Readers write for July 27, 2010

I was disheartened to read that the city of Lino Lakes is contemplating a proposal to make English its official language ("English-only proposal: Economics or politics," July 26).

It's all the more puzzling when the issue of language has never arisen, nor does it seem likely to arise in the future. The proposal assumes that immigrants have no interest in learning English. This is patently false.

Pure and simple, this proposal sends a message that immigrants are not welcome in Lino Lakes.

R. MARK FREY, SHOREVIEW

Thank you for printing Steve Chapman's commentary regarding right-wing opposition to the construction of an Islamic community center near Ground Zero ("Meanwhile, back in the modern day," July 24).

I am a 16-year-old student attending a relatively normal public high school that serves a diverse student body. I know several of my Muslim peers personally. They are not anti-American. They hold the same disgust for violent radicals as I do and want to live the same successful lives that all Americans work toward.

I do not recognize them by their faith or color, but by their faces and names.

It takes only a moment to figure out how similar we all are.

DAN JOHNSON, COON RAPIDS

In your July 25 Letter of the Day, the letter writer condemned Fox News for Shirley Sherrod's firing over her seemingly racist remarks at an NAACP event. The truth of the matter is that the United States Agriculture Department and the administration were the quickest to judge her speech without all the facts by demanding and receiving her resignation before the story ever aired on Fox.

Immediately after the full context of her speech came to light, Fox host Bill O'Reilly apologized profusely to and issued an invitation to Sherrod to appear on the network.

It appears the letter writer also joined in the fracas by reacting without all the facts.

I would like to commend Leslie Yoder for standing up in a public forum to counter the opinion of an obviously bigoted Katherine Kersten ("What would Kersten do, in my shoes," July 23).

We need more people like her. The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community is attacked daily by people like Kersten. Bigoted statements like hers are so much the media norm that I had given up trying to fight them.

Then I read Yoder's counterpoint, filled with hope, compassion, understanding and love.

So a message to Yoder: If your kids haven't told you this, allow me to do so on behalf of the gay community: You are a great mom.

ADAM SCHREIFELS, ST. LOUIS PARK

Yoder's response to Katherine Kersten was very moving. Yoder wrote about her two gay children, the struggles they have faced, and the love within their family. I thank her for her perspective, and I do not doubt her sincerity.

However, she completely missed Kersten's point, which was (that) it is not easy to be an opponent of same-sex marriage.

Almost daily, the media accuses us of bigotry and hate. All of us have been dragged into fights we did not want. Most of us have lost friends we valued. Some have been financially, professionally or personally attacked. And it is getting worse.

Kersten's article documents how, increasingly, those of us who oppose same-sex sex activity are under attack in every region of our lives. Gay activists are beginning to threaten our grades in the classroom, our paychecks in the workplace and, in extreme cases, even our freedoms of speech and of worship.

Perhaps we deserve this. I certainly don't expect homosexuals to sympathize. They have faced much worse discrimination for much longer.

But Kersten is right. The gay-rights movement is no longer about mere tolerance. It is about enforced universal acceptance. Those of us who can never accept homosexual activity are weathering a worsening storm. Brittle courage keeps us afloat.

Please tolerate us, too.

JAMES HEANEY, GOLDEN VALLEY

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As a gay man, it was great to see a large corporate presence from Target at Twin Cities Pride this summer. As a former employee of Target, I know that in recruiting their employees they point to Pride to show off how gay-friendly they are. Target has long touted itself as being an advocate for full civil and human rights for gay people, such as speaking against Michele Bachmann's proposed anti-marriage amendment to the state constitution when she was in the state Legislature.

So I was shocked to learn that Target had donated $150,000 to MN Forward, an anti-equality political action committee seeking to elect anti-equality gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer.

For me, this hypocrisy is too much.

Companies should not get to show off how gay-friendly they are and then crawl into bed with politicians who seek to use their power to attack gay people.

Target needs to decide if it is pro-equality or anti-equality. They just donated $150,000 toward anti-equality. But I bet we will still see Target at Pride next year.