Former Virginia resident writes letter blasting Commonwealth’s marriage amendment
by Matt | February 3rd, 2006 |A current Greensboro, NC, resident and former resident of Virginia has written a scathing letter to the editor blasting the Virginia marriage amendment.
Reject tool of hate against gay people
The Free-Lance Star, Fredericksburg, VA
Feb 3, 2006The marriage amendment and a plethora of anti-gay legislation are sending an unmistakable message that gays are not wanted, not citizens, and not safe in Virginia [”House bill could ban gay-straight groups,” Feb. 1].
When you single out a segment of society and deny them their rights, you are setting them up for prejudice and hate. The Nazis did this with the Jews.
I will not support my own oppression, nor am I waiting for them to come after me. On May 25, my same-gender partner and I sold our home of 26 years near Fredericksburg and escaped to North Carolina.
The continuous drive to marginalize and stigmatize gay families will cause the best and brightest–gay and straight–to take their talents, creative energy, and tax dollars to places that are not such a right-wing stranglehold.
This marriage amendment is not about protecting marriage as much as opposing homosexuality. It’s all about exclusion–excluding a minority from the basic civil right to marry the person one loves using the same arguments white supremacists used against interracial marriage.
We must confront this right-wing obsession with legislating gays out of existence. Do we want democratic inclusion or fascist supremacy?
This amendment goes beyond limiting marriage to one man and one woman. It would bar gay couples–and unmarried heterosexuals–any legal recognition of their relationship (civil union or domestic partnership), and forever deny them the right to petition the government for any of the benefits of marriage.
This amendment is spiteful, inhuman, unfair, and un-American.
Cris F. Elkins
Greensboro, N.C.
Technorati Tags: gay marriage, gay, lgbt, gay rights, virginia, greensboro, north carolina
Matt, 21, is an LGBT activist and youth advocate working mainly within the cities of Greensboro & Winston-Salem and the State of North Carolina. He is the Owner & Editor of InterstateQ.com and has been active in LGBT advocacy work since the age of 14, now currently serving as the Executive Director/Co-founder of Activate! - The North Carolina Advocacy Coalition.
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