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Updated Oct 9th, 2008
Letters to the Editor
Marriage
Proposition
Controversy
As one whose name was listed
in the ad in favor of Proposition 8
published in The Outlook, I disagree
with the allegations of intolerance
and bigotry asserted by
Julie Abbott in her letter to the editor
(Oct 2 issue).
Oftentimes we do not appreciate
the value of what we have until
we lose it. Marriage and family
have been under assault for many
years and striving to preserve the
unique role of mother and father is
worth protecting. I cannot imagine
what my four children would be
without the influence of my wife.
Likewise, I strive to set an example
for my daughters and son by the
way I treat my wife, hoping they
will, in kind, desire to establish a
similar relationship as they seek a
spouse and start a family.
The judicial modification of
marriage not only unnecessarily
takes away the long held definition
of marriage, but also opens the
door for confusing and deceiving
future generations in the years to
come. Never has so much been
taken away from so many, both living
and those yet to come, so that
so few can call their union a marriage.
I have friends and colleagues
who are attracted to the same sex. I
harbor no ill will or bigotry
towards them. Provision has been
made for them to enjoy their union;
however, there is no need to open
the door for traditional marriage to
be anything other than a man and a
woman providing a home with the
benefits of a mother and a father.
I hope we can all carefully
reflect on the wisdom of traditional
marriage as we have known it
and the role it has played in our
society. For this reason I am in
favor of Proposition 8.
Charles Woodhouse
La Cañada Flintridge
...And the
Opposing View
I am totally outraged at the full color
ads that you are currently running
in your publication in support
of Proposition 8. This proposition
is one of the most bigoted acts to
ever pollute our lives and the pages
of The Outlook.
I was born overseas and understand
oppression and racism very
well, as there were many times that
I was judged based on my ethnicity
or the color of my skin. When I
moved to Los Angeles in the late
’70s, I loved the diversity and the
freedom to be who you are without
the government telling you how
you should live your life; a concept
foreign in many other counties, but
one that forms the foundation of
our great country.
Now in 2008, we have the
Mormons trying to tell us how to
run our political system in order to
oppress another group of people
that they consider inferior. How is
this any different than the Jim Crow
laws that plagued our country
between 1876 and 1965.
If you find yourself supporting
Prop 8, it is time to wake up and
open your mind. Prop 8 is not about
protecting the sanctity of marriage;
where is the sanctity when over
50% of all marriages now end in
divorce? And the fact that 1 in 5
never-married women ages 15 to 44
are single mothers and 20% of
those are raising three or more children
alone.
On the other hand, you have
two people, who want to form a
family and many of these couples
have or want children and they have
the ability to provide a loving and
supportive home. Gay couples will
not make gay babies.
Most of us in California are
fairly educated. Do these ads really
think that they will convince an
educated public that a family with
two loving, same-sex parents is
worse than being raised by some of
these so-called straight parents
other there? How about all the children
who are in the “system” and
will be on their own at age 18 with
no parent to guide them in life?
Many will end up in a life of crime.
How many of these children will be
better off with two parents, gay or
straight?
This really is not a gay issue; it
is an issue of denying a group of
people their basic civil liberties
guaranteed to all of us by our
Constitution. Let’s finally put all
the bigoted attitudes to bed and
allow everyone to live their lives as
they see fit, without “Big Brother”
and the religious right wing telling
us how to live our “free” lives.
No on Proposition 8. Anything
else would be Un-American.
Jirayr Boynerian
Glendale
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