Letters - 10/8/08

The opponents to Hamtramck’s human rights ordinance have developed a curious campaign strategy that seems to have no connection to what the ordinance really says. 

They say the ordinance denies the rights of “normal” people and gives “special rights” to homosexuals.  I hope all the citizens voting on Nov. 4 will actually read the ordinance. 

Is being allowed to stay in your home, keep your job, or not be thrown out of a store or restaurant just because of who you are a “special right”? 

Those are basic rights for everyone as long as they are not engaged in criminal or public nuisance behavior.  The ordinance protects those basic rights because those rights are not protected for all people by state and federal laws, and some of our neighbors have faced harassment and denial of these basic rights here in Hamtramck.

Nobody’s rights are denied in the ordinance except the “right” to discriminate against persons in the public sector.  Nobody’s religious rights are infringed.  Churches and mosques that have teachings against homosexuality are not forced to take any action contrary to their ethical concerns. 

The U.S. Constitution still defends freedom of religion, and that freedom is respected in the ordinance.  Religious institutions are specifically and explicitly excluded in the ordinance, as are owner-occupied homes.  So how are legitimate rights to practice one’s faith denied?

If the opposition to this ordinance resorts to deceptive terms and misleading insinuations that have nothing to do with what the ordinance actually says, then maybe the moral spotlight needs to be turned on their tactics. 

It’s against the Ten Commandments to bear false witness. 

There are legitimate issues to be discussed and disagreed about in this campaign, but the opposition to the ordinance has repeatedly put forward phony issues and distortions that make me wonder if they are afraid to be honest before the public.

Daniel Buttry