This is a letter to the editor I published at the Daily Advance. Posted here for posterity, since they have no online archive:

The more than 100 people attending Currituck’s Board of Education meeting in opposition to Ms. Danielle Smiley’s efforts to establish a Gay-Straight Alliance in her school is exactly why such a club is so desperately needed in our community. The protesters’ slippery-slope, distractive arguments about AIDS and promiscuity are symptomatic of a profound ignorance and xenophobia toward homosexuals that can only be remedied through public education and an open exchange of perspectives.

The Bible mentions homosexuality a scant 12 times throughout its entire epic text, and Jesus never even mentioned homosexuality; yet, the Bible addresses poverty more than 250 times. Maybe if Charles Stevens, James Harrington, Scott Pollard, and their respective flocks would realign their energies with the almighty’s priorities we wouldn’t have such rampant poverty in our local communities. There is a very strong correlation between poverty, incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and promiscuity. Education is the best prevention we have for AIDS and risky sexual behaviors.

Only someone who lacks strength in their convictions would fear open dialogue, as these protesters obviously do concerning the topic of sexual orientation. Ms. Danielle Smiley, on the other hand, obviously understands the veracity of her position, demonstrated in her courageous act of facing down the more than 100 ideological bullies who would strip her of her Constitutionally-protected freedom of speech.

I have homosexual friends, and not once have I ever been tempted to try their lifestyle. That’s because I’m very secure in my heterosexuality. Scott Pollard’s over-the-top hysterical reaction to homosexuality becoming the “topic of open discussion in the public schools” reminds me of the Shakespeare quote from “Hamlet,” “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

This is a letter to the editor I published at the Daily Advance. Posted here for posterity, since they have no online archive:

Attempt to enact broad legislation to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country? Check. Attempt to amend the Constitution to ban flag desecration? Check. Attempt to amend the Constitution to ban homosexual marriages? Check. It has certainly been a busy legislative season for our Republican-controlled government!

Now, as America comes up on November elections, they would like to remind us that they are the National Security Party. Americans can expect much showboating in the House and Senate as Republicans vote to maintain the status quo in Iraq, where the situation continues to deteriorate into impending civil war, affirm their faith in Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, who has poorly served our undersupplied and overstretched troops, and assert that they have everything under control as Iran openly mocks us, developing nuclear weapons and supplying terrorist organizations overseas.

Memories are short, so we should not forget that for the last six months Republicans have been preoccupied with what they consider the true threats to our republic: Day laborers hanging out in front of Home Depot, American flag bumper stickers on SUVs, and the possibility that two men might be staring longingly into one another’s eyes while a violin plays somewhere in the background.

Personally, I am more concerned about the violin the Republicans are playing while Rome is burning; I believe the tune is called, “Election Year Politics.”