Discretion is admirable
Re: “Gay or straight? It doesn’t matter — Day of full acceptance is not far off, says Laurie Lynn Lindemeier,” Saturday Viewpoints.
Laurie states her opinion that it does not matter if someone is gay. I agree to a point. It does not matter until they celebrate their gayness openly. The in-your-face declarations of Rosie O’Donnell and others offend me.
I have known and worked with some gay men and women. Some of my best friends in high school have come out. A parent can love and accept an unruly child, but not accept their behavior. I can love someone and still not approve of their sinful actions. Acting on gay impulses is a sin. Now every man sins. But not every man celebrates his sins in public.
I do not make a practice of celebrating my sexuality in public. I do not want gays to do this either.
John Combs, Garland
Changing face of marriage
Re: “Conservative bishops decry new tone on gays — Report that softens stands on divorce, sexuality, other issues is condemned,” Wednesday news story.
Today’s advocates for gay marriage bans would say that matrimony has historically been between one man and one woman. However, many might realize a problem with that view if they look to other cultures in existence today, along with societies that flourished in the past.
St. Paul compared marriage to the relationship Christ had with his church (Eph. v. 23-33).
In ancient times, most marriages were arranged and had nothing to do with love. Most of those marriages were about the acquisition and protection of wealth, power and bloodlines.
History gives us evidence that polygamy has been practiced in Christian, Jewish and Muslim cultures.
Today, we can use our friend as an example of polygamy, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. I wish I could give more examples of marriages that don’t fit the one-man and one-woman definition, like common-law marriages, but that can easily be found on the Internet.
In short, if we want to go back to the day when women were traded like cattle, then we should embrace those historic traditions in totality, like the one where you don’t get to choose who you marry because you were betrothed as a child.
Eddie Ortega, downtown Dallas