To the Editor:

In Response to “Gay pride parade in the North Country:” I find it difficult to believe that in this 21st Century, with the multitudes of challenges and problems facing our country and local communities, that, A), someone takes offense with a local mayor participating in a Gay Pride Parade, and B), that local media outlets publish such as “newsworthy”.

“15 years of watching over and protecting the rights of the village residents”. Yeah…okay. Evidently not a large segment of your own fellow citizens and population.

“No matter how you slice it, homosexuality is a sin!.” Please. Save it for your church. The parade in question took place at a publicly funded school…and as such is protected under the First Amendment for Freedom of Religion and Speech, just as those such as yourself are with your hateful and bigoted speech.

I did not participate in, or witness, the recent SUNY Potsdam Gay Pride Parade, but having spent 15 years living and working in the Greenwich Village and Chelsea Neighborhoods of New York City, I can assure you that anything that happened there would be considered a Tuesday by non-neanderthal standards.

Leland Farnsworth

Massena