RONICI

August 6,

letters tothe editor

If I leave the church, anti-gays win

To the Editor:

As a gay Catholic, I am deeply saddened and disappointed by the recent Vatican decision to silence Sr. Jeannine Gramick and Fr. Bob Nugent, both prophets for the past 30 years [July 23 issue].

The Vatican may well win this battle but will ultimately lose the war, because Christ is not in this heavy-handed decision.

Many of us gay Catholics give little credence to the church's teaching on sexuality because it ignores modern Scriptural exegesis, current social science research, and most of all, the experience of God and goodness in our lives.

At the same time, I will not leave the official church because I know that, if I leave, I can't help the church change, and the rightwing faction will win by default. I choose to stay, live the truth of my life, and continue to be proudly gay, proudly Catholic.

Dr. Joseph Gentilini Columbus

We must not ignore evil

To the Editor:

Recently I have read about and heard many community leaders advocating that we ignore and divert attention from evil forces

such as the KKK and Fred Phelps. You reported this in two articles in your July 30 issue, written by Miles Rosenberg and Dawn E. Leach. I react to such advice with sadness and deep concern.

The struggle between good and evil is eternal and universal. When in history has ignoring evil ever been known to extinguish it? We must not make the mistaken assumption that everyone going to these rallies is doing so with an adversarial spirit.

If the good majority ignores the work of the evil minority, who will have influence over the uncertain? We are not encouraged to ignore the evils of the legislature, but in ignoring evil agitators are we not allowing their message to spread, risking the emergence of evil representation in government? If the good people of Germany had stood up, could Hitler have been stopped? What would have happened if nineteenth-century Republicans and abolitionists had ignored the spread of slavery?

Martin Luther King Jr. once said "When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind." We must remember that one cannot "build and bind" with his or her eyes shut, or his or her back turned from the task.

The task before us is enormous. Many of us may feel hopelessness. Many of us may feel emotional exhaustion. Many of us may feel disillusioned. Nonetheless, if we cannot

run we must walk, and if we cannot walk we

GAY. PEOPLE'S

must crawl, but one this is certain, we must not sit still.

Robert Sheely University Hts., Ohio

Does mission include bisexuals? To the Editor:

I sincerely hope it was an innocent omission on the part of restaurant owner Buck Harris to exclude bisexuals from his mission statement's list of people that Lake Effect is to provide a "safe and comfortable environment" for.

Many members of “our” community will, likewise, not tolerate intolerance... except when we're talking about bisexuals. When out about being bi (not gay and not straight), reactions from "our" community members often range from subtly biased to openly hostile.

Some of us have the courage to be out as bi, and don't try to pass as straight or gay. Consequently, homosexism and biphobia are, sadly, just as often encountered in the “gay” community as heterosexism and homophobia are from the "straight" world. Out bisexuals are just as much in need of an accepting atmosphere as our gay, lesbian, and transgender brothers and sisters are. Many colors make a rainbow-our community includes us all, no matter who likes it (or not).

E.J. Farbarik Parma, Ohio

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Chronicle

Volume 15, Issue

Publisher: Martha J. Pontoni Business Manager: Patti Harris Managing Editor: Doreen Cudnik Associate Editor: Brian DeWitt

Senior Staff Writer: Dawn E. Leach Reporters & Writers:

1070-177X

Mubarak S. Dahir, Beren deMotier, Bob Findle, John Graves, Mark J. Huisman, Kaizaad Kotwal, M.T. Martone, Jeffrey Newman, Harriet L. Schwartz,

Kirk Read, Eric Resnick, Bob Roehr, Rex Wockner, John Zeh

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