http://archive.guidemag.com/magcontent/invokemagcontent.cfm?ID=064C63A6-125A-11D4-A7AB00A0C9D84F02 "And not just today. Research conducted by John Fout, a historian at Bard College, suggests that the Nazis did not target homosexuals per se for the death camps. Middle and upper-class German homosexuals who kept quiet-- and who were not Jewish, Gypsy, or disabled-- fared about as well as other Germans. The Nazis targeted mainly two kinds of homosexuals: working-class men caught having public sex, and men of any class caught in relationships with minors. The latter would often be sent to concentration camps after completing their prison sentences. Based on its record, IGLRHC would only quibble with the Nazis' assessment of which homosexuals deserve to live in society." http://archive.guidemag.com/magcontent/invokemagcontent.cfm?ID=2541059C-A55F-45A8-AD86060D7E4B545B "In dictatorships and totalitarian regimes, writers and artists know they're in trouble if the reigning powers decide, after the fact, that a photograph, painting, essay, or story does not-- the phrase might be-- "serve the public good." And that's precisely the standard that bill C-12 proposes, in lieu of artistic merit, for the legality of any discussion or depiction-- real or imaginary-- of child and adolescent sexuality." [...] "Indeed, Oscar Wilde was lucky to face the charges he did-- sex with teenage boys-- at the end of the 19th century rather than the end of the 20th. For his "crimes," Wilde received two years in prison. In America today, Wilde would suffer up to life imprisonment without parole in many jurisdictions. If released, the late-20th century Wilde would be tracked for life on a sex-offender registry. After his sentence, he could be subject to lifetime confinement in a mental hospital. In some US states he would face mandatory lifetime parole. He would probably be labeled a "sexual predator," forced to report to the police every 90 days for life, with his home and work addresses broadcast on TV or distributed by police on posters. He could be subject to electric shock "therapy" and lie-detector tests to reveal the nature of his fantasies-- and sent back to prison if he "failed." He could be forced to wear electronic bracelets or computer chips in his body, be prohibited to travel beyond a 30-mile radius of his home, restricted in his associations, forced to take known carcinogens for chemical emasculation, or be physically castrated." |