Opinion

Accomplishments not judged by sexuality

Posted September 09, 2019 1:00 am

On the front page of the Herald on Sunday, Sept. 1, was the headline "Teaching LGBTQ Influence in History." I have a comment about that.

The people mentioned in the article that were "trailblazers," like Sally Ride, Jane Adams, Rock Hudson etc., were they trailblazers because they were gay or because of their brains, courage or talent? I fail to understand what being gay has to do with any of those things.

This approach seems to equate being LGBTQ the same as black vs. white or man vs. woman. That is ridiculous. Every individual should be given the same opportunity according to ability, talent or brains, not opportunity just because they identify as L, G, B, T or Q.

Nor should they be singled out as special in history because of those identifiers. Sally Ride was a heroine because of her hard work, education and courage, not because she was gay. Ellen DeGeneres is a very talented comedian and has a popular show on TV for many years. It isn't because she is gay, but because she is talented. The same applies to all the rest of those in history.

Sara Schmidt

Des Plaines

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