To the Editor:

Re “December Democratic Debate: A Smaller, Whiter Stage” (nytimes.com, Dec. 19):

Amid all the commentary about a lack of diversity on the debate stage, can we have a little perspective? Sure, it would have been better if Cory Booker and Julián Castro had been included, but still, out of seven candidates, two are women, one is openly gay and another is Asian-American.

Judging from the Republican congressional caucus, what would we have seen in a comparable G.O.P. debate? Seven straight white men in gray suits?

Lawrence Peitzman

Studio City, Calif.

Gretchen Carlson, Speak Out