To "KirknStacy"

Those of us who are gay and lesbian, along with other opponents of Proposition 8, have no desire to take away your parental rights. They're your children. Raise them as you see fit.

In our country it's always been said that my rights end at the tip of my nose. And the problem is that my right to marry has absolutely no effect whatsoever on your family, your schools, or anything else. Yet, your insistence that the rest of us view marriage in the same way as you do completely violates my rights.

Parents have the right in California to pull their children out of classes which have objectionable material. There is absolutely nothing in the Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriage which changes that. Churches will not be required to perform or recognize same-sex marriages. If you believe differently, you've bought into the Proposition 8 lies. Lies which have been refuted by esteemed legal scholars at BYU of all places.

As far as my "values" are concerned, I believe in loving others, charity, compassion for the less fortunate and downtrodden. I believe Jesus had a little something to say about that subject. I find it very interesting that the people who are aligned with the "Christian Right" don't really seem to follow the teachings of Christ.

By demeaning us, and our relationships, Christian extremists try to turn us into some kind of sub-human class. "Dirty," "Filthy," "Amoral." etc. That's a page right out of Hitler's playbook. Make the Jews less than human and it's easier to get the masses to go along with their extermination. Think I'm being overly-paranoid? It wasn't that long ago that gays and lesbians were dragged away to insane asylums just for being gay. Even today, there are parts of the world where one would be beheaded, or worse, if it was discovered he or she was gay.

If you can't have compassion for me, at least have compassion for those in your family, or extended family, who may be hiding the fact that they're gay. We're everywhere. Even in good Christian homes. I was a good Christian boy myself. I even majored in Theology in college, until I decided to stop living the lie and came out of the closet.

I don't expect you to understand me. I don't expect you to accept me. I don't expect you to like me. I would, however, like you to let me live my life with all the rights and responsibilities as an American citizen that you have. And that includes the right to marry.

God bless you too.

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