As one of Reynolds’ constituents, I experienced this firsthand. I am openly gay and continue to actively oppose the marriage ban. I mentioned those facts during a listening session Reynolds held at my church on the matter in 2004. After that meeting, Reynolds personally sent me information on “re-orientation therapy” for gay people on his state senate letterhead and franking.

Shortly after the meeting, though, Reynolds sent Schauer an issue of Liberty magazine, a publication of the Seventh-day Adventist church. While Reynolds noted in an accompanying letter that “the magazine was provided… by the publisher and at no cost to the taxpayers or to [him] personally,” the 32-page document arrived in the mail on state senate letterhead and franking.

The magazine included an article entitled “Response to Same-Sex Unions” approved by the Seventh-day Adventist church. It reads in part: “Homosexuality is a manifestation of the disorder and brokenness in human inclinations and relations caused by sin coming into the world. While everyone is subject to fallen human nature, we also believe that by God’s grace and through the encouragement of the community of faith, an individual may live in harmony with the principle of God’s word… [I]t is very clear that God’s word does not countenance a homosexual lifestyle.”

Schauer, who double-majored in theology and political science at Marquette University, feels Reynolds’ behavior was inappropriate. “I’m being told through state fiat not to be homosexual,” he says. “Senator Reynolds is espousing an overtly religious view from a religious organization in order to sway my mind, not only on a government issue, but in regard to my orientation in general.”