A friend just called my attention to the arrest of two men from Florida visiting another state in the southern United States, who were arrested by park rangers for holding hands and hugging in a state park. They were charged with illicit behavior and with disturbing the peace because other people in the park found it offensive. Their bail bond was set at $2000 apiece. The incident occurred in the so-called "Bible belt." So much for "Love thy neighbor....."!

With things like that happening in a nation which is supposed and presumed to be a bastion of freedom, we silverfoxes and admirers should make an extra effort to hang together and weather the storm of adverse opinion the world holds against all things gay. But I view such cohesiveness as an impossible ideal. Maybe someday it can be achieved, but for the present, we have to work it out the best we can.

With this in mind, we have founded two e-mail lists here at the Clubhouse where, a few months ago, we would have thought only one would do. We have also associated ourselves with a third list on another turf because we like what it is doing. That list is moderated; ours are not. There are reasons for this which I shall try briefly to explain.

Jim Bouin's Dad/Son List is moderated by JimDad himself, a brilliant and well-educated man who has a kind heart and a generous nature. He is himself involved in a dad-and-son relationship with a handsome "cub"several years his junior (although well beyond the legal age of consent in California) and has a clear idea of the direction he would like his list to go. He works hard to keep the postings on the track laid out in his "mission" statement which appears on the Clubhouse List Doggie's page in this domain. To read it, and additional information about the two Ben Boxer lists, please go to our main page and click on the handshake labeled "Lists."

In order to stay the course on Dad/Son, Jim moderates "in" all postings which fit into the scope of his mission statement. Other postings are moderated "out" in one way or another. He does this not for himself, but for the sake of the largest body of subscribers, who have subscribed because Jim's list treats the subject they choose to deal with. If they wanted to talk about Camaros or Cessnas, they would have chosen a list for car buffs or pilots.

The two Ben Boxer lists are presently unmoderated. I say "presently" because, as the List Doggie tells you on his Clubhouse page, if things get out of hand, BOOM. Moderation!

We have watched things "get out of hand" elsewhere on an unmoderated list, but would like to pursue that ideal here until we get our butts kicked so hard we have to do something about it. We will see, as the blind man says. We have witnessed a monumental flame war elsewhere, which started when some of the older-for-olders attacked the younger-for-olders and older-for-youngers, and vice versa. Confused? You bet. So was I. I thought we were all in this together, but we are not.

This is why there are two lists at the Clubhouse: Matureman, only for men who are 50-plus and who like older men such as themselves exclusively (olders for olders), and Matureman2 for men of all ages who prefer age groups other than themselves (olders for youngers, youngers for olders).

So we have tried to make room for each other in the hope that peace and love will reign. The Age of Aquarius. Well, it's worth a try.

BTW (which stands for "by the way" in chat rooms and e-mail), if you are not quite sure what an e-mail list is, please read "Get Mail!" in the Mr. Shorts column here in "Boxer's Shorts."

TTYL! (That stands for "talk to you later!")