GLT » Letters to the Editor

editorial

Letters to the Editor

Published Thursday, 03-Mar-2005 in issue 897

“But I am concerned that the city attorney’s aggressive pursuit of this case could signal impending action against all San Diego bathhouses.”

Dear Editor:

San Diego’s new city attorney, Mike Aguirre, was elected to office this past fall with widespread support from the gay community. The San Diego Union-Tribune article about the 2200 Club (Feb. 24, 2005) reports that it is his office which has both denied the 2200 Club an “adult sexual encounter business” permit and now seeks to pursue legal action against the club’s owners for operating as a bathhouse—based on the silly technicality that the club operates within 1,000 feet of residentially zoned property.

As an individual who lives next door to the 2200 Club, I would much rather have this quiet, unsigned, modest establishment as my neighbor than yet another liquor-selling mini-mart, heavily trafficked fast food restaurant, or condominium project.

And it doesn’t take a genius to realize that San Diego’s other two bathhouses are also both located within 1,000 feet of residential properties. They are older establishments than the 2200 Club, so perhaps they have been “grandfathered in” as pre-existing the “1,000 feet rule.” But I am concerned that the city attorney’s aggressive pursuit of this case could signal impending action against all San Diego bathhouses.

Mr. Aguirre already is in hot water with the City Council on a variety of issues. He should beware of “biting the hand” that has fed him by antagonizing his gay constituency. He needs to be fair, especially now that the 2200 Club has recently made extra effort to clean up and keep drugs out of the club. And all gay San Diegans should be concerned that this is an issue that touches on gay rights and privileges—which always are fragile in America.

Jason Brown

“Earth to City Hall, the party is OVER! The secret meetings, the back room deals, the ‘Robbing Peter to Pay Paul’ days are over.”

Dear Editor:

Regarding your editorial in the Feb. 3 edition, Mike Aguirre was supported and elected to clean up the cesspool down at City Hall. Period.

The current City Council has no one to blame but themselves for the current investigations

They’ve underfunded the pension, spent way too much meeting time on sports teams, make terrible appointments to advisory committees and commissions, approve neighborhood busting projects and create redevelopment areas that basically steal people’s private property and hand it over to their big developer contributors.

Then, when people go down to council to ask questions, are treated rudely by Murphy & Co..are called NIMBYS and told to go away.

Earth to City Hall, the party is OVER! The secret meetings, the back room deals, the “Robbing Peter to Pay Paul” days are over. Mike is doing what he was elected to do. Cleaning up civic corruption is never pretty, but it is an honorable job. This isn’t a “play nicey” situation. That’s the reality. Mike needs our full support on getting City Hall back in order.

Don Schmidt

Perhaps because the new 2200 Club … is absentee-owned, they got raided on Thursday. Didn’t they know whom to pay off yet?

Dear Editor:

As many of us realize, San Diego Policemen are increasingly aware that their cushy, corrupt Pension Deals that shares much of the blame for this city’s intolerable pension mess with the last four Mayors will have to be amended to their loss.

Recognizing that they must ensure that other unreported income remains under the carpet, these often-homophobic sworn officers are making sure that corruption continues to flow unabated. Thus two of the city’s Gay Bath Houses did not get raided last Thursday.

Perhaps because the new 2200 Club (for decades, 2200 University’s Mustang) is absentee-owned, they got raided on Thursday.

Didn’t they know whom to pay off yet? The 2200 was closed because some of the sex in this private club wasn’t in individual rooms: orgies room have been normal in Gay California clubs since back in the days when all homosexual sex in California was felonious, and cops were expected to be homophobic.

Late Thursday morning another squadron of seemingly- homophobic police made traffic stops and arrests along University, Washington and other Hillcrest streets. One heterosexual male cop stopped a Gay male for driving 27 in a lightly-trafficked 25 MPH zone.

How do these barchaic bigots justify their paychecks? Did any of them settle for twenty-dollar bills, Tijuana style?

It is time the GBLT community demand a thorough investigation of these corrupt bigots and not the usual San Diego whitewash we have grown to expect from this the fraudulent Mayor we voted against and his Police Chief!

Murphy holds that job because he followed in equally election-stealing President Fraud. Now some of his new appointments to the Pension Board to the Port Commission are also tarnished.

No wonder some of the cops counting on historic graft are celebrating their homophobia by raiding a bath house on a bigoted pretext!

Jay Murley

“… Kickers should properly receive the credit for the donation, instead of Azteca Project.”

Dear Editor:

In your recent issue dated 1/27/05, you reported erroneously that ACOSIDA, a Tijuana AIDS Clinic, received a large donation form the Azteca Project run by John Acosta. While Mr. Acosta helped to put the benefit at Kickers together with Saul Mendoza from Kicker, Mr. Mendoza was actually the main person responsible for putting together the event. In addition, since Kickers matched the funds raised from the participants in the event, Kickers should properly receive the credit for the donation, instead of Azteca Project.

Maria Galleta

“Please show some compassion for those of us having to live with these conditions…. You completely missed the boat about your story on lypodystrophy.”

Dear Editor:

I am in complete accord with the letter from S. Chet Sewell in the 2-24 issue of the Gay and Lesbian Times.

How dare you employ a hunky model looking at himself with the headline Reflecting on Lypodystrophy.

Could it be that neither the editor or the feature writer have never seen the body of a man destroyed by lypodystrophy. Shame. Shame.

I am well over 40 now and have been living successfully with HIV for the last 22 years without once having been made by the infection.

The medications which I have been on for those 22 years have never made me ill but have taken a terrible toll on my face – facial wasting not to mention my protruding stomach where once I had been so proud of the “washboard” effect.

My self esteem has been terribly affected by this condition and I know that the facial wasting has turned off potential suitors as well as employers as I am well enough to reenter the workforce now. I could do 1,000 sit ups a day, go on a starvation diet and never lose my “protese tummy”. I cannot afford cosmetic surgery to correct these conditions but thank God that I am a spiritually evolved person and that I now know that it is what’s inside.

Much future studies are needed on the causes and possible treatments of lypodystrophy as well as facial wasting.

Please show some compassion for those of us having to live with these conditions day after day. You completely missed the boat about your story on lypodystrophy.

James Arthur Kerr

“Just because I can change the faucet in the bathroom doesn’t make me a plumber.”

Dear Editor:

My recent editorial has elicited some harsh responses. I received several calls at my home to express displeasure at what I have said.

I don’t expect everyone to agree, but it is my first amendment right to speak my opinion.

My words were strong, and from experience, however, my fault is that I lumped “all personal trainers” under the umbrella of my opinion. For that I apologize. There are many that are truly qualified, that is why I encourage asking questions, and getting proof of their training.

Just because I can change the faucet in the bathroom doesn’t make me a plumber.

It is for the consumer to be aware and to get information.

Caveat emptor.....Let the buyer beware!

from the dictionary:

”The axiom or principle in commerce that the buyer alone is responsible for assessing the quality of a purchase before buying.”

This is is my opinion, that is why I send it to editorial/opinion page.

Ron Mason

“That the term “marriage” pertain solely to the recognition a religious entity bestows upon couples meeting its requirements.”

Dear Editor:

I recommend the following resolution to the conflict over gay marriage:

That the government no longer issue marriage licenses; that the government issue only civil union licenses granting any couple, regardless of sexual orientation, appropriate and equal rights under the law.

That the term “marriage” pertain solely to the recognition a religious entity bestows upon couples meeting its requirements.

This approach provides everyone with equality under the law by giving the government the responsibility and authority to grant civil unions; while giving “marriage” to the people who most want to own it – many in the organized religious community.

Robert M. Aronin

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.