My particular interest in this matter is that Barbara and I have some good friends who happen to be two men in a relationship who have been living together for some years—plus a number of other people who are same-sex oriented. Why so many? Happenstance, plus the fact that, apparently Seattle is second only to San Francisco in percentage of LGBT population in the United States. Seattle, 12.9% compared to San Francisco's 15.4%.

These are ordinary people, like everyone else. At least four attorneys, a medical technician in a hospital, a number of different occupations, including a Washington State legislator and a Seattle Transit System bus driver. They differ only in that for the most intimate of all personal relationships, they gravitate to someone of their own gender.

The comments that Ake keeps making about disease statistics, and that gay men's supposed fixation on promiscuity making them a menace to society as a whole, or that Guest from Sanity makes about how gay men are psychological basket-cases who need to be "cured" of their "perversion," when such attempts as "aversion therapy" have turned otherwise contented gay men into psychological basket cases (including depression and suicide) more than amply demonstrate that they know nothing of the matter, and are operating on their own prejudices.

One is given to wonder why they are so interested in the sexual practices of others, and so adamantly opposed to granting same-sex oriented people the same rights as everyone else.

One also wonders why they are particularly interested in the activities of gay men, and don't seem to have the same concerns about lesbian women.

Why such intense interest in gay men?

Don Firth