To the Editors of The Crimson:

"Anyone's taking me seriously is scary" (quoted from Robert Wasinger's letter, November 26) is, in fact, the most astute self-assessment yet made by a Peninsula writer and member of the Association Against Learning in the Absence of Religion and Morality (AALARM), regarding his view of gay people.

Still, it is not astute enough. Wasinger argues that gays, in publicly declaring how well-adjusted and happy they are, only serve to demonstrate the contrary. He reasons that if they truly were, they would feel no need to state such claims, and that to do so is merely indicative of their self-doubt and their need for "reassurance from others."

Perhaps he should question his own need to defend himself when his views are attacked if he honestly feels there is no rational call for gays to defend themselves, and least of all through self-testimony, in light of Peninsula statements on the order of "homosexual acts are unworthy of a human being...and arises from a brutal and sub-human disposition."

Gays would not feel a need to publicly declare their self-view if it weren't for such groups as Wasinger belongs to taking it upon themselves to tell us how we tick, what we feel, as if we cannot make that determination for ourselves.

The impulse to defend oneself when attacked is not Wasinger's privilege alone, however much such double-standardism and skewed reasoning may prevail in his and his cronies' attempts to promote the view of all gay peoples as deeply troubled and more deeply troubling.

One of the most striking examples of this occured at the Institute of Politics Forum last week, when a Peninsula spokesman stated that "like racism, homosexuality is destructive to both the individual and society," overlooking the infinitely more logical analogy between racism and homophobia.

I would hope, given the recent proliferation on campus of graffiti such as "Kill a fag" to the very real escalation in gay-bashings and murders across the country, that Wasinger and his friends will very soon recognize that his call for "more levity" over this issue, which treads very closely to that which led to the lynching of blacks and the gassing of Jews, is far from a laughing matter.

Already one-third of suicides among teens are gay youth who have realized what Wasinger has yet to understand--if one could change, who would choose to be gay in a hostile environment?

I cannot help but wonder if Wasinger had a gay daughter or son just how lightly he would take their struggle with all of these things, or if he and those he claims share his version of a "metaphysical reality" would recognize, finally, that it is not through metaphysics, but mortal ignorance that one might presume to know what is right and best for those they know next to nothing about.

Until then, we should be very scared indeed, and take any and all manifestations of bigotry deadly seriously. Otto Coontz   Adams House Tutor for   Bisexual Gay and Lesbian Concerns