To the Editor:

As the proud parent of a member of the Ashe County Middle School’s Science Olympiad Team, I was disappointed by the lack of praise and acknowledgement our county teams have received for their excellent performance in the regional competition recently.

Both the middle school and high school teams worked hard and allowed the knowledge they gained to lead our teams to win several individual medals. Our middle school team was chosen for the Overall Spirit Award for displaying exemplary manners and respect toward the event staff as well as their fellow competitors.

Of all the teams competing, only four middle school and three high schools are being sent to the state competition in Raleigh. Both our local teams are going.

Kids and team teachers, we are proud of your job well done. Please keep up the good work. You have shown us that us mountain folks should be taken seriously for our brains not just our brawn.

We are so proud of you all.

Sincerely,

Patty Lewis

Dear Mr. Editor,

I want to thank Mr. Ken Lynn for providing further information regarding why voters should vote in support of Amendment One on the upcoming May 8 ballot. Mr. Lynn fears the stipulations of the amendment as it would not allow North Carolina to legally recognize civil unions and domestic partnerships of both homosexual and heterosexual couples. I cannot say all that I would like, but I will recall what a colleague of mine in my former days as an educator once told me. He had taught science for more than 30 years and his take was that cohabitating had become so commonplace because no one in their right mind would pay for the whole cow when you can have the milk for free. And Mr. Editor, that is exactly the issue. If a heterosexual couple wants the state recognition and benefits of a married couple, then the most simple and easiest solution is that they commit and be married.

Mr. Lynn once again parades the foolish notion that people are born either gay or straight. Yet, this is simply not true. Let’s look at a specific example. If individuals were “born gay,” then we would conclude that their genetic structure was pieced together in such a way as to promote same-sex attraction. The notion of being “born gay” deals with the make-up of an individual’s DNA structure. Now, if one was “born gay” because of DNA structure, then obviously an identical twin of a gay individual would have to also be gay as their DNA structure would be exactly the same. Just takes simple deduction doesn’t it? However, Dr. Trayce Hansen, a California licensed psychologist, declares in a May 2009 study that “this is not what the research revealed. Rather, every time one identical twin was homosexual the other twin was homosexual only 10 percent or 11 percent of the time. Homosexual behavior is clearly not genetic.” Mr. Editor, extensive worldwide research reveals homosexuality is primarily environmentally induced. Even if it were true, Jesus responds with the solution of being born again.

Mr. Lynn also asks who does the acceptance of homosexual unions harm. First, it harms the homosexual. “Research is clear that individuals who adopt non-heterosexual lifestyles are more likely to suffer from a host of negative outcomes including psychiatric disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, suicide attempts, domestic violence and sexual assault, and increased risk for chronic diseases, AIDS, and shortened lifespan,” states Hansen. The Center for Disease Control also revealed on June 6, 2011 that students who report being gay or bisexual are more likely than heterosexual students to engage in unhealthy risk behaviors such as tobacco use, alcohol and drug use, sexual risk behaviors, and violence. The United State Department of Justice also confirms that heterosexual married couples experience significantly less intimate partner violence than do homosexual men and women. And Mr. Editor, please note that according to the 2003-04 Gay/Lesbian Consumer Online Census, only about 5 pecent of same-sex unions last longer than 20 years as compared to 58 percent of traditional marriages which last more than 20 years.

Acceptance of gay marriage also harms heterosexuals. Research shows that having a relationship with both a male and female parent increases the likelihood that a child will have successful social and romantic relationships during his or her life. The Heritage Foundation research supports the Justice Department’s conclusions that women and children are much less likely to be the victims of domestic violence or violent crime when they are in a heterosexual married home. Further research also shows that child poverty is greatly reduced when children grow up in a similar married home.

Acceptance of the radical homosexual agenda also affects society. It increases the power of the state to regulate civil society and business. Churches are already under attack for daring to dissent. Parents are losing the right to direct the education of their own children. Reputable adoption agencies have been put out of business. Christian bed and breakfast owners have been sued for not allowing unmarried couples to stay in double rooms. Same sex couples have brought legal complaints against wedding photographers, as if there were a constitutional right to have their pictures taken by the person of their choice. Just within the past month, gay activists accused the Christian owners of a t-shirt company of “discriminating” against them by refusing to print t-shirts for the Lexington Pride Festival. Yet the Lexington Human Rights Commission’s executive director had the gall to say a gay organization could refuse to print t-shirts for a Christian group, but that the Christian company had no right to refuse the request for gay pride t-shirts.

Mr. Editor, I could go on and on, but space limits that I do not. The blatant discrimination, as Mr. Lynn proposes, is obvious. The radical homosexual agenda seeks to force acceptance of their ideology regardless of the overwhelming support in favor of traditional family values. They seek to tread upon the constitutional rights of anyone who opposes them. This is the true and blatant discrimination. Our nation’s founding documents guarantee freedom for all, while the pursuit of “fairness” by some liberal groups usually means that someone-or some government group-decides what is “fair” for some, at the expense of others. Amendment One seeks to ensure that in North Carolina this will not happen.

Rev. Sonny D. Thomas Sr.

Calvary Free Will Baptist Church

Glendale Springs