When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American is heir. It promised that all men would be guaranteed the “unalienable rights” of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

America has defaulted on that promissory note, insofar as citizens of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community are concerned. Instead of honoring the sacred obligation, America has given that community a bad check; a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

We refuse to believe that the bank of equal rights is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we’ve come to cash a check that will give us, upon demand, the riches of freedom and the security of equal rights.

We still have a dream; a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

We have a dream that, one day, people will rise up and live up to the true meaning of the creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

We have a dream that our children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by who they choose to love, but by the content of their character.

We are just like you: fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, lawyers, doctors, clergy. Why can’t we have the same equal rights?

John Cole, Lewiston