HOME > VIEWPOINT > LETTERS
COMMENTS
 
To the Editors:
Re “Don’t cry for gay Hill staffers,” editorial by Chris Crain,
July 2:
I don’t know whose hypocrisy is worse, Crain’s or the Human Rights
Campaign’s, but if the Washington Blade prints anything about anyone on
the Hill who is closeted, I’ll never pick up your paper or advertise in
it again.
I think it’s deplorable that the Blade would even consider printing
something like that under the auspices of journalistic integrity.
Crain is playing politics with the Blade, which is your right, but to possibly
ruin the lives and careers of people doing their jobs is deplorable.
This may not be 1954, but we should be far beyond this type of hateful journalism.
Washington
To the Editors:
Lynden Armstrong and Mat Young defend closeted gay and lesbian Hill staffers
by arguing, “An individual’s sexual orientation should not be an
issue for employment and by outing staff to their employers, these activists
reinforce the notion that there is something wrong with being gay or lesbian.” (“Don’t
out gay Hill staffers,” op-ed, July 2)
I’m sorry, but I’m lost. If being queer “should not be an
issue” for employment, then why don’t the closet cases come out
and stop letting it be one?
And surely hiding in the closet reinforces the notion that there is something “wrong
with being gay or lesbian” more so than coming out of it.
Yes, each of us “must be allowed” to come out at a pace we find “comfortable,” but
whether we are out or not, the fundamental question remains: Why do some of
us continue to advance the careers of homophobes who would abuse public office
to deny us our basic civil rights?
Can self-loathing run any deeper?
Washington
To the Editors:
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention clearly has no agenda for
preventing HIV among young people. Dr. Robert Janssen’s letter to the
Washington Blade (“CDC
funds picked by independent panels,” July
2) never mentions youth once.
Last year, the CDC invited community members to a meeting in Chicago to introduce
the new “Advancing HIV Prevention” Initiative. I asked Dr. Janssen
how he thought AHP would affect young people.
His was response was simply that there are not really many young people with
HIV. He didn’t bother to mention that the CDC’s own research shows
that young people are some of the most vulnerable to HIV and STD infections.
In keeping with his logic, the CDC pulled more than $1 million of youth-targeted
HIV prevention funding from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area this year.
For Metro Teen AIDS and other organizations like us throughout the country,
this has meant layoffs and a reduction in life-saving HIV prevention services.
The CDC has further failed young people by not educating Congress about the
importance of comprehensive HIV prevention education. Scientifically based,
effective HIV prevention includes the provision of information and skills so
that young people can protect themselves from unplanned pregnancies, HIV and
other sexually transmitted diseases.
Federal funding for HIV education for all of this country’s public schools
has remained level at $47 million for the last several years, which is tantamount
to a loss.
Meanwhile, the religious right has done an excellent job of mis-educating
Congress. The White House recently requested $272 million in the '05 budget
for completely unproven abstinence-only education programs, nearly doubling
the current budget.
These abstinence programs are required to include such teachings as “sexual
activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological
and physical effects.”
Why is the CDC afraid to fund programs that provide young people with the
information and skills to protect themselves from HIV? The agency’s own
research shows that among high schoolers in major metropolitan areas, young
people are by and large sexually active.
Sadly, their unwillingness to set a health agenda for youth will mean that
young people will die.
Executive Director
Metro Teen AIDS
Washington
| 
