Biblical bee bite | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

My enjoyment of the rhetorical sophistication of Cynthia L. Hallen's letter "Marriage not for all" (Forum, July 4) is only exceeded by my distaste of her rhetorical sanctimoniousness; her trampling upon a cruelly mistreated "homosexual and transexual" minority; her evisceration of the non-biblical, social and psychological science showing that sexual orientation represents a fact of the natural world; her transparent intolerance falsely asserting that the "struggle with same-sex attraction and other afflictions need our compassion ... ." That retreads the oft-used phrase: "We love them (gays) as human beings, but we curse them for what they do" — meaning the way they have sex.

The Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, now the law of our land, is not "wanton," as she says, but is wise and judicial. The reason: Equality, including all types of sexual orientation, is a constitutional right and not evil in our secular world that promotes freedom, not just for Hallen's religious right, but for all of society. Gays may be good or bad citizens, good or bad mates, good or bad parents, just like all others on the planet. Hallen has been bitten by an intolerant biblical bee, so to speak.

Richard H. Keller

Salt Lake City