LETTERS

YEP, I'M GAY

"I'm not sure America is ready for her, but I can only cast my vote in favor of Ellen DeGeneres for having the courage to be honest." KRISTINA BURKE Highlands Ranch, Colorado

Hooray for Ellen DeGeneres! It is hard being gay, and it is especially hard to admit publicly that you are [TELEVISION, April 14]. Ellen's coming out will help everyone else see that gays are not freaks but are normal and sometimes even famous. No one chooses to be gay; we are born that way. But even in today's world, there are folks who are still closed-minded. A lot of us work hard to hide our sexuality for fear of being outcast, harassed or fired. Ellen has helped us take a step in the right direction. NAME WITHHELD ON REQUEST Beaufort, South Carolina

Your report was an affront to decency in general and the troubled family unit in particular. Amid a world in chaos, as America's moral fiber continues to fray and its societal underbelly softens, you place on your cover a glorification of unnatural sexual behavior. Shame on you, TIME! JACK E. SHULER Londonderry, New Hampshire

Your cover article was terrific! Not only was it presented with class, but it also provided an overview of TV firsts that was informative and eye-opening. DeGeneres should be applauded for her courage. Those of us who know the struggle of discovering our sexuality--especially that feeling of not fitting in--and our individuality are deeply indebted not only to DeGeneres but also to all the other actors who have braved uncharted waters so that the rest of us can understand and be understood. TAMMY K. ALVOID Gahanna, Ohio

Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. JEAN ROBERT Quebec City, Canada

As a conservative Roman Catholic, I had a preconceived idea about how I would react to your report on DeGeneres and others who live a gay life-style. However, my reading of the superbly objective article, coupled with the knowledge that God showers limitless love equally on all humankind, made me realize that obligations are placed on us to offer more love to all God's creations and try to understand the uniqueness God intended. HENRY T. DOHERTY Miami

I find it very disturbing when homosexuality is portrayed as a normal, alternative life-style. TV quite often glamorizes what happens in real life. Someone needs to take a stand on moral values. MARGARET WIEBE Winnipeg, Manitoba

DeGeneres may not want to represent the gay community, but she does represent its promise. Maybe now Americans will begin to realize we are not all a bunch of freaks. Thanks, Ellen, for being brave and putting yourself on the line. KEITH ANYON Santa Monica, California

Ellen, relax. It's the type of person you are that counts. RON CARMEAN Philadelphia

It is none of my business if DeGeneres is gay, and I don't like her trying to make it my business. DeGeneres, keep your private life private or get help. JAMES R. STAHL Findlay, Ohio

The more visible gay and lesbian people are, the less hatred and bigotry they will face. It is my dream that one day coming out as a gay person will not be cover-story news. WES COMBS WASHINGTON

I have already heard the backlash from people saying DeGeneres wasn't very supportive of the gay community in your article. To them I say, "Let Ellen be who she is--an individual who has her own experiences and views of the gay community." Isn't that what we are all about--diversity and acceptance? To Ellen I say, "Congratulations, thank you for the laughs and welcome 'out.'" JOSEPH DEJULIO San Francisco

Our society is certainly in a shameful frame of collective mind when an individual must be labeled brave and courageous for simply being honest with friends, colleagues and the public. MAUREEN E. GREEN Charleston, South Carolina

Ellen, yep, you're gay. Yep, I'm gone. LARRY BLEDSOE Oklahoma City

I am no Bible-thumping moralist or homophobe, but I am appalled at seeing a modestly talented television actress on your cover because of her suddenly avowed sexual preference. Why is a campaign being waged to normalize a behavior considered abnormal since time began? Could it be that the TV show Ellen is desperately trying to hang onto its viewers by this public admission? RICHARD H. VELVART North York, Ontario THE BIBLE AND HOMOSEXUALITY

As a Christian minister, I thought author Camille Paglia had the best insight into why Christians who believe in the Bible have a problem with homosexuality [TELEVISION, April 14]. We have a heartfelt conviction that it is wrong. The Bible teaches that wrong is wrong, but it also teaches that some things will result in greater public outcry than others. Sexuality is one of them. The extreme fringes of sexuality will always carry the most severe consequences. (THE REV.) WENDELL RAY First Baptist Church Gulf Breeze, Florida

Why would anyone ask faux feminist Paglia her opinion on anything? Since when is Paglia a pundit on popular culture? Her pseudo-intellectual rants and sophomoric philosophizing are pure reactionary rhetoric. DAVID TRUDELL Los Angeles

I am grateful that Paglia, an open lesbian, acknowledged that the objections of conservative Christian ministers to the gay community are not simply bigotry. I am tired of Christians' being portrayed as hatemongers for holding true to deeply held biblical convictions. I am a Christian who opposes the very open gay agenda, but I do not hate homosexual people, and I'm tired of being told I do. MIKE HALL Agana Heights, Guam

UP IN ARMS

The Pentagon has some answering to do about its attempts to help American defense contractors sell their aircraft to Latin American countries [WORLD, April 14]. Given the obvious fragility of the region, Latin America is the last place the U.S. should peddle its arms. People gape with horror when the Russians market high-tech warplanes to nations in troubled regions, yet few protest when America sells equally deadly technology. I hope the Defense Department will gape with the same horror if, in combat with an unstable Latin American nation, American planes encounter aircraft that are equally deadly (and American made). BRETT MACKELLAR Gaylord, Michigan

Opening the way for U.S. weapons sales to Latin American countries, beginning with Chile, is the result of joint pressures by the greedy American arms lobby and Chile's money-happy army. The fighter planes Chile seeks have as their possible target Argentina, which is reducing its armed forces to most citizens' delight. The arms race is dangerous and could disrupt the extensive trade between Chile and Argentina, which is the best guarantee of peace. MARIO CASAS ELIA Buenos Aires

Latin America is making progress in politics and economics. Fears of communism are disappearing. The U.S. government should help the region by bringing more democracy, more liberty and more peace, not by selling weapons that can lead to more violence and an arms race. I hope the U.S. will be guided not by profit motives but by higher ideals. HIROYUKI ANDO Shizuoka, Japan

HEAVEN'S GATE REVISITED

After reading your article on the continuing influence of Heaven's Gate [NATION, April 14], I am appalled that despite the suicide of 39 people in Rancho Santa Fe, California, there are still followers of this cult. One would think that people would realize the dangers of brainwashing cults. KYLE EBERLIN Buffalo, New York

In your story "The Faithful Among Us," you included a statement by Hank Hanegraaff to the effect that cult leaders Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, known as Do and Ti, instituted measures such as lack of sleep, repetitive chanting and duties that contributed to subtle thought control. This statement was followed by a quote from me, a member of the cult until 1994: "Do and Ti had repeated things for so long...There was frustration. We had even waited for a craft to pick us up on several dates, and it didn't happen. Ti and Do both had a lot of depression over that." However, my quote was used out of context. It had nothing to do with so-called control, and in using the phrase "repeated things for so long," I was referring to the way teachers keep repeating basic grammar rules to students. The comment on "frustration" referred to what all of us deal with at times when we are hoping something will happen and it seems to take longer than we wanted.

And when I said Ti and Do had a lot of depression, I didn't mean they walked around with their heads hanging low and with a glum look on their faces. In fact, it was amazing how quickly they could appreciate why the spacecraft hadn't come: because they and/or the students or the world weren't ready yet. "SAWYER" Westchester County, New York

DON'T IGNORE THE EVIDENCE

As a professional astronomer, former astronaut and new-paradigm scientist, I was a guest on Art Bell's radio talk show [NATION, April 14] on Feb. 16. To Bell's credit, I had the opportunity to make very clear that I saw absolutely no scientific evidence for any spaceship companion to the Hale-Bopp comet. But I also cited positive evidence for the presence of extraterrestrial intelligence through the UFO phenomenon. It is easy to use the Heaven's Gate tragedy to debunk the entire range of phenomena associated with possible visitations, ignoring government cover-ups of reverse engineering and of radical new concepts in free-energy generation. We are in the midst of a profound scientific revolution, and the popular press needs to get beyond denial and become more open to these vexing questions. BRIAN O'LEARY Haiku, Hawaii

Your article was not only unfair to Art Bell (no relation), but it was also an insult to Bell's millions of listeners. Most of us, contrary to your assertion, are not "reality challenged." We are thinking individuals, open to all points of view. Bell is often ahead of the major media in breaking important news stories. While, unquestionably, some guests on his show are not credible, many others are. Bell lets his listeners decide for themselves what to believe. CRAIG S. BELL Hickory, Kentucky

LESSONS FROM ANTARCTICA

Thank you, Eugene Linden, for the beautiful and captivating story of Antarctica and the light it can shed on the possibilities of climate change [Environment, April 14]. The transformations occurring on our planet are rarely reported with such thought and intensity. Descriptions of climatic movements taking place over thousands of years read like a mystery novel. Scientific details of the Antarctic ice sheet were presented with extreme clarity and only enhanced the drama. JOLANKA FISHER New York City

I'm worried about the survival of the emperor penguin, which is dependent on Antarctic sea ice. The threat of rising temperatures in the region puts the penguins' lives in peril. Soon Antarctica will be open to oil exploration, and that may also lead to the extinction of these flightless birds. With nations racing to obtain as much oil as possible, a tanker spill seems inevitable. That is bad news for environmental activists. In the near future, emperor penguins may survive only in zoos in an artificial environment. MARK T. BRANDEN Depew, New York

As a teenager of the technological age, I found your story extremely informative. It raised many serious issues that concern my future but that I was unaware of because of my lack of knowledge of our ecosystem. Too many of us do not realize that what we do to the environment today could eventually cause Florida and London to be submerged in water as the result of a climate change and a rise in sea level. This story caused me to recognize that our world will not be the same forever. I should start working now to save the planet. SARAH HARRES Columbia, Illinois

Your report on what Antarctica's ice layers can tell us about global climate change correctly noted that today's average global temperatures are relatively low. For more than three-quarters of geological history, the earth was considerably warmer than it is now. The Antarctic ice cap will certainly melt again, causing world sea levels to rise as much as 60 ft. This will inundate the fertile coastal plains and river deltas that many countries rely on for farmland, and it is one reason we should act now to control greenhouses gases. LAWRENCE BARKER Melbourne, Australia

THOSE DAMNED HMOS

Is medicine still a profession? If it is, then HMOs [NATION, April 14] are indefensible because they allow profits, instead of the clinical judgment of doctors or other medical professionals, to direct decision making. WALT GARDNER Los Angeles

HMO horror stories are not rare occurrences, as the American Association of Health Plans suggests in your report "Backlash Against HMOs." HMOs are one of the greatest health threats of our time, one that is growing daily as more and more Americans are forced into these plans. To help protect people from HMO abuse, governments, both state and federal, should immediately enact legislation that will allow those who have suffered from HMO policies to sue the companies and their executives. If HMOs knew they could be held legally liable for their actions, they might perform more responsibly. We must also create a system of second-opinion arbitration panels, so that patients who think they have been unfairly denied care by an HMO will have some recourse. HARVEY F. WACHSMAN, M.D., J.D. President, American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys Great Neck, New York

Perhaps the nation can take a cue from Minnesota and require that all hospitals and HMOs be not for profit, so that medical decisions can be based on what the patient needs rather than what will yield the best bottom line. RAMON R. JOSEPH, M.D. Sun City West, Arizona

SLEEPING WITH THE CHILDREN

I was delighted to read Robert Wright's article theorizing why it should be socially acceptable for babies to sleep with their parents at night [Health, April 14]. My nine-month-old, often praised for her cheerfulness and happiness, turns into a crying banshee if I try to get her to sleep in her crib. She won't go to sleep unless it's with us in our bed. But what will happen when she is four or five years old and doesn't want to leave? No wonder Dr. Richard Ferber is an expert at child sleeping problems, getting children to learn to fall asleep on their own at such early ages. Dr. Ferber probably has a sex life! CAROLYN MARKS Panama City, Florida

Wright says he and his wife (failed Ferberizers) didn't even set up the crib when their second daughter was born. Wright must have a very large bed to accommodate the whole family comfortably. Family bed? Yikes! What if you have six kids? Do you let them all sleep with Mommy and Daddy out of habit until they leave for college?

Also does their bedtime become your bedtime--say 7 p.m.--just to make them feel cozy? This habit sounds too hard to break. No, thank you. In our family, we are all happy and well rested in our own beds and cribs. DAWN WEISS Katy, Texas

When advising a family about helping a sleepless child achieve a satisfactory night's slumber, one must take into account a number of factors, including parental wishes. We do not begin with any preconceived notion as to when a child should be weaned or whether a child should sleep in bed with the parents, in another room with a sibling or in a room alone. It is up to the parents to decide when their child should be weaned and where he or she should sleep. Any treatment program that tries to treat all children (and families) with a single, one-method approach is wrong. What Wright chooses to call "Ferberization" would be such a one-method approach. I certainly do not support such a single-minded theory. We strongly teach the opposite, stressing the importance of flexibility and multifaceted programs in deciding where the child sleeps or when he or she is weaned. RICHARD FERBER, M.D., Director Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders Children's Hospital