Society expects gay people to conceal their sexuality

Editor,

Sen. Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican, is responding to accusations of lewd conduct in an airport restroom. His crime is that he made a sexual hand gesture. There was no claim that money was discussed or that this was an issue of prostitution. Craig's response is that he is not gay and denies the allegations.

Craig announced Saturday that he plans to resign Sept. 30 after many people demanded that he quit over the issue. Apparently, it's a crime to be accused of being gay. In local news, several influential men in Farmington have been arrested while engaging in sexual conduct at a park. They were hiding under the cover of overgrown landscaping and were not visible to the public. This was apparently a gay meeting place - a gay blueberry hill or lookout point.

If heterosexual couples were in the same circumstances there would be little, if any, interest in these stories. Straight people often wink, lick lips, stare, blow kisses, sit next to the opposite sex and exchange any number of sexually loaded gestures with one another. Straight people can approach one another at will and must only retreat if the advance is not mutually acceptable. Straight people have sex in public and brag about it without any persecution or threat of jail.

How many times have you been at the Duck Pond and seen two heterosexuals engaged in heavy petting? However, gay people are not permitted to make any gesture meant to determine if we are in the company of other gay people. We are expected to keep our sexuality to ourselves. Our gestures are considered criminal offenses. Society doesn't want us to hold hands, kiss or cuddle at the Duck Pond. Society attempts to keep us in the closet by persecuting and prosecuting us for seeking out like-minded people.

In Iowa, a judge correctly ruled this week that the state's constitutional ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional. One gay college couple got married before a stay on the ruling was issued by the same judge. Why? Because conservative political pressure encourages the continuation of discrimination against gays. So much for the claim of justice for all.

Richard Garcia

UNM student