From: dlu@wobble.uucp (Doug Urner)
Subject: Re: I'm not your man...
Organization: dlu UNIX Consultants
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 22:05:49 GMT

In article <w80ViB3w164w@Bogus.COM> punk@Bogus.COM (Jack C. Royce) writes:

>Tim Bieling <QAA@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:

>> Fine.  So what?  Are you attempting to "make babies" everytime
>> you have sex with your wife/girlfriend? (if you have one)  If
>> not, your point is moot.
>> 
>> -Tim

>That IS part of the relationship though, actually a big part.  If the
>homosexual contact were really natural, it would produce offspring.
>Sex is after all the act of reproduction.

Yes!  You've hit the nail on the head!  Heterosexual sex can lead to
reproduction -- even when "precautions" are taken.  Over-population
looms over us like the sword of doom.  What are we to do?  In a
different life this is where the good guy is supposed to arrive and
say "I'll pay the rent!"  So I'll try a bit of a rewrite.

Our heros and heroines arrive dressed in beautiful shades of lavender
and pink.  Men holding hands, women holding hands.  Looking at each
other with warm and loving eyes.  Even the single one's seem to
possess an ease that is becoming increasingly rare.  What is their
secret?  How can they be so happy?  Don't they know that the world's
population seems to be expanding without bound and that soon
civilization will collapse into brutality and barbarism?  That this
horrific end can only be delayed by massive expenditures of money and
more and more exploitation of the environment?  That tyranny will
follow and the final collapse will only be delayed and more violent?

They are talking.  Perhaps if we creep closer we can hear the
discussion and learn what makes these people seem so gay in the face
of impending doom.  Yes it is quite enough, we can listen to what they
are saying.

	"... life has become very hard for the people who won't wear pink
	and lavender.  Many of them are terrified by the impending doom."

	"They need to stop confusing sex with reproduction."

	"They need to stop confusing sex with closeness."

	"They need to stop confusing closeness with sex."

As the laughter ends the conversation takes on a more serious tone.
We creep closer so that we don't miss a word.

	"This is serious.  The ones who won't wear pink and lavender need
	our help.  Terrible things have been done to them.  Imagine if you
	could no longer hold hands with your best friend -- just because
	you share a gender!  I think some of them were made to turn away
	from their own kind with threats of death."

	"I know one who acts that way.  I can see the fear in his eyes,
	he is so confused."

	"The closer you get to him the more frightened he will get.  Be
	careful, but don't abandon him..."

There is a long silence.  The last phrase hangs heavy in the air.
Finally the silence is broken.

	"You know I think this reproduction thing is just a cover."

	"What do you mean?"

	"Well heck anybody can have kids.  I mean you've gotta have kids;
	they remind to have fun, the keep you from getting stuck in
	looking at things in the same old way.  The hard part about having
	kids is deciding that it makes sense, that you're ready.  Finding
	someone to help you do it is easy after that."

	"So what are they trying to cover up?"

	"How scared they are.  That's the whole problem, they're too
	scared to think.  They're afraid that what happened to them when
	they were kids will happen all over again."

	"Remember how it felt when you first wanted to wear pink and
	lavender?  I think it's like that for them all of the time."

As the group in lavender and pink starts walking again, the full
import of what they have been saying sinks in.  These people have
managed to separate sex from reproduction!  They can meet their needs
for closeness without reproduction, without fearing that they are
accelerating the collapse.  But wait there is more; children are an
important part of life too.  Too few children will bring about the end
just as surely as too many.  These people can have children if they
want to -- but only if they want to!  No wonder they are so gay.
-- 
Doug Urner, dlu@wobble   "They tear down our comrades like leaves from a tree,
dlu UNIX Consulting       leaves from a tree, leaves from a tree, but the
Bellingham, WA            tree still stands, its roots locked to the land."
206/676-5759                              -- Song of the Exile,  Barry Guilder