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Letters to the Editor

Published Thursday, 07-Aug-2008 in issue 1076

“San Diego’s community of gay men and lesbians need to move forward, table this ridiculous bickering and together focus on the daunting task ahead of defeating Prop 8.”

Dear Editor:

Gosh, I never thought I’d find myself defending the editorial policies of the G&L Times, however, I think they did their due diligence before running the editorial “Setting the record straight with WomenMoto.”

The paper interviews cycle dealerships about the mechanics of riding in a parade and someone online with the moniker of a dead planet whines whether or not anyone from the dealerships ever participated in such an event.

Who was it that said “You can’t please all of the people all of the time”...

San Diego’s community of gay men and lesbians need to move forward, table this ridiculous bickering and together focus on the daunting task ahead of defeating Prop 8.

Lee A. Schoenbart

See www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=12762

“The Dykes on Bikes leading our parades sent a message to the world that we were not to be fucked with.”

Dear Editor:

As a gay man living in Hillcrest, I am embarrassed by your insulting attitude towards the Dykes on Bikes.

Comparing the tradition of Dykes on Bikes leading gay pride parades to traditional marriage – which excludes gay people – is definitely insulting and uncalled for.

Not all traditions are bad, and I am tired of the disregard some in our younger generation seems to have for the good traditions in our community.

Those are the traditions that have made it possible for young people to enjoy a level of security and freedom that my generation did not enjoy.

The Dykes on Bikes leading our parades sent a message to the world that we were not to be fucked with. They also made the parades – mostly a boring succession of commercials for businesses and politicians – fun and worth going to.

Do not flatter yourself that you have the vision and guts necessary to protect and enhance our community. You might or you might not. That remains to be seen.

But what I have been seeing lately hasn’t been all that great: For example, a witch hunt for sex offenders who were volunteering for our parade a couple of years ago. That was shameful indeed, with our council representative, district attorney and other powerful gay people threatening to boycot the parade unless the sex offenders were rooted out.

Of course, no one bothered to check whether straight events like the County Fair had volunteers that were sex offenders.

Talk about a discriminatory double-standard!

In the last twenty years, I have seen a movement for both sexual liberation and equality become sanitized, with practically all of the demands for sexual freedom being thrown out.

Now we have gay bars full of straight people. That’s fine to a degree, if people are respectful.

But isn’t it odd that I have found myself on more than one occasion sitting in a gay bar watching a straight boy indignantly reject the advances of a gay boy?

Or what about the straight girls that many gay boys bring into the bars, some of whom act like “Girls Gone Wild” and are much louder than girls in straight bars?

Maybe we don’t need the bars any more, since we have the internet.

Just remember, though, that the traditional gay community was not something that was easy to create. It is, however, something that will be all too easy to destroy.

Andrew Towne

See www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=12762

Letters Policy

The Gay & Lesbian Times welcomes comments from all readers. Letters to the editor longer than 500 words will not be accepted. Send e-mail to editor@uptownpub.com; fax (619) 299-3430; or mail to PO Box 34624, San Diego, CA 92163. To be printed, letters must include the writer’s name, address and daytime phone number for verification.

All letters containing subject matter that refers to the content of the Gay & Lesbian Times are published unedited. Letters that are unrelated to the content of the publication will be published at the discretion of the editorial staff.