We All Have Rights

The first part of the Declaration, stating "We the People."

Wikimedia Commons

Last month, on the corner of Connecticut Ave and K Street NW, a Human Rights Campaign representative asked if I would be interested in signing a petition concerning the rights of people in the LGBTQ community. 
I respectfully declined and explained why: my Christian faith.  
The representative lashed out angrily and called me a bigot.  
I felt very offended for a moment and almost responded the same way. I decided instead to leave, but the comment still bothers me.  
Everyone in this country has rights.  
As individuals, the representative has the right to ask for my signature and to live any way that they please. Just as I have the right to decline to provide my signature and to live any which way that I please.  
However, as a representative of an organization, this person was out of line and unprofessional to call me a bigot just because I believe in something that they do not. The definition of “bigot” is a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions. But I am not intolerant – I simply declined to add my signature. I don’t care how this person lives. 
I think Human Rights Campaign needs to train its representatives on how to respond to people. I’ve seen other HRC representatives lash out at some of my Christian colleagues as well after they politely decline to sign. You can’t do that. It is just like my work as an independent contractor for Street Sense. I can’t get mad and lash out at someone because they refuse to buy my paper. That’s unprofessional. 
We live in a society where people are different from one another and we must learn to show love and to be tolerant of each other. 


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