Newsgroups: bit.listserv.deaf-l
Date:         Sat, 12 Sep 1992 00:41:09 EDT
From:         -- <sipb7@ATHENA.MIT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Progress...however
              01 Sep 92 22:30:27 -0400. <9209042220.AA27550@Athena.MIT.EDU>

Dave Windley said:
>       Contrary to a recent posters comment, people who are LGB have
>       not made any progress at all in that direction.

To which I replied:
> Bullshit.

To which he replied:
      In this quote, I was referring to the available role models,
      such as Marlee Matlin in Children of a Lesser God;

The United States Congress has two openly and proudly gay members:
Barney Frank and Gerald(?) Studds.

      the international "DEAF WAY" at Gallaudet;

Off the top of my head: There have been five academic conferences, at
major universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, devoted to
lesbian, gay, and bisexual studies.  Last year or the year before,
there was a National Lesbian Conference in Atlanta.  Just recently,
there was a lesbian and gay writers' conference, OutWrite '92.  Some
cities have been holding annual LGB Pride parades and rallies for 20
years.

      the Deaf President NOW campaign;

In the fifties and sixties, virtually all gay-bar owners were
straight, and usually were connected with organized crime, because
that was the only way they could obtain liquor licenses.  This is no
longer the case.

      the complete revamping of the RID to
      improve the overall uniformity and skills of sign language
      interpreters;

I'm not sure what the LGB analogue of a sign-language interpreter is,
so I don't see how you can use this to compare Deaf progress with LGB
progress.

      Since Stonehenge, there
      have not been any well-publicized events that have given us
      positive increased exposure.

Umm, Dave, you do mean "Stonewall", right?  As in the Stonewall riots
of 1969?  I don't think the assembly of a certain stone monument in
the English countryside did anything at all for gay rights.  :-)

Anyway, I don't know what you call "well-publicized events that have
given us positive increased exposure," but I would count the
following: The American Psychiatric Association's decision, in 1971,
to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.  The
passage of gay-rights legislation in various cities and states.  The
growing number of Members of Congress willing to sponsor a Federal
gay-rights law.  The growing movement, supported by many Members of
Congress and leaders of prominent American universities, to reverse
the US military's ban on gay and lesbian soldiers.  Etc., etc.

Mind you, I'm not saying the situation for LGB's in America is *good*.
And I don't believe you can quantitatively measure LGB progress and
compare it to Deaf progress.  ("White gay men are now oppressed at a
rate of 432.8 milliKings per capita, while deaf men are...")  I'm just
saying there has been *substantial* progress over the past forty
years.

--
seth gordon ... sign-impaired ... the learning center for deaf children
<sipb7@athena.mit.edu>        ... old, nearly obsolete e-mail address
<sethg@silver.lcs.mit.edu>    <== new, improved e-mail address -- use it!
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