I AM the mother of two young children, not yet at school age, and I am appalled by the advertising and publicity thrown in my face telling me to ''Keep the Clause''. I will be doing my best to bring my children up to be secure in the knowledge that whatever they choose to do, respectful of others, my husband and I will always love them and encourage them.

If my children grow up and are gay nothing will change that. This is the start of a new millennium - show me the normal house now? Nuclear family? I don't think so.

Do the pro-Clause campaigners think they can buy their own agenda into the curriculum? I would prefer that their bigotry did not reach my children, but unfortunately I know that's not possible. Having the cash to fund a campaign helps to disguise their narrow-minded, outdated agenda.

I do not want other people, fronted by cash and hypocritical scare tactics, imposing their moral judgments on me and certainly not on to my children. Anyone who encourages an atmosphere where a child may feel threatened, isolated, or lonely should be condemned.

I am all for healthy debate and differences of opinion; freedom of speech in a democratic society, equal rights for all. So let them campaign. But please don't let them get away with it.

As for the Clause - it's not about promoting anything, but it's about living together and not judging other people - a valuable lesson for young children in a fast-changing society.

Pauline Cookson,

5 Kildinny Farm Cottage,

Forteviot, Perthshire. February 23.

I TOO would like Mr Dewar to stop dithering about Section 28. It is a craftily worded, blatantly discriminating piece of legislation which should be repealed as soon as possible and left at that: for once, I agree with the Lib Dems. I'm sick hearing about it and reading about it, but, none the less, I'm going to add my tuppenceworth.

I have been appalled at some of the letters written by those seeking to have it retained. What on earth do they think might happen when it goes? Are they perhaps worried that their intolerance will no longer have a legal leg to stand on?

I want each of my children, like every child, to grow into a decent human being. I want them to know, and feel, that they are as good as, but no better than, anyone else on this planet. I want them to grow up educated, informed, respectful, caring, and tolerant. I do not want them believing that their sexuality makes them superior or inferior to others.

I do not believe that a person can choose his/her sexuality, any more than I can choose the colour of my eyes. What goes on in a relationship between consenting adults is nobody's business but their own. When I go to the dentist or the supermarket, the sexuality of the dentist, the man on the fish-counter, or the girl at the check-out is of no relevance to me whatsoever. Does their being heterosexual/homosexual have any bearing on how my teeth are scaled, how my fish is wrapped, how my messages are scanned? No, of course it doesn't.

What is important is how we treat ourselves and others. Any legislation which in any way helps perpetuate bigotry and intolerance and inhibits reason and fairness, is bad legislation. So go on, Mr Dewar, get a grip of yourself and get rid of Section 28.

Sheila Wilson,

Ploom Hadding, 19 Bankton Park,

Kingskettle, Cupar. February 24.

THE political debate in Scotland must now turn around not whether Labour will lose the Ayr by-election, but whether Labour will lose its deposit at the Ayr by-election.

However, as I have argued in these columns before, the result will not make one iota of difference to the authoritarian, crypto-fascist tendency of political correctness which, as Donald Dewar's latest piece of quite contemptible sophistry shows, will go ahead and do what it has to do anyway.

Almost 40 years ago I played a leading part in non-violent direct action against nuclear weapons, action which came very close to closing the US Polaris base on the Holy Loch. Scotland now faces a moral crisis once again of similar proportions, and the time has come to think the unthinkable with regard to the Parliament I have fought for all my life.

Alan Clayton,

1 Letters Way, Strathlachlan,

Strachur, Argyll. February 25.