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Others shouldn't dictate how I should live
To the editor, The flaws in Jason Belnap's letter taking issue with my comments of Tuesday 27 demand a response. The "voice of the people" is hardly silenced by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people or any other group. For proof, we need only look to Louis Farrakhan, or Senator Lott comparing my homosexuality with kleptomania. "These people disguise themselves as a minority," he says. As a math student, Belnap should recognize a numerical minority when he sees one. Regarding the quilt I'm destroying, the list of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender contributors to society is endless. As for "selling this nation's morals ... for pleasure;" morals, values and integrity are individually defined. Of course, Belnap's emphasis on pleasure is based on his assumption that sex is central to all I do. Remember that gay relationships, just like straight ones, are based on more than sex and are central to a happy life. "It's a lifestyle." Another enlightened heterosexual with insight into the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience. Try using that insight to promote understanding. I didn't "hide behind genetics," but stated that genetics played "a part" in my being gay. "The other rung on the ladder is choice." I choose to be happy and not live a lie by marrying a woman to conform with Belnap's expectations. That surely would constitute "hurting an innocent person." Apparently I'm not being condemned, but simply criticized for my effect on society. Try not dictating how I should live, and I promise to try my best to ignore the heterosexism that surrounds me every day. As for diseases, take a look at the stats to see who is being most irresponsible in their sexual behavior (clue; not gay men). At the end of the letter comes a revelation; acknowledgment that I have the freedom to live my life my way. If you really believe this, why waste time with all the intolerant remarks? Of course, it could be because you mean I can live my life my way, only so long as it's your way. That looks like the very intolerance you call unacceptable. I value your right to state your opinion. However, the constitution under which we both live (yep, you get to share it with a queer boy) allows me to fight your attempt, based on your own narrow interpretation of how life should be lived, to lessen my rights and status in this country
Nick Ray
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