Dear Editor:

Just a couple of comments on Councilmember Toni Atkins. Am I surprised about the Kroll report and the actions of Toni Atkins. No! Just look at her own district...new condo conversions on every block, without forethought of the horrendous parking problems we already face, displacing renters as well as seniors, new businesses going in, again with no consideration of the parking issue and the drastic homeless situation. I can’t walk one block in Hillcrest without being asked for money by a homeless person, not to mention the fact they are sleeping in cars or in alleyways. What have you done for us lately Toni? Oh wait...there is a new sidewalk in front of some of the businesses on University Ave. Good job. I’ll make sure to send you flowers!

Carol Clark

See www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=7931

Dear Editor:

What is City Attorney Mike Aguirre thinking? He is now sending undercover police officers into the gay bathhouses to find out what is going on! Doesn’t he know? He now has brought charges that people are having sex in the 2200 Club and that an illegal inhalant, Rush, is being sold. What about the other hundred or so straight owned businesses that are selling Rush and other amile nitrates in the city? Within a city block of the 2200 Club you can purchase over a dozen different brands of amile nitrate which are on display in the glass show cases of other city licensed businesses. The only way that Mike Aguirre will continue to serve in elected office is with the support of the GLBT community. The homophobes that he is now trying to court will never vote for him.

Last year at David’s Coffeehouse, Police Chief William Lansdowne told the gay community that he was going to take the undercover police out of the gay businesses and use them in the city schools to discourage young people from joining gangs and choosing a life of crime. Wouldn’t our undermanned and underpaid police force be better utilized on the streets fighting crime than in our bathhouses which are private clubs looking for sexual activity between consenting adults?

If the city is successful in closing the three gay bathhouses then that will probably put several hundred more people each day cruising Balboa Park, our beaches and other public restrooms. Won’t that do wonders for the city’s image.

Businesses catering to homosexuals have been fighting to stay open for over a century. Bathhouses have a long history in the gay community. Since the 1800s bathhouse have been a safe and affirmative place for gay men to gather. The people who own and operate these bathhouses are gay rights activists who donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to our charities. Thank God for these gay leaders who have fought for all of us.

Even if you are not a patron of the gay bathhouses support those that fight for our right to have them. Our three bathhouses attract many tourists to San Diego that also patronize our restaurants, hotels, stores and other businesses.

Fred Macready

See page 14 of this issue

Dear Editor:

I wanted to commend the Gay & Lesbian Times for such a progressive and well-written article in the August, 24th issue, entitled “Queer High: How high school is changing for queer-identified youth”. As a self-identified Chicano, queer-youth at 15, and as a peer-counselor/educator in the SF Bay-Area by age 17, and currently as an oupatient therapist working with children & adolescents, I can assure you that this article will have a tremendous impact and save lives that belong to those youth who will soon become the future of our community. Mr. van de Mark is also to be commended for an excellent job in composing an article that was well thought-out, touching, and centered on undeniable facts and statistics that should alarm our community-members to take more action on behalf of making our schools a safer place for ALL students, especially our GBLT-future.

A. Pacheco, MSW, ACSW

See www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=7997

Dear Editor:

I was saddened and exasperated to read a letter to the editor last week averring it would be better if there were no religion. Although I share the author’s abhorrence of religious bigotry (which Christian fundamentalism seems to spawn), he has allowed his anger to vitiate his logic.

Certainly there are egregious abuses by religious people and institutions; however, that does not make religion a societal juggernaut. In fact, religion in the US has had innumerable positive effects. Many of our best universities were founded as religious institutions: Harvard, Yale, and Princeton to name a few. Countless hospitals were built and staffed by religiously motivated individuals and groups. Religious leaders were the leading proponents for public schooling, abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, civil rights; and they are among the loudest voices today clamoring for gay rights. Billions of dollars each year are given by religious people to support orphanages, humanitarian relief efforts, medical clinics, and other charities across the globe. This doesn’t even begin to address the fact that hundreds of millions of people find incredible meaning for life, peace facing death, and important social connections through religion.

Can the author really believe that the world would be a better place without the likes of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Bach, Mother Theresa, Bishop Desmond Tutu-all whose work was directly motivated and inspired by deep religious convictions?

The fact that abuse of religion exists does not obviate the need for religion. Throughout history, government has been guilty of great injustice and shocking atrocities. Do we abolish government?

Finally, the logic of last week’s letter sounds awfully close to the very group the contributor detests. The Christian fundamentalist looks at the abuses within the gay community and thereby dismisses the entire gay community as a blight to society. Let’s not be guilty of the same small-mindedness and narrow, tunnel-vision. I say we need better religion, and more of it!

RC Haus

See www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=7891