Scott O'Hara

by Scott O'HaraPublished: 1994Updated:

SCOTT O'HARA

"When I was 12 and 13 years old I would have joined NAMBLA in a minute, because I knew I was gay and I wanted to go out and get laid, not just read The Gay Mystique all my life; I needed personal contact.

We have a million gay children out there right now who are in the same boat, who know their sexuality, and aren't getting any support. Most of our supposed gay leaders are afraid to do anything with them. ... That means we're leaving the sex education of our youth to angry heterosexuals who don't understand.

That's one reason NAMBLA is so important. They are willing to take the risks that no one is willing to take... . They're the only ones willing to acknowledge that adolescents actually do have sex lives.

There is also a more basic reason why I support NAMBLA. They are the voice of dissent in the gay movement today. They're the whipping boy, the fashionable group to condemn. ... I say, watch out, tomorrow that whipping boy could be you... . In the efforts of the gay establishment to suppress NAMBLA I see the seeds of tyranny."

~ Scott O'Hara, publisher and editor of STEAM magazine.

Spirit of Stonewall Press Conference, Stonewall Bar,

Greenwich Village, New York City, June 24, 1994.