Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site ucbcad.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!floyd!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!ucbcad!ucbesvax.turner From: ucbesvax.turner@ucbcad.UUCP Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: Boy, am I catching it..... - (nf) Message-ID: <253@ucbcad.UUCP> Date: Tue, 12-Jul-83 07:50:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ucbcad.253 Posted: Tue Jul 12 07:50:00 1983 Date-Received: Fri, 15-Jul-83 17:47:55 EDT Sender: notes@ucbcad.UUCP Organization: UC Berkeley, CAD Group Lines: 49 #R:ihuxi:-49000:ucbesvax:2900004:000:2047 ucbesvax!turner Jul 11 23:00:00 1983 Of some slight interest here: I have an acquaintance who is gay, and a transvestite (the latter, by the way, does not imply the former) who recently moved to Japan. He found work as a male stripper in Tokyo, and was apparently enjoying his new life. I was saddened to hear, just today, that he had been badly beaten on the street. I was surprised, as well. "I thought the Japanese had pretty civilized attitudes about gays," I told my informant. She nodded. "I know," she said. "He was beaten up by an American tourist." Well, if I really thought this was funny, it would be in net.jokes, not here in net.flame. Dan was a pretty strange guy, no doubt, but I must say that I liked him, never wished him harm, and sort of admired his gung- ho sexual iconoclasm. Then some brilliant person decides that Dan is promoting a false image of Americans, which is pretty presumptuous, and lands him in the hospital with a broken jaw. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who uses the word "faggot" in a clearly derogatory sense must distinguish his intent from that of pure malice. Anyone who disdains "Faggot Pride Week" is, to my mind, a queer-basher until proven innocent. (I might note that, in some places, the charge of "assault" can be prosecuted on the basis of a verbal attack alone.) As for the recent release from the USSR of a family of religious dissidents: fine. That's good. But so is the recent release of an Italian marxist professor, Toni Negri, after being held for 3-1/2 years in prison without trial, on charges of ideological leadership of the Red Brigades, when no evidence existed, and when, in fact, Negri had been publishing systematic refutations of terrorism for many years. He is one of several thousand political prisoners in Italy. His release was obtained through parliamentary immunity, when he was elected to the chamber of deputies by over 10,000 votes. A very distorted version of this event made page 14 of the S.F. Chronicle. For a more tolerant world, Michael Turner ucbvax!ucbesvax.turner