.

So there will be representation from as many countries as

possible.

Point number three, the second task force

is the Task Force on Organizations.

The goal of this task force is to open

appropriate communication channels with established

international organizations and to propose to the next Congress

specific plans for working with these organizations

to further gay liberation.

Some of the organizations are listed

and also some suggestions on what other tasks might

fulfill as these goals.

Point four, the third task force the Task Force

on Communications.

The goal of this task force is to develop mechanisms

for international communication between all gay people.

We must strengthen our communication.

We have so much to learn from each other.

Suggested on this also are specific tasks

that might aid in implementing these goals.

Point five, the fourth task force

is the Task Force on Oppression.

This committee shall have the goal

of establishing the status of legal oppression

in homosexuality and discussing key areas

and methods for change.

Several key points are suggested as subsidiary goals.

Point six, the fifth task force is the Finance Committee

of the International Gay Rights Congress.

This committee shall have the goal

of seeking operating funds for the annual Congress and task

forces, and future expansion in the Congress

into a permanent organization, and to create a structure

for maintaining these funds.

We might have an international gay organization

as an established organization.

We might have only if we prepare for it.

The last paragraph is a general comment.

This Congress creates the above task forces and committees,

subject to the conditions that the business of each

shall be connected in the full name of the task force.

And basically, one day per week will be

required of each member's time.

Each member of each task force should normally

be expected to spend one day per week working on the task force

activities.

If you look at the goals, they're rather awesome.

And therefore, we pledge that no one person may serve

on more than one task force.

These task forces will be deemed to exist only

when a minimum of ten people volunteer and agree

to accept the conditions of service, providing further

that there will be at least one male and one female member,

and that no nation may have more than two members on each task

force.

We're recognizing that most will seek organizational, financial,

and personal resources from within their own countries

to continue the work of the task force.

This draft is, of course, amendable and, of course,

is subject to question and comment.

I would like, however, to briefly turn the microphone

over to Raphael Pruitt of the Commonwealth

territory of Puerto Rico to invite us

to his territory for the next convention.

RAPHAEL: Thank you.

I would like at this time to make an official invitation

to Congress to come to Puerto Rico in December of next year

for the next International Congress,

where I'm sure you will be received with the usual Puerto

Rican warmth and hospitality.

AUDIENCE: (Applause)

KENNETH: Has any other member of the impromptu panel

have anything to add at this stage?

Yeah?

JACKIE: I'd just like to raise the point that as International

Women's Year is already slotted, and it is a worldwide event,

would Conference consider postponing the Gay Rights

Conference to '76?

Because quite honestly, again, as women, we can't fund both.

Also, it would give the Women's Conference

time to get a lot of input together,

which would be very helpful in an International Gay Rights

Conference, that would be a follow-on,

rather than a rival International Gay Rights

Conference.

Also, as women, we got together some guidelines

that we think are essential, arising out of this conference,

and that anybody who is proposing

any sort of gay rights conference

follows these guidelines.

I'm afraid it's in Angela's writing.

I can't read it.

Perhaps Angela could quickly go through the guidelines,

if you don't mind.

ANGELA: I should say that these are not--

I'm not suggesting that these are complete guidelines.

We were going to discuss as a group

and ask others of you what should

be included this evening.

And we're bringing it in a bit ahead,

because it's obviously relevant here.

So don't assume that we are suggesting

that this is exactly it.

It's the sort of way we're thinking.

But we're not-- it's not been pulled together.

It isn't complete.

But there are things that aren't mentioned.

There are things mentioned badly.

But briefly, what I scrolled was,

"We, as delegates of the International Gay Rights

Congress, Edinburgh 1974, request the organizers

of all future Congresses to understand

that sexual politics is the central issue of gay politics,

provide a (unintelligible)"-- and your words were?

JACKIE: Child care.

ANGELA: "Child care throughout the Congress,

provide free accommodation for all delegates needing this,

organize entertainment away from the commercial gay ripoff

scene.

Organize and chair a people's panel,

fully representative of the women, men, and nations, et

cetera, attending, and fully brief these people.

Provide an official means for people wishing

to make major contributions on topics on the autopaper

to notify the Chair in advance at the Conference.

Provide full provision, adequate space, and equipment

for women's socials.

Take advice from the feminist movement, speakers invited to

and paid for at Congress.

Make use of existing communications channels

to advertise the Congress and obtain in advance

the feeling of delegates as to the issues

which should be discussed."

And one which isn't written down here, but which I think

is obviously the spirit of it, that all such organizing groups

and panels should be fully representative

of women, as well as the men.

BOB OSBORNE: I will accept that as a friendly amendment

to this proposal.

KENNETH: Thank you.