Christmas as a Gay Celebration
December 2006
As countless stand-up comedy routines attest, holidays can be tough for anyone. Getting together with infrequently seen relatives can dredge up old emotional scars, rekindle resentments, and provoke new disagreements amongst generations with differing moral codes. For gay people, holidays can be especially challenging– engendering in some a wistful sadness about how difficult it is to be gay. Indeed, many, perhaps even most, of us come from families that are not accepting of homosexuality in general and of our homosexuality in particular. (Though to be fair to our families, in some instances we have never given… Continue reading
L’Affaire Foley
November 2006
It is tempting to revel in the exposure and downfall of monumental hypocrites. There is satisfaction in knowing that J. Edgar Hoover, who liked to persecute others for their perversions, himself enjoyed donning women’s clothes. It seems just to posthumously drag Senator McCarthy’s savagely anti-gay legal pitbull Roy Cohn out of his closet. And who doesn’t enjoy watching televangelists weepily confess to the very sins they so heartily condemn in others?
Thus, one can be excused for ever-so-briefly taking pleasure in the political ruin of Congressman Mark Foley. A high-profile crusader for so-called “decency” and… Continue reading
Aim Higher!
October 2006
“Equality” has become a buzzword for many gay and lesbian organizations. Indeed, several have incorporated the term into their very names. The Human Rights Campaign, by far the best funded and highest profile national gay group, has even adopted an equality sign as their corporate logo.
Given that for much of history and in many places homosexual expression has been brutally suppressed, it is seductive to think that social and legal parity with heterosexuals is our ultimate goal.
But while gay people should have the ability to conduct their social and civic lives with… Continue reading
The Yellow Star
September 2006
Sixty-five years ago this September, German Nazis made it compulsory for Jews to wear a yellow Star of David. Holocaust survivor Victor Klemperer, writing in I Will Bear Witness 1933-1941: A Diary of the Nazi Years, recalls the introduction of the mandatory Star as the darkest moment of the entire Nazi regime.
Klemperer suffered countless indignities, saw and endured horrific abuse, and heard of unspeakable atrocities throughout the Nazis’ rise to power and their subsequent subjugation of much of Europe. One of a handful of German Jews who escaped the round-ups and deportations to… Continue reading
Farewell, Edward!
August 2006
Prudence is an under-appreciated virtue. In a culture that trumpets ideas in sound bites and allots fame in 15-minute bursts, the careful attention needed to grow and sustain an endeavor like The Guide magazine can be undervalued. But without wise care, no enterprise reliant upon not-easy-to-obtain resources (in this case, money) will survive long, much less the 22-plus years that The Guide has.
All of us who value The Guide and its message owe publisher Edward Hougen our appreciation for his prudent stewardship of the magazine through these past decades. By carefully marshaling resources, Ed–… Continue reading
Jury Duty
July 2006
Why do we have juries? Given the complexity of the law, wouldn’t it be wiser to have judges decide how the law does– or doesn’t– apply to those accused of crime? Trials can be long and hard work; wouldn’t it be better to have trained professionals perform the task of fact finder rather than disrupt the lives of a dozen citizens? Why indeed does the US Constitution repeatedly guarantee the right to a jury trial? Why do the constitutions of all fifty states similarly claim for their citizens the right of a trial by jury?