LETTER TO THE EDITOR

RE: “Remembering Superman,” 10/15

Regarding Christopher Reeve, I remember him more as an advocate for spinal cord injury victims than as an actor. In 2001, just prior to the Bush administration’s issuance of restrictions on further federally-funded embryonic stem cell research, Reeve made a memorable appearance on Larry King Live. When asked about banning embryonic stem cell research he said, “That would be a big mistake because you could spend the next five years doing research on the adult stem cells and find that they are not capable of doing what we know that embryonic cells can do now, and five years of unnecessary research to try to create something that we already have would cause – well, a lot of people are going to die while we wait.” A shame greater than “politicizing” Reeve’s death would be to deny that it is a blaring example of the need for more stem cell research.
In a related issue – Lynne Cheney’s angry reaction to John Kerry mentioning her daughter “who is a lesbian” in the third debate – I think that when Kerry made that statement, it seemed clear that Mary Cheney was simply the first homosexual that came to his mind while under the spotlight, and that he meant no offense by bringing her up. Just as is the case with Reeve, Mary is, whether Dick likes it or not, a person in the public eye, and she is thus a prime real-life example of how homosexuals can come from many different backgrounds, including the household of a staunchly conservative politician.

William Hubel
Undergraduate Student