Letter: Guinn wrongfully criticized by gay parade coordinator

Kendall Stagg, coordinator for the Gay Pride event, took a cheap shot at Guinn when he said: "I hope Guinn is being honest when he says he supports gay rights. But his refusal to sign the proclamation sends the wrong message to Nevada especially because of the recent hate crimes."

The article notes -- and Stagg surely knows -- that Guinn supported and signed a bill to outlaw discrimination in employment based on a person's sexual preference. So Stagg is not asking Guinn just to support gay rights (Guinn has already done that); Stagg is demanding that Guinn endorse the gay viewpoint.

There are some things all of us should understand:

1. Everyone is required to be tolerant.

2. Some -- businesses that offer public accommodations and employers notable among them -- are required to accept as well as to tolerate.

3. No one -- even one who accepts -- is required to approve or endorse.

It is outrageous to impugn the governor's honesty, as Stagg does, by suggesting that Guinn's refusal to issue a proclamation "in honor of" a gay pride celebration "sends the wrong message to Nevada" and to infer that this might encourage hate crimes. Guinn has no obligation, legal or moral, either officially or personally, to publicly endorse anyone's philosophy, viewpoint or sexual preference. Even his own.

C. H. MC CREA SR.

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