UWP Lecturers Proposition 8; was Re: Tuesday

[Robert W. Anderson]

Dear Joshua, et. al.:

I am so sorry that Proposition 8 passed.  I was thinking of you and your partner when I heard the news.  My partner and I were legally married on October 31, 2008 (yes, Halloween--at least our anniversary will be easy to remember) to get in under the wire, though with the passage of Proposition 8, our marriage is in legal limbo.

There is a nation-wide protest this coming Saturday, November 15, 2008, at 10:30 a.m. Pacific / 1:30 p.m. Eastern.  See http://www.jointheimpact.com/?page_id=2 for details.  My partner and I will be at the Moreno Valley protest.

--Robert


From: Joshua Fenton 
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2008 9:39 AM
To: Aline ; Amy ; annamarie.amezquita at rcc.edu ; Ben Harder ; Carole AnneTyler ; Carrie-Jean ; Cheryl Brusuelas ; Christine Smedley ; Claire Nava ; Cordell Briggs ; Cynde Sanchez ; Dan Clark ; Diana Tresslar ; dmunsel at yahoo.com ; Don Jobe ; Elissa Weeks ; Erie Leduc ; Erla Maria Marteinsdottir ; englecturers at lists.ucr.edu ; Geoff Cohen ; HelenLovejoy ; Jim Condon ; Joe Notarangel ; John Briggs ; joseph.childers at ucr.edu ; Julie Feia ; Kate Watt ; Kathleen Moore ; Keith Vance ; Kim Turner ; Linda Strahan ; Maria Notarangelo ; Matt Murray ; Megan McAlystre ; Michelle ; Nan Ma ; Rise Axelrod ; Ronnie Puckett ; Sasha Marakowski ; Shannon Bush ; Sharon Tyler ; soupymama at hotmail.com ; Stephanie Kay ; stephen.cullenberg at ucr.edu ; Susan Brown ; teri Carter ; Teri Currie ; Tina Feldmann ; Valarie Zapata ; Wallace Cleaves 
Subject: UWP Lecturers Tuesday


Dear Friends,



I am writing to you today to urge you to vote NO on proposition 8 this upcoming Tuesday to secure the rights of the gay, lesbian, and queer community to participate in this society as equal citizens.  Furthermore, I urge you to vote no on proposition 8 to ensure that similar measures stripping citizens of their equal rights are not enacted in the future – who knows, your rights could be next to fall under some Orwellian mob rule simply because you do not meet traditional expectations.



Let us not forget that a central point of American democracy is to govern society by majority rule with respect and protection for minority rights.  This ideal is enshrined in both our state and federal constitutions.  Throughout our history, however, we have done a poor job living up to this ideal: it wasn’t until 1948 that the state of California finally struck from its laws anti-miscegination regulations (Perez vs. Sharp), and the rest of the country finally followed suit in the US Supreme Courts decision of 1967 in Loving vs. Virginia that finally struck down anti-interracial marriage laws more than a century after the Civil War.  Should queer Americans also wait 102 years to be treated fairly, or has our country finally matured enough to recognize that all citizens be treated equally and have their rights upheld?



As an American, I have to admit that I hate to rely on others to live my life.  I much prefer to pull up my own bootstraps.  But in this crucial moment of civil rights, I need your help.  It is your vote that is integral in allowing my partner and I to celebrate our entwined lives.  It is your vote that is necessary to validate our worth as equal citizens.  It is your vote that will keep us from being crushed by totalitarian religious views that seeks to blanket all citizens under its purview and damn those who do not fit under it.  



My partner and I will have been together for ten years come June 2009, and we are already preparing our marriage ceremony for that date.  Plans are in the works and details are being decided upon, yet we are in a holding pattern in anticipation of your vote.  

Please do not make us rely upon the Jim Crow Civil Union that is offered by our state.  Separate but equal inevitably leads to inequality as our long, sad history shows.



Respectfully,



Joshua Fenton

Your student, coworker, neighbor, friend, and equal



"But every little difference may become a big one if it is insisted on."
~Lenin, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back




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