I called your church yesterday hoping to speak with your wife: as one pastor's wife to another, one mother to another, in hopes she might better understand whereof I speak. I got one of your daughters instead, and tried to have a non-confrontational, intelligent conversation with her, but that quickly proved to be futile. (I did not get her name, but she did tell me she has seven children.) Within a few sentences any attempt to talk to her in a civil manner soon became impossible. I tried - in vain - to give her the following history of myself in order to allay any fears that mine was an harassing phone call. I know well myself what those calls are like. But she was geared for a fight - and she gave me one.

When you came and protested at Randy Shilts' memorial service my husband and I were out of the country - but our children were not. As a result of your protest our children got so many death threats that they had to leave our home for several days and sleep at someone else's house. When they did come back home they still received death threats, and one of the men in our church had to literally sit up all night for two nights - keeping watch over them and the house. This is not a new experience for us, you will find, if you read the rest of this letter.