Tuesday, October 1

Virginia park now taken over by gay sex - The Washington Times's headline speaks for itself. No, there isn't anything new in this story compared to last week's, already noted here. But it does sell newspapers. While the story is written in the classical style of a hit piece, I also can appreciate the sentiment of the 74-year-old who says "I don't understand those kind of people ... it's a shame that people can't use the park anymore." Yes, the Wash Times pushes all the inflammatory buttons and barely gives us gay men (sorry, homosexual men) any respect. (At least Frank Kameny got two small paragraphs at the end. Talk about a blast from the past!) Rather than give in to our kneejerk reactions, however, gays need to be smarter. We will win more sympathy not by complaining that "society's oppression makes us do it" but by denouncing public sexual behavior and agreeing that kids and neighbors can legitimately expect better of us. Virginia's public parks are not, and never will be, the right place to fight the battle for sodomy reform.