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Letters to the Editor

Smoking harmful to all

To the editor,

In response to Jordan Shoor, and others, here are a few thoughts from one of the approximately 39,000 non-smokers on campus. Fact: breathing is essential to life, smoking is not. Fact: currently, smoke does enter buildings, even large ones such as McKale Center and Centennial Hall. Conjecture: When it is inconvenient to smoke, smokers may smoke less, and may even be motivated to quit. Many of them welcome the incentive.

I realize how addictive tobacco is, but I also know the harm it does to anyone who breathes it. Moving smokers further from the buildings is one option. Perhaps smokers should accept this, as another alternative would be to ban smoking on campus all together. I'm sure there are many who would love to propose that solution!

Debbi Golden-Davis

Classified staff

Richardson story inaccurate

To the editor,

I read Sheila Bapat's column on Thursday of last week with a sense of disbelief. Blatantly incorrect, unfair to its target and obviously ill-researched seem the most appropriate adjectives to describe her tirade.

Ms. Bapat berated State Senator Elaine Richardson for being willing to kill a piece of domestic violence legislation because an attempt was made to be inclusive of gay and lesbian couples. In her own words, Bapat says:

"(another legislator) and Richardson hate gays so much that they are willing to let a valuable bill die rather than protect homosexuals' rights. They are too afraid of a lifestyle that is different than theirs, too weak to stand up and protect all of their constituents."

If Ms. Bapat had spent more than one second confirming the accuracy of her story, rather than searching her thesaurus for extreme and alarming language, she would have discovered that Ms. Richardson is perhaps the last member of the State Legislature who would ever act in such a way.

Two years ago, when Wingspan, Tucson's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Community Center (300 E. 6th St.) was planning its first ever benefit dinner, we wanted a local keynote speaker who could address issues pertinent to the GLBT community in Tucson. Further, we wanted somebody who had consistently put equal rights above political opportunism, and Elaine Richardson's name was the first to come up. Countless GLBT residents, as well as straight allies, recommended her. She delivered a stirring speech, addressing specifically her determination to see domestic violence legislation pass that was inclusive of GLBT couples.

She has been a tireless advocate of equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans, and in particular has been good to her word in campaigning for comprehensive domestic violence legislation.

It is this last fact that makes your columnist's piece all the more annoying. A simple phone call to the Senator's office would have been sufficient for Ms. Bapat to discover that whatever source she was relying on was wholly inaccurate. Instead, she spat out venomous language asserting that Elaine was a gay-hater afraid of a different "lifestyle".

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

As an aside, Ms. Bapat, being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender is a life, not a 'lifestyle'. You make a 'lifestyle choice' to live in a huge house, belong to an expensive country club, or in your case to be a scandal-mongering journalist, thriving on the victimization of others regardless of the accuracy of your work. If you bothered to do your research then there is at least the possibility that you might make a good journalist someday, though I am not holding my breath for you to make this choice about your own "lifestyle".

I do, however, look forward to reading your better-researched apology to Sen. Elaine Richardson in your next piece, assuming the Editor deems you worthy of the column inches.

Nick Ray

Political Science Graduate Student

Board member of Wingspan