In response to Jim Thompson’s letter of Dec. 4, it must be said that we are a nation that has very firmly held on to the principles of separation of church and state. This was one of the original reasons our ancestors left the rigid church laws of England.

Quite simply, the laws of the Lord are laws of the various churches. Laws regarding rules in the military are equally simple, the laws of state.

The decision to allow or disallow gays in or from the military must exclude the arguments of religion. Heterosexual contact within the military is not more or less destructive or invasive than homosexual (contact). Making lives miserable is destructive.

We don’t (make legal) meat on Friday just because the Catholic church does. We don’t (make illegal) dancing, although the Mennonite church does, and we do not ban pork, although the Jewish faith does.

There are gays in the military, the administration and the personel are just too scared to admit it. It is ignorant paranoia to believe that allowing gays in the military would encourage heterosexuals to become gay or bisexual. People do not decide to become gay, it just happens. Get over it!

Overall, allowing gays in the military would simply begin to allow people who are gay to live in and contribute to a society that supposedly guarantees the non-existence of such discrimination.

Hatred of people or peoples is not illegal, but discrimination of people resulting from that hatred is illegal. Love thy neighbor, Jim. Rob and Barb Fox Franklin