A Gulf War vet whose brother is an Arkansas lawmaker is apologizing for not being able to convince him that a new bill will harm LGBT people.
The nation has quickly learned that Arkansas lawmakers last week passed a wide-sweeping bill that bans local cities and towns from enacting non-discrimination ordinances. The bill was classified as an “emergency,” and was camouflaged as commerce legislation that would make it easier for out-of-state companies to do business in the state without having to deal with different standards.
Now, the brother of a lawmaker who voted for the bill is speaking out, apologizing for being unable to convince his sibling just how dangerous this legislation is.
In a letter posted to a website created specifically to convince Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson to veto the bill (the governor is planning to allow it to become law) and to the Huffington Post, Donald Collins (photo, below) says he wrote the letter to his brother, State Rep. Charlie Collins (photo, above), on Valentine’s Day, which happily is his one-year anniversary of marriage to his husband.
“It is with a full heart and a lot of love that I again offer my sincere apologies to the Arkansas LGBT community and their friends and family who now have to worry about hurtful legislation that supports intolerance and creates a climate of hostility and discrimination rather than being able to work with the same protections and benefits enjoyed by their straight brothers and sisters.”
LOOK:Â ‘Singled Out’ Arkansas Lawmaker To End All LGBT Protections ‘Because I Am Married To One Woman’
And he apologizes “for not being able to do more to help my brother understand the devastating impact discriminatory bills like the one he supported Friday have on not just the LGBT community, but on their friends, family as well as the entire population of Arkansas.”
Donald writes, “my brother and the other Arkansas legislators who voted for SB202 chose to move their state backward with a discriminatory, hurtful bill that by [State Sen. Bart] Hester’s own admission is a reactionary one in the face of growing acceptance and political power of the LGBT community. What’s incredible to me is that my brother supported this bill even though he has a gay brother and a lesbian sister.”
And he says his “brother Charlie is the only one with homosexual shame. My mother stayed with and helped my sister and her wife with their baby boys for years before my parents moved just down the road where they both still offer their loving support to my sister’s family.”
Donald concludes, “I can also hope that Charlie understands that the decisions he makes and the votes he takes are not just political, they are personal and they affect people in ways he couldn’t possible imagine because he’s never had to deal with the oppression of a society that treats you differently because of who you are attracted to and who you love.”
Â