I expect that many gay people in Ireland, like me, have been troubled by the recent debate in your newspaper on whether the expression of our desires and love constitutes "intrinsic moral evil". In trying to cope with this offensive onslaught, it is somewhat heartening to refer to the Combat Poverty Agency report, "Poverty: Lesbians and Gay Men" (1995), which found that lesbians and gay men who "came out" or, as Rev Peter Callaghan (August 10th) might put it, "chose a gay lifestyle", considerably improved their lives as a result. This occurred despite persistently high levels of anti-gay discrimination which for many of us has meant isolation and bullying at school, loss of employment and experiences of violence and harassment on the street.
Even more heartening is the fact that many of these problems are now finally being addressed by the State. Existing and proposed equality legislation will, one hopes, combat prejudice and intolerance, the real "intrinsic moral evils" of our society. - Yours, etc.,
Eoin Collins, Fumbally Lane, Dublin 8.