THE EDITOR, Sir:
THANK YOU Gleaner for publishing Melville Cooke's article "Gay rights vs. my rights ", July 27, 2002. Regrettably, his entire view on homosexuality appears to be focused around (gasp!) activities of the crotch.
Mr. Cooke complains that gays do not, or choose not to grasp that we are infringing on 'his' rights while flaunting 'our lifestyles' in his and his family's faces. I suppose he imagines it is his birthright as a so-called heterosexual, to flaunt his lifestyle, while avoiding admission of his incompetence at raising his family in today's world.
He further claims to know what 'rights' the gay community, especially the men, are fighting for while sensationalising the "Scout Leader" anecdote. What Mr. Cooke conveniently overlooked is that the American did not want to become a scout leader. He already was. All he did was be honest - and if that does not show true leadership, I am Mr. Cooke's uncle. If a parent wilfully chooses to instill homophobia in their children, what would be more effective; to expel the honest, open and truthful homosexuals with true leadership qualities, or choose an institution that teaches discrimination and promotes dishonesty and fear?
Mr. Cooke's assumption that homosexuals have, 'by virtue of our lifestyle choice, ruled ourselves out of the reproductive cycle' is not only asinine but inane as well. Has he not heard of artificial insemination? Some heterosexuals too rule themselves out of the reproductive cycle. On my next vacation, I would like to visit the planet on which Mr. Cooke resides.
Who died and left Mr. Cooke in charge for him to declare that if "a child deserves parents, two persons of the same gender do not qualify?" Talk about pompous! I guess, Mr. Cooke, we gays must never consider adopting the innocent orphans and AIDS children who are spawned, then abandoned by those 'perfect' heterosexuals either.
Mr. Cooke talks out of his hat when he wails about supporting homosexuals with 'his' taxes. Statistics (under) estimate 10 per cent of the population as homosexual. Given that, a homosexual's contribution into the tax system is inequitable with the benefits he receives under the present discriminatory tax laws. In reality, 100 per cent of our gay dollars supports child education, elder health care, and the economy. What do we get in return?
Mr. Cooke indicates he has a problem with intimacy displayed during marches in the country. What marches? Perhaps the displays onstage at Sumfest, visually and audibly, are more to his liking. Also, hand-holding I would like to advise, is not exclusively reserved for heterosexuals.
Mr. Cooke's eloquently admits he is homophobic. He worries about his impressionable children's exposure to homosexuality - as if it were the end of the world. All my impressionable life I was 'exposed' to the heterosexual 'lifestyle' - and look at me - a flaming queen! One wonders if petrified homophobic heterosexuals project their own sexual insecurities onto their children, blaming them, and wonder why some commit suicide.
Could Mr. Cooke be expressing his own homophobia in an attempt at stroking his own ego? I quote: "Where that (homosexual) right to private sexual choice becomes an attempt to foist such behaviour on me and my family, we are going to have a problem." One wonders how many homosexuals would find a supposedly heterosexual man with a family, desirable.
Mr. Cooke is well within his rights to censor any content from his TV or rid himself of cable - to prevent his exposure to homosexual images. Living in denial, however, will not make him an Egyptian. Nickelodeon's TV show on same gender families is a reflection of some children's family make-up. In Jamaica for example, one can hardly claim most families are made up of one man and one woman, legally married!
The argument or equation if you will, drawing parallels to the struggle for emancipation with gay liberation, is called upon when we have to deal with homophobia among people of colour. Some blacks imagine they somehow are superior to homosexuals, when they seem to forget that they have and still continue to be victims of discrimination. Even Stevie Wonder could see that!
I am etc.,
BRYAN FEOL
Feol@hotmail.com
New York City
Via Go-Jamaica
