Well, Dr. Laura, You’ve Certainly Got People Talking Now

I have been following the recent Laura Schlessinger saga, with the latest chapter running in Counterpunch (“Opposing Gay Marriage Doesn’t Mean That I’m Homophobic,” Jan. 17), and although I applaud her willingness to stand up for what she believes, I am afraid she’s missing the point.

As a born-again Christian, I concur with her assessment of the Bible’s teachings on the issue of homosexuality. However, denying an individual’s equal protection under the law is not a moral issue. It’s a human rights issue. The Bible lists many sins against God in addition to the one Schlessinger addresses. Should we restrict the human rights of anyone who has ever broken one of the Ten Commandments? Should we legislate against anyone who has ever been prideful or, heaven forbid, judgmental? The Bible makes more references to those sins than to homosexuality.

JEFF PATTERSON

Chatsworth

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Laura Schlessinger’s definition of “bigot” (which she claims she isn’t) certainly differs from that in my American Heritage College Dictionary: “one who is strongly partial to one’s own . . . religion and is intolerant of those who differ.”

How tired I am of those who cloak themselves in religion and carefully isolated scriptural passages to justify saying how much they “love” gays and lesbians when what they really want is to change us to be like them. Do these supposed “gay friends” with whom Dr. Laura says she has “long-standing close relationships” really feel warm and fuzzy when she brands them “deviant”?

NICK DURETTA

Pasadena

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As a Jew, I feel compelled to write in support of Dr. Laura by presenting simple facts about our religion. When she states that homosexual activity is against Judaism, she is not offering an opinion or a personal preference. The Jewish Bible, the Torah, is very clear on this subject, and rather than express any opinion of my own, please allow me to simply quote chapter and verse.

In Leviticus, Chapter 18, Verse 22, it is written, “You shall not lie with a man as one lies with a woman, it is an abomination,” and again in Leviticus, Chapter 20, Verse 13, “A man who lies with a man as one lies with a woman, they have both done an abomination. . . .”

ELI EISENBERG

Agoura Hills

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Since Dr. Laura claims not to be a homophobe but merely an observant Jew, I respectfully request an invitation the next time her rabbi performs an animal sacrifice (as demanded by Yahweh) to atone for her sins or the sins of a fellow congregant. The instructions for performing this rite, along with many other archaic and usually overlooked demands and proclamations, may be found in the book of Leviticus, surrounding the passage in which her G-d declares “lying with mankind as with womankind” an abomination.

DANIEL MAJOROS

North Hollywood

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Since Laura Schlessinger credits her being “a serious Jew” and the Bible for her stand on homosexuality, one would hope she owns stock in the Lysol company. Leviticus, which has one verse about male-male sex (and nothing about lesbian sex), contains 24 verses about mildew in houses (Leviticus 14:33-57) and 12 verses on mildew in clothing (Leviticus 13:47-59). The ancient Hebrews had the same word for “mildew” and “leprosy” and considered both serious moral problems.

MARK SHIRILAU

Irvine

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Dr. Laura claims her views on gays are driven by her belief and adherence to the teachings of Orthodox Judaism. Why then doesn’t she condemn the owners of Honey Baked Ham shops as stridently as she attacks gays? Why doesn’t she attack Jimmy Dean for his campaign to force Americans to eat pork sausage? Why isn’t she outraged at In-N-Out Burgers for mixing meat and milk, as in “Cheeseburger and a shake, please!”? Why isn’t she just spinning out of control because Lobster Barrel restaurants are named in honor of a food that flies in the face of Jewish laws?

She doesn’t harangue them because these infractions of biblical laws don’t sell advertising or increase ratings. Gay bashing makes money and gets her great coverage for her new show.

The anonymity that radio provides for her hate speech is unmasked in television. She soon will be seen as a Wally George wannabe in a dress. After all, Dr. Laura, pants for women are against biblical law too.

VAN-MARTIN ROWE

Pasadena

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I am sick and tired of hearing Laura Schlessinger base her comments against homosexuals on her being a religious Jew, as if all of religious Judaism agrees with her position. Schlessinger is a religious Orthodox Jew (which is the most fundamentalist form of Judaism). Reform and Conservative Judaism (which constitute at least 80% of affiliated Jews in the United States) have been extremely supportive of gay and lesbian rights, as have many other religions. Numerous Reform and Conservative rabbis will perform gay and lesbian commitment ceremonies, and Reform Judaism will ordain openly gay and lesbian rabbis. So Schlessinger’s opinions do not reflect the beliefs of most religious Jews in the United States.

JOHN R. SELIG

Dallas

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She labels herself as a “serious Jew” (whatever that means). Yet she seems remarkably unconscious of the fact that her pseudo-scientific reasoning closely resembles the logic Nazis used to support their own hateful claims that Jews were subhuman, deviating from so-called Aryan biological norms (and the scientific justification Nazis still use--see David Irving’s pseudo-scientific justification for claiming that the gas chambers did not exist and that, therefore, the Holocaust did not happen). If Schlessinger is such a “serious Jew,” she should know better than to follow the same stupid and dangerous path as the Nazis did.

ALISTAIR McCARTNEY

Venice

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Kudos to Dr. Laura for standing her ground against the politically correct moral blackmail of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and its attempts to silence her common-sense views on homosexuality by labeling them bigoted and “homophobic” (whatever that may mean). She does not dispense pop feel-good psychology but offers moral guidance in a world in search of moral norms. To say, as she does, that homosexuality is a deviant from the norm of heterosexual orientation is merely to state a fact, which gay activists counter by challenging the very concept of normal.

CARL PEARLSTON

Torrance

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It is sad that “Dr. Laura” seeks to hide behind claims of religion to avoid accepting responsibility for her homophobia. Sadder still was The Times’ insensitivity in publishing her column on the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, when the nation is supposed to be acknowledging the fight for civil rights--not opposing them in the name of G-d.

JON DAVIDSON

Fullerton

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