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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Dear Diane: No need to ‘do the deed’

Diane Verhoeven King Features Syndicate

Dear Diane: I’m a senior in high school and still a virgin. All of the other guys make fun of me for this. Should I just go ahead and “do the deed” and get it over with?

— Virgin in Virginia

Dear Virginia: No! Don’t be childish. And certainly don’t do anything you aren’t ready to do. If you want to wait, that’s your choice, and your so-called friends should respect that choice.

If you’re going to let peer pressure run your life, then what’s next? Binge drinking? Drugs? Just how far are you going to let these people push you?

It’s time you grew up. Be a Man and stand up for yourself.

“““

Dear Diane: I just wanted to drop you a note and applaud you for the stand you took. A reader, “Gay in Galveston,” was asking how to appropriately go about “coming out” at work. Your answer to him? Loosely translated: Keep your mouth shut, there is nothing special about you!

I say BRAVO! I am completely in favor of each person’s right to choose their own sexuality, but I am with you — it is not something that should be put on the bulletin board at work or church, or brought up at holidays to make a huge production out of! Trust me, most people have pretty good built-in “gay-dar” and they already know, LONG before the person “chooses” to come out of the closet, so to speak.

Just wanted you to know I enjoy your common-sense approach to advice-giving.

— A Reader In Spokane Valley, Wash.