Closet queens: This phrase is becoming analogous to "Uncle Tom." To pretend to be straight sexually, or to pretend to be straight socially, is probably the most harmful pattern of behavior in the ghetto. The married guy who makes it on the side secretly; the guy who will go to bed once but who won't develop any gay relationships; the pretender at work or school who changes the gender of the friend he's talking about; the guy who'll suck cock in the bushes but who won't go to bed.

It we are liberated we are open with our sexuality. Closet queencry must end.

But: in saying come out, we have to have our heads clear about a few things. Closet queens are our brothers, and must be defended against attacks by straight people. The fear of coming out is not paranoia. The stakes are high: loss of family ties, loss of job, loss of straight friends. These are all reminders that the oppression is not just in our heads. It's real. Each of us must make the steps toward openness at our own speed and on our own impulses. Being open is the foundation of freedom: it has to be built solidly.

Closet queen is a broad term covering a multitude of forms of defense, self-hatred, lack of strength, and habit. We are all closet queens in some ways, and all of us had to come out-very few of us were "flagrant" at the age of seven! We must afford our brothers and sisters the same patience we afforded ourselves. And while their closet queencry is part of our oppression. it's more a part of theirs. They alone can decide when and how.

Oppression

It is important to catalog and understand the different facets of our oppression. There is no future in arguing about degrees of oppression. A lot of "movement" types come on with a line of shit about homosexuals not being oppressed as much as blacks or Vietnamese or workers or women. We don't happen to fit into their ideas of class or caste. Bull! When people feel oppressed. they act on that feeling. We feel oppressed. Talk about the priority of black liberation or ending imperialism over and above gay lib is just anti-gay propaganda.

Physical attacks: We are attacked, beaten, castrated and left dead time and time again. There are half a dozen known unsolved slayings in San Francisen parks in the last few years. "Punks" often of minority groups who look around for someone under them socially, feel encouraged to beat up on "queers" and cops look the other way. That used to be called lynching.

Cops in most cities have harassed our meeting places: bars and baths and parks. They set up entrapment squads. A Berkeley brother was slain by a cop in April when he tried to split after finding out that the trick who was making advances to him was a cop. Cities set up "pervert" registration. which if nothing else scares our brothers into the closet deeper.

One of the most vicious slurs on us is the blame for prison "gang rapes." These rapes are invariably done by people who consider themselves straight. The victims of these rapes are us and straights who can't defend themselves. The press campaign to link prison rapes with homosexuality is an attempt to make straights fear and despise us. so they can oppress us more. It's typical of the fucked-up straight mind to think that homosexual sex involves tying a guy down and fucking him. That's aggression, not sex. If that's what sex is for a lot of straight people that's a problem they have to solve, not us.

Psychological warfare: Right from the beginning we have been subjected to a barrage of straight propaganda. Since our parents don't know any homosexuals. we grow up thinking that we're alone and different and perverted. Our school friends identify "queer" with any non-conformist or bad behavior.

Self-oppression: As gay liberation grows. we will find out up tight brothers and sisters, particularly those who are making a buck off our ghetto, coming on strong to defend the?status quo. This is self-oppression: "Things in SF are OK": "gay people just aren't together."

Institutional: Discrimination against gays is blatant. Homosexual relationships are illegal, and even if these laws are not regularly enforced, they encourage and enforce closet queencry. The bulk of the social work/psychiatric field looks upon homosexuality as a problem, and treats us as sick. Em players let it be known that our skills are acceptable only as long as our sexuality is hidden.

The discrimination in the draft and armed services is a pillar of the general attitude toward gays. If we are willing to label ourselves publicly not only as homosexual but as sick. then we qualify for deferment.

Sex

What sex is: It is both creative expression and communication: good when it is either, and better when it is both. Sex can also be aggression, and usually is when those involved do not see each other as equals.

I like to think of good sex in terms of playing the violin: with both people, on one level. seeing the other body as an object capable of creating beauty when they play it well; and, on a second level, the players communicating through their mutual production and appreciation of beauty. As in good music, you get totally into it-and coming back out of that state of consciousness is like finishing a work of art or coming back from an episode of an acid or mescaline trip.

To press the analogy further: the variety of music is infinite and varied, depending on the capabilities of the players. both as subjects and as objects. Solos, duets, quartets (symphonies, even, if you happen to dig Romantic music!) are possible. The variations in gender, response, and bodies are like different instruments. And perhaps what we have called sexual "orientation" probably just means that we have not yet learned to turn on to the total range of musical expression.