June 1985

Page 5

LETTERS

Non-alcoholic Drinks Are a Must

To the Editor:

I attended the Saturday dance at the All Ohio Lesbian/Gay/Feminist Conference in April, and appreciated such a function's being held outside a bar setting. As a recovering alcoholic, it is important for me to have nonalcoholic drinks available when I attend any social function.

At the dance I purchased several beverage tickets, but was very disappointed to be told at the bar that only alcohol was available. Because I am not struggling with my sobriety, I did not, in a confused moment, order a drink; but someone else in the same situation might have. I feel very strongly that any function such as this dance should under no circumstances run out of non-alcoholic beverages. Many of us--not all alcoholics--choose not to drink.

To the Editor:

The same God of whom "Wittness" wrote in your April issue works in marvelous ways. I'd like to tell "Wittness" this face to face, or by direct correspondence. I doubt, however, that the benighted and malignant soul gave a return address. I hope "Wittaess" will pick up the copy of GPC in which you print my reply and learn just how he or she has slandered and vilified the God he claims to speak for. I have recently been studying the Bible passages "Wittness" cited: Romans 1:25-28, 1:18. As a result of recently reading the April GPC and hearing the pastor of Akron's Metropolitan Christian Church on TV, I am keenly aware that I must write this letter, be it long or short. God has worked in a marvelous way or I would not be writing.

In the passages from Romans, "Wittness" fails to recognize that St. Paul is not writing about those whose nature it is to be homosexual. The great Apostle refers to men and women who had embraced the hedonistic selfishness of a

This is a very important choice, and should be respected if the function is to be considered a success. Name Withheld

Local Media

To the Chronicle Staff:

Congratulations on your new gay newspaper. Looks good (although the columns åre a little too densely packed in).

If there is anything any community needs, it is a reliable locally-run media. Keep up the good work. If there is anything I can do for you out here, don't hesitate to let me know. Best wishes,

Ray O'Loughlin Bay Area Reporter San Francisco

P.S. I launched my journalism career at High Gear.

Disappointed and Ashamed

To the Editor:

I write to you after recently receiving your newspaper. As I looked over the content I had many mixed feelings. Part of me feels very good and supportive of your newspaper, but still another part of me feels very disappointed. I see some very disappointing articles and ads in the Chronicle.

On page 3 of the May issue is a full length half-page article on Body Language, a store that sells sex toys. Do you honestly feel that all gay people are interested in such stories? Do you believe that many gay people are involved in relationships accompanied by committment and monogamy?" Yes, there are people in this gay community who do live a decent life and are interested in their gay community, but are not interested in seeing the overrated sex,

God Loves Lesbians and Gays

day that revelled in all pleasure at any cost, all the time. Those he condemned were not just experiflagrantly using and abusing menting with gay sex, but sexuality in paganistic, orgiastic worship. Their behavior and their attitude toward this had already sealed their doom, by irrevocably turning away from God.

Let's see whether God speaks to the issue of natural gayness. In Matthew 19:11-12, Christ describes three kinds of people who don't function sexually, according to the "norm." While eunuchs in the strict sense were always castrated males who served as highly placed slaves and harem keepers, the immediate context of Christ's statements suggests a very general application of the word: eunuchs designated people who were sexually dysfunctional. According to Christ, some of these are born to fit a different sexual pattern. Some people in this category are born sterile, or impotent, or have no sexual interest at all, or display a proclivity for their own gender. We're

favored to accept God's plan, mysterious as it may seem to us, that He orders and arranges our individual genetic outcome.

Christ also explains that some people acquire their sexual dysfunction by other means. This may mean such factors as health or personal choice. Examples are vasectomy, tubal ligation, medically required castration or uterine removal, complete or partial ovarian hysterectomy. Cancer is probably the most frequent reason for such surgically mandated procedures. Horror stories of vicious, malicious mutilation of sexual organs and accidental damage (total or partial injury) to genital parts are on record. Even paralysis or quadraplegicism may be included here.

Finally, eunuchism chosen for the Gospel's sake is not homosexuality, any more than the second category. No one is made, turned, converted, or proselytized into a homosexual male or female. Neither is being gay a choice. Accepting and learning to understand gayness is a choice everyone has to make, especially the

cruising, and pick-up joints flaunted in a public newspaper!

And the gay community wonders why the non-gay community won't accept our lifestyle!

Well, I guess that your staff and advisory board do not seem to concern themselves much with the reputation of your new newspaper. I'll be ashamed to have your paper in my home, especially after you add that trash about Personals (people who simply want to meet for sex, exchange used underclothes, and call for a good time).

I'll find it very impossible to support your paper any longer, both financially and personally.

John Glassborn

The Chronicle regrets losing a reader, but we thought the story was legitimate. How do other readers feel?

gay person. Any person, gay or not, has the right tó choose celibacy as a means of expressing one's spiritual dedication and consecration for periodic abstentions or as a lifelong. election. One might also observe a sexual fasting period, during which to get in touch with one's other personal feelings. Religious motives are not the only reasons for elective celibacy. Those with no particular religious convictions, or with spiritual philosophies outside the Judeo-Christian tradition, perform this ritual, too:

The Word of God is a means by which we all may teach and/or learn more about ourselves as human creatures. The wisdom of II Timothy 3:16 applies.

Let Wittness" and the gay community know that God loves and accepts us; of us love and accept Him, too.

; some

Rev. Jack Sowers formerly Pastor to Prisoners,

Associate Pastor, and Acting Pastor

Nativity Fellowship Church

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