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Turner/CNN Focus
on Down Side of
Pride Day
Mr. Ed Turner
Executive Vice-President
Cable News Network
One CNN Center
Post Office Box 105366
Atlanta, Georgia 30348
Dear Mr. Turner
I am writing in regards to your coverage of
Gay Pride Day on June 26th, in hopes that in
the future you will be more sensitive and
objective in dealing with an area which is of
great importance to millions in the United
States and throughout the world.
The main objection I have to the Jeff
Weiscr report was the undue time given
representatives of homophobic counter
demonstrators.
More than 500,000 gays and lesbians
marched on that day all over the country. The
New York march, the one your report focused
on, involved more than 100.000 people. The
demonstrators, whose hatred and lies you
gave so much time to, totalled roughly
twenty. (See New York Times 06-27-88, p.
14.)
The numbers alone tell the importance of
what these people were saying. But, did you
listen to their words?
The "anti-gay" groups, as they were called
in one of your introductions, spread
dangerous misinformation about AIDS. They
even asked that all gays be deported!
Their words are the kind that help make
life a tale of horror for people struck by AIDS.
If this march had involved 100,000 blacks
and twenty Ku Klux Kian members had
shouted demands for the deportation of
blacks-or if the KKK had screamed, for
instance, that blacks are responsible for all the
crime in America-would you have given their
remarks the respectability you afforded
bigoted anti-gay remarks on your piece about
Gay Pride Day?
I hope in the future you will keep tfiis in
mind when reporting on the ten to fifteen
percent of the American population who are
lesbians and gay men.
Sincerely,
Pat Walker
Shame Not the Issue
for People with AIDS
To the Editor:
I am writing in response to Dave
Hayward's article entitled "New Age Leader
Puts the Blame on Shame" that ran in the June
23rd edition of Southern Voice. As a person
with AIDS Related Complex, I find the views
put forth by Gary Bonnclle very offensive. In
the article he is quoted as saying "Shame or
the lack of love is the cause of AIDS, not
anything else." I feel he is drawing inaccurate
conclusions from the evidence he puts forth. I
know that it does not apply in my case.
In the article, Mr. Bonnclle states that
"Most of the men that I've talked to who have
AIDS in their candidness will say, 'I have
never felt OK about me'." Two points here.
First, while there was a period in my life that I
"did not feel OK about me" at the time I was
diagnosed I felt quite at ease with my
sexuality and where my life was going on
several other levels. Second, when any
person is diagnosed with a life-threatening
illness it often prompts them to do an
intensive self-evaluation of their own life.
Life is no longer taken for granted. I would
suspect that most people in the world have
something they "don’t feel OK about," yet
these problems do not surface as long as life
is going along fine. Faced with any serious
problem these feelings will reveal themselves.
I have worked with many people with AIDS
and feel that AIDS causes these feelings to
awaken, not that these feelings cause AIDS,
as Mr. Bonnclle suggests.
Mr. Bonnelle's approach may do much
more harm than good People who feel that
they are to blame for their illness are often the
hardest for other people to help. I know this
from experience. Perhaps that is why Mr.
Bonnclle takes this approach. Built in job
security. If he keeps his clients in a state of
self-deprecation, they will continually need
counseling.
Mr. Bonnelle's approach is an attitude that
PWAs often encounter. Many people who do
not have AIDS are continually looking for
ways that separate themselves from people
who do. They may tell themselves that the
reason that their friend has AIDS and they do
not is that they are a better person, someone
who has no reason to feel shame. This may
eliminate their guilt, but at whose expense?
I encourage all people to not buy into this
us/them attitude. This society as a whole has
AIDS. Let's begin to deal with it, instead of
trying to rationalize iL
Sincerely,
Kurds J. Rahn
Director, Atlanta Chapter
of the National Association
of People With AIDS (NAPWA)
Lesbians in the Lead
To the Editor
For the past few issues I have written
about what we, as a community, should be
doing, should not be doing, and how we aren't
doing enough. This letter is devoted to a
group of individuals who are politically active
as well as community-minded. The group to
which I am referring is our gay sisters, the
Lesbians.
Every time I attend a function for any type
of gay political action, it is attended by more
gay women than men. Most of the time, it
was planned by lesbians, executed by
lesbians, and hosted by lesbians. It seems that
every successful gay political group is headed
by a lesbian (the Atlanta Gay Center is not,
but I said successful). I have been told that
this is an outgrowth of the feminist
movement, however, personally that
statement sounds like an excuse for our (gay
men's) failure to act. Whether an outgrowth
or not, the lesbian community certainly has
done more than their share for the cause.
What is surprising to me, is that so many
of the AIDS projects are led by lesbians. I
say surprising, because of all the possible
victims - gay or straight - lesbians are the least
likely to contract the disease. Does this slow
them down? Not for a moment The 26 hour
AIDS vigil was not only planned and hosted
by a lesbian, but the majority of the attendees
were lesbians. And it doesn't stop there.
Lesbians collect food for PWAs in need and
many of the fund-raisers are successful,
because of lesbian donations. Both the AIDS
cause and PWAs would be much worse off
were it not for the selfless actions of our gay
sisters.
To this group of outstanding ladies, I offer
my heartfelt appreciation and admiration. We
would all be much closer to the closet were it
not for your courage, determination, and
perseverance. I hope that we, your gay
brothers, learn from you. May we begin not
only to care as much, but to take action as
well. Ladies, my thanks!
Sincerely,
L. Jeffrey Davis
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iewpoints is part of a continuing effort to provide a forum for our community.
/e invite your ideas, comments and feelings and your responses to ideas expressed
i thic cr\or>o
The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily
represent the views of Southern Voice. Submissions should be typed, double
spaced and no longer than four pages. Mail to:
Southern Voice/Viewpoints
PO Box 54719
Atlanta, Georgia
30308
This issue of Southern Voice is dedicated in
loviny memory to John Hushiny Howell.
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