From: WillNich@aol.com
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 1995 15:21:51 -0400
Subject: Oscar Wilde Project

The Kentucky Gay and Lesbian Library and Archives is urging individuals
throughout the country to submit the following letter--or an original letter
in your own words--to newspapers across the country for publication on May
25, the 100th anniversary of the imprisonment of Oscar Wilde in London,
England for "indecency and sodomy."  Letters should be sent at least two
weeks before publication date, i.e., by May 11, although some newspapers have
an even longer lead time for letters.  If you have any comments or
suggestions, please email us back.

May 1, 1995



Letters to the Editor
[newspaper]
[street address]
[city, state, zip]

[NOTE TO EDITORS:  I'm kindly requesting that this letter be printed on
Thursday, May 25 to coincide with the 100th anniversary date of Oscar Wilde's
imprisonment]

Dear Editors:

One hundred years ago today, at a little before 6 pm London time, Oscar
Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was found guilty of indecency and sodomy and
sentenced to two years at hard labor in Reading Gaol.  Thus was the career of
Victorian England's most brilliant light effectively extinguished.  Wilde
died in ignomy five years later.

What Victorian England did on this day in 1895, 22 American states would
still be willing to do today.  Over 40 states also deem it proper to deny
basic civil rights to those whose love "dare not speaks its name."
 Gaybashing, both physical and verbal, has become epidemic and shows no signs
of abating.  The 1890s are, I'm afraid, still very much with us.

"I never travel without my diary," Wilde wrote in "The Importance of Being
Earnest" shortly before his imprisonment.  "One should always have something
sensational to read in the train."  Wilde's sensational life is ample proof
not only of the strength of the human spirit, but of the dignity that some of
us can muster in the face of near universal disapproval:  perhaps his
greatest legacy.

Sincerely,




[Your name]