Scarlet & Black, September its, 1977

 

Vic/2i Fontcmini

“Reactionary fever” harms gays and women

1977 may be viewed as the yeal
of the “backlash” against women
and gays, The reactionary fever
which has been rising in the United
States for a good five years seems
to have iinally reached its peak,
and the result is that gays must
contest the silly claims of the ultra
straight orange juice queen Anita
Bryant, while women, poor women
especially, must again struggle for
the right of govemmentafinanced
abortion. Need we be reminded
only one year after the Bicenr
tennial celebration of the so-called
American “Revolution" that
minorities, very large groups of
minorities, still enjoy little beneiit
from our professed democratic
system?

Last January, the Dade County
Commission in Miami passed an
amendment to the county’s fair
housing and equal employment law
which banned discrimination
based upon “affectional or sexual
preierence," Thirty-six other
municipalities had already
enacted such legislation, and in

Will Collins

 

late April, Iowa City became the
fortieth municipality to ban
discrimination against gays,

lN RESPONSE to the passage of
the Miami legislation, singer Anita
Bryant, who earns $200,000 ans
nually from the Florida Orange
Commission to promote the state’s
orange products, organized a
group called “Save Our Children,"
gathered the necessary signatures
to forcea public referendum on the
Dade County legislation, and thus
began a four~month eiiort to repeal
the legislation, Bryant’s campaign
was a highly sensational one,
which concentrated on inciting the
emotions of the uneducated and
sexually conventional, After the
repeal of the legislation by
referendum on June 7, the Miami
Herald commented that the “Save
Our Children" campaign had
“created a witch-burning hysteria
more appropriate to the 17th
century than the 20th.“

Bryant’s primary fear, which
she apparently shared with the
majority of Miami voters on June

 

7, was that homosexuals,
especially male homosexual
teachers, not only would be imr
proper “role models,” but that
they would be apt to molest their
students in an effort to “recruit'Y
them into homosexuality. Odd
reasoning. One Should think that
molatation would frighten one
away irom homosexuality. As for
homosexual teachers providing
improper ”role models,” one
might marvel over Bryant’s
suggestion that late adolescenB
lack the degree of personal and
social development to cause them
to ”model" their grade school and
even high school teachers. Even if
a student should discover such an
inspirational teacher who she or he
wishes to “be like," and rarer yet,
should that teacher he openly gay,
one should praise the student for
overcoming the barriers of her or
his heterosexist (sic) social cons
ditioning.

BRYANT espoused several other
of her personal theories on sex and
“raising” children which left some

 

people nodding in dismay at the
realization oi the widespread
ignorance andror narrow religious
selfrl-lghteousness of the great
majority in this modern,
technological society. The success
of Anita Bryant and her “Save Our
Children” campaign demonstrates
the iirm hold that unquestioned
reactionary belieis and moral
values have on most Americans
today. it also demonstrates the
ease with which a wealthy and
sensationalistic leader can use
reactionary beiieis and values in a
manner which defies both logic and
a willingness to explore and
respect all human possibilities, in
order to destroy useiul social
policy. ,

in response to Bryant's role as
leader of a successful, reactionary
organization, and in lieu of the fact
that the Florida Orange Com-
mission recently rehired Bryant on
a two-year contract to promote
orange products irom Florida,
gay, socialist and feminist
movements have organized a

 

boycott oi all orange products from
Florida. In particular, products
with the Tropicana label are being
boycotted, since they are the
largest, single private contributor
to the Bryant organization.

GRINNELL students. too, can
and should participate in the
nationwide boycott of Florida
orange products, If you buy orange
juice, Check the containers for
their place of origin. If containers
don’t list a place of origi assume
that they are from Flor aisome
companies no longer say “Made in
Florida," in order to prevent loss
in business. Other companies are
using smaller print for their
"Made in Florida” label,
Remember, don't encourage
homophobia—boycott Florida
orange producm today!

ln a later issue, i will discuss the
Supreme Court decision against
government financing of abortions
and the subsequent Hyde Amends
ment in the House.

A tale from out of the. woodwork—literally

(Note: As this column was so»
licited by a note saying ,“from the
desk of Tom Arenberg,” the editor
of the S & B, it is the desk of Col.
Collins which has replied. Col.
Collins refuses to deal with desks.)

Hi there! I’m a desk. I belong to
a fellow who has spent more time
at Grinnell than any oi you plan or
hope to spend, He can remember
Glenn Leggett and Bob Jacobs, the
first skip day, and the first time a
student admitted to being a
Republican, My owner and I know
each other well, as he has spent
many oi his productive hours with
me, and all oi . his _ un-
productive ones. He's less abusive
to me than others have been. He's
never carved on me, but he does
leave cigarette scars on me,
claiming they give me character,
He also likes to pour that shine on
the moon likker over me and set
fire to it to amuse his friends, but I
don’t mind. He has kept me up late
many timesgbut it can’t be said
that he‘s overworked me. He even
trusts me to do his work for him,
leaving me all his books and
papers while he goes off to strange
and exotic places like New Orleans
or Searsboro. i really haven't been
much help in this respect,
however.

I’VE BEEN through a lot With
him. I can remember him as a
freshman, even though I didn’t
really see a lot of him, I think he
mistook me for a laundry hamper.
Towards the end of his first
semester we got better acquainted.
He did the laundry. That year was
great fun, the way he would come
reeling in night after night, He
wouldn't turn the light on for fear

 

of waking his more temperate
roommate and he would invariably
Crash into me. The clothes kept
him from serious injury, I knew
that it couldn't go on that way,
though. and I tried to coax him into
spending more time with me, butl
succeeded only in making him reel
guilty. Then he would spend hours
staring at me, or playing matador
to one of the cockroaches that l
sheltered. But just spending time
With me was enough to make him
feel better about his work, regard»
less of how little he may actually
have done, Sometimes he resented
me ior nagging him, but he always
got over it.

He says that he doesn’t deal with
desks, but that's not true. He talks
to me all the time Sometimes he
tries out ideas {or papers on me. i
prove to be at least as helpful as his
profs. I always try to be supportive
of his writing He would confide in
me when he found no sympathy
elsewhere. I didn't argue with him
when he told me that he thought We
should ban dogs and not lettuce,

Pilot Ground School

Tues. Nights

Starts Sept. 22
7 p.m.-lo p.m.

Any questions contact Mr.
Toney at

Gn'nnell §enior
High School

 

.r:li
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52] West St.
356-7585

Foreign Car Specialist,
Walt Richardson

spend more rather than less on
booze, and do away with tenure
and all its supporters. He swore me
to secrecy, but i will tell you that
he thinks that the administration
Isn’t so bad and that the faculty are
the running dogs.

1 cor to know his personal
quirks as well. When he hit me on
the bookshelf it always meant that
he had a paper due in two hours. if
he took out my drawer and threw it
backwards over his head, it meant
that he was out of cigarettes. If he
put his head down on me and
whimpered Softly it meant that he
wouldn't go to bed for two days.

Best of all was when he would
write a paper These were always
late night affairs. He would begin
by clearing everything off me save
his ashtray, cigarettes, coffee cup,
paper and pen. Then he would sit
down wiﬂl the flourish of a pianist.

take up his pen and write his iirst
sentence. By this time he needed a

rest and would rummage about in
my drawer until he found some
geergaw with which he could
amuse himseli for hali an hour or
so. Then he would finish the first
paragraph and repeat the process.
When he exhausted all that was in
my drawer he would read the
dictionary or begin to foxmulate a

Eyes Examined
Phone 236-7502

JENSEN
OPTOMETRISTS
Earl J. Jensen, 0.D.
Clark J. Jensen, 0.D.

Across from Post Office
Closed Thursday p.m.
and Sat. p.m.

We can help you w Hi

all your traveling needs.

GRINNELL TRAVE CENTER

JD'S RESTAURANT '
COCKTAIL LOUNGE
Eievatedal 922‘; Main

.LUNCH: Mon. ihru Fr
INNER' Mon, thru Thurs

go

93? {omens

ggﬁﬂﬂ@

plea for an extension. Then he
might whimper or bite my
bookshelf.

Stop in and
Say hello!!

We carry a complete line of
Rexall and other drug store
items.

Tharp
Pharmacy

925 Broad
Phone 23643747

Pick up a
Green Plum
to brighten
your room

Bates Florist

dope

EiﬁoﬁﬂﬂﬁﬂthBﬂ &
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333436179

HOURS TO PLEASE You.
Sun. 10 p.m.—Mon. 9 p.m.

 

