HallowEE!

THURS., OCT. 29th JUDGING STARTS AT 11 P.M.

PARTY

3 FANTASTIC PRIZES

the PECK

The

avante

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meeting place.

where

Detroit

meets the Pointes

14901 E. JEFFERSON AVE. EAST OF ALTER RD. 822-1991

Catering to disco music enthusiasts! 12 inch Singles, LPs, Imports WEEKLY SPECIALS

Music Line

2040 PARK AVE. at Elizabeth 1 Block North of Grand Circus Park

964-0575

HOURS: MON. SAT. 11 to 9 SUN. 12 to 6

PERSPECTIVE

"Dear Marge..."

A Loving Response to a Loving but Misguided Plea for Sexual Conformity.

Labor Day of 1981 will live in my memory for a long time as the day I came out for real. The previous Thursday a friend and I had walked into the Michigan Organization for Human Rights (MOHR) office and into the presence of Betty Blair, a Detroit News reporter who had come to interview MOHR president Phil Greene for an upcoming article. Though we were not originally part of the interview, Phil introduced us and Betty soon began directing questions at us. In no time at all she had heard about my coming out, my involvement with METRA, and what I thought about gay life in general. When the interview was over, she asked if she could use my name and if I would consent to having my photo taken for use with the article. I said "Sure, why not?"

When I said that I had no idea as to the size of the photo as reproduced in the paper, or that it would receive such prominent placement. Seeing your own face staring at you from a large photo on the front page of Section C of the Detroit News with a caption that reads "Michael Ray is out of the closet; most other Detroit gays aren't" and being quoted in the opening lines, of the accompanying article is an affecting experience. Not that I regretted it; on the contrary, I was happy and proud to have had the opportunity to be a visible gay person. As I've said before, one of our greatest obstacles to being recognized as a legitimate minority is our lack of visibility. We are that Invisible Minority. I hoped that perhaps my visibility might help both non-gay and isolated gay people realize the fact that Yes, there really are gay people in the Metro Detroit area we aren't just an east or west coast phenomenon. My position as Special Assignment Editor at METRA could hardly be jeopardized by such publicity, and my friends and family all knew of my sexual orientation long before Sept. 7th. I was pretty sure that people who knew me wouldn't be to surprised, and that in fact they would be supportive.

The only problem I could envision would come not from people I knew, but from those I didn't know. People who didn't know me, specifically non-gay people, would see my sexuality first, I feared, and judge me on that basis alone. I wouldn't be human rights activist, or an editor, or a human person at all; I would be a "Homo", first and foremost. The problem of being judged almost solely by our sexuality is one faced by almost every gay and lesbian person. No non-gay person would think of identifying themselves as a "heterosexual teacher" or a "heterosexual truck driver" but homosexual people are. often viewed that way. It isn't fair, but unfortunately that's the way it tends to be.

This attitude is especially evident in many of today's organized religions. Many of the "Christian" established religions hold that homosexuality is an "abomination in the eyes of God." The Roman Catholic church, for example, says that being gay is no sin, but acting on that sexuality is. In other words, you can be gay, just don't be gay. Some theologians from various religious communities have offered dissenting arguments, but so far to no avail. In this area of humankind's relationship with God, as with others, it appears that the people of God, not the formalized religious structure, will be the ones to initiate the required changes.

Ironically, one of the greatest challenges facing gay and lesbian people determined to make those changes, people who believe the lessons Jesus attempts to convey, is the Bible itself. By virtue of it's sheer size and variety, something can be found in the scriptures to justify just about anything, from wars to slavery to the oppression of women. People who fear (or have been taught to fear) making decisions about their lives, or have been taught that particular combination of guilt and self-righteousness that only religion can inspire, often seek to justify themselves and their actions by quoting the Bible. That these quotes are taken out of context, used without regard to the situations they applied to in scripture, or that they may have been mis-translated, misinterpreted, or otherwise botched-up in the intervening centuries doesn't seem to occur to such people. The message of the Bible, the humanistic, loving message of Christ in the New Testament is lost in the fundamentalist's literal interpretations or allegorical lessons and parables. How sad Jesus must be to see His words so misused.

So when I received the following letter from Marge Bradley, though I was grateful for her concern, I was saddened to see her so mislead. I could picture her in her neat, somewhat old-fashioned home, watching Channel 62 every night and pledging her money to those using God's name and her fear to make millions. I wished to write back to her, however, she sent no return address (her fear, perhaps?). But as they say God works in strange and wonderful ways her miracles to perform.

The day after I received Marge's letter, I walked into the MOHR office, the same office Betty Blair had interviewed me in for the article which started the chain of events, and Phil handed me a copy of a letter that had been sent to LAMBDA LIGHTHOUSE, a gay publication out of Port Charlotte, Florida. After I had read the letter, I realized that I had been saved the trouble of composing and writing a reply to Marge. It was from an Evangelical Christian minister, and was titled "A Born-Again Evangelical Christian Clergyman Speaks Up for His God-Given Gay Lifestyle." The letter (along with Marge Bradley's) is reproduced below. It is a glowing and eloquent account of liberation, both as a child of God and as a human being. By Mike Ray

I hope it fills you with as much joy as it did me.

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ISSUE 59