DEAR ABBY: The man who lamented the snickers and insults he endured from strangers who interpreted his holding his mentally disabled son's hand as a sign of "homosexual bonding" has experienced the discrimination and contempt that gays and lesbians experience every day.
He should be concerned less with freeing these snickerers of their "mistaken notions" and more with promoting the idea that our violent and intolerant society should learn to accept any mutually affectionate gesture of hand-holding, no matter between whom. -- DON IN PORTLAND, ORE.
DEAR DON: I agree with you. But lighten up. Right now the man is too engrossed in his own pain to appreciate the bigger picture.