Gay man from Atwood, Kansas speaks up and fights back!

[Meldread]

The citizens of Atwood, Kansas once had an award winning website. They were proud of it. Now, due to their bigoted actions they no longer have that site.

Quote from the site:
---
Since every action has an equal and opposite reaction, the ramifications and cost of this vote for the city of Atwood are:

* $150,000 current value of a donation that was to be made from my estate to the 2nd Century fund at the time of my death, which at the time of fruition could have been well over $500,000.

* Loss of your award winning world class website right before your national debut on News Channels around the country.

* The worst one of all, your reputation as a place where people care.
----

You can read it all by going to http://www.atwoodkansas.com

[xchrom]

1. that was wonderful.

and that's all i care to say.

[Bronco69]

2. Thanks for posting this.

I just sent him an email of support. :-)

[DIKB]

3. Wow

That's all I can say. It hits home for those of us who live in small towns.

[acmavm]

4. People who pass these crazy amendments regarding personal

relationships based on biblical writings are soooo incredibly insane. For one, the don't understand who mean-spirited and bigoted and bloodthirsty the writers of the Old Testament were. And secondly and more importantly in my opinion, it's just a lot of stories exactly like the mythology of any old religion. We speak different languages because men tried to build a tower to Heaven? Jonah spent 40 days in the stomach of a whale? Really? Makes a good story, but lousy history and truth.

[theHandpuppet]

5. Thanks for posting this.

I've sent a message of support to Daniel. Atwood is not, unfortunately, an isolated example. Frankly, I don't see how hearts so full of hate can possible have room for Christ's message of love and compassion.

[Not Me]

6. Good for him!

For actually taking the time to give a damn and express himself.
Of the more than a dozen states that have engrained discrimination into their constitutions, there has been little uproar, little response. He's taking a stand.

[MuseRider]

7. I will send

an email to him. Thank you. I said on a thread earlier that I also have spent a lot of time defending my home state and the people in it. No longer. I feel as he does, Kansas is what everyone always said and I refused to believe it. The people here may seem to be very nice and fair minded but when they are alone in the voting booth their true characters were shown to be bigoted and hateful and if not that, stupid.

[Meldread]

8. Welcome! :)

Yes, I know. When I read about what he had done the first person who came to mind was you and all the amazing work you've done for our community in Kansas. I thank you. Don't give up. I posted it so that you as well as everyone else could send him e-mails of encouragement and support. It sounds like that's what he's getting, and for that I am glad. :)

[MuseRider]

9. I will never give up.

I have many reasons for choosing this issue to focus on. In some ways it sort of chose me I guess. It is most important but do know this, we have only just begun. So many things have crept in under the radar for so many of us that when it hit the fan we jumped but it was already too late. Well, we are together now and solid.

Thanks again for posting this. I nominated it for Greatest from the GD forum and I think it will make it.

This forum is very valuable, I get a lot of info here and pass it along in my meetings.

[davidinalameda]

10. bravo!

I just emailed him.

[BR_Parkway]

11. Just sent an email of support, this guy has really summed it all up

nicely, even simple enough that some of the "other side" will be able to understand - we don't want your child, or your husband.

[Not Me]

12. This sums it up pretty well

From city-data.com:

Atwood compared to Kansas state average:
Median household income below state average.
Median house value significantly below state average.
Unemployed percentage significantly below state average.
Black race population percentage significantly below state average.
Hispanic race population percentage significantly below state average.
Median age significantly above state average.
Foreign-born population percentage significantly below state average.
Length of stay since moving in above state average.
House age above state average.
Institutionalized population percentage above state average.
Number of college students significantly below state average.
Percentage of population with a bachelor's degree or higher significantly below state average.
Population density below state average for cities.

Sounds to me like a place that is due for extinction very soon.

[Meldread]

13. What happened....

...to the site?

[Kyregan]

14. They probably

sold the domain to someone else for a large sum of money so that the award winning website wasn't too "tarnished".

[KSDaniel05]

16. I'm the guy who wrote the letter on Atwoodkansas.com

Hey everyone,

My name is Daniel, I'm the guy who wrote the letter on Atwoodkansas.com
I received an email that mentioned it was discussed here.

Kyregan, I just read your post that I probably sold the domain for a large sum of money. That is not true. I did sell the domain to the city, but it was only for the price I paid for it $75.00. It had nothing to do w/ tarnishing their image. I don't want to completely destroy the towns future, which is pretty shaky to begin with.

I posted my reasons for taking down the letter and my plans for what's next on www.dansworld.net

Also, the Lawrence Journal (Lawrence, KS newspaper) ran a story about it, so if you still want to read it, it can be found here: http://www.ljworld.com/specials/atwoodkansas.html

I want to thank those of you who have responded to me, I will respond to every email, but so far I've received over 2000, so it's going to take a few days.

I was completely overwhelmed and humbled by the reaction that the letter received. I did realize that indeed one person can make people stand up and pay attention, now it's up to all of us to keep that attention.

So (in the words of Margaret Cho) if we all got together and had this big "too much information, go there" voice. That would equal power, that power would equal change and that change would equal a Revolution.

Peace ya'll. Thanks again for the words of support!
Daniel

www.dansworld.net

[Duncan Grant]

17. Welcome to DU, Daniel!

Your letter was discussed in 2 forums here at DU - everyone loved it! :thumbsup: I was raised in NW Missouri so it resonated clearly to me.

Happy to see you here and hope you'll be a frequent poster! :hi:

[mitchtv]

20. welcome to DU Daniel

I just loved your letter. When I win the Lotto , i intend to start a foundation to help gays that can't afford it, move to states where they might live in freedom. I still remember the persecution I suffered as a young man in NYC,I came to Calif and never looked back.

[MuseRider]

18. Daniel!

It is so good to see you, I bookmarked the site then it was gone and I did not get the chance to write to you.

We are working for change here in the land of Ahhh's but it is certainly slow going. You showed such courage, I hope many here who are suffering in this state saw what you wrote and were encouraged by it. We won't give up.

I hope you stay around DU, you are an inspiration.

[ronnykmarshall]

21. We love ya, Dan!

:yourock:

[Misunderestimator]

22. Hey, you rock! I wish it had stayed up longer, and hope you stick around!

:yourock: Welcome to DU!

[BeeBee]

23. Way to go Dan!!!!

:toast: :hi: :headbang:

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

15. "The worst one of all, your reputation as a place where people care. "

Amen. Which is sad, but whenever people say to me, 'oh, I love the Midwest and the small towns where everybody's so friendly', I just want to puke. Yeah, if you're not gay.

[MuseRider]

19. I was one of those

people who stuck up for the fair minded Kansans. I never thought this could happen here and as hard as we worked we could not make any headway against the money and misinformation and the absolute stupidity of the people. I will not again speak of my home state as I have before. Not until they show better than they have. I have said it so many times in the past week but I will say it again. I am sorry. We tried.