IT was with dismay that I read the letter from Bishop Glyn Day headed: "Gay vote panders to a minority" (July 31).

During my upbringing I believed - and still do - that we are made in the image of God, and He has given us free will.

How we are born, so we are. You cannot "become" gay or homosexual in your thinking. You cannot be "turned" into a homosexual. If you are not homosexual when you are born, then you will not be homosexual during your lifetime.

Bishop Day states, categorically, that the lifestyle of a person who is born as a homosexual is not approved by his creator. In that case, I am reminded of the gospel story, where a woman was taken in the act of prostitution. In all the bibles that I have read, and there are many, each one makes the same point: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone". Perhaps Bishop Day is without sin. He is then on the same level as his creator. Only God and Jesus Christ were without sin. Bishop Day is speaking from the teachings of the Mormon Church which, though Christian in nature, is obviously not Christian in its teaching. Does Bishop Day not know of the forgiveness of Christ?

If Bishop Day spent more time in prayer for the sins of others, and his own, then he would not have enough time to spend in condemning those who happen to be born gay, as I am.

I did not choose to be gay, I was born so. I have not asked my maker to curse all those who are not the same as me. Each of us has been born with a free will. How we use that free will determines whether or not we can be of service to God and to the community.

As an organist for more than 40 years, I have played in Methodist, Anglican, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic churches. Not one of their priests or ministers has made my attendance conditional on my not being gay. Why should he?

BEAU

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