To the Editor

Mike Hale's discussion of "A Double Shot At Love" in The Week Ahead in today's Sunday New York Times is both inaccurate and offensive.

California’s voters may have said no to Proposition 8, but nonmainstream lifestyles still have a home in prime time. After two seasons of the bisexual dating competition “A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila,” MTV is upping the ante with “A DOUBLE SHOT AT LOVE” (10 p.m. Tuesday). A dozen straight men and a dozen lesbians will compete for the affections of a pair of identical twins and former Hooters waitresses who profess to be bisexual and who call themselves Vikki and Rikki Ikki. Presumably that’s pronounced "icky."

First of all, California's voters said YES to Proposition 8, which overturns the California Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage. Mr. Hale is clearly misinformed about the proposition. Secondly, the statement "nonmainstream lifestyles still have a home in prime time" is offensive. It implies that homosexuality is a wacky lifestyle choice. It isn't, any more than heterosexuality is a lifestyle choice. Gay people have a wide variety of lifestyles, thank you very much. His intention seems to be to point out, humorously, that the prime time television audience is more tolerant of the homosexual “lifestyle” than California voters. But "A Double Shot At Love"—from the description he offers—has no relationship to the "lifestyles" of most gay people I know, and to make the comparison (finishing with the word "icky"!) in the aftermath of a vote that has caused so much real hurt to real gay people across this country is both callous and demeaning.

Mr. Hale should offer an apology for the inaccuracy and for the insensitive comparison.