Good LTTE: Congratulations to bullies for anti-gay vote

[Democrats_win]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/letters/article/0,2777,DRMN_23966_5147030,00.html

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I am deeply saddened a majority of Colorado voters were influenced to defeat a sensible and fair measure to extend basic legal rights to families like mine! Fourteen years after voters authorized the notorious and fallen Amendment 2, and now with the defeat of Referendum I, I am reminded of the empathy we must seek, the influence we must disseminate and the education we must impart.

Although frustrated, I am reminded by history that justice and fairness are not often enacted by a majority vote - or through our elected representatives. Despite public opinion unfavorable to desegregation in the 1940s and '50s, and landmark Supreme Court rulings like Brown v. Topeka Board of Education in 1954, our own U.S. Congress failed to install civil rights legislation until 1964! I acknowledge the words of Martin Luther King as he struggled for equality and fairness for the black community: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

So congratulations to the majority of voters and their religious leaders who bully a minority population born a certain way, and continue to send messages to our gay youth and families that "second class" is their deserved designation for the time being. Although fair treatment eludes our community today, the truth will be amplified in time - even as hypocrites, like Colorado Springs pastor Ted Haggard, deceive themselves and work against fairness and equality for the gay community. Our resolve for equality and fairness will not wane.

Jeff Bangert
Denver

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Note, Referendum I would have given Gay partners more legal rights such as visitation rights at the hospital.