Homophobia has evil consequences

To the editor:

Re: ?Cake-baker has rights too? (Dec. 1): I admire people with principles, and who stand up for the rights of others. However, actions always have consequences. When you endorse homophobia, and particularly when you give it the stamp of religious approval, you are sending a message to immature children that it is acceptable to abuse, bully and otherwise make the lives of gay children a living hell. Thousands of gay kids across America each year are mercilessly bullied, beaten, and some driven to suicide because adults turn a blind eye to these crimes, or far worse actively encourage them. All discriminatory behaviors, large or small; the gay slur, the sexist joke, the anti-Semitic nudge and wink, the racist epithet, the anti-immigrant trip in the hallway ? whether physical, mental or emotional abuse ? all have created decades of division, fear, deep unhappiness, and hopeless despair. If in my childhood Victoria Childress had refused to bake a cake for a black couple, or a Jewish couple, or a mixed race couple, few people would have commented. Discrimination was sadly common, and the Bible often quoted to justify it. Fortunately, prejudice has receded on many fronts, and laws passed to protect some civil rights. Discrimination based on sexual orientation is wrong. It has evil consequences for innocent people, many of them children. It mistreats a minority of American citizens, who have as much of an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as anybody else, just for being born a certain way. Please do your part to oppose homophobia and its terrible consequences.

? Andrew Edlin, Fairfield