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Submitted by: Dave on Sunday, January 27, 2013
This letter is so full of misconceptions, it is hard to know where to begin. First, the major mental-health organizations all agree that sexual orientation is not something people typically have any choice over. I have never met anyone, gay or straight, who felt that their sexual orientation ... which determines the genders one is physically and emotionally drawn to in romantic relationships ... was a choice. I am pretty sure that Mr. Brunner himself would not be able to identify the point in time when he "decided" to be straight. He also seems to equate a lack of choice strictly with genetic origins. That is nonsense. Intrauterine environment is no more a matter of choice than genetics, but is recognized as being a key element in what determines sexual orientation. He is also wrong when he says there has been no scientific evidence of a genetic component involved in sexual orientation. Francis Collins, NIH director, former head of the Human Genome Project, and evangelical Christian has said as much, and has stated that he expects the specific genes that influence sexual orientation to be identified in the coming years. He also asserts that by highlighting the fact that sexual orientation is inherent in a person, that it follows that all inherent traits must be beneficial. That is nonsense. Sexual orientation is considered part of the normal range of human characteristics, and homosexuality is not considered to be a mental-health condition, abnormal, or indicative of anything that needs to be fixed. Pedophilia is obviously destructive, and is generally considered to be something that needs to be treated and contained. The fact that homosexuality is inherent is significant only because, in combination with the fact that it is a perfectly healthy and normal state of being, denying homosexuals the right to marry people of the same gender fundamentally excludes them from the opportunity to enter into a healthy, successful civil marriage. It is far more discriminatory than laws against interracial marriage ever were. Also, Homo Sapiens is NOT the only species to exhibit homosexual behavior; that is actually very far from the truth. As for the assertion that homosexuality is "evil" ... there is great diversity of opinion on that, even among people of faith. And since we are talking about CIVIL marriage, religious beliefs are not particularly relevant to the discussion, as per the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment. Same-gender CIVIL marriage needs to be evaluated in terms of accepted scientific measures of psychological and sociological healthfulness ... and the science involved generally supports the value of extending civil marriage benefits/protections to same-gender couples.

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Submitted by: Robert on Sunday, January 27, 2013
It's pretty hard to take seriously anyone who is so ignorant, as to make the statement that Homo Sapiens, is the only species in the animal kingdom to exhibit this behavior. Actually it has ben documented in over 1,500 species. From mammals to birds to fish to amphibians and even insects. At the very least you should have heard of the book "And Tango makes Three" about the penguins in New York's Central Park zoo, that hatched an egg (given to them by sympathetic zookeepers when they were trying to hatch a rock) and raised the baby. The rest of your letter is as delusional. There is way more evidence that being gay is biological than there is for for an existence of a God and what he or she feels about their creation.