This is a letter to the editor of the Arizona Daily Star.� I was very happy they published it!� 
It is copyrighted by them, on the date July 30, 2000.

U.S. is not free

        I couldn't help but laugh at a letter writer's response to gay civil rights
������� ("Bill of Rights" - July 16). The writer asked why we gays have to "ram
������� (our) way of life down (their) throats." 

������� I'll tell you why, from a closetless female's point of view. Everywhere we
������� look, straight couples kiss and walk hand in hand; ads tell girls how to
������� "get your man"; magazines tell women "what he wants"; TV shows
������� portray opposite-sex couples and sexual tension; and we hear the "rules"
������� on what girls can and can't do. 

������� From day one, a woman is brought up to be the perfect wife and mother.
������� Girls must be frilly, and women must look out for "Mr. Right." Friends
������� and relatives constantly ask if you have a boyfriend. 

������� We are conditioned to believe there is only one way to be. As we grow
������� older, we feel we're freaks because we do not want men. But we see no
������� one in a same-sex couple sharing their love as openly as straights. 

������� We are called evil, deviant, errors, and there are no laws to protect us
������� against discrimination in housing, employment, adoption, and many other
������� areas in which straights have few problems. 

������� Many of us try to commit suicide, myself included. Many of us succeed.
������� If we got the message that these crimes against us, including
������� discrimination, were wrong, there would be less misery. 

������� I refuse to be an "other" in the humanity game. I am seen as sub-human
������� and I am tired of it. If you want to know why we shove it down your
������� throat, walk in our shoes for a lifetime. If this were really the "land of the
������� free," there would be no issue. 

������� Kirsten Jorgenson