Letters to the Editor: Two views on Harrison Butker’s Catholic college commencement speech

To the editor: I couldn’t believe the gentle stance columnist LZ Granderson took on Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s backward and dangerous commencement speech at a Catholic college.

Doesn’t Granderson know that millions of women and LGBTQ+ people are still in danger of or are living squelched lives? “Just let him be wrong” is wrong.

Butker’s speech encouraged a regression to inequality for women and prejudice against gay people. Shame on that Catholic school for choosing and embracing that speech.

Lucy Fried, Los Angeles

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To the editor: I really got a chuckle from Granderson’s article about Butker’s speech at Benedictine College, a private, Roman Catholic, liberal arts college in Kansas. After noticing the uproar in other news sources, I conclude that Butker will likely not look back in a few years with any measure of regret, contrary to what Granderson said.

Butker’s message to the men was in the spirit of a pep rally, calling them to be aware of their importance in our culture. He told the women that not all of them would take professional careers outside the home.

Perhaps some (or many) today don’t value the position of homemaker, but I assure you my own mother of seven would have relished that role had she not had to work five and a half days per week to supplement the family income because of my father’s failure to develop himself professionally in his early adult years, the same years those Benedictine graduates are going through.

I suggest we get the drum soloists off the stage and start playing together as an orchestra, recognizing and valuing the role each of us voluntarily agrees to play.

Larry Furman, Woodland Hills