Pubdate: Tue, 06 Aug 2002 Source: Town Talk, The (Alexandria, LA) Copyright: 2002sThe Town Talk Contact: http://www.thetowntalk.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1027 Author: Nathan Martin 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 - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom