Come out come out where ever you are!
It is a proven fact that straight people who know gay & lesbian people, tend to vote more favorably for issues that effect gay & lesbian people. At the moment we need as much help as we can find in Tennessee. This election cycle we are ground zero for anti gay legislation. Anti-gay hate mongers are converging on the state to promote Amendment 1, an addition to the Tennessee state constitution to deny Gay & Lesbian people the right to marry.
Here is my letter to the editor in response to Rev. Jerry Sutton’s article in today’s paper. He is hosting James Dobson next week at his church. (I guess he couldn’t sell enough tickets at the arena where it was originally scheduled) Anyway, don’t know if they’ll print it or not but here it is for your review…

Tennessean
October 11, 2006
To the editor

In response to Rev. Jerry Sutton’s article on October 11th I hope his vision of “a tremendous legacy” does not bear itself out on election day.
Yes, ample proof does exist to verify that most stable adults are products of a loving home with both a mother and father. The reason is simple….most people are raised in heterosexual households. It isn’t the only type of family however that can provide a loving, nurturing home & environment in which to raise a child. Besides Rev. Sutton’s example of a traditional household, other children have two mommies or two daddies. Others may have a mommy or a daddy in a single parent home. Still more children may have a grandmother or an aunt raising them. Many of these children have also grown up to become decent, inspiring,contributing members of our society. The reason for their success & the common factor between all of these different types of families is simple…LOVE. Why is it I am talking to a preacher about that? I thought it was his job to teach us that lesson. Maybe he’s too busy dabbling in politics right now to work on his lesson plan.

Because he is in the majority as a heterosexual, Rev Sutton & his pal James Dobson and others feel they have the right to dictate how the rest of us should live. They have decided that by allowing one group to have certain rights, it somehow takes rights away from another group. “If gay people marry…traditional marriage will be destroyed” huh? How in the world are those even connected? Tell me right now which heterosexual marriages are on very shaky ground right now because I have been in love with my partner (another woman) for eleven years. Come on stand up. I want to know which marriages I’m destroying. Show me one and maybe I’ll listen. The only marriage I know of destroyed because I’m a lesbian is the one I tried to have with a man because I tried to be someone I am not.

One purpose in forming our government was to protect the minority among us from the majority among us who might become tyrannical. Barry Goldwater said that the religious right has no business in politics. I agree with him and I’m a democrat. I’m voting NO on amendment 1 because I believe the constitution should only be changed to expand rights not to deny rights to anybody. I am not living in “a vacuum” Rev. Sutton. I am living in a diverse world in the twenty first century. You sir are living in the dark ages.
Valerie Reynolds
avalonfarms@hughes.net