KURTIS, ANGELO, JASON, JEFF, ALEX AND GABE

Thank you for publishing “Courting Death” (by Robert A. Jones, July 25). Perhaps there should be a study about the self-esteem of gay and lesbian teens. It might discover that after 15 years of being told they are not acceptable to society, their self-destructive behavior is, at the least, a predictable phenomenon. The message with sex education should be: Your life is valuable, so protect it. But that is clearly in conflict with how society feels about homosexuals.

Most people deny that AIDS has anything to do with them, or that gays and lesbians can lead highly productive, satisfying lives. Are we expecting our teen-agers to be more enlightened than their guardians?

KAREN M. SMAGALA

Santa Barbara

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Those in our society who would prevent our schools from addressing homosexuality in an open, frank and non-religiously based manner are ultimately contributing to the deaths of thousands of young men. And what really chills my heart is that many people out there actually believe that young gay men are better off dead.

IAN STULBERG

MENTAL HEALTH COORDINATOR

ALL SAINTS AIDS SERVICE CENTER

Pasadena

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Sex and AIDS education, and condoms, have been around for a while but are, Jones seems to imply, woefully inadequate for many people. Maybe it is time to teach responsibility and the emotional and spiritual side of sex. Sex can be dangerous in the hands of the emotionally immature and irresponsible, whether they’re 12 or 50.

CYNTHIA MILLER

Simi Valley

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I’d just seen “Jurassic Park” when I read the article about teens and their cavalier attitude about safe sex. Guess which event was more frightening?

RON HILTON

San Diego

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Why not focus on loving, monogamous gay relationships instead of on sex addicts, perpetuating a myth that keeps homophobia alive and well?

DELANEY LUCAS

Sherman Oaks

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I expect you’ll follow up your insightful story on promiscuous, disease-ridden gays with a whole series of moral-red-flag articles such as “Serving Breakfast: Why a Generation of Blacks Enjoys Serving White People”; or “Pinching Pennies: Why a Generation of Jews is Hoarding Money”; or better yet, “Flipping Knives: Why a Generation of Hispanics Carry Switchblades”--all sporting the same impenetrable statistics and representative profiles. And how about “Why Suffering People Are Denied Decent Care and Research Because of Scapegoating, Irrational Hatred and Moral Posturing”?

What misleading tripe!

ALLEN RUBINSTEIN

Hollywood

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Jones’ article surely sets a new standard for moral bankruptcy. Confronted by the horrifying stories of 12- and 13-year-old boys who have been sexually exploited by hundreds of adult homosexuals, the writer is mainly concerned that they didn’t practice safe sex. In other words, it’s OK to sodomize 13-year-old boys as long as you use a condom.

THE REV. PETER LARSON, PASTOR

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Garden Grove

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To Jeff, Alex, Jason, Kurtis, Angelo and Gabe:

Yes, as one of you said, you are stupid, not only because you’ve had unprotected sex but because you’ve also made some poor decisions. Don’t try to justify your actions by blaming them on your parents, society or a given set of circumstances.

Young people should “just say no” not only to drugs but to promiscuous sex as well and concentrate on getting an education, planning a future and trying to make a contribution--not becoming a burden--to society.

Gabe, if you do reach those lofty shores of heaven, you’ll go through a whole lot of hell beforehand. I know, because we watched our son suffer for a long time before he died of AIDS this past March.

M. DAVIS

Corona

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I am a compulsive overeater: I know it can kill me. But that doesn’t stop me from bingeing. My father smoked. He enjoyed it too much to stop. It killed him. My friend runs. If he doesn’t stop, his health problems will get worse, possibly be fatal. He still runs. Multi-partner sex has always been a health risk. Sexually transmitted diseases have been around as long as people have.

Unless the human brain quickly evolves to where it has more impulse-control over the body, unless it can logic-out dangerous compulsive-obsessive desires, future species may mount our bones in museums and wonder how such an inventive, creative species could allow itself to become extinct. After all, the dinosaurs didn’t have a choice. We do. Or do we?

ANNIE CAROLINE SCHULER

West Hollywood

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At last, The Times escapes the prevarications of the homosexual community, whose power is out of all proportion to its numbers, long enough to reveal the chilling truth about the gay lifestyle. In their own words, these young men exposed the sexual predation, the pedophilia, the rampant drug use and selfishness of the decidedly un-gay homosexual community. Orgasm replaces reason. Risk replaces reproduction.

PAUL PETERSEN

Gardena