baltimoresun.com - Readers Respond

Black community no more homophobic than any other

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I think it is silly and unfair to say that the black community is more "heterosexist" (a term I prefer) than white communities. Blacks are not the major voting bloc in any state, and we do not make up a majority in any state or national legislative body in this country. The legal oppression of gays does not come from the black community - we are 14 percent of the population. I don't know of any ethnic community in America that does not stigmatize gays.

Why does black community reject civil rights for gays?

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

This letter is in memory of Jason Mattison Jr., an openly gay, African-American Baltimore high school student who was raped and murdered this month ("Mystery cloaks death of teen who 'had a life ahead of him,'" Nov. 18).

Don't scapegoat Beans & Bread

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:46:00 -0500

In her letter dated Nov. 19 ("Stabbing shows Beans & Bread doesn't belong in Fells Point," Readers respond), Deidre Hammer understandably expresses concern about a stabbing that occurred outside of Beans & Bread. We are also very concerned about this incident and the all too common occurrence of people settling their differences through violence.

Stabbing wasn't first violence at Beans & Bread

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0500

In response to Teresa Eaton's claim that Beans & Bread has never seen previous violent incidents ("Don't scapegoat Beans & Bread," Readers respond, Nov. 20, I'd beg to differ. I was a police officer in 1998 and 1999 and responded to one call that a patron assaulted a nun there. I responded and apprehended him; however the nun did not want to press charges. You can always use the Public Information Act and see how many calls have been made for police service there, but the problem is, nobody wants to testify and press charges. They just ask the police to remove them.

Everyone should be required to have health insurance

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:43:00 -0500

Matt Patterson must be a smart man -- he works for think tanks. So I found it ludicrous that in his op-ed piece ("Pelosi and Reid's health-care monsters," Nov. 20), he faults the House health-care bill for containing 3,425 uses of the word "shall." Of course it does! "Shall" and "shall not" are the language of law. A law without those words is a mere suggestion. Also, it is just that word that protects Mr. Patterson's right to air his views in a newspaper, the "shall" found in the First Amendment. Clearly, "shall" can either protect freedom or threaten it, as Mr. Patterson claims it does in this bill.

Bill would give 100,000 mentally ill veterans access to guns

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:01:38 -0500

As President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, I wanted to respond to Sen. Richard Burr's defense of his bill, in the wake of the Fort Hood shooting, that would give immediate access to firearms to over 100,000 veterans who have been found by the Department of Veterans Affairs to be "mentally incapacitated, deemed mentally incompetent, or experiencing an extended loss of consciousness" ("Sen. Burr: Legislation doesn't exempt veterans from Brady Act," Readers respond, Nov. 17).

Why does the black community reject civil rights for gays?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:34:00 -0500

This letter is in memory of Jason Mattison Jr., an opely gay, African-Amercian Baltimore high school student who was raped and murdered this month ("Mystery cloaks death of teen who 'had a life ahead of him,'" Nov. 18).

Black community no more homphobic than any other

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:34:00 -0500

I think it is silly and unfair to say that the black community is more "heterosexist" ( a term I prefer) than white communities ("Why does black community reject civil rights for gays?" Readers respond, Nov. 19). Blacks are not the major voting bloc in any state, and we do not make up a majority in any state or national legislative body in this country. The legal oppression of gays does not come from the black community -- we are 14 percent of the population. I don't know of any ethnic community in America that does not stigmatize gays.

Mammogram guidelines are flawed

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:49:00 -0500

I am a physician in practice. I have been reading the new mammogram guidelines from the so called government panel of experts, and I have been exasperated at the plain old stupidity that marks these guidelines ("New mammogram guidelines fuel contradiction, confusion," Nov. 17). The American Cancer Society recently let it be known that doctors may have been over-treating a lot of early and small breast cancers, causing more harm than good in the process. Their contention is that many of these cancers will actually regress even without treatment and will not reduce the lifespan of afflicted individuals. But the American Cancer Society does not know as yet, and therefore has not clearly defined the characteristics of, the tumors that will regress versus those that will enlarge and spread. In the meantime these guidelines have emerged and caused a legitimate furor.

Mayor Dixon is Robin Hood in reverse

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0500

Mayor Dixon,