We are writing in response to Claudia Lum's letter published Friday regarding Young Americans for Freedom's involvement with Cuntfest. There are several aspects of this letter that we wish to address.

First is the issue of YAF's motive in objecting to Cuntfest. Lum states, as have other YAF members, that "YAF is not attacking Womyn's Concerns or Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance's First Amendment rights. YAF's actions are because of disproportionate funding to a little-attended event."

We all know that there is controversy over the number of people who attended the event, but that is not what Lum went on to address in her letter. Her letter focused almost solely on Jess Dobkin's performance, describing her nudity with disgust, and also using homophobic overtones in her discussion of Dobkin's film "giving a graphic description of lesbian oral sex." After discussing in horror Dobkin's performance, which was a performance art piece in which she utilized her body as the medium, Lum concludes that the speech by Star Parker in 1998 was a better use of the activity fee.

She added quickly that Parker's speech "attracted a far greater crowd," though she provided no documentation of this conclusion. Thus, it appears from her letter that though YAF contends that the issue is over the amount of funding relative to the size of the audience, the real issue for Lum and YAF is one of content, and thus, free speech.