To the editor:

The photo of the gloating Rev. Terry Fox giving a thumbs-up to the marriage ban reminded me instantly of Bill Reed’s famous LIFE Magazine photo of Mississippi lawmen at the 1964 murder trial of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman. The face of bigotry is ugly and unmistakable. I hope Kansans will reject the proposed constitutional amendment as swiftly as they would one that prohibited marriages between whites and blacks.

Anti-tolerance complaints about a single PBS children’s show ring hollow. The airwaves have been flooded with the propaganda of intolerant Bible-thumping radio broadcasters and televangelists for decades (and now 24/7). The Bush administration is channeling millions of tax dollars into “faith-based initiatives” of groups that overwhelmingly represent a particular religious perspective. What about the rights of those of us who would prefer not to have our own children exposed to those values or our tax dollars spent in ways that undermine our own deeply held morality?

Those of us who consider tolerance of diversity to be a moral obligation pay taxes, too, and public programs should reflect our values. If parents don’t want their children exposed to something on TV, they should do what the rest of us do: Change the channel. However, if they want to shield their children from alternate lifestyles, they will also have to avoid public schools, shopping malls and even their own neighbors. Diversity is here to stay. As Mark Twain wrote, “Denial is not just a river in Egypt.”

John W. Hoopes,

Lawrence