Letter to the editor re: use of the term "sucks"

Letter to the editor re: the use of "sucks" as a derogatory term and the inherit homophobic underpinnings of the term.

Quicksilver Times, June 9-19, 1970, p. 7.

Bruce Pennington Papers, 1947-2003

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English

Washington (D.C.)

© Quicksilver Times

newspaper

o i s t e r s and Brothers:
In the l a s t issue or"
Quicksilver, you ran an
a r t i c l e on Suharto of In
donesia. The headline
was "Suharto Sucks" and
that use of the word suck
was b l a t a n t l y oppressive
t o gay brothers.
That Suharto i s a fasc
i s t p i g - f r i e n d of Amerikan
imperialism i s right
on, but when you equate
h i s fascism with sucking
cocks, you put yourselves
i n the camp of the pig
oppressors. Sucking
cocks is neither ugly
nor unnatural, but rather
a sexual expression used
by many people.
The oppression that results from
language of that sort is one of
s e l f - h a t r e d . If something i s badand
a "liberated" newspaper equates
that with sucking, then sucking
must be bad. If a person continues
t o suck cocks that everybody t e l ls
him i s bad, he begins to develop
these g u i l t things i n his head. All
these g u i l t things keep building
i n t o neuroses which i n turn feeds
the s o c i e t y nutrients needed to
keep a l i v e the idea that homosexua
l i t y is a s i c k n e s s . The "sickness
myth" i s a t o o l of the oppressor
c l a s s which I t s e l f i s sick.
Inadvertent s l u r s against gay
people such as "Suharto Sucks"
within the " l i b e r a t i o n movement"
point out the n e c e s s i t y in Washington
for gay r a d i c a l s , militants
and r e v o l u t i o n a r i e s to get our -
s h i t together. We must 'Seize the
Time."
All gay movement people i n t e r e
s t e d i n forming a Gay Liberation
Front here contact me at 234-2000.
All Power t o the People
Gay Power t o Gay People
Mike.Yarr
Editor's note; Hike Yarr's c r i t i cisms
of QT's headline and his ensuing
analysis are so obviously
correct, a l l we can do i s apologize
and say i n the future we w i ll
t r y t o delete idiomatic language
. which in fact i s nothing more than
unconscious predjudice.