Code,999012
Subject,Buck Harris
Date,4/20/2006
Interviewer,Mark Souther
Abstract,"In this 2006 interview, 58 year old Cleveland native Buck Harris, a prominent member of Cleveland's gay community for decades, talks about his life in Cleveland as a gay man and his residency near West 52nd Street and Bridge Avenue in an area of the west side of Cleveland known as Ohio City Heights.  Mr. Harris discusses his experience of ""coming out"" in the late 1970s; some of the prominent gay bars in Cleveland in the 1970s, including, Twiggy's; and his development and activities as an activist for gay rights and gay health, including his appointment by Ohio Governor Dick Celeste as his gay health advisor.  Harris recounts a number of stories about the AIDS crisis in Cleveland in the 1980s.   Harris also hosted the first gay and lesbian radio talk show in America in the 1990s on WHK.."
Special Notes,"gay and lesbian issues, cleveland gay bars, Welcome to the Gay 90s (radio program), AIDS, Ohio City, Detroit Shoreway, community activism, political activism"
minutes:,60
0,introduction and background
1,comparing  campus activism at antioch college and cleveland state university
2,"""this town just wasn't big enough for my rage and my anger, so I went to Antioch [to protest the Vietnam war]"""
3,coming to terms with own homosexuality
4,meeting other young gay men at Edgewater Park
5,"first visit to a gay bar: ""it was the first time in my life I felt safe and at home"""
6,"living in rural Maryland: ""it was like Brokeback Mountain - I drove a John Deer tractor"""
7,returned to cleveland in 1976 to live with domestic partner
8,"return to cleveland, addresses"
9,"Twiggy's (gay bar): ""a true melting pot of all sexual orientations"""
10,"Cleveland gay bars, history: ""all the cleveland gay bars were named after flowers"""
11,
12,"Cleveland, 1970s: more visible gay and lesbian community"
13,"Ohio City becomes a safe and affordable place for ""urban pioneers"" of the gay community"
14,"John Sayles, bussiness owner whose restaurants anchored gay community in ohio city"
15,clarification of timeline and addresses
16,"""in the late 70s and early 80s, some gay bars started to open on the near west side"""
17,"Cleveland, bathhouses - past, present, and future numbers"
18,AIDS awareness and bathhouses
19,rationale for keeping bathhouses open; government intervention
20,Randy Shultz (author of And The Band Played On); Welcome to the Gay 90s (radio program)
21,"Stonewall Democrats: ""it was first called Eleanor Roosevelt Democratic Club... [which] sounded like we were a bunch of old queens sitting around drinking tea"""
22,educational and political agenda
23,"AIDS taskforce work: ""I gave the governor [and the department of health] the impression that if we did anything wrong, ACT UP was going to go crazy"", availability of anonymous AIDS testing"
24,"ACT UP (gay rights and AIDS awareness activist group), history"
25,"as an organization, ACT UP was ""too personality-driven"""
26,"Welcome to the Gay 90s, radio program"
27,"from appearances and  substitutions on other shows to getting his own ""gay talk show"""
28,"debut of show (in march 1983) led to death threats, bomb threats, and closing of Tower City"
29,the opening statemment to each show
30,program content; crew members; important guests
31,"the show educated, entertained, and helped people cope"
32,"Arbitron Ratings: ""probably 70% [of listeners] were straight"""
33,[32:40]  Conservativism in the Gay Community
34,"Coming Out, family response"
35,
36,"AIDS, partner is diagnosed positive: safe sex in the 1980s, resistance to AIDS testing"
37,"Alcoholism and Drug Addiction: ""as Don's disease progressed, so did mine"", relation to gay community"
38,"""if you can't be a fashion model, be a role model"""
39,"[38:40] Welcome to the Gay 90s, radio show: difficulty selling advertising and time constraints lead to show being cancelled"
40,"time slot, signal range"
41,"callers: ""the further from [cleveland] they called from... the more reluctant they were to call in"""
42,"Bridge Brigade, community group: establishment and purpose to combat drug trafficking"
43,"""it was a good representation of the people that were living in the nieghborhood"""
44,"""we didn't run the dealers out of town, we ran the buyers out"""
45,signs warning that drug traffickers are being watched; success
46,drug dealers relocate; threats
47,"Lake Effect, restaurant: mission to serve gay community"
48,"""it was a glorious place… it's too bad no one has replicated it since [it closed]"
49,closest comparison in 2006: Snicker's (Clifton Ave.?)
50,"enjoying life: recording studio, teaching yoga, farming, etc..."
51,clarifications: addresses
52,Twiggy's (gay bar): surrounding neighborhood
53,"Detroit Shoreway/Ohio City Heights: ""I hate the name Detroit Shoreway"""
54,"what is Ohio City Heights? (origin of term, boundaries)"
55,"ACT UP: ""[after the 1980s] there wasn't that screaming need for activism"""
56,Randy Shultz; Quentin Crisp;
57,"[56:20] Gay Rights and Gay Community, progress: ""it makes me feel good to know I had an impact"""
58,"""in the old days, they used to say 'are you a friend of Dorothy's?'.  In the early 80s, they used to say 'are you a friend of Buck's?'"""
59,"early activism: ""it was painful… [but] it was the most wonderful time of my life"""
60,end
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