I am writing in response to the Oct. 21 story about the three sisters who will vote “no” on Question 1.

It is my job to have conversations about marriage for same-sex couples; eight hours a day, five days a week for the past five months.

As a lesbian, I have spent parts of my life in fear of others finding out I am gay and was nervous the first time I set out to knock on a stranger’s door. But that first conversation, and hundreds of others since, have shown me that Mainers are civil and willing to talk. Some of my most meaningful conversations have been with people who disagreed with me.

I have heard about marriage from many different perspectives and have learned so much. It is clear that what we have in common vastly outweighs our disagreements.

Articles like that one are unfair to people on both sides by only sharing one perspective, and, even further, by implying that one specific perspective represents an entire group of people.

The allegation made that opponents of marriage are being treated unfairly because of their beliefs doesn’t hold true in my experience. Reasonable people are able to disagree reasonably.

The assertion that adults cannot have a normal conversation about the topic is simply incorrect. I have had more than 2,000 conversations in the past five months. All respectful, thoughtful conversations. No threats, no anger, just a lot of really great talking, and listening, about how important marriage is for all of us.

Amelia Nugent, Freeport

Editor’s note: The story referenced above, “This degrades the foundation of the family,” was part of a two-piece package published Oct. 21 that included the perspective of Question 1 proponents in “I have no right to force my religious beliefs on people who believe differently than me.”