The right thing to do
To the editor:
I would like to comment on your article, “Protesters: No Benefit for same sex partners.”
I feel that we as a society need to try and understand that we are all different and make choices in our lives that are right for us as a people.
When it comes to health care, protecting and caring for those that we love and share our lives with is important to us and needs to be there for all employees not because someone said you have to be married and you have to be male and female to have health care. I feel that Commissioner Cheryl Grieb is doing the right thing to help all the employees that work for the city as a whole and not just certain people.
What would Mr. Rivera think or do if suddenly married couples where looked upon as a dinosaur type group and were no longer going to receive health care benefits because society decided that it was wrong? Or if you were a mixed nationality, you could no longer receive benefits? Or if you are purple and married to a blue person, you can’t have benefits?
In my opinion – which is well with in my rights – if you are a couple that is in a domestic relationship that shares responsibilities of a household and you share your life together, who are we to say it’s wrong and you have no rights to health care that is offered by an employer. The world is ever-changing and what I was told as a child is not always correct or true to what I know now.
I hope that Commissioner Grieb will stay strong and continue to help all employees receive the benefits that they are entitled to as an employee.
Hazel Drake
St. Cloud

‘How dare you’
To the editor:
First, let me say that I am not a city of Kissimmee employee (or even know any), I am not gay (I have a heterosexual marriage) and I am a devout Christian. But my first response to your article about the protesters at Kissimmee City Hall complaining about the prospect of city workers finally being able to cover their loved ones with health insurance was: “How dare you!”
What are they thinking? To make judgment on another person like this, and even suggest they don’t have the same rights as other workers is not only insensitive and irrational, it’s immoral.
They say they are Christians, yet Jesus has told them to “judge not.” Jesus lived his own life, (and finally gave his life) loving and fighting for fairness for His Father’s children.
Kissimmee city workers deserve their employer to allow them to protect their loved ones – their family. I say to those people that judge them, for whatever reason, to cast not the first stone – or any stone.
Get down off your “holy pedestals” and stop trying to be God. Only He can make those judgments. Remember you reap what you sow, and whenever you point a finger at another, a finger will be pointed at you – what will we find then?
Debi Wood
Kissimmee

No graveside dinners
To the editor:
I was appalled to read in
the News-Gazette that some genius has come up with the idea to have an “elegant dinner with spirits” (pun intended, I’m sure) and entertainment in Rose Hill Cemetery.
As a third-generation native of Osceola County, I have many ancestors and family members at rest in Rose Hill. I cannot believe our City Commission voted to condone an activity that exhibits such gross disrespect for the dead and disregard for the feelings of the still-living descendants. Am I the only one who finds it ghoulish to dance, drink and party on the graves of the dead?
What is wrong with our society that we would even consider such a thing? Shame on the Osceola County Historical Society for dreaming up this hare-brained scheme for a fundraiser and on the city for allowing it. We have other historical sites that could be used that would be much more appropriate.
Has this sort of grave-fest been done successfully in other towns?  Great!  Let the organizers go there and don’t let the doorknob hit them on the way out of town.
Judith Chitwood Laverty
Kissimmee