Letters to the Editor

However, many of us are now able to see that homosexuality is as natural as heterosexuality, though it manifests itself only in a minority. The fact is that nature produces a wide range of sexual response patterns. We can see now that the Bible, while of great importance in our culture, is not without flaw; can see that it taught us and our forebears an inhumane and immoral response to homosexuals.Though this pattern of response is deeply rooted in us, while it will be a struggle to change it, the change, clearly, is already in progress. Evidence of a gradual improvement is apparent in many of our churches, in television, magazines, newspapers, and the mass media in general. This is a remarkable and creative shift in the moral consciousness of our people, and one that will greatly enhance the quality of life among us. Especially for homosexuals, who have been subjected to severe and persisting abuse by conventional people in the English-speaking world for centuries.Each of us must work at the task of altering our own inner attitudes as well as our outer behavior toward homosexuals. It is a moral obligation. We owe it to God and country.We can help bring about this creative moral change by supporting a bill, AB 1338, that has been introduced in the State Legislature. The Legislative Counsel’s Digest describes it in part as follows: "Existing law provides that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized. This bill would provide for the issuance of a civil union license, and provide that the rights and obligations of a civil union, which could be entered into by any two persons, are the same as those of a marriage."No doubt many of our State’s people, because of their lifelong social conditioning, will find this proposal repugnant. This is understandable, though regrettable. As we grew up in our society, almost all of us learned from our families and friends that same sex love was sinful and disgusting, morally outrageous. It is only in the past 20 years that a number of us have begun to unlearn this immoral and destructive teaching. But it is likely that we are still a minority, so it is important that those of us who care take all possible steps to support the passage of the bill.An important first step is to call our representative in the Assembly, Hannah-Beth Jackson, and indicate our strong support of AB 1338. Then, those who have access to the Internet can become fully informed about the bill at www.leginfo.ca.gov.We must do all we can in order to right the wrongs of the past, and to enhance the quality of life among the American people.The Rev Dr. Alexie CraneUniversalist Unitarian ChurchSanta PaulaRE: David Kaiser LetterTo the Editor:An attempt has been made to label the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) as an organization which does not care about the use of drugs in our schools. I feel it is necessary to respond to a letter by David Kaiser published on March 2, 2001. In his letter, Kaiser states that LULAC wants to protect drug dealers and users. This, of course, is a blatantly false and irresponsible statement since our organization in Ventura County has among its ranks members who are employed by the top law enforcement agencies in the county. In addition, our members include educators, parents and others who truly care about our children and their exposure to gangs and drugs. LULAC has always supported a zero tolerance drug policy for schools.We believe Kaiser needs to read the United States Constitution. If he believes in it and our system of law, he will understand why it is important to proceed carefully when we use the law to search innocent children and their personal belongings in the pursuit of the "bad guys." Pointing fingers without solutions, like Kaiser has done, achieves nothing. We must all work together to ensure that we are vigilant and report activities, which are indicative of drug use and sales. LULAC fully supports Chief Bob Gonzales’ efforts to prevent the introduction of drugs in our schools; we just disagree on how it should be accomplished.David M. RodriquezVentura County RepresentativeLULAC