Recipients shocked by anon. letter

It was not the return of the Unabomber. And it was not a note demanding $1 million in ransom money. But many male University students received an odd item in their mailboxes yesterday -- an anonymous letter. In part, the writer of the letter stated, "While I am attracted to guys, I dislike all the gays I have met. It has gradually dawned on me that it might be a long shot for me to find someone I like?. To change the odds, I decided to try the unorthodox approach of a mass mailing." It is unknown how the writer got the addresses of the students to whom he sent the letter or the number of students who received it. This unexpected mail was dismissed as "ridiculous" and "shocking" by several students who received the letter. "When I first read it, I thought he had singled me out for some reason," Wharton sophomore Anthony Bozza said. "I didn't realize that a whole lot of other people had gotten it." Wharton sophomore Seth Charnow said the letter had the potential to offend people. He explained that he found the letter to be "in your face." "I just think there are so many stereotypes, and this isn't helping the situation," Charnow remarked. "I was expecting to see a punch line at the end of the thing." The letter explains that the writer is a college graduate who finds gay people "crude" and who thinks that a "peculiar lewdness" characterizes gay life. The author continued to say that he feels he could "instantly become close to anyone gay as long as he is decent." Engineering sophomore Dan Weiner, co-chair elect of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Alliance, said he was concerned about the letter's effect on the gay community at the University. "It's important to remember that one gay man who does something like this is not a representative of the entire gay community," Weiner cautioned. "I think it would be a mistake to view all people in the LGBT community as having the same perspective as this individual." Weiner added that he is also worried about the letter's effect on students at the University who are "in the closet." He explained that the letter may be the only knowledge a closeted individual has of gay life. While the writer of the letter stated he is a homosexual, the tone of the letter was clearly homophobic. The author wrote, "Most [gay men] strike me as effeminate in speech, mannerisms, and looks?. I also find depressing the crudeness of the gays I have seen." The man concluded by recounting his interests and hobbies (tennis and soccer, old movies and debate), his political views (right-leaning) and his favorite authors (Dostoevsky and Tolstoy). He also said that students should contact him if their situation is similar to his -- or if they are interested in his message. The anonymous writer then gave a post office box in Cambridge, Ma. as his address.

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