I see Seven Days never bothered to note my candidacy for Burlington City Council in the Central District. Others have taken down my signs because we have a large group of authoritarians who cannot stand free speech or any speech that does not bow to their religious belief in a magical ability to change sex. Anyone who will not say men can be women if they say so is anathema to this self-righteous crew, which thinks that anything it does to a heretic is OK, including threats and robbery and violence. As I was putting up a sign, a hipster stopped his car to say, "Take your hate somewhere else." I have lived here for over 50 years and was the first person to start a lesbian group here and an initiator of pride marches. But "lesbian" is a word you will rarely see now, except from men who claim to be one.