To the Editor:

After recently returning to North Carolina from three years in the Southwest, I am saddened to learn that our state legislature is so focused on creating a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage — yet another piece of divisive legislation that mirrors the current political dysfunction in Washington, D.C.

One could only hope that in these “hard times” our legislators focus on the very real economic issues that many people are dealing with — as if a symbolic defense of traditional marriage will shed light on the current struggle to provide for our families.

I recommend these legislators spend a season in the wilderness, perhaps in the spirit of the desert fathers, to cleanse their souls of such self-serving claptrap.

Roger Turner

Sylva