4 T m arch 1002 ▼ Just out
Working Toward a Just Society
letters
Mark Kramer
Andrew Toth-Fejel
KRAMER & TOTH-FEJEL
ATTORNEYS
We are not post-AIDS
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To the Editor:
Happy Valentine’s Day. I enjoy your publica
tion each month and read it eagerly, but I wish to
take serious issue with a comment you made in an
editor ’ s note to the letter to the editor “Stop selling
sex,” Feb. 1992.
It made mention of the fact that we were now
living in a “post-AIDS era.” The only people who
are living in a “post-AIDS era” are those people
who have already succumbed to the disease. We
are very much living in an AIDS era and I just
wanted to remind you of that fact-if not for my
own peace of mind, then in honor of every indi
vidual who has been touched personally by this
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tragedy.
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To the Editor:
I have to agree with the two letters in the Feb.
issue opposing phone sex ads and other exploitive
ads inJustOut. From ahumanist’s standpoint this
objectifying of people is ugly exploitation and
greatly demeans the beauty of humanity and
sexuality. You are right, however, it has become
almost a part of culture for the gay man; however,
I see the ads as degrading to the whole community
(not that I’m trying to impress the straights).
To the side, I have heard other gay men say
Just Out should be called “Just Dykes” therefore;
I am more in tune with lesbians than with the
“GWM” crowd.
P.S. I highly disagree with the 90s being
referred to as the “post-AIDS era.” If something
had been done to eradicate AIDS in the 80s, yes
this could be post-AIDS, but we are in the middle
of a struggle with an epidemic. I would like to see
more encouragement to do something about AIDS
and less apathy from the gay community. I have
seen people get tired of the topic to the point of
boredom. Hey! People are dying and most gay
people are doing less than the government!
GET OFF YOUR BUTTS AND JOIN THE
FIGHT!
Jean-Pierre Vignon
Portland
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To the Editor:
Last month Rylee Brown and Kathryn R.
Sherman wrote letters to the editor objecting to
the phone sex ads which line the back pages of
Just Out. The editor wrote back saying Just Out
runs the ads, in part, because “they are now a part
of gay male culture.” As a gay male I am telling
you: phone sex is not a part of my culture.
Just Out gives gay men a very mixed message.
Gay-positive articles highlighting various facets
of the community, encouraging us to become
involved politically on our own behalf, etc., are
paired with sexual advertising which suggests
that the only thing gay men really want, or are
capable of, is anonymous sex for a buck.
In 1988 I was a rather confused 22-year-old
stuggling to understand what it might mean to be
gay, and I had just moved to Portland. Reading
the advertising in Just Out (among other things) I
concluded that as a gay man I might enjoy many
sexual encounters, but intimate relationships of
any depth would prove beyond me. Today, after
many awkward hours at the Brig, silently yearn
ing to dive into the pants of so many of you (a
desire, alas, rarely fulfilled), I have learned that
engaging in casual sex is like smoking cigarettes-
unhealthy and addictive. A neon sign ought to
flash in the imagination of every gay man before
one-night stands or phone sex session-WARN-
ING: The average gay male has determined that
separating physical intimacy from emotional inti
macy may lead to loneliness and despair. Some
may say that phone sex is a symbol of our libera
tion. After all, you couldn’t do all that moaning
and groaning in the 50s. But I say it’s a symptom
of our oppression.
I’m more radical than I used to be. I can no
longer pretend that my telephone voice isn’t con
nected to a body, isn’t connected to a heart, isn’t
connected to a soul. I want to express myself
sexually in a way that reflects this wholeness. I
want to help build a community of gay men who
are not ashamed of their sexuality; and being
unashamed, integrate sexuality into the fullness
of their lives. I want a paper that contributes to
this effort
To the Editor:
As a gay man I was a bit distressed to see two
letters to the editor in the Feb. Just Out regarding
the sex ads in the back of the paper. The two
women who wrote, Kathryn Sherman and Rylee
Brown, claimed these ads “perpetuate stereotypi
cal beliefs concerning the gay community” and
“are just the ammunition the Oregon Citizens
Alliance is looking for.”
Well, Ms. Sherman and Ms. Brown, with your
holier-than-thou attitudes, who needs the OCA?
We’ve obviously got our very own “Moral
Guardians” right here in the gay and lesbian
community! Who are you to judge the appropri
ateness of a gay man’s sexual activity? Hasn’t the
OCA’s rantings taught you two the meaning of
the words “diversity” and “tolerance?” Phone Jesse Tepper
sex, while not my thing (I’m much too visually Portland
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oriented) is safe, private, consensual and, to many
men,/u/i. If these ads offend you then please don’t
look at them. Perhaps Just Out like The Lavender
Network can develop a pull-out section for sex
ads. Regardless, the debate over sex ads in Just
Out has been going on for at least five years and
I for one am really sick of hearing it These ads
help pay Just Out’s bills and are obviously a vi
able service to many men in this community or
they wouldn’t be running every month.
I found it particularly ironic that Ms. Sherman
and Ms. Brown’s tirades about “reducing sex to a
commodity” were placed right next to a half-page
ad for JoAnn Loulan’s Lesbian Erotic Lecture
and Workshop. Hmmm....
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