-8- OUT lN’THE~»-M0UNTAlNS“?7-'- ‘JUNE 1999 SKEETER BY SKEETER SANDERS wouldn’t have to write about. In the days immediately after the horrible massacre at Colorado’s Columbine’ High School, much of the mainstream media zeroed in on the two young killers’ adaptation of “Goth” dress as members of the self-styled “Trench Coat Mafia.” Not surprisingly, some authori- ty figures started pointing fingers at the Goth kids, whose subculture evokes, in the eyes of its critics, images of everything from vam- pirism to, devil worship. ' Worst of all, these critics say, Goth kids were likely to commit the most evil acts of violence imaginable. What hogwash! I know quite a few Goth kids and I can tell you that nothing could be further from the-truth. Quite the contrary. The Goths abhor violence to the point that they are as pacifisticas an earlier generation of alternative—culture kids — the hippies. T . . It’s a subject I had hoped I Indeed, many Goth kids are so pacifistic, like their “flower child” predecessors, that they have come under constant harassment in school. This is particularly true of male Goths, whose androgynous appearance often brings taunts of “Faggot!” and other anti-gay slurs. Some Goth boys really are gay or bisexual. Some appear so androgynous as to leave me won- dering if they’re actually trans- gendered. It’s no secret that, par- ticularly in the major cities, gen- der lines are ofien blurred in Goth culture. Just ask anyone who’s attended screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Despite these misconceptions, I still didn’t want to write about the Colorado tragedy. But arti- cles that appeared in two of the nation’s largest -gay newspapers left me with little choice. ’ Both The Washington Blade and New England’s in newsweek— Iy. reported that the Internet had been abuzz with rumors that Columbine killers Eric Harris ,_-.and:-Dylan Klebold had been “mercilessly” subjected to anti- gaytaunts from other students, - particularly from student athletes. Because Harris and Klebold killed themselves after their student athletes. shooting and bombing rampage that killed 12 students and one teacher and wounded 23 others, we will never know for certain their true sexual orientations. But I simply can’t believe that Harris and Klebold were anything other than straight. I can think of nothing that makes a straight boy in his teens totally freak out more than to be accused of being “queer.” I can tell you from my own experience that there’s no group of high school students more homopho- gbic than-the jocks. By 1972, my “CELEBRATE THE PAST EMBRACE THE PRESEIIT CREATE THE FUTURE” The Vermont People With AIDS Coalition invites you to The 9th Annual Retreat for«People Living with HIV July 22 - 25, 1999 in Springfield, VT ”EXcI usi Vel y for HIV+ Consumers” This year's theme is COMMUNITY BIIILDIIIC A weekend experience to network with fidends, learn new information, and have some fun! For Registration Information ‘ _ CALL. _l-QJOO-698-8191 senior year, I was “outed” by the jocks in my phys-ed class — a full six years before I came out of the closet on my own. ’ Imagine if the roles were reversed: How would you, a queer kid, react if you were sub- jected to merciless taunts of “Breeder!” and other heteropho- bic epithets? The point I’m mak- ing here is that you’re being accused of being something that you know in your heart, soul, and erogenous zones you’re not. As for those of you in the queer community foolish enough to believe I that Harris and Klebold were queer, ‘let me ask you this: can you take your rain- bow-colored blinders off long enough to imagine‘-how main- Dill Anti-Gav IIMHSSIIIBIII TI‘I!I!IB|‘ CIIIIIIIIIIIIIB I'II!III SGIIOIII MESSBGIB? stream America would react if the perpetrators of the worst high school mass murder in US histo- ry really did turn out to be queer? I’ve argued previously in this The Internet was abuzz with rumors that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had been “mercilessly” subjected to anti-gay taunts from other students, particularly column that the time was long overdue for queers to resort to violent self-defense, if necessary, if they’re physically attacked. But there’s a big difference between defending oneself when violently attacked and resorting to violent offensive attacks against others without provoca- tion. And nothing justifies killing anyone unless you’re locked in a situation in which you’re forced to kill in self-defense. For all our sakes, I pray that the run1ors about Harris and Klebold beingqueer aren’t true. V _,g_-=—. TIQUESi%l§ “We sell memories" a_,'\\? 110 Main Street Montpelier, Vermont ' 05602 802~229"508l plum-:.mon & Exremon PAINTING REBECCA JONES (802) 438-2850 35 Blanchard Avenue, W. Rufland, V1’ 05777 2 Cambridge Road 802-879-4527 pracl£ca/ Wed A division of ?aperWork Solutions, Inc. —-—- zoa A "7 page desrgn for small and westford, Vermont 05494 web@pwsolutions.