Subject: Response to Gay Bashing Letter
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 1995 11:31:16 -0500

THE FOLLOWING IS SUBMITTED AS A LETTER TO THE EDITOR BY THE

PRO-LIFE ALLIANCE OF GAYS AND LESBIANS

Post Office Box 33292
Washington, D.C. 20033
(202) 223-6697
Internet:  Plagal [email-masked]

For Further Information:
	Philip Arcidi
	(508) 369-0700

[Original letter follows PLAGAL's letter]

Gentlemen:

	On November 15, 1995, the Austin (Texas) American Statesman published a
letter from Mr. Kurt Standiford that rejoices over the possible use of
genetics to identify lesbian and gay individuals while still preborn, and
exterminate them before birth.  Lesbians, gays and the preborn have an
important characteristic in common:  In Mr. Standiford's mind, we are
considered less than human.  And because we are considered less than human,
 we are not deemed entitled to the basic human rights that everyone else
takes for granted.

To be preborn and lesbian or gay is to be doubly vulnerable:  Scientists are
finding a genetic basis for homosexuality.   Soon doctors will be able to
determine if a child in the womb is predisposed to be gay.  Once medical
science achieves that ability, it will be possible to do by legal, surgical
procedure what all the homophobes and gay-bashers throughout history have
tried and failed to do -- to eliminate lesbians and gays once and for all.

As soon as this "final solution" becomes available, a couple that finds gay
sexuality an affront to their sensibilities won't have to face up to it --
not in their own family, anyway.  Or suppose that the parents-to-be consider
themselves to be good liberals.  They may still decide that homosexuality is
too great a handicap for their unborn son or daughter to carry through life
-- or an added complication in child-rearing that they themselves can do
without.  Why should they borrow trouble when it would be so much easier to
try again in the hope of producing a straight child?

The brutality of abortion hits home when you consider that this "procedure"
could have snuffed you out before you drew your first breath.  If we
exterminate a fetus  because of his or her intrinsic nature, that is, sexual
orientation, we are acknowledging that this fetus is an unique human being.
 How can you be a lesbian or gay individual, and not a person?  The preborn
lesbian or gay child is already the child we will come to know after birth.
 We must ensure its safe passage into the world and work for a ban on
abortions based on sexual orientation.  Otherwise lesbians and gays will be
targeted as America's next victims of abortion.

Once abortion is perceived as a legal means of exterminating lesbians and
gays,  the fallacy of the "pro-choice" position is exposed.  The freedom --
treasured by lesbians and gays -- for each of us to dispose of our bodies as
we see fit does not give us the freedom to dispose of someone else's body.
 No one has the right to decide for others whether they will live or die.
 Each human life is its own justification for being.

America's abortion on demand policy -- the most sweeping of any developed
democracy -- says that some lives can be exterminated at will; birth is a
privilege reserved for those deemed eligible.  While that policy exits,
neither gays nor lesbians -- nor any preborn children whose chromosones are
exceptional  --  are safe.

Sincerely,

Philip Arcidi, President
Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians (PLAGAL)
Concord, Massachusetts

ORIGINAL LETTER TO WHICH WE ARE RESPONDING

       Published in    Austin American Statesman   11/15/1995 
                ****************************************
 
  An Email Address for The Austin American Statesman is provided
  at the end of this letter!
 
  Letters to The Editor :
  =======================
 
  "Treating" Homosexuality :
 
  Thanks to Dr. Dean Hamer (and genetic engineering), would be parents
  might soon be able to ensure that their child will not be born homosexual.
  Unfortunately, this would not be death rattle for homosexuality, but at 
  least homosexuality can be treated as the disease it is instead of being 
  patronized as a lifestyle option. This might not sit well with those 
  who fabricate the homosexual agenda, but their opinions are a moot 
  point. The last thing we need is homosexual's opinions of homosexuality.
  Their tirade will soon be slienced by biochemical research.
  God willing homosexuality will some day be extinct anomaly of human 
  nature. 
 
                                Kurt Standiford - Austin 78751
 
 =
 
  You can reach The Austin American Statesman in the following ways :
 
  Mail :        The Austin American Statesman 
                Attention :  Letters to The Editor
                Post Office Box 670
                Austin, Texas 78767
 
 Fax:           512-445-3679
 
 Email :        [email-masked]