Letter: President Bush’s stance on gays lacks compassion

Friday, Aug. 8, 2003 | 4:49 a.m.

Now that President Bush has declared his war on gays, I am once again reminded that conservatives simply do not change their stripes. The president came to office declaring himself a "compassionate conservative."

Now we find that President Bush has merely replaced prejudice against racial minorities with prejudice against the gay minority. Fifty years ago it was unlawful in many states for blacks to marry whites. Today Bush proposes federal law prohibiting gay marriage. In 50 years we will be just as ashamed of the prejudice we exhibit today as we are now ashamed of the prejudice we exhibited 50 years ago.

The issue is not the particular group that we choose to discriminate against. The issue is whether the government has the right to discriminate against any select group of law-abiding citizens.

TED O. HALL

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