Actually I had decided against posting this letter from a former Marine DI until I ran across this article about the same sex couple in Malawi. It struck me that the power to distort reality of the culture biased animus against gays in both is much the same. One speaks in an American contex, the other in an African, but both show the same bizarre understanding of what is after all a fairly common behavior world wide.

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It's enough to make me wonder how much my own understanding of reality is being distorted by the culture I grew up in. Maybe I was hexed by a witch back when and my culture is preventing me from seeing what is obvious to any Malawian.

Thanks for the links on both the stories, very sad but interesting. I think the thing that upsets me so much about situations like this is not so much that a culture thinks or teaches this way but that people can be so filled with hate against other people. Regardless if they can't understand homosexuality because of their culture or teaching, the total hate and meanness just chills me to the bone. Like the public death sentence for the 2 gay teenage boys in Iran a few years ago.

Remember in this country, not really all that long ago, sodomy laws made sexual contact between 2 men illegal in many states. The courts struck them down and so soon now so many here can't even imagine such a thing in this country. We still have so far to go in this country but thank God we have come this far in my lifetime.

It was even interesting to see Dick Cheney on ABC's This Week Sunday program when asked about the repeal of don't ask don't tell. He basicly said times have changed, even since DADT was started, and he agreed with some of the Military Generals and now was the time to repeal it. I realize he has a gay daughter but still my jaw hit the floor.

Again thanks for the links and hopefully one day other countries can at least get to where we are today and hopefully maybe where we will be tomorrow.