Dear [Decision Maker],

As your constituent, I urge you to oppose any attempts to roll back civil rights protections in the new Head Start bill and I insist that you to oppose the final passage of any legislation that contains these civil rights rollbacks. I do not believe that my tax dollars should be used to support government-funded religious discrimination.

Unless Congress explicitly prohibits discrimination in the Head Start reauthorization bill, the Bush Administration has made it clear that it will allow religious organizations that receive federal funds to discriminate against applicants for jobs on the basis of religion, marital status, sexual orientation or any other characteristic that a religious organization finds objectionable. Federally funded programs must protect, not gut, the civil rights of all Americans.

Allowing discrimination based on religious beliefs would significantly impede the important goals of Head Start and separate students from the teachers and parent volunteers. It would also send a damaging message to Head Start students by teaching them that discrimination is acceptable. Head Start is one of our country's most successful programs, and I do not want to ruin it by adding legislation to encourage religious discrimination.

Again, I urge you to oppose any attempts by Rep. Boustany or any other member from rolling back civil rights protections in the new Head Start bill and to oppose the final passage of any legislation that contains these civil rights rollbacks. This is an extremely important issue and one I know I will be following.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this matter.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]