I would like to comment on the recent amount of particularly vitriolic preaching that numerous church leaders have made. Each of these so-called religious men has tried to out-do the next as far as promoting hatred towards homosexual people.

We have heard of calls to have us all rounded up and placed behind electrified fences and fed until we die out. Children have also sang about homosexuals not being able to get into heaven to the cheers of their parents and other church goers.

Even more disturbing have been the calls to have gays put to death by the government and another pastor saying “his flesh kind of likes the idea” of killings gays.

If you do not believe in the gay lifestyle that is your right to say that, and you can even talk about it and preach it in church. What is not right, however, is for you to be able to talk about the killing of a whole group of the population.

This is only going to foster the idea that gay people should not be allowed to live their lives in safety and peace. There are too many people who carry out bullying as it is for all sorts of reasons.

These children are also being pushed towards suicide in alarming numbers by these cowardly and vile acts – we cannot allow this to happen to anybody. The Preserve Marriage Washington group has garnered enough signatures to put the same-sex marriage bill to vote in November.

With this kind of feeling out there in the churches, I am scared that it is only a matter of time before it happens here. Let us all decide that equal rights means equal rights for all and not allow for further persecution.

Shaun Kelly, Kirkland