June  Page 3

from page2
 which depicted female students and

faculty working on science projects, giving
lectures, sitting in classrooms, and enjoying
each other, a scenario much more in
keeping with reality. They also sponsored a
heated debate between Gloria Leonard,

Quote of the Month

..."They’re just a bunch of
ugly dykes that can’t get laid..."

- Playboy photographer David Chan
commenting on the UVM students
protesting his presence.

editor of "High Society," a glossy porn
magazine, and the director of Women
Against Pornography (name unknown to
author).

Pornography is an $8 billion per year
industry, and Playboy alone has a circulation

larger than-Time and Newsweek combined.
All of those profits come from the
marketing of women’s bodies, and end up,
in large part, in the hands of increasingly
wealthy men. David Chan is a member of
this segment of men who make their living
from objectifying and selling women’s bodies
as commodities.

Many lesbians and gay men are familiar
with Playboy’s frequent, extensive layouts
depicting female couples engaging in sexual
acts. This sort of spread is, apparently, a
tum~on for many straight men. Obviously,
judging from Chan's description of the
protesters, this thrill does not stem from
respect for lesbian love or any
aknowledgement of its beauty. Rather,
lesbianism is seen by the pomographers and
readers as the ultimate degradation a woman
can experience and the porn industry centers
on degradation. Chan and his cohorts have
a vested interest in keeping women
separated and powerless, hence their hatred
of lesbianism. They know that women
united are powerful and will not need to

Letters to the Editor

AIDS Donations
Dear Friends,

"AIDS" problem and want to make a
donation for research, but don’t know where
to mail a check. I personally recommend
the following. This is the one that
Elizabeth Taylor works so hard for - I have
been donating for two years now: .
American Foundation for AIDS
Research
9601 Wilshire Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90210-5294
(213)273-5547

Editor's Note.-

AMFAR is an excellent group: they
fund important research projects overlooked
in the government "grant game."

Readers who wish to make a
contribution for AIDS education and service
work in Vermont should consider
contributing to the Vermont Committee for
AIDS Resources, Education and Services:

Vermont C.A.R.E.S.

Box 5428 »

Burlington, VT 05402

It was great!
Dear Friends,

I was given a copy of last months issue
by a friend. It was great. I am not alone.
Your newspaper has helped me more than
you could possibly imagine. I would like to
work on the staff sometime. You could

What about Lesbians?
To the Editor:

7/Iay issue: I loved "Dear
rice" and was pleased to see
-.; review (of Richard Plant’s [h_e
j  iFlZlll°lC).

However, I wondered at the omission of
information about lesbians in the review.
Your writer used "homosexuals" mostly and
"gay males" on occasion. For shame! If
Plant inadvertently or on purpose omitted
women, the reviewer ought to have let us
know. From reviews in the straight media
also, I’ve been unable to tell whether this
"comprehensive" account mentions the role
of lesbians.

In any case, incomplete as it may be,
such a book deserves attention. and it's
available at the public library (or will be
shortly).

I urge members of the lesbian and gay
community to show those of us at the
Fletcher Free Library who select books that
a work such as Plant’s is not too
specialized--that a strong interest exists in
gay/lesbian subjects.

If such is the case, make your reading
needs known. If you want your public
library to carry lesbian/gay books, check
them out. Use yo_u; library.

P.S. Keep up the fine work, OITM.

 

Sincerely, Suzi Wizowaty

send me information. I am making so many
great changes in my life. Six months ago I

finally came out of the closet. Your paper
gave me so much hope.
Enclosed is my subscription. Could I

please get the June issue as soon as it
comes out.

Thanks! Julie

sell their bodies for male pleasure. which
should put pomographers out of business.
Therefore, Playboy hates not only women,
but especially lesbian women and that is why
this issue is of importance to the gay
community.

Sarah Coy

 

Gays ‘ Unite

Green Mountaineers,

In order to address the immediate and
long range needs of the Gay community, we
need to build sustainable communities and
cooperatives. We would like to start an
affinity group (Lavender Circle?) which
would engender the kind of bonding
necessary to participate in making social
change happen.

Are you confused, annoyed, ANGRY by
recent allegations of U.S. complicity in
creating a genetically engineered virus, so
hauntingly familiar to us as HIV, considered
by many to trigger AIDS? Whether it be
laboratory splicing of two infectious animal
viruses, or the U.S. Army’s Biological
Warfare labs at Fort Detrick. Maryland,
these genetic engineering efforts seem to
signal a call to action if our brothers and
sisters are to survive.

Rumors, theories, and conspiracies
abound. Some may provide us with more
shop talk, some may be an eerie 1980's
vision of a Nazi "Pink Triangle" genocide.
In any case, we are "up against the wall."

Some of us here in the Northeast
Kingdom of Vermont are sickened by this
unfolding holocaust. The mainstream U.S.
media may ignore such bio-warfare theories
created by our U.S. Army at Fort Detrick
or by the Soviet’s cancer research
experiments or even SOmC Pentagon officials
admitting a role in AIDS research
tinkering...yet we cannot afford to ignore our
misfortunes.

Groups are forming in the country, not
only in an effort to pressure our government
to take action on AIDS related issues, but
also to mobilize in demonstrations and civil
disobedience. "Act Up" is one such newly

continued, page 4