The following e-mails are actual letters from my inbox. They are posted here verbatim, with no edits. My comments are in italics. If you would like to contact me, please write to stuffqueerpeopleneedtoknow@gmail.com.

Dear Jamie,

Close to Christmas, which commemorates the birth of Jesus, actor Chuck Norris has leashed out against Obama’s health reform. In a column published by World Net Daily entitled “What if Mother Mary had Obamacare?” Norris states: Mary, as a poor adolescent would have received help and assistance through Family Planning in order to stop her pregnancy. Therefore, Baby Jesus would not have been born and… “what then would have been the fate of the world ?” He also regrets Obama’s policy in favour of abortion when so many Americans , he says, are against abortion. In the USA the pro-life tendency has reached its highest peak in decades in 2009. Abortion is becoming increasingly unacceptable.

Isabel Planas

If Mary had the right to choose, I don’t know what she would have done. She probably would have kept the baby, as abortion procedures were extremely dangerous 2,000 years ago and involved ingesting mercury or other harmful substances.

But if Mary had universal health care, you had better believe she wouldn’t have given birth in a manger.

Dear Jamie,

What Research Shows , a study published by the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality based on over one hundred years’ experience derived from clinical studies and research , proves that it is possible for men and women to diminish their unwanted homosexual attraction and to develop their heretosexual potential without suffering any harm. This is a very convenient fact as the homosexuals’ experiences and risk factors related to medical pathology and of psychological origin or arising from relationships are much greater than for the population as a whole . In spite of AIDS, homos continue practicing unsafe sex ,being the group with the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases. It is a fact that over one third homosexuals are drug addicts and 40% of teenager homos report suicide attempts. Also, the number of mental disorders suffered by homosexuals is higher than for heterosexuals: eating disorders andpersonality disorders such as paranoia, depression and anxiety. Also, homosexual relationships are especially violent. NARTH, according to 600 clinical reports concluded that the sexual reorientation treatment was successful in many cases for many individuals who experienced unwanted behaviour/homosexual attraction but who had a positive approach, as a result of therapy or religious assistance.

From an ethical point of view, psychologists and psychiatrists must provide psycho-educational and therapeutic assistance to those gays and lesbians wanting a change of direction in their sexual orientation.

Pili Montalban

Any pathologization of a social construction is very dangerous. The LGBTQQIA identities are defined and stigmatized by society at large. Because of this, queers think they are wrong because who they are is not accepted by society. If the LGBTQQIA identities were accepted, they wouldn’t want to be cured.

Homos aren’t the cause of the spread of AIDS; abstinence-only education and lacking access to contraception is the cause. And, actually, it is not a fact that one-third of homosexuals are drug addicts; however, it is a fact that one-third of teen suicides are committed by gay teens. This is because being a gay teen is an extremely hard life, as 9 out of 10 report being bullied.

And just so we’re clear, NARTH is a rogue band of psychiatrists and psychologists that treat homosexuality as a mental illness against the Diagnostic and Statical Manual of Mental Disorders, the official guide for mental health professionals, and the American Psychiatric Association.