Pejorative

In Jody Powell’s column (Editorial Pages, May 22), a sentence is contained that begins, “In short, Gore (Vidal) says that Midge (Decter) looks at fags the way Hitler looked at Jews . . .”

The use of the word “fags” without quotation marks or any other indication of its pejorative, unacceptable usage for The Times, concerns me. This is a word that is quite offensive to many gay men and a word that is increasingly used in attacking the gay community. Hurtful words such as “fag” have no place in a publication attempting news coverage and political analysis with a minimum of bias.

ERIC E. ROFES

Los Angeles

Rofes is executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center.