University of Georgia

Terry College of Business

To the editor,

Elliot Wigginton is usually referred to as "Foxfire's Founder," or "The child molester." He would be more accurately described as what he is - a homosexual. Wigginton is a "gay" who preys on young males.

In all the happy chat on TV talk shows and in endless panel discussions about the homosexual "lifestyle," no reference is ever made as to the repulsive activities of homosexuals. Nothing is ever said about what homosexuals like Wigginton actually do. The debate is framed as if it were a question of the difference between people who prefer to live on the East Coast versus the West Coast.

Most homosexuals lead anything but a normal life. Their activities are so bizarre, shocking and vulgar they can't be repeated in print even using the softest euphemisms or clinical terms.

Between daily partners and midnight bus station toilet patrol, most homosexuals seem to spend their time looking for their next "trick." Every waking moment seems to be obsessed with sex. A profound sense of guilt is probably behind the drive to acquire social approval.

Part of that disapproval is based on the fact that homosexuals run a high risk of contracting and spreading serious, sometimes fatal, venereal diseases. Homosexuals are reservoirs of various social diseases passed on by their incredible sexual promiscuity.

Many of these diseases can be ransmitted non-sexually and are therefore a clear threat to public health.

There's little question among medical experts that sexual deviates such as necrophiliacs, pederasts, transvestites, pedophiles, homosexuals, sado-masochists and the like have mild to serious personality disorders.

I try to be understanding and forgiving of all human frailties, many of which I share. But to the charge of "homophobia" I readily plead guilty.

Children especially should be protected from people with undisciplined urges to sexually gratify themselves at the expense of helpless and innocent lives being ruined.

It takes no great leap of wisdom to figure out that the last place a "gay" teacher should be allowed is in a schoolroom filled with young boys.

Wigginton's sentence is already absurdly light. He should at least serve it out.
 

Jack Chesney
 
 

LEGL 4500/6500 - Employment Law ..........................................Dr. Bennett-Alexander

University of Georgia

Terry College of Business

To the editor,

This is in response to the letter from Jack Chesney (May 28) which concluded that because Elliott Wigginton molested young boys, all gays and lesbians engage in such behavior and are thus, not "normal." This can no more be truthfully said of this group than it can be said that because the Son of Sam, was a rapist, then all men are rapists.

I am sure the failure of Mr. Chesney's logic is apparent to most, but because his letter contains some common misconceptions, I would like to address it. I contend that many of the misconceptions are caused by myths and the media choosing to sensationalize coverage of gay and lesbian issues (which, thankfully, The Athens Daily News by and large did not do with the recent March on Washington).

As an attendee who saw firsthand the recent March on Washington for Gay, Lesbian and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation, I was extremely disappointed with most of the coverage in the press. To look at the pictures chosen to represent the flavor of the March, the March appeared alternately as some sort of "love-in," bodypiercing convention, or an angry lop-sided face-off between marchers and March protesters.

What a travesty to have minimized the efforts of so very many people and reduced this important and unprecedented gathering to such a ridiculous and unrepresentative scenario. I can only think that the depiction's are due to insensitivity and ignorance, or the wish to pander to sensationalism.

The fight for basic civil rights for gays and lesbians is much too serious to be trivialized. It is not about sex. It is not about sensationalism, hysteria, special privileges or forcing anything on others. It is not even about religion or morals, for those are something each of us must choose for ourselves rather than have imposed upon us by others.

The reason I volunteered my time in helping with the March is because it was about being truthful about who we are and substituting that truth for the myth and sensational pandering which has taken place for so long. Myths and sensationalism which would cause Mr. Chesney to make the kind of grossly inaccurate statements made in his letter and, sadly, believe them with all his heart.

I volunteered during the March because it was about millions of the productive, decent, hardworking citizens you know who daily go about their lives quietly, hiding a part of themselves from their families, their friends and their co-workers out of fear of not being accepted for who they are because of the myths and sensationalism surround them. It is about the angst, the loss of job productivity, friendship, and closeness that pretending to be someone other than who you are produces a !loss for us all.

The truth is much less dramatic, much less sensational, and much more compelling. We are simply your family, your children, your neighbors, friends, doctors, lawyers, judges, professors, ministers, trash collectors, research scientists, your secretaries and others. You come into contact with us every day and don't realize it.

The unsensational fact of the matter is there is no gay "lifestyle". The much less dramatic truth is that there's just a life. Plain and simple. Just like everyone else's. We are millions of people who worry about the same things everyone does: interest rates on mortgages, how to keep our kids in check, the economy, war, stubborn crabgrass and whether the car will start. We are people who get up and shower, brush our teeth, go to our jobs, shop for groceries and pay taxes just like everyone else.

It is far more sensational to feed into the old stereotypes which tug at the deeply rooted ignorance and fear victimizing us all. But it is irresponsible if one is a journalist whose job is to accurately report events to those who were not present and wish to find out what occurred and to contribute to negative perceptions of a group which may be physically or emotionally harmed by it.

As unsensational as it is, and as much as it seems to go against what we've been taught all our lives, sex is such a minimal issue in this fight for human rights as to be a non-issue and I refuse to expend precious time and energy on it. Anyone who attempts to make it more is simply uninformed or mean-spirited.

It is also an injustice to the readers who trust the press to be responsible, accurate purveyors of the truth, so that they can have solid information upon which to base decision. These are people's lives we are dealing with here. It cannot be reduced to sexual activity any more than anyone's life can be reduced to that. As for the March, while I am sure the media depiction were real, they were such an insignificant part of the March and its related events, until it does the reader an injustice to imply that that this is what the March was about or representative o what went on.

While in D.C., I participated in the March's lobby days in Congress. As I sat in one Congressman's office with about 2 other gays and lesbians of color and lobbied for the lifting of the military ban on gays and basic civil rights to protect us from, among other things, unwarranted job and housing discrimination, I was overcome with emotion; 30 years ago, participated in the 1963 March on Washington at which The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous " have a Dream" speech. I was only 12 years old at the time, but I vividly remember how strange it felt to have to do something like have all these people come from all over the world to march in order to convince a government that we were human beings worthy of having basic civil rights like job protection and education. Here I was 30 years later, sitting in a Congressman's office along with a room full of other bright, capable, accomplished human beings again, feeling like I was on my knees begging for basic civil rights. Here I was, again, trying to convince national legislator that I was just another human being worthy of the promise of liberty and justice for all. How in the world can it make sense to discriminate against a person based upon the very personal matter of who they feel drawn to emotionally?

As I sat there on Capitol Hill looking at the faces of these people and thinking about this, the weight of the ridiculousness of the situation was crushing.

There is a story from the March that still sends chills down my spine ever time I hear it. One of the gay men's choruses which came to the March was riding the Metro subway system to the March and spontaneously broke into song along the way. A couple with a young son was in the car with them. The young boy asked his father what the men were doing. His. father looked at the sea of faces singing earnestly in the subway car, turned to his son and said, simply: "They are singing for their freedom." Not one among them could have given a better answer greatly hinders this cause to have our accomplishments and who we are trivialized, mythologized and sensationalized t irresponsible media coverage which then taken as fact, picked up, then pass on by people like Mr. Chesney. I do not mind us disagreeing on the issue of gay and lesbians, but we should base that disagreement upon reality not myth and sensationalized depiction's.
 

Dawn D. Bennett-Alexander