To the Editor:

Steve Forbes’ announcement that he is a Republican candidate for the presidential nomination got buried on the inside pages of the paper.

That confuses and troubles me, since he appears to be a refreshing counter to the religious right’s, so far effective, effort to make the Big Tent more selective membership-wise than most country clubs. Is the $25 million of his own money that he plans to spend on a campaign less worthy of coverage than whatever billionaire Ross Perot shelled out for his on-again, off-again 1992 independent campaign?

Isn’t it time to ask Mr. Forbes some penetrating questions and let his responses get a broad airing? I’d like to know where he stands on gay rights and homosexuals in the military. I’m hopeful: he seems to have loving memories of his famous father, publisher Malcolm Forbes, Sr., who happened to be gay. He must have fire in his belly, too, if he’s willing to suspend his publishing career and spend his own money for what you dismiss as a longshot campaign.

The other announced Republican candidates, save for Sen. Arlen Specter, have given gay voters, together with their friends and families, two choices: get back in the closet or burn in Hell. Bob Dole won’t take their money (unless no one knows about it) and Bill Clinton has reneged on his campaign promises to gay voters perhaps more so than on the pledges he made to other constituencies (that’s saying a lot!). Let’s hear what Steve Forbes has to say.

Todd Jennings

Greenwich, CT