The Illawarra Mercury could have had the decency of printing the so called letter so that all readers could clearly read it for themselves.

One can just read the line in the letter that states "the right to dismiss gay staff members AGAIN WITH LITTLE EVIDENCE THAT THAT OCCURS [ my highlighting]"

I for one support what little I could glean from the letter and the poor print. I support the Anglican schools right to employ and sack staff who do and don't support their ethos and values, and I support Catholic and Jewish schools, and others having the same rights. I also support the right of gender confused people to start their own schools and to hire and fire staff, and to remove students who do not accept their values.

If the government stops them from opening their own school it is then that we have discrimination which needs to be fought. This is the issue the article in the Illawarra Mercury needed to address to produce a satisfactory piece of journalism, and not a piece of propaganda.

The openly gay student who wrote an open letter to the TIGS principal saying "it would be naive to think that the current pupils of your schools are not negatively affected by the signing of this letter" is simply trying to put ideas into the heads of gullible people, and gullible young ones at that.

It is hoped with this open letter most young people in the schools who have read it are practicing the skills tested in the Higher School Certificate. That is to compare, contrast, evaluate and assess. To do so requires reading arguments from both sides, and to read broadly to make judgements and to discern right from wrong, and fact from fiction.

Bob Patrech, Frigtree

The expenditure of $498 million on the Australian War Memorial indicates that the Coalition Government is interested in memorials, monuments and marches but does not care about live veterans.

Brendan Nelson is turning the AWM into a toys for the boys display rather than bring the horrors of the war that those who served are still facing today some fifty years after their war and of which their families and friends cop the backwash. War is not a boys' and girls' own adventure, it is a place where all receive a life-long scar on the soul.

Ben Morris, Wollongong

As a former student it is with embarrassment that I read the TIGS executive seeks exemption from anti-discrimination laws. The school has a responsibility to follow these laws in good faith like every other Australian employer. Pampering the vocal ultra-conservative margins of the TIGS community has a chilling effect on the pastoral care responsibilities of its teachers.

It is time for Wollongong’s most privileged school to embody the principles of a growing proportion of its alumni, and overcome the gulf between the values of its leadership and broader Australian society.

Bryan McLeod, Berlin