Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 16:04:01 +0200 (EET)

Greetings again!

I have received quite a few inqueries concerning the organisation Hofa 
and Hofaism, so I will soon be adding the minutes from our ILGA-meeting:

    HOFAISM AS A CRITICAL ALTERNATIVE TO GAY LIBERATION

As I stated before, Hofaism is challenging the rather one-sided values 
associated with the Communities and movements tied to the Gay Liberation 
movement, as we know it today. We are looking for a process of renewal, 
something which appears very foreign to the Gay Liberationists I met at 
the EuroILGA conference. I must say, I was rather shocked by the lack of 
seriousness at many of the conference workshops. One Brittish delegate 
was enraged by the fact that London police have the nerve of petroling 
public places and even arresting  or giving fines to persons caught 
engaging in inapproprate activities there!

If gay rights activists are really all as short-sighted and shallow as 
this collegue, then we're in big trouble, my friends. When people start 
laughing at proposals of improving the Community environment so that the 
new partnership legislation (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) shall have a 
good ground to stand on and instead treat the statements of my Brittish 
colleague as much more serious and pertinent, then in my opinion 
something is not functioning as it should within ILGA and within our 
so-called movement. Fortunately, Hofa and the Hofaists have had to 
develope their own programmes and activities without any "assistance" 
whatsoever from Gay Liberation or the existing Community. This has in 
practice meant that we have through experience touched upon new types of 
activities (new for the Nordic organisations, at any rate) and new ways 
of financing the organisations.

Being ostracized by the promenant Gay Community in Finland and Germany 
has, despite our previous complaints, been in fact the biggest blessing 
we have every received. Hofa played a sort of Gay conscience at the ILGA 
conference last month and many of our objections and additions to the 
"culture and politics of ILGA and Gay Liberation" were added to the 
minutes.One of our most important objections was to the idea that 
homosexual couples, by establishing homes and having a Holy Union, 
pledging absolute fidelity and assistance to one another is just a way of 
copying heterosexual "institutions". As a Hofaist, I have just one word 
to say about that:  HUMBUG!!!

My colleagues from Hofa and I explained that this is not the case and 
cited myriads of examples from everyday Gay life which would tend to 
point to the fact that the removal of these "old fashioned and 
heterosexist" concepts has almost always led to alienation and anomy. If 
you take away the concept of the mutual household or family what are you 
going to replace it with? Do you have any living empirical examples (how 
many) that the alternative institution works and provides a high quality 
of life and self-realization for the persons involved. True, everyone may 
chose the lifestyle of her/his choice, but to wage a war against the 
"family" (heterosexual or homosexual) and then accuse everyone who 
happens to feel that they wish to live in such an institution of having 
"neanderthol" values seems to me resemble more an emotional outburst than 
a philosophical process of thought.

Anyway, I was supposed to merely state that the Hofa-minutes from 
EuroILGA will be arriving soon. Until then may Heavenly Father light up 
all of your lives!

AUTHOR'S NAME DELETED BY REQUEST