I'm a bit behind. In reading the paper, that is. I just got caught up on last weekend's Sunday paper yesterday. The opinion section is always one of my favorites--I am a political junky and love reading what both the newspaper staff and local folk have to say about current issues. But one letter stood out, especially in light of the fact that Alan and I had just attended an event in support of gay marriage a few days ago.
A man from Graham (poor guy, he signed his name and town) wrote a rather nasty and ill-informed letter regarding his views on the issue. He was disgruntled about a billboard his saw on a major highway--this particular billboard is well-known in the community of activists who oppose the embarrassing proposed amendment to our state Constitution. The billboard declares that to really protect families, one must defend all families, not just straight ones (well, that's the "Reader's Digest" version of what it says). He pointed out that if we defeat this proposed amendment, it won't be long before some lawyer gets the current law taken off the books--that would be the law that already makes gay marriage illegal in our state. Then, in his expert opinion, it would simply be a mater of time before North Carolina "would be infested with these types, many who have HIV/AIDS".
Really? Infested? Like the show on Animal Planet? But isn't that about "pests" like bugs and snakes? As far as his facts regarding HIV statistics--only one of those "types" is in the highest risk group for HIV/AIDS--gay men. Lesbians in fact have among the lowest rates of HIV/AIDS. Straight women are more likely to contract the virus than lesbian women. And as far as there being some great influx of HIV+ cases--guess what? We already have really high numbers, and more people with AIDS die in the South than in any other U.S. region.
Poor fool. He has to go and show his face around town after writing that despicable diatribe.
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