Gay Activist Attacks Media, Urges Reform

The United States is among the most sexually myopic nations in the world, Bruce Voeller, director of the National Gay Task Force, told 150 people in Longfellow Hall last night.

Homosexuals are brainwashed into accepting the standards of a heterosexual society, Voeller said, adding that countless Americans have suffered incalculable physical and psychological injuries because of this process.

Calling for action, Voeller said educators must take a leading role in researching human sexuality and in teaching the American public that homosexuality and bisexuality are not sicknesses.

Harvard does not offer a single course in sexuality, Voeller added.

Hate Campaign

Voeller denounced the nationwide "hate campaign" of the media, which he said has virtually ignored all important advances of the gay movement and has failed to report the violence and injustice many gays suffer.

Voeller referred to a case in which two youths beat a gay person to death because of his homosexuality. A court sentenced the two to no alcoholic beverages for a year and a 10 p.m. curfew.

The killings, stabbings and beatings of gays and their supporters can be compared to Nazi Germany in the 1930s, Voeller added.

State Rep. Barney Frank '61, who also spoke last night, said the Massachusetts legislature has become "one of the most pro-gay legislatures in the U.S."

The gay rights law lost in the Massachusetts assembly this year by only about twelve votes in the House, Frank said, adding that if there could have been a secret ballot vote, the law would have passed.

Harvey G. Cox, a professor at the Divinity School, said last night that most churches tend to support gay rights.