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Namin

by Christine Burton

In the the gay and lesbian media I am
reading more and more about gay people
and gays, and less and less about lesbians.
In recent months more and more lesbians
are calling themselves gay women and
gays.

I hear of an organized movement in
Texas, whose stated purpose is to eliminate
all use of the word lesbian, because it is felt
the word divides the community. They
intend to go national with their insistence
on calling all of us gays. It is true all
homosexual men and women need to unite
our energies in order to overcome the grow-
ing animosity against us. If we are ever to
reclaim our human freedom that the hetero
sexual (especially white) is allowed to take
for granted, the homosexual community
needs to unite in one political purpose.
Understandably, we do not prefer to be
called homosexuals because the word does
not emphasize our other human qualities.

But should we unite under the one
descriptive term, gay, obliterating the
unique identity of females? For to eliminate
the word lesbian is to make unimportant
those individuals who are female homo-
sexuals. If you dont have a name, eventu-
ally your existence in the minds of others
becomes vague, which cannot help but
minimize yourself to yourself. Again, it
becomes a man’s world-a gay man’s world.

We repeathistory because we are crea-
tures of habit, the familiar feels comfort-
able. Since the beginning of scientific dis-
ciplines, man has been the generic term for
the human race. Men have become accus-
tomed to ignoring the great contributions
women have made, lumping them all to-
gether under phrases like man has achieved
or man has discovered, etcetera. But is it
only habit? Aren’t our emotions involved?

To make our point, why don’t we drop
man as the generic term and use woman as

 

the generic term for umankind. e could
say, “When woman discovered America,
she did not realize she was opening to
development vast geographical areas to all
women.” Or we might say, “When woman
landed on the moon she took a big step for
womankind.” In science, history and an-
thropology, substitute woman for man, and
I believe all males would feel slighted. I
doubt if they would stand for it. Would the
Texas organization be just as happy if the
word gay were eliminated? Let’s call all
homosexual men lesbians to maintain a
unified front to the world.

Many women dislike the word lesbian.
Accustomed as they have been for centu-
ries to being called man and mankind, and
taking their husband’s name when they
marry, many women feel insecure if they
do not bear a male name it this man’s world,
either their father's or their husband’s.
Now, wanting no husband, they still feel
more comfortable with male identity.

Gay is a male term. In the early part of
the nineteenth century, heterosexual men
observed the homosexual man’s carefree
and happy behavior, not burdened by famil-
ial financial responsibilities and the social
strictures of monogamy. Out of envy, and
more than a little derisive, they began call-
ing homosexual men gay.

Lesbian is a female term. Six hundred
years B.C.E. (Before Common Era), there
lived on the island of Lesbos in the Aegean
Sea, a poet named Sappho. She was as
famous for loving women as she was for her
poetry. Later, when they burned the great
library at Alexandria, fire destroyed most
of her poetry. But they’ve never been able
to burn out of the memories of woman-
loving-women Sappho’s great love for
women. Millions of woman-loving-
women proudly use the name of Sappho’s
home to set themselves apart from the
women who are not woman lovers, and

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from men who are lovers of women. Now,
it is proposed that we abandon the name
lesbian, with it’s unique history. We would I
lose our woman-loving identity among
men who love men.

Calling all of us by one name creates
confusion. If you see an ad for a gay inn,no I
one knows what to expect. We are not L
heterosexuals who seek the presence of the I
opposite sex. Most of the time we prefer
socializing with our own unless we’ve I
internalized society’s homophobia to the
point that we feel less “queer" when we’re
with the opposite sex, as our heterosexual
conditioning urges us to feel.

The purpose of the Texas group is I
good: to create a united front to a hostile I
world. But the method is that of the Funda-
mentalists who insist on uniformity, in I
thought, belief and behavior. Itis unity that I
creates power; not uniformity.

Diversity is nature’s most outstanding I
characteristic. To try to eliminate the ‘
nominal distinctions between flowers and I
stones, clouds and animals, in order to
express the idea that the Universe is one,
would be equally foolish. The Universe is
one because of its diverse parts locked
together in mutually beneficial ecological ..
niches. The lesbian and gay community
will achieve more, get where it’s going
quicker, by recognizing the variety of its
strengths, by naming all of us who and what
we are.

Men and women are very different I
Each evolved differently so that together =
they could assure the survival of human- .
kind. About the only thing that gay men and I
lesbian women have in common is thattliey
are attracted to persons of their own sex. I
Not being sexually attracted to one another,
lesbians and gays are more independent 
from one another to develop their own I
strengths. Then when they unite their ener-
gies in political action, they can be more
powerful. I

Ignoring the habits of nature and cut-
ting out of our consciousness the facts of
history, and our own inner reality, do I101 -'
create a solid foundation from which I0 I
achieve what both lesbian women and gay I
men want.

And what do we want? The free exer- I
cise of our inborn human rights and me
liberty to exercise all the rights of citizen- 
ship that are ours because of where we iv?“ I
born. Rights are personal to each ind1vld' I
ual. It is at the personal level that tl16Y“"" I

be reclaimed. In our minds as we 1010"’ |
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