25 years ago ... January/February 1984.

There's this group of rather stern, self-righteous people here who claim to have The Word straight from you, and The Word is that gays have no rights. Back in February of 1982, Mr. Reagan's nominee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, a fundamentalist black minister named B. Samuel Hart, said that homosexuals should be refused certain jobs and even housing and should not expect their civil rights to be protected.

Now, this may sound like my faith is weak, Jesus, but aren't gays people? Don't people have equal rights? Or is that the sort of political question that should be rendered solely unto Caesar and not you? Golly, Jesus, just can't take only their word for it, you know? I mean, for centuries people claiming to have the same source for guidance have managed to bring about wholesale slaughters, inquisitions, tortures, and lots worse, and nobody at the time questioned them either. And lived. So I thought maybe you could put all that trivial claptrap on "hold" for a minute and check out what some of your more devout followers are up to these days. After all, they've claimed for generations now that your visit to earth was to soften the harshness of the old ways and to bring to humankind a gentleness and a loving nature. Guess what? The harshness is back.

--Leo N. Miletich, "Now f Lay Me Down To Sleep" (a "bedtime prayer" inspired by a deluge of far-right hate mail)