Friday, November 14, 2008

Love Is Love

Dear President-Elect Obama,

I am writing to let you know that though I did not support yours or Vice President-Elect Biden's position on gay marriage, I voted for you anyway. I voted for you out of hope: hope that you would lead our country out of war, reclaim our good standing with the world, errode the class system, support the poor, strive to improve our education system and provide healthcare for all. And I hope you will come to see that a system of separate but equal is not fair and it never has been.

You see, a civil union is not the same as marriage. If it were, there would be no need to distinguish the two. The right to marry the same sex is a civil rights issue. Love is love is love. A person's ability to love another is no more guided by their gender than the ability to vote is guided by the color of one's skin.

While I'm overjoyed that more and more states continue to support gay marriage, I'm bitterly disappointed by the failure of other states to do so. And it saddens me that a civil union becomes nullified the second a couple moves or even vacations in another state that fails to recognize the civil unions from another state. This is equal, the same as? How can we stand for this? How can you, President-Elect Obama, stand for this? I hope you won't. I hope you will see how wrong it is to live in a country that continues down a separate but equal path. I know you appreciate and respect families. Can you really condemn those families that happen to include gay parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles--family--to a life devoid of civil liberties? Isn't a strong and loving family a strong and loving family, regardless of gender? Our children understand this basic capacity for love and tolerance. Is our country, or our leaders going to tell them they are wrong? That really, not everyone is entitled to love; to basic rights? If we do teach our children these lessons, I wonder what kind of leaders they will be?

Here's to hope. And to love. My capacity to love can not be judged to be greater than any other persons capacity to love. It's that simple. I hope you agree.

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for your beautiful post.It moved me to the core. I was very happy when same sex marriage became legal in Canada. I would never marry myself but I feel it is part of our basic rights. During our last elections, there was talk of re-opening that issue from the Conservative party, but it's a closed subject now. Thank God!

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  2. I hope you are really sending this letter!!!

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  3. How did I miss this post? Well you are right Amy, Love is Love. Great letter.

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  4. Thanks all for reading and for your supportive comments!

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