Letters: Fidelity not best political gauge

Regarding the pledge that Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Sen. Rick Santorum signed, please do not gloss over the fact that these two have consistently demonized lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their relationships ["Fidelity pledge isn't such a bad place to start," Opinion, July 14].

Santorum has compared our relationships to incest, bigamy and bestiality. It is ironic that while this pledge calls for respecting the marital bonds of others, the people who wrote it, those who signed it and those who will eventually sign it, would like nothing more than to outlaw my marriage and the marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships of thousands of LGBT couples. This is not some simple, feel-good Hallmark card.

Frankly, I couldn't care less if Bachmann or Santorum are faithful or unfaithful to their spouses. I just wish they would leave me, my husband and the LGBT community alone.

Jeffrey A. Stotsky, Forest Hills
 

We so desperately need integrity in state and federal governments. However, of all the critical character elements that combine in forming the whole person, are there not more vital traits to consider than "personal fidelity to a spouse" and "respect for the marital bonds of others"?

What does this written pledge provide as an insight as to the decisions politicians will make on our behalf?

If Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy, two very active womanizers, had signed such a document, would their fallibility have been less or more onerous? If Dwight Eisenhower had signed this, would our opinion of him have altered when we learned of his affair during World War II with his secretary-driver?

Jimmy Carter is very bright and has apparently been a faithful husband. Regardless, his was not a successful presidency.

I am not interested in a person's marital conduct, as we are unfit to judge our fellow citizen in this regard. We don't know the circumstances that exist in the privacy of one's marriage. Marriages do exist where both spouses carry on consensual extramarital dalliances. I choose to judge my elected officials on their votes in Congress or decisions in the statehouse or White House.

Joshua Weiss, Hewlett Harbor