Wyoming: Inequality State
December 1999
Matthew Shepard's murder, we are told by many gay spokespeople, underscores the need for hate crime laws to deter and condemn violence motivated by bigotry. And Aaron McKinney's trial for that murder illustrates that victims of violence– not prosecutors– now call the shots in criminal proceedings. By judging crimes differently based on the political status of the victim, both hate crime laws and so-called victims' rights provisions do pernicious damage to the gay movement's legitimate goal: equality under the law. Misled into pursuing an agenda of victimhood, many of our organizations have traded demands for liberation with a… Continue reading
The Sex Offender Majority
November 1999
All fifty states now have sex of fenders registries (SORs), agencies with multi-million dollar budgets mandated to track every move of "sexually dangerous persons" and "sexual predators." Though created only in the last few years, SORs have been retroactively registering those convicted of sex crimes decades earlier, people who had served their time and thought they were now free. And the US Supreme has okayed SOR legislation permitting lifetime incarceration of people who aren't serving time for any conviction, but who are deemed to have a "personality abnormality" that makes them likely to become a "sex offender."
‘Gay’ Is Not Enough
October 1999
Not so long ago, when homophobia was omnipresent, calling yourself "gay" meant that you challenged prevailing sexual values. People interested in replacing fearful attitudes about deviant sexuality or chucking out the foolish notion that jealous possessiveness signaled love could welcome those claiming a gay identity. All sexual outlaws had a common enemy: the nearly-universal condemnation of sexual expression outside narrowly proscribed boundaries. Being gay defined you as a sexual renegade, a rebel with a cause.
But the successes of the gay movement have changed the equation. Homosexual expression is more widely tolerated; thus, asserting a gay identity… Continue reading
Loyal, Kind, Brave… and Gay
September 1999
The New Jersey Supreme Court declared this month that the Boy Scouts cannot discriminate against members who declare themselves to be gay. Though the ruling is a welcome victory for freedom of speech, those who value sexual freedom should remain wary of much of the judges' reasoning; the fundamental fight is not about an individual's right to label himself "gay" but instead about everyone's right to enjoy gay sex. As sexual liberationists, we must be mindful not to trade the freedom to act on gay desires for a court-sanctioned ability to assert only a theoretical gay identity.
Abusing Children
August 1999
A shocking story of children, sex, and police unfolded this past month in York Haven, Pennsylvania.
Police there are taking credit for busting up a "sex ring" that involved the "rape" and "molestation" of dozens of that small town's children, age seven to 16. At least six people have been charged with felonious sexual activity involving children, and one person has been convicted of raping an 11-year-old boy. Two of the accused have already been sentenced to jail. All those convicted face possible lifetime registration as sexually dangerous persons, required wherever they go to report their status… Continue reading
Sexual Leadership
July 1999
Where have we come in the thirty years since the Stonewall riots? How has the status of homosexuality changed as a result of three decades of gay activism?
In answering these questions we can note enormous advances: police no longer routinely shake down gay bar patrons, being identified as gay today doesn't automatically jeopardize your job, those coming out are more likely to receive rational responses from family and friends, and fewer kids now cry themselves to sleep in abject loneliness, scared that they are "the only one."
Such progress has done a remarkable job… Continue reading