HIGH GEAR Page 7

Editorial

No excuse

Being in the closet does not mean that a person is incapacitated.

Every human being is closeted to some extent. Nobody wants everything about himself completely known to everybody.

Revealing all of oneself is, in fact, an impossibility. A person never knows all of himself in order to be able to reveal it, and nobody would be capable of perceiving all of it anyway. Being closeted is a condition that no human being can completely avoid.

What being closeted is not is an excuse for doing nothing. A lack of complete self exposure does not keep people from thinking and being useful.

This should be kept in mind by those not going to the National March for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Washington, D.C. on October 14, especially those not going mainly because they would not feel comfortable being there.

For those gays attending to chide those gays staying at home or for those staying at home to chide themselves would be wasting energy for other things. Those who are less bold about appearing in public have things to do, too.

One thing that obviously needs to be done, and can be done by those staying at home, is the writing of letters to Congresspeople and Senators.

Those in Washington, need to be shown how those who engage in anti-gay activities are regarded by much of the population--as being too dumb to know any better and deserving of contempt and pity.

Those in Washington need to be told why gay rights legisla-

tion is needed.

A person writing a letter in support of such legislation does not have to identify himself as being gay. Helping to keep the rights of 22 million American citizens from being infringed upon is the patriotic duty of any responsible U.S. Citizen. It is also a matter of self-defense.

There is no way for anyone to completely disprove an accusation of homosexuality.

Most gays look and act like most so-called straights which means that most so-called straights look and act like most gays.

There is nothing that so-called straights do regularly that there are not examples of gays doing also. There are gays who are football players, gays who are parents, gays who are priests-not to mention those gays who are Congresmen and Senators.

Having done something "manly" or "womanly" does not prove that a person is not homosexual.

Anyone can be "accused" of being homosexual, perhaps anonymously, by anyone who bears a grudge or by anyone who wants something that a person has--the person's money, the person's apartment, or the person's job.

Gay rights laws are not essays written in praise of any particular lifestyle. What they are, in aim and effect, are laws against blackmail and intimidation. They protect not just gays, but everybody.

. Besides writing letters, those staying at home can take note of how their elected representatives react to the March and other activities. They can keep these reactions in mind at election time.

Voting in The United States generally takes place by secret ballot. Voting booths strongly resemble little closets, but what individuals do in them determines the futures of candidates and of themselves.

There are not only candidates and political parties to be voted against. There are also businesses and civic, charitable, and religious organizations to be boycotted.

Symbiosis is a term for biology which refers to one organism living off another contributing something to its well being. The term parasitism is used when the orgasm living off another organism contributes nothing to its well-being or actively

harms it.

Gay people, like other living organisms have limited capacities for supporting parasites.

Being closeted does not keep people from looking around carefully and making decisions as to what individuals and organizations do not deserve their support.

Nobody is completely uncloseted, and no one can do everything but there is no excuse for anybody to do nothing.

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