T A B L E+T A L K Should teenagers be allowed to drive? Discuss the pluses and minuses of raising the legal driving age in the Social Issues area of Table Talk D A I L Y+Q U O T E "Monica Lewinsky": The pop song R E C E N T L Y God's own ZIP Code By Christopher Ott A leading radio evangelist wields power on the right (07/09/98) Author, author! By Jonathan Broder Everyone wants to know who wrote the "talking points" (07/08/98) Investigating the investigator By Jonathan Broder Michael Shaheen, the man probing whether Kenneth Starr's key Whitewater witness was paid off by Clinton critics, is known as an ethical straight-shooter (07/07/98) True believer By Bruce Shapiro Kenneth Starr comes from a movement of right-wing judicial activists who are determined to revolutionize American law (07/03/98) Did you ever see the president stop beating his wife? By Todd Gitlin More questions for Mr. Starr's interrogation of Sidney Blumenthal (07/02/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		TOWARD A POST-GAY WORLD | PAGE 1, 2 - - - - - - - - - - However, there's much evidence that gays themselves don't even know what a gay agenda is. A few days before the parade, I attended a seminar at the New School for Social Research on post-gay culture. I wasn't any more enlightened leaving than when I came in about what exactly "post-gay" means, but there were a number of points raised that I found relevant, and which underscored the many contradictions inherent in queer life. 1. Homosexuality isn't just about sexuality. It's about politics and the social pathology of heterosexual society -- oppression, marginalization, homophobic violence and murder, denial of the same civil rights as heterosexual citizens -- and spending your life combating all these things. 2. Homosexuality is all about sexuality, the only thing that distinguishes gay from straight. Or as Gore Vidal described it, "There is of course no such thing as a homosexual. Despite current usage, the word is an adjective describing a sexual action, not a noun describing a recognizable type." 3. True liberation is about not needing or even wanting to feel gay, either in the sense of being defined by one's oppression or its opposite of being defined by one's sexual activities. 4. While not allowing themselves to be seen merely as victims, it's still vital that gay Americans understand and not underestimate what they are up against, including never-ending threats of violence, contemptuous press coverage, attacks from organized religion, the need to be vigilant in the constant maintenance of rights that are constantly in danger of being overturned through the machinations of right-wing agitprop hate groups self-described as "pro-family," "pro-God," "concerned citizens," etc. Nor can they underestimate the willful ignorance and smug uninterest of heterosexual Americans -- the silent majority who aren't part of the right-wing agitprop groups but don't feel any reason to understand or aid the homosexual minority. 5. Being gay means navigating through the politics of "ordinariness" -- wanting or even actively seeking out what is seen as the right to a middle-class American life, with all the mundanity that might entail -- vs. the alternative, urban-centered notion of gay as being defiant permanent outsiders who are, in fact, "extraordinary," meaning, for the most part, sexually promiscuous. Or not navigating through these polar opposites. 6. Monogamy is good for gays, too. 7. Monogamy is no good for gays; rather, it is a heterosexual ritual that doesn't even work for heterosexuals. I believe that these contradictions reveal the true essence of the gay struggle. In the same way that coming out is, as writer Sarah Schulman described, a process that has no comparison in straight life, the dilemma of definition is something that is a curse and a blessing. We already are extraordinary, in terms of day-to-day survival, in ways that our poor hetero brothers and sisters can't even begin to imagine. SALON | July 10, 1998 Daniel Reitz is a regular contributor to Salon. Has the meaning of Gay Pride Month changed for you? Share your thoughts in the Social Issues area of Table Talk. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - R E L A T E D_.S A L O N_.S T O R I E S Homosexuality and the civic responsibility of politicians When Trent Lott called homosexuality sinful, he should have kept his mouth shut -- but those who claim homosexuality is a "lifestyle" are equally wrong. By David Horowitz June 29, 1998 I'll take religion over gay culture By Camille Paglia June 23, 1998 A timely death Now that Andrew Cunanan is out of the way, gays can go back to their old narcissistic, self-absorbed ways, all in the name of "pride." By Daniel Reitz July 28, 1997 Should gays join the mainstream? By David Israels and Brooke Shelby Biggs June 16, 1997 Respect, yes; equivalence, no By David Horowitz June 9, 1997