Dear Editor:

I am a resident of San Diego who supports Donna Frye for Mayor and will do everything in my power to see that she is re-elected Mayor. The fact that Councilmember Toni Atkins and State Senator Chris Kehoe have not endorsed Frye is a disgrace. As I alluded to in a previous letter, if Donna Frye was a lesbian, Atkins and Kehoe would have been on board from the beginning. If Atkins and Kehoe do not endorse her before the July 26 election, I will never vote for either of them again and urge you to do the same. It is telling, isn’t it, that the other two GLBT officials, both Republicans, have endorsed Jerry Sanders? The operative word here is courage and thus far, Atkins and Kehoe have shown none. At their peril, I say.

Next, every person out there who supports Donna Frye for Mayor must contact 10 people who will commit to voting for Frye and those 10 people must commit to contacting 10 other people who will commit to voting for Frye—and on and on it goes. That way, we can avoid a runoff and Mayor Donna Frye can get started, on July 27, solving the problems of the city we all love.

Finally, Congressman Bob Filner, State Senator Denise Ducheny, State Assemblymember Lori Saldana, Chula Vista City Councilmember Mary Salas, the Honorable Howard Wayne, along with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., are all supporting Donna Frye. Their abundance of courage is in stark contrast to Ms. Atkins and Ms. Kehoe—I encourage you to call their offices immediately and ask them why they are not endorsing Donna Frye for Mayor of San Diego. Atkins: 619-236-6633. Kehoe: 619-645-3133.

David Harrington Campbell

Dear Editor:

I just read Michael Kimmel’s column in the GLT #912 and couldn’t pass up the chance to respond with some thanks to him and also to further shed light on this topic. I’m active in FOG and SAGE, each social groups, loosely structured, to meet the needs of gay senior males. Both offer plenty of activities, from Dine Outs, Bridge/Pinochle, monthly Birthday Dos, to Walk & Talks, Croquet, Pool and Bowl-ing; virtually something for everyone, and scheduled so that no two activities over-lap. Sixteen of us even took a 3-day Cruise to Ensenada in January and had a wonderful time; lots of congenial camaraderie.

I personally consider these groups to be the ‘payoff’ for my years of Pioneer Activism (I’m 66) and feel truly blessed that I’m in such good health so as to enjoy them.

There are at least two books I would recommend for anyone in our age group to read in order to bring one up to speed on the current mindset in the Sr Gay Community. First is John Lockhart’s book The Gay Man’s Guide to Growing Older in which he profiles many of the early and current movers and shakers from Jose Sarria to Queen Eddie Conlon, describing how they and others have survived and thrived into retirement. Several live in SD. The other book is Tom Cat Chronicles by Jack Nichols, who died just last month at age 67 in Coral Gables, FL. He describes the years before Stonewall, the crazy fun we had and the very serious first steps he took with Frank Kameny to start the group called One Inc.

In SAGE and FOG, we have come to discover that there are a lot of older gay men (those born before 1935, in particular) who do not want to be reached (mainly the generation who remember the Great Depression that gave them their stubborn determination to survive it, and/or they got married and raised a family because there were no other options at the time), (the word ‘gay’ hadn’t come in to use yet); so for those and other reasons, we are trying to reach out to them in whatever way we can to let them know that there are plenty of social outlets for them to explore.

We very much appreciate Kimmel’s column to increase our visibility to one and all; there definitely is ‘life after retirement,’ without going to a bar, if one chooses not to; and, volunteer opportunities abound at the GLBT Community Center.

Norvell Tom Giles

Dear Editor:

Another year, another “National HIV Testing Day” — a particularly obnoxious example of what my partner calls “anti-social marketing” — and another scare story about how U.S. “HIV” cases have supposedly topped 1 million. Anyone who hasn’t flushed his or her mind down the memory hole will remember that throughout the 1990’s the AIDS establishment kept telling us there were 1 million “HIV-positive” Americans before they decided that not enough people were getting AIDS for that number to be accurate. So they took it down to 850,000 and then to 650,000 before they started jacking it up again.

Almost nobody mentions the central fallacies of the so-called “HIV test.” First, it isn’t a test for HIV at all; it’s a test for antibody responses to one or more of nine proteins thought to make up HIV. (Since no one has ever actually isolated live, infectious HIV from a living patient we don’t know for sure what makes up HIV, or even if it exists in nature at all.) Second, for all other diseases attributed to viruses, an antibody reaction is considered a good thing: a sign of immunity, not active infection — but for HIV a “positive” antibody test result is considered proof of active infection and imminent death from AIDS. Third, the test cross-reacts with at least 64 other infections and conditions, some of them quite common: hepatitis, herpes, malaria, flu and pregnancy (especially in women who’ve been pregnant several times before).

To my mind it’s highly irresponsible to continue to advise people to take a test that: 1) won’t tell them anything meaningful about their health status or the likely length or quality of their life; 2) is based on a hypothesis that goes counter to everything science knows about how microbes do — and don’t — cause disease; 3) will be used to stigmatize them socially; and 4) will be used as an excuse to prescribe them highly toxic and expensive drugs that are more likely to make so-called “asymptomatic” (that’s medicalese for people who aren’t sick!) “HIV-positives” sicker than healthier.

Instead of embracing and promoting the test, we should be boycotting it and working to have it banned. And instead of obsessing over the minutiae of other people’s sex lives, we should be seeking an end to the 24-year reign of anti-sex terror to which the Queer community has been subjected and an approach to STD prevention that respects the individual and his or her ability to make responsible choices, when given correct information instead of hysterical propaganda about mythical “super-viruses” and supposedly lethal antibody reactions.

Mark Gabrish Conlan

Dear Editor:

As recently as 10 years ago, you had interesting interviews in the cultural world. Can you return to those “good olde days”? I suggest Jack O’Brian (old globe) as your first interview.

Curtis Dickson