Gore values.

Thank you for the interview with Gore Vidal ["Gore Vidal Is (Still) Smarter Than You," November 7]. During the '60s he was one of my idols, and now that I'll be turning 60 in November, I think be is still an amazing, brilliant, and beautiful man who is an inspiration to me and, hopefully, many young men and women.

I live in the state of Matthew Shepard and Brokeback Mountain, and was born and raised in an extremely red and bigoted state, Utah. Intelligence, talent, and sense of humor from such great men as Gore saved my life! His life is lived beyond restriction of "labels." God, I love that. His remarks regarding education, politics, and the ignorance of the American public are spot on the mark!

BRENT JOHNSON Alpine, Wyo.

Gore Vidal may very well still be smarter than the rest of us, as you proclaim in the headline of your interview, but he can't be that smart if he does not know that the word homosexual is both a noun and an adjective. Perhaps Mr. Vidal states that the word is only an adjective to serve his own point of view, but a look at any dictionary clearly shows that he is wrong. And that position may help him state that sex is a continuum and that the word describes only an activity, but even that is being disproved almost daily by both the scientific and medical communities. Vidal can choose to not be active in gay matters and not feel that he is a member of a community, but in answer to his question about whether one feels a part of a community, the answer is a resounding yes! There are so many others who definitely feel they are part of the gay community and who continually work tirelessly for their rights without any help from people like Vidal.

After reading your article, I agree Vidal does not belong to the gay community, and who wants him anyway? Why a man who does not accept that there is such a thing as a homosexual, and says he does not feel a part of the gay community, continues to get prominent coverage from publications like The Advocate puzzles me.

LOU PEREZ Los Angeles, Calif.