Defending Studds.

House Republicans claim the Defense of Marriage Act prevents them from providing late congressman Gerry Studds's pension benefits to his spouse ["Remembering Studds," November 21].

When Oliver North was convicted of lying to Congress over his involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair, he lost his military pension and benefits. Republicans restored his benefits when they took control of Congress. If Republicans can give pension benefits to a felon like North, they can do right by the Studds family. We should insist on it.

JIM PATTERSON San Francisco, Calif.

Thank you for Fred Kuhr's memoriam for the late, great Gerry Studds. It's a shame that it was marred by an inaccurate and inflammatory subhead. Studds was not in "a sex scandal involving an underage male page." This implies that he broke the law. The legal age of consent in Washington, D.C., is 16, and the page in question was 17 at the time, so not "underage." When he was censured, Congressman Studds bravely asked something along the lines of, "Why is the United States Congress spending its time on what went on between two consenting adults over a decade ago?" While I personally find middle-aged people dating teenagers to be distasteful, you shouldn't make it sound as if Gerry Studds was a child molester.

TIM KOZLOWSKI Boston, Mass.