Hometown hurt: Daniel Lippold was once one of Atwood, Kan,'s strongest defenders. That was until voters there decided he couldn't get married

Daniel Lippold used to defend his hometown of Atwood, Kan., and its nearly 1,300 citizens against those who described it as "hickville." Atwood is a special place, he would say, one where the food is homegrown and the people are friendly. He loved it so much, in fact, that the now--California resident created, maintained, and paid for the town's Web site, which was used to report everything from local news to school announcementS.

But that all changed an April 5 when Atwood residents overwhelmingly voted in favor of a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Heartbroken, the openly gay Lippold, 34, posted an open letter on the town's Web site criticizing its citizens and resigning as Webmaster. Instead of defending the people of Atwood against others, Lippold was now defending himself against them.

Though Lippold took the letter down after four days, copies of his missive spread around the world via e-mail, and the Atwood site got over a half million hits in the week following the initial post. Lippold recently spoke to The Advocate from his home in San Francisco, where he lives with his partner of 13 years, Jason) and works in real estate marketing.

Have you ever done anything like this before?

Not until this amendment passed. I always knew that it would pass in Kansas, but I didn't think it would happen in my town, because people knew who I was and knew I was gay. I took it personally.

How long have you been out?

I've been out since I was 13 years old. In elementary school kids would call me queer. A couple would beat me up. By the time I was in junior high, though, I was bigger than most of the kids, so no one messed with me.

So why were you so defensive of Atwood before the amendment?

When you grow up somewhere, your roots are there. When you live in a big city, it's really grounding to go back home. People on the street would come up to me, say, "Hi. How are you?" It was like I had never left.

Do you still consider Atwood your home?

Right now, I don't know if it's from hurt, but no. I have hopes that one day I can go there and feel at home, but right now I don't.

What has the response been to your letter?

I have gotten over 5,000 e-mails. Of the ones I've read--800 so far--only nine have been negative. The response I've received has shown me that the amendment wouldn't pass [in Atwood] if they had to vote again.

Your letter included a lengthy religions argument, complete with biblical references. Why?

A lot of people back home are very religious. I wanted to show that anyone can prove their point with the Bible. The backers of the amendment were picking one passage in Leviticus, but it also says there that you can't play with pigskin, like football, which means that 90% of the men in Kansas should be condemned.

Why did you take the letter down after only four days?

I didn't want to kill my hometown. [The letter] wasn't intended to destroy it. I just wanted to get them to think.

What's next for you?

I'm starting a gay-focused Web site called YouKnowOne.com, where people can share their stories, where they're from, give suggestions for people to do similar things. I feel that if you put a human face on [the issues], maybe people will take more of an interest. I do know I'm going to be more vocal. This can't keep going on.

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