Dear Editor:

Your article on Tales from TJ is not the whole story and comes from someone who obviously has not been on the streets with these boys.!!!!!

I suppose taken from the point of view of a tourist it may seem that there is sexual liberty in Tijuana. However this is furthest from the truth.

Human rights violations are common in TJ and we have many who have received political asylum who were threatened and sexually assaulted by the police.

The Bi-National AIDS Project helped over 40 individuals receive asylum from Mexico, some from Tijuana as the atmosphere of intolerance is very evident,. e.g. You cannot go down the street holding hands with you lover, you cannot kiss in public, you may be questioned if you are hanging out with you boyfriend in a café in a plaza and you most certainly do not acknowledge you are gay in the work place or in school, even though some might know you are gay. You may do these things in the confines of your home. a gay bar or disco but even then public kissing is frowned upon.

I personally have worked in Tijuana for 12 years with the boys of Tijuana, many of whom were HIV+ and others who felt that they could not go on living in this homophobic town and tried to commit suicide.

I personally have talked several out of suicide and encouraging them to seek support from Gay groups at ACOSIDA and other places.

My boyfriend of 4 years in Tijuana, said to me today when I questioned him about this, that he constantly has to be on guard at his job and on the street so that he does not draw attention to himself, and he most certainly does act gay in public.

As for the agencies which claim to do all sorts of prevention etc in Tijuana, this is just inaccurate. In the 12 years I have been doing prevention only one organization from Los Angeles came down each week to do outreach and over the past 10 years this was done only by PROCABI until it closed its office in Tijuana.

If you really want to know what’s going on in Tijuana try and live there, because even those who live there are always very careful and do a lot of talking about the human rights violations which take place daily.

Remember in TJ you are guilty until proven innocent and there is not restriction on search and seizure, which may happen to you at any time when you walk the streets of Tijuana, and beware if you are carrying your HIV medications in a little bag on you, as you will go to jail until you can prove they are not narcotics. So an accurate viewpoint is, Tijuana is not heaven, nor is it Hell but you can live there if you know the rules and how to play by them.

Robin H. Slade

President; Bi-National AIDS Project

Dear Editor:

The short-sighted and petulant Editorial that appeared two weeks ago in the GLT asking Community members to vote for Bill Horn for Supervisor in County District 5 allowed the justified displeasure of candidate Bruce Thompson’s campaign comments to obscure what Bill Horn has always stood for.

Here are some quotes:

“I never got any Gays in my (marine} unit, ever. I want people defending me to be the best there is. I don’t want any other ancillary kind of problems, whether or not they use their pinky finger.”

LA Times February 24, 2000

“We have taken testimony from a former Horn Aide....he (Horn) was saying he did not want all those baby makers (meaning Hispanics) in Escondido in his district” (Mike) Aquirre said.

North County Times April 17, 2002

Other terms he apparently used regularly according to records from a civil suit the County settled for $16,800 (Union-Tribune March 30, 2001) were Heebs meaning Jews, slit tails meaning women and refered to a female colleague on the Board of Supervisors as the slut in short skirts.

Now we know for at least five years, he has had migrant workers on his farm who have lived in a broken-down shed with no toilet, no shower and no permits forcing the workers to defecate and urinate in the fields.

And this is the man the GLT suggested deserves to be returned to office?

Ian Trowbridge

Dear Editor:

What year is this? The San Diego Gay Rodeo sounds like some archaic Roman spectator sport. Why do we consider the abuse and humiliation of animals entertainment?

Jessica Wade