GOVERNMENT DOES BELONG

Regarding last Wednesday's column by Gannett's Deb Price, a self-avowed
lesbian activist, which called on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the
sodomy laws of several states: Her point is that the government does not
belong in our private lives.

The problem with that argument is that the government does indeed have an
interest if the private activities result in a social liability, i.e., if
the government has to pick up the tab. For example, smoking dope, even
privately, is illegal in part because of the enormous cost to society
caused by treating addicts in government-funded facilities and hiring extra
law enforcement officers to fight accompanying crime.

Along the same lines homosexual activity costs public healthcare facilities
untold millions of dollars treating damaged rectums, infections caused by
disease-producing microorganisms and sexually transmitted diseases that
have a higher-than-normal occurrence level in the homosexual community.

But the issue is not only the public cost. In fact, the issue is a moral
one. Price's column is one more brick in the building of a new nation, one
that ignores the traditional values and definition of marriage and rejects
the idea of Biblical morality, which is the basis of our government.

The question is: Will we reject the mores of our founding fathers for
relative moralism? Our founding fathers said that our rights and
responsibilities come from our Creator. Or are we no longer one nation
under God?

Nathan Martin

Pineville