Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

Tired of Heath's bile

I am a strong supporter of the right to free speech, but once again the newspaper lets Michael Heath spew his bile. You restrict the rest of us to letters of 300 words, but let him go on.

He calls the American Revolution a response to "mild tyranny." Paul Revere was not the only rider that night. The lanterns in North Church were hung not in warning but to tell the riders which way the British were going, "One if by land, and two, if by sea," he is denying it but it sounds like a call to arms to me.

He states that same-sex marriage has the potential for maladjusted children, biology is against that. Maladjusted children come from broken marriages, uncaring marriages, and children born outside marriage. Many well-adjusted children come from these same sources, so why not from same-sex marriages. He should spend more time saving the one man/one woman marriages that fail every day. Many good children are well raised without a father or mother.

He is right that the Stonewall riots in 1969 are considered the start of the gay rights movement. They were in response to raids by corrupt police, beatings and outright oppression of anyone who appeared homosexual. Rosa Parks was a milestone in the civil rights movement at a time when you legally could not marry a person of another race in many parts of the country.

In closing, Heath should remember that the defense against slander is the truth, if you are not telling the truth it is not slander. I am a straight male veteran who believes in equal rights for all of the citizens of Maine.

James P. Wood

Augusta