01
Page 4-The Michigan Daily- Friday, January 8, 1993
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420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
764-0552
Editor in Chief
MATTHIEW D. RENNIE
Opinion Editors
YAEL Cf FRO
GEOFFREY EARLE
AMITAVA MAZUMDAR
--
Edited and Managed
by Students at the
University of Michigan
1 '
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.
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Boycott may not
M onday, Ann Arbor City Councilmember Rob-
ert Eckstein (D-5th Ward) submitted a pro-
posal to ban city business with any city or state that
has laws which restrictcivil rights of citizens based
on sexual orientation. This is Ann Arbor's version
of the boycott fever sweeping the nation in re-
sponse to Colorado's passage of Amendment 2,
which invalidated laws in Denver, Boulder and
Aspen prohibiting discrimination against homo-
sexuals. To boycott Colorado, however well-
intentioned, may not be the most effective way to
show outrage against Amendment 2; outraged citi-
zens can make much stronger statements to show
(
lo the job
when the amendment was passed, but later realized
that might be what Colorado for Family Values
wanted. Instead, he decided to stay and fight.
Likewise, keeping those who support gay rights
out of the state may also be one of the conservative
organization's subtle objectives.
Rather than jump on the boycott bandwagon,
people should consider consciously traveling to
the state to support movements there to overturn
the new law. Both Democrats and Republicans
have introduced bills inColorado's state House
and Senate to do just that. A class action suit --
whose plaintiffs include the ACLU, Colorado Le-
v
. .....
: :LE IT E R S ""'' ti.::: ":: : , : :: ::: ":::"".1"Y" .
support for homosexual-
rights.
rg.Colorado voters passed ~"
this controversial mend-
ment in November's elec-
tion. The amendment's au--
thor, Colorado for Family
Values, claims it does not
limit the civil rights of ho-
mosexuals, but only en-
sures that homosexuals
don't have any special or
protective status.
One by one, cities,
newspapers, organizations
and celebrities have prop- -
erly displayed their anger with the new amend-
ment by deciding to boycott the state of Colorado.
Councilmember Kurt Zimmer (D-4th Ward) even
went so far as to say "This is a parallel situation
with South Africa."
There is widespread belief within Colorado that
the boycott may be self-defeating. Results of a
recent Denver Post poll reveal that the boycott has
had little effect on public opinion regarding the
amendment. Of those surveyed, 43 percent said
that the boycott in fact makes them less likely to
support a repeal of the amendment. One leader of
the Aspen gay community said in a conference last
week that he considered moving out of the state
bU.
1 lall°- 1I
gal Initiatives Project, and
Aspen resident Martina
Navratolova - has been
filed in Denver District
Court to prove that the mea-
sure violates the state and
federal constitutions. Some
towns, including
Carbondale are passing lo-
cal ordinances in blatant op-
position to Amendment 2.
Another alternative is to
work to increase homo-
sexual rights locally. Some
communities involved in the
boycott, such as Atlanta, are
.I
C)
located in states with very restrictive sodomy laws
which make homosexual sex a crime. Michigan,
too, has similar laws.
The trial of 17 gays in Adrian, Mich. revealed
that these archaic laws are still enforced. Currently,
a Grand Rapids businessman is working to put a
proposal similar to Amendment 2 on the Novem-
ber ballot.
While working to reverse the anti-homosexual
laws in Colorado, Ann Arbor should try to reverse
its own state's sodomy laws, extend its own pro-
gressive gay rights legislation state-wide, and make
sure no one will talk about boycotting Michigan
next winter.
Facts in column on
Catholicism, Virgin
incorrect, inaccurate
To the Daily:
On Dec. 1 the Daily printed an
article by Katherine Metres that
concerned the Catholic Church,
Virgin Mary, and Mary, and role
models for Catholic women. Ms.
Metres' concerns are well taken,
but in that article she has stated a
number of things about the
Church and Mary that are simply
incorrect. In fact, nearly every-
thing she said about the Catholic
Church and Mary was incorrect.
After basing her arguments on
false information, she then has
the nerve to suggest that Roman
Catholics should switch to the
beliefs of the "Melkite Chris-
tians." I must tell you that
Catholics consider the Catholic
faith to be the one true faith and
her suggestion to follow in the
footsteps of those "Christians" is
ludicrous.
I would go into detail about
what was wrong, but it would go
way over the word limit you ask
of letters sent to you. I think my
point is clear, however. Most of,
if not all, of the things that were
presented as facts in that article
were simply incorrect. I will ask
Katherine Metres to please
inform herself before she decides
to trash someone's religion. As
for the Daily, 1 am amazed that
you allowed an article so inaccu-
rate as this to be printed. So,now
that you've trashed Catholics,
what's next, anti-Semitism?
Christopher Bunto
Aerospace Engineering
sophomore
To the Daily:
This is in response to Jon
McDonnell's letter "Some people
should lighten up" (11/30/92)
attacking Carol Genyea Kaplan's
op-ed piece "Brutalization of
inflatable doll is symbolic," (11/
23/92).
Several important features of
McDonnell's frame of reference
can be gleaned from his letter.
The most obvious, and the most
troubling, is that he equates
women's bodies with toys such as
blow-up Godzillas or beach balls.
It shouldn't take a rocket scientist
to figure out that real women
(unlike the fictitious Godzilla or
an inanimate beach ball) are
entirely capable of watching a
crowd of people toss around an
image of a naked woman and
feeling disturbed and threatened
by it, as I and other women as the
game in fact were. An even more
key difference - again, so
obvious as to make its mention
seemingly unnecessary - is that
rape of women, and not of
Godzilla or other toys,is a very
real and pervasive societal
problem.
It's true that the specific
image of Anita Hill did not spring
to mind when I saw the naked,
life-size figure of a woman being
batted around the football stands.
But other images, like gang-rape,
as well as more general thoughts
of degradation and objectification
of women's bodies, were indeed
foremost in my mind. It's a
shame anybody would be given
Inflatable woman doll at game
invoked images of gang rape
cause to experience such unpleas-
ant thoughts at a sporting event,
which is supposed to be a fun
occasion; in a university setting,
it's all the more shameful.
I'm not going to, as
McDonnell challenges, necessar-
ily call him a "woman hater"
based on his opinion that people
offended by the circulation of the
inflatable figure should "lighten
up." I'm simply going to call him
ignorant with respect to the effects
of such activities on all women
and on women's efforts to gain
social equality.
McDonnell and similar
advocates of "lightening up" do
almost as much, through their
ignorance, to hurt women's causes
as do those he would call "woman
haters." They perpetuate the idea
that nothing is wrong with treating
the likeness of a naked woman as
a toy, that women's bodies are
meant to be used for sport and
entertainment.
Those who think Genyea
Kaplan is overreacting would do
well toconsider what reactions an
Africanf American or Native
American doll, either male or
female, would have elicited. It's
likely that people would have
been outraged, and rightfully so.
Unfortunately, even many who
attempt to become educated with
regard to the harms of racism are
still socialized to take blatant
sexism in stride -as something
to be laughed at, rather that
fought.
Kathi Wyman
Second-year Law student
0
0
Keating: an indictment of the 80s
If someone were to choose three personalities to
symbolize the events and character of the 1980s,
the list would probably include Ronald Reagan,
Donald Trump, and Charles Keating. The first has
become known more for his regular naps than his
public policy successes. The second filed Chapter
11 after building the gratuitously golden Taj Mahal
casino. And the last has finally been found guilty
by a federal court for racketeering and fraud.
Charles Keating, owner of the American Con-
tinental Corp. and the now infamous Lincoln Sav-
ings and Loan, has become the quintessential vil-
lain of the savings and loan crisis. Lincoln col-
lapsed after Keating used false real estate transac-
tions to sweeten profit reports. After the S&L filed
forbankruptcy in 1989,hundreds of S&Ls through-
out the country followed suit. Thousands of inves-
tors - including many elderly and retired people
- lost their life savings. The taxpayers will now
have to foot $2.6 billion for Lincoln alone.
The entire S&L bailout may cost over $500
billion. Naturally, Keating wasn't responsible for
the entire crisis. Thrift officials throughout the
country participated in similar questionable or
illegal behavior - at the very least, authorizing
risky and unwise loans. The S&L indiscretions
proved to be the greatest bank robbery in history,
with the likes of Keating pocketing investors'
money. Unfortunately, with the collapse much of
the lost capital has vaporized, making it difficult
for investigators to find the money.
It is unfortunate that the S&L scandals didn't
play a larger role in the 1992 election. The Reagan
administration's move to increase deposit insur-
ance from $10,000 to $100,000 was practically an
invitation for S&Ls and banks to engage in risky
behavior. The administration's failure to follow up
the insurance hike with proper oversight will now
cost the Treasury more than a half trillion dollars.
Curiously, the S&L fiasco played second fiddle to
the House bank scandal, which didn't cost the
taxpayers a cent.
Keating, who is already serving a 10-year sen-
tence in state prison, faces a maximum of 525 years
in prison. For the pain and the expense he and his
ilk have caused, the maximum sentence doesn't
seem unreasonable.
Imprisoning criminals, however, will not keep
such criminal behavior from reoccurring. Rather,
the American people must realize that by elevating
Keating, Michael Milken, Leona Helmsley and
Oliver North to celebrity status, we encouraged the
zealotry and the values of excess characterisitic of
the 1980s.
According to
To the Daily:
Before even attempting to
respond to the letter by Kara
Bucci and Amy Worden
"Abusing religion hurts gays"
(12/8/92), a caveat seems
necessary - abusing religion
does hurt gays. Intolerance and
unjust stereotypes of homosexu-
als by those who profess
religion are immoral, and
specifically, this kind of
behavior is anything but Christ-
like. On the cross, Jesus laid
down His life for sinners, taking
the penalty of our sins. It was an
act of love for sinners, but it was
also an act of explicit acknowl-
edgment that there is indeed sin,
of standards of right and wrong.
It is the proper understanding of
these standards in which Bucci '
and Worden part company with
historic Christian beliefs.
"The Bible does not con-
demn homosexuality," "this is
not an interpretation," and
homosexuality is sin shows "a
very limited knowledge of the
Bible" - Bucci and Worden
offer these assertions as the
"truth." The main body of their
evidence, however, recognizable
as the non-compelling, rehashed
arguments of "gay theologians"
like Boswell and McNeill, fails
under the further scrutiny of
responsible biblical scholarship.
The letter has serious
omissions in its presentation. In
one short sentence, the writers
Bible, homosexuality is a sin
function for that which is unnatu- the word "arsenokoitai" (with
ral, and in the same way also the the terms "arsen," meaning
man abandoned the natural "men" and "koitai,"meaning
function of the woman for that "sexual intercourse") is without
which is unnatural, men with men dispute - not as a judgement
committing indecent acts and against "carnal pleasure and
receiving in their own person the temptation," but against homo-
due penalty of their error." Some sexual practice.
gay theologians argue that The wrnter of Leviticus
homosexual desire is not "unnatu- concludes - as Bucci and
ral," but natural of hereditary. In Worden cite - that homosexu-
the Greek, however, it is "para ality should be interpreted.
phusis," literally, "against nature," These statements can be
a universal term indicative of declared either as values for that
something contrary to the natural specific culture (the position
order of men "abandoning the taken by Bucci and Worden), or
natural function of the woman." as divine revelation of absolute
In I Corinthians 6:9, does it standards of right and wrong.
again "speak only against carnal One can disagree with
pleasures and temptations?" The Mierzeqewski's interpretation of
text says: "Do not be deceived: the Bible as an inspired, un-
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, changing truth, but not that the
nor adulterers, nor male prosti- biblical author's clear message
tutes, nor homosexuals ... shall was that homosexual practice is
inherit the~ kingdom of God." The sin.
Saying goodbye to a jazz great
There aren't but a few of us left." Those are the
words of famed vibraphonist Milt Jackson of
the Modem Jazz Quartet. Indeed, one of the last
remaining giants of jazz, Dizzy Gillespie, died in
his sleep Wednesday.
Gillespie, who pioneered the development of
bebop during the early 1940s, shaped virtually
everyjazz trumpet playerthat followed. Like Louis
Armstrong before him, Gillespie forged the play-
ing-style of his generation; everyone, from other
masters like Miles Davis to modem trumpeters
like Winton Marsalis emulated him. But his com-
plex use of rhythms, melodies and harmonies did
not always earn him instant admiration.
Parker purposely designed rigorous and complex
music to discourage less-talented side-men from
sitting in.
Many of Gillespie's songs, such as "Woody 'n
You,""Be Bop," and "ANightinTunisia," became
standards, and are still frequently performed today.
And Gillespie's collaborations with Parker- such
classics as "Groovin' High" and "Confirmation"
- are among the most exhilarating in the modem
jazz repertoire. The music they played and re-
corded with the likes of Thelonious Monk and
Kenny Clarke was both a physical and a mental
exercise, and raised the level of jazz musicianship.
Gillespie's style has been a topic paid nearly as
Greek for male prostitutes is
"malakoi," and for homosexuals,
"arsenokoitai." To most scholars
Ernesto Garcia
LSA Junior
Love the sinner, hate the sin...
To the Daily:
I found the letter "Abusing
religion hurts gays," deplorable.
Although the writers quote the
Bible throughout the letter, most
references are taken out of
context. For example, they used
as a reference I Corinthians 6:9-
11 claiming that St. Paul merely
How specific does the Bible
have to be? It clearly states
homosexuality is a sin.
Homosexuality is a very
controversial issue, especially in
the Church but there is one thing
that every Christian agrees on and
that is the Bible is the infallible
word of God. For centuries people
have take~rn thinc nut of icontext in
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