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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
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#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