From: vanyel@camelot.bradley.edu (Alan Williams)
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Re: Too straight looking
Date: 30 Aug 92 07:25:19 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Bradley University

In <1992Aug29.014502.1556@macc.wisc.edu> anderson@macc.wisc.edu (Jess Anderson) writes:
>In article <vanyel.715034438@camelot>
>vanyel@camelot.bradley.edu (Alan Williams) writes:
>>In <1992Aug28.202150.13394@PacBell.COM> rjwill6@PacBell.COM
>>(Rod Williams) writes:
>>>Let me get this...uh...straight:  Bob and Alan and Matthew
>>>would have us all act like "normal" gays in the dubious belief
>>>that this might give clueless straights a better image of
>>>homosexuals and make it easier for "normal" gays to emerge
>>>from their closets.  
>I think that on this point, Alan, Rod [oh-oh, I should have
>said Rod rather than Ry earlier; sorry everyone] is on
>fairly solid ground.  You may not take the same positions as
>the other two on everything, but on the point raised here,
>there isn't much difference between the three of you.

Okay, then I won't discriminate against psychopaths, rapists,
anti-feminists, or anyone else.  Is that what you want?

There's a great difference between discrimination and the choice of people
with whom you hang around.  I don't hang around with heavy drug users.
Would you call that discrimination?  I don't hang around with known child
molesters.  Is *that* discrimination?  I don't think you'd say either case
is.  Well, I don't generally hang around with "nelly" or "butch" types,
either, but that doesn't mean I refuse to speak with them if they ask me a
question--and that also doesn't mean I refuse to stand up for their rights
to be who they are.  I don't consider that discrimination.

Maybe you think this is a cut-and-dried matter, Jess, and that it's solely
my responsibility because I somehow lack some cultured, sophisticated
enlightenment.  I don't think so.  I think this is one of those fuzzy
issues: Where does one draw the line between a personal preference and
blind discrimination?  I draw it at whether you're willing to defend the
rights of the people for whom you express a personal dislike.  Maybe you
draw it elsewhere.

What you see as "prejudice," Jess, I see as a part of my personal set of
likes and dislikes.  I don't like especially promiscuous people because
they endanger their health, but I don't wish that any of those people would
get AIDS.  I'm not especially fond of "nelly" behavior because my *personal
experiences* have left me with a bad impression of them; that doesn't mean
I think all "nelly" people need some kind of personality transplant.

Where's the line, Jess?  When I eliminate these "prejudices," as you call
them, does that mean I have to go out and fraternize with people who
practice human sacrifice?  Does that mean I'm supposed to make Hannibal
Lechter my best buddy?  I don't think you're implying that, Jess, but I
think it's a possible conclusion.

I think Scott's post, talking about acceptance and personal likes, says
best how I stand on this issue.  I suggest you read it, because it seems I
can't put those feelings into better words.


--

 ________________ Alan Williams | vanyel@camelot.bradley.edu _________________
 \/ "Are you afraid I'm jeopardizing my secret identity, Ned?  I don't     \/
     *have* one, remember?"  --The Black Condor, _Black Condor_ #5