The aftermath

Despite Times reporter Anne-Marie O’Connor’s obvious attempts at fairness and balance, Michael Reagan still comes off as a lamebrain, if not a lunatic, who claims to have been molested as a child but cannot discern the difference between a pedophile and a homosexual (“A Separate Peace,” Aug. 31).

I’m thrilled that he’s finally come to terms with the color green, but whatever he is today was obviously shaped by childhood trauma that went far beyond sexual molestation. Ronald Reagan trumpeted the virtues of “family values” to worshipful voters but forced Michael to sleep on the couch so that he could employ a live-in cook. And Nancy Reagan, no longer able to bury the unwanted Michael in a distant boarding school, sought to have him drafted during the Vietnam War.

Now Michael makes a living ranting about the foibles of “liberals,” nearly all of whom give their children far more respect and love than he ever got. He doesn’t need the Gospel nearly as much as he needs psychotherapy.

Marvin J. Wolf

Los Angeles

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Re the Log Cabin Republicans (“Log Cabin Fever,” by Anne-Marie O’Connor, Aug. 30): Being in favor of lower taxes is fine as far as it goes, but it’s hard to discern any other reason why this group exists. They keep going to the GOP, hat in hand, hoping for any crumbs of acknowledgment the party may offer, and they keep getting rebuffed.

Let’s be plain: The Republican Party, for all its “big tent” talk, has never supported any kind of rights for gays and lesbians, and never will.

Meanwhile, Log Cabin Republican leader Patrick Guerriero advises convention delegates, “Don’t let the Republican Party be hijacked by the radical right”? Where has he been?

Bernard Sandalow

Culver City

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As a teenager in the ‘70s, I remember hearing of the paradoxical Phyllis Schlafly, a woman with six children who’d hit the road fighting to keep other women at home.

Now, as a middle-aged adult, I read that Schlafly is still on the road, now joined by her homosexual son and, together, fighting gay marriage (“Schlafly Is Still Making Her Point, Unabashedly,” by Anne-Marie O’Connor, Sept. 1).

Clearly, the elderly Schlafly’s legacy is not conservative values, but rather self-hatred. Yuk. One can only hope that no one actually listens to these sad, mean-spirited people.

David Levinson

Los Angeles