Fiona Apple to Her Fan

Back in 2000, a teenage Fiona Apple fan named Bill Magee decided to approach the singer after a gig and hand her a letter. In it, the 16-year-old spoke of his school's gay-straight alliance — of which he was a member — and asked if she could possibly reply with a sentence or two in its support. The next week, the following handwritten letter was delivered by FedEx to Bill's house.

February, 2000

Hello Bill,

I got your letter a few days ago, but this is the first chance I've had to sit down and write (it's my day off)
Of course, I'd love to help — sign me up. As far as a few sentences go, here's what I've got — I hope it's OK:
It's hard to conjure up some new profound way of commenting on this issue — I'm so tired of it being an issue at all, and I suppose I'm lucky, because I see the truth so clearly. All I know is I want my friends to be good people, and when my friends fall in love, I want them to fall in love with other good people.
How can you go wrong with two people in love? If a Good boy loves a good girl, good. If a good boy loves another good boy, good. And if a good girl loves the goodness in good boys and good girls, then all you have is more goodness, and goodness has nothing to do with sexual orientation.
A person who loves is a righteous person, and if someone has the ability and desire to show love to another — to someone willing to receive it, then for goodness' sake, let them do it. Hate has no place in the equation; there is no function for it to perform. Love is love, and there will never be too much.

Fiona Apple
P.S. Right on for doing this, Bill