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Letters to the Editor

Published Thursday, 30-Sep-2004 in issue 875

“Bouts of rampant homophobia, including death threats, have plagued the University of Wollongong over the past few weeks.”

Dear Editor:

I am outraged by the Illawarra Mercury’s refusal to cover the campaign against homophobia at the University of Wollongong (australia). Bouts of rampant homophobia, including death threats, have plagued the University of Wollongong over the past few weeks. On Thursday the 26th of August 16 students reclaimed a queer safe space on university grounds and remained locked in for 47 hours. On the 47th hour riot police viciously invaded the safe space to arrest three queer students and charge them with trespass.

This was and is a local issue for the Illawarra region. The story was picked up by national news including The Australian and the ABC, however the Illawarra Mercury, our local paper, did not see safety of queers in their local community as newsworthy enough to be covered.

Even now after numerous letters to the editor of the Illawarra Mercury they have failed to cover the story or include our letters.

In my opinion this is indicative of the wider spread homophobia in the Illawarra region.

Shame on you Illawarra Mercury. Shame.

Annaliese Constable

New South Wales, Australia

“Is the intention of the writer to say loved ones took HIV tests and then died due to treatment at AVRC?”

Dear Editor:

Is that letter writer truly as mad as he depicts himself?

“Hundreds of San Diegan’s claim to have lost loved ones with two things in common: HIV tests and treatment at San Diego’s drug company funded AVRC.” Is the intention of the writer to say loved ones took HIV tests and then died due to treatment at AVRC?

Let’s see:

Hundreds of New Yorkers claim to have lost loved ones with two things in common: Cancer screenings and treatment by Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute.

I trust the reader to distinguish the fallacy of Mr. Geiger’s rant for it is no argument and abuses even the appearance of logic, never mind science.

J.D. Tynan

“… I keep wondering how anybody could vote for Bush at all.”

Dear Editor:

I am very encouraged that the gap in the polls between Bush and Kerry has been reduced to 14% in Bush’s favor, for an incumbent in time of war, that is an obvious and devastating indication of the general absence of confidence in his dubious style of leadership.

Even so, I keep wondering how anybody could vote for Bush at all.

Is there someone out there that didn’t see him sit in an elementary school room for a good five minutes after being notified that the United States was under attack, and then disappeared for seven hours evidently out of contact with anybody that mattered.

Isn’t there someone in the cabinet that speaks English that we couldn’t move into that job?

Someone who is a little quicker off the mark and perhaps courageous enough to insist on at least being in on the decisions that were being made to protect the country.

Cheney was in a cellar, important families were being moved into underground housing, but the President was hiding out in a plane that had no contact with the rest of the Government…for quite a while.

What…nobody had a cell phone? Wasn’t there some kind of red phone that went everywhere with the president that he could have used to call Russia to perhaps relay messages for him? And he has a 14% margin of the population voting for him? How?

We have all seen the pictures of Bush watching infantry maneuvers with the lens caps securely fastened to the lenses. Probably faked, but a perfect metaphor for the Presidents stature as commonly perceived by any intelligent life with access to media of any kind. Yet someone might vote for him? Why

I hate politics. It seems to wean out any statesmanship that the potential candidate may have optimistically started with. The name is offensive, it’s just “marketing with sinister intention” as far as I can tell, and probably there are three anonymous people really running things and marionette-ing the people we have blindly voted in…making us less than puppets, and providing the only vaguely reasonable explanation for immediate and out of hand rejection of an admitted concept like “plausible denial.”

Wake up everybody. There is more to life than your garage door opener.

Derrick Harrison Hurd

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.

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