Have your say

True Christian values

I have several friends who can attest to the fact that it is not easy growing up gay in Manitoba's Bible Belt.

It is the kind of religious fundamentalism expressed by letter writer Margaret Jablonski (Feb. 4) that drives so many young gay people into depression, self-hatred and even suicide.

In this sense, it would seem these teachers are the ones practising true Christian values. They should be commended for teaching these children acceptance and tolerance when some of their parents apparently refuse to do so.

ANDREW J. MORRIS

Winnipeg

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God's laws supersede man's laws? Are you kidding me? It's because of the intolerance of people like Margaret Jablonski that plaques like this are needed in the first place.

Why is it OK for Jablonski and the rest of her religious community to "demand acceptance, normalcy and the promotion or proselytization of (her) lifestyle," but no other group can do the same?

She hit the nail on the head on one of her points, however. Her God's laws clearly have not changed with time. That's the problem.

ERIC LINDQUIST

Winnipeg

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Anti-bullying campaigns need to be decoupled from acceptance of homosexuality as normal. Homosexuality's prevalence in nature does not render it normal or abnormal. Bullying is a sadistic power play, a preying on the vulnerable.

A vulnerable individual can be perfectly normal but be in a minority, like a Jew or Muslim in a predominantly Christian school or vice versa. Children can be cruel and need to be taught otherwise. Every individual has a right to live free of intimidation.

Teachers have an obligation to stop bullying, period. The Altona parents, like all parents, have a right and duty to screen school activities.

ERNEST DIAS

Winnipeg

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A recent article in Rolling Stone magazine profiled a school district in Anoka, Minn., where nine students committed suicide in under two years.

The report reveals a climate in which teachers and other faculty members tolerated the harassment and bullying of students who were homosexual, or perceived as such. This cluster of suicides was the direct result of unclear district policies that instructed teachers not to mention the existence of gay and lesbian individuals.

LISE FENTON

Winnipeg

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If what I read is correct, and all of "God's laws" are eternal, then am I allowed to own slaves and kill anyone who doesn't observe the Sabbath?

LEVI GARBER

Winnipeg

Root of the problem

Re: Far more inmates than beds (Feb. 7). To spend millions building new jails is the only answer the government can suggest?

Those dollars could be better spent to get at the root of the problem by building houses with plumbing and sewers, schools, road access and recreation centres on reservations.

Betty Dyck

Winnipeg

Union confusion

Re: Plant Closure puts 450 out of work (Feb. 4). The Ontario Federation of Labour is lashing out at the federal government for not doing enough to save jobs.

Yet, last October, union workers and supporters of Air Canada protested government interference. Is anybody else besides me getting confused over what unions really want?

ALEX VANDEHOEF

Winnipeg

Greater of pesticide evils

Re: Broaden the ban (Letters, Feb. 7). Conservation Minister Gord Mackintosh is correct in distinguishing pesticides applied for cosmetic purposes from those used in agriculture. Pesticide residues in food are less harmful than pesticides applied on green spaces such as lawns, because in the latter case they're absorbed into the body via inhalation or the skin.

Pesticide residues in food can be washed off to some extent with tap water and soap. One cannot do this when pesticides enter the body via inhalation or the skin. In addition, any swallowed residues are to some extent cleansed by the liver.

Lawn pesticides absorbed via inhalation or the skin go directly to the brain, bypassing the liver, which is the cleansing organ.

K. JEAN COTTAM

Ottawa

Safe for biking

As passionate as some stakeholders are about the consultation process (Sad mentality, Letters, Feb. 4), claims that it was "slanted," "the general public were dissuaded from participating," that "area businesses and agencies ... were deliberately excluded" or "cheated out of being able to express views and concerns" are not opinions to be found in the auditor's report.

With respect to the statement that the Assiniboine bikeway presents "dangerous conditions for residents and cyclists alike," I have found cycling in the area to be much safer with the reduced cut-through traffic. In fact, my two adult daughters started cycling to work downtown this summer using the Argue, Churchill and Assiniboine bikeways, even though the route was twice as long as their most direct route, because those bikeways were so much safer and more pleasant than sharing streets with vehicles.

DAN PROWSE

Winnipeg

Revving their engines

Some snowmobilers are justifying the noise created by their sleds by claiming that other machines are noisier (A noisy rebuttal, Feb.7).

As usual for such arguments, the devil is in the details. In my experience, many snowmobilers travel in packs and have a tendency to milk every RPM from their screaming motors. I think it makes them horny.

Furthermore, they frequent populated areas and apparently feel that their right to ride a sled trumps local residents' rights to the peaceable enjoyment of their property. There was a time, long ago, when one of the nice trade-offs for a cold winter was the quiet that the season promised. No more, thanks to snowmobiles.

Just think, in less than four months ATVers and dirt bikers can tell us that combines are louder.

C. HUGH ARKLIE

Winnipeg

Informative coverage

Wow, an FYI section on Feb. 4 that had the potential to inform and even educate! The Our national shame coverage was important and well done.

Reporters Mary Agnes Welch and Mia Rabson are two of your very best.

GARY ROBSON

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 9, 2012 A11