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Appreciation and clarification

Letters

No hate, no discrimination

I want to take this opportunity to thank Jeff Inglis for his blog post “Discrimination League of Maine” (see thePhoenix.com/AboutTown, April 10). I believe he spoke the truth about Michael Heath and the Christian Civic League when identifying their efforts as akin to those of any other hate group. As a feminist, lesbian activist working in the domestic-violence movement in Maine and organizing within my community, I want to live in a place that will not tolerate hate — or print it on the front page.

Giving Michael Heath and the Christian Civic League (CCL) legitimate press, in my opinion, legitimizes their efforts to discriminate against Mainers. Those of us who are citizens here are not asking for special rights, but human rights to live our lives free from fear — the fear of being attacked, fired from a job, evicted from an apartment, or denied the ability to legally parent our children with our partners. And, yes, some of us want the right to marry the people we love.

I join Jeff in urging the media to not provide Heath and the CCL a platform from which to spew hate and fear of my community, also known as homophobia. If this hate group’s efforts are successful, I urge everyone to vote again to reaffirm that, no, Maine won’t discriminate.

Jill Barkley
Portland