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catscradle Feb. 26th, 2004 01:06 pm)
catscradle Feb. 26th, 2004 01:06 pm)Marilyn Musgrave is the republican congresswoman from Colorado that proposed the bill for a constitutional ammendment to ban gay-marriage. She doesn't represent my district, but I felt the need to write her a letter anyway.
I'm writing in response to this letter posted on October 15th, 2003: Defending The Sanctity of Marriage In America
My reply:
To: Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave
Why do you feel gay marriage is a threat to society? I read your letter posted on October 15th, 2003 "Defending the Sanctity of Marriage in America", but I could not find any direct correlations between allowing gays and lesbians to marry and the dissolution of traditional heterosexual marriage in that letter. You state there is a threat, and since you have taken the time to propose a bill into congress, I assume you actually believe there is a threat. And others, including the President of the United States, believe there is a threat as well. But I have yet to see that threat articulated in such a way that I can understand what you mean by that statement. Stating that gay-marriage is a threat repeatedly does nothing to explain why you believe there is a threat, anymore than merely stating men and woman have babies explains the reproductive cycle. I feel that as a representative to the US Congress who has introduced a bill based on this threat, it is your obligation to provide evidence that a threat does indeed exist.
What your letter does state is that children who are members of broken homes do not do as well as children who are reared in homes where a mother and father are present.
From this point you jump to the threat of gay marriage.
These are separate issues. Unless you are equating a same-sex marriage to a broken home. If that is the case, you need to address that more clearly. My understanding of a broken home is when there is divorce. For children of a gay marriage to come from a broken home, the gay couple must have been divorced. As we know, homosexuals are not allowed to marry, thus there can be no children from broken homosexual marriages to date. But if children are at risk from living in "broken homes" then why not go after divorced couples or unmarried heterosexuals that have children? Heterosexuals, married or not, tend to have a higher birth rate among their kind than homosexual couples. Many of these children are unwanted, which is why they are not treated properly and function poorly later as adults.
If, however, what you actually wanted to say was that children of homosexual parents do not do as well as children of heterosexual parents, you will need to find separate reports on children who have two parents of the same gender and do not function as well as children who have two parents of opposite genders. I would also advise that you cite the sources you use in your letters to the public and avoid the logical fallacy of appeals to the emotions.
So please, I am hoping you can provide me with a more concrete answer. How do gays and lesbians who wish to legally become a married couple threaten heterosexuals? How does asking for the same legal rights as heterosexuals threaten anyone? Gay marriage does not take anything away from heterosexuals still seeking a "traditional" lifestyle. Heterosexuals are not being asked to give anything up. Homosexuals, however, are being told that they are not weclomed, they are not wanted and they will not be tolerated. They are being told that there is a contingency of people out there that will not afford them the same rights as human beings that heterosexuals have. Heterosexuals are being sent the message that it is okay to treat homosexuals as lessers; that it is okay to take a baseball bat to the skull of a homosexual because they aren't even protected by the government. The type of message you are sending is a threat to gays and lesbians. You do not go to bed at night and worry about your safety because of your sexuality. Gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and transgender people do.
I needed it explained to me why you feel so threatened you would propose a hate-bill to Congress. I need an understanding of this mentality.
Sincerely,
Stephanie (info deleted)
I'm writing in response to this letter posted on October 15th, 2003: Defending The Sanctity of Marriage In America
My reply:
To: Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave
Why do you feel gay marriage is a threat to society? I read your letter posted on October 15th, 2003 "Defending the Sanctity of Marriage in America", but I could not find any direct correlations between allowing gays and lesbians to marry and the dissolution of traditional heterosexual marriage in that letter. You state there is a threat, and since you have taken the time to propose a bill into congress, I assume you actually believe there is a threat. And others, including the President of the United States, believe there is a threat as well. But I have yet to see that threat articulated in such a way that I can understand what you mean by that statement. Stating that gay-marriage is a threat repeatedly does nothing to explain why you believe there is a threat, anymore than merely stating men and woman have babies explains the reproductive cycle. I feel that as a representative to the US Congress who has introduced a bill based on this threat, it is your obligation to provide evidence that a threat does indeed exist.
What your letter does state is that children who are members of broken homes do not do as well as children who are reared in homes where a mother and father are present.
"An overwhelming amount of evidence exists that indicates in matters such as education, economic stability, and positive relationships, a child with an actively involved mother and father is given much better chances to succeed than somebody raised in a broken home."
From this point you jump to the threat of gay marriage.
"As it is known today, marriage is facing a particular danger -- the threat of radical redefinition. (…)The gay and lesbian lobby is shopping around various state courts looking to find a group of judges to legitimize their lifestyle as an equivalent to traditional marriage. This lobby is astonishingly close to achieving its goal - same sex marriage."
These are separate issues. Unless you are equating a same-sex marriage to a broken home. If that is the case, you need to address that more clearly. My understanding of a broken home is when there is divorce. For children of a gay marriage to come from a broken home, the gay couple must have been divorced. As we know, homosexuals are not allowed to marry, thus there can be no children from broken homosexual marriages to date. But if children are at risk from living in "broken homes" then why not go after divorced couples or unmarried heterosexuals that have children? Heterosexuals, married or not, tend to have a higher birth rate among their kind than homosexual couples. Many of these children are unwanted, which is why they are not treated properly and function poorly later as adults.
If, however, what you actually wanted to say was that children of homosexual parents do not do as well as children of heterosexual parents, you will need to find separate reports on children who have two parents of the same gender and do not function as well as children who have two parents of opposite genders. I would also advise that you cite the sources you use in your letters to the public and avoid the logical fallacy of appeals to the emotions.
So please, I am hoping you can provide me with a more concrete answer. How do gays and lesbians who wish to legally become a married couple threaten heterosexuals? How does asking for the same legal rights as heterosexuals threaten anyone? Gay marriage does not take anything away from heterosexuals still seeking a "traditional" lifestyle. Heterosexuals are not being asked to give anything up. Homosexuals, however, are being told that they are not weclomed, they are not wanted and they will not be tolerated. They are being told that there is a contingency of people out there that will not afford them the same rights as human beings that heterosexuals have. Heterosexuals are being sent the message that it is okay to treat homosexuals as lessers; that it is okay to take a baseball bat to the skull of a homosexual because they aren't even protected by the government. The type of message you are sending is a threat to gays and lesbians. You do not go to bed at night and worry about your safety because of your sexuality. Gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and transgender people do.
I needed it explained to me why you feel so threatened you would propose a hate-bill to Congress. I need an understanding of this mentality.
Sincerely,
Stephanie (info deleted)
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Wonder if she will follow through and answer you the same way... Since she can't have any proof of her claims, I doubt she can.
I'll be looking forward to see if you will EVER get an answer, and crouched in what kind of terms.
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One of the things that pisses me off is when they start talking about children of gay parents. My Stepson was raised by his mom and her partner. I just got him every other weekend, so it can't be said I had a huge influence on him. He's a great guy, we never had any problems with is behavior.
If they want to talk about parents and kids they should point to Dubya and Laura Bush. Their kids are TOTALLY uncontrollable!
As for gays being a threat to marriage, GIVE ME A BREAK! Dubya is a treat to my marriage for screwing NYC over. Just LIVING in the area is a financial hardship (unless of course, you're one of his rich buddies) .
This is proposed amendment is SUCH fundamentalist garbage!
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It floors me that these people can talk about the perils of gay-families with a straight face in lieu of all the "traditional" families that are torn apart because of the suck economy and poor education. And how many people are going to feel pressured to stay in bad relationships because "traditional" family values must win out! It's stupid. . .
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Re: Bravo
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I left the last two lines in because I know it's not going to be taken seriously by her or her people regardless of how cool and collected I remain. And the frustration is real and genuine, so I left it in. I do want to know how she can possibly feel threatened. And I think I know what her answer is, though I don't expect her to reply or even have her people reply for her - it's a religious responce. She feels it's unchristian because sometime in her youth someone told her that anything gay was bad and antichristian. She believed it and never asked questions. Now, suddenly it's in her face that gay-bashing is a bad thing to do and she's feeling the need to defend what she followed blindly and never understood. I don't expect a rational answer. If they had one, we would have heard it by now. Unstead all we get is the re-enforced "Gay-marriage is WRONG!" as though by saying it as often as possible makes it true.
My undergrad degree was in anthropology. I know what crap their "marriage is the oldest most sacred institution" is. Even if you just look at religion - their own freaken bible - that's a load of crap. If they wanted to follow that, they wouldn't pass laws against the Mormon church's right to polygamy.
If I get anything back, it will be a rehashing of her original letter. I sent my letter because I felt I had to stand up and say something.