Dear editor,

I recently read a letter to the editor from Rick Mathes in the last issue of the Clarion. Even as a straight person, I found his views very offensive. In his letter, he uses a quote that compares the intelligence of a gay person, to a dog named Buffy; “If they can’t figure that out, they have less sense than my dog Buffy!” So are you saying gay people are stupid? Is this your claim. History has shown us that this is not the case. Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the most genius, influential people of all time. One could argue he was the smartest person to ever live.

Later in your letter, you called homosexuality “unnatural and abnormal.” By whose standards is this statement true? If homosexuality makes you feel uncomfortable or grosses you out a little, you can’t deem it as wrong. My girlfriend enjoys hard boiled eggs for lunch. I think they’re repulsive and the thought of one in my mouth makes me want to vomit. So should she be unnallowed to eat them because of my problem with them?

Finally you say the following: “The problem isn’t between their legs, it is between their ears. It is a mental choice that can be reversed so as to return to the normal and natural human being that God created them to be in the first place. What every happend to common sense.” What did ever happen to common sense? How would you have any idea if homosexuality is a choice, unless you yourself are a homosexual? The fact is it’s not a choice. You don’t decide one day whether you like guys or girls. You’re born with it.

And last but not least, do not act as if you know what God intends for all of us to be. He created us how he saw fit, not to your standards of a “normal and natural human being.”

Thank you for your fair and balanced regard for my opinion.

Kenny Howard

Dear editor,

I am writing in response to the letters written to the editor in the past week of the Clarion. Rick Mathes wrote a compelling piece exhibiting the Christian inability to exhibit tolerance. Mathes struggles with the natural and normal characteristics of homosexuality stating that “it is a mental choice that can be reversed.” This statement, I disagree with, but Mathes does make an excellent statement that coincides with my own central dogma: “Whatever happened to common sense?” To this, Rick Mathes, I say ‘bravo.’

Is it logical that a person of said homosexual orientation would choose a ‘lifestyle’ that is hated and scorned by so many? Why would anyone logically want to make life harder than it has to be? Does this seem logical? Sexual orientation is not a choice. Was there ever a point in your life when you sat down to think: “Who should I be attracted to…men or women? No, there wasn’t. I challenge you to think about this complex question from outside your cozy bible box.

Whatever happened to common sense?

I thank you for including my response and for providing both sides of this controversial issue, which is the dogma of journalism.

-Lucy Anne Kagan