MARCH 1981 HIGH GEAR Page 7

Primer for non-gays

Divided and conquered?

By R. Woodward

An extremely important basic strategy for gay men and women engaging in self-defense is appealing to the self interest of non-gays.

Most non-gays, like most human beings, tend to be selfish

and self centered, and waiting for them to generously respond to abstract arguments about human rights is likely to get you nothing besides spending your whole life waiting..

When most people hear about some particular social movement, they want to know what is

in it for them.

It is extremely important to get across to the general public the fact that anti-gay ideas, anti-gay activity, and anti-gay circumstances are threats to everybody, not just threats to men and women who are gay.

"Primer for Non-gays" is a feature which will be appearing in HIGH GEAR from time to time, and its purpose will be to give you ideas you can use in pointing out to your non-gay acquaintances specific dangers from which gay activism is trying to protect them.

In effect, although not always in intention, those who engage in anti-gay rhetoric and anti-gay

Dear Editor:

activities are anti-Catholic, antiblack, and anti-Semitic. They are working to injure members of every religious, racial, and ethnic group in America.

They are also quite obviously what they frequently accuse gays of being--enemies of Amer-

ican families.

The most important fact about gays for Americans in general, which is also the basic fact about gays which is easiest to prove, is regularly ignored and often supThis vital fact, which the general pressed by anti-gay activists. public is generally kept from considering closely, is that gays are not just members of groups that somebody else belongs to. Gays are not merely some of them. No matter who you are or what groups you belong to, gays are always some of us.

Just as important as trying to decide what gay men and women might be, is keeping in mind who they are.

Except for an occasional foundling, every person who is gay can be shown to be a member of some particular family.

All gays are somebody's children. Millions of gays in the United States are somebody's parents.

No matter how wealthy, powerful, or prestigious any groups are or have been in the United States,

Mailbag

APPLAUSE for R. Woodward's article about the "Pharisee Falwell."

I concur wholehearted with his

disdain for inconsistent preachers who only cause confusion by their willful ignorance.

When reading your article with interest I couldn't help but think of another one that I had just read entitled "The Plain Truth About the So-Called Christian Right."

I knew undoubtedly you'd want to share its eye-opening follow up information with your readers as a service to them; "Jerry Falwell and other leaders of the Christian Right profess, of course, to follow the Bible. It is a shame, then, that, outside matters of basic morality, many of their doctrines are nowhere to be found in Scripture.

Mr. Falwell should know, for example, that reverend is a title appropiate to the Eternal God (Ps. 111:9), and therefore not something that he should attach to his own name. Likewise, nowhere to be found are beliefs that you go to heaven when you die, that you should worship on the first day of the week, that you should observe Christmas and Easter instead of God's revealed Holy Days, that God is a Trinityor that it is a sin not to vote, as Mr. Falwell claims.

And most assuredly, Mr. Falwell is not "born-again" (when you are born-again, you are composed of spirit read John 3:5-7)" (Feb. issue of Plain Truth mag.)

Mr. Falwell also "forgets" to mention the other sins of Sodom:

(Ezek. 16:49-50)

Maybe Mr. Falwell also needs to be asked the question Jesus was always asking to the Pharisees, "Have you never read?" Perhaps he never read where

having gay members is something that none of them have ever been able to monopolize.

Media coverage given to colorful local customs and quaint local rituals of gay populations in places like New York and San Francisco has tended to be misleading. Most gays in the United States have never in their lives lived in any exclusively gay milieus. The population of gay men and women in America has always been a cross section of the entire population.

If you have been able to think that you do not associate regularly with any gays, the reason why is not very flattering to you. What it means is that none of the gays you associate with regularly

think that you can be trusted.

Many gay men and women even find themselves obliged to acknowledge that the greatest genius for betrayal is often displayed by close relatives not otherwise noted for any remarkable abilities.

Gay people are usually estimated to make up about ten percent of the United States population, from which estimate it is not hard to conclude that what happens to gays in America is also what happens to five million Catholics, 2.5 million black people, and about 600,000 Jews.

The chief effect of fostering anti-gay attitudes within a particular group is to make the group more vulnerable to divide and conquer strategies which might easily be used by any enemies the group might have.

tudes toward those close to them Those who claim that their attiwould not be changed at all by finding out that any of these indi-

viduals are homosexual are hypocritical, self-deluded, or naive. Besides handling one's own misgivings in such a situa-

Christ mentioned that the ancient sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah would most likely in their future ressurection repent and be accepted into God's Kingdom before the self-tion, righteous hypocrites who refuse

in their pride to acknowledge the error of their way (Matt. 11:24).

In closing Mr. Falwell also needs to note that it wasn't man that fell, but Satan! (Lk. 10:18)

If someone's going to dare set themselves up as a preacher, may they teach only the unbiased Truth and be consistent.

Thank you, SincerelyDAVID A HOOVER

what she wants

one is usually obliged to

deal with over-reactions of oth-

ers. The mere mention of homo-

sexuality makes some people infected with rabies. It is unlikely behave as rationally as dogs that such people would be edifyand restraint if they found out ing examples of thoughtfulness suddenly that a number of gays

are very close to them.

To foster anti-gay attitudes within a group is to set the group up for being torn apart by the furor easily caused by exposing

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