To The Editor:

The religious right hopes to spread its anti-gay propaganda with a taxpayer-funded Congressional hearing on homosexuality in the public schools.

They warn of a “gay agenda,” but the only agenda I see is theirs.

In the wake of mounting scholarship the intellectual ground for demonizing gays and lesbians is quickly eroding. Because those who are prejudiced against gay people cannot face the facts, they are trying to suppress the truth. They must replace education with indoctrination. As these bigots realize they can no longer challenge the truth, they will increasingly seek to censor it.

Our schools are not recruiting grounds for homosexuals, as the religious right claims. They are recruiting grounds for bigots and homophobes. Walk down the halls of any high school and you will hear kids throwing anti-gay slurs around as insults. School is a terrifying place for gay youth and for kids merely suspected to be gay.

Given the high rates of harassment, suicide and emotional problems among young gays, their issues must be addressed, not minimized or ignored.

William C. Stosine

Iowa City resident