Below is a copy of a letter I sent to the Governor of Georgia after he celebrated the legal authority to discriminate and run a bigoted government.....

Governor Perdue,

I am writing to express my sadness over your comments regarding the recent Supreme Court ruling and to clarify some of what you said. 

First of all, I was very saddened that you responded with such a jubilant pleasure.  Making families second-class in this great state should not be something that pleases you.  Make no mistake, the Amendment denies my family the basic protections of other families.  We have no rights.  Many of us have paid thousands of dollars in legal fees to attempt to secure those rights through legal contracts and agreements.  Not only is it unequal that we have to go to these extreme measures to protect our families and loved ones, but now even that is threatened.  I cannot conceive of how a government not only condones, but celebrates, such inequality.  Our great state has made several errors in the past, and we are not proud of that.  It seems that we should have learned by now that separate is not equal.  There are many things about all types of families that many people do not agree with, yet as a state in a country that celebrates civil rights and individual freedoms, we allow these families to establish themselves and protect themselves, as long as it is a man and woman. 

Secondly, I wanted to clarify one of your comments.  You stated, "They're free to work and live their lives. They're just not free to marry in Georgia."  Your statement has several flaws that I would like to point out.  First of all, you have always said that this issue is not about taking away freedoms from citizens, yet you clearly said that we are not "free" to do something that other citizens can.  Is that not a clear example of taking away freedoms if we are not "free"?  You also state that we are "free to work."  This is not true.  This state offers not protections to gay and lesbian workers.  We can be fired and persecuted solely based on our sexual orientation.  Clearly, we are not "free" to work in this state.  The other disturbing point is that this statement tells us that you feel that we can work and live here, therefore paying taxes, but we are denied multiple rights because of who we are.  So this means it is OK for a government that takes away rights to then tax those whose rights are taken away.  Is that really a democratic state?  Is that really what we want to be about?

I know this issue is difficult, and I appreciate the millions who cannot accept it.  As Georgians, and as Americans, we have to be willing to tolerate the fact that we are all different in so many ways.  Our diversity should strengthen us, not divide us.  At the end of the day, all I care about is my family.  I want them to be protected and cared for.  Now how is that different from yourself?

I hope and pray that we soon learn the errors of ways.  Just as we have done so many times in the past, we fail to learn the lessons until too many individuals and families are destroyed.