To the editor:
Why am I a bigot? All summer we have been bombarded with the burning referendum questions in which we, citizens of Maine, had to speak out and vote for — to try and figure out in what direction Maine is to go. This letter is to address Question One. By my count this is not the first time and won’t be the last time we face this issue. This year we spent too much time and energy on this. We as Mainers are very opinionated and sometimes frank. We do our best to pay our bills and raise our families and accept one another. Gay or straight, most of us don’t care. We just want our friends and neighbors to get along and do their part. No one in this state needs to be treated with special rights.
Immediately after the Nov. 3rd vote, the letters started being printed, calling the ones that voted to keep traditional marriage bigots. Things like “just you wait and see”, “we’re going to get you” and similar comments were made. This is rude and childlike to say the least.
Myself, I work to pay my bills, take care of my mom and dad and my own family, attend church, play a very active role in volunteering and give where I can. The people of Maine have voted to keep marriage as is.
One tactic of the “No on 1” (mostly out-of-state endless money tree) group is to attack the churches. Like well if the churches are going to stand up and defend marriages, they should not be tax exempt. I’ll tell you when tragedy strikes any of us, church members are the first ones there with food, prayers and love — whatever they can do. They do it without making judgments.
Our state is spending our paychecks faster than we can make them. In my town, kerosene, premium gas is $3 dollars plus per gallon, at my company each year there is some new and improved tax to take more from an already strained bottom line. We as humans are programmed to love, it’s one of God’s commandments. We are filled with it. When we see a couple in love, we are happy and want them to stay in love as long as they can because relationships end all too soon sometimes. Love has no borders.
Question One is just another way to keep us separated and confused. It breaks us down. Like the lions, they keep the gazelle close. There are so many things to fix here already. Can the gays and straights do it? The answer is “yes.”
Presque Isle
