9 Page 4-The Michigan Daily -Tuesday, September 18, 1990 Ule Alidflgun Bailg EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 I NOAH FINKEL Editor in Chief DAVID SCHWARTZ Opinion Editor Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. Homophobia AJ 5W\ ' --- - ApiA OF- p~p --E'ncx ) WEoVWA-- ;DEyh VI,- - - 4 f f / 4 cA * C ,.....,_ Zeeland discrimination A HIGH SCHOOL IN ZEELAND, Michigan needs an English teacher, and in the community there is a man with both experience and skill fulfilling this need. Yet parents, who acknowledge his teaching abilities, want him fired. In Michigan, systematic discrimina- tion against gays, lesbians, and bisexu- als is common policy. Even worse is that this policy is enforced by our po- lice and courts. The teacher, David VanHeest, is just one of many victimized by their com- munity's homophobia. VanHeest was arrested on charges of alleged homo- sexual activity with minors. These charges were a clear attempt by the Ot- tawa County Sheriff's Office to frame VanHeest and five other men. The six men were arrested at a private party at- tended by a 17-year-old working un- dercover with deputies, but in spite of this expense of both time and money, the sheriff's office was forced to drop the charges for lack of evidence. After his release, VanHeest was re- instated to his position in the high school. In response to this reinstate- ment 600 parents signed a petition de- manding that the school board fire VanHeest for "health and psychologi- cal" reasons. The apparent health risk, according to parents, is that of AIDS. This is a dangerously ignorant myth, that only serves to further persecution of gay men in our society. Even if VanHeest must be remedied had tested positive for AIDS (which he has not) he could not transmit it to the students in a normal classroom setting. AIDS is only transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids (i.e.blood and semen). The parents' fear of psychological damage is as unfounded as their fear of AIDS. They seem to be concerned that this man, because he is gay, will se- duce their sons. In reality they should be more concerned about their children whose teachers are heterosexual men. Ninety eight percent of all rapes are committed by heterosexual men. Thecommunity in Zeeland should welcome this opportunity to achieve a greater diversity on their high school staff. Children growing up in our soci- ety are bombarded with heterosexism - the constant affirmation of hetero- sexuality, and the resulting persecution of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals - often leading to the unhappiness and confusion that is caused by repression and denial of their true sexual orienta- tion. Those who are able to come to terms with their sexuality face harass- ment and discrimination in both their personal and public lives. The discrimination and harassment of this man on the basis of his sexual orientation is equivalent to the harass- ment of a person of color on the basis of race, or the harassment of a woman on the basis of gender. This discrimi- nation must stop, in our schools, insti- tutions, and communities. s~V l1 - ., ' ' . 0 PLAY(9 WITS! 11EfEWIJNDt biTc)N ont I E .. V- C. R. Redefining the world: Bush's Iraqese shines By Philip Cohen It is a time of political redefinition in the world and in the United States. As al- ways, the definition of terms is crucial. Let's look the terms of President Bush, as displayed in last week's speech to the American public. Take the passage - read by the Presi- dent - from the historic new joint agree- ment with the Soviets. It read, in part: "No peaceful international order is possi- ble if larger states can devour their smaller neighbors." Now, to anyone even remotely familiar with U.S. or Soviet history this assertion of course rings true. The history of inter- vention and invasion by the Soviet Union since the 50s, and the United States since its inception, shows that, indeed, there has been no peaceful international order. And there is no indication that Gorbachev or Bush have any intention of changing that now. So, either this is a remarkably frank assertion that the two imperialist powers mean to continue to prevent the emergence of a peaceful international order - or the definition of "peaceful international order" has simply been changed to mean some- thing like "uncontested imperialist interna- tional domination." You decide. The best new catch-phrase employed in the President's speech was: "America and the world." Philip Cohen is a Daily Weekend Magazine columnist. The is supposed to symbolize the pow- erful mandate of a world consensus behind the U.S. invasion of Saudi Arabia. To make phraseology and reality meet, how- ever, here the definition of "the world" is being altered to refer only to the United States and its client states. All of the other world governments - including roughly half of the Arab nations - who oppose the action are not considered. So the President says, "America and the world must defend common vital inter- ests." Now, obviously, if "the world" is "the world," as far as climactic zones, North versus South and so on. To be even more clear ecologically perhaps he should have said he envisions a new world in which "the rule of law supplants the rules of the jungle and the desert," but instead he leaves the inference to us. (Besides this* would only offer confusion about those ar-; eas which the North colonized so long ago that they no longer appear to be contested - occupied Mexico, for example.) Bush adds: "America and the world must stand up to aggression." As "the world" Now, obviously, if "the world" is really supposed to mean "the world" then there is no one to defend any- R thing from, and no such thing as a conflicting interest. The definition is changed. sr.. r CPS "Qm 41 really supposed to mean "the world" then there is no one to defend anything from, and no such thing as a conflicting interest. The definition is changed. And he says, "America and the world must support the rule of law." Here it be- comes more clear, because we can simply define "the world" as whichever group cur- rently supports the U.S. definition of "the rule of law" - meaning here unchallenged U.S. domination. The President explains that he sees a new world emerging, one in which "the rule of law supplants the rule of the jun- gle." That's just to clear up any confusion about who's who in the new definition of fights "aggression," who is what fighting? Here, the definitions of both "the world" and "aggression" will have to be changed to make the sentence fit. President Bush may be a dishonest man, but at least what he says is quite clear. Of particular interest is his assertion that* even after the Cold War, "The world is still dangerous... Stability is not secure." Therein lies the recognition that our fear- less leader's greatest fears are never far from the surface. And therein lies the hope of the oppressed people of the world, as. they prepare for the royal dethroning of the: President who changed our definition of "the world." s D e e to o. 1. _15 about who's who in the new definition of "the world." r.0" Housing responds to parent's allegations To the Daily: David Bruce Weiss, in his column "'U' Housing restricts free trade during move- in" (9/12/90) regarding the sale and deliv- ery of Wolverine Carpets to students in University residence halls, omits that while he may be a concerned parent, he is also the attorney for the company and was personally involved in many of the events he describes. In addition, there are so many erroneous allegations and misstatements of fact in his remarks that it would take far more space than is available in this forum to begin to offer serious rebuttal. Two of his central assertions must be contradicted. The University's sole pur- pose in securing a commission from the successful bidders of products to be sold and delivered to students during the Labor Day weekend move-in program was to de- fray its administrative costs not budgeted for room and board costs. Contrary to Mr. Weiss' claim that the costs were minimal, they amount to approximately $20,000.00 he amount to be received in commissions will be insufficient to fully reimburse those costs to the University. Wolverine Carpets has for the last three years solicited student business here and knows the University's policies regarding the delivery of commercial products in the residence halls. Wolverine failed to com- ply with those rules for the 1990 student move-in. These rules do not constitute "an illegal restraint of trade" but are the only means by which the University can moni- tor traffic flow in the halls and insure that the many vendors who comply with Uni- versity policies are not placed at a compet- To the Daily: It's unfortunate that staff writer Mike Sullivan didn't spend more time research- ing his article about bookstores in Ann Arbor (NSE 9/6/90). He did new students and Michigan Daily readers a disservice by not learning more about the bookstores in Ann Arbor and their specialties. The kudos for Border's, Shaman Drum, and David's Books are well-deserved. However, Mr. Sullivan didn't mention in his article The Hundred Acre Wood, a wonderfully stocked children's bookshop in Nickels Arcade. Neither did he mention The West Side Bookshop on W. Liberty, one of the better antiquarian bookshops in the country. Nor did he mention two shops which have opened recently on State Street: Kaleido- scope Used and Rare Books and Books in General. Given the flip tenor of Mr. Sul- livan's article these bookdealers might have preferred to have been left out of the article. His comments about bookstores in- cluded in the article lead one to believe that perhaps he's never been in them. Afterwords on Main Street is a unique bookshop with an outstanding selection of remaindered and out of print books. State Street Bookshop has the largest collection of antiquarian maps and prints in the Midwest ass well as an excellent collec- tion of books and documents relating to Michigan history. Ann Arbor has an active Antiquarian Book Dealers Association which sponsors a book fair each spring, as well as an An- tiquarian Book Society and an Antiquarian Map Society. Information about the Anti- quarian Societies and the Book Fair can be obtained at any of the shone in town. To the Daily:. As of September, 1990, Student Legal Services (SLS) has suffered recent staff losses that cannot adequately be filled, due to severe budget problems. Presently, among our staff of six, we have only two attorneys and one paralegal to provide di- rect legal assistance, including advice, brief service, negotiation and court repre- sentation. We are doing our best to cope with the situation and provide the students maximum service - but by necessity we; are curtailing intake and refusing cases we previously would have accepted. . Our control over our own budget is limited. We are funded by the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA), which receives a small ($6.77) stipend from each stu- dent's tuition bill. From that sum, MSA " decides how much to allocate to various student groups, including SLS. In July, MSA proposed a very modest 37¢ per student increase, which would have helped them (and SLS) to keep pace. with inflation and maintain service to the students. Unfortunately, the Regents re. jected this request. That decision, along with other factors, significantly affected the SLS budget, and 0 correspondingly reduces our level of ser- vice to the students. We sincerely regret this and are doing everything in our power to change it, or at least minimize the im- pact. One option includes charging stu- dents an additional, substantial fee when our 'services are used, which we strongly hope to avoid. If you have any thoughts or concerns about this situation, please contact Stu- dent Legal Services, the Michigan Student Bookdealer responds Scaled down SLS )W&WAS, AN .E A ,°