VOLUME 3, ISSUE 353 | Dec. 30, 2004 -Jan 05, 2005
Letters to the editor
A Vision for the Future
December 19, 2004
To the Editor:
Bravo and congratulations to Alejandro Martinez for standing up to fight the homophobic, bigoted, closet-case Port Authority Police. And, bravo to Michael Spiegel, his attorney, who had the ability, skills, guts, insight and integrity to defend Martinez, and win to boot! (“Cops Entrapment Scheme Busted,” by Duncan Osborne, Nov. 25-Dec. 1)
As a 55-year-old gay man living in Denver, I know full well the extent of hate, bigotry, ignorance and downright stupidity of people, in general, and the police, most specifically.
When is our so-called society going to wake up to realize that, the more one shows bias, ignorance and downright hate, the more obvious it is—or should be—that there is something inside of you that you cannot stand about yourself, and so you lash out at others in an attempt to kill what you hate inside yourself.
I figured this out several years ago, and the older I get the more I am convinced of its truth and accuracy. Those who fiercely hate my homosexuality or gayness, ironically, fiercely hate their own homosexual feelings and thoughts.
Humans tend to attack and ridicule those things and people about which we are ignorant. It is the challenge and homework of the entire global gay and lesbian population to bring this idea to the fore, and to work diligently to eradicate the fear, retaliation and hateful acts that result from people’s gay self-hatred.
We have to band together to support each other, always, to educate the whole world, one person at a time, that homosexuality is a normal, common, everyday trait in all humans, in varying degrees. When humanity frees itself of despising “homos,” it can rejoice that it has made a giant step closer to being more civilized.
It is an achievable and admirable goal, and we should approach it swith that attitude.
T.J. Goodwin
Denver, Colorado Words Have Meaning
December 28, 2004
To the Editor:
In her otherwise incisive review of “Judge Roy Moore is Coming to Dinner” (“A Stab at Alabama Politics Through Gay Marriage Lens,” Dec. 23-29), Deborah Emin writes, “The clashes about to occur include that of the straight male world of Dr. Whiting, despairing of his son’s choice in life…” (Italics added.)
That is an unkind cut. Being gay is not a “choice” for me or any other gay person. Worse, the misleading term arms those who would hack at the progress gays have made toward full citizenship.
It would have been more to the point to use quotes around choice, or, to put a sharper edge on it, to write, “…his only son’s honesty about his sexuality…”
Peter Zimmer
Manhattan
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