Re: Vermont Letter

Thank you!!!
Andrea

--- ShayDguy@aol.com wrote:
>   I am not
>   sending this to piss anyone off or to change
> anyone's mind. It's
>   something that just needs to be seen.  I read this
> and felt that it was
>   a very moving, haunting, and probably one of the
> best letters that was
>   ever written about this subject.  It's truly
> amazing.  This woman should
>   be commended for her bravery.  I wish that more
> people would just
>   understand how precious life really is. Please
> read this with your heart
>   as well as your head.  If you want to make a
> comment please keep it as
>   brief as possible.  The moderators will greatly
> appreciate that.
>   
>   > 
>   > This editorial is from Sunday's Concord Monitor.
>   > Sunday, April 30, 2000
>   > By SHARON UNDERWOOD
>   > For the Valley News (White River Junction,
> VT/Hanover, NH)
>   > As the mother of a gay son, I've seen firsthand
> how cruel and misguided
>   > people can be.
>   > 
>   > Many letters have been sent to the Valley News
> concerning the homosexual
>   > menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son
> and I've taken enough
>   > from you good people. I'm tired of your foolish
> rhetoric about the
>   > "homosexual agenda" and your allegations that
> accepting homosexuality is
>   > the same thing as advocating sex with children.
> You are cruel and
>   > ignorant. You have been robbing me of the joys
> of motherhood ever since
>   > my children were tiny.
>   > 
>   > My firstborn son started suffering at the hands
> of the moral little
>   > thugs from your moral, upright families from the
> time he was in the
>   > first grade. He was physically and verbally
> abused from first grade
>   > straight through high school because he was
> perceived to be gay.
>   > 
>   > He never professed to be gay or had any
> association with anything gay,
>   > but he had the misfortune not to walk or have
> gestures like the other
>   > boys. He was called "fag" incessantly, starting
> when he was 6.
>   > 
>   > In high school, while your children were doing
> what kids that age should
>   > be doing, mine labored over a suicide note,
> drafting and redrafting it
>   > to be sure his family knew how much he loved
> them. My sobbing
>   > 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he
> choked out that he just
>   > couldn't bear to continue living any longer,
> that he didn't want to be
>   > gay and that he couldn't face a life without
> dignity.
>   > 
>   > You have the audacity to talk about protecting
> families and children
>   > from the homosexual menace, while you yourselves
> tear apart families and
>   > drive children to despair. I don't know why my
> son is gay, but I do
>   > know that God didn't put him, and millions like
> him, on this Earth to
>   > give you someone to abuse. God gave you brains
> so that you could think,
>   > and it's about time you started doing that.
>   > 
>   > At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the
> belief that this could
>   > never happen to you, that there is some kind of
> subculture out there
>   > that people have chosen to join. The fact is
> that if it can happen to
>   > my family, it can happen to yours, and you won't
> get to choose. Whether
>   > it is genetic or whether something occurs during
> a critical time of
>   > fetal development, I don't know. I can only tell
> you with an absolute
>   > certainty that it is inborn.
>   > 
>   > If you want to tout your own morality, you'd
> best come up with something
>   > more substantive than your heterosexuality. You
> did nothing to earn it;
>   > it was given to you. If you disagree, I would be
> interested in hearing
>   > your story, because my own heterosexuality was a
> blessing I received
>   > with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so
> woven into the very soul
>   > of me that nothing could ever change it. For
> those of you who reduce
>   > sexual orientation to a simple choice, a
> character issue, a bad habit or
>   > something that can be changed by a 10-step
> program, I'm puzzled. Are
>   > you saying that your own sexual orientation is
> nothing more than
>   > something you have chosen, that you could change
> it at will? If that's
>   > not the case, then why would you suggest that
> someone else can?
>   > 
>   > A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont
> has been infiltrated by
>   > outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in
> Vermont for
>   > generations. I am heart and soul a Vermonter, so
> I'll thank you to stop
>   > saying that you are speaking for "true
> Vermonters."
>   > 
>   > You invoke the memory of the brave people who
> have fought on the
>   > battlefield for this great country, saying that
> they didn't give their
>   > lives so that the "homosexual agenda" could tear
> down the principles
>   > they died defending. My 83-year-old father
> fought in some of the most
>   > horrific battles of World War II, was wounded
> and awarded the Purple
>   > Heart.
>   > 
>   > He shakes his head in sadness at the life his
> grandson has had to live.
>   > He says he fought alongside homosexuals in those
> battles, that they did
>   > their part and bothered no one. One of his best
> friends in the service
>   > was gay, and he never knew it until the end, and
> when he did find out,
>   > it mattered not at all. That wasn't the measure
> of the man.
>   > 
>   > You religious folk just can't bear the thought
> that as my son emerges
>   > from the hell that was his childhood he might
> like to find a lifelong
>   > companion and have a measure of happiness. It
> offends your
>   > sensibilities that he should request the right
> to visit that companion
>   > in the hospital, to make medical decisions for
> him or to benefit from
>   > tax laws governing inheritance.
>   > 
>   > How dare he? you say. These outrageous requests
> would threaten the
>   > very existence of your family, would undermine
> the sanctity of marriage.
>   > 
>   > You use religion to abdicate your responsibility
> to be thinking human
>   > beings. There are vast numbers of religious
> people who find your
>   > attitudes repugnant. God is not for the
> privileged majority, and God
>   > knows my son has committed no sin.
>   > 
>   > The deep-thinking author of a letter to the
> April 12 Valley News who
>   > lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about
> "those of us who have
>   > been blessed with the benefits of a religious
> upbringing" asks: "What
>   > ever happened to the idea of striving . . . to
> be better human beings
>   > than we are?"
>   > 
>   > Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that?
>   > 
>   > Sharon Underwood lives in White River Junction,
> Vt.
>
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