Letters from the week of June 14

 Ask a Mexican, May 24

Subject(s):

Ask a Mexican, male birth-control pill, Claven Snow, transexuals

Window Dressing
Don't listen to my radio when I'm at your drive-thru window. Yes, I have the volume loud, but that's only because I'm hard of hearing. I've spent a few months in a war zone and, frankly, I don't believe I was there losing my hearing to protect the rights of your husband. Nor was I putting my life on the line so that he or any other person here who jumped the border can just be given citizenship.

If he deserves citizenship, he should get his green card and do it the right way. If you're married, his foot's more than in the door; just finish the process. But don't mourn the bill that didn't pass while you're handing my credit card back to me.

Jacob Gilliam, Riverside

Feature: "Sperm: The Final Frontier," May 31

Sperm Stopper
I am writing to correct some inaccuracies about Population Council research on male contraceptives that appeared in C.J. Janovy's article. The article states that the lonidamine analogues developed by the Population Council "weren't very potent contraceptives." On the contrary, peer-reviewed, published studies on rodents have shown that our lonidamine analogue, Adjudin, is a highly effective, reversible male contraceptive with no side effects or toxicity at doses that were effective to induce transient infertility in rats. Since 2001, Population Council biochemist and cell biologist C. Yan Cheng and his colleagues have published more than 30 papers on Adjudin and its predecessors for a whole series of studies demonstrating its efficacy and potency.

Further, the article deems our MENT hormonal contraceptive implant for men "inconvenient-sounding." Given that it is designed to be a long-acting, reversible contraceptive, we believe that it will be much more convenient |for men than a short-acting pill that needs to be taken on a daily or even weekly basis.

Gina Duclayan, Office of Public Information, Population Council, New York

Feature: "And God Said ... Be a Man," May 24

Male Delivery
I would like to thank everyone for their responses to me after reading Justin Kendall's article about me.

I have had a lot of people contact me (many of them old friends or people I don't know) who found the story inspiring or wanted to help me however they could (legal students), or people who just wanted to encourage me. I was a little surprised and impressed at the outpouring of support and love from people I'd never met. It hadn't occurred to me that other people would feel inspired to faith and obedience through reading my story, but more than one person has told me that they were, and that is uplifting and encouraging to know.

The only other response I've encountered is just trash talk in a small online thread. A comment that attempts to discredit my character was made by an embittered ex, and it appears that only a few of her close friends participated.

All in all, I thought the article was fairly decent. I felt that the photo captions were kind of strange, and it ended abruptly, but I don't feel that anything stated was inappropriate or incorrect. I would only like to clarify that what the doctor told me was weighed against careful consideration and prayer before I decided to resume transition.

Claven Snow, Lawrence