Although you might not agree

with a gay lifestyle, everyone deserves to be treated with compassion

and equality. Life is too precious to be filled with hate.

Students who describe themselves

as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered are five times more likely

to miss school because of feeling unsafe; 28 percent are forced to drop

out. National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, "Anti-Gay/Lesbian Victimization,"

New York, 1984.

The vast majority of victims

of anti-lesbian/gay violence possibly more than 80 percent never report

the incident, often due to fear of being "outed." New York Gay

and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project Annual Report, 1996.

Due to sexual orientation discrimination,

lesbians earn up to 14 percent less than their heterosexual female peers

with similar jobs, education, age and residence, according to a study

of Sexual Orientation Discrimination," Industrial and Labor Relations

Review, July 1995.

Seventy-five percent of people

committing hate crimes are under age 30 one in three are under 18 and

some of the most pervasive anti-gay violence occurs in schools. New York

Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Report, 1996.

A survey of 191 employers revealed

that 18 percent would fire, 27 percent would refuse to hire and 26 percent

would refuse to promote a person they perceived to be lesbian, gay or

bisexual. Schatz and O'Hanlan, "Anti-Gay Discrimination in Medicine:

Results of a National Survey of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Physicians,"

San Francisco, 1994.

As a heterosexual female, I

cannot claim to fully understand or even comprehend the discrimination

that many homosexuals go through. What I do know is that homosexuals are

just as human as everyone else and they deserve to be treated as such.

I hope that society can learn to treat each other humanely, no matter

what their sexual orientation, race or religion might be. Even more importantly,

I hope we teach our children [to do] the same.

Elizabeth Beyer

Fayetteville