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From: rob@denelcor.UUCP (Rob Wahl)
Newsgroups: net.motss
Subject: Why advertise?
Message-ID: <482@denelcor.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 20-Jun-84 04:45:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: denelcor.482
Posted: Wed Jun 20 04:45:24 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 22-Jun-84 08:00:35 EDT
Organization: Denelcor, Aurora, CO
Lines: 28

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There are several reasons I want to advertise my gayness:

1)  Foremost, I feel that change will only come when more people come out of
the closet and openly assert their right to exist.  I mean totally,
unequivocably and unabashedly.  If you only tell those who ask, you won't
tell many, and you certainly won't reach those whose attitudes most need
changing.  More than this, you will always be denying yourself the right
to free expression.

2)  Fairness.  We are constantly inundated with reminders of heterosexuality,
from wedding rings to oversexed commercials.  It's about time straights were
presented with constant reminders of gay presence.

3)  I don't like being presumed straight until proven otherwise.  Do you know
how much mail my *wife* gets?  If someone sees me in public, they automatically
class me with the rest of the world, straight implied; in this way I actually
work against my own kind because I do nothing to challenge this assumption.

4)  I would like to be able to meet other gays outside of the usual gathering
spots (i.e. bars).  I don't like having to travel into the gay "ghetto" for
my social life.  And I would rather not waste my time chasing after straight
men if I can help it.

If people equate making gayness obvious with flaunting it, fine.  After the
sh*t I've put up with, I feel entitled.

Robert Wahl