Johnny Neihu's Mailbag

Gay rights resurrected

Dear Johnny,

I sent this letter to you a while ago because of a few extraordinarily hateful letters regarding homosexuality published by the Taipei Times over the past few years.

I think you did not receive it, as it was not published, nor did I receive a reply. I hope you publish it or at least send me a response, as I never cease to be amazed by your newspaper's tolerance of anti-gay hate speech.

The Taipei Times never publishes letters from crazed racists, but homophobia seems to be quite acceptable. This must stop.

In most countries, and especially in South Africa, discrimination results in litigation, no exceptions. But here it is considered quite normal and acceptable.

Everyone is constantly talking about "normalizing" Taiwan, but so much abnormal behavior is nevertheless encouraged. I am all for freedom of speech, but there comes a point at which that freedom becomes a facade for bigotry, which is the nemesis of freedom. Anyway, enjoy the attached letter.

Sebastian Melmoth

Johnny replies: My apologies, Sebastian. I was rummaging through the vault recently and came across your e-mail, so here it is. Unfortunately, there is no space to run your formal letter this week. Readers who wish to see Johnny wax lyrical on the subject of gay rights should rush to snap up next week's edition.

In the meantime, may I say to my gay readers that the Taipei Times has no anti-gay agenda that I am aware of, even if some of its readers do.