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Op Ed

This page contains information on how to write a letter to the editor. Your tutorial starts now!

 

 

 

Letters to the Editor 101

An easy and free method of influencing potentially hundreds of thousands of people re LGBT civil rights is writing letters to the editor of newspapers and select Web sites.  With our opposition referencing junk science and appealing to bigotry, it is important that we balance the public discussion with mature and factual perspectives.

Writing the Letter

Letters should be 200 words or less.  Some venues restrict letters to that length, but even if greater size is permitted, readers will more likely read a succinct letter than a lengthy one.  Libel, personal attacks and wild statements must be avoided:  leave that to our opponents.  Keep focused on the topic and work on getting just one or two major ideas across.  Submit only once every two months.  Email is preferred by the newspapers so they need not retype, probably making errors.

Sending the Letter

Email your letter to all of the Delaware newspapers, remembering that some Delawareans only read, for example, The Cape Gazette or The Dover Post—not everybody reads The News Journal.  Email them individually:  newspapers will be much less likely to print your letter if they see all their competitors in the address line as well. 

 The E-Addresses

Go for it!

Who knows how many Delawareans you will help to enlighten on LGBT issues?  And remember that legislators and other decision-makers read the papers too—you can educate and influence them as well.  Now just do it!

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© 2004 through 2012 Mr. Douglas Marshall-Steele