The following letter was sent to Natalie Johnson Lee.
Robert Halfhill Loring Park
The Reverend Bob Battle has claimed in an article in the St. Paul PIONEER
PRESS that you are supporting his battle against same sex marriage. I hope
that Battle's claim is false since the Green Party platform supports same sex
marriage.
It was my impression that the initial disagreement between us concerning
domestic partners and same sex marriage had been resolved since you
subsequently voted for domestic partners ordinances when they were brought
before the City Council.
As I explained to you at the time this matter came up, one of the main
reasons I support African American rights is because I had been subjected to
bigotry for being a Gay Person, particularly during adolescence. Because I had
experienced bigotry against myself, I know
what it is like to be discriminated against. It is precisely because of my own
experience of being the object of bigotry that I go into a rage whenever I hear
about anyone being mistreated, whether the reason for mistreating them is
because they are Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgender-Intersexed, African American,
a woman, or any other reason.
Later, I sent a letter the the City Council members, the Mayor and various
newspapers about police brutality. Your aide called to thank me for this
letter. I had written it after becoming increasingly enraged over a series of
incidents of police brutality that had happened both before and after the
question of domestic partners and same sex marriage came up. Although I was
aware of the connections between the two matters, the letter about police
brutality developed mainly independently as an outgrowth of my mounting rage as
I read news accounts of incident after incident of police brutality.
It was my impression after your aide's phone call to me that we understood
each other and that you understood how I could become just as enraged after
reading about someone being killed ot imprisoned because they are Gay, or of a
man being denied the right to visit his lover in the hospital because they had
not been permitted to get married, or of the relatives of a deceased lover
being able to take their joint property away, again because they had not been
permitted to marry, as you become enraged upon learning about someone being
murdered, unjustly imprisond, brutalized by the police, or denied a job or the
right to vote because they are African American. And I also had the impression
that you understod how my own experience of anti Gay bigotry also had caused me
to beome enraged when I learned about African Americans being mistreated
because they are African American.
I hope my impressions were and are correct.
Presently, Darrell Gerber has posted an email saying that Green Party
members have contacted you and that you have told them that you do not support
Reverend Bob Battle's opposition to same sex marriage. Eva Young, on the other
hand, says that you have not been willing to give her a clear answer about your
position on same sex marriage. I think that, given this situation, the best
way for you to clear up any questions about your position on same sex marriage
would be to issue a public statement that could be reported in the press and
thus provide a documented record that people could cite when responing to any
future allegations about your position on same sex marriage.
I hope that my impression that we are both opposed to ALL forms of bigotry
is the correct impression.
Robert Halfhill
125 Oak Grove, Apt 41
Minneapolis, MN, 55403-4308
Phone: 612-870-8026
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://halfhillviews.greatnow.com
http://www.thepen.us/e-fraud.html
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