
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994                    TAG: 9406290008 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A10    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Medium 
DATELINE: 940629                                 LENGTH:

NEWSPAPER `PROMOTING A MYTH'

{LEAD} Being a new resident in the Hampton Roads area, I was very disappointed to notice that The Meeting Place (the paper's personals section) does not accommodate the ad categories ``Men Seeking Men'' and ``Women Seeking Women.'' The caveat, ``This is a family publication,'' which heads and seems to motivate the restrictions listed for personal ads, is as familiar as it is ambiguous and suspicious.

A couple of issues are worth pursuing here: Is it the newspaper's place to facilitate the introduction of lonely singles? If so (and why not?), then is it the newspaper's place to endorse only the introduction of women to men and men to women, thereby implying that only straight relationships are legitimate and fit for public consumption?

{REST} It would be specious to argue that a newspaper has the right to sell advertising space of any kind to whomever it chooses. Like any theoretical enterprise, a newspaper sells ads for profit, not for politics, and there are plenty of gay men and women who are willing to spend $2 a minute to find Mr./Ms. Right. The newspaper is not acting in its better financial interest by denying gays access to personal ads; instead, the editors are purposefully promoting the myth that gay relationships are neither ``suitable'' nor family oriented.

Most of my straight friends and even a few of my gay friends have accused me of amplifying a non-issue. However, most have reconsidered their position when I've reminded them that what we gay men and women anticipate (sometimes with patience, sometimes with apathy) is the day when same-sex relationships are not ipso facto headline news.

The place for gay relationships, like all healthy human relationships, is closer to the personals page than the front page.

JOSEPH P. BUFFINGTON

Chesapeake, June 8, 1994 by CNB