Sir, - Fr Tom Kelleher (May 18th) senses an "anti-God poison" in your Editorial on President Obama's views on gay marriage (May 11th).
His comments are deeply offensive to those of us who hold a faith while simultaneously supporting marriage equality. I would think that he would be well-minded to reflect on God's teachings as told to us in John 13:34, "And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so must you love one another". - Yours, etc,
GRACE MADIGAN,
Kilgobbin Road, Dublin 18.
Sir, - Although well into my 20s, I am weary of reading letters like Fr Tom Kelleher's (May 18th). The letter reflects the ancient bigotry that once pervaded our society and which I find revolting. These shouts now come at us from dark corners: take us back to the Bronze Age, abandon attempts at compassion and only listen to our primitive moral teachings.
Fr Kelleher decries the "anti-God poison in the air" while spewing his own bile into the atmosphere. He claims that there is an attempt to "tear our civilisation apart" when all that is happening is that our society is becoming more civilised as we forsake prejudice.
Hopefully, 60 years from now it will be unbelievable that anyone would hold the views that Fr Kelleher and his ilk express. Perhaps it will be universally realised that homosexuality is not a perversion but a form of love, just as entitled to respect and admiration as any other. Instead of disparaging the changes in our society, maybe we will wonder why anyone thought the old "civilisation" was worth saving. - Yours, etc,
DAVID BEATTY,
Coolamber Park,
Knocklyon, Dublin 16.
A chara, - Sometimes, one reads something that perfectly, if inadvertently, encapsulates the past, present and future of a particular issue; so it is with Fr Tom Kelleher's letter (May 18th). If the best that the reactionary wing of the Catholic Church can muster against gay couples' fight for equal treatment is breathless ranting about perversity, social collapse and media dirty tricks, then that fight is as good as won.
Not over, certainly - there are battles to be fought and won over the rights of gay parents and their children - but there can now be only one outcome.
As a gay expat, I cannot help but brag a little about my homeland's stellar progress on gay rights. - Is mise,
PÓL Ó CIONNAITH,
Dongsun-dong, Seongbuk-gu,
Seoul, South Korea.