The Many Views of ‘Traditional Values’

Once again, Robin Abcarian has honed in on the very core of an issue.

In her column “Whose Values Are These, Anyway?” (Sept. 21), she peels away the rhetoric to show the real issue--that the agenda of the radical right is the denial of “traditional values.”

The desire for a legally recognized monogamous partnership is indeed a “traditional value.” The rights of longtime loving partners, straight or gay, to make health care and survivorship decisions are “traditional values.”

The rights of free speech and assembly are “traditional values.”

With a stroke of his pen, Pete Wilson has made Lou Sheldon the de facto governor of California, the so-called religious right its legislature.

We can only hope he is relieved of the burdens of the governor’s office in November so he can come out of his personal closet and join Sheldon, Pat Robertson and Jesse Helms in their unholy cabal to destroy the true “traditional values” of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, documents for which they show utter contempt.

BILL GIVENS

Beverly Hills

*

Let me make sure I understand this. According to Robin Abcarian, if militant gay protesters break inside a church service, then they are just “making their points of view known. They are fighting for the civil rights they richly deserve.”

But if anti-abortion protesters are making their points known outside an abortion clinic and fighting for the rights the unborn so richly deserve, then they get slapped with RICO as though they were the mob.

To Abcarian’s knowledge, the gay community has never threatened anyone in the clergy.

Perhaps Abcarian is living on Mars. I’ve seen death threats written by gay activists to well-known clergy. I’ve heard threatening phone calls made. I’ve seen signs screaming hate with religious epithets in gay-pride parades.

Signs that never make the evening news and are unprintable in a family newspaper like The Times.

Yet to even question an action of the gay community is viewed as politically incorrect and homophobic.

MICHAEL ALLEN

North Hollywood

*

Robin Abcarian appears to be easily amused. She smiles to read of an organization called Traditional Values Coalition and questions the value of the “good old days.”

Since Abcarian appears to be too young to have lived in this period, maybe it would be helpful to point out some of the things that existed, or didn’t exist, in those days.

No one maintains that life was perfect 30 or 40 years ago or that there were no deaths from illegal abortions.

But: It wasn’t necessary to screen students for guns before they entered schools, SAT scores were 20% to 30% higher, teen-age pregnancies were rare compared to today.

Is this beginning to sound like things were better?

GENE McCARTHY

Cambria