he larger point
The day after the primary, in the May 9 story "Gay-marriage ban approved," your reporters Travis Fain and Laura Graff wrote, within their first 50 words: "For gay couples who worked against the amendment, the loss was bitterly disappointing." Too bad they missed the larger point: that the loss was bitterly disappointing to many who would do unto others as they would have others do unto them.
My wife and I have known and have great respect for gay and lesbian couples, whose commitments are often more stable and who as individuals often make greater contributions than we who call ourselves straight. North Carolinians who selfishly enjoy the financial and other gifts bestowed on straight couples by the country and state should be ashamed of the vote.
ALBERT "AL" HARBURY
Clemmons
Defining themselves
As an opponent of the marriage amendment, May 8 was a night of crushing disappointment as I realized how very different so many of my fellow citizens' beliefs are from mine. The vote did not reveal a partisan divide. No, I was crushed to learn that so many North Carolinians are still willing to assign second-class status to a large number of their fellow citizens. I was saddened to find that so many are willing to define themselves with their own hypocrisy.
Why we aspire to be like South Carolina is a mystery to me, but by approving this amendment, those who voted "yes" have given up some of their own rights: Everyone who voted for this amendment has given up their right to use the word "freedom," as they obviously don't know what the word means. Nor do they understand the meaning of the word "irony." Any Libertarians who voted "yes" lose their right to their claimed ideology because they are hypocrites. Finally, any African-Americans who voted for this injustice have forfeited their right to ever again utter the words "discrimination" or "oppression," as the once-oppressed eagerly join oppressors when given the chance.
May 8, 2012, will be recorded as a dark day in North Carolina history. It was the day we declared that we do not believe we are all created equal. It was the day we abandoned progress in favor of a less enlightened era. It was the day I became ashamed to be a North Carolinian.
ROB EASTMAN-MULLINS
Winston-Salem
Teachers and bridges
Although I applaud any effort to improve education, as someone who taught in a "high-need" school for many years, I am concerned about Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger's plan to allow professionals with degrees in other areas to teach students who may have the most difficult time learning ("Education plan likely too much for session," May 6). Would we be comfortable allowing someone with a degree in education to engineer the bridges that are being rebuilt around this county? I wouldn't.
Teacher-education programs prepare teachers to craft instruction based on a vast knowledge of the content area(s), knowledge of what motivates their students to learn, and research-based practices. Teaching in "high-need" schools is demanding and requires the best teachers. Allowing the least-prepared teachers to educate students in these schools is like building a bridge without proper support. It will fail.
ERIKA S. GRAY
Clemmons
Gray is an instructor at UNC Greensboro. — The editor
It's a good thing
I am neither gay nor Christian, which is a good thing, given the recent approval of Amendment One. I would have to relegate myself, in the first case, to second-class citizenship; in the second, to the fact that such basic tenets of my religion as "judge not, lest ye be judged" and "love thy neighbor" apparently have no meaning anymore.
Yet I still feel depressed that the majority of my fellow North Carolinians are so mean-spirited and narrow-minded.
SHARON VINSANT
Winston-Salem
Disgraceful day
May 8, 2012 — what a disgraceful day for North Carolina. Christ never once called for using the laws of men to bend others to God's will.
It is sad that so many otherwise good Christians have done just that. They will have to bear the guilt of that sacrilege for a long, long time.
TERRY SHORE
Lewisville
Finish the Thought
Briefly complete the sentence below and send it to us at letters@wsjournal.com. We'll print some of the results in a few days. Only signed entries, please, no anonymous ones.
"President Obama declared his support for same-sex marriage because …"
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