Archbishop Michael Sheehan's recent commentary that the church and its members have the First Amendment right to speak on any issue is correct.

In fact, people with religious affiliation have special rights that protect them even further. People cannot discriminate against a person for their religious beliefs, but they can against a homosexuals.

Once again, people need to remember that the domestic-partnership issue is about the rights granted to people by the state and not the church. This has nothing to do with marriage in the church and will not lead to "gay marriage," what ever that is.

Churches have special protections and will not have to perform marriages of same sex couples. People who have a faith-based objection to homosexuality will not be affected by domestic partnerships. They may be forced to deal with homosexuals outside of their churches, just as they were forced by the state to deal with the equal rights of women and African-Americans when the same faith-based objections were brought up around those issues.

Every day I am forced by law to accommodate Archbishop Sheehan and people of any religious affiliation, even if I object to their beliefs. We do not want the church's compassion, we want our human rights.

Michael Morgan lives in Santa Fe.