levasseur@morgan.DEC (Ray EMD & S Admin 223-5027) (09/25/85)
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I SHOULD ENTER THIS WITH THE CAPS LOCK ON but I won't....geeeeze! I hate
yelling. I did something last night which I've never done, called a radio
talk show. In Boston from 6-9pm on WBZ am 1030 khz they have the Peter Meade
talk show which I listen to on the way home from work. The subject last night
was gay teachers, the defeat of the Boston Gay Rights Bill and AIDS. Peter
took a neutral if not pro-gay stance as the homophobic calls came pouring in.
All the way home I was gripping the steering wheel and gritting my teeth.
When I got to my apartment I immediatly called the station (figuring I'de never
actually get on the air). The secretary asked my name and which subject I'd
like to discuss, then put me on hold. I did have the foresight to turn on my
reciever and set the cassette roecorder to the record/pause mode. Within 30
seconds peter answered, "Hello Ray, you're on the air" (gulp!)
I started by stating that I was gay (pause on Peter's part), then went on
to calmly rebutt some of the claims made by the homophobic callers as Peter
directed the questions.
P : Ray do you feel that your homosexuality was a conscious choice?
ME : In no way was it a choice. It is something I've been since childhood,
This is a point many people miss?
P : Do you feel that it's an illness?
ME : Not in itself. I believe that homophobia is a form of neurosis. There
are also many mentally maladjusted gay people due to the pressures that
society places on them.
P : Do you believe that AIDS had anything to do with the defeat of the Boston
gay rights bill this time?
ME : Not totally since it's been voted on many times and always turned down,
but I don't believe it helped the cause at all due to all the ignorance
on the subject.
P : Do you feel that AIDS is a gay disease?
ME : Not really. It was just unfortunate that it got recognized in the gay
community first. It could have popped up in the heterosexual community
first; as fate would have it, unfortunately it showed up where it did.
P : Where do you meet gay people?
ME : Let me qualify by saying that, contrary to the beliefs of some listeners,
we do not meet for JUST sex but to socialize like everyone else. There
are gay social/support groups, church groups, professional and outdoor
groups and of couse bars.
P : Ray Do you think that AIDS has affected the gay community in any ways?
ME : Definitely! there is a very keen awareness of the hazards. People are
quite concerned and afraid. I would say that the topic comes up quite
often now in conversations between gay men and women. There is also
a lot of concern and downright anger at the ignorance shown by many
non-gay people at large.
The conversation lasted about 8-10 minutes, then he went on to the next
call. Of course most of the callers considered me either deluded or misled.
One man re-butted me by saying that the gay clubs he knew were all sex clubs.
He was referrring to the closing of many of San Francisco's Baths but didn't
state the fact. Another stated that all the gay teachers he knew only took
the jobs to recruit children into the ranks. He supposedly knew this as fact.
It went on and on. Finally one brave woman took my side and stated she was
the mother of a gay son and was proud of him. She went on to say it's very
easy to remain ignorant until you're faced with the realization that you
have a gay loved one. The subject matter then switched to Orson Wells and
War of the Worlds. I did it! I put my 2 cents worth in and did a good job
of it I think! If nothing else the Million+++ listeners of WBZ radio got
the chance to hear a real gay person's feelings. I think that the ignorance
and homophobia are bothering me more now than ever. one caller said that he
was a supervisor at some computer firm and that if he found out about a
gay co-worker, he would have to let him go because of how the threat of AIDS
would affect others. ARRRRRGGGGHHHHh!
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This morning I called my mother, a 70 year old woman who swears by any-
thing printed in supermarket checkout rack Scandal Rags. I called to just
see how she was doing and she immediately changed the topic to AIDS. Before
this all started she was semi-accepting/tolerant, but now her opinion is
that we have brought this horrible scourge on society. As she stated further,
if you stay gay you deserve anything that comes to you. Hey! don't come crying
to me when you get fired at work! (she knows I'm out at work). If you get AIDS
don't come home, I don't want to have it infecting the rest of us! I tried
reasoning with her but just sarcasticly replied, "Don't worry, I'll quit work
and live in the woods. If I get AIDS, I won't bother you, don't worry the
relatives will never find out". Her reply was silence....then.."ok"....Bye!
MA! glad to see you're soooo understanding <SLAM>
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HEAT VENTS/OPEN
Whew! it's hot in here! Sorry but I'm just VERY angered by all the bullshit.
Has anyone else noticed any changes in the way that non-gay friends or loved
ones have treated you since this issue has become a household topic? I'll say
one thing for the poor unfortunate gay person who contracts the disease; they
sure as hell will know who their TRUE friends and loved ones are; the people
who will still give them a big hug and say, "I'm still here and love you", the
ones who will keep them company when they need it most.
If you happen to listen to radio talk shows and the topic of us comes up,
don't be afraid to call in if the homophobes are spouting bullshit. It's up
to us toi sow inderstanding where there is ignorance. I'm discovering that there
are more and more non-gays who think that we're homoSEXuals, insatiable little
fuck machines, and not real people. I'm sorry kids if I got carried away. Right
now I have to take a dive into the mill pond outside my building to cool off
Rayflaps@utcs.uucp (Alan J Rosenthal) (10/04/85)
Not really re Ray's article, but it made me start thinking again about what people at my work say from time to time. Someone started talking a couple of days ago about "There was this man on the subway, and he was SOOOO ugly, and I was SURE that he was gay," and like that. It's really odd, she appeared to make an inference (UGLY X) ==> (GAY X). I find it really difficult to decide what to do under such situations. Or about various sexist or racist things people say, whenever I confront what they say, I get the hyper-liberal response like "well not all ugly people are gay & not all gay people are ugly, but some are" and when I press that there's no relation between ugliness and gayness they would agree, and when I ask why they have therefore concluded that this man is gay, they respond like "Well I don't know for sure, but I really think he was". It's ultimately frustrating. And I'm always sitting there having people around me discuss non-heterosexual people as if they are a million miles away, and whenever I say anything about my own sexuality I either get responses along the lines of "why do you need to go around flaunting your sexuality etc" (as if the way they talk about gay people isn't flaunting theirs much more obnoxiously than a simple statement), or else the response where they assume this really curious pose but it's not Nice curiosity where they're trying to learn, it's Nasty curiosity where they're trying to put what they think is strange about me into a pigeonhole & seal the lid tight. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR decvax!utzoo!utcs!flaps (UUCP) And P.S. to Ray, I really like the Jason articles, I tried to mail to you but couldn't, I don't understand DECNET yet.