Guest guest Posted May 10, 2000 Report Share Posted May 10, 2000 I e-mailed the author for permission to repost her letter to the paper. Bethany Sunday, April 30, 2000 > By SHARON UNDERWOOD > For the Valley News (White River Junction, VT) > > Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual > menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I've taken enough > from you good people. > > I'm tired of your foolish rhetoric about the " homosexual agenda " and > your allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as > advocating sex with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been > robbing me of the joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny. > > My firstborn son started suffering at the hands of the moral little > thugs from your moral, upright families from the time he was in the > first grade. He was physically and verbally abused from first grade > straight through high school because he was perceived to be gay. > > He never professed to be gay or had any association with anything gay, > but he had the misfortune not to walk or have gestures like the other > boys. He was called " fag " incessantly, starting when he was 6. > > In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should > be doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it > to be sure his family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing > 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he choked out that he just > couldn't bear to continue living any longer, that he didn't want to be > gay and that he couldn't face a life without dignity. > > You have the audacity to talk about protecting families and children > from the homosexual menace, while you yourselves tear apart families and > drive children to despair. I don't know why my son is gay, but I do know > that God didn't put him, and millions like him, on this Earth to give > you someone to abuse. God gave you brains so that you could think, and > it's about time you started doing that. > > At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the belief that this could > never happen to you, that there is some kind of subculture out there > that people have chosen to join. The fact is that if it can happen to my > family, it can happen to yours, and you won't get to choose. Whether it > is genetic or whether something occurs during a critical time of fetal > development, I don't know. I can only tell you with an absolute > certainty that it is inborn. > > If you want to tout your own morality, you'd best come up with something > more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; > it was given to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing > your story, because my own heterosexuality was a blessing I received > with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so woven into the very soul > of me that nothing could ever change it. For those of you who reduce > sexual orientation to a simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or > something that can be changed by a 10-step program, I'm puzzled. Are you > saying that your own sexual orientation is nothing more than something > you have chosen, that you could change it at will? If that's not the > case, then why would you suggest that someone else can? > > A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont has been infiltrated by > outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in Vermont for > generations. I am heart and soul a Vermonter, so I'll thank you to stop > saying that you are speaking for " true Vermonters. " > > You invoke the memory of the brave people who have fought on the > battlefield for this great country, saying that they didn't give their > lives so that the " homosexual agenda " could tear down the principles > they died defending. My 83-year-old father fought in some of the most > horrific battles of World War II, was wounded and awarded the Purple > Heart. > > He shakes his head in sadness at the life his grandson has had to live. > He says he fought alongside homosexuals in those battles, that they did > their part and bothered no one. One of his best friends in the service > was gay, and he never knew it until the end, and when he did find out, > it mattered not at all. That wasn't the measure of the man. > > You religious folk just can't bear the thought that as my son emerges > from the hell that was his childhood he might like to find a lifelong > companion and have a measure of happiness. It offends your sensibilities > that he should request the right to visit that companion in the > hospital, to make medical decisions for him or to benefit from tax laws > governing inheritance. How dare he? you say. These outrageous requests > would threaten the very existence of your family, would undermine the > sanctity of marriage. You use religion to abdicate your responsibility > to be thinking human beings. There are vast numbers of religious people > who find your attitudes repugnant. God is not for the privileged > majority, and God knows my son has committed no sin. > > The deep-thinking author of a letter to the April 12 Valley News who > lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about " those of us who have > been blessed with the benefits of a religious upbringing " asks: " What > ever happened to the idea of striving . . . to be better human beings > than we are? " > > Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that? > > > > > Sharon Underwood's e-mail is: sundervt. > ______________________ ______________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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