John A. “Bert” Stevenson is a bigot - or worse

Read the article on PrideDEPOT.com.

Then ask yourself what this type of crap does for people who are itching for an excuse for a delightful afternoon of gay-bashing.

Here's what I sent in to the house leadership in Idaho:

I am more than outraged at Bert Stevenson’s remarks on air Feb. 25th. As a NATIVE gay Idahoan I cannot begin to describe the type of violence and suffering that I have faced over the past 15 years. I have had guns pointed at my face, I have been run off the road, my car was vandalized to the point it couldn't be driven, my family has been harassed and I have been attacked on more than one occasion. I don't file police reports because this is just the way gay people in Idaho expect to be treated by the few ignorant people we share our state with who just don't have anything better to do. The line that I brought it on myself because I am gay is getting a little old as well - it happens because I choose to speak out against injustice. In the last 2 years a gay man was murdered and stuffed in a barrel in Twin Falls and 4 of my gay friends have chosen to end their lives rather than face the daily struggle of being gay.

Then I hear Stevenson’s remarks: "[gay] people...will do away with the human race." Let me tell you what that does when another ignorant, violent person hears it. It gives him permission to go out and ATTACK gay people - maybe even kill them. We aren't a bunch of perverts trying to get into little boys locker rooms - we are productive, tax-paying citizens of Idaho. We deserve better and our representatives in the statehouse should KNOW better. This hateful diatribe is DANGEROUS because it leads to VIOLENCE. You know what I worry about when I hold hands with someone? I don't worry about being called a faggot, because that happens all the time anyway, I worry about having the crap kicked out of me again - or worse. A friend of mine spent 3 weeks in a coma because of gay-bashing...and woke up with two years of his life wiped from his memory. Stevenson is inciting violence against Idahoans - I am not asking for censure or reprimand: I want his immediate resignation.

Gay people are no longer a simple annoyance in the political process: our voices are rising in a chorus and we're mad as hell. I am directly related to other voters throughout the state who all support me despite the fact that I am gay, they are beginning to understand what my life is like and when they start seeing the Idaho Legislature turn a deaf ear to this kind of tripe they are going to start asking why.