Letter to the Editor: Strive to exhibit "Nebraska Nice"

Dear Editor,

Having grown up in rural Nebraska, I certainly understand the appeal and affinity our rural residents have toward “Greater Nebraska.”

No doubt I would love to move back to a setting where very much of my concerns as a Lincoln resident would diminish simply because rural lifestyle permits a more relaxed and subdued nature.

I can’t condemn anyone for wanting what many Nebraskans know as “The Good Life” due to the obvious reason I’m a Nebraskan myself. So when I read an article in the Huffington Post about how a couple and their son from Massachusetts allegedly spent some time in Sidney, I had hoped they would value and cherish their time here in our great state.

Sadly, that wasn’t the case at all. Simply because their family wasn’t regarded as deserving of the same recognition that every other family in Sidney is afforded with. Given the account in Huffington Post of the couple’s treatment while living in Sidney, it gives me pause to even consider stepping foot in town because I would be concerned about how people would perceive me even though I could care less what individuals’ opinions are about me.

The notion that somehow just because I’m gay and in a relationship would threaten someone else’s traditional, heterosexual identity is just as ludicrous as a straight person ensuring me to question my core self-identity. Yet I wouldn’t want the perception of being harmed and/or an outcast directed at me as a person. In fact, no one would.

Simply put, it’s misguided that some people believe LGBT persons have to be treated differently than from you, your friends and loved ones. Frankly, I’m appalled that I had to read yet another unfortunate story of discrimination and second-class subjugation from a national media news source that paints the state I call home in a very negative and bad light.

I thought we as residents were supposed to exhibit “Nebraska Nice,” but apparently that’s too much to be expected out of other Nebraskans. Ironically, five more states just had a court decision to allow same-sex marriages be recognized as I write this and I wonder when is Nebraska going to join in? I can’t say I am very hopeful now after knowing what my neighbors in rural Nebraska did to some neighbors of theirs.

Luke Peterson

Lincoln, Neb.