Letters To The Editor903
March 11, 2009 - MidWeek
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Del.icio.usStraight hypocrites
Regarding the civil unions controversy and recent columns and letters in MidWeek: I was born and raised here and need to share this with the “quiet majority” who have gay children, family and friends.
Children need to be taught the truth. Gays do exist, and they love each other. You cannot be turned gay by association with them. Children also need to be taught Christian compassion, that you should share what you have with your brothers and sisters, gay or straight.
I truly thought church leaders such as Wayne Cordeiro and Art Sepulveda were compassionate men, bringing people closer to Christ. I attended and enjoyed both churches’services. But they seem now to be pushing away gay people, their friends and families. Jesus can’t be too happy about that!
Gays were created by God for a reason. Maybe to stop over-procreation (population). Maybe to bring loving parents for children abandoned by straights! God had a reason, and God doesn’t make mistakes!
People who preach love and compassion and then sow discrimination and hatred against those born differently from themselves are hypocrites. What they sow, so shall they reap!
Why can’t we work together, both gays and straights, to heal the dire problems in this world, like the economy, starvation and homelessness?
Steven Leong
Aiea
Christians’ rights
Apparently Roy Chang (in his March 4 cartoon) and Georgia Lee (in her letter in the same issue) do not see any disparity in their defending the “right” of same-sex couples to marry while at the same time deriding Christians for practicing their right to be engaged in the democratic process.
It is true that many Christians oppose the passage of HB 444. But all citizens of Hawaii should oppose it, at least for now, if only for the simple fact that were it not for a last-minute, grassroots effort, many people would not have had their say in whether this bill should become law. In America, shouldn’t the common people be given a voice within their government?
It is the members of the Legislature who are worthy of derision in this case. They are the ones who attempted to pass a bill contrary to the will of the majority of their constituents, seemingly without any genuine intention of providing them the chance to speak on the matter.
What bill will they try furtively to pass next?
HB 444 deals with a sensitive and weighty issue. Because of the strong feelings on both sides, and the potential impact of such a law, lawmakers must allow careful consideration and full public discourse before passing any such law. Out of respect for our system of government and the rights of individual citizens to participate within it, on this I think all could agree.
Steve Klein
Kailua
It’s discrimination
Like most people, I fail to see the relevancy between inter-racial marriage and the “same-sex marriage.”
When a man and a woman were denied the right to marry in some states because they were of different racial backgrounds, it was not because of their gender. Men and women were allowed to legally marry, but “race” was used to prevent some marriages.
All men and all women are allowed to marry, and now even without regard to their race. It is because two people are of the same sex that they may not marry, and marriage is, as it has always been, for a man and a woman. That is equal rights and freedom for all.
Those who believe that two people of the same sex should have the same tax breaks and other benefits that are being accorded to married couples continue to confuse the issue. The “civil union” alternative, for those who may not marry, could be a fair solution to the problem - if it applied equally to all who may not marry.
Denying civil-union benefits to all but homosexuals makes it discriminatory. Rewrite that bill to include siblings who live together, or first cousins, or parent and child, grandparent and grandchild, etc. and solve the problem.
Keith Haugen
Honolulu
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