Thursday, October 30, 2008

Letting your voice be heard!

Today's Letters to the Editor: Pasadena Star News

Remember "It's Letter to the Editor Time, Boys & Girls!" from last week? Well, you did a great job, class! Here's what ended up in the paper today. Thanks to everybody who contributed!

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Re: Tim Kelly, Guest View on Prop. 8:

Centrism won't work

Centrism didn't work for Galileo or Rosa Parks. It won't work for gay marriage.
Opponents of gay marriage hold a narrow view of human sexuality, made possible only by ignoring centuries of scholarship with regard to the historical, cultural and linguistic context of the Bible, and more than a century of medical research on human sexuality.

Gay and lesbian Californians share a sexual orientation, not a "lifestyle," and should have the same rights under our constitution as heterosexual couples. Let's not enshrine discrimination into the California constitution in the name of religion. Vote "no" on Prop 8.
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Bruce Babcock,
Glendale


Justice for all
Tim Kelly's proposal for a solution to the polarizing issue of marriage equality begs this question: If Kelly's "principled centrism" had been operating in 1954 when Brown v. Board of Education caused "polarization" in the land, would he have proposed a blue ribbon panel to improve the educational standards of segregated schools to solve the "practical problems" of African-American students but keep them segregated to preserve "social order?"

The question for California voters on Proposition 8 is simple: Are we a nation of liberty and justice for all or for just some?

The answer is vote "no" on 8.

Rev. Susan Russell
All Saints Episcopal Church
Pasadena

Don't repeat history

Tim Kelly's centrist proposal sounds reasonable if you don't know any history. Gay people have been discriminated against, labeled abominations and hidden away in the closet. What Prop. 8 stands for is not the protection of marriage, but the continued rejection of gay people as ordinary citizens in the community.
What Kelly wants is a new "separate but equal" doctrine. It didn't work before and it won't work now because it is discriminatory, unfair and unjust.

Rev. Warner R. Traynham
Los Angeles

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