Freedom to be themselves

Most, but not all, Rays show their LGBTQ+ support | June 5

I’ve held senior leadership positions in four LGBTQ organizations over the past 30 years. The Tampa Bay Rays players who declined to wear Pride insignia on their uniforms Saturday don’t bother me a bit.

Pride is about the freedom to express and be who you truly are. It’s not political; it’s human. The dissenting players took pains not to be hostile. They deserve their own freedom to be themselves.

Tampa Bay Times baseball writer Marc Topkin’s fair, balanced and nuanced report was predictably seized upon by secondary media for their own purposes: to amplify a conflict that does not exist. When that impulse stops happening (don’t hold your breath) we will move closer to the diverse and peaceable world that most of us want to live in.

Jim Harper, Tampa

An officer’s oath

The Uvalde police scandal | Column, June 6

Columnist Peggy Noonan has it right: We need to hold these supposed “peace keepers” to their oath to “preserve, protect and defend” the innocent and the helpless. Her column was especially poignant, appearing on June 6, D-Day.

What’s more innocent and helpless than a classroom full of beautiful, wide-eyed children? As a new grandfather, I cannot possibly imagine my gorgeous little granddaughter facing that “reality” sometime down her road to life. I know what I would’ve done if I would’ve had the chance to confront that Uvalde shooter. Maybe I should’ve been a cop?

Rick Sherin, Tampa

Experts were right

Have we become too reliant on deferring to experts? | Perspective, June 5

Beware of so-called “experts” indeed. Retired intensive care physician Cory Franklin’s claim that public health authorities’ call for a lockdown against further spread of COVID-19 back in 2020 was “a monumental act of hubris” is indeed curious. He warns us against public health experts who “crave attention” and get rewarded with “public money” while trying to “flatten the curve,” and suggests we should have listened more to “others, like economists and business leaders.” Whew! Here we are with more than 1 million Americans killed by COVID, and this “expert” says we could have done more for the economy. Yeah, “first, do no harm” — to the economy?

Tom Crowe, Plant City