Loudoun Easterner
January 5, 2005
To the Editor:
I read with interest Steve Baldwin’s defense of Supervisor Delgaudio’s stance against an anti-bullying lesson at our local schools in the Dec. 29 edition of the Easterner. Evidently in the shadows of his mind, any attempt to teach civility in our schools “of do unto others” raises the concern on the hard core right of implementing the “homosexual agenda”. He makes the point that since homosexuality is a choice it is OK to bully any kid in school who the other kids “think” is a “homo”, or for that matter a “wimp” or a “geek” or a “brain”. Maybe that will make the student make the “right” choice, even if falsely accused. Perhaps he thinks ethnic slurs are OK also, if done in fun? He suggests we call in the cops if the law is broken. We should not have to wait until it gets to that point. Let’s hope Californians like Mr. Baldwin go back to California instead of preaching their “hurtful” politics here. Come on, we are talking about kids being taught not to bully other kids. We have a very diverse student population in our county. If you want to drive kids into gangs or encourage increased student violence, support bullying as Mr. Baldwin does. Oh for some leadership in this county that lives up to that famous quote “All we have to fear is fear itself” instead of the Delgaudio motto of “be afraid, be very afraid” of diversity and change.
Thom Beres, Col (Ret) USAF
Ex-Californian
Sterling