Letters from our readers.
Dec. 26 1997 3:30 AM

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Queer Numbers

A few points to additionally bolster Walter Olson's excellent "William Bennett, Gays, and the Truth":

As the "Fact Sheet on Paul Cameron," put out by the University of California at Davis, points out, U.S. District Judge Buchmeyer concluded in a 1985 decision that Cameron had perjured himself to Buchmeyer's court. Thus, Cameron hardly seems to be a source on which Bennett, "Mr. Virtue" himself, should be relying.

Olson criticizes Cameron's findings that gays experience "shockingly high rates of violent death." There may actually be a grain of truth to this conclusion, but it is not the kind that does Cameron or Bennett any good. Over the last several years, incidents of gay-bashing have gone up across the country. There is no doubt that this is due, at least in part, to the increasingly poisonous rhetoric of homophobic hatemongers such as Cameron and Bennett.

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--Roger SimonAustin, Texas

William Bennett, Vogue Readers, and the Truth

Thanks for "William Bennett, Gays, and the Truth," a clear and timely example of how conservatives like William Bennett will manipulate the most far-fetched data on gays and lesbians to serve their bigoted interests. Sadly, even mainstream media routinely parrot gay-newspaper studies as representative of all gay Americans. Yet no reputable news organization or political pundit would dare get away with using, say, Vogue-reader surveys to make a point about all American women's attitudes. It's refreshing to see Slate doing simple math as other media snooze and bigots take advantage of them.

--Grant Lukenbill

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