Gay rage.

Gay Rage

ONE WONDERS whether there is any terminus now to gay demands or any possibility of sober discussion of the various issues surrounding the gay-rights movement.

The New York City Council has now passed legislation allegedly protecting gays from "discrimination," and Mayor Koch, as well as others supporting the measure, has argued that the law merely adds "sexual orientation" to the list of other characteristics (e.g., color, sex, age) on the basis of which employers, landlords, and so on may not discriminate.

But there is an absurdity in that argument. A black woman, for example, is obviously--visibly--a black woman. But you need not know that a person is gay unless he, or she, tells you so, or indulges in bizarre behavior that calls attention to gayness.

And that, of course, is the real meaning of the New York City bill. It does not have to do with "discrimination." Indeed, according to a recent tabulation, over a period of two years only 474 complaints of discrimination against gays were lodged with the city's Human Rights Commission, and these include such extravagances as being excluded from a homosexual bath merely on account of AIDS.

New York's gay-rights legislation is not about discrimination but about behavior, or lifestyle. It legitimates the thrusting of obviously gay behavior at the straight population, and it was pushed through by gay political power. Far from being victims, gays are now a powerful political pressure group.

Given these forays and triumphs within the culture, you might think the gays would be somewhat mollified. Not a bit of it. Two weeks ago the switchboard at NR lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree, but this was no Christmas. Bomb threats, threats of mayhem and building occupation, and countless obscenities burned the ears of our operator. All of this emanated from self-proclaimed gays.

What provoked it all was an Op-Ed piece by the editor-in-chief carried the previous day by the New York Times. After discussing the magnitude of the AIDS problem--and the magnitude is now staggering--Mr. Buckley ventilated a proposal that all Americans be tested for exposure to the AIDS virus, which makes one a potential carrier, and that those exposed be discreetly tattooed on the arm (as a warning to potential needle sharers) and on the rear end (as a warning to potential homosexual partners). Truth in labeling, in fact, which would be of most immediate benefit to junkies and gays. [See "Notes & Asides."]

The magnitude of the AIDS problem is now enormous. The gay populations of New York, San Francisco, and Houston are saturated with AIDS exposure; the incidence is now leveling off, but at a very high level. In addition, the AIDS epidemic shows signs of breaking out into the straight population through women who have had intercourse with bisexual men who are AIDS carriers. These women may then be able to transmit the disease to heterosexual men. We must hope that medical advances will come to the rescue, but we must plan on the assumption that they will not.