GLF-N.Y., Women & Free Association

Let me reaffirm that I do support women's liberation, and I do believe in equality between the sexes. And I admire and respect the many wonderful women who worked for the homophile and gay liberation movements.

I should have made it clear that I was attacking certain things done under the banner of feminism, rather than the women's movement itself.

To be frank, I am still bitter about some things that happened in the 70s. There were disruptions, of which I remember a number in the early days of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF).

Women we had never seen before would come in and deliver tirades: gay men, they claimed, were even more sexist than straight men, and men in GLF were the worst of all. These charges were unfair and untrue, but were demoralizing. Some of the men thought we should spend our energies confronting the enemy within: Ourselves!

The conference organizers were cruelly attacked, for not having censored the free literature table. The main organizer of the conference was reduced to tears, and the women as well as the men on the panel were moved to call the disrupters "fascists".

A beautiful and mellow gay conference had been turned into a nightmare.

It would be naive to believe that all of the disrupters were sincerely motivated. Very likely many were agents who had been assigned to discredit and destroy the fledgling gay movement. (This is the case made by Ruth Simpson in the ninth chapter of her 1976 book, From the Closet to the Courts. Simpson, a president of New York Daughters of Bilitis, describes how that organization, just as it was experiencing success and growth in membership, was destroyed by a sudden influx of disrupters and "militants".) I also remember a lot of anti-male bigotry. Most of us are familiar enough with "feminist" anti-male rhetoric of the past three decades, so I merely observe that a double standard is operating here.

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We males are expected to be excruciatingly sensitive whenever we discuss women, but are expected to turn the other cheek whenever they attack us. Sorry, but I think that turnabout's fair play, and what's sauce for the gander should be sauce for the goose.

Some "feminist" writings express hatred of gay men. This is somewhat of a sleeper, as many gay men refuse to see it. I am referring to the strong and obvious prejudice against gay men found in the writings of such prominent 70s feminists as Susan Brownmiller, Kate Millett, Shulamith Firestone, Leslie Tanner, and Carol Hanisch.

Brownmiller and Millett appeared on the front covers of gay publications, which made it seem as though they were friends of gay liberation, which they certainly were not.

One area where I may disagree with Jack Nichols concerns the right of males to associate with each other in one-sex groups.

This is not an easy question. My own outlook is shaped by having attended a men's college, and having enjoyed the experience of all-male (in the past) YMCAs, athletic teams, gyms, saunas, clubs, and singing groups.

Some forms of sex discrimination are unfair, and deny equality of opportunity – especially in areas of employment where males and females are equally qualified.

But State-enforced feminism is wrong when it demands the total and obligatory integration of the sexes in all areas of life. Both males and females are entitled to be with others of their own sex. This is Freedom of Association.

John Lauritsen
Provincetown

Bush is anti-hate crimes legislation and is the tool of the GOP Right Wing. Here is great stuff on the family's Nazi links and you should open up this can of worms as soon as possible:

Here's an excerpt from www.trufax.org/elkhorn/elk19.html The Elkhorn Document Page 19, The Bush-Dulles Nazi Connection

Also Bush supports the teaching of Creationism in the schools which is today's statement on NBC Evening News. Shades of the 1920s Scopes trial.

Bob