Salon | Letters to the editor

_______________ GAYS IN MAINE BY DANIEL REITZ (02/13/98)

As a lesbian living in Oregon for the past 10 years, I have certainly had my fair share of battles with the religious right -- so obviously I watched the Maine elections closely. While the defeat is stinging and awful, I know it is not, as Daniel Reitz states in his article, because "they might have stayed under the covers Tuesday rather than brave the swirling ice storms."
If we stick with the Kinsey report estimate that homosexuals make up 10 percent of the general population -- hell even if we throw in every person who ever had a homoerotic thought -- it just doesn't add up to enough votes. Gays and lesbians cannot defeat the religious right on their own. What is more probable is that complacent liberal heterosexuals stayed home, insulated by apathy and the logic of "it'll never hold up in court." While the latter may be true, it will take thousands of dollars and years of wear and tear on the homosexual psyche to prove.
Mr. Reitz finds it easy to fault Maine's gay and lesbian community, while sitting safely ensconced in New York. The fault doesn't lie with the queer voters in Maine, but rather with all the complacent homosexuals in states not fighting political battles. I don't blame Maine's gay and lesbian community. I blame all the other gays and lesbians that didn't send the dollars necessary to launch an all out media offensive. I sent money to Maine, Mr. Reitz, did you? If you didn't, then shut up.
-- Kathleen C. de Gutes
Why must you disseminate the false claim that the repeal of a Maine gay rights law is a denial of the same essential human rights protections [gays] have enjoyed as a birthright?
Maine gays haven't lost any of the rights they received at birth. What Maine gays have lost is a class of rights designed specifically for them after their birth, and which conflict with some of the birthrights of non-gays.
How do you reconcile the conservative Christian employer's right to freedom of religion and conscience (which is blessed by the Constitution, no matter how ugly it is in practice) with gay rights? It seems Reitz wants a new class of rights to enshrine the bedroom behavior that distinguishes gays from non-gays; and to make civic debate or disapproval of that behavior a criminal offense.
It can't be had both ways. As abolitionists in the 1830s had to confront slaveholders with a moral argument, gays must convince non-gay citizens of the merit of this new class of human rights. This means they will have to demonstrate why their behavior deserves more protection than, say, nose picking, which most people also find personally repulsive but don't consider worthy of legal protection or sanction.
If a tax revolt is the correct way for Maine gays to thumb their noses, then it follows that Maine non-gays can give the finger and withdraw police protection, sanitation and transportation services for gays, right?
-- J. A. Bailey
Daniel Reitz's flame at the good citizens of Maine utterly misrepresented the whole process.
1) Last November, Mainers vote to add sexuality to the list of things against which people may not discriminate.
2) A cadre of Christians decide they simply can't live with this and manage somehow to get enough signatures to force a vote to revoke that law.
3) Over the ensuing weeks, this same bunch of Bible fans proceed to pull out all the stops, using such time-honored dirty tricks as "push" polling ("Sir, do you think partial-birth abortion is wrong? Do you think homosexuals are entitled to special rights?") and misleading advertising ("Vote YES to end discrimination" when voting "yes" will nullify the law).
4) Hellacious ice storms put a full one-fourth of all Mainers in the dark.
5) Finally, on a Tuesday in the middle of February, the forced vote comes to pass. Thirty percent of all Mainers make it to the polls. Fifty-two percent of them are members of the right, mobilized by right-wing money. The original law is thus struck down by 15 percent of the population.
Maybe he should check the facts next time. Maybe he should have helped, too, instead of whining.
-- Robert Oakley
SALON | Feb. 18, 1998

R E C E N T L Y+| STONED ON ICE BY GARY KAMIYA

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_______________ GAYS IN MAINE BY DANIEL REITZ (02/13/98)
	As a lesbian living in Oregon for the past 10 years, I have certainly had my fair share of battles with the religious right -- so obviously I watched the Maine elections closely. While the defeat is stinging and awful, I know it is not, as Daniel Reitz states in his article, because "they might have stayed under the covers Tuesday rather than brave the swirling ice storms." If we stick with the Kinsey report estimate that homosexuals make up 10 percent of the general population -- hell even if we throw in every person who ever had a homoerotic thought -- it just doesn't add up to enough votes. Gays and lesbians cannot defeat the religious right on their own. What is more probable is that complacent liberal heterosexuals stayed home, insulated by apathy and the logic of "it'll never hold up in court." While the latter may be true, it will take thousands of dollars and years of wear and tear on the homosexual psyche to prove. Mr. Reitz finds it easy to fault Maine's gay and lesbian community, while sitting safely ensconced in New York. The fault doesn't lie with the queer voters in Maine, but rather with all the complacent homosexuals in states not fighting political battles. I don't blame Maine's gay and lesbian community. I blame all the other gays and lesbians that didn't send the dollars necessary to launch an all out media offensive. I sent money to Maine, Mr. Reitz, did you? If you didn't, then shut up. -- Kathleen C. de Gutes Why must you disseminate the false claim that the repeal of a Maine gay rights law is a denial of the same essential human rights protections [gays] have enjoyed as a birthright? Maine gays haven't lost any of the rights they received at birth. What Maine gays have lost is a class of rights designed specifically for them after their birth, and which conflict with some of the birthrights of non-gays. How do you reconcile the conservative Christian employer's right to freedom of religion and conscience (which is blessed by the Constitution, no matter how ugly it is in practice) with gay rights? It seems Reitz wants a new class of rights to enshrine the bedroom behavior that distinguishes gays from non-gays; and to make civic debate or disapproval of that behavior a criminal offense. It can't be had both ways. As abolitionists in the 1830s had to confront slaveholders with a moral argument, gays must convince non-gay citizens of the merit of this new class of human rights. This means they will have to demonstrate why their behavior deserves more protection than, say, nose picking, which most people also find personally repulsive but don't consider worthy of legal protection or sanction. If a tax revolt is the correct way for Maine gays to thumb their noses, then it follows that Maine non-gays can give the finger and withdraw police protection, sanitation and transportation services for gays, right? -- J. A. Bailey Daniel Reitz's flame at the good citizens of Maine utterly misrepresented the whole process. 1) Last November, Mainers vote to add sexuality to the list of things against which people may not discriminate. 2) A cadre of Christians decide they simply can't live with this and manage somehow to get enough signatures to force a vote to revoke that law. 3) Over the ensuing weeks, this same bunch of Bible fans proceed to pull out all the stops, using such time-honored dirty tricks as "push" polling ("Sir, do you think partial-birth abortion is wrong? Do you think homosexuals are entitled to special rights?") and misleading advertising ("Vote YES to end discrimination" when voting "yes" will nullify the law). 4) Hellacious ice storms put a full one-fourth of all Mainers in the dark. 5) Finally, on a Tuesday in the middle of February, the forced vote comes to pass. Thirty percent of all Mainers make it to the polls. Fifty-two percent of them are members of the right, mobilized by right-wing money. The original law is thus struck down by 15 percent of the population. Maybe he should check the facts next time. Maybe he should have helped, too, instead of whining. -- Robert Oakley SALON \| Feb. 18, 1998