Anti-gay letter makes a few mistakes in argument

For someone who so vehemently opposes those "afflicted" with "Same Sex Attraction Disorder," Mr. Gonzalo Martinez Celaya sure seems obsessed with homosexuality.

A few points to consider:

1. Quoting Dan Quayle may not be the best line of defense.

2. The basis of Christianity is unconditional love.

3. Pedophilia is different from homosexuality.

4. The majority of the world's serial killers and murderers are heterosexual.

5. A new study released yesterday from the UCLA School of Medicine finds genetic connections between a person and their sexuality.

Patrick Holt
theatre arts assistant professor

ÎShameful' letter bashing gays proves ignorance

This letter is in response to hateful and shameful trash written by Gonzalo Martinez Celaya in Monday's Wildcat.

Celeya uses ridiculous and unsupported claims throughout his letter that are simply meant to ignite a firestorm of responses. His ignorance and lack of sound information or facts shows throughout.

Using a term such as SSAD to characterize a "disorder" that Mr. Celaya claims afflicts gay people is archaic and dreadful. No respectable modern-day physician, psychologist or other doctor would support such a foolish claim. Please don't ever try and label me or other gay people as "afflicted." Would you go so far as to invent the AAD (African-American Disorder), HAD (Hispanic-American Disorder) or the WMD (Women's Mental Disorder)? These are equally ludicrous ideas. Try researching the numerous scientific studies penned by LeVay, Kinsey and the National Cancer Institute, all of which point to some genetic link to homosexuality.

Pointing out the "vast majority" of serial killers who are also "sodomites," was an equally ridiculous argument. Indeed there are gay murderers, just as there are murderers who are straight, African-American, Asian-American, White, Mexican American or female. Just think of Susan Smith, the straight woman who drowned her two young children by pushing her car into a lake, or Timothy McVeigh, the straight white man sentenced to death for his hand in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, or, most recently, the black Maryland sniper shooting suspects John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo. Terrible, immoral people come in all shapes and sizes. Please don't group law-abiding, moral, healthy and normal gay citizens in with the perverts and criminals who also disgust us.

The reason this country is in a mess is not because of homosexuality or any other controversial social issue. Our country is a mess because of vast ignorance and the inability to hold rational and productive discussions.

Marc Viscardi
journalism and creative
writing junior

Actions taken by police are counter-productive

The police here have reached a new level of insanity. Why pull over a bus full of students, all of whom I would assume were on a guest list, going to a closed party that would also be checked by GAMMA? Fraternities and sororities use buses to prevent people from driving to a party drunk. Now they get in trouble for trying to be responsible! It's just another example of the police here going out of their way to make sure the student population has the least enjoyable college experience possible. Now that the police have pulled over a bus once, why wouldn't they do it again? It seems to me buses now pose a risk in transporting people to parties. Should everyone just drive drunk to/from the party next time? I hope not. On Friday night, a friend of mine also held a party. He had talked to all of his neighbors and even controlled where people parked. A cop drove by at only 11 p.m., saw more cars around than usual and stopped. Because he got no complaint, he really had no power to do anything. So what did he do? He and another cop parked their cars across the street and waited for the next 30 minutes, hoping they would get a complaint or some other reason to come bust us college kids. That's your tax dollars at work, folks: sitting and waiting outside a party that's not

bothering anyone, rather than catching drunk drivers and whoever steals all of our bikes. Fearing a red tag, we finally just told everybody to go home since the police were sitting right across the street. What are we to do anymore? Responsible fraternity/sorority parties are now at risk, planning a controlled house party doesn't work, going to basically any party doesn't work. If we get this reputation of being a boring school, the UA is going to lose a lot of out-of-state students, money and athletes. Hard to recruit a top basketball star if the No. 1 Friday night activity is reading.

Zach Sonnenberg
pre-business sophomore

Porn downloads harmful, should become restricted

The UA should take the time to help restrict porn viewing, especially since it is in violation of the code of conduct ÷ even if enforcers only have enough time for a little "spot-checking" here and there. Why? Viewing porn is highly destructive to not only the viewer, but to other people as well. How? Replicated studies have shown that it tends to lead to sexual crimes such as rape, child molestation and sexual violence. It is also highly addictive, causes the destruction of families, improper behavior and attitudes toward women and sexual addiction.

The university is the sum total of its entire student body, staff, faculty and administrative personnel. What that means is: decent, law-abiding, high-class university personnel = decent, law-abiding, high-class university. In contrast, indecent, law-questioning, low-budget personnel = indecent, law-questioning, low-budget university.

Why does President Likins want to get a football coach that is decent, law-abiding, high-class AND a game-winner? Because he wants a decent, law-abiding, high-class football team and university, in my humble opinion.

Let go of what's really important, which is morals and character, and say goodbye to any "high-class" anything: individual, family, university, state or nation. Guaranteed.

Park Romney
cooperative extension
4-H faculty member

Christianity disagreement with gays biblically based

Last week the Refuge hosted a speaker who had come out of the homosexual lifestyle. Because of this, we were called intolerant, exclusive and unchristian. I would like to respond to those remarks.

First, tolerance does not mean accepting of every viewpoint. By definition, you tolerate what you disagree with or what you believe to be false or in error. Second, pluralism is inclusive by nature, not exclusive.

Interestingly, evangelical viewpoints are often excluded from the marketplace of ideas at the UA. The "homosexuality" topic was moved from the Cellar the day before the event, to the ballroom. Yet we noticed the cross-dressing show was allowed to stay in the Cellar. Third, Jesus' epistemology was based on the Torah. Genesis 2:24 says, "A man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife and the two will become one flesh." Jesus reaffirms the heterosexual monogamous public marriage ceremony in Matthew 19 and Mark 10. Since Christianity holds Jesus Christ as its leader, it is notable that he does not condone any other sexual unions. Beliefs are the rails upon which our lives run. What matters is not whether I like a belief or how sincere I am in believing it, but whether or not the belief is true. Where do your beliefs come from? Is it experience, culture or an authoritative source? Is it true that the homosexual community is a "minority community?" If so, they are a minority based not on race, color or disability, but sexual preference/orientation. Could other groups obtain minority status based on their sexual preference/orientation and become protected under the law?

Evangelicals must be intellectually honest and admit that they do not hold the whole truth on every issue. The same is true for the homosexual community. Both cannot be right on this issue, yet both can be respectful.

Eddy Pearson
Baptist Collegiate Ministry
director at the Refuge

Christian speaker did not use hate-filled rhetoric

As another Coming Out Week comes to an end on our campus, I think it's important to note the good things that have come out of it, but also to note that we must agree to disagree on our beliefs about homosexuality. Tuesday night was a heated one for the LGBT community as well as for the Refuge Ministry and other Christian groups because of the visit of Tim Wilkins.

I attended the meeting because two parts of my background were going to be represented. I am a Christian who accepted Jesus as my savior at about the age of eight, and my relationship with God will be an important part of me for the rest of my life. I am also a gay student on this campus.

I found a couple of things interesting about the meeting. First off, I was surprised at the way in which several members of the LGBT community handled themselves. I can understand their frustration and the their reason to be defensive because of the way we have been judged in the past. But several people that made comments did so in a very rude manner that wasn't called for. Secondly, I honestly don't think I heard any of what has been called "hate speech." What I heard was a man who has dealt with homosexuality in his life and ended up finding that it wasn't the lifestyle for him. All he did was share his story and state his opinions on homosexuality. I may not agree with him, but I completely respect him for his opinions.

I think the biggest thing that needs to be taken from this week is what was echoed in Daniel Scarpinato's column in Tuesday's Wildcat as well as Chris Wingert's letter in Thursday's paper. There are a lot of very different people that make up the LGBT community. More progress could be made if people would decide to forget the stereotypes and try to understand each other's points of view.

Philip Clelland
political science junior

Comparison of objectivists, Rosa Parks situation faulty

This is in response to Andrew McCarthy«s letter in Friday«s Wildcat. I find it in bad taste that he would invoke the image of Rosa Parks, a person of color involved in a struggle toward racial justice, in conjunction with the protesters of the renamed Ch‡vez building. Ch‡vez was also a person of color involved in a struggle toward racial justice, justice for workers who were being exploited by their employers because of their color and economic situation. If you find that his actions are an attack on "free people," then it must be said that free people are made by the labor of the exploited, that free people manipulate human rights and laws only to benefit their fat pockets. To me, free people are not of that vein. Free people are those who attempt to realize an ultimate end of freedom without oppression. And if you think what Ch‡vez did is violent, then what of the Revolutionary War? Civil War? These battles were far more violent, but occurred in part due to the same freedoms sought by Ch‡vez and Parks.

Amy Hagemeier
UA alumna

Athletics department needs to remember the students

In response to Laura Hewitt's letter a few days back: I must say that I appreciate her ability to point out that our athletics department continues to sell out to wealthy alumni and "a family atmosphere." The last time a family sat behind me, they told me to "sit down and shut up" throughout the game, even though they were sitting in the student section. At one point a middle-aged father went so far as to attempt a physical altercation. So much for a family environment. It seems like the last opinion to matter is that of the students, who pay tuition and currently attend the university. This is nothing new; the athletics department has been depriving us of a true student section for years as it continues to cater to the money and complaints of the privileged alumni. If the athletics department is going to continue to allot only a pitiful 16 percent of McKale Center for student seats, they need to at least construct a system that rewards the true fans. I'll always bleed red and blue. I, like many others, deserve to be in that arena. So either stand up to the alumni and the families and add more student seating or construct a better system of seat allotment. Suggested ideas include: first-come first-serve for each game (UCLA), a points system (Stanford) or a controlled campout (Duke). Until things are changed, shame on the athletics department for depriving us of what should be one of the most enjoyable experiences of our college years.

Nick Banzhaf
accounting junior