Complaint Over Quote
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An otherwise decent article about the Sunset Junction Fair (Glendale Section, July 26) reports a homophobic quote from a 12-year-old girl: “It was better in Echo Park because there wasn’t that many gays and lesbians.” This is used to illustrate her argument that “some fair-goers complained about the diversity of the crowd.”
Why is this in here in the first place? Is a 12-year-old an expert on crowd sizes? Is this representative of a general feeling at this year’s event? If so, then why isn’t there a discussion in the article about the emergence of prejudice and homophobia at the festival? By calling this a complaint, it minimizes what is now being seen as a form of hate crime against gays and lesbians.
Furthermore, since this is the only quote used, can we assume that the “some” referred to in the article all complained about the too many gays and lesbians? Or is The Times too reluctant to include quotes against Latinos, African-Americans and Jews? Would she have used a quote from a 12-year-old if it were directed against one of these other groups?
Enough gay-bashing, thank you.
PETER M. NARDI
Los Angeles
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