As a fair-minded and educated individual, I want to reach out to the community at large about the necessity to approve Referendum 71.

We are living in a society that now has access to the latest scientific evidence that seeks to remove a damaging and unfair stigma to people with affectational preference for their own gender. It is not considered a mental aberration and, like traditional couples of opposite gender, equal rights under the law should be their due. I am urging all fair citizens to come out of the Dark Ages of unjust prejudice and cast their ballots to approve Referendum 71.

Mary C. Otterness, Federal Way