A Letter to the Editor:

I got involved in this human rights struggle back in September when I read in the paper that KnowThyNeighbor.org was going to be publishing the names of the people who signed the petition to end gay marriage. I wondered what the big deal was and why these people didn’t want their names listed, so I went to see for myself. I was shocked to find out that neighbors of mine who live on the same street were among the thirty original signatures. This did not call me to harass them like Ms. Burke would have you believe, but rather it has called me to stand up for what I believe in, becoming a better person in the process. I wish to share my voice to those of the others here in hopes that some good may come of it.

1. The petition process goes horribly wrong when you hire people with criminal backgrounds who are paid per signature to gather outside of their home state and where they have no vested interest in the outcome. See Fox25 News undercover story on KnowThyNeighbor.org for more info.
2. It seems that one group of religious persons has stepped forward and decided that we no longer need freedom of religion, you should listen to theirs, and they are starting to create laws to this effect. Might does not make right, and it makes for poor neighbors. In the words of Thomas Jefferson in his first inaugural address in 1801 once said, “Though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable. The minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression”. You don’t have to believe in what another man calls happiness, and you do not have to practice his ideals in order to appreciate his right to his life, his way.
3. Fear based motivation is being used to herd people into believing gay marriage is going to create social problems, and for the children brought into same sex households. This same argument was used when interracial marriage was new. It never materialized then and if people want to say this is the exception, ask them to prove it. Gay marriage has been in place for nearly two years now, and the sky has not fallen.
4. The religious would have you believe that not only is homosexuality a sin, but that if you support gay marriage you have strayed away from God yourself. I am reminded of how loving people can be, and I believe God would never turn away from someone who lives a good life solely because of their sexual orientation or their decision to live their lives happy with whom they are.
5. This petition is not an act of democracy; it is an attempt to take away the human rights of a minority group without justification or need. It is a vessel of discrimination in and of itself. Its success would only fuel more discrimination and alienation to this minority.

I have been forced to say Ray was my brother in order to see him when I was in the hospital with cancer. Tell me, what I did wrong to deserve what this petition intends?