srparedon – editorials (archive)

June 2003

Last month, commenting on the Texas sodomy case currently before the Supreme Court, US Senator Rick Santorum (R- Pennsylvania) noted, “If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy… to polygamy… to incest… to adultery. You have the right to anything.”

Predictably, gay groups indignantly condemned Santorum. Without exception, the message of local and national homo organizations was, “How dare he compare us to real perverts!”

Such knee-jerk responses underscore that our political groups have devolved into respectability-seeking public relations… Continue reading →

May 2003

Gay people rightly celebrate that thirty years ago, activists successfully pressured the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to revise its attitude towards homosexuality.

Prior to 1973, the APA’s “Bible” (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) labeled homosexuality an unambiguous mental disorder; any and all gay people were– by definition– sick. This “expert” diagnosis endangered gay people’s jobs, housing, and equal treatment before the law. Custody hearings, immigration proceedings, and civil service exams were all tainted by professionally sanctioned anti-gay bigotry.

But lost in many of the stories about the APA’s change of heart are two… Continue reading →

April 2003

April 1, 2003; Washington, DC–These perilous times have led record numbers of you to speak out. You have taken to the streets, to the Internet, and to countless town meetings and civic gatherings to articulate your opposition to unnecessary war. I assure you that I, George Walker Bush, your President, elected by almost as many votes as the front-runner, have heard you.

“Thoughtful, sober deliberation leads me to conclude that the times demand a change in direction. Foolish pride will not keep us on a collision course with disaster. It is never too late… Continue reading →

March 2003

High school civics class teaches that courts protect individuals’ civil liberties. Defending the Bill of Rights– with its guarantees of freedom of expression, equal treatment under the law, and protection from arbitrary state power– is, we are told, best done by a judiciary insulated from political pressures endured by other branches of government. And, indeed, the courts have at times protected freedoms that others have sought to erode.

But it is a myth that courts are immune from popular influences. The anti-sex hysteria that has plagued our country for the past quarter century has tainted… Continue reading →

February 2003

Nowadays, almost anyone calling masturbation “self abuse” does so for comic effect. Only a few religious zealots continue to promote the idea that masturbation constitutes literal abuse, leading to insanity, infirmity, and­ eventually­ eternal damnation.

But not so long ago, “self abuse” was what many called masturbation. Religious leaders were joined by medical “experts” in warning of masturbation’s ills. Those who defiled their bodies through self abuse were told to expect feeblemindedness, impaired vision, a host of nervous disorders, persistent fatigue, and even cancer. For treating their God-given bodies with disrespect, self abusers would also… Continue reading →

January 2003

Imagine yourself at home some evening, in your bedroom, getting down to some serious love-making with your boyfriend. You’ve played often, so you know just how to use your mouth and cock and ass to get each other off real good. Just when you’re as connected as two guys can get, in burst the police, guns drawn­ “You’re under arrest for deviate sexual intercourse­ you’re coming with us.” Then you and your boyfriend are cuffed, taken to the police station in your underwear, and charged with sodomy. You are found guilty, and face a fine and… Continue reading →