LETTERS Welcome the outsider
Sir: William Oddie ('IVly time at homoerotic college', 7 December) recalls his unhappy time at theological college. He should con- sider how upsetting, even traumatic, count- less homosexual boys and young men have found life when they have been exposed in institutions to the rowdy, puerile, some- times violent behaviour of heterosexuals. He should remember all those homosexuals who have gallantly served their country, often surrounded by antipathetical atti- tudes. He should never forget the horren- dous persecution to which homosexuals have been subject for century after century.
Together with Paul Johnson and Anne Atkins he should know that the sin of Sodom was inhospitality. The people of Sodom did not like outsiders, hence their resentment of Mr Lot and his guests. In the unlikely event (modern scholars reject the idea) that they threatened male rape (not unknown in those times and in those places), it had nothing to do with homosex- ual love. It would have been male rape by heterosexual men and boys.
The Bishop of Guildford spoke movingly about inclusivity at the fine and seemly (not 'gay jamboree') thanksgiving service of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement in Southwark Cathedral. I was proud to have been there — an outsider, a homosexual, a Christian welcomed into a church.
Like Paul Johnson and Mrs Atkins, Mr Oddie is suffering from homophobia. This is a serious condition. He should seek treat- ment at once. In this joyful and mysterious season of Advent, may I humbly suggest that on his knees, penitentially, he should meditate upon the teaching of Our Saviour Jesus Christ and His welcome to those rejected by society?
Tony Garrett
22 Chant!), Court, Cotton Lane, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
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