pondering a letter to the editor

To John Deem, Editor of the Lake Norman Citizen:
 

I read Mr. Hall's letter to the editor concerning your coverage of our recent peaceful counter-presence at the Tony Perkins rally.  Mr. Hall wrapped up his thoughts with this paragraph:

Mr. Deem denies a relationship between homosexuals and pedophilia. Really? Tony Perkins is right about this, and Mr. Deem needs to look at the data. The scandal at several Catholic institutions a few years ago were clearly homosexual misconduct. Likewise the Sandusky scandal at Penn State.

There's a scene in The Shawshank Redemption, where Red warns Andy that The Sisters have noticed him.  Andy says, "I don't guess it would help to tell them I'm not homosexual?"  Red replies, "Neither are they.  You have to be human first, and they are not human."

The abuses that have taken place in the Catholic Church, at Penn State, and all around this world have nothing to do with someone being (or not being) gay.  They have to do with people who have ceased to be human.  Child abuse and molestation are evil, whether inflicted upon same or opposite sex victims.  While I certainly can't understand someone's motivation to do such things, it has been explained to me that these individuals feel entitled to pleasure themselves at the expense of anyone who is "beneath" them.  It has everything to do with status and power, nothing at all to do with sexual orientation. To dare equate such atrocities with the sacrificially loving relationships my gay friends share is so unthinkable, it causes a holy anger to burn in my belly. 

Any time I even begin to consider that maybe, just maybe, those who support this amendment have some semblance of a valid point, comments like this one remind me that they, in fact, do not.  Not in any way.  This agenda is driven by ignorance and fear.  At the risk of revealing my true level of nerdiness, I do think Yoda said it best, “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

To reiterate my point:  scripture teaches us that Love does no harm to its neighbor.  Amendment One will do harm to many wonderful, generous, kind, considerate, dear people in North Carolina, who are right now being maligned, completely unfairly.  Lied about.  Misrepresented.  

All in the name of protecting the sanctity of marriage.

No.  It's wrong.  It can't continue.

And I won't stop saying so.

Sincerely,

Michelle McConnell (or McGonnell, whichever you prefer) ;)