Do they accomplish any meaningful purpose?
According to Wikipedia,
"An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience. They usually take the form of a letter addressed to an individual that is also provided to the public through newspapers and other media. Especially common are critical open letters addressed to political leaders."You may not be aware of it, but the world's most well known open letter is the Bible. Its God's Word which he intends to be read by a wide audience. Most of the "letters" of the Bible bear the name of an individual who was the human author, but wrote under divine inspiration. Sadly many people reject it, refuse to read it, revile it, mishandle, misinterpret and misunderstand it.
Moreover, unlike human "open letters" as Wikipedia pointed out tend to have a critical nature, God's word is a perfectly balanced book of love and truth. Unfortunately, many people want love, but they reject truth. Love is a life partner to truth and rightfully so. Without love, truth becomes harsh and damning. Without truth, love destructively abets sin and consequently becomes equally damning, but in a different way.
What the activist homosexual community and their supporters want is love. They are entitled to that. We all are. What they do not want is to be told the truth. And those people who uphold biblical sexual standards of conduct become objects of scorn. Perhaps that is what Regan Ducasse intended to do with her carefully worded open letter to me. If you're interested, you can find it on gay activist Joe Brummer's website. Her criticisms artfully absolve the sins of her homosexual friends, even contending that their homosexuality is a gracious gift to be celebrated. That's love absent truth.
In the spirit of human error, the letter dutifully dodges the essence of the time honored balance of truth and love. The truth is that homosexuality is sin and God will never coexist peacefully with sin. Heterosexuality is not a sin, but there is sin done in a heterosexual context. For the both, there is no remedy except repentance and obedience to the "open letter" of God. As I have explained before, one's sexual performance isn't God's goal for his people. Holiness is the goal. So if it makes you feel any better, know that I don't encourage people who struggle with same sex attractions to pursue heterosexuality, I encourage them to pursue God first and his righteousness. I won't address any secular based remedies, because they are not a part of my practice or belief. The problem with my stated belief according to the complainants is that it is not accepting or tolerating. I agree wholeheartedly. Its not and never will be. That's because I view homosexuality as a fundamental spiritual dysfunction with resulting social and political manifestions.
There can be no compromise of truth and no short cuts to love.