MAIL Lautens’ column smacks of hatred Dear Editor: I fail to understand why the North Shore News has deemed it necessary to publish mvo_ hate- mongers such as Trevor ftautens and Doug Collins (Collins was more than enough), but my note today addresses Lautens’ Sept. 14 column entitled, Gay life explain- ed by Trevor, Stan and Svend. Mr. Lautens attempts to soften his low-level rhetoric by stating ‘I no more dislike all gay people than I like all heterosexual peo- ple’ (Sounds like, ‘‘Seme of my best friends are ...°°?). Comparing Svend Rodinson's speech supporting the pregress of gay people in being accepted as human beings rather than being the victims of scorn and derision to Stan Persky’s soft porn (and admittedly poorly written) ‘*story’’ is so ludicrous { marvel that you would even consider such a poor piece of writing for publication. One might just as well compare Mandela’s speeches on human rights with Irving Layton's often sexually obsessed poetry; after all, they are both heterosexual, There ts pornography in the gay world as there is in the heteroses- ual world; [ support neither, but 1 think | have more intelligence than to vilify and ridicule a whole community of one sexual persua- sion or the other because it exists. Pamela Hansen North Vancouver Column uncovers homosexual ‘facts? All the holier-than-thou people advocating the Dear Editor: Thank you for presenting the gay issue in a very realistic way (Trevor Lautens’ Sept. 14 column). Few people want to really know exactly what pleasant an- tics (some) gays indulge in. In this time of life-threatening diseases, often caused by promiscuity whether by gays or heterosex- uals, these people need to get their heads out of the sand, My knowledge of gays is fairly limited, but it seems to me that promiscuity is a very common trait tight for gays to be ministers in the church, teachers, policemen, etc. would do well to delve into the sexual practices of many gays, as Mir Lautens so graphi- cally described, and ask themselves whether such self-indulgent, perverted individuals should be in positions of guidance and spiritual leadership. We need lots more articles like Mr. Lautens’, presenting the unvarnished facts of the gay lifestyle amongst them. Anyone who indulges in promiscuous practices doesn’t deserve too much sympathy if he/ she acquires a disease. West Vancouver Dorothy Sandison and a part of our population which is still so dan- gerously innocent and blind. Sad that bigotry found in newspaper Dear Editor: Trevor Lautens’ Sept. 14 attack on Stan Persky, Svend Robinson, and other outspoken gay people is the most scurrilous piece of yellow journalism I have seen in some time. I can’t imagine any good reason for publishing it. It is likely to in- crease the hostility of those al- ready prejudiced against gays; and -for the rest of us it can only occa- sion a sadness that such bigotry finds its way into print in our society. Lautens quotes side-by-side some eloquent political statements with some extracts from an explic- itly sexual story. His message seems tobe: Gay people are engaging in sex, and (a) they shouldn’t, and (b) their fiction Shame on The News! Dear Editor: Shame on you for publisking that disgusting column, Gay life explained by Trevor, Stan and Svend, by Trevor Lautens. PHONE FOR A FREE IN-HOME ESTIMATE! Why you would vulgarize a family paper is beyond com- prehension! J.W. Booth West Vancouver DAN’S Carpet Cleaning Save Y) EXO This Week Only! “When DAN’S In — Dirt’s Out” 984-9151 or 984-9152 aidan’ Rug & Furniture Cleaning Serving the North Shore since 1961 writers mustn't write about it. In other words, Lautens wants the gays back in the closet. How he can characterize Per- sky’s literary expression as ‘‘bully- ing’’ is beyond me. The story ap- peared as a supplement to an ex- plicitly gay newspaper. I’ve never seen that paper, but presumably, anyone who choases to pick up a copy knows what they will find in it. It wasn’t Persky who placed bits of the story in every North Shere home, but Laurens and you. And if the explicit sex had been heterosexual would you have published it? | think not. It’s a nasty bit of gay-bashing. and nothing more. Bill Schermbrucker Department of English, Capilano College Sunday, September 30, 1990 - North Shore News - 7 Dr. Timothy P. 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