ALTo the editor:

I want to thank The Sun Chronicle, Editor Mike Kirby and your talented interns, especially Tiffany Stanley, for a fine piece of journalism in the series on GLBT rights. It is timely and necessary, even if some people don’t want to hear about the way the culture, even here in Attleboro and even North Attleboro, is changing.

Newspapers make us think. Thanks for trusting your readers and challenging readers to think and reflect on the unnecessary suffering and difficulties placed on GLBT.

Gretchen Robinson

Attleboro Put hatred aside

and let God judge

ALTo the editor:

Who said dinosaurs are extinct? I found one when I finally read Thursday’s Sun Chronicle. The paper is not promoting homosexuality. They are reporting on a segment of our population who are also created by God. Let he and he alone judge. There is entirely too much hate in this world.

Sally B. Holm

Mansfield

Homosexuals seek only equal rights

To the editor:

Mike Kirby was able to shock me two weeks in a row. Last week it was the fact that he had to explain the three-part story on gay issues.

This week it was the fact that more people than not seem to be upset by the paper being sympathetic to the “homosexual agenda.” I’m still unable to comprehend the fact that people came to the Sun Chronicles offices, Bibles in hand, to cancel their paper subscriptions.

I’m gay and I’m not quite sure what the “homosexual agenda” is. All that GLBT people want is to be treated equally. We want our future, and the future of our families to be the same as everyone else’s.

My partner and I are friends with a couple who are married lesbians. They have four children between them. Both work full time, yet need state insurance. The mother with the children under 18 gets insurance, for herself and the kids. Her wife, on the other hand, has to file as an individual. I’m sure some of you are thinking “Well, that serves them right. They shouldn’t have kids anyway.” Well, let me tell you something, both of these women work hard. They give of themselves to their community. Yet, the only problem is that they don’t get the same rights as heterosexual couples because one of them isn’t a man.

Whether you like it or not, GLBT people are here to stay. No matter how many of you tell us we can’t get married, we can’t raise children, we aren’t the same as you, and we’ll still be here. We just want the same local, state and federal rights as you.

Do all of you understand how easy it is to put people who are different than you into derogatory categories? It is up to individuals to define themselves, not you. The  future depends on the very fact that we accept one another despite our differences.

David M. Slaga

Norton

He leaves us guessing

about alternative view

ALTo the editor:

The letter from Dave Silvia (“Opposing viewpoint absent from gay series,” Sept. 5) raises several interesting but disturbing points.

Taking exception to the series, which outlined the problems facing young gay people, Mr. Silvia seems to be troubled by homosexual advocates who “seek to legitimize and promote their viewpoint by means of the laws of the commonwealth, which represent the values of our society.”

He also finds fault with The Sun Chronicle, which he says “is consistently promoting the gay agenda.” He implies that education institutions are biased in favor of gay people and takes to task the authors of the series for not reporting an alternative point of view.

Mr. Silvia leaves us guessing as to how he prefers that schools should treat gay people and just what alternative point of view he wishes was reported. We can only assume from the tenor of his letter that he prefers a state that would deny marriage and legal rights to persons that are not heterosexual.

In case Mr. Silvia missed it, the Massachusetts state Supreme Court has already ruled that gay marriage is legal, and he and others offended by that decision are certainly free to work to overturn it.

The tone of his letter, however, implies that Mr. Silvia is frustrated by the mere existence of people who do not share his biological instincts, and that is far more concerning than any opposition he and other closed-minded persons might have to gay marriage.

Further, his equating of the granting of legal rights to gays with the potential legalization of polygamy, making 9 the legal age of a girl to marry and stoning to death adulterers is beyond absurd.

It may not happen in the near future, but eventually every state in the country will extend to gays — young and old — the legal rights that Massachusetts has. Mr. Silvia and others who share his narrow view can do little to deny others the legal rights that they themselves currently enjoy.

Larry Houser

Norton

Straight talk, substance

are just what US needs

To the editor:

Bill Darcey of Foxboro made a few comments about Sarah Palin that need a wee bit of clarification. Gov. Palin did attempt to get her former brother-in-law removed from the Alaska state troopers, that is true. What Mr. Darcey failed to mention was that the trooper in question used his police taser on his 10-year-old step-son and made threats against Gov. Palin’s parents during her sister’s divorce. Not really conduct one expects from a state trooper.

I have no problem with people criticizing Gov. Palin, but let’s be sure we do not mislead by ommission and if you want to read up on scandals, be sure to check Joe Biden’s past.

I did a little research on this woman after being wowed by her speech. 

She brings more leadership experience to the job of vice president than Barack Obama and Joe Biden combined. Her approval ratings are over 80 percent in Alaska, a number almost unheard of for politicians. She has a record of taking on Democrats, Republicans and oil companies in her state and shaking up the status quo.

Gov. Palin has a son and  nephew off to combat on the 11th of September. True leadership starts with understanding what you expect others to do and what they may lose. She is no armchair warrior.

While one speech does not make a candidate, her political track record and life experience speak volumes.

I think she is just what Washington needs, change, straight talk and real substance.

Gary Johnson

North Attleboro