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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 1997)
ju s« o u t T d a c t m b c r 5 , 1 9 0 7 T i l bout 125 activists and academics gathered in San Diego on Nov. 13, the official opening day o f the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s annual Creat ing Change conference, to organize against what they see as a new “sex panic.” Participants in the first National Sex Panic! Summit said gay men are under attack from politicians, law enforcement and, most disturb ingly, gay “neo-conservative” writ ers who disapprove of promiscuity, sex clubs, back rooms, cruisy adult bookstores and so-called public sex at such places as parks and beaches. “A sex panic is a moral purity crusade,” said gay historian Allan Bérubé, who opened the summit with a “History of Sex Panics” pre sentation. “Sex panics usually take place Brenda Schumacher (left), Tony Valenzuela and Eric Rofes at the Sex Panic! Summit during po litically co n servative times, election years, w orld’s fairs, epidemics, anti-crime drives and religious revivalism, and often as a response to the successful political activism of targeted groups,” he explained. “Sex panics are started up by morally outraged, ‘right-thinking’ crusaders, usually politicians, re ligious leaders, journalists or professional experts,” Bérubé continued. “These leaders first expose a frightening ‘new ’ problem, such as ‘epidemics of ▼ unsafe sex,’ satanic cults in day care centers, by Rex Wockner homosexual rings in Congress, or academic les bian ‘sex conferences.’ The media jum ps on the partners’— a better language to describe, honor, Change attendees, Rotello defended himself. bandwagon with lurid exposés, labeling those in defend and critique this remarkable thing we have “I am not a ‘neo-con,’ or any kind of con,” he the stigmatized group as dangerous perverts, devi been creating together against impossible odds for wrote. “I consider myself a progressive, and any ants or degenerates who need to be identified, such a long, long time.” look at my record and my writing will confirm that. controlled and contained with drastic action to I am also not ‘sex negative.’ I wrote columns in restore order and protect society.” hroughout the day, several speakers de [New York] Newsday against New Y ork’s cam The current sex panic, Bérubé said, “demon nounced either directly or indirectly gay paign to ban pom shops, against the harassment of izes gay m en...for stealing moments o f sexual authors Gabriel Rotello and Michelangelo gay discos and bars (which has gone on for years), semi-privacy with other men” in places such as Signorile. Outing inventor Signorile has a new and in favor of transgendered rights and queer parks, public baths, gyms and, most recently, book out chronicling drug abuse and “barebacking” power.” cyberspace. (anal sex without condoms) among gay men who Following Berube’s history lesson, University Bérubé defended the men, dubbing them “erotic attend circuit parties. of California at San Diego literature professor adventurers and nonconformists [who] have cre Rotello’s new book attempts to prove that core Judith Halberstam linked the current gay sex panic ated some of the most imaginative, creative, var groups of promiscuous urban gay men are trans to feminist sex wars over pornography in the ied, unruly and long-lasting forms of gay sexual mitting HIV at a high enough rate to keep the AIDS 1980s. Australian politics professor Dennis Altman culture.” epidemic alive. offered an international perspective on sex panics, Speaking from personal experience, he said, “A growing number of openly gay colum and writer/activists Alex G amer of San Diego and “These cracks in our antisexual society have of nists— mostly white and mostly male— have been ScottTuckerof Philadelphia presented an analysis fered me creative moments of intimate sexual writing for mainstream corporate publications,” of “gay antisex critiques.” adventure with strangers I never saw again. These Berube said. “Unfortunately, some of these new The participants broke into groups and came e ro tic sp aces have been little u to p ia s o f columnists have used their power to take up the back to propose a plethora of projects— including Whitma^esque camaraderie— places where I could formerly straight task of initiating anti-gay sex imagine living in a world that deeply valued the issuing a manifesto and forming a loosely struc panics, publicly attacking gay-male sex, calling tured organization. varieties of erotic desire among men.” for an end of promiscuity, and for the closure of “ I think w e’re looking for three things,” said He then urged, “ It is absolutely essential that I gay baths, sex clubs and even gay bars.” summit co-organizer Eric Rofes, an instructor at and my peers find a language much richer and truer In a 10-page letter distributed to Creating the University of California at Berkeley. “First is than lifeless words like ‘public sex’ or ‘multiple A Sexual sovereignty Activists gather to protest threats to gay ‘sexual culture, 9 and to organize a united resistance T Ywletide's Comi to increase people’s under standing and analysis of the context in which the current crackdown and critiques of gay-male sex culture are oc curring. The second is the es tablishment of some commu nications networks between people who share visions of the kinds of sexual cultures we want to form and the kind of relationships w e’d like to have with both the mainstream com munity and the mainstream gay community. And the third are som e sp e c ific o rg a n iz in g projects to fight the right-wing attacks on gay sex.” San Diego activist Tony Valenzuela said he was in- | spired that participants “are ï very invested in this issue in their own home towns and are talking about how to not only nationalize but to improve on what they’re doing in their own locations.... And people are very serious about having some kind of organizational body or networking alliance that takes this on.” Jim Baxter, publisherof the North Carolina gay newspaper The Front Page, noted that North Caro lina isn’t participating in the new sex panic— because it never finished the old one. “It’s a continuous thing that we live with all the time,” he said. “But it’s interesting to see these things framed in this context. It’s a whole different way of looking at things that we just take for granted— the hassles of public-sex spaces or adult bookstores, which is the closest we get to sex clubs.” A number of women attended the summit even though it was inspired by events taking place in gay m en’s sexual culture. “There’s a number of reasons women are af fected by the sex panic,” said San Diego activist Brenda Schumacher. “One way would be to look at the current sex panic and the way it presents a single lesbian identity— as in Gabriel Rotello’s book, in which he states that gay men should be more like lesbians. And just by saying lesbians, he means monogamous, long-term relationships. “And really, not all lesbians are interested in monogamy or serial monogamy, and yet, through his argument, w e’re kind of boxed into one iden tity, and that’s quite unhealthy for women of course.” She added, “Lesbians can also bring a lot to this movement in that in the ’80s lesbians experienced the sex panic around pornography, and we really don’t want to see that replicated.” For more information on anti-sex panic orga n iz in g , e -m a il Tony V alen zu ela ( to n y v h iv @ a o l.c o m ) or E ric R ofes (erofes@ uclink2.berkeley.edu). Do you know someone who's been really good this year? Reward them with a Portland Spirit gift certificate. Spirit cruises are a great way to celebrate the holidays, or any special occasion. And with such a great gift, no one will ever give you fruitcake again For information and reservations, call 224-3900 or (800) 224-3901 or Ticketmaster. 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