Driving Equality

Day 48

We spent the first part of the day in the library, uploading photos and editing video for the website. Then we headed into Sedona. It is weird for me to be back here, as I lived in this area for the better part of three years, starting when I first began traveling at age 18. There are memories behind every rock. I’ve had some interesting experiences in these parts. Like I said yesterday, that is a whole other story. I’ll share it with you sometime this week when I get a chance to write more. 

If you receive the Driving Equality email updates then you already know about the “Hate Mail-A-Thon“. If you don’t get the updates, you can sign up for them here. (Don’t worry, they’re few and far between.) 

If you don’t get the email updates, then I will fill you in…

Since this journey began, I have receive a ton of email from supporters and well-wishers. But I have also received hate mail from folks who disagree with the idea of equal rights for LGBT people. It is always a shock to receive an message like the one below:

“Gays deserve to die! They will all burn in the fires of Hell! I am going to knife their asses!”

I am never really sure how to respond to an email like this…until now. Most of you know that I love to run “A-Thons”. I did a “Rick-A-Thon” when Rick Warren spoke at President Obama’s inauguration, and I run “Phelps-A-Thons” all over the country to counter Fred Phelps’ hateful “God Hates Fags” message.

I am now starting a “Hate Mail-A-Thon“!

You can pledge online here.

During the Driving Equality trek, I receive two to three pieces of hate mail a week. You can pledge any amount you chose, whether it be $0.25, $0.50, $1, or even $2 for every piece of hate mail I receive from now until the end of the journey on August 24th.

Or you can pledge a flat rate for the entire amount of hate mail I receive during the journey.

Now, when I receive I piece of hate mail, I will simply respond with a friendly message telling the sender how much he/she has just raised to advance LGBT equality by sending their hateful message.

Thanks for your support!

The next time I get a piece of hate mail, like the poem below that I received yesterday, I’ll make sure they know how much they are helping to advance LGBT equality!

Hate mail poem sent to me on June 25, 2009

“proud and gay they march along
growing in numbers, weak but strong
following the footsteps of another race
creating their own, demanding their place

prophecy foretold of these times
of men depraved, with reprobate minds
still on they go against the wind
blindly led, sick within

they wear their suffering on their sleeve
and call it gay, but who believes
they want so much to be a part
closet fugitives, with jealous hearts

they impose perversion, that we contend
making it law, protecting sin
but when we preach against their state
they loudly resist, and call it hate

of God’s first institution, they mockingly err
they wrongly define, they wrongly pair
unholy unions with conscience aloof
they live by feelings, devoid of truth

the legacy of sin is always shame
and by their choice, will not be saved
for they used a vice to vent their sorrow
lived only for today, and not for tomorrow”

This entry was posted on Friday, June 26th, 2009 at 11:42 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.