It's time we start accepting

Gays and lesbians should be accepted for who they are. They have no more choice about who they are than a baby who is born Caucasian, black or Asian. They cannot be "cured" as many fundamentalist Christians claim. Nor can they cause children to "become gay" just by associating with them.

I was born heterosexual, thus am attracted to the opposite sex. However, I know many gays and lesbians. Their only difference is their sexual orientation.

It is very sad that fundamentalist Christians refer to gays as an "abomination." Their bigoted, narrow belief comes from the Old Testament book of Leviticus, condemning "man to man" sex. Leviticus also condemns eating pork and shellfish. That means no barbecue or oysters. Cheeseburgers are also out because meat and dairy foods cannot be served together. The gay sex prohibition was only to forbid all sexual activity that could not result in pregnancy to increase the tribe.

I refer to anti-gay fundamentalists as "leviticans", instead of Christians. They seem much more worried about Old Testament law than about the kindness shown by Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus never once condemned homosexuality.

Gays and lesbians should be allowed all the rights everyone else has, including the right to marry.

Alexander the Great, Richard the Lion-Hearted, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Tchaikovsky, Leonard Bernstein and Samuel Barber were all gay or bisexual. To paraphrase an old religious saying: God must love gays and lesbians. He/she sure did make a lot of them.

Larry Brown

Glen Carbon