Love/Hate Mail
Criminal homophobia
Just thought you’d be interested to know that some Nashvillians unfortunately still live in the Dark Ages. Last week, two women were seen taking all of the copies of the Scene from the box on Fourth Avenue North at the Arcade entrance and tossing them in a trash can. The consensus in our office is that they must have been offended by the cover story (“Why Gay Couples Deserve the Right to Marry,” Nov. 15), but it’s hard for me to imagine how any well-balanced person could be.
David Kleinfelter
david@kleinfelter.com (Nashville)
One down
For your sake, I hope you will be successful catering to the homosexual market segment, because you just lost me (“Why Gay Couples Deserve the Right to Marry,” Nov. 15). I refused to pick up this week’s copy at the Downtown YMCA and will no longer use the Scene.
Pete Poremski
poremski@home.com (Nashville)
Ban bigotry
In last week’s Scene, the article about “same-sex” marriages was politely diplomatic and intelligently showed the legal and practical views of this issue. I would rather have seen it be more brutally blunt. The bottom line: How dare anyone in our country tell anyone whom he or she can and cannot marry? The dictionary defines marriage as, among other things, “a close union.” The word itself is not exclusive to male and female partners. Morals are defined as “being or acting in accordance with standards...of goodness....” Who has the audacity to determine the definition of “goodness” for the entire country? Why do people always seem to forget that America was founded by people escaping religious bigotry? The fact that there are laws forbidding anyone the right to get married is proof that our country conducts itself in the same abhorrent manner that our ancestors were trying to escape.
Debra Rae
Saradario@aol.com (Nashville)
Online irony
Dudes, loved the juxtaposition on your Web site of your contest for Mickey’s Magical Christmas video with the article on gay marriage.
Randy Palmer
randy_palmer@hotmail.com (Winchester, Mass.)
A traditional view
After reading the article on same-sex marriages, my concern is not the rights of two women or two men having a same-sex union. My concern is for the children of such relationships, such as the one at the end of the article who says she “does not have a daddy, but she has two mommies and a donor.” Children don’t have a choice in who their parents are. I have never met a person who wished they had parents of the same sex. I have a friend who is a single mom at 25. Her 4-year-old daughter constantly asks her when she will have a daddy, not when she’s going to have a second mommy. Luckily, my friend is marrying a man in December, but her daughter has never had a father.
Marriage was designed not only to legitimize the sexual union between man and woman, but also for the legal procreation of children between both sexes. One can argue that men and women were physically created for unions. True union is sexual intercourse between a man and a woman.
I also wonder why one of your couples had a woman in a wedding dress and the other in a man’s tuxedo? It would appear the couple were trying to emulate a heterosexual marriage, except they are two women posing as a man and a woman.
John C. Mathieson
7821 Farmington Place, Nashville
Upchucking and uptight
While recovering from the stomach flu, I tried to read the Scene this morning to take my mind off the lingering nausea while I ate breakfast. I soon found myself back on my knees in front of the porcelain throne, however, after I saw the article about the boys skewering themselves and hanging from their punctured flesh (“A Sharper Image,” Nov. 8). This article was inappropriate. One picture would have been too many, but you showed three. With all the real suffering that takes place in this world, please don’t spend time glorifying the psycho-physical self-mutilation exhibited by these clearly troubled youths. Gross, guys.
Lorna Morris
llmorris@mtsu.edu (Nashville)
Mr. coffee
I enjoyed Kay West’s treatment of the new and wonderful Sunday brunch at the Bongo Java Roasting Co. (“Sunday Best,” Nov. 8). However, the review cannot be truly complete without a mention of Bongo Java’s fabulous coffee roaster, Mark Johnson. Mark has the true connoisseur’s passion for great coffee, and it shows in every cup. And, after all, what is a Sunday brunch without a good cup of Joe?
Bill Cole
3rd Bean Coffee Bar
Commerce Center Plaza, Nashville
CDs on the cheap
I’m a diehard Beatles collector who just went from vinyl to CDs not too long ago. After reading Ben Taylor’s recent Pop Life column about high CD prices (“Price gouging,” Nov. 8), I can suggest a few Web sites I use frequently. Spun.com sells new and used CDs; the Beatles ones I purchased were British imports, all under $10 each. Cheap-CDs.com is a very good seller in California that sells only new CDs, wrapped, most under $12 with only 99-cent shipping. Neither charges sales taxes, and they deliver in record time (usually three days at most). Definitely worth a look!
Lisa J. Goodrich
ljgfab4@aol.com (Madison)
