4 J U S t « H t * JUM 18.2004
EJ 35 ÎÜI out
Rewriting Reagan’s
history
To the E ditor :
s a survivor of the 1980s AIDS tragedy, I am
mad as hell with Ronald Reagan apologists
who are exploiting the president’s death to rewrite
the history of gay men who died from AIDS. For
example, last December they succeeded in forcing
CBS to censor the movie The Reagans, which was
critical of his AIDS policies. In 1993, Reagan
apologists forced NBC to move the AIDS history
movie And the Band Played On to HBO.
Reagan apologists are now whining that
nobody should demean a deceased president.
I agree, but the'Republicans’ canonization of
Reagan will not change the historical facts.
Nobody will ever know if Reagan actually
said that AIDS is G ods retribution against
homosexuals. But everybody knows that Rea
gan’s inner staff included the notorious Pat
Buchanan and Gary Bauer, who are still pro
moting similar anti-gay religious beliefs today.
The real issue is that Reagan did not break
his silence about AIDS until three years after
B ill F ry
HIV was discovered. And two years after his
Portland
Hollywcxxl friend Rock Hudson died.
Reagan apologists nitpick that Reagan m en
tioned AIDS in some earlier papers. However,
Surgeon General C. Everett Koop apparently
wrote these obscure statements, and newspapers To the E ditor :
never printed them.
\ \ / hen society tries to ban a group of people
Furthermore, Reagan’s first speech on AIDS
V V from a right that should he protected for
shamefully did not even mention homosexual
all consenting adults (in this case marriage), this
victims of AIDS. Instead, he prudishly recom
is a form of discrimination.
mended testing heterosexual marriage license
W hy is it discrimination? To expect all
applicants for HIV.
members of the same society to pay taxes that
Reagan’s “virtuous hut addicted to the sin of contribute to the commonwealth, hut limit the
gambling” Education Secretary William Ben
fundamental rights of certain individuals (in
nett blocked all AIDS prevention education
this case the gay population), is discrimination.
until seven years after AIDS was first detected.
Let’s start with the facts. Since 2000, accord
Silence equaled death.
ing to the National C enter for Health Statistics,
President Bush’s political nominee Linda
the rate of marriage is 8.4 people in 1,000. The
Chavez recently excused Reagan’s silence by saying rate of divorce is 4 in 1,000. About half of the
the lack of “safe-sex education” during his admin people getting married every year are getting
istration did not matter because current HIV sta divorced.
tistics from the Centers for Disease Control and
I think before the people can cast the stones,
Prevention suggest “safe sex" is “ignored by many
they must look at what is really at stake. Are
gay men.” This is an insult to the many gay men
family values at stake? I think not.
who implemented safe sex on their own initiative
O ne must ask how many single-parent fami
and significantly reduced the HIV infection rate.
lies are in our society, given the facts presented
Fox News host Bill O ’Reilly hypocritically jus by the government. Are these families had?
tified censorship of The Reagans because a few “gay Should they not he recognized?
activists” had “censored” Dr. Laura Schlesinger. He
As a person growing up in a “traditional fam
violated his own moral code of not justifying had
ily," I found that many things define family values
behavior with other people’s had behavior. Besides,
that have nothing to do with the definition of
Dr. Laura is still spouting her anti-gay bigotry on
marriage. 1 felt that the most important thing was
the radio despite the objections of many people.
to have loving parents— he they man and
Columnist Deroy Murdock defended Rea woman, man and man or woman and woman—
gan’s AIDS budget by pointing to the large
who made sure that I had food to eat and that I
increases in money that was allocated to AIDS
got a g(xxl education (to grow up and not dis
by Congress. But in fact, Reagan repeatedly
criminate against others and accept others for
rejected the AIDS budget requests from a C o n their differences) and, above all, kept me safe
gress that prudently feared AIDS.
from all those who would do me harm. This could
M ichael Reagan jealously defended his
he accomplished by any two individuals commit
father by also accusing gay “AIDS activists” of ted to each other enough to raise a “family.”
selfishly demanding and getting more money
Teaching discrimination is harmful. To say
than any other disease. He misleadingly con that one type of family is better than another is
cealed the fact that virtually all of this money
wrong. W ho are we to judge?
was already being spent on basic viral research
It seems to me that marriage has become a
programs. Studying HIV has proven to be a disposable institution among the heterosexual
good way to improve our knowledge of all virus population. This is proven with the facts pre
es, including those that cause cancer.
sented by the government.
I am tired of talking about AIDS. I just wish
What harm will gay marriage do? None. The
the Reagan apologists would shut up.
harm is already done by the part of society that
tries to discriminate against the rest of society in
T hom as K ra em er
the name of God.
Corvallis
Recognizing a part of society that already
exists will only contribute to the common good
and bring our society into an age of uncondi
tional understanding and maturity. Let’s teach
To the E ditor :
our children love and compassion, not hate and
know for a fact that many of my friends would
indifference. There are already too many wars in
be alive today if the Reagan administration our world.
A
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; had mounted even a token response to the can
cer that AIDS became in the early ’80s.
I wouldn’t feel so bitter if the Reagan admin
istration’s lack of action was due to ignorance or
bureaucratic stupidity. No, I am sure it was
deliberate.
I have never felt that Reagan’s life should be
any less than any other. I have never wished ill
on him nor thought that his disease was punish
ment for-his failure as a president.
By the same token, I will N O T stand by idly
and watch him he immortalized w ithout
reminding all of the thousands upon thousands
who died before AIDS was ever recognized and
research began receiving federal funding. I will
recall Oliver N orth and the Iran Contra scandal
where he damaged our world image by selling
arms to terrorists. A nd finally, 1 won’t forget that
“Reaganomics” turned upside down the lives
and financial nest eggs of millions of Americans
when our economy came tumbling down.
These are my memories of Ronald Reagan,
and I am standing firm on the facts as they are.
Let’s talk about the
sanctity of marriage
A matter of fact
I