the murder of a black man in Jasper. This was not the mammoth West Indian Parade or the St. Patrick's Day Parade. This was a tiny parade in a predominantly white, backwater enclave in Queens. Is this the same Alan Hevesi who could not separate Khallid Abdul Muhammad, the messenger, from the message of the Million Youth March? Hevesi's dilemma is that he doesn't know how to undo the political harm he has done to the African American community. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ahoy Vey What the hell is Karla Jay talking about? ["Queers Ahoy: The High Price of Gay and Lesbian Travel," September 29] Maybe the ignorant, racist/colonialist/imperialist tourist who wants to travel, but not see? Such tourism--gay or straight--should be examined. These cruises and packages often have exclusive beachfront properties in places like Jamaica, leaving locals with less and less seafront access. Why not stay home? Go to Florida. Why the Nile, or the Bahamas, or Thailand? Clearly, not for the history, culture, or the people. In Jay's discussion of sex, she blatantly disregards the populations of several travel destinations. Was it that she was writing about gay clients of the sex trade--not straight businessmen with poor Thai women--that allowed the Voice to print this article that disregards the lack of economic and social mobility that exists for young Thai men? In the piece, a travel agent is quoted as stating of Thailand that "the sex is very readily available" and "elderly gentlemen are the delight of young Thais." Really? Finally, "Queers Ahoy" and queer package trips themselves assume terrible things: that straight and gay people cannot be social partners (one man in the article laments the possibility of having dinner with straight people); that gay people have not carved out niches wherever they live in the world; that as a traveler you have no interest in meeting locals and finding out how they li...
