Subject: IWG Hackensack Record Letter
From: Interfaith Working Group <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 23:02:01 -0400 (EDT)

The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 10 congregations and religious
organizations and 39 clergy from 13 faiths and denominations. If you are in 
the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious 
organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths 
are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in 
other areas.

May 20, 1997

The Record
150 River Street
Hackensack, NJ  07602

Dear Editors:

In his letter regarding "Ellen" and society's treatment
of those who dare to come out of the closet, Chet Klope
begins with the assumption that homosexuality is wrong,
simply because it runs counter to what he views as
humanity's biological design for heterosexuality.  One
could as easily state, and many people have, that human
beings were not designed to fly and therefore have no
business getting in airplanes.   As a society, we
praise individuals who had the nerve to step beyond the
prevailing social wisdom of their cultures, such as the
Wright Brothers, Gandhi and Martin Luther King.  

Ellen DeGeneres' small act of bravery may not put her
in the same league with people who have faced death to
fundamentally change society, but she and others who
face social condemnation because they speak the truth
deserve better than being told that they need to be
"cured" by organizations seeking to force everyone to
conform to a single, religiously-based,  biological
standard.

Sincerely,
Barbara Purdom     Christopher Purdom
Interfaith Working Group Coordinators

-- 

Interfaith Working Group                Religious organizations, congregations
[email-masked]                      and clergy supporting gay rights,
http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/         reproductive freedom, and the 
215-235-3050                            separation of church and state.