Friday, August 31, 2007

Who comes up with this stuff?

The Pervert Elimination Campaign? Really?

I'm just reading an article in WaPo about the history of sting operations designed to entrap gay men. It's freakish.

In 1919 the Navy hired "decoys" to frequent the lobby of the YMCA in Newport, R.I. Orchestrated by officers at the local Naval Training Station, the cleanup campaign sought to eliminate gay men from the ranks. Following an introduction, decoys would accompany their suspects to a hotel room and then have sex. At least three dozen sailors and civilians were arrested, and many ended up in jail.

According to conventions of the day, if men confined themselves to masculine behaviors and sex roles, they could engage in sex with other men without inviting accusations of being gay. Because perversion was seen primarily as a function of effeminate mannerisms and passive sexual tastes, government decoys could have sex with gay men with impunity as long as they assumed the active position during those encounters. Or so the Navy assumed.

Wow. It's an interesting article but the beginning is slow. Once you get past the current scandal stuff it's worth reading.

In other news I had a flat yesterday that ended up costing me 225 bucks and five hours that I don't have. The old wheel was rusted stuck and it took three people stopping to help before we could get back on the road and go to the tire store.

Thanks to Joe, who works in tiles, who went home and came back with an armload of equipment that finished the job. And his poor wife and baby who waited in the truck in the heat while he got us going again. Truly a blessing for Cam and I.

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