To the editor:

This is an open letter to Sen. Mitch Holmes.

Are you familiar with the term discrimination? It’s when you single out one group and place restrictions upon them to protect the privilege of another group. Generally, in the U.S., we try to at least pretend to be a society of equality, working to end discrimination.

So why have you chosen to single out half of your state’s population for censure? Because you find women’s bodies distracting? I thought most people matured out of that teenage hormonal rioting by the time they were old enough to hold public office. I even think many teenagers and children can have enough maturity to not blame others for their own mental state.

You have exhibited one of the cognitive distortions identified by psychologists: blaming others for your own negative thoughts and actions, thereby refusing to take personal responsibility. With your Ethics Committee regulations you have chosen to blame women for your own inability to focus on the job. Let me ask you this: Are you the type of person who would ask of a rape victim, “What were you wearing?”

The way you blame women for the failure of men sure doesn’t jibe with the Republican Party’s mantra of “personal responsibility.” If you’re in committee and can’t get your mind past whatever may threaten to distract it on any given day and focus on your job, then I suggest you are not fit to govern.