Letters to the Editor	Letters Archive

Loved Amsterdam

I've just returned from a holiday in Amsterdam and what a holiday it was! I reread a past issue which featured Amsterdam, and it was great help.

The people in Amsterdam were real great. I can highly several businesses that advertise with you; thanks for a great magazine!

M.W.
Linn, Missouri

Prison Sex Article On Target

Your article about prison sex ["Facts and Fallacies of Prison Sex," September 1998] was "right-on". I worked in the state prison in southern Michigan- called Jackson prison-- for many years. I worked in all the cell blocks mentioned in the article.

View our poll archive

I am very familiar with sexual activity in prisons, because prisoners felt safe to share it with me. Sex is rampant in prisons and it is not rape nor due to lack of women. In fact rape is rare. And sex is not just about gay men. There are plenty of "straight" men having sex for enjoyment, too. The notion of "gay/straight" is too limiting, sex is enjoyable. Prison officials and guards can't deal with sex in prisons, to no surprise.

I know a lot about sex in prisons. If you want more info let me know.

R.K.
Michigan
via the Internet

Pleased Down Under

Following the Sydney gay Mardi Gras (March '98), I took up your representative's offer to place an ad in your magazine. With Australia being so far away, I really didn't expect much in the way of replies.

Surprise, surprise! A number of delightful Americans have exchanged letters since, which I really appreciate. I've also enjoyed your magazine and its information on the gay scene in the USA and Europe. On a day-to-day basis it's not overly relevant to us "down under," but I'll certainly subscribe before traveling extensively in 1999.

Tony Shaw
Noosa, Queensland
Australia

Law and Order

Regarding the editorial "Supreme Court, Stalin Style" in the August '97 issue [available at www.guidemag. com], I bid you welcome to the real world.

Because I did not grow up in the US, I was spared the propaganda and brainwashing you were subjected to. "With liberty and justice for all" made me laugh the first time I heard it and I have not stopped laughing since.

If you are simplistic enough to believe in constitutional guarantees, the impartiality and justice of your court system, and goodness knows what else, that is strictly your problem. Blessed are those who expect nothing (but the worst) for they shall not be disappointed.

You see the Hendricks case [wherein a Kansas man is kept in prison even after his full sentence is served] in a distorted manner. There is more to his rap sheet than "taking liberties with two 13-year-old boys." I personally don't care a sour apple if the perpetrators are gay or what. I want them off the streets. Anybody who cannot understand a simple law which demands that an adult keep his hands off a minor should suffer the consequences.

I consider your ranting and raving entirely misdirected. Talk to those whose misbehavior is the cause of all the fingerprinting, drug testing, investigations, and new laws we are constantly being subjected to.

Concerning the article on page 136 [issue unspecified], I do not think it has anything to do with being gay; it is sheer sickness and perversion. What your magazine needs is a bit of class, not the pathology of Mr. McDonald's cesspool.

F. Derek
Phoenix, Arizona

The real test of all civil liberties is whether they are enjoyed by everyone; "protections" that yield to the mob's vitriol are but totalitarianism's cosmetics. It is not naiveté that leads people to struggle for civil liberties, but rather the recognition that how we treat the most despised among us is the truest measure of our civilization.

Laws regarding adults and minors and sex are anything but simple; activities that are perfectly legal in one state can bring a life sentence in another. Yesterday's fondly-remembered Mrs. Robinson is today's vilified child rapist. What once was cute sex play is now described as "child perpetrators" ensnaring "victims." Current sexual hysteria has created new laws and attitudes wherein the experience of the parties involved is ignored, and "consent" deemed evidence of "psychic abuse."

Glad to know you're regularly wading through cesspools in your search for a "bit of class," though.

Praise from Germany

I am a German traveler and I was happy with the July 1998 copy of The Guide with your great and very well-tested information from Matt Mathrani about Germany.

But in the Munich section I noticed a couple of businesses not mentioned that should have been. What's up?

T.N.
Munich, Germany

Though our articles aren't meant to be exhaustive, we try to mention all the places a traveler would like to know about-- and to point them to other sources of info, as well. A sure-fire way to have more places mentioned is to encourage them to advertise!

Loves Dawn

I have enjoyed every 1998 issue of The Guide. Dirty Dishes's item "Monica Swallows!" [October 1998] was both unbelievable and very funny. Keep it up; we need people like you all over the world!

K.P.
The Florida Prison system

Thanks; hope you also caught our news item "Monica Rims!" in the November issue.

"Publication Denial Notification"

The above listed publication [The Guide] has been reviewed and denied in accordance with Section 3.9 of the TDCJ-ID Rules and Regulations for the reason checked below....

(d) A specific factual determination has been made that the publication is detrimental to prisoner's rehabilitation because it would encourage deviate criminal sexual behavior.

Remarks: Pages 97, 135 and 136 contain graphic depiction of men engaging in homosexual activity.

If there is a desire to appeal the rejection of the aforementioned publication, this may be accomplished by writing to the Director's Review Committee, PO Box 99, Huntsville, Texas 77342-0099. The appeal must be mailed so as to arrive at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Institutional Division within 2 weeks of the date shown below.

Mail System Coordinators Panel
Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Encouraging deviate criminal sexual behavior is an inherent goal of any truly gay publication-- we're glad screws in Texas get the point but regret their ability to force their views on others.

Cuba by Storm!

Your "Male Box" is taking Cuban Gays by storm down here. Did you know that? This is one of the reasons I couldn't afford to miss the chance of running a personal ad in your magazine to correspond with friendly people around the globe.

Alfredo A.H.
Havana, Cuba

Lonely in Ukraine

Please help me if it is possible for you. I'm gay. I live in Ukraine and I'm very alone here in my small town. I cannot say that I like men or boys because I'll have many problems everywhere in my life. I'm sure that my parents, my friends, my neighbours, my colleagues will not understand me. Ukraine is part of the old Soviet Union and we have old Soviet problems still everywhere in our life. I must keep my feelings to myself every day, but I want to meet my real friend who'll understand all my feelings and be my best friend, my partner, my lover, and more.

Please publish my ad in your magazine. Unfortunately I cannot pay for your service but I can do any work for you, for your magazine or your clerk. Please allow me to know.

My name is Valentin. I graduated university as a teacher but now I work for a local newspaper here in Poltava. Please help me. You are my last hope for start of my new life.

Valentin
Poltava, Ukraine

We'll put your ad on the waiting list, Comrade Valentin. Volunteer work from thousands of miles away isn't really feasible. Instead, we ask that you pledge to be a gay freedom fighter, defending the rights of drag queens, boy lovers, leather freaks, and your fellow butt fuckers across the globe. Deal?

Sad News

It isn't easy to live alone now, with the sadness of the empty space left by someone who shared his life with me during 17 years! Living both together in the same house. Moments happy and unhappy shared during all this time. Unhappily he died three years ago, accidentally.

Maybe with your help my ad will make it possible to rebuild my life with someone who wants to share his life with someone like me, and be happy.

Orlando Q.T.
Havana, Cuba

Making the Rounds in Havana

Here in Havana the gay situation is the same as ever, but the Cuban gays feel they are more free and make efforts to be more free daily. Now the gay discos are closed, but we have some private gay discos open all weekend and others during the week. In these places we are totally free to dance, and to stay close to our boyfriend and our gay friends too.

We have no gay literature and magazines here but your Guide that you send me and other Cuban friends. We read in a group the most interesting articles and give it after to other friends, so they too will have the possibility of reading our Guide. Thanks to you, we can know the other gay places all over the world.

Ernesto A.F.
Havana, Cuba

Danke!

I can't thank you enough for the new issue of The Guide-- it's great of you!

J.K.
Mannheim, Germany

Hope you get a good response to your MaleBox ad!