Letters

From the February 1999 issue

(Page 3 of 4)

Finally, your comparison of the Peace Corps volunteer to the senator is exactly what happens in today's market. The well-off individual can register in dozens of regional transplant centers (at $30,000 to $75,000 a pop) and get a transplant at whichever has the first available organ. The person who has to rely on standard insurance will get registered at only one.

David N. Guttman
San Pedro, CA

Immigration's Future Harm

John J. Miller's article ("The Politics of Permanent Immigration," October) reported a newsworthy incident which I believe has not been covered elsewhere. That incident took place at a meeting between Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson and a group of trade association executives.

The discussion was routine until just before the meeting was over, when Bruce Jasten of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spoke up. Jasten predicted "a severe labor shortage sometime in the next decade." His colleagues backed him up, and no contradictory opinions were voiced before the meeting ended. Miller's article throws a spotlight on the fact that our nation's business groups have no concern about any harmful effects that present (or even increased) large immigration rates may have on our society, our use of our land's resources, and on our politics.

Alan R. Graff
Mount Carroll, IL

Claims of Nature

In the past, I have read several of Virginia Postrel's articles and essays and generally thought they were a little too far "right" for my political tastes. Thus I was pleasantly surprised to read her comments on the current homosexuality debate ("The Claims of Nature," October). She said a great many truths in this piece, with clarity and compassion. Thank you.

Jeanne Bous
[e-mail]

In her editorial "The Claims of Nature" Virginia Postrel stated that "the argument from nature is a trap." She meant that homosexuals who appeal for social acceptance based on the evidence for a possible genetic origin of sexual orientation invite charges that homosexuality is a disease; that it's an example of a pathological, irresistible impulse similar in kind to kleptomania.

I would like to point out that abnormality does not necessarily indicate pathology. Biologists have observed homosexual behavior in many mammalian species. Same-sex sex is clearly "natural," but pointing this out just begs the question. The important consideration is that if consensual homosexual behavior does not, on average, lead to harmful effects, then characterizing it as dysfunctional makes no sense. It would be like saying that left-handedness is a disease.

As Ms. Postrel says, tolerance is the bottom line. However, biology should not be ignored. None of us would hesitate to quarantine a minority group of people infected with an incurable form of tuberculosis; tolerance of their freedom could be catastrophic for everyone. Therefore, it is important to make clear that sexual orientation is not pathological, although particular homosexuals may have sexually related psychopathologies, just as many heterosexuals do.

Will Cooper
[e-mail]

How odd it is that Virginia Postrel's essay attacking a conservative ad campaign featuring ex-homosexuals ends with a quotation by openly "gay" writer Andrew Sullivan: "To be able to live one's life loving and being loved by some other person is not something that is disease. It is the essence of what it is to be human."

Postrel writes that "we'd better get used to evaluating behavior by its consequences, not its causes." Was she aware that Sullivan's sexual expression of homosexual "love" has led him to death's door? He is HIV-positive from his admitted promiscuity (which Sullivan has had difficulty synthesizing with his personal crusade for homosexual "monogamy"). Postrel describes Sullivan's plea as "humane," while disparaging those who would extend a hand of hope to people like him who struggle with inclinations that lead to dangerous behaviors. Surely the high percentage of homosexual men with STDs and AIDS is not a mere coincidence. How can it be "humane" to encourage others to embrace an identity fraught with such health risks?