Reverends and Rabbis in the house!!

I am gratified that there are religious groups like the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry out there that are celebrating marriage equality, rather than abhoring it. You'd think, from what's out there in the media, that all religions are anti-same-sex-marriage and it's just the heathen, liberal free-thinkers that are trying to turn everyone's heads. I found RCFM online and say hear, hear to their plea to Massassachusetts Bishops! I do hope those esteemed men (and women?) of the cloth are reading:

"Open Letter to Cardinal O’Malley and

the Roman Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts

As ministers, rabbis and religious leaders of many faith traditions, we urge you to stop your political campaign to take away civil marriage rights from gay and lesbian citizens. At a time when the Roman Catholic Church says it is trying to promote tolerance and diversity it is lobbying the legislature and campaigning publicly to ban same-sex marriage in the Commonwealth.

The Roman Catholic magisterium teaches that homosexuality and gay unions are gravely immoral. We disagree with that doctrine, and we rejoice and celebrate marriage equality in Massachusetts. However, we honor your right to believe as you wish. We respect your right to practice your faith according to your laws.

We ask that you respect our faith traditions in return. Taking away civil marriage rights from committed, loving gay and lesbian couples would deny us the right to practice our beliefs. We would no longer be able to marry same-sex couples legally. The state would be in the position of granting full rights and protections to everyone married according to your beliefs, while denying those rights and protections to couples married according to ours.

You are promoting prejudice through your political campaign, intentionally or not.

By proclaiming homosexuality and same-sex unions to be universally immoral and worthy of second-class status under state law, you are sending a message that our faith communities are immoral. You are harming us and our families and your own faithful as well. Thousands of Roman Catholics have signed our Roman Catholic Statement in support of marriage equality. They have signed out of their pain and their love and concern for the Church.

We all have a right to speak our minds and to vote according to our beliefs, but in the political realm, we also have a constitutional responsibility to protect minorities, including the gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual individuals and our minority religious communities. Our founding fathers understood the importance of protecting minorities and of preventing sectarian beliefs from becoming civil laws.

Worldwide, we can witness the unfortunate consequences when religious groups try to use government power to impose their will on multi-cultural societies. Respecting and protecting the dignity of every soul, regardless of sexual orientation or religious beliefs, is the American way -- and the only way to protect the religious freedom and the democratic society we all cherish.

We urge you to stop trying to make your religious definition of marriage and family the law of our Commonwealth. Please stop trying to put personal faith up for a popular vote in 2008. Let’s return our focus to our common mission of promoting a socially just and tolerant society.

Faithfully,

The Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry Board:

The Rev’d. Anne C. Fowler, President

Rabbi Howard Berman

Rabbi Devon A. Lerner, Executive Director

Rev. Quinn Caldwell

The Rev’d. George C. Welles, Jr.

Rev. Tiffany Steinwert

Rev. David Pettee

Rabbi Daniel Judson

Charles Martel, Roman Catholic Liaison

Rev. Irving Cummings

Constance Cervone, Roman Catholic Liaison

Rev. Maureen Reddington-Wilde"

Go fight the good fight, RCFM!!

Candidate Calculator

I'm one of the least political people you'll find in the D.C. area. I feel lucky if I even know whether there's an election coming up, much less who's running in it. Kelly sometimes keeps me apprised, since she's exceptionally good at tracking candidates/issues, and AJS is also much more on top of it than me.

Someone sent me this calculator, where you can answer yes/no/unsure to different hot-button issues and it'll tell you which candidate you're most in alignment with. According to my results today (which included a lot of unsures), I should consider voting for Sen Joe Biden. Good, Bad? I'll have to do more research (or ask Kelly for help).

Blogging for LGBT family equality

I met Chris and John while collaborating on a project with the company Chris and I work for about 12 years ago. Their son, Kendall, is adopted and has various serious health issues, like severe asthma; also, Kendall is a different race than his adopted parents. They are all the same gender. It tickles me that Kendall calls Chris "Daddy" and John "Pop-Pop".

They are a happy, supportive family and the first that I'd met with same-sex parents. While I was delighted for them that they had adopted, there was a bit of a dark cloud over the adoption process that they went through back in 1995. Because they weren't a "traditional" family, their priority was shunted to lowest. In order to receive a child, they were left to choose from children that had been passed over by everone else. With expensive health issues and being born of a drug-addicted mother, Kendall was not a easy choice. Chris and John wanted to be a family and looked past all the negatives with Kendall and just saw his beautiful smile. They chose him, and despite the hardships, are a family to look up to, full of love.

I haven't done the research, but I certainly hope that adopting a child is easier for LGBT families these days. With all the other inequalities that are associated with same-sex couples, my hopes aren't high, but my heart goes out to all of the couples out there trying to adopt or start a non-traditional family. You deserve it!

Counterpoint, in a fashion

During college, I began to be frustrated with the dating scene. And, it may come as a surprise to my parents, but I was becoming aware that my dad worked with several young men, good-looking, well-paid engineer types who were single, and also had contact with the upstanding well-educated male children of his colleagues.

After some frustratingly bad dates, I started thinking, wouldn't all this be easier if there were arranged marriages? My parents could identify a good match for me, I'd be set financially (potentially), and I'd have much less worry and effort to put into the whole soul-mate-searching thing.

Then, I put that out of my head. I had the right to marry whom I wanted, and I ought to exercise that priviledge! I found my life partner, and later this year, we will be celebrating 10 years of marriage, 15 years together.

I'm saddened that the government isn't allowing a random selection of Americans (10%?) the same choices and options that I have.

Freedom to marry week

If you know me at all, you know that I don't pay much attention to the politics stuff, despite living in DC and metro area. So, this just comes straight from the heart.

I married who I wanted to marry. If somebody had suggested to me that I couldn't marry my chosen, I would have been righteously pissed off. The fact that people are doing just that today does upset me a great deal. Are we in the dark ages? In India or other third-world country, with
arranged marriages? Just where do all these people come from, that they think they have the right to keep other human beings, Americans even, from pursuing happiness? Married couples have different rights to benefits than singles; why shouldn't any couple who are living together and committed to each other get those rights and benefits? Seriously?

I don't think it's right or fair. I could say more, but I know that I'm not being terribly eloquent here and I haven't read other essays or brilliant rhetoric on the topic to bolster the range of my argument. So let's just hope that I do just that and if I post again on this topic, I'll have something more, um, thought-provoking to say.