LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
The Way I See It |
by Steve Elkins, Editor |
Another year older, still lethargic from last weeks heat wave, and wondering what happened to the month of July, I cant quite believe that as of this weekend, August is NOW! I have to keep reminding myself that Labor Day is late this yearso take heart, the summer is not quite over and the best is yet to come. Labor Day Weekend, of course, brings us SUNDANCE 98 and all the hoopla that goes along with it. On page 8 of this issue Murray talks a little bit about past SUNDANCES and reminds us that eleven years later "were still SUNDANCING after all these years." Last week David DeLuca, our CAMP Rehoboth Webmaster, was wondering why I never get mad in this column. In thinking about his question, I concluded that much of the time the answer to lifes irritations, for me, seems to be to simply move past them. I dont mean that we should stick our head in the sand but rather it is in our actionsthe way we choose to live our daily livesthat makes the most difference. Ranting and railing at social injustice doesnt always accomplish much more than to let off a little steam. However! For the past several weeks there has been much written about the hideous full-page "recruit and cure" ad campaign concocted by certain religious/political extremist groups and placed in three major newspapers (including The Washington Post) the week of July 13. Most of the time my above mentioned, non-confrontational, actions-speak-louder-than-words kind of approach might sufficebut not now. Im angry. Im angry that with all of our 90s political correctness our society still allows such blatant forms of hatred to bubble to the surface. I dont mean that we should curtail anyones freedom of speechsimply that pressure for equal human respect should put an end to this kind of gay bashing propaganda just because it is unacceptable behavior. If any other minority group were treated this way there would be an enormous outcry. Ill be the first to admit that the issues are more complex than Im making them, but after seeing the Post ad I felt as if I had been personally assaulted. According to GLADD, around the country there have been bright moments in the media reporting on this issue. In the July 20 edition of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, James L. Stout puts it into an interesting and frightening historical perspective. "These tactics are disturbingly reminiscent of those the Nazis used in the Jew-baiting prior to the Final Solution...When the victims speak out in protest, they are deemed intolerant and the propagandists claim to be the ones persecuted. These hollow claims are then used to justify even greater persecution of the target group, in this case, our gay and lesbian neighbors." CAMP Rehoboth was created because the world in which we live is not always fair and just and because we frequently have to put up with negative garbage like this. I mentioned a bubble of hatred a moment agomaybe thats good. Maybe its necessary to get the hatred and fear and ill feelings to rise to the surface so everyone can see them for what they really are. Only then can we find a curenot for homosexuals, but for the prejudice and hatred that lives within our nation and our world. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 8, No. 10, July 31, 1998. |