Dear Editor:

I agree with your editorial about James Hartline. Those who exclude certain candidates from opportunities to make their case to the voting public do not do the excluded candidates a disservice so much as they do the voters a disservice.

I suppose there are people out there whose minds are closed, who would never vote for a candidate from another party or a candidate with whom they strongly disagree on one or two issues.

But I like to keep an open mind and consider candidates in relationship to the broad range of issues that concern me, not just one or two issues.

When the Hillcrest Town Council invited all candidates to present their views, the result was an informative and exciting exchange of different ideas. The fact that candidates disagreed with each other forced them to defend their views instead of just preaching to the choir.

James Hartline impressed me as an impassioned defender of our District 3 neighborhoods against the outside special interests that have driven our city to the verge of bankruptcy, left our roads and infrastructure in a dilapidated state, and threatened the character of our charming historic older neighborhoods.

Hartline said he would fight the developers who want to tear down our neighborhoods and fill them with high-rises, destroying their history, greenery, views, light, quiet, privacy, walk-ability and ease of traffic mobility and parking.

Good for him. I wish the other candidates had shown the same passionate concern for our community. It was almost enough to make me overlook Hartline’s anti-gay views (as a lone city council-member, there is not much that he could do to threaten us.)

There is also the possibility that Hartline will grow into his position if he is elected and finally admit that gays are not the problem that he says they are. At any rate, I would not have excluded even Adolf Hitler if Hitler wanted to speak at a candidates forum.

This is supposed to be a free country, and we are supposed to be responsible adults who can make up our own minds—not have them made up for us by those who think we can’t handle a controversial politician.

Andrew Towne

Dear Editor:

We have been watching the discussion regarding the Gay Men’s Christmas Chorus in La Jolla over the past few weeks.

We are a gay family with twin 4 year old girls who also attended the performance.

We chose to go to the concert because it was billed in the advertisement as a family concert. We chose the Sunday afternoon performance because it seemed especially family friendly. We too were extremely disappointed with the stares, looks and comments by a few near us. Our girls were not crying, running, screaming, or laughing. They were however four year old girls enjoying an afternoon of Christmas carols. Enjoying Christmas through the eyes of children is something incredibly special. We were not attending a funeral, a wake or even church services. We were attending a family friendly afternoon of Christmas carols. I do understand that some of these gay men enjoy having a space where the outside world of children and families is not included. In the past maybe a Gay chorus was such a place, but I believe that time is marching forward and hopefully in the future our attendance would be embraced and enjoyed because we will be there next time and it would be great if we could have a few hellos and maybe even a few smiles. If not I would be willing to toss in a few bucks so someone could babysit Carson McIntyre.

Finally I would like to comment to the women who originated this topic. I felt exactly as you did and I know it had nothing to do with you being straight because we experienced the same feelings.

Jim Andrews

Robert McIntosh