Conference quark::human_relations-v1

111.0. "Living, Dying, Playing, and Loving." by DSSDEV::FISHER () Wed Oct 22 1986 14:29

[ Being an openly gay DEC employee, I find articles such as the
following to be inspiring and illuminating.  I played center for the
Boston Gay Games II basketball team and it was an experience of a
lifetime.  I hope that you find the article interesting.    --Gerry ]



Associated Press Wed 22-OCT-1986 02:25                           Gay Olympics

   Dying AIDS Victim Wages Fight with Olympic Panel

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A physician and former decathlon competitor
who launched the Gay Olympics five years ago to improve homosexuals'
image, is fighting battles against the U.S. Olympic Committee and
AIDS.
   Dr. Tom Waddell has appealed a decision in favor of the
committee's 4-year-old lawsuit charging him with trademark
infringement. The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday to hear his
appeal.
   Waddell, who competed in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, contends
that the committee could not claim exclusive use of the word
``Olympic'' because it is a historic, popular, common English word.
   The Gay Olympics, held here earlier this year, attracted 3,500
athletes from around the world.
   Waddell said the quadrennial competition goes beyond the
stereotypes of homosexuals by showing gay athletes ``doing the sort
of things that everybody else does. They're playing softball and
they're bowling and they're swimming.''
   ``We have a culture here, you know, we're just people. We didn't
create the gay community. The straight community created the gay
community by telling us ever since we were born that we were wrong,
that we were immoral, so the result was a ghetto,'' he said.
   ``But who are we really? We're everybody else's brother and
sister and father and mother and children ... that's how we were
raised, same values as everybody else ... People will believe what
they want to believe, and they want to believe that homosexuals are
bizarre.''
   Waddell, 49, said he is a doctor and monogamous homosexual, and
therefore believed he was safe from deadly acquired immune
deficiency syndrome.
   ``I felt, until about three years ago, that this couldn't happen
to me,'' he said.
   He said hopes to finish the notes and tapes he is preparing for
his 3-year-old daughter, Jesse, to listen to or read at different
stages of her life. They will explain who he was, what he wanted
from life and how he came to die.
   ``How do you explain to a young girl growing up that your father
was gay and died of AIDS,'' Waddell said. ``I'm gay. But I always
wanted a family. I'm sorry I waited so long. I was waiting for the
right person to come along ...''

    .0
    
        Gerry, I'm not sure this note will generate many replies since
    the vast bulk are heterosexual. Being one of the other openly out
    people, my hat goes off/went out to you in San Francisco at the
    games. Het male readers may be surprised at the number of pro/semi
    pro athletes who are gay. Of course being such a homophobic business
    some member of the Patriots isn't about to proclaim his real self
    in front of the press. I think that Dave Kopay was one of the only
    pro football players who was open.
        As far as AIDS goes, I wonder ow many readers watched the news
    special last night on ch 7 from 8-9, it was well made but pretty
    heartbreaking. The message got across fairly clearly that gays
    are not totally responsible for AIDS, they just happened to be
    first to get it.
    
        I'm just curious Gerry, did you ahve to jump at all to dunk
    any baskets, or didja just reach up and tip'em in - NOte, I know
    Gerry, the Celts'll be after you shorty :-):-)
    
    
    Ray