Gays

Tell us how your family reacted upon learning that a member of the family was gay, lesbian or bisexual. Looking back, is there anything you would change about the way it was handled? Send essays of 300 words by Nov. 20, including a phone number for verification, to Community Voices/Families at the addresses listed in the Where to Write box above. Questions? Call Kevin Ferris, readers' editor, at 215-854-4543.

RE THE GREATER Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp.'s new ad campaign targeting homosexuals ("New tourism ads: Come out and visit," Nov. 14) and Lisa Doan's letter in protest (Dec. 1): Funny, whenever someone tries to discriminate against gays, the phrase "It is not that I am against gays" always seems to pop up, to quote Ms. Doan's letter. Kudos to the GPTM for recognizing that gays are a viable tourism force! This campaign isn't about making gays feel good - it is about getting revenue to Philadelphia.

BY DEFENDING Sen. Santorum in his letter of June 6 on the walkouts at the St. Joseph's commencement, T.A. Spina appears to suggest that bigotry and intolerance towards homosexuals are qualities to be admired and rewarded within a "venerable Catholic institution" - not protested. Shouldn't we, in this great nation, be above that sort of primitive, uncivilized bigotry? Didn't the Matthew Shepard incident teach us anything? Shouldn't we be working from the belief that all people truly are created equal, and be spending our time striving to protect the human rights and civil liberties of all our citizens?

RE BRYAN M. Kilpatrick's response to Michael Ginsberg's March 12 letter on the Bible and homosexuality: It's my take that Ginsberg's use of the Old Testament examples were to refute another earlier letter-writer's comments. Therefore, Mr. Kilpatrick needs to take the earlier writers comments into account before criticizing Ginsberg's. As for the comment about people using the Bible to fit their own agenda: I agree. But it goes both ways. So-called devout Christians use the Bible's words to judge and persecute others.

WASHINGTON - The ban on gays in the military has stood for nearly a century. In 60 days, after decades of discharges, lawsuits and lobbying, that will change. President Obama fulfilled a 2008 campaign pledge yesterday, formally ending the ban. After meeting with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Adm. Mike Mullen, the joint chiefs of staff chairman, the president certified to Congress that repealing the ban would not jeopardize the military's ability to fight. "As commander in chief, I have always been confident that our dedicated men and women in uniform would transition to a new policy in an orderly manner that preserves unit cohesion, recruitment, retention and military effectiveness," Obama said in a statement.

DEB Woodell's op-ed comparison of racism to the plight of gays and lesbians at the Phillies game is out of left field. African-Americans were denied the right to vote, the right to eat at the same restaurants as whites, the right to use the same water fountains and bathrooms. Tell me, Debbie, has this ever happened to you or your grandparents? Homosexuality is a lifestyle, and nobody should be discriminated against for this. The same goes for people who are obese. But please do not compare racism to your situation.

New York Mayor David Dinkins yesterday announced a settlement of the troubles between Irish-American homosexuals and organizers of the Big Apple's St. Patrick's Day parade. Dinkins, who had threatened to become the city's first mayor within memory to boycott the event if the issue wasn't resolved, said the gays and lesbians had been invited to march up Fifth Avenue tomorrow by a group already in the parade. In addition, Dinkins said he would march with the gays and give up his traditional post at the head of the parade.

ARENEWED debate on "don't ask, don't tell" is just what al Qaeda ordered. Somewhere in north Waziristan, there's a tall guy on dialysis laughing his turban off at our preoccupation with fighting ourselves instead of hunting him. And yet that is what Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, ignited when he told the Chicago Tribune that homosexual acts "are immoral," like a member of the armed forces conducting an adulterous affair with...

MIKE RICCHINI was still upset when I spoke to him a few days ago about something that happened just before Christmas. His daughter, Jenna, a 9-year-old third-grader at Vanzant Elementary in Evesham Township, came home and reported to her parents that her class would be watching a video the next day about children with "two mommies and two daddies. " Ricchini was angry and told the school principal so. "These are third-graders. There is no reason they should be watching videos on same-sex marriage," he told me. He also said he thought the parents were given insufficient notice of the showing of the video.

NEW YORK - The Boy Scouts of America faces intensifying criticism from the left and right over a proposal to move away from a mandatory no-gays membership policy and to allow troop sponsors to decide the matter for themselves. The Human Rights Campaign, a major gay-rights group that initially welcomed the BSA's possible shift, said Thursday that it was inadequate, and demanded that the Scouts adopt a nationwide policy to accept gays as Scouts and adult leaders. The HRC said that corporations that continued to donate funds to the Scouts if any troops were allowed to discriminate would lose points in an annual evaluation of how major employers deal with gay-related workplace issues.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Six months after Minnesota voters turned back an effort to ban gay weddings, lawmakers are poised to make the state the first in the Midwest to pass a law allowing them. The shift comes amid a rapid evolution of public opinion nationally. But with Minnesota and possibly Illinois set to broaden the definition to include same-sex couples, coastal states may soon have some company. In November, voters unexpectedly defeated a measure that would have banned same-sex marriage in the Minnesota Constitution, even after more than two dozen states passed similar bans.

Delaware is the 11th state to allow same-sex marriage after a divided state Senate gave its approval Tuesday. Less than an hour after the 12-9 vote, Gov. Jack Markell signed the measure into law. "I do not intend to make any of you wait one moment longer," Markell told about 200 supporters who erupted in cheers and applause after the Senate vote. "I am elated," said Scott Forrest, 50, of Newark, who entered into a civil union last year with his partner of almost 21 years, Kevin.

HARRISBURG - Perennial fixtures on the legislative calendar, bills to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation have gone nowhere in the last decade. This time, the tables may be turning. Companion bills in the House and Senate have attracted a record number of cosponsors, among them the General Assembly's first two openly gay lawmakers, while a new poll shows solid majority support across the state for such a ban. The bills, introduced Tuesday with 102 cosponsors including both Republicans and Democrats, would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression in employment, housing, credit, and public accommodations.

  Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro and niece of former President Fidel Castro, told a Philadelphia gay-rights conference Saturday of her efforts to promote equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Cubans. Castro, who was to receive an award Saturday night for her advocacy, also defended her country's government, which has been accused of repressing political dissent. "There is not any government or any country who has the right to impose or make decisions to the other ones regarding the human-rights area," she said.

State Rep. Brian K. Sims, the first openly gay candidate to win a legislative election in Pennsylvania, recently was asked by another lawmaker to explain a proposed antidiscrimination measure. " 'Tell me about your gay bill,' " Sims recalled Rep. Mario Scavello, a Monroe County Republican, asking him on the floor of the House. Three other Republicans who were nearby listened as Sims argued that it was overdue for Pennsylvania to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected categories such as race, religion, age, and disability.

THE COMING-OUT part is over. Now Jason Collins needs a job. Collins' stunning announcement that he was a gay athlete in a major sport won overwhelming support from other players, coaches and executives - even a phone call from the president. But it also came after the season ended for the 7-foot center and his Washington Wizards. The 34-year-old journeyman becomes a free agent on July 1 - meaning he will first have to sign with an NBA team and wait until next season to see if teammates, coaches, opponents and fans will treat him any differently.

If we're being honest here, the first gay professional athlete in the United States probably played baseball for the New York Mutuals or the Chicago White Stockings of the old National Association in the 1870s. So Jason Collins' brave announcement, made Monday via Sports Illustrated magazine's website, was about 140 years in the making. That makes him sort of the Jackie Robinson of gay players and sort of the opposite. Robinson didn't get to play 12 years in the major leagues, proving himself as a person and a player and a teammate, before revealing that he was a black man. His shattering of the color barrier was an act of personal courage on his part and moral fortitude on the part of Branch Rickey and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

State Rep. Brian K. Sims, a Philadelphia Democrat, was cocaptain of the Bloomsburg University football team in 2000 when he confirmed to his teammates that he was gay. They didn't mind. It was not until 2009 that Sims told that story to the world in an interview with Outsports.com. He already was a gay-rights advocate in Philadelphia, but the football revelation was a sensation. "I still hear from people all over the world every day because of the article," said Sims, who last year became the first openly gay candidate to win a Pennsylvania legislative race.

REVIEW the tweeters and the commenters and you will realize just how unremarkable Jason Collins' declaration is. Collins will appear on the May 6 cover of Sports Illustrated , the subject of a first-person piece in which he announces his homosexuality. He presents himself as the first active male professional athlete to come out. Unless you are a severe hoops junkie, you probably do not know who Jason Collins is. Unless you are severely socially retarded, you probably do not care he is gay. For decades, the United States, home of a sports mania that has eclipsed all other forms of entertainment and information, has wondered what sort of social earthquake would erupt when a superjock acknowledged his sexual orientation was not hyper-hetero.