I preface this knowing some will not like what I have to say. I understand. That’s your right. I feel I must voice what’s on my mind. This concerns a bill that the Mississippi legislature called “Protecting Freedom of Conscience From Government Discrimination Act." Some refer to as the religious freedom bill. I am afraid it is much more than that. My roots are in Mississippi, though I live in another state. I love my home state. I hope the governor thinks long and hard before signing this bill into law. These rights are already protected by the first amendment of our constitution which states; "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …."

Fear drives people to do awful things. I remember well the things that were done to people that weren't like those in power when I was a child. They weren't allowed to eat in the same restaurants where others like me dined. They couldn't drink from the same water fountains, go to the same schools, or use the same restrooms. I really thought we, as a society, had grown beyond all that. Evidently not. Because of what is happening in my home state I have great empathy for those who are not of the same sexual persuasion as the majority. Would you like to know why? Because when I was younger there were people that wrongly assumed I was one of “them”. I admit I marched to the beat of a different drummer. I had friends that were black. I had friends that were gay. I had friends no one else would befriend. My hair was longer, (Yes, children, I had hair back then.) and I may have dressed different. Thinking I wanted to major in art didn’t help their perception of me, either. It wasn't until I was lucky enough to meet and marry my wife that I learned from her what others had been whispering behind my back all along. At first I was mortified. Me? One of “them”? Then I got over it. Some of “them” were my friends. They didn’t throw their sexuality in my face, and I didn’t throw mine in theirs. We were who we were. I'm glad she looked through all the layers of this onion and saw who I really was.

That being said, I still have friends that are gay I have several relatives that are, too. I don’t believe we choose who we are attracted to. It’s just who we are. I don’t pretend to understand it. I can’t. It’s bigger than me. But I believe no one should be discriminated against for being gay no more than if they been born of a different race or are of a different religion. (Just don’t go blowing up people or cutting off heads. I draw the line there.) We are all God's people. One of the things my first Sunday school teacher taught me when I was little was to love one another. By the way my first Sunday school teacher was my mother. As I grew older I heard a lot of folks saying what she had taught me, but it wasn’t reflected in their lives. It was a wakeup call for me that something was amiss when some of my playmates on the farm had to get on a different bus when they went to off school. That may have been about the time I began marching to the beat of that different drummer. I wanted to fit in, but I really didn't want to be like the rest of the herd. Something deep inside told me I could choose to be like the majority, or I could do what my mother taught me and love one another.

As I stated at the beginning, fear drives people to awful things. Be not afraid. I hope Mississippi’s governor makes the right decision. New legislation doesn’t necessarily beget better laws. It’s like a friend of mine said, “This is like a bad bra. All it does is separate us in a painful way.” If this is allowed to become law we must forgive the ignorance of those that choose to discriminate, but we don't have to be like them, do we?

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Rick Algood
April 1, 2016