FROM THE KANSAS STATE COLLEGIAN MARCH 17, 1995 =============================== COLLEGIAN LETTER: COLUMN ISN'T FACTUAL Dear editor, As officers of K-State's Bisexual and Gay and Lesbian Society, we offer these responses to Kathleen Mastio's column: Mastio, the next time you wish to look at "Mainstream America" as the source of people's fear of gays and lesbians, we suggest you pick a truly mainstream source. The "Village Voice" is a New York-Greenwich Village paper that is very liberal and very "New York" and hardly represents mainstream homosexual rhetoric. Why not look to Manhattan? Here, you will find articles written by thoughtful homosexuals who discuss such topics as AIDS awareness, permanent partnership and how to maintain a strong self-esteem in a world bent on demoralizing diversity. There are hundreds of homosexuals living in Manhattan. We seriously question the five to 10 homosexuals who have disclosed their homosexuality to you as representatives of all homosexuals in Manhattan or the country. Many of us are not promiscuous, and we even aspire to monogamous relationships. Manhattan is home to quite a few gay and lesbian couples who have been together for more than 10 years. The next time you feel the need to moralize heterosexual behavior and demoralize homosexual behavior, we invite you to witness heterosexual relationships at work in Aggieville on a Saturday night. Homosexuals openly discuss our sexual orientation, our identity, because people like you continue to stereotype our existence. You stated that your "sexuality is not the first thing I think of when I am asked about who I am." However, you also stated that if "heterosexuals were asked about who they are, they would answer with information about their job, heir achievements and possibly their family." It is the heterosexuals who force their orientation on society through heteronormativity, the extent to which heterosexuals are unaware of the subtle and not-so-subtle ways they are constantly affirming their sexual identities by talking about their girl/boyfriends, husbands, wives or children. If people like yourself would not try to demean us by suggesting that all gay men seek effeminate males and gays and lesbians are sex fiends, people like us would not have to waste our valuable time writing column and letters to the editor. Manhattan USD 383 teaches sex education to eighth--graders. Religious extremists want the current curriculum to change to teach students that homosexuality is against the law in Kansas and that sex between men and women should be in the context of "heterosexual marriage" (HB2301). The purpose of sex education is not only to give children an understanding of their sexual development but to instill a positive image of themselves in our society. In light of the fact that we are homosexual--and quite a few of us have children--we would prefer that USD 383 stick to its current curriculum, which does not endorse homosexuality, bisexuality or heterosexuality but attempts to explain sexuality in general to eighth graders. Mastio, if you really believe that gays and lesbians are deviants whose only goal in life is to force homosexuality down your throat, we invite you to come to our next University meeting and see us for who we really are. Prepare to be disappointed, though; most of us live uneventful lives of studying and working to pay our bills. And we are as tired of having to explain ourselves as you are of reading about us. SHEL BARRY, SENIOR IN INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE AND COMMUNITY PLANNING HEATHER NELSON, JUNIOR IN PSYCHOLOGY BILL SMITH, FRESHMAN IN PRE-HEALTH PROFESSIONS PROGRAM AND PSYCHOLOGY -------------------------------------------------- FROM THE KANSAS STATE COLLEGIAN LETTERS TO THE EDITOR MARCH 17, 1995 REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION -------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1995, Student Publications Inc. All rights reserved. This document may be distributed electronically, provided it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of Student Publications Inc., Kansas State University.