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daily nebraskan
s.: ( , li,u,sr Q( 130
edibnol opinion
staff opinion Victimless crimes' last day envisioned
Gambling revenue
could benefit state
Wagering money at the race track is legal in
Nebraska.
Wagering money at the card table is illegal in
Nebraska.
Why?
Explain to me the harm resulting from playing
poker-from any gambling form -that does not
exist in betting on the horses.
I contend that any negative consequences are
negligible compared to the positive ramifications
of gambling. 1
Nebraska should seriously consider legalization
of gambling. Our state is geographically ideal and
sufficiently populated to support such legislation.
An experimental program should be established
whereby the state would control gambling opera
tions, receiving a percentage of the profit. Those
not wishing to participate could abstain.
The state's race tracks offer the only major
outlets for legal gambling in Nebraska. The large
number of participants should be indicative of
something.
Gambling flourishes illegally with side crap
games, blackjack and poker. One report estimated
15 million Americans bet illegally on sporting
events each weekend.
Apparently many citizens indulge in games of
chance, so why not let the state treasury capitalize
financially?
Nebraska certainly isn't too proud to demand
our earnings via taxes. Why should they object to
- a . ...
aaamonai monies as a result ot gambling?
And of course, we need the money. Our univer
sity, for example, is victim of insufficient funds.
Buildings approach condemnation, relatively low
salary proposals hamper attraction of quality
staff, faculty and administration, and tuition
continues to rise.
All levels of government-city, county and
state-would benefit from gambling revenues.
Consequently, Nebraska citizens would benefit
from legalization of gambling.
Those who consider gambling immoral or fear
an ill-reputed community would have the right to
forfeit engagement. But for those who enjoy
poker, black jack and betting at the race track, it
is also their right to participate with their money.
It's a gamble, but our chances are good.
K. Alice Betts
Entertainment Staff Writer
It wasn't planned this way, but most of today s
editorialopinion page deals with victimless crimes.
Staff writer K. Alice Betts's topic is gambling,
columnist Marsha Jark addresses herself to laws
proscribing homosexuality and "Ralph's" little
brother is tasting his first Alice B. Toklas brownie.
(San Francisco Chronicle columnist Arthur Hoppe
and local cartoonists Dave Cabbage and Barry
Lienemann take a slightly, er, different look into
a many-shelved closet.)
These "crimes" and others, such as prostitu
tion, public drunkenness and disorderly conduct,
are estimated conservatively to account for half of
all nontraffic arrests in the United States.
We look forward to the day when, if only for
economic expediency, these victimless behaviors
will be decriminalized in all 50 states.
Rebecca Brite
long hard climb
Gays do no harm to society
By Marsha Jark
More than 100 years ago John Stuart Mill published a
series of revolutionary essays on liberty: freedoms of
thought, discussion and action. He suggested that people be
allowed to act as they wished, at their own risk and peril.
Despite the discussion and agreement cf his ideas, no
society has allowed its individuals freedom of action when
they could harm only themselves.
The attitude reflected in law (with some justification)
is that people should not be allowed to hurt themselves
because they also affect society's health.
Unfortunately, motorcycle helmet laws, prohibition of
suicide and laws against homosexual acts are results of this
concern. This is unfortunate, because it puts society in the
position of telling people what to do when any benefit
to society exists only in the minds of the lawmakers.
Ironically, judging from penalties for these nonharmful
acts, homosexuality recently became equal to the anti
social act of rape. The maximum prison term in Nebraska
for both sodomy and rape is 20 years.
Attitudes toward homosexuality have changed little
because few understand the reasons for its existence -and
because .society has felt a need to explain it. No one
questions why heterosexual! ty is the societal norm.
Many find homosexuality personally distasteful because
it disturbs their orderly view of society. Seldom do people
bother to find out all societies have had gay people or that
hundreds of psychiatric studies failed to find correlation
between environment and the incidence of homosexuality.
Nevertheless, homosexuality only recently has been taken
off the American Psychiatric Association's list of mental
illnesses.
Homosexual stereotypes tend to be reinforced by
articles such as Time magazine's recent story. The front
cover pictured Sergeant Leonard Matlovich proclaiming,
"I am a homosexual," instead of "I am homosexual." His
choice of lifestyle implicates his entire being, rather than
one facet of his life.
Time stressed an inordinate preoccupation with male
homosexuals, as if gay women do not exist, and differences
between gay and straight societies, rather than similarities.
Looking at pictures of the transvestit and the men in
the gay baths, it is hard to picture one's college instructor,
doctor, lawyer or classmate as a "member of the gay
community." Yet at least 10 per cent of our society is gay.
They go to the same schools and work at the same jobs as
everyone else.
It is not enough that laws prohibiting homosexuality
are seldom enforced. The 1975 supplement to Nebraska
Statutes stated that the punishment for sodomy did not
constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
A change in attitude and law is needed if people are to
enjoy the personal freedom implied in the U.S.
Constitution.
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Last privacy pervert still remains in closet
By Arthur Hoppe
We're having a little trouble in our house. Uncle Henry
adamantly refuses to come out of the closet.
Being liberated persons, the rest of us all came out of
the closet long ago. In fact, as far as we know, Uncle
Henry is the last person in America still left in the closet.
It's embarrassing.
For months, we went upstairs every night to bang on
the door and beg him to come out. "Look' at me, Uncle
Henry," said Cousin Jim persuasively. "I've been much
happier since 1 came out of there and told the whole world
what I was."
"And I've been much happier in here," replied Uncle
Henry, "since you took your evening gowns and cheap
scent with you."
"If you re an alcoholic, dope addict or ex-convict, just
come out and tell everybody, dear," pleaded Aunt Martha.
"Why?" said Uncle Henry.
"I've felt much better, Henry, since I came out of there
and admitted I .was a Republican," said Grandpa Ed.
"By the secret ballot," said Uncle Henry.
"My life has been so much more rewarding," said Ed's
wife, Ms. Susan, "since I came out, took off my apron and
"I doubt it," said Uncle Henry.
"Aren't you glad, dear" asked Aunt Martha hopefully,
"that we live in an age when intimate medical problems can
be discussed frankly?"
"No!" snapped Uncle Henry.
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said Sis, "when I finally came out and confessed I was a
Trotskylst Weight Watcher who had three abortions."
"If I had one," said Uncle Henry, "they wouldn't."
"If you're t heterosexual, don't be ashamed to say so,"
said Cousin Jim. 'There's nothing you can't do in public
these days that. .
". . .1 wouldn't rather do in private," said Uncle Henry.
"Don't you realize, dear," summed up Aunt Martha,
"that everybody else has come out of the closet and now
freely, frankly and constantly discusses their most secret
hang-ups with one and all?"
' Arid that is what makes the closet," said Uncle Henry
firmly, "a better place in which to live."
It was Cousin George, the psychiatrist, who finally
diagnosed Uncle Henry's problem. "Ha is obviously a
privacy pervert," he said, shaking his head. 'The very
nature of his perversion prevents him from discussing it
openly."
We were stunned. A privacy pervert in the family 1 For
days we talked over this peculiar aberration and the
different sort of life it forced him to live.
Oh, we still go up and bang on the door of the closet
every night. But Uncle Henry's a stubborn old coot. He
won't let us back in.
(Copyright Chronic! Publishing Co. 197C)
