Dear BTL,
I joined the ranks of registered Republicans years ago at the urging of a friend who said we could make a difference by voting for the more moderate factions in primaries, then voting our conscience during the general election. Supposedly, this would block the arch-conservatives and right-wingers from impinging on freedoms guaranteed to all Americans under the Constitution.
While I still subscribe to this theory, Bush's comments about the sanctity of marriage during his nationally televised campaign speech Jan. 20, gave me pause to consider reregistering as an Independent.
Let's ask all the gay Republican clubs across the nation — no matter the party's stance on the balance of domestic issues — how in the world can any gay person vote for politicians who could and would draft an amendment to the Constitution curtailing the rights of some of its citizens?! There is no way the Log Cabin organization can justify voting for politicians in any party that would rescind even a portion of our rights to calm the fears of the ultra-conservatives and religious fanatics.
And let's ask ourselves as a community, that perhaps, the good fight should be for the rights and privileges every other culture in America enjoys, but using a word or phrase other than the hot-button of "marriage." Do we really want to be associated with a word that has a 50 percent failure rate among heterosexuals?
If I were in a committed relationship, I would not want to have to travel to the Northeast to legitimize it in the eyes of the law. I would not have to call it "marriage" to feel legitimate. What I would want under the law is for the relationship to be legally recognized, to receive the same tax credits and breaks as every other American couple, to adopt a child without challenge if my partner and I so desired, to visit my partner in the hospital without restraint by his family or the government and to inherit all we worked toward as a couple should he die — and vice versa.
What we really want is for all Americans to be treated as first-class citizens. So, let's not call it "marriage." Let's find a way to come up with a nationwide campaign throughout the American gay community to have the same rights and privileges as every other single or coupled American.
Now is the most important time for America's gay community leaders to work with gay and gay-friendly elected officials to come up with an ingenious plan once and for all that absolutely guarantees our equal rights and protection under the law that does not use or involve the word "marriage" which, sadly, seems to scare the hell out of the majority of Americans.
Our stubbornness and defiance to use the word "marriage" might only serve to undo 35 years of Gay liberation during a very unattractive election year.
Thank you,
Lee A. Schoenbart
