Thoughts on Virginia's Gay Marriage Ban
Originally posted on 16 January '06

Writer’s note: I am a gay, voting Virginia citizen. I reared four children. Each one is a credit to their community, their state and their country. I have five grandchildren. If I had left out the word ‘gay’ in the above statement the ‘moral majority’ would love me. I’d be their poster child! But because I put that horrible scary word in, my family does not exist. Does this not strike you as, at the very least, foolish? AND, at the other extreme, criminal!

Rosa Parks once said,

“I think it would be a good thing if all people were treated equally and justly and not be discriminated against because of race or religion or anything that makes them different from others”.

Well, she would know. Of all the people who run through my mind right now, she rises to the top as one who would surely understand. I’m certain she would see the blatant similarity between her people's past in Virginia legislation and my people’s present in Virginia legislation.

I find it painful that the Virginia legislature finds it agreeable, in an attempt to cater to a larger voting bloc, to come out on the side of prejudice and bigotry in the arena of human rights. They have once more divided their citizens by class, reserving some rights for only the class that fits their definition of ’appropriate’.

I realize that this evaluation is harsh. But that is exactly what their vote on marriage rights boils down to. They can surround this with all the rhetoric they like; it does not matter. It is as simple as this:

The state expects the same things from gays as it does from all others. Their taxes are no less; no less patriotism is expected of them and no less adherence to the law. They should, therefore, be granted every right and privilege that every other citizen has the right to expect.

Bottom line, no matter how one feels about gays, this is a question of citizen's rights and about non-discrimination. It seems shameful to me that Virginia, 'the Mother of Presidents' should once again be in the forefront of discrimination.

I want to wind up with a warning to all the Virginia readers out there. You need to know another thing in addition to the indecency of all this!

Written into this amendment are infringements to the rights of you 90% ‘politically correct’ Virginians as well as to us 10%. Please, watch your backs. You will be voting away your rights, too, not just mine.
- posted by Citizen @ 11:20 AM