Thursday, February 12. 2004
Letter-writin'
I must be in a letter-writin' mood. First, Nader, now the Plain Dealer.
See the letter I wrote below.
See the letter I wrote below.
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| Cleveland Plain Dealer Headquarters 1801 Superior Ave Cleveland, OH 44114 | ||
| Re: The Rights of Families | ||
| Cleveland Plain Dealer: | ||
| The United States Constitution is the statement of the most basic rights of citizens of the United States. The addition of an Amendment denying the right of marriage to same sex couples will be only the second time a Consitutional Amendment is used to reduce the freedoms of Americans (the first was prohibition), and the first time those rights are denied only to a discrete set of citizens. Codifying discrimination into the Constitution will make it possible for future reductions in the principle of equal protection, and forever weaken our rights as Americans. It is unfortunate that our culture has identified the pairing of adults into a family unit as 'marriage'. Polls show that Americans overwhelmingly support the rights of committed couples when the questions do not identify 'marriage' as the method of conferring those rights. If the governent issued 'civil union' licenses to couples and 'marriage' was the exclusive domain of religious and cultural institutions, we would not be having this debate. Unfortunately, it is only 'marriage' which provides the protections of inheritance and responsibility that is needed by families. Nevertheless, the rights of families, however constituted, deserve equal protection under the law and must not be denied to a discriminated minority. | ||
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