One point to which we do agree is, as you wrote, “We need to stop hurling names like 'bigot' and 'pervert' at each other. And we need to stop it now.” If you would have kept your nose out of other people’s business and put that statement out three months ago, you wouldn’t be the focus of protests. Oh, you poor, poor multi-billion dollar corporate hack! You’ve been so singled out and discriminated against! I feel your pain, right down to Joe Ratzinger’s Prada shoes! You were the one who went out of his way to kick this battle into high gear, now you’re going to have to deal with it.

I also agree with your statement, “We need to stop talking as if we are experts on the real motives of people with whom we have never even spoken.” As an unmarried celibate man who has made the choice to live a decidedly alternative lifestyle, I wholehearted agree that you are no expert in the area of relationships, yet alone domestic partnerships or marriage. Again, you need to keep your nose out of other people’s business, especially during work hours.

On the same note, have you actually spoken with members of the gay community other than sycophants who still buy into the fear and shame your corporation promotes? It’s doubtful you have, so I am taking this opportunity to invite you to meet with me and my fellow Sisters to help you un-do the damage you created.

If it’s possible to discuss this secular political issue in a way that is 100% secular, I can guarantee we will move closer to answering your question “What is the way forward for all of us together?” If you agree to meet with us as “George”, a San Francisco voter, we would respect your distaste for our organization and meet in our secular personae as well, because as you say, “…respect and trust often do not include agreement, or even approval…”

You ask, “What is to be done?” Here are my suggestions.

1. Admit you overstepped your bounds getting involved in secular politics.

2. Admit that your preemptive strike to enlist carpetbaggers from Utah was inappropriate.

3. Admit that the Proposition 8 campaign was not about religion, children, or schools. Admit that your support for Proposition 8 was based solely on your own personal distaste for what homosexual Californians do in the privacy of their bedrooms. You have a right to say it, what are you afraid of?

4. Join the 21st century. Things change. What happened to all those Catholics who ate meat the Friday before Vatican 2?

Frankly Mr. Niederauer, I am not holding my breath for a face-to-face meeting or even a written response, but you should be aware you have lost a lot of respect with voters in San Francisco, many of who are customers of the Catholic Corporation.

Sincerely,

Mark Kliem

Aka Sister Zsa Zsa Glamour,

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc.