While reading Penny Lancaster’s latest tirade (“Pitts tries to intimidate,” Sept. 21), this time against Leonard Pitts for arguing that Christians who find better things to do with their Christian faith than to demonize gay people ought to speak up and be counted, the famous song from South Pacific ran through my head. “You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear, You’ve got to be carefully taught.”

Lancaster, a second-grade teacher for many years, clearly knows how to teach. It’s a pity that one of her pet teaching objectives over the years has been fomenting hatred of a small group of people she has labeled as “damaged in body and soul, deviant.” Of what use would it be to argue that some of mankind’s greatest philosophers, writers, composers, artists, mathematicians, generals, athletes and scientists have come from this group?

Since she copied her list of gay rights victims verbatim from a Family Research Council editorial, we know the source she likes to use for her own education. Personally, I’d prefer to learn about what it is to be a civilized human being from the likes of Socrates, Plato, Wittgenstein, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Bacon, Cather and many others from Lancaster’s damaged group. Wouldn’t you?

Greg Presley

Spokane