Readers React: For LGBT people, freedom first, then acceptance
To the editor: Unlike Jennifer Finney Boylan, who advocates for acceptance, respect and love from an apparent majority of heterosexual Americans unwilling to provide it, I as a gay man do not share those desires. (“Can it be? Our laws regarding LGBT people are more tolerant than we are,” Op-Ed, Feb. 13)
All I demand is for those who would demean and attack the fundamental rights of LGBT people — be it by religious fundamentalists, public ignorance in general or vote pandering by politicians — is that they stay out of my life.
Believe me, I don’t want to go to their churches, I don’t want to be their friend, and I most definitely don’t require their approval. They just need to stop injecting their prejudices into my life.
These people can start by not attempting to legislate who I can and can’t marry, where I can and can’t work or live, or attempt to make laws that amend my basic rights as an American citizen.
Robert Stiff, Palm Springs
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