To the Editor:

Thank you for the article on Proposition 8 and the upcoming legal battle. This is the only place where I have seen a single article address the precedent and explain why the death penalty initiative can be distinguished from Prop 8.

I would, however, like to point out that it was not only the Democrats in Massachusetts who protected the right of all people to marry. In 2005, Republican State Senate Minority Leader Brian P. Lees changed his position and stated his strong opposition to taking away the right of same sex couples to marry. Many Republicans followed him in voting against a ban on same sex marriage in Massachusetts.

When Republicans are willing to support equal rights, they should be commended. Not only are they standing up for what is right, but they often must return to seek re-election in districts where support for marriage equality may render them vulnerable to primary challenges. It seems to me that this requires more courage than the Democrats standing up for equal marriage rights when their constituents are overwhelmingly progressive. If only California Republicans could show such courage.

Michael Dorsi
Formerly of Berkeley, CA



To the Editor:

Wow, I just read your article titled "Mormons Baptize Jews Without their Consent" by Tommi Avicolli-Mecca. I am shocked at the bigotry involved. It's one thing to criticize a religion, and it's another to do so by misrepresenting the truth in nearly every respect. Tommi has some major lack of knowledge about the religion, and that's sad to see in a reporter. This only makes your publication look worse and gives you a bad name.

Brian Griffiths



To the Editor:

After reading your pieces, I thought you'd like feedback from someone who normally doesn't read Beyond Chron or the weeklies ... or the Chronicle, for that matter.

I am a liberal or progressive, and I was profoundly against Prop B. I am against ballot-box budgeting, and I also think there is a drastic need for affordable "middle income" or "workforce" housing. The below-market mix as conceived by B was too tilted towards those at the bottom of the income spectrum; in a time of budget scarcity, we can't do everything for everyone. We need to enlarge the City's tax base very badly; that must be considered in all housing policy decisions, and "higher-income low-income" families spend more and contribute more to the economy.

I think a very large number of others in the City agree with me. All of my friends do, although admittedly that's anecdotal and a small sample. However, I think this viewpoint is foreign to the left-edge of the progressive community.

So I think you (and other progressives) are fundamentally misreading the SF electorate on the housing issue. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a disconnect between the Supervisor candidate results and the ballot measure results.

As a practical matter, even if you cite campaign direct mail as the reason for the disconnect, that is not going to change any time soon. You need to find new policy solutions, not re-treads.

More workforce housing for families is the answer, as is a continued expansion of tax-paying market rate housing in dense developments in rezoned areas.

Sincerely,
Bennett Charles



To the Editor:

While the School Board is not required to listen to the voters who narrowly passed Proposition V regarding JROTC, I would like to offer a reason why they should.

The opposition to JROTC lies in two areas -- getting military recruitment out of the schools and not supporting "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." I would argue that removing JROTC only removes the recruitment of those who would be targeted to be leaders in the military, and that it actually further entrenches "DADT."

San Francisco is an oasis of progressive tolerance in a desert of hatred. Our area provides a culture where children grow up unaware that they are "supposed" to fear and loathe the LGBT community. The passage of Prop (h)8 and the other 17 states with similar constitutional amendments makes it clear that the values here are under fire.

JROTC, while not a true recruiting opportunity for the military, does give young people who are inclined to follow careers in the armed forces a pathway to leadership. ROTC scholarships, which lead to entering the active duty military as an officer, are often a direct result of success in the JROTC program. Students who are truly desirous of joining the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marines are denied this path if the JROTC program is removed from the schools.

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will never go away as long as large swaths of the senior command in the military still feel that "gay soldier" = "dangerous pervert". Why, then, wouldn't you want to cultivate a presence from our area in that command chain? If the future generals and admirals aren't coming from San Francisco, then they are coming from places like Oklahoma, where Sally Kern (the "gay agenda is worse than terrorism" lady) is being seriously considered for Governor.

The dissolution of JROTC is a striking display of our displeasure at the discrimination of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", but it eventually serves nothing more than to encourage the continuation of that policy for what could be an entire generation.

Paul Franson
San Francisco



In School Beat, Lisa Schiff wrote: "So far it appears that the school level planning work will be based in the traditional governing processes vested in School Site Councils (SSC) and will initially be an exercise in turning existing Academic Plans into Balanced Scorecards, which can then be connected to the plans of other schools and those of the district and the BOE."

Does anyone else feel as discouraged as I do about the amount of effort and resources it takes for SFUSD to translate the very similar goals of the previous administration into the language and rhetoric of the new administration? If equity and excellence were easy, we'd be there now.

There is no lack of good will and desire to do the right thing as far as closing the gap. People who care about student outcomes and schools have long understood the basic problems facing us. We change superintendents so often that the work of the district seems mostly updating the extensive paperwork to reflect current lingo and putting the linguistic stamp of the new administration. New buzzwords are not what have been missing, nor is a longer, more complicated accountability document for school sites.

Sarah Wilcox
San Francisco



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