COLLECTION OF GAY ESSAYS BY BILL LONG
--------------------------------------------------------------
Permission granted for anyone to distribute this writing, or
parts thereof, free of charge (including translation into any
language)...under condition no profit is made therefrom, and
that excerpted portions remain intact and complete, including
credit to the original author.
--------------------------------------------------------------
STORY OF BOB
copyright 1998 by Bill Long
This is a story of the success of those who want to keep
others (mainly the young) in total ignorance.
The person I am speaking of, lets call him Bob, was about 40
years old when I met him. He was a small pixie-like person
with a sweet personality, who was not disliked by anyone. He
also was not very bright, but hid the fact very well to those
who did not know him well.
Scientific American magazine of December 1997 had an article
about "William's Syndrome", which brought Bob to mind when I
read it. From what I read in the article, Bob had this
syndrome. He died a few years after I met him, of a
progressively worsening heart murmur that could not be
repaired at that time: early 1960s.
One evening a group of people had gathered at my apartment for
a glass of wine and conversation...Bob was among them. During
the conversation (remember this was the 60s and social rules
were beginning to loosen some what) someone speculated that a
well-known man was screwing a well known-woman, and others
joined the speculation both pro and con--not a very serious
conversation, just passing time.
Bob stopped the conversation dead with the statement: "People
really don't do things like that in real life".
We asked him what he meant by that. He said that he had never
seen anyone do that; he had read books and they never said
anything about anyone doing that. (Remember in a novel in
those days, whenever anyone was going to do that, you had a
series of "...... ........ .......", which to most people
meant that they were going to do that; but they would never,
never say that they had done that, or were going to do that ).
He said he had never read that they had ever done that, so it
was clear to him that people in real life never did that.
Someone asked him where babies come from. He said that when a
daddy rubs himself, a milk comes out of his thing...and when
that happens, he puts it into the mommie, and a baby
forms--and that was the only time that was done, to make
babies. Who knows? Maybe that is the way his parents did it.
They were taught by the same priest he was.
A year or so later, when a "porno" movie became legal in the
city, some one took Bob to see a film. His conclusion was
that they were play-acting, and no one did that in real life.
I guess he held that viewpoint till he died.
Bob was raised in a strict Irish Catholic home. He was the
perfect product of his upbringing. He was totally ignorant of
"real life". If, 50 years ago, an alien from another planet
landed, looked at our art, read our books, viewed our films,
and listened to what children were taught; he might well get
the idea that people in real life never did that in America.
(I added "in America", because if the aliens were to visit the
temples of south east Asia, they would see plainly on the
walls that they did a lot of "that".)
Those in the fundamentalist religions may well be more open
now than they were then, but, they were dragged screaming and
kicking all the way to where they are now. If they had their
way, we would all be right back there with Bob in "perfect"
ignorance.
I think of Bob whenever I see someone upset about what the
youth of today may be seeing or hearing. They are yearning
after that "perfect" ignorance that they, their parents and
their parents' parents tried to achieve in their children.
Lies and hypocrisy must have been the perfection which they
sought.
==============================================================
--------------------------------------------------------------
Permission granted for anyone to distribute this writing, or
parts thereof, free of charge (including translation into any
language)...under condition no profit is made therefrom, and
that excerpted portions remain intact and complete, including
credit to the original author.
--------------------------------------------------------------
MUSINGS ON "EUROPA EUROPA"
copyright 1998 by Bill Long
Some time ago I saw a film (in fact I have seen it several
times) that left a big impression on me. At first I could not
explain why I felt such empathy for the boy in the film.
The story is about a Jewish boy who was born in Germany before
Hitler's time. As he got into his teenage years, and the
Nazis started taking over, his family fled to Warsaw. Then of
course the Nazis invaded Poland. The family tried to get him
and his older brother east toward Russia, but he and his
brother got separated. He ended up that part of his journey
in a Communist orphanage and youth training school. When the
Nazis overran the area where he was, the German solders--
because he spoke German--assumed they had rescued a German
youth from the hands of the Communists.
The boy had great survival skills, as teenagers many times
have, so he went along with whatever kept him alive. Because
he spoke both German and Russian, the Germans found him useful
as interpreter, so adopted him as sort of a mascot with their unit.
One former actor, a gay soldier, did learn his secret of being
a circumcised Jew, but loved the boy, protected him and kept
his secret. During a battle with the Russians the actor/
soldier was killed, and when the boy tried to surrender to the
Russians, they instead surrendered to him. This made him a big
hero with the Germans, so the commanding general adopted him
and sent him to school in Germany, where the sons of the high
command were taught. (I won't tell you the ending of the
story, in case you have not seen the film, but he has many
adventures and misadventures before the end.)
So here is this circumcised Jewish teenager among the most
rabid of the Nazi Jew haters. He dare not ever let anyone see
him without his clothing. He must endure the teaching of how
less than human Jews are, and how they should be exterminated.
Every minute of every day he risks exposure and death even
among his best "friends".
I know why I empathized with the boy so strongly.
I was born in the mid 30's in the midwestern United States,
near St Louis. I had the misfortune to be born gay to a Born-
Again Fundamentalist Christian Family. They are to gay
persons what the Nazis were to the Jews. I knew I was
different from the age of 5 or 6. Ignorance was the basic
teaching of the family toward sex. All talk, masturbation, and
(god forbid) any activity with another person concerning sex,
was summed up by two words: evil and nasty.
I ran away from home several times, but was brought back and
threatened with "reform school" if I did it again. There was
not the great number of runaways and homeless to blend into in
those days, so I could see that route did not work very well.
I was sent to a "Dr." to find out why I was so unhappy. Like
the Jewish boy I had learned to survive, which meant lying very
well, telling those whom I felt dangerous to me, what they
wanted to hear.
I quit school when I was 16, and got a job as a solution to
getting away from home. But I could see that I was not going
very far with no education, and on a bank messenger's salary.
I joined the U.S. Navy...The old saying of jumping from the
frying pan into the fire...I did just that. (That is another
story for another time ).
So I was raised as a hated minority in a Nazi society. When
the Conservatives (Nazis) talk about "family values", I for one
know exactly what they are talking about. I know what so many
thousands of the youths of the world are going through.
I live in San Francisco now. I am old for my years. I helped
fight many battles for freedom from the Nazis in my time, and
it has taken its toll.
The last battle I had to fight was when I needed a heart
transplant. I was told that I did not have the "family
support structure" necessary to be considered for a
transplant. The day before they had told me that I would not
live much beyond 3 weeks without the transplant. I got in
touch with a friend with the ACLU. He announced that he was
going to start an investigation into this discrimination. The
doctors changed their tune and put me on the list; I still had
to wait 18 months. I guess I became an embarrassment to them.
because at this point I refused to die and give their "family
values" a victory. I can get very stubborn sometimes.
Things have changed a lot over the years, and for the better
to a great extent. When I see all the gay web pages, all the
information for gay youth (if they know where to look), the
Gay Pride parades and the politicians in them (I was in the
first one in Los Angeles and believe me when I say there were
NO politicians there), I think the battles have been
worth it. But we have a long way to go.
I hope, by writing what I have here, that maybe, some gay
youth will read it and consider it somewhat of a history of
where our people have been and where we are going. Like the
Jewish youth in Europa Europa, one has to be sharp and one
jump ahead of the Nazis to survive. The Nazis in the world
will always find someone to hate and right now you are in
their targets as gay youths. They are great at changing their
names, sometimes as conservatives, family values, Republicans,
skinheads, Christians, Muslims, Catholics, or a host of other
labels. But their main outlook in life is to have someone to
oppress, change and hate. Watch for them and fight them with
any means you have. Also see the movie Europa Europa: it will
teach you how to stay one jump ahead of the Nazis.
==============================================================
--------------------------------------------------------------
Permission granted for anyone to distribute this writing, or
parts thereof, free of charge (including translation into any
language)...under condition no profit is made therefrom, and
that excerpted portions remain intact and complete, including
credit to the original author.
--------------------------------------------------------------
TECHNO-POLITICS
copyright 1998 by Bill Long
You were talking about forming a political type organization.
Ok one way to go about it is to look at history...what
worked..what did not work.
Ghandi sat down and freed a nation.
The lunch counter sit-ins of the blacks worked.
Martin Luther's success came from a new technology...the
printing press...his use of the printing press almost brought
down the most powerful organization in Europe and it took a
hundreds of wars to stabilize Europe again.
The Crusades ended in failure..although They did have some
workability in the beginning...worked when united, failed when
became disorganized.
Hitler's organization worked till he turned to violence outside his
borders..then failed.
Success was based on new technology...radio
Martin Luther King march on Washington...great success...
success based on organizing...
Islam very successful...based on simple message and a complete
code of conduct...
Xianity... very successful..success based on having the only
educated persons in the society as priest. Also a very simple
message....
Communism...very successful when based on ideas accepted by a
majority of people...the working classes...failed when
perverted by power struggle.
Democracy in U.S. very successful so far...success based on the
end of inherited political power...may fail because inherited
wealth was not also abolished...Political foundation is being
bought by inherited wealth in families.
Gay rights..very successful..so far...based on new
technology...television.
Right wing politics in the U.S....power waning...in some cases
it appears to be gaining power..but it is just making a lot of
noise trying to retain what it still has.
Microsoft...very successful...new technology..computers and
WWW (worldwide web)...
(Push technology ....a group in Wash. D C summarizes what
they think is important happening in the political news...a
copy of this is on every congressman's desk, all major staff at
the White House and every newspaper editor's desk in the U.S.
several times a day.)
W3...WWW...A few years ago in France the government came up
with an Idea to help transit users. They put the timetables
of all transit systems in the country on a web + news for
commuters. As an afterthought they added capabilities for
e-mail and opened it to the public. A few weeks later the
government, which subsidized college students' transportation,
decided to raise the student fares when schools began. This
pissed the students off royally. Through the web the students
organized a protest. When school opened almost every student
in the county was not in class, but demonstrating in the
streets...The government was caught completely off guard,
quickly backed down, and will never be the same again....
Political organization = laws....does it want to get new laws
or get rid of the ones that are there?
Physical and political definition of power. A relative
unmovable base. To generate electricity one anchors a device
in which there is a magnetic source and mechanically move metal
in the device through the field. Without the base holding
the device, relatively little power will be generated.
Political power must also have this relative unmovable base.
To rob a person or group of their political power one must
remove or sway their base (adherents)...or appear to anyway.
Example... In Iran in the 1960's a democratic leader was
elected for the first time in their history with a huge
majority. He had a great base of power. The leader started
talking about nationalizing the oil production. The western
governments got upset..The C I A (well funded) hired a bunch
of people to demonstrate against him "in a mass protest".
They did so well that the people who did support him thought
he had lost his power base, did nothing, and the Shah's forces
arrested him and resumed power. They then arrested the
leader's backers and made it deadly to support the leader.
Now the Shah had an unshakable base..the army and police.
The U.S. S R tried that many times in the U.S. but it never
worked very well...they just could not shake the power base of
the elected government. (It is amazing to me how quickly some
governments fall when a bunch of demonstrator take to the
streets...Their power bases must be very shaky to start with.)
Gay rights are in the position that it need not pass many laws
to gain their goals; but to get the ones that exist off the
books. This is much more difficult. Laws seem to have a life
of their own once passed. In California we have (and other
states do also) the "initiative" system.
A major agenda would be to use the technology of the WWW. With
encryption of signatures possible, make the initiative
possible by e-mail....so gays can sign a petition by e-mail to
put something on the ballot. One must have a new agenda...or
at least a newly worded one. Something simple that the allies
and adherents can easily latch on to.
One I would suggest is to attack the monogamist laws. I am
sure they are unconstitutional in the U.S....they have never
really been challenged in court. Approached from the
viewpoint that any 2 or more people may be, for legal reasons,
considered a family. In the past the argument against
polygamy was that a man could not have the use and power over
a group of women. Women are becoming more empowered and
independent so they do not need that protection any more.
Women can not be "owned" anymore like in the past. Change
that around to the effect that a group of women do not need
more than one husband for the group if they do not wish it. It
would be interesting to find the wording to that so it would
appeal to most women.
Next I would push to have the laws of Holland regarding
youths, enacted in the U.S.. The youths have proven very
powerful in getting their own way when it comes to money...I
bet they could be equally aroused when it comes to this issue
on the net...What a great bunch of allies to have...Using the
platform of natural family laws and choice for everyone, one
has the gays, women, youth and most men allied...what a
powerful coalition.
==============================================================
SEX IS NORMAL
copyright 1998 by Bill Long
Most normal people have sex. Most normal people masturbate.
Most normal men have same-sex urges. Most normal women have
same-sex urges. Most teenagers have sex. Most normal teenage
males have same-sex urges. Most normal teenage females have
same-sex urges. Most children have sexual urges and experiment
with sex before their teenage years (and enjoy it if they're
not told it is nasty, dirty, evil, and they will burn in hell
forever). Studies are showing that where the age of consent is
12 years old versus 16 to 18 years old, the teenage pregnancy
rate is only 1/6 as much, and sexual activity starts on the
average 2 years later. Why do the above statements seem
perverted to so many people? The answer to that is that they
live in a perverted society.
As we as people become more aware of who we are and how our
physical universe works, we become more aware of the perverted
thinking people were brainwashed into believing from
childhood. Gone are the days when the Great White father in
Rome could tell one king "I give you one half of the world"
and tells another king "I give you the other half". (This did
not work because already the Age of Reason was coming about
and The Great White Roman Father's power was begining to
wane.)
Gone are the days when the Great Prophet of the Arabian Desert
could say "It is God's will that one man can own another man
in slavery" and have millions of people listen to him. (Women
are another story: a man still owns his wife under the laws of
the great Prophet.) Gone are the days when the Great God
Emperor of The East could tell the young men of an empire "Go
forth and kill yourselves in a flaming death and we shall call
you Glorious Kamikaze", and have thousands do his bidding.
Gone are the days (I hope) when two Great White Leaders in the
north have a clash of egos and cause 40+ million of their
followers to be killed. Gone are the days when the black robed
Fathers can set up torture chambers for those who may not
accept their particular brand of perverted beliefs.
Going are the days when the great perverters of the truth can
tell people that normal activities are wrong, and have people
believe them without question. Going are the days when parents
can continue to lie to children and convince them that things
that are normal in their lives are abnormal, without the
children questioning what they can see is not true. Going are
the days when parents and governments can tell teenagers they
are "owned" by their parents, have no rights and are the same
as the slaves of old...and accept this without question. Going
are the days when people believe that only a monogamist family
unit is the one that is "right" for everyone, and accept this
as true. Going are the days when people believe that a
heterocentric society is "right" for everyone, and not
question this abnormal restriction on their lives.
Why do these perversions of the truth still exist? My opinion
is that it shows the basic goodness of people from birth.
Children do not lie when they are very young. It is an
acquired trait. Being truthful themselves they do not expect
their parents, teachers, governments, emperors, and religious
leaders to lie to them. The children just cannot conceive of
this happening. They do figure out, at quite a young age, that
the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and "hair on your palms or
blindness if you masturbate" are lies. But the big lies are
such a betrayal to the young that many refuse to believe it,
and pass it on to their children as truth, no matter how
miserable these lies made them feel. (As one person told me
"misery is just part of growing up, its normal". He just
finished his second divorce. What a very sad commentary on how
we treat our young.)
Much of the world today is getting its laws separated,
gradually, from religious beliefs. Much of the world also has
freedom of religion. This means that if a person wants to go
on believeing what their parents taught them, that is up to
them, but, the idea that they have the right to force others,
through the law, to accept their beliefs, is becoming a thing
of the past. And if the humans of the world want the species
to survive, this had better become the past pretty damned
pronto.
With freedom of religion much of the world is getting
religious beliefs out of the schools and out of the national
laws. There are some areas of the world that are still way
behind in this regard. There are areas in eastern Europe and
northern Africa where they are killing each other by the
thousands trying to force others to accept " their" abnormal
way of life. There are those in the United States and
elsewhere, who, if they could get away with it, would put on
their black robes and fire up the torture chambers to force
everyone to follow their particular brand of perverted
beliefs.
The bottom line is, we must get religious beliefs out of the
laws and schools. Heterosexual-ism is a religious belief;
monogamy-ism is a religious belief; "no age of consent for
those above the age of 12" is a religious belief;
antihomosexual-ism is a religious belief; not teaching about
sexuality and masturbation is based on religious belief; no
sex without marriage is based on religious belief; laws
against multiple partners in a family is based on religious
belief; racism is based on religious belief; ownership of
children is based on religious belief; ownership of wives is
based on religious beliefs; laws on dress codes and hair
styles are based on religious beliefs; laws against depicting
sex acts in the arts are based on religious beliefs;
antinude-ism is based on religious belief; mutilation of
babies (circumcision) to lessen their enjoyment of sex,
without their consent, is based on religious belief; the list
goes on and on.
It has been said that awareness is half the battle (well, at
least part of the battle) and we are becoming more and more
aware of the perversions and lies that we have been
brainwashed to believe since we were children. With the advent
of the World Wide Web it will be very difficult to keep this
awareness from spreading all over the world, to every culture.
As more and more people become aware they will not, in turn,
brainwash their children in the same way. It has also been
said that perverted ideas and truths really don't die, the
people who hold them do. Watch for the backlash of many from
this generation and the next when their children become aware
of what has been happening. The number one target is now, and
will be, the Internet. Rockets to shoot down the satellites,
cutting all communication lines into an area: these actions
are not too far fetched, for those who refuse to believe they
had such a monstrous betrayal in their lives, by those they
trusted.
Support, at all cost, freedom of religion. Let people believe
what they want. Never back a rat into a corner, he gets very
violent. Support freedom of speech at all cost, let their
children learn the truth. Get all laws canceled that are based
on religious beliefs, let normal life be.
==============================================================
A SHORT REVIEW OF THE BOOK:
"PASSION OF THE CUT SLEEVE"
(THE MALE HOMOSEXUAL TRADITION IN CHINA)
BY BRET HIMSCH
copyright 1998 by Bill Long
A word about the use of "male" in the subtitle. Written
history goes back to about 1500 years before the Christian
era. Chinese historians considered only rulers and high
government officials worth writing about. Rarely was a female
mentioned in Chinese history.
The name of the book comes from an incident during the Han
Dynasty ( 206 B.C. to 220 C.E.). The emperor was taking a nap
with his "favorite". The emperor wished to arise, but his
lover was asleep and lying on his sleeve...so the emperor,
rather than disturb his lover, cut off the sleeve. Thus began
the fashion and the euphemism for same-sex male love.
The Chinese had no word for homosexuality as such; and it was
such a complete part of their life, the historians used many
other phrases to describe same sex male love. The only
admonition against same sex love, by some historians, was the
tendency for emperors to appoint their favorites to high
government positions. They may have been very nice to look
at, and great lovers; but they usually did not make very good
government officials. One dynasty ended when the emperor died
leaving no direct heirs, and named his lover as the new
emperor. (The general of the army set him aside and took the
throne himself).
The way to fame and fortune for those who were not noble born,
but who was handsome, was through the theater and becoming the
"favorite" of one of the nobles, or even the emperor himself.
Love affairs among the men of the noble born was very common;
but the nobles had to have households and raise children, as
well as having male lovers. Very little is known about how the
common people lived because historians did not write about
them. The historians did add a chapter to each dynasty listing
the male lovers of each emperor. The author compares this to
the first 13 emperors of Rome, all of which, except one, had
male lovers. The book follows the traditions of homosexuality
through time, and the last few centuries are, in my opinion,
very sad.
As the Mongols and Manchus came into China, having been
exposed to the ideas of Islam, they began passing laws against
male to male love. The laws seemed to be ineffective, were at
least not pursued, until the Christian Europeans
arrived. The Europeans used the Chinese man-to-man love to
prove the backwardness and heathenness of the Chinese people,
in their opinion. The last century has seen the invasion and
devastation of the Chinese and Japanese, collapse of the
imperial system of government and the takeover of the
European idea of communism. These calamities have cut the
people of China from their traditions of man to man love. The
communists have changed the system of writing to be much
simpler for universal education. What this has done is to
make the classical writings unreadable to most of the educated
people of China. The government now claims that man-to-man
love is a perversion of the western world. Taiwan newspapers
are fostering the idea that homosexuals there form gangs and
are very violent. Whenever there is gang related violence
they are considered homosexuals, male and female. The book, in
my opinion, is very well written and a very enjoyable read.
There are several other cultures mentioned in passing, and it
has a very good bibliography.
==============================================================
REDEFINING FAMILY VALUES
copyright 1998 by Bill Long
Gay rights have been fighting the wrong battles in the wrong
war. We have been going to their field and fighting the war
on their terms. We have been fighting "Homophobia" whatever
that means, but, that is only a side effect of the real
situation. The real situation is "heterosexual-ism" or
"monogamy-ism" (I like the second one better, If I could
only figure out how to spell it and pronounce it)...that is:
"worship of heterosexuality" and "worship of monogamy",
respectively.
Translation...we must redefine the family unit.
It should be that any 2 or more people and their offspring, if
any, should be considered a family unit if they wish it to be
so. The "marriage contract" should reflect the members of the
family's wishes. The best contract should be the equal
sharing of assets and responsibilities (in some
circumstances this may have to vary). Contracts should be
written with the idea that someone may want to leave the
marriage and the partners may want others to join the marriage.
This should be their right as free individuals, as long as
their contract obligations have been met. But all contracts must
provide that all offspring born/adopted into the family unit
is the responsibility of all members of that unit.
Large family units have always been an asset. This asset
should be preserved and strengthened and an end be put to
monogamy by law. Unless the 2 people definitely wish it;
That would be their freedom of choice. Monogamy does not work.
It only seemed to work when women (wives) were the same as
chattel slaves and owned by their husbands and masters. 80
percent of the adults in the U.S. in a marriage are unhappy
with the situation. Countless youths and children suffer
broken homes, and are raised in a poor environment as a
result. Look at the shocking statistics of runaways and youth
crime to see the true story as it really is.
The anti-polygamy laws should be fought and taken through the
supreme court as many times as necessary, to continue the
fight against the government's idea to regulate people's
personal lives. This would bring about what most everybody
says they are for: family values and children raised in a
secure, caring environment.
This should also be taken internationally as part of the basic
human rights package:
"Freedom to form one's family units as one desires".
Also we should fight for the emancipation of youths. The laws
of consent based on the the Holland format should be enacted
and also become a part of the international basic human rights
package.
"Freedom to be responsible for one's own body after puberty."
Further, when the family unit has been redefined: if any youth
can go before a court judge and show that they're truly
unhappy in his (or her) family unit--and can show that there
is another family willing take him in--and the courts'
findings are that the new family unit can and will provide a
stable and loving environment--that youth should be allowed to
legally change family units.
"Freedom to live among a family who one feels will give a
loving, stable and happy life in ones youth".
P.S. The Holland document should be posted here. I had a copy
but lost it in a disk crash along with where the address can
be found in english. If anyone has a copy, will they please
post it or post the address where it can be found. Thanks
==============================================================
HETROSEXUALISM IS UN-NATURAL
copyright 1998 by Bill Long
A short time ago I read an article by "Truth Speaker" to the
effect that hetrosexualism is un-natural. Truth Speaker is the
pen name of someone who lives in a country where using his
real name could jeapordize his life. Yes, there still are
places like that, particularly if one is going to speak or
seek something like "The Truth".
One of the "holy" books says "know the truth, and, the truth
shall shall set you free". That is a strange statement
compared to the fact that the last thing any major religion
wants is for you to be free. Religious founders and purveyors
must really hate women. I don't mean just simple hate, but the
deep-down loathing type hate. In most societies with strong
religions, women are little better than slaves...and then on
top of that they add monogamous marriages. This means that
the men have only one person to use for their sexual drives.
This leads to pregnancy after pregnancy. Of course to many
men this means that the women wear out from child-bearing and
over work, die young, and he can get a younger one. The
population of the religion sky rockets, the churches get
fatter, the men can get several young wives during their
lifetimes: everyone is happy with the arrangement. Except the
sick and dead women, but they don't have much to say about it.
Of course the religions then have to teach the men that
homosexual relationships are wrong, otherwise the men would
not go along with this un-natural situation either.
Homosexuality among women is not much frowned upon because it
does not really affect the situation - if - the religions can
maintain control as they wish, i.e.; get the women into a
monogamous marriage. I read about an extended family in New
York composed entirely of women. Some of them were Lesbians,
some were not; some of them were professional, others were the
nannies. They had good incomes, good child care...and who the
fathers of their children were, was not even discussed. Seems
like they are "catching" up to where the natives of New Guinea
were a thousand years ago. Now: if the males (homosexual or
otherwise) can get their heads out of the sand and quit trying
to ape the mostly unworkable monogamous relationships of
heterosexual religions, their life would be much better.
Truth Speaker points out that where homosexuality is not
suppressed, or where the teachings are ignored, the population
stabilizes and the people generally lead better lives. He
gives just one example, but I know of many more.
To get this information one must have a sharp eye, a keen ear,
and do a lot of reading between the lines; because the
information will be very scarce and in small bits. Anyone
reporting the data knows that it must be in small bits or they
will not survive as reporters very long.
In the highlands of New Guinea the men of a village all live
in one big house and the women live in another. When one of
the women want to have a visit from her "husband" she will
invite him. (Interestingly, if you look at films made
recently, most of the children are part white and the men
don't seem to mind. They figure it is the women who decide
what kind of child to have ). This population has been stable
for thousands of years, and is a very prosperous, advanced
farming community.
In the coastal tribes of Borneo, men live in one house, women
in another. A PBS documentary recently dropped in a statement
that the men formed a close homosexual relationship with one
of his childhood friends, and this relationship was carried
through for the rest of their lives. (One would have had to
have sharp ears to catch that one...wonder how it got through
the powers-that-be ?)
I have been reading some books on the Mamluks, who were freed
slaves, trained as warriors, and who ruled Egypt and Syria for
several centuries. Historian and author of many books about
that area and time, David Ayalon, comes up with one of the
most preposterous theories. He points out that many of the
most prominent men from that era had no children, so therefor
they MUST have been EUNUCHS. That explains it all.
He cannot conceive that the slaves--who were bought in the
northern steppes and taken away from their families at
puberty, raised in barracks with men only, trained for war,
and considered their barracks mates and their owners as closer
than family, sworn to lay down their lives for them without
question (and did so for centuries)--were homosexual.
He also overlooks the data that when one of the Mamluks cane
to power as Sultan, he THEN had children. (Having a harem had
been handed down as a must for Sultan) As the job of Sultan
had its dangers, life expectancy was very short (assassination
and war were occupational hazards). When the wives and
courtiers tried to put the sons on the throne (who were almost
always very young), they were removed and killed or sent away,
usually by one of their former Sultan's barracks mates or one
of his own Mamluks (who then himself assumed the throne).
The professor goes on to say that this was UNNATURAL not to
have dynastic rule. I say it was unusual until you look at the
fact that the ruler's true FAMILY did continue to rule. David
Ayalon, being a good Jewish scholar, cannot conceive that
these great warriors, leaders and rulers could be homosexual.
The unthinkable thought.
In the early days of the West Indies there was a mixture of
nationalities who were called the planters. At the time I
speak, the British flag flew over them. The good churchies in
England heard that it was an almost womanless society.
Horrified at learning this, he put together a shipload of
English women to send to the planters as wives. When the ship
arrived, the planters would not let the women disembark; they
sent the whole ship load back. ( That is the way rumor has it
anyway :-} )
Did you ever notice when something is written about the "Ho Ho
Ho and a bottle" group, very rarely is a woman mentioned. A
few were, but I don't think they were the settling-down-with-
one-man-type, and I never heard of children being mentioned.
The Masai tribe in Africa. You know: the tall skinny ones that
wear the orange toga type outfits. The boys cannot get
married till their mothers are passed child bearing age. Then
he is expected to take several wives, settle down and become a
wise elder of the tribe. (I saw an interview with one of the
senior wives in a household. When ask how she felt about
sharing the household with other wives, she answered that she
would not have married a man who could not support several
others to share the work and duties of the household.)
The boys join the rest of the young herdsmen and start their
training as warriors before puberty. The young herdsmen live a
nomadic life with the cattle. They only see the rest of the
tribe a few times a year and have their own society. Now, are
you naive enough to believe that they remain celibate for
those 20 to 25 years? Of all the documentary I have seen about
them--and there have been many--no one has ever asked the
young men: "What is your sex life like?". If any of the
filmers know, it has not reached the tv screen. (I did see one
film where the crew visited the boy's camp. It was very
apparent that they were not welcome there. Only 2 boys
allowed themselves to be filmed, and their answers to any
question were very curt. This is much different from the open
and friendly welcome at the adult village. I feel sure that
the boys know of the European and American stupid prejudices
in the area of sex, and did not want to be exposed to it.)
A travelogue about Norway some time ago visited a German
merchants quarters. In the last century the merchants that
handled the sea trade were from Germany. They brought their
own workers from Germany, mostly teenagers. It was very close
to a type of slavery for the boys. The barracks where the boys
slept were like bunk beds, except they were boxed in on all
sides and had a door on them that was locked at night to keep
the kids from escaping. They were locked in TWO per bunk (to
help them keep warm, they said; but they were locked in in the
summer time also, ho ho ho!
The California 49ers (too bad the gold strike did not happen
20 years later). In the pictures of the time how many women
do you see in them? All of those thousands of poor celibate
men...
I feel sure that the list of societies I have listed here is
just a very small sample of those where the natural life of
homosexuality and multiple hetero marriages occur. There is a
site link that list many of the important individuals who
are/were homosexual. With my short listing here, maybe we can
get the academic community to list societies where mankind
were/are free to live as is natural.
If you know of a professional historian or sociologist who is
homosexual or not stupidly biased, ask them to put some of
their findings on this site.
==============================================================
WOMEN'S RIGHTS = GAY RIGHTS
copyright 1998 by Bill Long
Where to begin? We have behind us, in history, several
thousand years of examples to draw upon. I guess I will do
like --------- did in his books and start very, very early in
history.
I was reading an article in the Cambridge online library some
time ago about a multidiscipline group forming to study what
had happened about 3500 B.C., that seemed to mark a very decisive
turning point in human history. One of the ideas being looked
at is perhaps there was a close encounter between a comet and
the earth. The comet breaking up would have rained
devastation upon the earth and it's inhabitants. It seems
that it was at this time that religion started changing from a
mother earth and female deity viewpoint, a matriarchal
society, to a monothiestic and patriarchal society. It will
be interesting to see what they come up with when the research
is done.
But, nonetheless, beards have been very important in most of
recorded human history. One of the earliest instances was a
queen of Egypt who gained power and her statues show her with
a beard straped to her chin. But the kings still married
their sisters, a reflection of the earlier matriarchal society.
As the centuries progressed women lost ground as human
beings. By the time of the Romans women had little or no
political power. They had became chattels, that were owned,
bought and sold in most societies.
Islamic jurist stated that "women were by nature deficient in
reason and religion" and "they must be both protected and
cordoned off and men set over them"
In China, if they were destined to bear the patriarchs heirs,
they were crippled by binding their feet from birth so the
only way they could move from one place to another was to be
carried.
In India, when the patriarch died and was cremated the wifes
were cremated with him.
Where am I going with this, and what does it have to do with
gay liberation?
In the patriarchal society, to be women ( female, feminine) was a
despicable thing. Any man showing traits defined as feminine
was despicable. Any man having sexual relations with another
man was a despicable thing, because at least one of them would
have to play the despicable woman's role. I Roman times, as
long as class lines was held, homosexuality was not considered
a bad thing. A patrician could screw a male commoner, servant
or slave. A commoner could screw a male servant or slave. A
soldier could screw a captive.
So, all the study I have done seems to come to the point that
homosexuality its self was not the phobia, but, a man acting
in any way the role of a women was the phobia. In the earliest
writings of Europe one of the main themes has been a man
acting in a way considered feminine (i.e.; showing compassion,
weeping, showing weakness, showing affection for another man )
lost his power and ability to lead.
In the last hundred years there have been women who have begin
to assert that they are 1st class humans as good as any man.
Some have suffered terribly for it, physically and mentally.
Even in the artist center of Bohemia of Paris in the 1920s it
was stated that "women were not capable of artistic talent"
but, " if a woman did exhibit artistic ability she was
masculine". So by the turn of this century, if a woman showed
that she was intelligent, artistic, or had ability, she was
being masculine.
Two world wars changed things drasticly. The patriarch
society, which was destroying its self with war could not
survive as a civil society with out the help of women. By the
end of World War II many women had moved into the position of "people"
and many refused to go back to being subhuman. They have
gradually redefined what a women is. They have changed the
perception that the definition of being a woman is not
necessarily nonintelligent, weak, weepy, and overwrought
emotionally. That for a woman to be intelligent, effective,
strong or politically savvy is not necessarily being "masculine".
What has this to do with gay rights? Since World War II it
has become more and more acceptable to be a woman. With this,
it has become more and more acceptable to do the actions of
being a woman. Along with this acceptability there is less
phobia in the patriarchy of a man having relations with
another man. I see a direct correlation between women's
liberation and gay liberation. As women continue to get their
human rights, the human rights for gays will continue to
improve.
One of the strongest actions to continue gay liberation is to
assure that women's liberation continues through the world.
The patriarchs scream that society is collapsing. They have
always used the metaphor of a society collapsing, as one that
became more "effeminate". In this case they are right: "their"
society is on the wane. But the new society where women are
equal in humanity, with others also having their human rights,
will be a much better society for all.
==============================================================
SOME WORDS ON YOUTH RIGHTS
copyright 1998 by Bill Long
The simple fact is that youth rights are not going to happen
till the youth make it happen. Most states in the U.S. have a
method of bringing issues before the voters for their
decision, and to make new laws.
What is going to have to happen is for youth to get savvy
enough, organized enough, and determined enough to put the
propositions on the ballot. First the organization must be
formed to get the signatures on the ballot. Next must be the
determination to do this for many elections, year after year.
Youth will not be able to get the actual support of those
concerned for signatures and voting, because they can neither
vote nor sign. Keep in mind that every time you get a youth
involved in getting the signatures, you have a future voter on
your side. Every time you ask a voter to sign your petition
you have brought the situation to their notice. Every time
you get any press coverage you will get potential voters on
your side. Old ideas don't die (i.e., youth discrimination),
but the voters who hold them do.
Youth organizations will have to be built state by state. The
Internet is one of the greatest boons ever known for this type
of political activity. It is pure politics. This is one of
the best ways I have ever seen to teach youth political
concepts. The will be fighting for your own self interest is
one of the best selling points for a political movement ever.
Money is always a problem with any new political movement. From
the demographics I have seen, this should be no problem with
the youth movement. Each youth donates the price of a CD or
two, and you would be well on your way. Get a few rock stars to
hold a few concerts with the proceeds going to your movement,
and WoW.
If youth do not have the smarts, willingness to learn politics,
and willingness to devote the time to this, maybe they do not
deserve their rights.
Another factor to look at is existing politicians. Youth
campaign workers are important in any campaign. Demand a
plank in every platform supporting and demanding youth rights.
Support only those candidates who do have and support such
planks.
Use the Internet, it is a powerful tool. Do lots of peaceful
but noisy rallies. Then get lots of media attention. Target
your most vocal distractors. You will generally find that they
are basicly against everyone else's freedoms but their own. You
can get a lot of allies pointing out the common cause with
others whose freedoms they are against.
Study and use the information and data coming out of the
Europeans' lead in youth rights. There is some fantastic data
coming out of Europe's granting of freedom and responsibility
to youth, and how youth are handling that responsibility. It
is proving that most youth are great at handling
responsibility, and that their lives and those around them are
much richer for it. There will always be a few clowns and
goof-ups, but they are going to be that whether they are 13 or
63. Maturity is within oneself, not in one's body age.
Maturity comes when one begins to think with one's own mind,
not with someone else's.
Good luck to you all. I hope I have helped in some small way
with these words.
==============================================================
WHY SOME PEOPLE ARE HOMOSEXUAL
copyright 2000 by Bill Long
When researching a subject, the answer is not forthcoming,
and it is just not making sense, one must examine what is
considered basic principals to see if in themselves they are
not true.
One such subject is why some people are homosexual.
The gene theory does not seem to fit, neither nurture nor
nature seems to fit either. Anyone who knows anything about
the subject knows that 'choice' does not answer the question.
There is some evidence that given enough pressure and
brainwashing a homosexual may possibly change their
orientation, for a while. Therefore basic assumptions must be
questioned.
The basic assumption is that most people are heterosexual and
some are homosexual. This is the datum considered basic that
must be reexamined.
One of the problems with researching this subject is that
there have been great pains, taken by the paternal based
religions of the western world for the last 2K years, to erase
and obscure the history about this subject.
We now live in a new age, spearheaded, now, by the Internet.
The breakup of the previous age began when printing became a
reality and eventuality education became universal. As
information becomes more universally available the truth of
what has come before and what is happening now is becoming
clear. Looking at what is becoming known about societies
before they were contaminated by western religious thought is
that the heterosexuality of our society is completely
artificial.
Societies have always been structured in a way that women and
men lived separately. Men had sexual relations with men and
women had sexual relations with women, except when a woman
wanted a child and then she would choose a man to father the
child.
The reason why some people are homosexual today is that they
were able to overcome the brainwashing that is omnipresent in
our society, and live life as is the nature of mankind. It
has always been acknowledged that "homosexual" persons are, on
the whole, more intelligent and creative than those who are
not. It is now apparent that they are also more resistive to
society pressure to live in ways not natural to humankind.
The truth WILL set you free. That is why the truth scares
Hell out of most religions (pardon pun). Of course that is how
many religions control their adherents. Take that which is
natural and make it a sin. Take that which is unnatural and
make it the will of God. As a religious leader one can't
loose: everyone will be a sinner, and you are the path to the
sinner's salvation, or godly and miserable. As an adherent
one can't win, one will be a sinner and miserable, or godly
and miserable, or go completely insane.
==============================================================
---finis