Bar and away
Regarding "Bar none: Gay clubs reject bachelorette parties" ( WCT, 4/29/09 ) , I have several issues with the news analysis by Yasmin Nair. Right from the beginning, what is this "stir" she refers to as a result of the Tribune article she quotes? I' am out and about often and have not heard any "stirring" in the gay community regarding this policy of a couple of bars. Granted I don't move among the lesbian community but the gays are not "stirred."
Nair's assertion that this decision by a couple of bars calls into question "the relationship of gay bars to their neighborhood" is totally incomprehensible. If Nair was ever out on Halsted Street when these bachelorette parties are on the prowl, she would be aware that probably 99% are from outside the neighborhood with a great many of them coming in from the suburbs. If she had ever observed some of these groups she would also realize that they come into the gay community not out of respect but out of curiosity and amusement. I guess it's cheaper to go to gay bars then pay the admission to a Chippendale performance.
Nair's choice of quoting University of Illinois at Chicago Assistant Professor Brier for the article is also interesting. She uses a feminist source to talk about the gay bar lifestyle—what no gay academics available during her "research" for the article? Straight, feminists issues should not be put at the doorstep of the gay community. And what is the link between past racial discrimination and the issue being written about? Brier's total lack of comprehension of the angst felt by some in gay community over being denied the right to marry shows what a poor choice Brier was in being used by Nair for this article.
I personally have had two bad experiences being present when a "bachelorette party" was at the same venue.The first was at the Baton. Those in the bachelorette party ruined the experience of watching the show for the audience around them with their boorish and obnoxious behavior. They were more interested in being the center of attention then watching the performance. I am sure if a single person acted as they did, that person would have been requested to leave, but since it was a group of eight or ten they were allowed to remain without restraint. The second bad experience was at the former Bailiwick Theatre. I was attending a performance of a play about the telephonic relationship between two gay men, one with AIDS. There was nudity in the play. Throughout the play the women in the bachelorette party made insensitive remarks and laughed inappropriately. I felt badly for the actors, who must have heard the inappropriate remarks and laughter. After the performance I registered my outrage at the inappropriate behavior. The response was that it was necessary to sell tickets in order to stay in business and they would continue to sell tickets to bachelorette parties. That was the last time I attended a performance at the venue.
Yes, probably because of my personal experience with bachelorette parties, I am more sympathetic with the policy of Cocktail and Sidetrack and more questioning of Nair's journalism but Nair's article, in my opinion, belongs more in a feminist newspaper than a gay newspaper. Maybe Nair needs to figure out who her audience is. As a gay man, I am tired of being expected to accommodate everyone and to appreciate being in the presence of straights who find us amusing.
Name withheld by request
Abstinent-minded
Dear Editor:
During these tight fiscal times of the recession, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed in his budget a funding increase of $1 million in new funding for abstinence-only sex-education programs. Aside from being fiscally irresponsible in these lean times, all evidence shows that these programs are a failure. Illinois currently faces an $11.5 billion deficit and wasting $1 million on abstinence programs is foolish and lacks careful thought.
Every academic study has concluded that preaching abstinence does not produce it. In April 2007, the Bush administration's own study, mandated by Congress, affirmed this conclusion. On the other hand, numerous studies show that contraceptive access cuts teen pregnancy rates and condom education dramatically reduces HIV transmission. Abstinence-mongers speak eloquently to the folly of basing public-health decisions on religious injunctions and fantasies of social control. Even Sarah Palin's family cannot be the poster family for abstinence, as the new teen mother Bristol Palin was quoted as saying that abstinence is "not realistic at all." It's time for Quinn and others to stop this dangerous crusade in Illinois.
If anything, Quinn needs to allocate this funding to comprehensive, age-appropriate, medically accurate sex-education programs, which have been shown effective in persuading young people to delay initial sexual activity and use protections once they become sexually active.
Sincerely,
Scott G. Burgh
Chicago
