Dear Mayor Daniels,
I want to speak to you regarding your Facebook post “I think I'm going to throw away my 'I Love New York' carrying bag now that queers can get married there." I am both an ordained minister and a member of my current city’s planning commission, among other things, and I am appalled.
As a public official selected by your constituents, your freedom of speech is limited. You’re entitled to your opinion, but you are judging many of your very own constituents, many of whom may have elected you. You (or any other hate-mongerer) do not have the monopoly on morality, and if anything, this makes you even less moral. You have no more value as a person than any of the gay/lesbian group you are judging. You can define marriage one way for your life, but you have no right to define marriage for any other human. Did you know that the state of Michigan is a state with one of the highest rates of hate groups in the country? More than 30 active hate groups exist in Michigan currently, and your behavior fuels their horrible hate-mongering discrimination and lack of tolerance. As a public official, your job is to keep and protect ALL of your constituents, not just the ones you deem worthy. This is part of the reason my family and I will never move back to Michigan. I do not ever want to be associated with such hatred, and I would never allow my children to grow up thinking that this is normal or acceptable, for it is not.
This behavior from anyone, let alone a public official is so cruel, promoting discrimination and hatred. Now you have the opportunity to promote compassion and acceptance, or at least tolerance.
My Facebook rant:
ReplyDeleteI’m so tired of people perpetuating hate and intolerance. While I can criticize the MI mayor for her horrible behavior to an entire group of American citizens, noting that MI is one of the states with the highest number of hate groups, I must also look at CO, which has nearly 20 active hate groups, and yes, even religious extremists are considered hate groups, when they promote hatred, discrimination, and intolerance of another group of people (such as the Family Research Institute, which is anti-gay -right here in C/S). But this includes, perhaps at a lesser level, everyone who can't accept one person's expression and celebrations of various December holidays. As individuals, we either promote tolerance and compassion, or hatred, discrimination, and intolerance.
That's what America has become, so in the end, it is really no surprise that politicians voted 93% (yes, even our representatives here in CO) the bill that "Unnerving many conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats, the legislation also would deny suspected terrorists, even U.S. citizens seized within the nation's borders, the right to trial and subject them to indefinite detention." We can't solely blame the president for this, since 93% of our politicians, who we hired and pay, have voted this bill, which has serious implications for Americans-for the very people who hired them and who may very well be their neighbors.
Whether it's hate groups, a hateful mayor or other individuals, or the people disguised as politicians who implement such legislation, perhaps intending to target terrorists, Americans need to make a change. No president can change an entire country or system on his own. Change has to start at the roots.
We are all inherently valuable, and no one is physically, spiritually, or morally any more valuable than another. Different, yes. Not Less.
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