Dear Editor,
I refer to the letter captioned ‘No man should be afraid to stand up for justice because others might mistake him for a woman‘ (SN, July 7).
Somewhere on the University of Guyana campus, there is a student who will today feel that Vidyaratha Kissoon has just added insult to injury in a grotesque mess of SN’s making. That SN should print Mr Kissoon’s letter after its own rather terse apology to the student in the previous letter captioned ‘Male, not female‘ is incomprehensible! If it was done deliberately, it becomes criminal mischief and illustrates that the Stabroek News is swiftly moving adrift of its professional compass.
Mr Kissoon’s comments, unfortunate as they are, highlight the utter disregard that he and his organization have for other persons’ sensibilities. It is one of the most callous pronouncements we have seen to date from him. He reverts to the simplistic, “It’s all right,“ rather than the obviously more prudent request that SN’s editor should be more effusive in his/her apology rather than just blandly say “We apologize for the error.“
In choosing this path (to use an unfortunate incident to promote his and Sasod‘s perception of “gender equality,“ he reminds us of the comment by Dr Paul McHugh, Professor in Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University in the online article ‘Surgical Sex‘: “Where did they get the idea that our sexual identity (‘gender‘ was the term they preferred) as men or women was in the category of things that could be changed?”
We are also immediately reminded of the natural consequences of this maniacal obsession with blurring the gender lines.
Stabroek News, usually extravagant in giving every Sasod and Kissoon release the most lurid of captions (the editor determines the caption of every letter) has ignored the advice and caution of Dr Joseph Nicolosi in ‘The Removal of Homosexuality from the Psychiatric Manual‘ (about causing “apathy and confusion”: “Militant gay advocates working in a small but forceful network have caused apathy and confusion within our society.” We may have here a textbook example of the phenomenon. It is a function of delusion that it completely escapes Mr Kissoon’s mindset that the student in question – and others I would imagine – do not want his “assurances” about “how OK it is to be a woman.“ Mr Kissoon would have done himself, and Sasod, an inestimable favour by keeping his mouth shut.
The University of Guyana student who was affected should note that Mr Kissoon’s motivation to use and abuse SN’s error to serve the narrow perspective he and Sasod subscribe to is outlined in the online article ‘The Case Against Crossdressing of Transgenderism in Guyana.‘ His opinions are, more often than not, at odds with fact, truth, detail and evidence.
Mr Kissoon’s current comments prove that gay advocacy is committed to the reckless abuse of privilege, and more concerned with explaining away other’s rights.
Stabroek News should be cautious about its apparent complicity and illustrate its disagreement with Mr Kissoon by actually publishing an apology to the student that includes words like, “We are truly sorry for the obvious pain and suffering that our inadvertent characterization caused you.” This apology by SN should be posted on all notice boards at the university. Why so? Because it is the fair thing to do, since SN’s unfortunate characterization was distributed to its entire readership that fateful day.
And because the IPI has just heard a mouthful from Stabroek News on honour and values and doing what is right, SN should be no less committed to these ideals when they are not accompanied by a dollar sign.
Yours faithfully.
Roger Williams
