Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site decwrl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!houxz!vax135!floyd!harpo!decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-aruba!brenner From: brenner@aruba.DEC Newsgroups: net.singles Subject: re: thoughts on desperation (homosexuality and sin) Message-ID: <1403@decwrl.UUCP> Date: Tue, 12-Jun-84 10:22:40 EDT Article-I.D.: decwrl.1403 Posted: Tue Jun 12 10:22:40 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 13-Jun-84 06:52:10 EDT Organization: DEC Engineering Network Lines: 34Oh, this Mr. Sargent...where do I even start? Would this man even listen to hundreds of well-adjusted gays and lesbians jumping up and down and screaming that he's wrong, wrong, wrong? Mr. Sargent would just write us all off as having been so well brainwashed into thinking we should be gay that we can't see what *he* can see (with the aid of just one book!), that we must have had a traumatic childhood experience and everyone deep down is supposed to be straight... Well, I gotta say something even if it won't move Mr. Sargent, because I don't want the rest of the net seeing his point of view going uncontested. Mr. Sargent, I am a lesbian because I am a lesbian. Period. No childhood traumas with MOTOS...as a matter of fact, I had a pretty normal and even quiet childhood; I even dated a few boys, so the theory that I'm a dyke because men turned me down goes out the window for me. As does the theory that I was forced into being gay because everyone looked at me and put me into a stereotype: I violate many parts of the lesbian stereotype--I often wear makeup and a skirt, I have both male and female friends, I don't look masculine at all, etc. We gay people are a very diverse lot, you know (or maybe many of you, like Mr. Sargent, don't know; let me assure you that such is the case.) Mr. Sargent had a personal problem about his own masculinity. He solved it. Fine. But then he extrapolates into theories about everyone's masculinity or femininity. NOT FINE AT ALL! The opposite of masculine is *not* homosexual; gay men are not failed straights. Similarly, the opposite of feminine is *not* homosexual; lesbians are *not* failed straights. Gay is *not* an also-ran, gay is a healthy attribute of a significant portion of the human race. Auurrrgh! What else can I say??!??! Mr. Sargent's ignorance has me worried about the deafness of the rest of the audience. Please prove me wrong. Ellen Brenner ...decvax!decwrl!rhea!aruba!brenner