Letters

THE STRUGGLE TO BE GAY IN AMERICA

"As long as lawmakers put gays on a par with 'kleptomaniacs,' the road to sexual equality will remain littered with obstacles." ANDREW S. KAHN Philadelphia

What is going on? It's hard to imagine that in the U.S., the most advanced country in the world, we are still faced with heinous crimes of hate like the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard, the young gay man in Wyoming [NATION, Oct. 26]. We must stop killing others because they are different from us. The religious right should be embarrassed by its claims and advertisements that gays can "change" to be heterosexuals. I hope Shepard's family knows that he was not "sick" but a victim of "sick" thinkers. SAMUEL LOUIS MORRIS Greenville, S.C.

On the way home from school at the age of eight, I was beaten by a grown man because I was Jewish. At 17, at Auschwitz, I witnessed the hate crime of the century against Jews, Gypsies, gays and others. Fifty-five years later, we have ill-disguised hatred, instigated by the religious right as well as by some of our elected representatives. How many more innocent gays and lesbians will be attacked, as was Shepard? Sign me Jewish, gay and proud of it. GERALD B. ROSENSTEIN San Francisco

Anyone who condemns gays but does not condemn adultery among heterosexuals with the same zeal is a hypocrite! This is a major double standard. SID DARDEN Penrose, Colo.

Christian fundamentalists claim that changing from homosexual to heterosexual is possible through adherence to Christian principles. That idea is insidious at best and a downright lie at worst. Back in the mid-1970s, I could have been the poster boy for one of those "conversions" to heterosexuality ads. I claimed I had "changed," and even got married and fathered a son. But no matter how hard I prayed to change my sexual orientation, no matter how much I believed I could be "delivered" from the sin of homosexuality, I finally had to accept the inevitable. I came out of the closet, left behind a bitter and betrayed wife and watched my son, now 18, struggle with his love for me and the hate he feels toward homosexuals. Unfortunately, I left destruction in my wake, but I have never felt better or healthier than I have since I came out. JAMES S. FITZGERALD Atlanta

The scapegoating of gay people for political gain has got to stop. To varying degrees, gay people, particularly those in their teens, face a sometimes daily barrage of harassment, intimidation and threats of physical harm. The suicide rate for gay and lesbian youth is three times the norm, making the quality of their young lives sadly obvious. Every year we receive tens of thousands of calls on our toll-free telephone hotline (1-888-THE-GLNH) from people who need information, peer counseling or referrals. What happened to Shepard could happen to any of us. And someday it might. BRAD BECKER, Executive Director Gay and Lesbian National Hotline San Francisco

Politics or not, hate crimes or not, the practice of homosexuality anywhere outrages right-thinking people everywhere. The sooner homosexuals come to terms with the unchangeable fact that God unequivocally disapproves of their sexual conduct and those who applaud such behavior, the sooner they will turn away from their vile degeneracy. JOHN QUINCY MITCHELL La Verne, Calif.

Not only are there a "greater number of visible and comfortable gays" today, as pointed out in your report, but there are also a greater number of visible, comfortable and vocal parents of gays who are proud to express their unconditional love of all their children, straight and gay alike. We stand proudly with our gay children; we help educate an ill-informed public; and we tirelessly advocate equal civil rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation. IRIS S. BLUMENTHAL, Past President Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays Syosset, N.Y.

Talk about denial writ large! More than half those you surveyed in your poll still believe, in whole or in part, that people choose to be gay--and consequently, reviled, spit upon or, worse, deprived of civil rights in the name of morality. We are who we are. It is not a matter of choice or morality. MICHAEL R. BOYLE San Diego

For all the media attention surrounding Shepard's death, the fact remains that he has passed into eternal hellfire. The Bible is clear: homosexuals do not inherit the kingdom of God. (THE REV.) DONALD SPITZ, Director Pro-Life Virginia Chesapeake, Va.

ABOUT THE SERVANTS OF GOD

Trent Lott's comparing the "sin" of homosexuality to kleptomania and alcoholism? Family Research Council head Gary Bauer's "waging war against the destructive homosexual agenda"? Pat Robertson's considering homosexuality to be the "last step in the decline of Gentile civilization"? The only sin is intolerance, and my only solace is that in the afterlife all these men and their hate-preaching counterparts will be discussing these issues--in Hell. Enjoy yourselves--and dress lightly. It's hot down there! MARY C. DEBATTISTA Wauwatosa, Wis.

Anti-gays all share in the blame for Shepard's beating and death. Their hate talk encourages and justifies hate crimes and discrimination and leads to suicides. Gay people do not want any special rights; they merely want the rights that everyone else has. KAYE WESTEN Iowa City

You presented a skewed representation of the Christian viewpoint. One cannot judge all of us by the outspoken statements of a few. I, as a Christian, do not always agree with what James Dobson or Pat Robertson has to say, and it is erroneous to assume that the rest of Christians do. Shepard didn't deserve to die, and I am angered by the implication that Christians such as myself are to blame for this horrible crime. CHRISTINA D. CARAWAY Novi, Mich.

I hope that when the Kansas minister who has the godhatesfags.com website dies, he has to face a big lesbian God radiating divine love. LINDA VARELA Naco, Ariz.

If Pat Robertson thinks hurricanes hit Florida because of gays, how does he explain the overlap of the Bible Belt with Tornado Alley? TIM STRAND Santa Fe, N.M.

I was raised in a fundamentalist religion. Here we say Oklahoma is the buckle of the Bible Belt, and Tulsa is the tongue of that buckle. I know what I am talking about. Whether Christian or Muslim, Fundamentalists love to hate and hate to love. BRENT DILLAHUNTY Tulsa, Okla.

THE NEW VEGAS

While visiting the desert metropolis of Las Vegas for a weekend, I was appalled by the amount of money being blown by casino owners like Steve Wynn who aim to duplicate the world's most famous locales [SHOW BUSINESS, Oct. 26]. I've been going to Vegas for more than 30 years, and I think guys like Wynn have gone too far. It is ludicrous to create billion-dollar facsimiles of famous places. I predict this attempt to attract baby boomers like me will fail miserably. MARK THOMAS Oakland, Calif.

I doubt this new, arty Vegas will attract the likes of the Astors and Rockefellers, and Joe Blow from Omaha may be a little intimidated. Steve Wynn and the other corporate boys are going to need some of the luck that everybody wishes for when they go to Las Vegas. They may have created a no-man's-land. SUZANNE W. MCCARTHY Winston-Salem, N.C.

Las Vegas now seems like a giant strip mall of world travel: let's see it faster; let's have it newer; let's not have to go far from home to visit it. Here's a suggestion to my fellow Americans: Go take a stroll along the shores of the real Lake Como, stand beneath the real Eiffel Tower-- and as a bonus, you won't have to have the constant ringing of noisy slot machines in your ears. JIM KERR Del Mar, Calif.

It's nice to see entrepreneurs keep trying to elevate Vegas above the rest of the gambling resorts with new luxury hotels, but when I read how they are trying to attract the "big spenders," it kind of irks me. It's the middle class that made Vegas what it is today, as well as all the people who work there. The big spenders will come and go. The baby boomers may raise families and be free of children, but for the most part, they will still be middle class. I hope the folks in Vegas don't forget that. JEFF HARRIS Elephant Butte, N.M.

Coupling commercial techno-kitsch with the masterworks of Van Gogh and Picasso is like crossing the book Private Parts by Howard Stern with the Civil War diaries of Mary Chestnut. Thank you, Vegas, for your attempts at high art, but no thanks. A Warholian approach might have been more fitting. DOUG HATCH Madison, Wis.

NOT IN FASHION

Your article "Warming Up To Fur" attempted to portray the fur industry as making a healthy recovery [FASHION, Oct. 19]. But everyone knows that in producing a luxury fur, cruelty is inflicted on the innocent victims: leg-hold trapping, anal electrocution, neck wringing, overcrowding of cages in factory fur farms and the myriad other ways the killing occurs before the "fashion" emerges. Seeing someone in fur, I used to think that person was either ignorant of the suffering involved or insensitive to it. But today neither excuse is in fashion. GRETCHEN WYLER, President Ark Trust Inc. Encino, Calif.

BORN INTO THE "RIGHT" FAMILIES

In Jeffrey Archer's Viewpoint on the reform of Britain's 700-year-old House of Lords [Oct 26], it sounded really nice when he noted that "the hereditary peers owe their position to no living person. They are therefore free to think and act as they choose." Indeed, they have done nothing other than be born into the "right" families to gain their seats. According to Archer, the fact that the hereditary Lords are finally voting to give up their privileges is a proof of their wisdom. If it is, I only wish the Lords had been slightly more clever sooner so that we did not have to wait so long. JIM HAHN Cambridge, England