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Letters
Cartoon celebrated for its view of issue
DeCinzo in the June 27 issue of the Saratoga News, says it all!
Mary Whitfield
Fruitvale Avenue
Cartoonist displays his own ignorance
I feel compelled to comment on the DeCinzo cartoon of June 27 "depicting" the Gay-Straight Alliance at Saratoga High School. Clearly, Mr. DeCinzo did not bother to do any research on the subject, and as a result, displayed only his own ignorance, and what I am presuming is his own homophobia when he drew this cartoon. Had he actually checked, he would have found that there are no members of the Gay-Straight Alliance that even remotely resemble those depicted.
In fact, the two students most instrumental in founding the club at the high school are very active in their church and its youth organizations, are in the top 10 percent of their graduating class, and are two of the kindest, most caring and giving young people that I know. And just in case Mr. DeCinzo is making some more assumptions here, they are a young man and a young woman who have been dating each other for almost two years.
What makes a drawing a clever parody is the ability to take what is true and twist it to make the opposite point; when one makes up the "facts" as Mr. DeCinzo did in this case, it loses its credibility and the point it was trying to make, and just continues to spread ignorance and homophobia.
V. Patton
Franklin Avenue
Practicing tolerance helps keep the peace
Mr. Lorton's letter to the editor in the June 27 issue of The Saratoga News, demonstrates my point that his championship of "freedom of sexual choice" isn't "tolerance" or freedom of belief for all. He is glad to "cast aspersions on" any who dare disagree with him. He's teaching that only those who believe as he dictates "deserve" tolerance. Yes, his call to hate all who disagree with him was completely clear and completely intolerant.
While I grant Mr. Lorton full freedom to believe and say whatever he wants regardless of whether it is "offensive," I reject his call for personal rudeness (or worse) against those who disagree as necessary or even helpful in "fighting bigotry." Intolerance creates more intolerance--not less. Tolerance isn't even needed for those with whom you agree. It's only necessary for those with whom you disagree!
"To promote the general welfare" free democratic citizens agree to disagree on religion and politics. The homosexual agenda involves both. By not getting "personal" with in-your-face hate against those who disagree, we keep religion and politics "free" for all, while avoiding discrimination, prejudice and ultimately--war. Tolerating those who disagree protects all our freedoms, is "tolerance," and keeps the peace.
Teri Jones
Riesling Court
Club does not sexually exploit local students
Some recent letters regarding the Gay-Straight Alliance at Saratoga High greatly misrepresent the club and its views: it is not, nor has it ever been, a "homosexual club." It is not a place for "sexual exploitation" of students. It does not "[promote] homosexual sex." It most certainly is not "indoctrinating students into the homosexual lifestyle."
Mr. Forest Glen Durland thinks that the club demonstrates poor "moral standards." He cites the Bible, then labels homosexuality as an "abomination"--as if his religious standards ought to apply to everyone. Of course, to him, the only acceptable alternative to the alliance would be a club that spends all of its time denouncing homosexuality. Indeed, the "pro-family" club he advocates seems to qualify. Are intolerance and hatred the moral standards that Durland had in mind?
Not one anti-alliance letter writer offers any objections to the club, other than that homosexuality is immoral (read: bad, but nobody is sure why) and that the club is wrong to support it. Each and every one of these contributors--six in all--has, without ever having been to an alliance club meeting, jumped to the amazing conclusion that it is a place for gays to "indoctrinate" straight students.
If any of these people had ever been among the 200 Saratoga students to attend a meeting of the club, they would know that the mission of the club is to promote tolerance of sexual orientation. The club was not founded by gay students trying to "convert" straight students to homosexuality; it was started by a group of students who wanted to do something about the increasing prevalence of homophobic comments and crimes at Saratoga.
So, while I don't care if Hocker and Durland don't want to accept homosexuality--that's their business--it does concern me if they want to silence some thoughtful students who are just a little more open-minded than they are.
The alliance has helped students at Saratoga to at least tolerate, if not accept, homosexuality. Hocker, on the other hand, advocates a "family-based" club--the Youth Advisory Project--whose agenda includes only trying to promote its own narrow-minded anti-gay viewpoints. If Hocker and Durland both dismiss homosexuality as "immoral" without a second thought, how can we trust the club they support to promote any sort of tolerance?
The alliance reduces bigotry by promoting awareness. But Hocker's religious club makes things worse, by claiming that homosexuals are the problem and ignoring the real problem: ignorance. It is exactly as if Hocker believes that Saratoga does not have enough homophobia. One can easily see from the increasing frequency of anti-gay vandalism at Saratoga that there is something very wrong. But the difference between the alliance and Hocker's Youth Advisory Project is that the alliance solves problems by confronting them, not by avoiding them.
Philip Sung
Student, Saratoga High School
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
