To the editor:

My name is David Rysdahl, and my brothers and I are writing this letter out of a deep concern over statements made by a few candidates for school board. One of these candidates is our mother. We love our mother, and publicly opposing her is painful for both sides, but we are doing what she always taught us to do: stand up for what we believe in. In that spirit, we are writing this letter out of solidarity for our LGBTQ friends, family, and colleagues, and we are writing this letter out of the ardent desire to live in a culture that embraces the freedom of everyone to love whom they want to love; to be who they want to be.

Our society is just beginning to heal from the devastation that bigoted ideology has wreaked on individuals and families, and the statements made by these candidates are reopening deep wounds.

The last 15 years have seen our society advance to be more free. Nov. 8 is a vote on that advancement. These candidates talk about “indoctrination” and “taking sexuality out of the classroom,” but what is sexual about a picture book with two dads? Do we not want our children to read books about families? Or how about a fifth grade girl who has a crush on her female best friend? Do we not want books about first crushes? Our families are diverse, our love is diverse. Championing this diversity lays the foundation for a healthy and free society; a society built on mutual respect where its citizens are free to be themselves.

When you vote, ask yourself if you want to go back to a time when many people lived in fear and shame, a time when people hid in the shadows or hid within themselves.

Written out of a deep love for New Ulm,

David, Gabriel, and

Isaac Rysdahl

New York