Subject: "Special Rights" Problem
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 00:15:04 -0500

In Sunday's newspaper (November 5, 1995), the ombudsman (of all people) for
the Louisville Courier-Journal, which is generally considered quite a liberal
newspaper, described gay civil rights as "special legal rights for
homosexuals."  He was responding to reader complaints about a political
cartoon showing the Republican gubernatorial candidate in this month's race
in bed with Dr. Frank Simon, Kentucky's leading homophobe who's in the pocket
of the American Family Association and apparently believes everything Dr.
Paul Cameron has ever had to say about gays and lesbians.

I have noticed this "special rights" term creeping into mainstream journalism
over the last year and of course it's an alarming development for the GLBT
community.  It happened earlier this year in a piece by a reporter for the
New York Times News Service.  We need to be on the alert for ever more
examples of this type of writing, particularly in light of the coming
presidential campaign--and nip it in the bud as quickly as possible.

Following is the paragraph--from a longer catch-all article about reader
complaints--in which the term is used.  To comment, write to John C. Long at
the Louisville Courier-Journal, 525 West Broadway, PO Box 740031, Louisville,
KY  40201-7431; phone:  502/582-4600; fax:  502/582-4075 (this is the fax
number for the Letters to the Editor office and may not be to his particular
department at the newspaper office, but hopefully your faxes would get to
him).

--David Williams, Director
Williams-Nichols Institute, Inc.
Operators of the Kentucky Gay and Lesbian Library and Archives
PO Box 4264
Louisville, KY  40204

**********

"On the Readers' Minds:  Farrakhan, Simon and Obits," by John Long,
Courier-Journal Ombudsman

"The next day [October 13], editorial cartoonist Nick Anderson gave me lots
of business with his cartoon depicting Republican gubernatorial candidate
Larry Forgy in bed with Dr. Frank Simon--a supporter who has campaigned
against special legal rights for homosexuals--with some kinky-sex
paraphernalia.  Most of the callers said they could have acepted the
politician-in-bed-with-somebody cliche without the whip, chain, handcuffs and
Madonna bra, which were the cartoonist's wave at a prominent subject of
Simon's activism.  Charicature and caustic humor are a political artonnist's
standbys...."