I woke up the day after the election to the sickening news that once again a tiny majority of Maine citizens had voted to deny gay men and lesbians their basic civil rights. It is a sad statement indeed when a society allows the majority to control and determine the rights of any minority group.

If Southerners had been allowed to vote on civil rights for African Americans, then black men, women and children would still be sold to the highest bidder. In a truly free society, citizens must never be allowed to control or curtail the freedom of any law-abiding citizen. What we have just participated in is not democracy, it is rank hypocrisy. A slim majority of voters in Maine have again given the impression to the world that this state does not value equality or diversity.

I am a native son, born and raised in Maine, and my civil rights have been stolen from me. It is legal in Maine to discriminate against me, for no reason other than who I am. Whose rights will be corrupted next: Will it be women who experience further erosion of their right to control their bodies and to choose when to have a child? Maybe it will be your son or daughter who is forced to pray in school no matter what his or her beliefs are. It could be science teachers who are muzzled by conservative Christians who oppose the theory of evolution. How about the library patron who cannot find the book of her choice because some extremist group has begun a high pressure campaign to censor books that they don’t approve of? The list of possibilities is endless. When will Maine voters see the connection? Alan Kelly-Hamm Searsport