• It is what’s in the heart that counts • Preventing pilot strike should be priority for politicians • Country doesn’t need ‘toilet police’ • County actions hurt homestay people It is what’s in the heart that counts Ms. Bea Brock’s letter, (TGI, May 25)
• It is what’s in the heart that counts • Preventing pilot strike should be priority for politicians • Country doesn’t need ‘toilet police’ • County actions hurt homestay people
It is what’s in the heart that counts
Ms. Bea Brock’s letter, (TGI, May 25) is dismissive of both the complexity of gender identity and the pain and struggle T folks face. It parallels the vicious notion that sexual orientation is a choice rather than a state of being.
Every person has the God-given right to determine who they are in all areas of life. As a pastor of LGBTQ folks, I know men and women who reflect God’s image.
Are we to let others judge if we are (male/female, gay/straight) enough? That awareness is in each person’s heart, not others’ judgment.
Michael Christensen, Hanapepe
Preventing pilot strike should be priority for politicians
Your story on “Hawaiian pilots receive $2M for strike preparedness” (May 23) is both disturbing and revealing: disturbing because such action takes us closer to a strike and the inconvenience and economic damage this would necessarily cause; revealing because it raises again the fact that Hawaiian Air has a virtual monopoly on interisland travel. And this control has taken place quite publicly and with an apparent indifference by our state and local politicians.
Unfortunately the obvious needs to be stated: We are an island state and travel among the islands is essential to our well-being, especially for those of us living on the neighbor islands.
I would find it helpful to know if anyone in government is giving this any thought and, if so, what actions are being considered and where on a list of priorities this might fall.
Robert Springer, Koloa
Country doesn’t need ‘toilet police’
I note two recent letters to TGI regarding transgender use of bathrooms. It seems certain to me that being transgendered is not a “whim,” as one writer suggests. (When I was a young woman working at a major medical center, children were sometimes born with both male and female characteristics; and doctors had to “choose” which to leave intact.)
Setting aside the compassion I hope we could show our children, I do have one burning question: Just who is going to determine a toilet user’s “real” gender? Will we have workers or volunteers stationed in public restrooms to check genitalia?
Talk about government intrusion!
Our representatives need to spend more time working together to address issues of poverty, clean air and water, education, and defense; and less time on symbolic and unenforceable gestures that pander to ignorance and distract us from far greater issues than the need of struggling adolescents to be free of the “toilet police.”
Suzan Kelsey Brooks, West Des Moines, Iowa
County actions hurt homestay people
This letter was sent to the entire council in response to the approval of the homestay bill.
Aloha… To the four of you who voted in favor of this joke of a bill! All of you should think real hard about what Mr. Hooser said: “But we can’t solve the problem with a sledge hammer because that will hurt people and ruin their lives.”
Well, Mr. Hooser, the damage has been committed. Because of how us long-time homestay people have quietly and compatibly fit into our surroundings of our neighborhoods for many years to help make ends meet and then being cut at the knees by the county to cease and desist or else pay $10,000 a day fines, leaves no option.
I’m confident our property rights have somehow been violated. I think the council needs to find some ways to stash a large legal fund. Believe me you are going to need it.
Steve Martin, Kapaa
