Letters to the editor

Maryland and marriage

Do Marylanders want to live in the second state in the nation to have same-sex “marriage” forced on us by the courts, following Massachusetts (“Foes set push to ban gay unions,” Metropolitan, Monday)? That’s what is in jeopardy with a lawsuit filed last summer by the ACLU seeking to overturn Maryland’s marriage law.

The majority of Marylanders, like the majority of Americans in 13 other states, want our elected state representatives to represent us and protect marriage as it has existed for milleniums and has been the bedrock of culture in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Australia and even Antarctica.

Though Delegate Joseph Vallario says he personally opposes homosexual “marriage,” he does not support an amendment banning them. Give Marylanders an opportunity to vote on a constitutional amendment.

LAURA CLARK

Catonsville, Md.

Politically correct or historically correct?

Richard G. Williams Jr.’s depiction of Robert E. Lee (“Lee the educator committed to character,” The Civil War, Saturday) follows a tradition of Southern writers who have eulogized the Civil War general who later became president of Washington College. Mr. Williams does an admirable job of describing Lee’s empathy toward the soldiers he led in battle and the young men he prepared for life at his educational institution. The author also defends Lee against what he characterizes as recent politically correct efforts to denigrate his public image.

I agree with what Mr. Williams describes as Lee’s strengths as an individual, but he glosses over and defends Lee’s decision to resign his commission in the United States Army, renounce his citizenship and take up arms against his former countrymen in defense of the Southern way of life based on a slave-driven economy. Mr. Williams characterizes Lee’s actions in this case as “one of the most famous self-sacrificing decisions in history.” A more objective observer would see this as an effort to emphasize Lee’s finer points selectively while overlooking anything that might tarnish his image.

Providing historically accurate facts does not constitute being “politically correct.” Lee was a fine gentleman and a talented warrior. At the same time, he went to war against his own country to preserve a lifestyle that has since been rejected as repugnant. Mr. Williams is correct that Lee should not be stricken from the historical record. At the same time, he should be remembered for all of his actions, not just those that some admirers choose to emphasize.

THOMAS J. RYAN

Bethany Beach, Del.

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