This month we continue our coverage of the gay community and the fight it is waging in South Carolina. We do so with some trepidation; the whole issue of homosexuality makes people uncomfortable, including some folks who consider themselves broad-minded and tolerant. With regularity, we hear from readers who accuse POINT of being a gay publication. Many object to the Do Something section (see page 14), a bulletin for social and political community activities, because it carries so many gay-related notices. What constitutes too many is a matter of opinion, but our policy is not. POINT does not solicit items for inclusion in Do Something; we print, within reason, what people send us.

    If we seem fixated on gay issues, it is only because there has been such a deafening silence on the matter from the mainstream press, which seems willing to spill ink only on social issues that are safe. We find the events that are unfolding in the Upstate worth thinking about, if only for clues as to who we are and where we are headed. We'd like to hear your thoughts. Let us hear from you.

    Reviving an old tradition, political round-table discussions will be held at the GROW building at 18 Bluff Rd. in Columbia (our home for the past 18 years) on the third Wednesday of each month. The first meeting is May 21 at 7 p.m. Call 803-808-3384 for information.

    Finally, Jill Carroll is headed to Atlanta this month to work for an arts publication, although she will remain POINT's fiction editor through a long-distance relationship. We will miss her.