Dear Editor:

I was completey dismayed when I saw the cover of the February 17 edition of the ‘Gay and Lesbian Times’: A photo of a good looking, obviously healthy young man looking at himself in the mirrow with this headline, “Reflecting on Lypodystrophy”. The picture has nothing to do with the headline. The photo’s only purpose seems to be sex because sex sells and reality doesn’t. How insensitive can your magazine be? I have several friends who have spent thousands of dollars on cosmetic surgery to counter and correct the ravages of lypodystrophy. Each day they struggle with self-esteem issues and you taunt them with a photo of what they once were? Not only is that extremely insensitive, but it borders on cruel. Shame on you. I left the magazine on the newsstand because it was too upsetting and I couldn’t allow myself to feel I was supporting such insensitive, profit-margin, yellow journalism.

S. Chet Sewell

Dear Editor:

Your most recent issue included a story about a new, drug-resistant strain of HIV (“Rare form of HIV strain hits San Diego”). My first complaint is the title itself, which is completely contradictory to the content of the article, which was careful to note the strain “may possibly” be “similar” to one found in San Diego, although conclusive evidence would not be known “for at least a week”. Before I could even write to you (as well the U-T and San Diego County Department of Health) for rushing to publish such a sensationalist and unfounded report relying mostly on speculation (and absolutely no facts regarding the supposed case in SD), it was revealed one day after publication that the unidentified individual mentioned was NOT tested in San Diego after all. County health officials released this statement after the lab RECHECKED their records. Why they failed to verify their information before calling a press conference is beyond me.

While I am sure (as evidenced by the closing quote in your story) your intentions and those of the Department of Health were noble, the bottom line is that people are no less threatened by those HIV strains that drugs can treat and they should protect themselves regardless of any newly identified strains and irrespective of which cities those strains may exist in. Your readers and the community would be better served if you relied on facts in reporting news and refrained from employing fear tactics to convince people to practice safer sex. When unfounded stories like this are proven to be false, it tends to have the opposite effect of what was intended simply because people are less likely to trust your ability (and even more alarming, the ability of the Department of Health) to relay factual information on protecting personal and public health. Your actions seriously damage your credibility, especially among readers who are not as naïve and gullible as you have proven to be.

The most alarming observation in how this story has been reported across the country is it seems that even our once liberal media and community leaders have succumbed to the now standard practice of using fear tactics and spurious claims to motivate the uninformed public toward action. We relentlessly criticize the Bush administration for using such methods to push their agenda, yet here you are brilliantly and shamelessly following their lead. I believe the majority of the American public has the intellectual capacity to consider facts, weigh the merits of news reports, and make educated decisions on how to respond to the realities of our society, yet modern media refuses to simply report facts and refrain from speculation and sensationalism. I urge you, as a community newspaper, to insure your continued relevance by considering these issues, as well as the effect such actions have on those of us who have learned in recent years not to believe everything we read, and especially those who have not yet realized the importance of doing so.

Ozell Xianté

Dear Editor:

A few weeks ago you queried in an editorial, why readers have “lingered in hibernation during the recent fall and winter months?” You wrote that “the GLBT prides itself on pushing the envelope, tackling difficult questions and reporting controversial news.” You then lamented “that with all of the recent topics we’ve reported on, our ‘Get Fit for 2005’ issue has created the most controversy.” “That this issue,” you wrote, “has bred so much noise is a sad indication of what really reaches a bulk of our readers.” I found this highly insulting and I query weather Mr. O’Brien owns and/or has the use of a mirror?

Mr. O’Brien, your editorial page, letters to the editor and feature articles are nothing more then a gossip column, a forum for “bitch slap-fights,” a promotional vehicle for irresponsible and dangerous business.

In the very same issue that you claimed to repot on “the many pressing issues threatening this community every day,” you printed a lovely promotional piece advertising the reopening of Club 2200, formally the Mustang Spa. Under the guise of “news,” “reporter” Anthony Baldwin wrote a glorious article expelling the virtues of the “alleged new owner” Bob Smith and the FStreet Corp. I have no idea who or what Steve Yuhas is, but he does seem to have a good point. GLBT has a problem with checking their facts.

Perhaps, Mr. O’Brien, if you really want a community response on important issues, begin a discussion on who our community want to represent us. By the way… when did Miss Nicky change around his name?

Kevin McCarthy

To the Editor:

(I would like to specify that I am writing this letter as an individual belonging to the gay and lesbian community and that I do not here represent any organization or group.) Firstly, I would like to heartily thank those who organized and participated in the march/rally for Marriage Equality on Valentine’s day. It was a committed group and it was a very successful day. This action, the first of its kind in San Diego, was covered by all six local television stations where members of our community expressed themselves eloquently.

Now I have to express something that many people do not wish to hear, but I think it’s imperative that they do. The gay community of San Diego, as a whole, has got its priorities disgracefully wrong. Though a multitude of efforts were made to get gays and lesbians involved in this momentous activist event – through mass e-mailings and visits to several community bars as well as articles in this newspaper – only a couple dozen people from our very large population showed up to support us.

Some people excused these no-shows by suggesting they had to work. I have difficulty believing that this is the only or the main reason. Unfortunately, those same people who spend their free time in bars or who flock to the commercialized party called Pride Weekend never seem to find time to stand up for their community’s rights when it counts.

San Diego is the sixth largest city in the country, yet our activist events and meetings would be outnumbered by some of those in rural Midwestern cities. Do you all want to be second-class citizens? You may think that all the community is good for is bars and good times – maybe that’s all you need it for now.

Someday - perhaps soon - that won’t be enough. Within the next several months, we may be faced with an initiative in California which would not only ban our marriages, but which would deprive us of the domestic partnership benefits which have been fought so hard for. It is only by standing up to be counted and by showing San Diego that we have faces and voices that we will be able to look ourselves in the mirror when all is over.

This Saturday, at 12 noon, at the San Diego County Administration (1600 Pacific Highway), those who would like to keep us second-class citizens will be spreading their anti-gay message. Our opponents are organized and are many. Is it acceptable to allow them to insult us while we enjoy a leisurely brunch over mimosas and omelettes? Will we allow those who want to deny us our rights to outnumber those of us who want equality? Most people do not work on Saturdays, so this time it will be difficult to find an excuse if we cannot come together as a community. I, for one, hope that this time I do not have to try.

Kirstin Johnson