Subject: letters
From: Dean Elzinga <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 92 01:50:57 -0700

And here they are:
----------------

 Les and Glen Charles
 James Burrows
 Executive Producers, Cheers
 Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions
 Paramount Television
 5555 Melrose Avenue
 Los Angeles CA 90038

 Dear Messrs. Charles, Burrows and Charles:

 Thank you for a funny and affecting performance from "Cheers" the
 night you brought on Harvey Fierstein.  I am a PhD mathematics
 student at UCLA and a professional singer.  I am also gay.  It is
 fresh air to see people of all stripes on television.  Please
 bring Fierstein back to future episodes.  And then count me one
 of your viewers.

 I'll be the last one to suggest that you ruin your writing or
 lower your standards of entertainment.  Just showing gays and
 lesbians as real people will shed light in this murky world.
 That's a kind of social conscience in good keeping with situation
 comedy.  Thanks for having the courage to do the right thing.

    Sincerely,

 James Truman, Editor-in-Chief
 Details
 632 Broadway
 New York, NY 10012

 Dear Mr. Truman:

 I am a professional singer and a PhD student in mathematics.  I
 often buy your magazine for the fashion spreads and articles.
 Happily I can buy it in good conscience because you feature
 articles and advertisements of interest to gay and straight men
 alike.  Gay people don't need special treatment, but it is nice
 to be treated equally once in a while.

 I almost never buy magazines like GQ, Esquire, or M, because I am
 offended by their attitude.  On gay issues they are mute, and
 their articles are phrased as if all their readers (and writers!)
 were straight.

 Thank you for showing us all sides of men's fashion.

    Sincerely,

 Peter Chernin, President
 Fox Broadcasting
 10201 West Pico Blvd
 Los Angeles CA 90035

 Dear Mr. Chernin:

 Thank you for Doing Time on Maple Drive, a sensitive drama about
 a family with a gay son.  Unlike the young man in the movie, I
 never came close to suicide.  Like him, I am gay.  I am still
 dealing with my family's reaction to my sexuality.

 I also sing professionally and am working toward my PhD in
 mathematics at UCLA.  Neither of these facts isolates me from
 society or makes me outcast.  Yet because I am gay, there is
 precious little entertainment which dares treat subjects vital to
 my life.  Many people like me choose silence or deception rather
 than deal with unreasoning audiences and anti-gay censors.
 Please do not give in to demands for silence on gay issues and
 characters.  Do not allow bigots to blind people to their gay and
 lesbian neighbors, family and friends.  We struggle to live
 amidst hatred and misunderstanding.

    Sincerely,

 Mayor Bill Morrisette
 City of Springfield
 225 Fifth Street
 Springfield, OR 97477

 Dear Mayor Morrisette:

 I am a PhD student at UCLA and a professional singer.

 Perhaps I should not be shocked at your city's move to exclude
 homosexuals.  Perhaps I should only be surprised that you don't
 also have laws against blacks, blind people, atheists and
 unmarried couples.  Maybe yours is the only city with guts enough
 to put into law the medieval mores that rule much of America.

 Congratulations for a giant step backward into the hypocrisy of a
 neo-Victorian order.  Your city is now a black stain on the map
 of Oregon.  My friends and I will give you wide berth.  They are
 scientists, artists and working people.  Some are gay, some are
 straight.  Most of them don't make an issue of their sexuality.

 None of them will have anything to do with a city which codifies
 bigotry and Sunday School moralizing.

    Sincerely,

 Mortimer Zuckerman
 Chairman and Editor-in-Chief
 US News & World Report,
 2400 N Street, NW
 Washington, DC 20037-1196

 Dear Mr. Zuckerman:

 I am a PhD student in mathematics and a professional singer.  I
 am also gay.  I have read your magazine, but I am disappointed
 with the editorial antagonism toward gay people.  John Leo is
 especially grating.  In the vituperation he levels against such
 life-and-death issues as hate crime legislation and gay family
 rights, he makes a travesty of the public conscience.

 What is surprising is not that you print Leo's opinions, but that
 you make no effort for journalistic balance.  Please print worthy
 articles by authors more sympathetic to gays, lesbians, and our
 struggle to live our lives.

    Sincerely,

 Robert Belles
 Roswell Public Library
 Roswell, NM 88201

 Dear Mr. Belles:

 I am a PhD student, educator, and professional singer.  As an
 educator, I was moved to write you about the controversy around
 the children's book Daddy's Roommate.  I side with the
 idealists--please keep the book on your shelves.  Libraries do
 not exist to indoctrinate our young people, but to lend them
 books.  Books reflect different beliefs, different lives.  They
 teach us about ourselves and about other people.

 Some people claim children are too young for the book.  I point
 to the book's own subject matter.  Does it teach sex?  Are
 children too young to understand unity or divorce, love or
 separation?  They are certainly old enough to know that these are
 facts of life.  What about the children raised by same-sex
 couples?  They are not concerned with their parents' sex life.
 Neither is Daddy's Roommate.

 Do these children deserve less affirmation and fewer positive
 messages than other children?

 You will hear from many who advocate censorship.  I hope you will
 not give in.  Please have the courage to do the right thing.
 Please lend the book.

    Sincerely,

           June 4, 1992

 Springfield Chamber of Commerce
 101 South A Street
 Springfield, OR 97477

 Dear Commerce Official:

 I am a PhD student at UCLA and a professional singer.

 Perhaps I should not be shocked at your city's move to exclude
 homosexuals.  Perhaps I should only be surprised that you don't
 also have laws against blacks, blind people, atheists and
 unmarried couples.  Maybe yours is the only city with balls
 enough to put into law the medieval mores that rule much of
 America.

 Congratulations for a giant step backward into the hypocrisy of a
 neo-Victorian order.  Solely because of this legislation, your
 fair city is now a black stain on the map of Oregon.  My friends
 and I will give you wide berth.  They are scientists, artists and
 working people.  Some are gay, some are straight.  Most of them
 don't make an issue of their sexuality.

 None of them will have anything to do with a city which codifies
 bigotry and Sunday School moralizing.

    Sincerely,

 Jac Venza, Executive Producer
 Great Performances, WNET
 356 W 58th Street
 New York, NY 10019

 Dear Mr. Venza:

 I am a PhD student in mathematics at UCLA, and a professional
 singer.  I am also gay.  I applaud your daring in including gay-
 themed drama in Great Performances.  Gay people are a large part
 of the world's population, and we are an appreciative segment of
 your audience.  I know I speak for many of my closest friend--
 gay, straight and others--when I say how important it is to show
 art which stretches our boundaries.  Only by speaking for humans
 of all stripes can drama include us all.  High art should speak
 to the soul, no matter the color of skin or the gender of
 affection.

 "Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane and Company" and The Lost Language of
 Cranes are just two examples of works which may stretch some
 viewers' sensibilities.  Yet for many of us, these are among the
 only examples of television which includes us.  Thanks for having
 the courage to do the right thing.

    Sincerely,

 Karen Wegman, President
 Wells Fargo Foundation
 420 Montgomery St.
 San Francisco CA 94163.

 Dear Ms. Wegman:

 It was with pleasure and a touch of wonder that I heard of your
 foundation's move to withhold funds from Boy Scouts of America
 because of their discrimination.  The Scouts only let religious,
 heterosexual males join their activities.  Although I was once a
 Scout, I do not support Scouting because I find this policy
 offensive.

 I am not against acitivities and standards for young people.  Let
 them be for all young people regardless of race, religious
 beliefs, gender or sexual orientation.

 I am amazed and gratified at the courage of your organization.
 Many will oppose you, hoping to keep society divided.  Only by
 the concerted effort of individuals together with groups like
 yours can we hope to turn the tide of oppression.

 Thank you for doing the right thing.

    Sincerely,

           Dean Elzinga