Subject: Silence = Death

Stranger Editor and Staff:

I'm cribbing from Keith Haring because maybe that will get through the provincial hipster haze that is The Stranger. I'm referring to the case of Bradley Manning and the roar of silence from the gay community, which should be supporting him as much as any other issue, gay or otherwise. Glenn Greenwald offers a demolition of gay cowardice in today's Guardian.

Gay marriage supporters who obediently kick PFC Manning to the curb remind of nothing so much as African-American soldiers in the Civil War, who only had to wait 130 years before gaining the right to vote. Gay obedience will not protect marriage rights; just as the mass of progressive legislation from the early 1970's was ultimately thwarted, so too is gay marriage always open to reversal without a vigorous defense of human rights on all fronts.

The Stranger became an embarrassment as the Manning trial began and the silence could no longer be explained away. I reiterate my support for the permanent end of sexual closets, and also to ripping the gay activist base out of its newly-minted political closet.

Have a voice for Bradley Manning, because later on we straights might decide that gay marriage really wasn't worth the headache and wasn't a few decades enough?

Yours in contempt,
Dave Patten
Seattle, WA

You can read recent Stranger coverage of Bradley Manning here and here, plus this post titled "How to Write a Letter of Support to Bradley Manning."