|
Friday, May 11, 2007
To
the
Editors:
Re:
“Shays
emerges
as
reliable
backer
of
gay
rights”
(news,
May
4)
Christopher
Shays
is
no
recent
advocate
of
equality
for
lesbians
and
gays
—
in
sharp
contrast
to
the
other
Christopher
on
the
Connecticut
congressional
delegation.
Chris,
as
so
many
of
his
constituents
know
him,
has
been
a
staunch
advocate
for
gay
rights
starting
from
back
in
1987,
when
he
won
a
special
election
to
succeed
Stewart
McKinney,
who
had
died
of
AIDS.
No
other
member
of
the
Connecticut
delegation,
including
liberal
Democrats
like
Sen.
Chris
Dodd
and
Rep.
Rosa
DeLauro,
has
expressed
regret
for
voting
for
the
Defense
of
Marriage
Act.
Chris
has
been
there
for
his
gay
constituents
his
entire
congressional
career
—
and
even
as
a
state
senator
from
Stamford.
MARIANNE
G.C.
SEGGERMAN
Westport,
Conn.
Damn
right
we
support
a
woman’s
right
to
choose
To
the
Editors:
Re:
“It’s
not
a
gay
issue”
(op-ed
by
James
Kirchick,
May
4)
James
Kirchick
accuses
the
National
Gay
&
Lesbian
Task
Force
of
speaking
out
on
an
issue
that
is
“at
best
tangential
to
the
community”
when
we
criticized
the
Supreme
Court’s
recent
decision
upholding
legislative
bans
on
late-term
abortions.
Kirchick
says
“the
only
way
in
which
abortion
could
ever
be
tied
to
gay
political
concerns
is
in
the
rare
case
when
a
surrogate
or
lesbian
mother
decides,
for
whatever
reason,
to
abort
the
fetus
that
she
agreed
to
carry
prior
to
insemination.”
It
is
difficult
to
discern
in
what
universe
he’s
living:
the
one
full
of
men,
gay
and
not,
where
the
unwanted
sexual
violence
of
rape
and
incest
could
never
result
in
unwanted
pregnancy,
or
the
one
where
the
unwanted
sexual
violence
of
rape
and
incest
magically
never
results
in
unwanted
impregnation
of
women.
Either
universe
is
far
away
from
the
place
where
women
—
lesbian,
bisexual
and
straight
—
live
today.
Moreover,
nature
dictates
that
even
wanted
pregnancies
can
produce
deformed
and
diseased
fetuses.
Any
woman
needs
to
be
able
to
terminate
a
pregnancy
when
her
life
will
be
degraded
on
account
of
it,
no
matter
her
sexual
orientation,
no
matter
how
she
became
pregnant.
This
is
about
much
more
than
access
to
abortion,
as
important
as
that
is.
It
is
about
who
controls
our
bodies
and
our
sexualities.
Reproductive
freedom
and
gay
rights
are
inextricably
intertwined.
Simply
put,
we
would
not
have
Lawrence
but
for
Roe.
Longer
than
any
other
national
LGBT
organization
—
more
than
34
years
to
be
exact
—
we’ve
been
advocating
equality
within
a
larger
social
justice
framework.
Do
we
support
a
woman’s
right
to
choose?
Damn
right.
Always
have.
Always
will.
No
apologies.
No
regrets.
MATT
FOREMAN
Executive
director
National
Gay
&
Lesbian
Task
Force
Don’t
applaud
Aravosis
for
his
anti-gay
smear
campaign
To
the
Editors:
Re:
“Don’t
fear
the
blogs”
(op-ed
by
Lane
Hudson,
May
4)
In
a
column
last
week,
Lane
Hudson
discussed
the
role
of
blogs
in
a
rapidly
changing
media
universe.
I
agree
with
his
overall
sentiment,
but
I
must
make
two
points
with
regard
to
what
he
wrote
about
me:
“John
Aravosis’
AmericaBlog
has
become
extremely
popular.
Through
diligent
work
and
research,
he
exposed
the
conservative
blogger
Jeff
Gannon,
who
was
‘mysteriously’
issued
White
House
press
credentials,
as
a
gay
male
escort.
Gannon’s
tenure
of
tossing
softball
questions
at
White
House
Press
briefings
quickly
ended.”
First
of
all,
I
was
a
reporter
for
two
years,
writing
more
than
500
original
articles
for
a
conservative
news
service;
I
was
not
a
blogger.
I
was
not
“mysteriously”
issued
White
House
press
credentials.
I
went
through
the
same
process
as
everyone
else
who
was
granted
the
level
of
access
that
I
had.
As
for
“tossing
softball
questions,”
this
statement
demonstrates
a
complete
lack
of
understanding
of
my
full
body
of
work
as
a
White
House
correspondent.
This
characterization
is
the
regurgitation
of
a
liberal
talking
point
that
has
no
basis
in
fact
and
for
which
Hudson
has
no
personal
knowledge
to
assert.
Secondly,
Aravosis’
“work
and
research”
as
Hudson
called
it,
was
part
of
a
smear
campaign
against
someone
who
was
suspected
of
being
gay.
That
is
something
the
gay
community
should
be
outraged
about
instead
of
celebrating
as
a
positive
accomplishment.
Had
I
been
a
liberal,
gays
would
have
been
e-mail
flaming
the
perpetrators
demanding
apologies,
censures
and
firings.
My
tenure
at
the
White
House
ended
(my
decision)
when
threats
of
physical
violence
were
made
against
members
of
my
family
and
me.
It
is
ironic
that
in
the
same
week
the
U.S.
House
passed
a
hate
crimes
bill
a
gay
man
would
glorify
an
event
that
resulted
in
a
hate
crime
committed
against
someone
who
might
be
gay.
The
bloggers
of
the
angry
gay
left
should
be
ashamed
of
their
role
in
the
Jeff
Gannon
affair
and
the
gay
community
should
neither
congratulate
them
nor
hold
them
in
high
regard
for
creating
an
atmosphere
of
hatred
and
intolerance
that
was
based
on
a
person’s
perceived
sexual
orientation
or
political
viewpoint.
JEFF
GANNON
Washington
|
