'You're Going to Hell' and Other Emails to Iowa's Only Openly Gay Senator

In April 2009, Iowa became the third state in the nation to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples when the state Supreme Court ruled that the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. In the months surrounding the decision, each state lawmaker received hundreds of emails from those both in favor of and opposed to marriage equality. Gay state senator Matt McCoy says he read every single one, and in his bookMcCoy, You're Going Straight to Hell, he publishes many of them (with the identities of the senders redacted).

McCoy says he compiled the emails and included some of his correspondence with voters because "history is made up of stories told by those involved. I felt these views and stories needed to be made public to put a human face on this historic civil rights movement." The following are a few selections from his book:

- My two year old nephew was nearly as excited as his uncles, who have been together for 17 years, and were now able to be married. I imagine that in 20 years, I will tell him how his uncles were once not allowed to be married and how he will look at me in disbelief. This is the same way that most of us today have a hard time imagining that my nephew's mom and dad, an interracial couple, would not have had access to legal marriage just a short time ago. And to think it happened in Iowa.

- As a registered Republican, I probably did not vote for you. However, I want to let you know that even though I am not gay, I strongly support the recent decision from the Iowa Supreme Court and I encourage you to oppose any attempts to ban same-sex marriage. In the next election I plan to vote against any Republican who makes gay marriage an issue, assuming their opponent doesn't do the same.

- I am happily married with three young children and am very upset about the Court's ruling. I am thinking about our state's future and what kind of people this will attract. I do not want to have to explain to my young children why two men or two women are kissing like *that* in public. It is outrageous to consider this as a tool to bring in more money for the state. Do we really want to give up our traditional values for the sake of extra tourism money? Do we want Iowa to become the Mecca for homosexuals this side of the Appalachian Mountains?

- These types of actions will ruin our wonderful state, not to mention our country's heritage. YOU are forgetting about the children subject to this unnatural arrangement. You may want to change our classroom education in regard to, 'where do babies come from.' I am confident my daughter will not understand how her classmate's same sex parents have a child after studying human anatomy 101.

- ALLOWING SAME SEX MARRIAGE IS A DIRECT ATTACK ON ALL RELIGIONS. COURT COULD NOT HAVE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT THE VERY NATURE OF HOMOSEXUALITY. HOMOSEXUALS ARE IN A GROUP LIKE ADULTERY, INCEST, RAPE, AND ALL OTHER SINS OF THE FLESH. NO ONE OWULD THINK OF GIVING SOME OTHER MINORITIES THESE RIGHTS. WE EXPECT THOSE WHO WRITE OUR LAWS TO HAVE GOOD MORALS BUT WHAT WE ARE GETTING ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NO MORALS AND ARE WORKING FOR INTERESTS FINDED FROM OUT OF STATE.

- Please allow our constitution to remain unchanged in its ability to provide equal treatment to all. If one exception is made, it will be easier to make a second and then a third, etc. Equal treatment regarding civil marriage changes NOTHING for anyone who isn't gay and harms NO ONE. The various religious groups who oppose same sex marriage can continue to promise an eternity in Hell to gays and maybe they'll be right. They can also continue to work to 'save those heathens' from that damnation. Civil law and religious law should remain separate.

- I oppose gay marriage. It's wrong. You got a problem with that? Take it up with God.

- I have been with my partner for almost 20 years. This law means everything to me. We have always proudly exercised our right to love who we choose. Our families and friends came to see us marry in our church in 1995. It is time that our leaders and politicians get behind us, too. I believe marriage equality will not have any effect on anyone else's life other than to enrich and improve their lives by allowing us to be visible and recognized as who we are.