Gay Couples

Thanks for two articles: “Ripples of Sadness From Airline Crash” (Feb. 14) and “Knight Initiative Has Another Agenda” (Commentary, Feb. 14). They were rays of sunshine on an otherwise rainy and gloomy day.

The story of two life partners, Bill Knudson and Brad Long, who died in the Alaska Flight 261 crash, was inspiring. Let their lives enlighten us about gay relationships. Fellow Californians, sit up and take notice. Prop. 22 is unnecessary, divisive and demeaning. Don’t let it happen to us in this great state.

BOB FERNANDEZ

Granada Hills

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I commend you on the poignant, comprehensive article about Knudson and Long. This piece about the successful, committed, long-term relationship of a same-sex couple was especially important in light of Prop. 22’s limit on marriage controversy. I think one of Bill and Brad’s conservative friends said it best: “I told Bill I didn’t really understand the gay thing at all, but they were the greatest guys I ever knew.”

People, relationships, couples--marriage--should not be defined, limited or judged based on sexual orientation, but rather on the quality of the lives they lead. It’s unfortunate Bill and Brad could not be here to read this article. Its integrity and heart seem to be everything they stood for.

GARY GOLDSTEIN

Sherman Oaks

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Re Brian O’Leary Bennett’s commentary: As a Central Committee member of the California Republican Party, I am disgusted with Bennett’s attempt to portray social conservatives who oppose the chosen homosexual lifestyle as being supporters of hate and violence against the homosexual community.

Social conservatives simply believe that our nation’s Judeo-Christian foundation must be protected. We believe that the homosexual community’s desire to see their lifestyle legitimized is not compatible with our Judeo-Christian heritage. To accuse social conservatives of promoting violence reflects Bennett’s inability to debate the value to society of the homosexual lifestyle.

RODNEY GUYTON

Torrance

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I had just finished reading the article about the death of the gay couple on the Alaska Airlines flight and was thinking about what the “gay lifestyle” really means when I found Shawn Hubler’s Feb. 14 column. She said all the right things: a committed couple, productive members of society, the commonness of “day-to-day . . . intertwined lives.”

My partner and I live in Old Towne Orange, my sons went to El Modena High School and I am in a very visible leadership position in my work and in the community. My partner is with me at professional and civic functions. We chose to do this because of exactly what Hubler captured in her column. We are part of this community; we are invested in what we determine to be the best for our community--no different from our neighbors.

We also choose to be a visible lesbian couple because we believe that it is important that people see us for the matter-of-factness of our lives. Yes, this is the true engine of revolution. Nothing, not the Knight initiative or the Orange Unified School District Board of Trustees, can prevent most thoughtful people from doing the right thing for others.

MARGARET MANSON

Orange