Subject: IWG Allentown Anti-Discrimination letter
From: Interfaith Working Group <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1998 23:17:30 -0400 (EDT)

September 11, 1998

The Morning Call
101 N. 6th Street
Allentown, PA 18105
  
Dear Editors:

Frank J. McVeigh's letter of September 4 is a perfect
example of why it is sometimes necessary to have laws
which explicitly list certain human conditions that
do not exempt people from the civil rights guaranteed
to all citizens.  McVeigh believes that all people
who share a particular characteristic tend to engage
in "civil wrongs," and therefore all people sharing
the same characteristic should not be entitled to
unidentified "special civil rights" (which seem to
mean the same rights most of us take for granted). 
No individual should be legally responsible for the
actions of everyone else who shares a characteristic
with them, just because some people are obsessed with
that characteristic.  Stereotype-justified
discrimination has been aimed at individuals on the
basis of their religion, skin color, handedness,
country of origin, language, and political
affiliation, among other things.

In this case, McVeigh is complaining about people who
are attracted to people of the same gender, and his
complaints are based on a misuse of statistics and a
lack of understanding of family and religious
diversity.  The percentage of AIDS cases caused by
same-gender sexual contact does not say anything
about the percentage of sexual minorities who have
transmitted AIDS.  There are families that accept and
love their sexual minority members.  There are Jews
and Christians who do not believe that same-gender
sexual behavior is any more sinful than mixed-gender
sexual behavior.  And there are also members of our
society who have chosen to belong to other faiths. 
All of these people are explicitly entitled to the
same civil rights as everyone else whether McVeigh,
their family members, or anyone else is happy with
the choices they have made.

Sincerely,
Barbara Purdom     Christopher Purdom
Interfaith Working Group Coordinators

The above letter went out on IWG letterhead listing 15 congregations and
organizations and 59 clergy from 16 religious traditions. 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.

-- 

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.