srparedon – editorials (archive)

June 2000

Boyd McDonald, the great chronicler of homosexuality, once noted, "I don't consider any gay publications that don't deal with the elemental discussion of gay sexual desire to be serious– I consider them shallow and frivolous. Those that specialize in reviews of paintings, the ballet, the theater, the books– no matter how lovely the reviews– have nothing to do with basic homosexuality." Boyd understood that de-sexing the gay press (either to appease straight sensibilities or to attract advertising dollars) renders it irrelevant. Our fundamental message is about sex; gay publications that don't challenge prevailing sexphobias might as well be… Continue reading →

May 2000

A hate monger who must be silenced– that's how many gay groups and individuals label talk radio's Laura Schlessinger, a.k.a. Dr. Laura. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), stopdrlaura.com, and dozens of gay publications and organizations have mounted campaigns to have radio stations pull the plug on Dr. Laura and to demand Paramount Studios retract plans to launch a Dr. Laura television show.

What has triggered such concerted efforts to muzzle Dr. Laura? Why have so many gay people been willing to sign on to crusades to have her silenced?

Part of the reason… Continue reading →

April 2000

At the center of life is change. The new replaces the old which in time becomes the old and is itself replaced by another new. This cycle of birth, growth, decay, and death is the inescapable framework in which we work out the pattern of our lives. Human creativity is predicated on the possibility of change, and at the same time mocked by its inevitability. We build knowing that our structures, no matter how magnificent they may appear to us, will pass away.

No doubt it is our awareness of the temporariness of our lives' specifics that… Continue reading →

March 2000

From political organizing in San Francisco in the 1950s, to New York's 1969 Stonewall riots, drag queens have been at the forefront of the modern gay liberation movement. Yet, like other prophets without honor in their own country, drag queens continue to be treated with condescension and discrimination by many in the gay and lesbian community.

Injustices experienced by drag queens range from being denied admittance to some gay bars to physical attacks. And every June, gay papers will predictably be full of letters bemoaning how drag queens "embarrass us all" at pride parades.

Such scorn… Continue reading →

February 2000

As the millennium turns, the United States has surpassed Russia and now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world.

One out of every 150 Americans, over 2 million people, are in prison or jail. Over two-thirds of all those entering prison today have been convicted of non-violent offenses, predominantly drug charges. A majority of those imprisoned for drug offenses are serving time for simple possession convictions. And many among the rapidly growing prison population of so-called sex offenders (considered violent criminals) are incarcerated for sex "crimes" that involved no violence or force whatsoever.

But… Continue reading →

January 2000

What do we mean when we say that someone is gay or that someone is straight?

The popular model of sexuality contends that sexuality is A) generally binary (either one is straight or gay, with few truly indeterminate "bisexuals"), B) determined early in life (perhaps even genetically coded), and C) immutable. Most modern scientists, jurists, and even philosophers embrace a view of sexuality wherein the population can be divided into heterosexuals and homosexuals (and a very few bisexuals). While the relative sizes of these categories might be debated, the prevailing model holds that individuals end up either… Continue reading →