Quincy Candidate for Mayor, Tom Koch, Tells Us Why It's Okay to Be Anti-Gay
Who would have believed it? In Quincy, the home of John Adams, the drafter of the Massachusetts Constitution which protects "everyone" (including LGBT) and the city on the South Shore with the most registered same-sex marriages to date, there is actually a mayoral candidate, Tom Koch, who would dare suggest that his "personal belief" (otherwise known as bigotry, homophobia, ignorance, prejudice or political opportunism) somehow trumps Constitutionally protected rights of his fellow citizens and their families.
In his letter which can be found on the Quincy for Marriage Equality website, Koch begins with what could be seen as a hollow threat to voters or organizations who would question his name's appearance on KnowThyNeighbor's list of signers of the VoteOnMarriage petition. Here Tom Koch writes:
"The teachings of my upbringing and faith frame my belief that marriage exists between a man and a woman, and I will not try to spin that belief for political purposes. But the fact is, it has nothing to do with being mayor, and I will fight any attempt at character assassination that stretches this position any further than what it is: My personal belief. "
But in his second paragraph Tom Koch begins his spin, which he promised we would not see in his candidacy for mayor. A spin that LGBT people know all to well. A spin which tries to persuade voters and citizens and even LGBT people that Equality and Legally Protected Constitutional Rights are really just opinions, purely subjective, open for interpretation and are governed by the majority's belief of the day. And allegedly, in Tom Koch's mind, may not really exist in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
But what I find most priceless and evident of how truly ignorant Tom Koch is and on many levels is this statement. "As mayor, I will swear to uphold the laws of the Commonwealth, and that is exactly what I intend to do. I believe strongly that we have many issues that we need to address as neighbors and as a community- from taxes, to public safety, to traffic and over-development. None of them are related in any way to marriage." Priceless, just priceless...
Tom Koch's campaign website, A Dick for Quincy, I mean Koch for Quincy provides an active blog (however, I challenge KnowThyNeighbor bloggers to try to comment) and Tom Koch's "vision" for a better Quincy. But based on Tom Koch and his service to VoteOnMarriage in the very least, lending them his endorsement in signature form, I think that fair-minded, intelligent Quincy voters will see that Koch's "vision" probably does not include Equal Rights for All nor does it include a genuine understanding of what Mr. Koch so quickly put to pen that "every person should be treated equally, with respect and dignity."
To Email Tom Koch staff@kochforquincy.com
To Call Tom Koch 617-773-KOCH (5624)
Tom Lang, Director of KnowThyNeighbor 
WAVE GOODBYE, Mr. Koch
