Many, many years ago, before many of us were even born, a man decided to ride off into history. He headed out on a quest, a quest for sex, back in those misty old days of 1966. The problem was, he couldn't find a woman to head out with him. So, he decided to buy one.

That man's name was Fred Cherry, and this is his story.

Perhaps you've heard of him, of his lawsuit against Mayor Koch of New York, seeking to overturn the law against prostitution? The argument he offered was that without the existence of prostitution, his disability, alleged in court, would leave him unable to find a sexual partner. Thus, he said, the law served to discriminate on the basis of handicap, violating the provision of the 14th amendment to the US constitution mandating equal protection of all under the law.

Some of us, perhaps, were unaware that being unable to find a sexual partner made one the victim of a crime or even a tort. Some of us might even point out that a suit based on a charge of discrimination would be a matter of civil rights law, not constitutional law. But this would be moot. Rather than address the question of whether or not a woman could be considered a public accomodation, the court focused more narrowly on Mr.Cherry's right to challenge the constitutionality of the law, as he was not then facing prosecution under it.

But his struggle began long before that day. Early on, he knew that the cause of his oppression was a conspiracy and he had found one of its leaders! He was, as Fred put it ... "one of the foremost leaders of the organized homosexual movement of America" who had as his ultimate aim an effort "to bring about a PERVERT WORLD". In order to bring this about, Cherry revealed, he was engaged in a program consisting of the following four steps:

He even knew who this leader was, though it is not mentioned in the record whether or not he ever had designs on Fred's body. That person was one Reverend Robert W. Wood, Pastor of the Zion United Church of Christ, Newark, New Jersey, who, according to Fred, had written a book insinuating that Jesus Christ was a homosexual. As Fred wasn't going to take this lying down, or be doing much of anything else lying down either, at that point he decided to act. Here, we can see documentation of this historic moment.

Fred will tell us of how he learned of this conspiracy, one day, at a demonstration for sexual freedom, where he - HE, MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, HE - was the focus of attention. He wasn't homophobic before this, honest. But there were homosexuals there who weren't in favor of decriminalising prostitution and that is how he learned that they were out to get him. That hurt. But pain gives us the strength to fight, and fight he would.

In fact, he discovered that the conspiracy went further and deeper than he had ever feared. As he read, he discovered that the King James edition of the Bible - the version that Rev. Wood used - was itself, a product of the Homosexual conspiracy, because it left out the books of the Maccabees, in which Fred's glorious ancestors delivered Israel from Homosexual oppression. Of course some would say it was from Pagan Greco-Syrian oppression, but they must be homonazis. And some of them are rabbis! Is nowhere safe any more?

Fred Cherry was not a man hesitant to act, when he saw that action was needed! Immediately, he started mailing postcards, bushel baskets of postcards, it is said by some, in order to reveal the shocking truth to the world, about the dark intentions of Reverend Wood. This effort got people's attention, all right. Unfortunately for Fred, those people were working for the Post Office, and he got called in for an administrative hearing for sending material nonmailable under Title 18 (section 1718) and Title 39, section 4001 of the U.S. postal code.

Having determined that Rev. Robert W. Wood was, or had been at the time of mailing, a real person, the General Counsel of the Post Office initiated action alleging that Mr. Cherry "had deposited in the United States mails post cards containing defamatory matter obviously intended to reflect injuriously upon the character or conduct of another", rendering them nonmailable under the applicable statutes. This rendered him eligible for a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment for a period not to exceed one year, or both.

Fred admitted to having sent the cards. This was not surprising. as Cherry had sent a letter to the Chief Postal Inspector, stating that he had heard that the mailing of post cards similar to his own, constituted a violation of the very title 18 violation he was to be charged under, and asking him if this was true. Having recieved word back from counsel for the Postmaster that this would seem to be the case, he then sent another letter stating that he would be engaged in an act of civil disobedience, sending out further material, claiming protection under the first amendment to the US constitution, though he acknowledged that he knew that this would be a criminal act.

He argued that "the withholding of such cards by the Post Office Department is unlawful and discriminatory since the Department permits and accepts for delivery newspapers and magazines containing defamation and scurrility on their front and rear pages clearly visible to Post Office employees". This argument was rejected on the basis that a newspaper, being published on a continuing basis, had to face responsibility for its misdeeds in print in the course of its publication, whereas Fred's little barrage was a one shot deal. Once the cards were delivered, they were delivered - Fred would not be losing his business if he couldn't deliver any more, in other words. "Further", it was added, "the Respondent" (that's Fred) "herein cannot complain of any discrimination for the reason that his post cards or postal cards were ordered withheld from the mails only after he voluntarily submitted a sample to the Post Office Department for comment. Thus, his cards received exactly the same treatment as is provided for newspapers by the regulation.

To put it another way, "You were bragging to us about what you were going to do, so what did you expect, you mope?" It was the final decision of the Post Office to not deliver these materials. The battle had begun. Luckily for the Post Office, little of it would involve them. Click here to check out that decision on the Post Office's own website.

And you might as well get a few stamps while you're over there.

His battle against the "Organized Homosexual Movement of America" (tm) or the "homonazis", as he was to come to call them, was far from ended by this early defeat, though, for reasons that he, himself, could scarcely have imagined at the time. In 1979, 13 years later, a new communications medium called the Internet was to come into existence, and a forum called Usenet was to form as a result. A forum that I'm sure you've already seen. It was to give those who, like Fred, had been limited to shouting at people on street corners, futile attempts at mass mailing (and maybe a few obscene phone calls when they felt like being social), an opportunity to reach an audience of millions at minimal financial expense, and with few consequences for themselves resulting from their actions. This lead to the overreaction that was the Communications Decency Act (or CDA for short). Once again, Cherry was to take a public official to court - Janet Reno, on the basis that this act hindered him from being able to trade insults with homonazis from Australia, where no similar law was in place, on an equal footing. Surprisingly enough, this case was dismissed (1). Not so surprisingly, Fred then filed the same suit, in a different district, in his home state of New York. (2)

And let it not be said that Fred Cherry was not one who could learn from a legal defeat. His mistake, in the his two mailings back in 1966, was to distribute literature about someone who was not a public figure, and thus whom the libel laws still served to protect. Understanding his mistake, Fred chose as his next revelation to the world, the role of Mayor Koch of New York, in the Organized Homosexual Conspiracy, after Koch criticised Prostitution. So proud was he of his campaign that he spread word of it far and wide. And often.

1. Cherry denounces Mayor Koch
2. he does it here, too
3. still more
4. here too
5. More Koch conspiracy theorising
6. and a little more
   
   
   

   ... and don't forget his courageous defense of bestiality!

But is not his legal history that he is known for, online, but his conflicts on Usenet, where those who criticise his online conduct, his hatred of gays, or one of his pet causes (especially the push for legalised prostitution, the cause that made all the magic happen) have been referred to as homosexual supporters of NAMBLA. Amazing how many of those there seemed to be and how deeply this evil had permeated Usenet.

But Fred Cherry never flinched, nor would he allow them any quarter online. His warnings echoed out into dozens of newsgroups in each post, many of which had never even heard of the homonazi conspiracy to create a PERVERT WORLD (3) and were not aware of the need for these warnings, or even of the relevance of this material in their forums. For the evil had progressed just that far. Sadly deluded groups such as:

among others. So profound was the blindness of many, that they would write to Fred's equally mislead sysops, so many of whom deleted his accounts, that at one point he had to go as far from home as Colorado to find an ISP that still wanted his business. Such is his love for us, the people of the Internet, that he would go to such trouble, just to unmask the ever growing homosexual conspiracy, no matter how we might beg and plead with him to stop. A love we should always return.

It was not an easy path that Cherry trod, for the homonazi is a wily beast, full of trickery and deceit - but Cherry was never deceived. Little things, like openly and vehemently opposing NAMBLA, never fooled him. He knew that this was only a cover for their homonazi activities.

This was not always well received, but given the prevailing moral tone on Usenet, never proved a real problem for him online. It was his spammage and his hostile tone that usually created problems for him. Often, some said, the right thing was done for the wrong reason.

Some years have passed since those glorious days. Some say that Cherry has left this world, and that there will never be another like him. Others say that they certainly hope not, but that for all we know, news of the man's death might be greatly exaggerated. Online, it's hard to know. What is not open to doubt is that the man's words live on in the Dejanews archive and have come back to bother the living, raising the question of whether one ever really does die, on Usenet. So, I'll leave this simple chronicle of the life and times of Fred Cherry up for those latter day readers of his who might want to know just how seriously to take the many accusations that have come down to us from him.

If you'd like to link to this page, please feel free to bookmark the link below.

• The Fred Cherry Story

Options at this point, things to read ...

• Is there a lesson to be learned from this?
• Return to the ring you were on, and forget that this ever happened
• Visit the update blog for these pages
• Go to the main page for this site
• Take the Cherry Challenge