Book about gay son profound

Kudos to Carrie Moore for writing on Dec. 3 about a subject painful and heart-wrenching for many families. I read "In Quiet Desperation" and found it to be a courageous and uplifting book, as well as profoundly thought-provoking. My heart goes out to Fred and Marilyn Matis. I have admiration for them and their dear son, Stuart, as well as for Ty Mansfield, who has chosen celibacy as a way of dealing with same-sex attraction.

I was appalled, however, by two extreme points of view expressed in subsequent letters about this article. It is truly insensitive and cruel to accuse the Matis family of trying to glamorize their son's suicide, just as it is thoughtless to assume that all gays are predators who are "recruiting" others to their "lifestyle." Janice Graham's scathing letter (Readers' Forum, Dec. 7) was equally heartless. Assigning characteristics to a whole group of people is the first step toward demonizing them. Once that happens, it is a mere slide into intolerance and hatred.

Cathryn R. Manning

Salt Lake City