Return Fire on Dannemeyer, AIDS
Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), in an attempt to justify his opposition to Health and Human Services AIDS-related research, criticized Dr. Burton Lee (President Bush’s personal physician) for being “used” by bureaucrats who “want to use taxpayer dollars to investigate the private sexual practices of Americans” (“Bush’s Doctor Criticizes Dannemeyer on AIDS,” Feb. 11). Mr. Dannemeyer said, however, that he did support the use of government funds to “calculate the prevalence of homosexuality in America.”
What exactly is the difference between investigating private sexual practices and discovering the incidence of homosexuality? How do you find out how many citizens are gay or lesbian or straight without investigating (or at least inquiring about) their private sexual practices?
How about it, Mr. D? The only two logical summations of your statements are that gay people aren’t Americans, or that government funds are not taxpayer dollars. Or maybe this is just one more example of the shortsighted, fuzzy-headed thinking that has characterized your response to both the HIV epidemic and the civil rights of gay Americans.
PAUL D. GILES, Westminster
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