reader forum.

Mother love

I have long believed that the fight for acceptance, understanding, and compassion will be won in our own homes, PTAs, and bridge clubs. I feel blessed to have a mother who is not only tolerant of a gay son but proud--proud not just because I am gay but because I am able to live a life of authenticity and love. And I have love and thanks for any mother--or father--who has the fierce courage to take a stand for her gay or lesbian son or daughter. Bravo to The Advocate for such a wonderful stow ["Does Your Mother Know?" August 28] that recognizes the allies many of us have at our own dining room table.

Kevin Wanzer, Indianapolis, Ind.

Your "Fierce Mothers" cover is brilliant! And you can bet some fundie will catch the Pieta reference and complain that you're saying Jesus was gay!

Roger Hooverman, Sarasota, Fla.

I'm a 21-year-old lesbian in a long-term relationship and, overall, a pretty content person--if you exclude the problems with my family. You see, my mom will never be an advocate. Maybe someday she'll tacitly accept her fate as a mother of a lesbian. But she'll never be an advocate. Unless maybe I'm raped, beaten, and left for dead. Or do die. What saddened me most about the article was that I realized that death or serious bodily injury may be the only way my own mother would ever realize I'm not wrong--society is.

Christie Millard, Fond du Lac, Wis.

Did anyone at The Advocate bother to see The Deep End before deciding to spin it into a tale about a mother's "attempts to protect her gay son"? There's not a single positive gay character or situation to be found--let alone protect. One could easily argue that what Tilda Swinton's character is really fighting for is the right to continue to keep quiet about the love that dare not speak its name while doing whatever it takes to keep her tidy, oppressive world in order. Over the course of two hours, the only time she and her son talk about "it" is when she reassures him that she won't tell Dad. The Deep End, with its sleazy/creepy depiction of homosexuality as a shocking taboo, is a film not even a mother could love.

David Scott, Claremont, Calif.

Republican language

Julian Potter's column "No Salvation From Betrayal" [My Perspective, August 28] is another reminder of the contempt that many in the Democratic Party have for the gay and lesbian community. They believe that some cleverly misleading facts mixed with overblown emotionalism is all it takes to make gays vote Democratic.

Potter repeats the distortions around the antigay Salvation Army and its false memo. Within hours of the reporting on that story, the White House repeatedly, consistently, and sternly refuted, denied, and disavowed any truth whatsoever to the claim that there was ever any "deal" over taking away the rights of gays for any reason. But Potter is willing to take an antigay organization's discredited word if it suits her politics.

She also states that the Bush administration was "quietly pushing through an even nastier version of the pro-discrimination language as part of the `faith-based' bill." This is also untrue. In fact, according to a published report in The Hill newspaper in late June--before the stow of the Salvation Army arose--the White House had demanded that the bill drop language that it believed was antigay. The "Republican language," as Potter puts it, in the faith-based initiatives bill, in place of previous language the White House objected to, is the same exemption language that was in the 1996 welfare reform law, the 1998 Community Services Block Grant Act, and the 2000 Public Health Services Act--all signed by President Clinton. Where was Potter's outrage each time Clinton, her former boss, signed this exemption into law?

Certainly, Potter is angry that Republican moderates like Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) worked with President Bush and others to forge a public agreement to settle any lingering questions that might exist over this exemption language and its impact on local gay rights laws. By doing so, they have pledged to address a problem that Clinton either never noticed or neglected to address. They have also taken ammunition away from her efforts to depict gay life under Bush as some kind of lurid horror show. The real nightmare for Potter is that she knows that overblown rhetoric is all she's got to make her case.

Kevin Ivers, Director of Public Affairs
Log Cabin Republicans
Washington, D.C.

That's entertainment

Paris Barclay's self-serving opinion was more than obvious [Final Cut, August 28]. Don't spend your money on Mel Brooks's show; spend it on mine. Why would you want to see old drag queens and diesel dykes when you can see my show "with a stunningly attractive cast of six young men"? The thinking audience needs a break now and then. It was a genuine delight to see The Producers. I haven't laughed so hard or had so much fun in a theater for years.

Tim Kraetsch, Milwaukee, Wis.

As for Barclay's concerns about Brooks making gays the butt of so many of his jokes, he should lighten up. When Brooks made Blazing Saddles, he made fun of cowboys. When Brooks made Young Frankenstein, he made fun of monsters. So when Brooks makes The Producers, a spoof of backstage Broadway, who the hell do you think he's going to make fun of?. Gays! Barclay--of all people-should know that.

Bill Siwicki, Chicago, Ill.

At long last someone finally agrees with me about The Producers. Almost the entire joke of The Producers is at the expense of gays. Sure, he makes fun of Hitler and Nazis too. But as a gay man sitting around watching what to me seemed a very straight crowd literally crying with laughter, I couldn't escape the feeling that all the gay characters in the play were being laughed at and not with.

C. Olson, via the Internet

Dang proud

The Innovators Issue [August 14] was absolutely the best issue you've ever published! I sat down with it "just for a minute" when it came; three hours later (with one short break) I finished. The range and depth of the people you covered was exceptional. Made me dang proud to be a lesbian!

Sarah Lehan, Lakewood, Colo.

Reading the chronology of innovators ["Innovation Through the Ages"] brought tears of joy and anger to my eyes. By the time I was 5 years old, in 1967, substantial battles had already taken place on behalf of GLBT people. The indescribable pain of isolation and internalized homophobia I felt could've been prevented or at least diminished had I been exposed to the efforts and accomplishments of those great innovators The Advocate identified. Thank you for a wonderfully inspirational issue.

Michael B. Davis, Bucks County, Pa.

I applaud your issue about the innovators in our community. Being a member of PFLAG, I was glad to see that you count the founding of our organization as a milestone. However, I'd like to point out an interesting fact for future reference: Although Adele Starr founded PFLAG in 1981, Jeanne and Jules Manford are the true visionaries. The Manfords walked with their gay son, Marty, in the New York City gay pride march in 1973 with a sign that said, "Parents of gays, unite in support for our children." As far as we know, they were the first parents to take such a public stance against bigotry and hatred. Soon after that, they started Parents of Gays in New York City. Others followed their example, including Adele Starr in Los Angeles.

Alain Montour, New York, N. Y

Another British import?

Your article "Guerrilla Queer Bar" [August 14] claims that being out in "straight" bars is "a new form of activism." Rubbish! Queers were doing the same thing in working-class bars in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s as part of the Gay Liberation Front's campaigning. One man I knew, sadly now dead, recalled that the men taking out their knitting and the women ordering beer caused more uproar than same-sex snogging. The San Francisco activism sounds like great fun--but it's not new.

Brian Dempsey, Edinburgh, Scotland

For the record

The names of Danielle Brazell, the Highways Performance Space artistic director profiled in our August 14 issue, and Lewis Whittington, author of our August 28 story "From Kansas to Cuba," were misspelled. The Advocate regrets the errors.