Sick of Breeder Holidays
Ezekiel J. Krahlin
Easter. How about "Hetero Shame Week", a new gay holiday whose time is
way overdue. I came up with the idea in 1997, and have been promoting
it ever since (until it finally catches on). Here is a letter to the
editor in which I proposed such a holiday:
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Permission granted by author for anyone to distribute this
writing free of charge (including translation into any
language)...under condition that no profit is made therefrom,
and that it remain intact and complete, including title and
credit to the original author.
Ezekiel J. Krahlin
ezek...@my-deja.com http://surf.to/gaybible
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HETERO SHAME WEEK
(c) 1998 by Ezekiel J. Krahlin
(Jehovah's Queer Witness)
August 14, 1998
Dear Editor:
I am typing this letter here in San Francisco, after having
watched the first few minutes of the 10 o'clock news on
channel 5, KPIX. Their "most important" coverage tonight, was
on the growing garbage strike. Then they spent a brief minute
on the FULL PAGE anti-gay ad that will appear in this Sunday's
Examiner/Chronicle.
The official excuse by the Examiner's publisher is: It's their
right to free speech, as much as we may abhor it.
Well, then, where are the ads from the KKK that Jewish people
killed Jesus, but they can be converted? Or ads from the Aryan
White Resistance, that black people are subhuman, and should
be relegated to zoos? After all, that's their right to free
speech too, isn't it?
The San Francisco Examiner--one of the major newspapers of
northern California--has gladly paid its Judas price of
$35,000 to betray its gay citizens. So much for the marvelous
"gay mecca". San Francisco shall go down in history for the
greatest betrayal to its own people. We have also recently
suffered gay bashers and murderers getting off with no worse
than probation...including where one judge blamed the
murderous consequences of a drunk homophobe on "bad alcohol".
Not to mention various gay bashings on MUNI, our local
transit, assisted by its drivers and supported by its
union...for which reason I have renamed this service "The
Homophobe Express".
I have never felt that San Francisco at large, has ever cared
much for its gay population. Now, I see my suspicions
confirmed: just more phony liberals stabbing us in the back,
while they smile in our faces. I do hope that, somehow, the
S.F. Examiner will back off...but supposedly, the ad will be
out for this Sunday's edition. Well! The "Sunday Edition" is
actually a composite of our two major newspapers: the
Examiner, and the Chronicle...so they are both implicit.
Meanwhile, I suggest massive demonstrations and civil dissent
at the doors of their newspaper...as well as a complete boycott
of their business...that all present subscribers should cease,
immediately, buying your brownshirt newspaper.
It is obvious to me that homophobia in America is overwhelming
us. That if it were just a problem with the religious right,
it would never have gone this far. In fact, I conclude that we
have far less hetero friends in political office (or in our
homes, neighborhoods, workplaces and clubs), than most of us
care to admit.
San Francisco is a melange of minorities...and we all have our
differences and arguments. Yet all minorities but one, can
safely visit and enjoy neighborhoods of any other minority. It
is only us gays who are so terrorized by the other minorities.
And the city does little about it.
Now's a good time to test whether or not your hetero
associates are really gay-friendly. Don't be assuaged by their
claims, "What a shame!" Let's see 'em put their money where
their mouth is. If I were hetero, and cared about my gay
friends, I'd be walking with my head lowered in shame
now...and would put away my public displays of het affection,
for the sake of their freedom and respect that America still
denies us gays. Like Christianity, heterosexuality has
blackened its own reputation so badly, that I think any
gay-caring hetero should avoid that term like a plague, and
come up with some new word to replace "heterosexual".
I think we should have our own interviewers, walking up to
straight couples in gay neighborhoods, and ask them why they
feel it's okay to display their affections in public gay
areas, when gays can't do the same in their straight
neighborhoods and hangouts. We should ask them why they smooch
in our bars and clubs, yet don't let us do the same in theirs.
I'd ask them: would they invite their gay friends to hetero
clubs, and encourage them to feel free to smooch...that
they'll protect them if any homophobic outbreak occurs?
I believe that free speech in this country is being abused,
and used as a weapon of hatred against gays. Most other
western democracies have outlawed homophobic attacks--both
verbal and physical. Yet they defend free speech, don't they?
I think that American free speech is a distortion of what it's
supposed to be...in that it wrongly defends even the most
violent of hate speech. All liberties must have their
restrictions, else they soon lose relevance. The restriction
on free speech should include the three following rules:
1) No promoting the injury, death, or torture of another
person. (As in: "These faggots should be stoned to death.")
2) No invocation of one's religious beliefs to promote the
injury, death, or torture of another person. (As in: "God says
these faggots should be stoned to death.")
3) No promoting prejudice against a people or person, that is
known to provoke violence or other persecution against them or
her/him. (As in: "These people are faggots.")
Meanwhile (until we earn our freedom as equal-class citizens)
I think we should declare a "Hetero Shame Week", immediately
following "Gay Pride Week"; here in San Francisco and in all
other U.S. cities with a significant lesbian/gay presence.
That is...if we don't all get rounded up first, and tortured
in laboratory experiments, or made into wallets and lamps.
HETERO SHAME WEEK: whereby all public display of hetero
affection be outlawed for that week. Anyone breaking that law
would go to jail for 10 days, and be fined $500 (which shall
be donated to one or another les/gay rights organizations).
Any hetero who can't afford the steep fine, or time away from
work...ought to heed well the advice to keep his or her public
affections under strict control, for the duration. See how YOU
(heteros) like it!
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