Letters to the Editor	Letters Archive

Lester R. Grubé offends...

I don't know who this Gomer, Lester R. Grubé, is [author of Speaking Out of His Mind]. but as far as I can tell he ought to be dragged out in a public place, have his pants ripped down, bent over and spanked with a dull belt buckle! He's an idiot! Get rid of him.

npepper13@hotmail.com

Please don't give too much space to Mssr. Grubé [author of Speaking Out of His Mind], as I will no doubt read his column and get all cranky.

M

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arco
Venice Beach, California
zipsled@earthlink.net

Lester R. Grubé [author of Speaking Out of His Mind] has really got something wrong with him. Who cares where he has traveled, and what he has seen? He sounds like someone who has pissed off his mother and is trying to make up by writing this article.

Roger Charlton
letsfly69@hotmail.com

Lester R. Grubé [author of Speaking Out of His Mind] prides himself on being "straight acting and appearing." Hogwash! If he cannot live his life as a homosexual, let him live it at as heterosexual.

That's not to say I go around flaunting my gayness, but Lester comes across as someone who perpetuates the "shame" of being gay.

Kevin
keedwars@att.net

Lester R. Grubé [author of Speaking Out of His Mind] is still governed by his mother's opinions.

If I was with him, I might ask him to strip naked for me. Or say I'd like to give him a blow job.

Don't explain Gayness, just let it work for you.

Bob
matt@2bee.com

If Lester R. Grubé [author of Speaking Out of His Mind] is so sure of himself, he'd refrain from boasting-- it seems he has an inferiority complex!

He's not fooling anybody but himself.

hotstudswimmer@yahoo.com

The column by Lester R. Grubé [author of Speaking Out of His Mind] is a conceited piece of garbage that I didn't need to receive.

Don Deffenbaugh
ddeffie@earthlink.net

Lester [author of Speaking Out of His Mind], most of the readers of The Guide could care less about your clothes, including those of us who would describe ourselves as the "less desirable elements." Show us a picture of your dick, and we'll tell you if we'll "hold you in esteem."

Jack
adamsdc@bellatlantic.net

To read what's got so many on-line readers riled up, visit www.guidemag. com and look for Lester R. Grubé's Speaking Out of His Mind

Hooray for strippers

Loved info on stripper bars [Stripper Bars 101, April 2001]. I love it naked all the way. In Houston (bible belt) it's a no go for naked dick dancers; oh, how I wish to see that here, butt dream on!

Just to let you know I love your mag, chats about city gay stuff and where to go to find it. Do you know of bars that make their own strippers video tapes? Would love to buy one.

H.P.
lvtxbutts@aol.com

We don't know of any bars that sell videos of their strippers, but you could be in touch with the bars featured by contacting them from their web profiles on our website.

I'm a poor black guy from Los Angeles, California. I loved your photos [in Stripper Bars 101, April 2001]. They were beautiful.

Keenan
via the Internet
Los Angeles, California

A boy by any other name....

I am a thirtysomething man who has befriended a lot of young men involved in erotic dancing, stripping, etc. It tires me to hear writers and older men refer to men at age 18, as "boys." The term is frequently used to young men at 25 years of age. By most, if not all laws in North America, when a male reaches 18, he is a man-- not a "boy" just because the speaker is 20-30 years older. Is a 50-year old a "boy" to an 85-year old? Age gaps do not give privilege to referring to young men as "boys."

Proud citizen of North America

Trying to decide what defined a "boy" caused much consternation here in The Guide office. Is the rubicon 'tween boy and man crossed at age 18 (as the law would suggest)? Or when puberty has finished most of its work pushing out larger genitals, longer femurs, and courser beards? Or does one, as Corinthians suggests, became a man when one has the wisdom and experience to "put away childish things" and see things more clearly?

Undoubtedly, the term "boy" has expanded in recent generations to include more "young men" as adolescents have been legally codified as sexless "children." With Draconian laws infantilizing 17-year-olds, twentysomethings are pressed into service, linguistically and otherwise, as "boys."

Piss on Coors!

I appreciated your parody about Coors and the Human Rights Campaign [Beer Blast: Big Money On Tap As Coors Buys Rights to Re-Name Gay Movement, April 2001].

I'll never drink Coors. I won't give money to the HRC. I love your magazine. I love your attitude. As easy as it is to get depressed, I truly believe that in the long run, we shall prevail. Thanks for making me smile.

an old time queer
via the Internet

Guide heals Christian professor

Belated thanks for the editorial Christmas as a Gay Celebration [January 1999].

I just happened to be surfing the web and came across your journal in my list of possible publications to which I had considered sending a short story. My short story also deals with this subject of gays and Christianity, but unfortunately the main character ends up giving in to the powers that be and leaves the church. The story was, of course, based on my own experience and there is still pain there. But your 1999 Christmas editorial had a deep healing effect on me. I taught Church History and New Testament Greek for so very many years, and often told gay students the same thing, but I myself seemed to have forgotten the message of Christianity. You reminded me of that message.

D. Estes
dayton@bcinet.net

Prisoners need help

This is the second time I have seen an objection to prisoners seeking correspondence with people in the free world. ("Why Allow Prisoners Ads?", August 1999).

Over the past 20 years, I have had correspondence with hundreds of inmates. Most of my pen pals are here in Texas. And I have access to their court records. In one case where a young man made use of his neighbor's TV set, the neighbor got his TV back and filed a motion of non-prosecution. But the state of Texas prosecuted anyway, to the tune of three years.

In my experience, a person goes to prison first for punishment, second for rehabilitation, and third to deter others from crime. Given the size of the current prison population here in Texas, you have to wonder who has been deterred by any sentence.

Among what I call the primary age group, 18-25, I have concluded that they have one thing in common: "Hey, man, I have this problem with sex, alcohol, and/or drugs! Will you help me?" So I scan the MaleBox ads every month.

E. P.
Irving, Texas

Another common feature of many prisoners is poverty; Texas drug users with money can get elected governor (and then appointed President by the Supreme Court), while those who are poor get locked up and demonized....

Our history is important

Most of the time when travel articles are written for the homosexual community, the g/l centers are not listed as a resource, and even some of the local gay papers do not list libraries as a place to visit when in a city. Your listing of the Pride events each year is great, and your reports on vacation places are good. But do homosexual men and women have no interest in their history?

Many researchers would want to see a list of the libraries/archives in our movement, and if doing a book or research paper, would want to go to the cities that have libraries such as the expanded Gerber/Hart in Chicago, the Stonewall in Fort Lauderdale, or the ONE Institute and Archives in its new home, a remodeled fraternity house at 909 W. Adams, Los Angeles, California 90007, near the main USC campus.

I also want to be sure everyone knows about a wonderful new book that covers homosexuals and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Courting Justice by Joyce Murdoch and Deb Price is out just in time for gay history time. It covers cases that have gone to the court and that dealt with homosexual issues, starting with the first case, ONE Magazine, then Frank Kameny, etc. The book is valuable not only for the new information the authors have found since new papers have become public, but also for interviews that show the attitudes of the justices toward homosexuality. The research will astound readers.

Billy Glover
Vice Chair,
Homosexual Information Center, Inc.
billygloverhic@yahoo.com