Letters to the Editor: Kids are ‘groomed’? If that were true, I’d be heterosexual

To the editor: I am 64 and gay. Throughout my life I have known many gay people. Not one of them “chose” to be gay. Not one transgender person I’ve known “chose” to be transgender. Sexual orientation and gender identity are intrinsic and no doubt biological in nature. (“How conservatives are waging a coordinated, anti-LGBTQ+ culture war in California schools,” Oct. 15)

When I was in school, I was bullied. I wish I would have had a school counselor to talk to in a genuine and truthful way. Needless to say, I suffered in silence.

All this talk about “grooming” and “indoctrination” is ridiculous. If it were true, I would be heterosexual, since I was raised in a heterosexual society and culture.

Between 1% and 2% of the population identifies as transgender. This unwarranted hysteria about transgender students is riddled with misinformation.

What is happening now in this country is inhumane and erroneous. I really thought times would get better for LGBT+ youth. Sadly, I was wrong.

Luis Mon, Laguna Woods

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To the editor: The Times and other media seem bent on portraying every issue as a battle between extremes.

There is a vast cohort of parents who are supportive of LGBTQ+ rights and are loving relatives of “out” family members, but who want to be involved in guiding their minor children’s lives as they explore their sexuality and identity.

This is not a left or right issue, even though both sides have co-opted the subject matter to further their own agendas. This is a parenting issue, not a political football.

Let decent parents do their job, and let long-existing laws deal with the exceptions.

Mike Post, Los Osos

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To the editor: Milo Easley, a transgender high school student quoted in your article, nails it when he says parents who rant about parental rights want a “sense of control.”

In a world where people are shown daily how little control they have over their lives, they’re not about to cede their right to direct their children’s upbringing. But rights also have responsibilities.

The attempts by “momma bears” to externalize their parental obligations, by making it the schools’ fault their sons and daughters are headed toward unanticipated life outcomes, are a cop-out.

Perhaps these folks might regain family cohesion and consensus if they and their kids try communicating with one another in a loving, non-judgmental way.

Milo is right again when he observes that perhaps these parental rights zealots should take time out to reflect on why “they don’t know their child well enough to have them come out to them.”

Stuart Sheldon, Murrieta

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To the editor: Your article on right-wing groups targeting transgender and non-binary people should strike terror into the hearts of all good-thinking people. It tells you right away the Republican Party is mean, heartless and spiteful.

And if they are allowed to govern, they will not limit their terror to the LGBTQ+ community. They will trample on the Constitution, as they have already done. They will and have done their best to disenfranchise anyone who will not vote their way.

I hope this article awakens moral people to the dangers of voting for this party.

Marilyn K. Brown, Beaumont