I am writing to commend the staff of CAMP Rehoboth in its decision to censor an ad submitted by the Rehoboth business, Effxx Menswear. My biggest problem with Effxxs protest (Letters to Letters, July 25, 1997) is in its assertion that gay media should be a vehicle for promoting "our" gay lifestyle. And by their definition, Effxx asserts for all of us that the gay lifestyle is centered on cheap and shallow ideals. After all, thats how we have fun.
I would like to assert that there are as many gay lifestyles as there are gay people and couples. Being gay does not define any lifestyle. How one chooses to live does. For many gay and straight people, their choice of lifestyle includes respecting the sensitivities of all people. This has nothing to do with having fun or not having fun. We are lucky in our lives to be in a country where we can pretty much live as we want. But there is a difference in what we do in private and what we can do in public. This is what discretion is all about, and it allows us all to live more comfortably in our surroundings. "In your face crap" has no place anywhere. Whether people choose to uphold a high standard of decency because of their religious ideals, their parents upbringing, or whatever, is unimportant. The fact is, many people are offended by the myriad of cheap and shallow images we constantly see in the gay press. Effxx states that different degrees of tolerance exist between different groups of people (men-women, gay-straight, young-old, etc.). I contend that different degrees of tolerance exist between individuals (I know some pretty hip grandmas and some rather prudish gay men). The point is that everyone is different, and it is wrong to proclaim, as Effxx did, that being gay implies any particular lifestyle.
I feel that the owners of Effxx should read the mission statement of CAMP Rehoboth. They state that their ad is neither vulgar nor profane, and that if it offends some overly sensitive types, too bad. CAMP Rehoboth is about inclusiveness for everyone which means discretion must consider the lowest denominator, in this case anyone who might be offended.
Effxx owners seem to imply that without trashy advertising in the local gay media Rehoboth comes across as being a place where people cant have fun. Additionally they imply that if we here in Rehoboth bring our standards down a notch, that maybe we would once again have the crowds of the Strand days. Who needs them? Effxx proclaims that CAMP Rehoboths Rehoboth should wake up and smell the nineties. All I can say to that is maybe they did smell the nineties, got a bad whiff, and are looking to the next century for something better. More power to them.
Sincerely,
David Russell
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8/8/97 Issue. Copyright 1997 by CAMP Rehoboth, Inc. All rights reserved.