‘Values’ Tipped the Balance in the Election

In the end, the No. 1 issue in this election wasn’t the Iraq war, security, the economy or healthcare, even Osama bin Laden; it was the two homosexuals living next door and a women’s right to choose that really frightened the voters. Soon we’ll have some new conservative Supreme Court justices in office, and then President Bush can really start to take away some rights -- all in name of his and the religious right’s morality. While we’re at it we can make Christianity the official religion too.

The real loser was the American people. In the end, an uninformed and selfish population voted for themselves -- my safety, my faith, my country, my guns, my family, my morality -- me, me, me. Everything we learned from 9/11 has been forgotten -- we are a nation of selfish, ignorant people with our heads stuck in the sand. What an incredible failure of the media and our education system to see through Karl Rove’s and Dick Cheney’s web of half-truths and manipulations. Our founding fathers must be rolling in their graves.

James Harmon

West Hollywood

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In considering the reelection of a man who has suggested that he was called by God to be our president and the approval in 11 states of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, I must concur with something that our country’s religious right has been preaching for years: The apocalypse is near.

Robert S. Rees

Los Angeles

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A majority of Americans have won a moral victory. A morality that states killing innocent families in other countries is less offensive than gay families in this one.

Nathan James

Pleasant Hill, Calif.

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The unprecedented voter turnout at the polls was a victory for mainstream America. So-called “values voters” made it clear that, although the economy and national security were important concerns, the moral issues took precedence when it came to determining the leadership and direction of our country -- at the national, state and many local levels.

We reelected a president who had vowed to protect marriage and defend unborn human life. With the passage of state constitutional amendments in 11 states defining a marriage as between one man and one woman, it seems clear that the choice is not about tolerance but about clearly defining the moral infrastructure of our society. Americans are tolerant, but they do not want moral traditions and definitions dismantled and the liberal agenda imposed via legislation.

Gary Curtis

Granada Hills

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I would like to apologize to the people of the United States. Because nothing in this life occurs in a vacuum, I have to accept the fact that my marriage to my husband is responsible for Bush’s reelection. We didn’t marry in Massachusetts or San Francisco, but rather in our own backyard in Los Angeles -- not with a legal certificate but with a declaration of marriage in 1998. If I had known that this act of self-indulgence would result in subjecting the entire country and world to four more years of this presidency, the economic and climatic catastrophes that await, and the 30 years of impact that this administration will have on the court system, I would not have gotten married. In fact, given the future as I now see it, if I had it to do over again, I would not have been gay at all.

The future of the country and the world is certainly bigger than I am. If I promise to get divorced, and even try to go straight, will you forgive me and un-elect Bush?

Don Krim

Los Angeles

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I am more disappointed than angry. I really didn’t think that this election would actually become a referendum on the value of gay relationships. I really didn’t think that those of us who value community, openness, freedom and equality were in the minority.

Mitchell Singer

Los Angeles