Open Letter from Dean Hamer & Joe Wilson to Bob Wagner & Diane Gramley
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AN OPEN LETTER TO ROBERT WAGNER AND DIANE GRAMLEY: STOP BULLYING TRANSGENDER PEOPLE
This past August, Coudersport, PA resident Robert Wagner convened a “Bible Believing Christian” forum at the local Public Library at which he threatened to violently attack transgender individuals with a baseball bat.
Forum “special guest” Diane Gramley, whose Venango County-based American Family Association of Pennsylvania regularly disparages trangender people as “men who think they are women”, condoned Wagner’s incitement without a word of protest. (The American Family Association, parent organization of Gramley’s AFA of PA, was recently designated a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights organization.)
A video of this verbal assault attracted national media attention:
(click arrow to view video):
Each November, the world commemorates the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a time to mourn and honor the many transgender lives tragically cut short by hatred, fear and violence.
We are writing this open letter to call on Wagner and Gramley to take responsibility for the consequences of their rhetoric, publicly apologize for their remarks, and denounce anti-transgender bias, discrimination and violence.
We also urge readers to raise their voices with others in the community to express their support for the right of all people to live free of fear and discrimination, with dignity and respect, regardless of their actual or perceived gender identity and expression.
Please let your voice be heard by writing a letter-to-the-editor of your local paper or blog and sharing news of your action on the OUT IN THE SILENCE website:
(http://wpsu.org/outinthesilence/your_thoughts_index/comments)
or blog:
(http://outinthesilence.blogspot.com/2010/11/open-letter-to-robert-wagner-and-diane.html).
Thank You,
Joe Wilson & Dean Hamer
OUT IN THE SILENCE Campaign
www.OutInThe Silence.com
I can’t believe that you want to target Bob Wagner and Diane Gramley having some moral values and a sense of decency. Could you elaborate on what they did wrong? Just kidding. In my high opinion, what they stood for is what Bob Wagner’s life is all about and that is family values and a sense of decency, which seems to be lacking these days.
Thank you Bob Wagner! I would like to thank you for your righteous indignation.
Are you kidding???? BOB WAGNER?! HAHAHAHAhahahhaha except it isn’t funny.
Bob Wagner has fought for the people for some time and the people in Potter County don’t know enough to appreciate how much he has fought for them. I know he has locked horns over other issues and I agree with him on those issues as well. I just wished people could see what this man is saying. He is a good man and his moral values are also values that I share. He is not alone in sharing those values. I find the open letter disgusting to think the disgusting behaviors are promoted by and advocated by a group. I will not be donating to that group or any like it by the way. Bob Wagner has raised a very good value for us to embrace. I am sorry if one is so blind they cannot see the kind of stand he has taken. No I don’t live in your state or even in your county but I know. I know more than you would ever dream.
Bob Wagner can have his opinions…but to spread the word of hate and violence in the name of religion and “family values” is quite contradictory. He said that he has a baseball bat in his truck that he is not afraid to use. How can a family/religious man say something like that and expect to be taken seriously? His speech contains ideas and rhetoric that is representative of how many people think and feel in Coudersport/Potter County. This is the only downfall of living here. I hope that open minded/educated people can spread the word of love and acceptance. I noticed a lot of gray hair in the audience of this speech. I just hope that those Mothers/Fathers/Grandmothers/Grandfathers did not pass down the legacy of hate and violence to their children/granchildren. I hope that MY children do not have to encounter people who put this much energy in to hating others.
Robert Wagner said if he saw a man coming out of a bathroom his granddaughter was in, he would use a baseball bat on him. If I saw a man coming out of a bathroom that my daughter was in, I wouldn’t need a baseball bat. I assure you.
short memories…anybody remember the scandal rags that were circulated around here a few years ago? I do.
What is this letter? A joke?
As usual Joe and Dean have blown things out of proportion. While concentrating on the two or three sentences Dr. Wagner made during the hour plus meeting saying he would protect his granddaughter, they have chosen not to address the accusations of harassment and distortion of facts I leveled at them. And, yes, Joe and Dean, transgender individuals are those who believe they are born in the wrong body and thus believe they should legally be permitted to use the restroom or shower facilities of their choosing. Dr. Paul McHugh of Johns Hopkins Hospital used to do “sex reassignment” surgeries. In 2004 he said, “I have witnessed a great deal of damage from sex-reassignment. We have wasted scientific and technical resources and damaged our professional credibility by collaborating with madness rather than trying to study, cure, and ultimately prevent it.” Perhaps Joe and Dean will accuse him of “anti-transgender bias, discrimination and violence.” The very left-wing group Southern Poverty Law Center hates any group which speaks the truth about the dangers of the homosexual lifestyle. The national office of the American Family Association, as well as the Pennsylvania affiliate, regularly quote CDC fact sheets which recognize the dangers of engaging in homosexual acts. We also quote FDA and HHS policies banning blood donations from any man who has had sex with another man even once since 1977. These compassionate warnings of the dangers of the homosexual lifestyle have warranted a ‘hate group’ label from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
As usual Diane, Joe and Dean twisting reality to favor their gay agenda.
“gay agenda”? Really? I think that it is the OTHER side that has an agenda here. Joe and Dean are just asking for the LGBT community to not be treated with hate or violence. They are not asking anyone to conform to any belief or lifestyle.
Perhaps “unedited” wasn’t the correct word to use. I just figured that the meeting at the library had to last longer than 5 minutes and I thought that it would be interesting to see it in its entirety.
So you think men should be able to go into little girls bathrooms?
If I see a man in a little girls bathroom I will find anything, maybe a baseball bat and knock him the hell out. Flippen damned perverts!
If you want to be gay, go for it but leave the kids out of it and leave me out of it too. I could care less about your sick lifestyle, so stop trying to shove it down our throats!