BGLTSA Necessary and Vital Force on Campus

To the editors:

I am writing in regards to your Oct. 19 staff editorial on the new group rivaling the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters' Alliance (BGTLSA). The Crimosn takes a ridiculous view of censorship, asserting that censorship is, of course, wrong, but the appropriateness of the message should be taken into account when putting up posters. That is just stupid, and the dissenters did a good job pointing out the flaw in the editorial's argument.

It seems that The Crimson's discomfort with the BGTLSA's militancy has to do with a socially acceptable, yet morally wrong, attitude that accepts the conceptual idea of homosexuality yet rejects actual sexual manifestation. I am incredibly disappointed that The Crimson's staff has chosen such a weak and uninteresting position. Sexually explicit BGTLSA posters have a larger cultural point which is relevant and necessary. The Crimson's own reaction to these posters indicates a radical difference between the ways in which gay and straight sexuality are viewed on campus.

To illustrate: How many gay or lesbian couples do you see kissing in public on a Friday night? I see many heterosexual couples doing such, but the actual act of sexual embrace on the part of homosexuals is still an uncomfortable proposition. There is no better evidence of the acceptance of this attitude than The Crimson's own staff editorial.

Until gays and lesbians feel comfortable publicly behaving in the same manner as heterosexuals, and until people lose their actual fear of gay and lesbian sex while maintaining a pretense of political and cultural liberalism, the BGTLSA's militancy is a necessary and vital political force on campus. It would be unfortunate if it were to splinter due to the vague feeling of discomfort that some prospective members have at the organization's vigorous assertions of homosexual social equality.

Matthew N. Stoller '00