Sioux Falls family uses Christmas cards to build bonds with lawmakers

In holiday cards, Stacey Burnette and her wife Danielle Wilcox for years have asked elected officials to keep them in mind when weighing in on possibly discriminatory legislation.

Submitted photo

Dana Ferguson |
dferguson@argusleader.com

3:40 pm CST December 23, 2017

“All for love and love for all.”

That’s the message scrawled below a photo of two smiling children on a holiday card that a handful of state lawmakers, congressional delegates and other elected officials received this month.

Tucked into the envelope with the card is a request from the mothers of the little boy and girl in the picture:

“We kindly ask you to remember our family when discriminatory anti-LGBT legislation comes up in South Dakota,” they wrote in a holiday letter. “Like our children know, there is no place for bullying in our great state and country that we love.”

For the past several years Stacey Burnette, 36, and her wife Danielle Wilcox, 37, have printed a handful of extra holiday cards to send to their elected officials. Inspired by the season of love and giving, the pair sent out the notes again this year.

The tradition started when the family was living in legislative district 12 and wanted a more personal way to talk to her lawmakers about legislation that had been considered in Pierre.

“This time of year we’re thinking about giving and we’re thinking about kindness and love and family,” Burnette said. “And we’re an LGBT family and we have a lot of love in our house and I want to show that to our elected officials.”

So she began folding the letters and stuffing them in with the photos of her son Elliott, who’s now 5, and daughter Esme, who’s 2, and sending them off to elected officials.

Over the years she heard back from Sen. John Thune with a Christmas card of his own, from former President Barack Obama and state Sen. Blake Curd, R-Sioux Falls, who encouraged Burnette to tell her family’s story in Pierre.

The outreach effort, at least in Curd’s case, had some success. Curd voted against a proposal earlier this year that provides protections for religious or faith-based adoption agencies that deny child placement to unmarried or same-sex couples.

“I would like to think that I made an impact on him,” Burnette said. “I believe his votes reflected how I wanted him to vote against that anti-LGBT legislation.”

Curd said he remembered getting Burnette's card and did think back on it when he was mulling the proposal.

“Most of the contacts I get anymore are email,” Curd said. "So if someone takes the time to hand write a note, I try to respond to it. And I definitely try to pay attention to what they are telling me.”

Another of Burnette's former representatives in District 12, Rep. Greg Jamison, R-Sioux Falls, said he too appreciates hand-written notes but tends to get many of them during the holiday season. He couldn't remember Burnette's.

Jamison voted for the proposal to provide additional protections to religious adoption agencies. That bill was approved and enacted in July.

Burnette's family moved to District 14 this year and again sent the cards. As of Friday, she hadn't heard back from her representatives. She said they did receive a Christmas card from Gov. Dennis Daugaard.