To the Editor:

The article (“Sisters united, siblings start Gay Straight Alliance,” Nov. 3) grabbed my attention because I consider myself a longtime friend of the family.

We used to attend the same church so we saw each other regularly, but now it’s more of getting the Christmas letter catch-up. So I was surprised and dismayed to learn about Hannah’s belief that she is gay, and her father’s statement that he abandoned a belief that homosexuality is wrong because “it’s different when it’s your kids.”

Really? Isn’t that why we learn morality and ethics so that when it becomes personal we have already made a decision about right and wrong? We need to decide those issues in advance because it is much more difficult when it is about “me and mine,” but not different. If all the rules bend to suit us personally, there are no rules at all.

Let me be clear. Bullying of any person for any reason is wholly unacceptable. Every student is entitled to protection and a safe school environment. I am very sorry Hannah has suffered in this way.

But the problem to be addressed is bullying and not the character, appearance, gender, race, socioeconomic status or sexual preferences of the victim of bullying.

Unfortunately, the issues of “bullying” and “safe schools” have provided those who seek to normalize and promote homosexuality a way to infiltrate our schools.

Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network poses as a “club” formed to improve relationships between hetero and homosexuals but functions more like a recruitment center. Their meetings “educate” students on the homosexual lifestyle with X-rated topics that reject traditional values, encourage homosexual experimentation and celebrate those who adopt that lifestyle.

Living the homosexual lifestyle has serious consequences in this life, aside from personal religious convictions about the afterlife. According to an article by Dr. John R. Diggs Jr., there is a direct and strong correlation between homosexuality and five categories of health risks — promiscuity (even among lesbians, who are far less promiscuous than homosexual men, the average was greater than 50 lifetime partners), physical health (especially sexually transmitted diseases, rectal and anal cancers, hepatitis), mental health (especially drug use, depression and suicide attempts — even in the Netherlands where homosexuality is fully accepted), shortened life span (20 years less on average), and monogamy rates almost non-existent even in “committed relationships” (66 percent reported being unfaithful in the first year and 90 percent after five years).

I doubt this is part of the “education” Hannah received when she attended summer camp, or heard from the adult homosexuals she has been introduced to, or will be learning in the GLSEN meetings. But it should be!

Saying homosexuality is dangerous and therefore wrong behavior is not bullying, bigoted or hateful. While not a “politically correct” statement, verbalizing it could save many from unnecessary heartache, mental problems and life-threatening diseases.

Therefore it is the most loving and supportive thing to tell a young person who is questioning their sexuality, especially now in this time of moral relativism and homosexual activism.

Having GLSEN clubs in our schools is equally dangerous and therefore contrary to the very issues of safety and protection raised by the “Sisters United” article.

The question is, who among us is loving and courageous enough to oppose it?

Ann Cicero
Franklin