Dear Sen. Steve Smyk: I read your response in the Cape Gazette to my letter to the Cape Gazette a few weeks ago.

I appreciate you taking the time to acknowledge your failure to respond to me, as one of your constituents, on a matter that is very important to me and my family.

I can understand and respect your right to disagree with me. My main concern was that, by your lack of response, I was once again (as so often in my life) treated as "less than" simply because I am gay and thus discounted as a human being and citizen entitled to equal rights (not "special rights".)

Bill and I are veterans who proudly served our country. We have worked all our lives and paid our taxes just like other citizens. We are entitled to equal treatment under law, not "separate but equal."

Again, we are not asking for "special rights" but the same rights that accrue to all Americans, gay or straight.

Ronald W. Tipton
Milton