Subject: IWG Washington Post Survey Response
From: Interfaith Working Group <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 00:07:58 -0500 (EST)

December 26, 1998

The Washington Post
1150 15th Street NW
Washington, DC 20071

Dear Editors:

Thank you for the in-depth coverage of American
attitudes about homosexuality.  However, we must
disagree with your final analysis.  Most recent
polls, yours included, have demonstrated that
approximately 30% of the population believes that gay
people deserve all the same rights as everyone else;
that homosexuality and heterosexuality are morally
equivalent; and/or that same-gender couples should be
treated the same as mixed gender couples.  This is
between 3 and 30 times the percentage of the
population that is actually gay, depending on whose
numbers you are using.  These results demonstrate a
broad and growing base of support for equal rights
for sexual minorities, most evident in policy changes
and ongoing policy debates in religious institutions.
Your efforts to understand and communicate the
conflicting beliefs of the shrinking majority were
both admirable and useful, but why not convene a 
focus group that would shed light on why 28% or more
of the population is comfortable with same-gender
sexual orientation, whether they always held that
opinion, and if not, what changed their minds?

Sincerely,
Barbara Purdom     Christopher Purdom
Interfaith Working Group Coordinators

The above letter went out on IWG letterhead listing 16 congregations and
organizations and 60 clergy from 15 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 
voice: 215-235-3050  fax: 232-0829      separation of church and state.