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| Re: Gay Marriage |
| 02.19.04 (6:53 am) |
[image]bkriner_690431275.jpg[/image]
From: James P. Moran, Congress of the United States, 8th District of Virginia
To: Brandon J. Kriner
[i]Dear Mr. Kriner
Thank you for contacting my office and sharing your thoughts with me regarding the Federal Marriage Amendment. It is always a pleasure to hear from my constituents.
As you know, this measure seeks to amend the United States Constitution so that state law will be preempted and marriage will be legally defined as a union between a man and a woman. I am concerned that this will have a chilling effect on a state's right to establish laws within its own borders as eight states have already seen fit to enact domestic partnership laws that would be preempted by this amendment. Historically, constitutional amendments are adopted in order to expand the rights of U.S. citizens. The Marriage Amendment would actually write discrimination into the Constitution for the first time and would ban any protections for gay and lesbian couples, such as allowing visits to a partner who is in the hospital.
You will be pleased to discover that I am strongly opposed to this mis-guided and harmful piece of legislation. Rest assured that I will be closely monitoring the progress of this measure and will keep your thoughts in mind should it come to the floor of the House for debate.
Again, I appreciate hearing from you and trust youw ill continue to contact me on other matters of mutual concern. Please feel free to visit my website at http://www.house.gov/moran which contains information on topics that may be of interest to you.
Yours truly,
James P. Moran[/i]
This is a letter I received in response to my February 5th letter to my state and local representatives, also posted on this site. I was really glad to hear the Congressman's points of view, and I couldn't agree with him more: the Constitution is a document that establishes, expands, and protects the rights of Americans. It is a terrifying sign of the arch-conservative times in which we live that this current Congress and President would use the bedrock of our freedom to deny homosexuals the right to marry.
What are opponents of gay marriage so afraid of? So far, all I've heard is that it "threatens the institution of marriage and families." How so? I can think of hundreds of things that threaten the institution of marriage: drugs, alcohol, gambling, adultery, emotional and financial bankruptcy. What does allowing two men or two women to marry have anything to do with your family, my family, or anyone's family? This rationale is despicable, bigoted, and familiar. We are threatened by that which is different from us. In a nation of franchises, we crave the soothing heartbeat of sameness: that which is not like us must be against us. It's the small thinking of the insecure and afraid.
We laugh and laugh at [i]Will and Grace [/i] and [i]Queer Eye for the Straight Guy[/i]. Gays are good enough to entertain us, but not good enough to live among us as we do. This unspoken attitude makes these television programs nothing more than minstrel shows. It is unjust to marginalize a portion of society, only accepting characteristics which are deemed "safe."
I am proud of the City of San Francisco for performing gay marriages in defiance of California state law. This is a prime example of what civil disobedience is all about: when the law opresses civil rights, it must be flaunted at every opportunity. Each one of us can protest loudly, and shake our tiny fists. Together, our fists can become a hammer, driving home justice and truth.
p.s. Click [url=http://www.moran.house.gov/is...]here[/url] to read Congressman Moran's statement on President Bush's support of an amendment banning gay marriage.
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