By Samuel Johnson
Crofton

I was raised Roman Catholic, and as a youth I always dreamed of being married one day. But like so many closeted gay youths, that dream stayed silent within me because I truly wanted to be with a person of my sex. Meanwhile, at Catholic school, I was beaten, pushed, spat upon and harassed — not because I was gay but merely because I was perceived as being gay. And as a Catholic, I accepted this abuse because the church taught that homosexuality was an abominable sin. This self-hatred took years to undo as an adult. This is not a unique story among gays, believe me.

By José E. Serrano
Washington

When I assumed the chairmanship of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees federal payments to the District, I announced that I was not interested in being a second mayor. Toward that end, I have worked to minimize Congress’s interference in D.C. affairs by steadily removing harmful, intrusive social policy directives from annual spending bills. But unfortunately, time and again one issue has dragged me into that unwanted “mayoral” role: school vouchers.

The controversial D.C. Opportunity Scholarships Program was designed and imposed by Congress in 2004 as a five-year pilot program to provide vouchers for children from low-income families to attend private schools. This issue has required more of my time and attention than perhaps any other issue involving the District. Because of it, each year my subcommittee gets drawn into debating local education policy in the city, a job that should be reserved for the mayor, the D.C. Council and the schools chancellor.

Supporters of the voucher program claim that because of my clear anti-voucher position, the program is “going to be ended” and “children will be sent back to their neighborhood schools.” This is inaccurate. In fact, in the House bill we agreed to support the Obama administration’s compromise, which continues to provide vouchers for children already in the program. This is as far as I can go. I do not support an expansion to include children not currently in the program.

By Kevin Naff
Washington

On Nov. 16, after slightly more than 40 years as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender news source of record, the Washington Blade abruptly shut down when parent company Window Media moved into Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

The closure came as an unimaginable shock to nearly two dozen staff members, some of whom had spent decades at the paper. Many questions remain about how this could happen. There had been two bids for the assets of the Blade, which had been placed in receivership by the Small Business Administration. Why was neither of them accepted? Why was Chapter 11 reorganization not an option? Who made the decision to liquidate? Who will relocate and manage the Blade’s extensive, one-of-a-kind archive?

Freed of Window Media’s corporate control, the former Blade staffers will now begin to investigate this fiasco in the hopes of finding some answers and much-needed closure.

By Mark Levine
Washington

The Catholic Church’s complaint rings hollow. No charity should take millions of dollars from taxpayers and then treat as second-class citizens the very taxpayers who fund it. Gay men and lesbians pay taxes, too.

Catholic Charities argues it should not provide benefits to the secular married spouses of its employees who are married in violation of Catholic doctrine. But it has done so for decades without complaint. Because federal law requires nondiscrimination with taxpayer funds on the basis of religion, Catholic Charities already provides benefits to Jewish, Muslim and atheist spouses, as well as those Roman Catholics who have divorced and remarried in severe violation of Catholic doctrine. Are the marriages of gay people somehow less “Catholic” than those of thrice-remarried ex-Catholic atheists? Or a married ex-Catholic priest? Is the Catholic Church “promoting” these un-Catholic marriages when its publicly funded charity provides spousal benefits to all its legally married employees? I think not. Otherwise, why does it do it?

By Harise Poland Wright
Silver Spring

I have been reading the debate on whether the execution of the D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad offered closure to the victims’ families. I feel very fortunate not to have been a victim, or to have lost a relative to this terrible man’s rampage.

But we all lived in fear, like second-tier victims. Many activities had to be canceled. Some long-anticipated high school graduation ceremonies were canceled or shortened. My child was a teen then, and every gathering was affected. It was hard to go outside without ducking and running.

I felt great closure and satisfaction that the D.C. sniper was finally removed from society, including prison society. This was for everyone.

By Donald W. Wuerl
Washington

One year ago, I stood with city leaders on a hill in Northeast as we broke ground for affordable housing in the District. When the St. Martin’s Apartments are completed, nearly 200 low-income families and individuals will get a fresh start on life in a wonderful example of the type of effective public-private partnerships the residents of our nation’s capital need.

St. Martin’s is being developed by Catholic Charities, on land owned by the Catholic Church and with funding sources that include the District of Columbia.

Catholic Charities and the Archdiocese of Washington are committed to continuing to serve the people of the District as we have for many decades. That includes partnerships such as St. Martin’s. Unfortunately, the D.C. Council is considering legislation that could end these kinds of partnerships.

It doesn’t need to be that way. While we do not agree with the council on redefining marriage, we recognize that it is firmly committed to opening marriage to homosexual couples. We are asking that new language be developed that more fairly balances different interests — those of the city to redefine marriage and those of faith groups so that they can continue to provide services without compromising their deeply held religious teachings and beliefs. The archdiocese is not alone in this request. Other groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington and nationally recognized legal scholars all called for stronger protections for religious freedom in their testimony on the bill.

By Kesh Ladduwahetty
Washington

Thank you for the Nov. 14 Metro article “No doubt about it — this lane is for bike traffic,” on the new, protected bicycle lane on a section of 15th Street. It is encouraging to see this incremental step toward encouraging bike use in Washington. Still, this type of measure is too limited to significantly change transit in the District.

If we are truly interested in making bicycle use safe and widespread, we would designate every other street in the grid system, both north-south and east-west, as “safe streets” for bicyclists.

For example, even-numbered streets and D, F, H, K, M streets, etc., would be for bicyclists. Residents and those making deliveries or carrying out other local functions would still be allowed to drive and park on biking streets, but only if they observed a very low speed limit, such as 15 mph. On diagonal avenues and the remaining streets (odd-numbered streets and C, E, G, I, L streets, etc.), motor vehicle traffic would continue as it does today.

This arrangement would give both cars and bicycles full access to every part of the city while providing meaningful safety to bicyclists and still permitting mostly normal speeds for cars.

If the city developed such a policy and provided plentiful, secure on-street parking for bicycles, I would enthusiastically use my bike for regular transportation. But otherwise it will remain locked up in the garage of my condo, gathering dust.

By Jennie Kushlis
Washington

I was deeply saddened to learn that the Roman Catholic Church has gotten so involved in the local debate on same-sex marriage. More accurately, I cringed with embarrassment that the only faith I’ve ever known for 25 years would come out looking so stodgy and archaic (undoubtedly, the same way my mom will cringe when she sees this post).

I’m what you’d call a closet Catholic. On the rare occasions I attend Mass, I am comforted by the familiar recitations, songs and persons in the pews. I feel like a child again, safe and carefree. I also take great comfort in knowing there’s someone out there, much larger than myself, watching over me.

But I can’t understand for the life of me how the church that gives me such a warm and fuzzy feeling is the same church whose stances on modern issues directly oppose the love and nonjudgment it preaches. And I’m appalled by the suggestion that the church would rather deny desperately needed social services than admit its hypocrisy.

As a nostalgic Catholic who admires love between two adults, no matter their sex, I beg church officials to stay out of debates that serve only to disgrace the church and its members. I’d really like to attend Mass this Christmas Eve, but the church is making it hard for me to stomach the idea of entering the building.

By Linda Dunphy
Arlington

Last month’s gang rape in Richmond, Calif., was appalling, frightening and, sadly, emblematic of a much broader problem. After a homecoming dance, a 15-year-old girl was raped by as many as 10 young men in front of a large number of onlookers — who did not intervene. While we may feel removed from this extreme example from across the country, every day such violence against women goes unreported and uninterrupted a great deal closer to home.

Neighbors observe clear signs of domestic violence at the house next door and do nothing. A teacher looks the other way when sexual harassment takes place in the halls of a school. College kids at a party ignore a friend plying a woman with alcohol for the purposes of nonconsensual sex. In our “mind your own business” culture, it is not uncommon for bystanders to ignore violence right in front of them. Simply by opening our eyes, we can prevent a lot of pain.

By Phil Andrews
Gaithersburg

A recent state proposal to address traffic-choked Interstate 270 would add four lanes between Shady Grove Road and Urbana, and two lanes between Urbana and the city of Frederick. But after reviewing the state’s long-term traffic projections for I-270, the Montgomery County Council has come up with a better solution.

Since the state’s projections show that the existing lanes could handle future rush-hour traffic northbound in the morning and southbound in the evening, it makes more sense to limit I-270 widening in Montgomery County to two reversible lanes for southbound use in the morning and northbound in the evening.

In an informal vote last week, the council unanimously endorsed this approach, for good reason: Adding two reversible lanes rather than four ordinary ones would cut costs by hundreds of millions of dollars and reduce community and environmental impacts. What we envision are congestion-priced toll lanes (free to carpools, buses and motorcycles) that would allow for faster travel than on the non-toll, general-use lanes.

On Tuesday, the County Council will take a formal vote on the proposal, as well as on a recommendation on whether the Corridor Cities Transitway, which would connect Clarksburg, Germantown and Gaithersburg to the Shady Grove Metro station, should be bus rapid transit or more expensive light rail.

After that, these crucial projects will need state and federal backing to get off the drawing board and start easing traffic in Montgomery County.

The writer, a Democrat, is president of the Montgomery County Council.

By Nathan Weiner
Washington

I was elated to read that there is movement on the Cafritz Foundation project on the northeast side of Fort Totten [editorial, Nov. 9]. I live a block from the development site, and I welcome it with open arms. The neighborhood is already safe, clean, inexpensive and easily accessible by three Metro lines. But because of a lack of services, I find myself spending my money elsewhere on things such as my gym membership and groceries. I would much rather keep this money in the neighborhood.

This project, plus the new University of the District of Columbia community college campus at the former Backus Middle School, will help Fort Totten grow to realize its full potential.