As a frequent faculty observer of the commentary in The Daily Collegian, I am used to seeing students have difficulties with the truth. However, when an associate professor of biology (the author of the April 30 letter "Incest illegal because it causes biological harm") makes a ridiculous comment that there are no adverse consequences pertaining to acts of sodomy, a response is in order.

I do not understand how any rational individual can make such a rash statement given the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HIV/AIDS Surveillance Reports have consistently, including the most recent statistics from 2001 (www.cdc.gov/hiv/ stats/hasr1302.htm), shown that those inclined to homosexual acts, by more than 2:1, suffer from HIV/AIDS more than any other group.

Accordingly, for the writer to state, "Homosexuality and incest are not equivalent with respect to a moral system that tries to prevent harm," is absurd. There are serious physical consequences for confusing an orifice intended solely for waste with one for reproduction in terms of a much higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases and other other physical problems, which is a well-documented fact.

If "privacy trumps all" as some would have it, then most of positive law will have to be rewritten with the most heinous of acts, formerly held to be against the law, no longer the case.

The author leaves out an important aspect of the fundamental principle of a rational moral system which is to do good, the goal of any respected state
as classically defined in Aristotle's Politics. Happiness is not just "avoiding harm."

Good states are measured by their tendency toward societal common good. How can a state be considered good which promotes acts which are in violations of the natural law, i.e., the plumbing doesn't work?

You don't need to hold to any religious beliefs to see this truth; you just need common sense.