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(unfinished, unsent letter to congressman)
Sep. 1st, 2004 11:59 pm2004 Sept 01
Dear Congressman Shadegg,
The tone of your letter in response to my feedback on the proposed Constitutional amendment in "defense" of marriage erroneously assumes that I am opposed to same-sex marriage.
I have gladly accepted and have been prepared to honor the idea of a marriage between any couple willing to commit themselves to each other as long as I have comprehended what marriage was. This includes a marriage between members of the same sex.
As the devoted "aunt" and full-time guardian of an eight-year-old child, I can tell you from personal experience that it is love, time, attention, devotion, and serious commitment that are required to raise a happy, healthy, and morally upstanding child. The mere perpetuation of the species requires a man and a woman, but in no way requires the social and financial contract that is marriage.
If you truly wish to defend marriage, look to the divorce rate. Why deny same-sex couples the possibility of boosting the sacred institution that 43 to 50%* of opposite-sex married couples are fleeing? Marriage is a powerful commitment that should not be entered into lightly, and no one realizes that more powerfully than the same-sex couples who are denied it.
I do agree that children need to be raised in a stable household and taught right from wrong. I am happy to report that our household started out with a broke single mother and a broke college student and a toddler in 2001, and now features nearly a 100% rise in income, reliable --
* statistics courtesy of www.divorcereform.org
(Letter goes on to next page at this point; next page is somewhere missing)
Dear Congressman Shadegg,
The tone of your letter in response to my feedback on the proposed Constitutional amendment in "defense" of marriage erroneously assumes that I am opposed to same-sex marriage.
I have gladly accepted and have been prepared to honor the idea of a marriage between any couple willing to commit themselves to each other as long as I have comprehended what marriage was. This includes a marriage between members of the same sex.
As the devoted "aunt" and full-time guardian of an eight-year-old child, I can tell you from personal experience that it is love, time, attention, devotion, and serious commitment that are required to raise a happy, healthy, and morally upstanding child. The mere perpetuation of the species requires a man and a woman, but in no way requires the social and financial contract that is marriage.
If you truly wish to defend marriage, look to the divorce rate. Why deny same-sex couples the possibility of boosting the sacred institution that 43 to 50%* of opposite-sex married couples are fleeing? Marriage is a powerful commitment that should not be entered into lightly, and no one realizes that more powerfully than the same-sex couples who are denied it.
I do agree that children need to be raised in a stable household and taught right from wrong. I am happy to report that our household started out with a broke single mother and a broke college student and a toddler in 2001, and now features nearly a 100% rise in income, reliable --
* statistics courtesy of www.divorcereform.org
(Letter goes on to next page at this point; next page is somewhere missing)
