Letters to the editor for Sunday, Sept. 23

A SLAP AT MOVEON.ORG

And the Constitution

Last week's U.S. Senate condemnation of a political advertisement in a newspaper is a blatant effort to use the power of the federal government to stifle dissent. Whatever you think of the MoveOn.org ad, this vote should frighten you.

Last I checked, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution forbids Congress from passing laws like this. Do we really want to become a country where the citizens are afraid to challenge the military? Where citizens are afraid to speak out at all?

I am especially ashamed of my Sen. Amy Klobuchar for supporting this bill.

BOB TREUMANN, ST. PAUL

POVERTY IN THE U.S.

Lewis isn't looking

It's not too difficult to find poverty in Minnesota, let alone the United States. Thank goodness there are organizations like the Heritage Foundation, cited by Jason Lewis ("Give us your poor -- if you can find them," Sept. 16), to manipulate figures and tell us that starvation doesn't actually exist in our country. In fact, it's a relief to hear that most poor people can actually afford a VCR (I sold mine at a garage sale last summer for 25 cents).

Now that we have the real information about poverty in the United States I can sleep soundly, knowing the next time I drive by, I can just smile and wave at those people holding cardboard signs at every busy intersection in Minneapolis and St. Paul. But I'm wondering if there are outlets under the bridges where they can plug in their VCRs.

AARON BLECHERT, MINNEAPOLIS

A white advantage

Notable in Jason Lewis' good news review on poverty is the absence of data on people of color. The historic advantages of whites, built in no small measure on the enslavement of blacks and the genocide of American Indians, are still visible in the form of gross disparities in our welfare, education, child protection, shelter and corrections systems.

If we are to have an accounting, let's at least be honest about it. For some segments of America, poverty is still ugly and real.

GREG OWEN, MINNEAPOLIS

BEING GAY

In religious community

God bless Charlotte Sullivan. Her column of Sept. 16 ("An unavoidable truth") was one of the best written articles about coming out and being authentically gay I have ever read.

But it saddens me deeply to also read her statement, "Some churches make it clear that simply being a homosexual or daring to fall in love as a gay person is a horrid perversity. The option is to remove yourself from your religious community or to seek to destroy one of the most integral parts of yourself."

This couldn't be further from the truth, not in Minneapolis. Belonging to a religious community and being gay are not mutually exclusive.

For example, last year Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis had on staff five ministers: a "G" (gay), an "L" (lesbian), a "B" (bisexual), a "T" (transsexual) and an "A" (ally). My sister was on the search committee back when we were wondering whether we could hire a female minister who was a lesbian when we already had a male minister who was gay. I said to her, "Hire the best one for the job." And she did. Doing so did not hurt our church. To this day Plymouth remains a vibrant, God-loving church of 1,600.

I could list over 20 churches in the Twin Cities that are happy to open their doors to GLBT people, just as they are. These lovely churches would accept every integral part of Sullivan because they are "doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God."

BEVERLY GORES, MINNEAPOLIS

Or 'doing' gay

It's arguably base for Charlotte Sullivan to assume that Larry Craig -- and anyone experiencing a homosexual feeling -- is "oriented" in an unchangeable direction. Consider that Craig chose to both marry a woman and to solicit homosexual activity in a public restroom. Though these two instances are monumentally different in extent, Craig could have chosen otherwise.

Anyone who has felt physical or emotional attraction to someone of the same gender can attest to the fact that he or she did not choose the feelings over heterosexual ones. But a matter of choice does exist. That is the most freeing thing to understand.

BENJAMIN FRANK, MINNEAPOLIS

Spouses left behind

Charlotte Sullivan's description of the heartbreak caused when gay and lesbian folks are driven into marriage with members of the opposite sex was a moving statement about the devastation that occurs to entire families by the attitudes fostered by the "conservative cultural movement" and the religious right.

As the ex-spouse of a gay man, I watched as the grip of denial was gradually broken and he became aware that he could no longer "live a lie." His need to be honest threw me into despair, with the inference that 17 years of marriage had been a lie. It is far more complex; I know that now.

It's estimated that up to 2 million straight Americans are/have been in marriages to a gay or lesbian spouse. That's a lot of anguish caused by the fears of the homophobes among us. Straight Spouses needing to talk with someone who "has been there" can go to www.straightspouse.org.

MARY AUSTIN, DULUTH

Spouses in waiting

Kudos to Charlotte Sullivan for sticking up for her true self as a lesbian, and to a Sept. 17 letter writer for standing up for her gay son against Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten.

We, in case Kersten is interested, are an opposite-sex couple who exchanged vows in a lovely church ceremony. But just as we would not join a country club that excluded on the basis of race or religion, we won't be applying for a government marriage license until the institution is open to same-sex couples.

When that day arrives, the supposedly fragile tradition of male-female marriage will be bolstered by the participation of many who feel as we do.

ANNE HAMRE AND Gerald Hopkins, Roseville